Coronavirus prep

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Replies

  • jthillk
    jthillk Posts: 18 Member
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    jthillk wrote: »
    My family traveled to Oklahoma this weekend to visit other family (military) that was in the states from South Korea temporarily. Once we got to Oklahoma we discovered that virtually the entire city was without water for most of our trip. I feel like the Coronavirus is out to get me.

    @jthillk why no water?

    The city we were in apparently has a recurring problem with broken pipes, water leaks, low pressure, etc.
  • DecadeDuchess
    DecadeDuchess Posts: 315 Member
    COGypsy wrote: »
    nutmegoreo wrote: »
    just_Tomek wrote: »
    I have a 2 week trip planned for Morocco that starts on March 16. If the WHO does not declare this a pandemic, which most likely will affect all travel, I am set on going. Be smart, take precautions and live. If it gets you it gets you. Its not like you can see this coming.

    What if they do, after you're already there?

    There’s a lot worse places to be stranded.
    @just_Tomek Enjoy!

    I agree but my concern's with potentially, being unable to return to work upon time. If/when, there's a travel suspension and/or quarantine. I assume that even though it'd be unfair that they still're at risk of being fired.

    Canadian labour laws generally tend to be better than the US.

    The only thing that I know of here's that an employer's unable to fire an employee, for jury duty but 1 did try & got arrested, after the judge noticed that the potential juror was upset.

    The State of Colorado and its affiliated entities released a policy a couple of weeks ago stating that anyone who is quarantined or unable to come to work due to a quarantine (like travel restrictions) will receive administrative leave for the time they are quarantined. Sick time would have to be used if actually infected, but other than an avalanche of accumulated work and emails, quarantined employees won’t be penalized.

    This news' pleasing, thank you for posting it!
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    try2again wrote: »
    kimny72 wrote: »
    try2again wrote: »
    I currently have 4 children knocked out with flu like symptoms... it’s been days of high fevers, crazy coughing, etc. I “joke” that it could be coronavirus, but we’ll never know since they can’t test for it yet! (Although I am seeing headlines that tests are making their way around). We are on the outskirts of DC, a “bedroom community” for people that work in the city, so lots of potential to bring it in. Haven’t been to the doctor, we homeschool so no need to expose them to anything else if the symptoms are treatable at home (we have been often enough to have the needed meds for her croup) so not 100% sure what it is.

    Wednesday is when it started, I thought my daughter was reacting to some bags of soil I bought - her cough started within minutes of being in the car with them. Super sensitive lungs, at age 8 she gets croup that shuts down her airways with any airborne irritant (no longer able to even swim in indoor chlorine pools). I went to buy a mask for her since we still had 45 minutes in the car to get home and found the supply wiped out... at multiple stores. Didn’t know what was going on, until the guy at the hardware store told me why the shelves were cleared.

    We would be ones that would need to stock up on water, our well water is awful to try and drink... something I took for granted when we lived in NC with well water so good we could bottle and sell it.

    They CAN test for it, the test gets sent to CDC in Atlanta. Those symptoms sound the same as COVID 19 symptoms are...I do hope they are okay. The cough and fever are the main thing, and having trouble breathing.

    In the Seattle area (according to the press conference today) the government labs are up to 200 tests per day, University of WA just today came online to do 200 more, they hope to gear up to a total of 2000 tests daily between the two labs within a couple days. Turnaround time on the test appears to be about one day.

    If you want you can go to KOMO News and watch the King County news conference.

    We're up to six deaths now. :(

    I saw someone post in another forum that the test is not cheap- like in the area of $2-3000. Anyone know about this? If true, I don't think I'd seek testing for myself or a family member unless they were high-risk. :/

    Edited to add: Just happened to see this as well- https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/03/02/811314938/coronavirus-testing-what-to-know-as-it-becomes-available-across-the-u-s

    Since there's no cure, just treatment of whatever symptoms you have, which are evident without a test, I don't see any point for individuals to seek tests. If it's a test being done for public health purposes, that's a "common good" issue and should be paid for out of the public health budget.

    There was a case of a man who felt he owed it to his community to get tested, so he went to his local hospital and explained why he was there. The CDC processes the test for free. But the hospital put him in a quarantine room, had personel wear those full white suits, disinfected the room, did a flu test, a CT scan, etc plus charges I'm sure for every doctor that peeked into the room after getting suited up. They submitted a claim to his insurance for $3,200. So the test is free, but the place you go to get tested will find a way to make it expensive.

    So I'd say if someone feels like the responsible thing to do is get tested so the virus can be tracked, I'd contact your local health dept first and see if they can hook you up with a cheap way to get the test.

    I also read, perhaps in one of the articles I linked upthread, that they will actually run tests to eliminate other viral illnesses first, so that could add up.

    Yep, and unfortunately since there are not enough coronavirus testing kits to test more liberally, it's I guess the prudent thing to do. But of course that leaves you or your insurance company on the hook for the other tests I'd assume. Geez, we make everything so darn difficult here smh.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    I know we have a lot of posters in the UK, but can't remember who most of you are. @BarbaraHelen2013 what are the public policies over there?
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    What bugs me is that as a person who sometimes takes immune suppressing drugs for my lupus, I’m already hyperaware of other people’s hygiene, and so I know that if we are relying on hygiene to prevent the spread we are all doomed. Most women in the restroom just sort of dip their fingers under the water for a second. People here NEVER cover their mouths when they cough or sneeze, most would apparently rather slit their throats than cough into their elbows. They don’t hesitate to go out to public places like restaurants when they sound like they are on their deathbeds with chest congestion, visibly running noses, and constant coughing. Servers at restaurants and food handlers go into work sick. In the past month I was trying not to get sick because of my race series, so I avoided going places except for essentials, and literally every time I went somewhere, such as to the grocery, a minimum of three sick people would expectorate directly on me. One women walked up to me and sneezed into my eye with a vacant expression on her face. Actual droplets of her spit went into my eye. And she didn’t even say excuse me. People in this town are rabid wolverines and if we are relying on their hand washing skills to keep everyone safe it really is going to be the apocalypse.

    I’m trying to take a joking tone but not exaggerating any events. About a week ago when I was eating at a restauarant a horribly sick family sat at the table touching ours and I got up immediately, moved away from them, and asked for another table. Felt good about escaping them until I noticed the table next to the one I had been moved to had two sick children at it. Then our waitress was sneezing on the drinks station and complaining that she had chills. What happened to staying home?

    When I was a waitress, the choice to stay home could have resulted in me losing my job or potentially not being able to pay my rent. I'm not defending the choice to deliberately go to work sick, it's just when you're in some situations it doesn't really seem like a fully voluntary choice. I have a sister who was fired because she was unwilling to go to work with a fever. Fortunately it was never a situation that I was in.

    I feel very grateful now to have an employer who allows sick days and actually expects me to stay out of the office when I'm potentially contagious. That hasn't been the case my whole life.

    I'm not writing this to minimize the risk to you because it's truly unacceptable. It's just that this current system is aggressively pitting people against each other and this is an example of that.

    (Obviously none of this applies to going out to eat while contagious, that's not necessary at all).

    I have the greatest sympathy for people whose employers won’t let them stay home, even though in the case of food handlers, it’s illegal.

    In this case it was a family run business, and she was the owner, and there were sufficient waitresses there that some were waiting around for more tables. So she could have at least chosen to sit in the back and supervise. It just didn’t occur to her I guess. But mainly I was thinking about the customers. People who drag their sick children out while they sit and have margaritas make me angry.

    Oh, yeah. Owners should absolutely stay home when they're ill. And there is no excuse for taking your children out just so you can eat at a restaurant.
  • moonangel12
    moonangel12 Posts: 971 Member
    @bmeadows380 - WV here too, but way, way eastern panhandle... lots of DC commuters in our area so I have a feeling it’s just a matter of time. (Washington DC).

    My husband works closely with P&G as a supplier (close enough to have had a meeting with the CFO quoted in an earlier post) and so far hasn’t heard anything on his end. Hopefully a good sign that it’s not company wide but maybe just certain products.

    Chiming in on going to work sick - I worked for a daycare fresh out of college, the owner was an awful boss and had us teachers come in sick all the time. Hand Foot and Mouth, fever, vomiting, it didn’t matter... I hated that job. Very much against health code regulations and the rules posted for parents/children to abide by (she would also let disgruntled parents bring their children back after a fever, knowing good and well they were given fever reducers and it wasn’t past the 24 hour mark).
  • T1DCarnivoreRunner
    T1DCarnivoreRunner Posts: 11,502 Member
    COGypsy wrote: »
    nutmegoreo wrote: »
    just_Tomek wrote: »
    I have a 2 week trip planned for Morocco that starts on March 16. If the WHO does not declare this a pandemic, which most likely will affect all travel, I am set on going. Be smart, take precautions and live. If it gets you it gets you. Its not like you can see this coming.

    What if they do, after you're already there?

    There’s a lot worse places to be stranded.
    @just_Tomek Enjoy!

    I agree but my concern's with potentially, being unable to return to work upon time. If/when, there's a travel suspension and/or quarantine. I assume that even though it'd be unfair that they still're at risk of being fired.

    Canadian labour laws generally tend to be better than the US.

    The only thing that I know of here's that an employer's unable to fire an employee, for jury duty but 1 did try & got arrested, after the judge noticed that the potential juror was upset.

    The State of Colorado and its affiliated entities released a policy a couple of weeks ago stating that anyone who is quarantined or unable to come to work due to a quarantine (like travel restrictions) will receive administrative leave for the time they are quarantined. Sick time would have to be used if actually infected, but other than an avalanche of accumulated work and emails, quarantined employees won’t be penalized.

    This is good and I wish all employers did this. One shouldn't lose their job due to illness... that is just ridiculous and unfair to make someone end up both sick AND unemployed.
  • T1DCarnivoreRunner
    T1DCarnivoreRunner Posts: 11,502 Member
    jthillk wrote: »
    My family traveled to Oklahoma this weekend to visit other family (military) that was in the states from South Korea temporarily. Once we got to Oklahoma we discovered that virtually the entire city was without water for most of our trip. I feel like the Coronavirus is out to get me.

    Is that maybe just a coincidence? I have been places that had temporary water problems and then boil orders when fixed due to a breach in pipes beyond the treatment facility or a problem with the water treatment facility itself. But no water at all was always temporary.
  • Unknown
    edited March 2020
    This content has been removed.
  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
    nutmegoreo wrote: »
    just_Tomek wrote: »
    I have a 2 week trip planned for Morocco that starts on March 16. If the WHO does not declare this a pandemic, which most likely will affect all travel, I am set on going. Be smart, take precautions and live. If it gets you it gets you. Its not like you can see this coming.

    What if they do, after you're already there?

    There’s a lot worse places to be stranded.
    @just_Tomek Enjoy!

    I agree but my concern's with potentially, being unable to return to work upon time. If/when, there's a travel suspension and/or quarantine. I assume that even though it'd be unfair that they still're at risk of being fired.

    Canadian labour laws generally tend to be better than the US.

    For whoever disagreed with this:

    https://www.ela.law/Templates/media/files/Canadian Overview -- Distinctions Between US and Canadian Labor and Employment Law - 9-3-13.pdf
  • jthillk
    jthillk Posts: 18 Member
    jthillk wrote: »
    My family traveled to Oklahoma this weekend to visit other family (military) that was in the states from South Korea temporarily. Once we got to Oklahoma we discovered that virtually the entire city was without water for most of our trip. I feel like the Coronavirus is out to get me.

    Is that maybe just a coincidence? I have been places that had temporary water problems and then boil orders when fixed due to a breach in pipes beyond the treatment facility or a problem with the water treatment facility itself. But no water at all was always temporary.

    Yes, it's a coincidence that we were without water while I was there, but the city has had issues in the past. The owner of our hotel said they drill for oil and it ruins the pipes and then have water issues. They are sometimes without water for days. It just seems like a bad time to be without water, unable to wash hands, bathe, flush toilets, etc.
  • mpca66
    mpca66 Posts: 6 Member
    kimny72 wrote: »

    I'm a bit worried for my parents, as they are in their 70s and it seems to be more of a problem for seniors. We live in the vicinity of UVA and spring break is coming up with lots of students traveling and returning (including international students going home). They've had their flu shots but generally refuse the pneumonia vaccine.

    Same. My parents are in their 70's as well and not in the best of health and live a couple of states away. I need to go visit to check on them, but I don't want to be a 'carrier' either. I'm in good health so not too worried, but I will probably pick up a few extra groceries just in case there is a "state of emergency". You never know in the state of CA ~ land of fruits and nuts.
  • BarbaraHelen2013
    BarbaraHelen2013 Posts: 1,941 Member
    edited March 2020
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    I know we have a lot of posters in the UK, but can't remember who most of you are. @BarbaraHelen2013 what are the public policies over there?

    I confess I’ve not been keeping up to date on the issue as it’s my opinion that things such as this tend to be over sensationalised by the media so whilst I know what’s going on it’s something I take with a large pinch of salt!

    However, my husband has had a company wide conference week cancelled which was due to be held in Paris. Also, my eldest son and his wife are due to go to Venice on honeymoon later this month and are anxiously awaiting decisions by either U.K. or the Italian governments and/or the travel company.

    Here’s the latest speculation based on today’s announcement by the government:

    “The government has powers it can use to protect people from infection. Among the measures which could be introduced if there are major outbreaks are:
    ■ School closures. It also hopes to pass new laws to allow bigger class sizes if there are teacher shortages
    ■ Restrictions on the use of public transport
    ■ The stopping of big gatherings
    ■ Troops supporting the emergency services
    ■ Police focusing on the most serious crimes and maintaining public order
    ■ New legal powers to make people stay in quarantine
    A public information campaign will be launched to help people protect themselves. The main focus will be on regular and thorough hand washing.”
  • DecadeDuchess
    DecadeDuchess Posts: 315 Member
    bpetrosky wrote: »
    nutmegoreo wrote: »
    just_Tomek wrote: »
    I have a 2 week trip planned for Morocco that starts on March 16. If the WHO does not declare this a pandemic, which most likely will affect all travel, I am set on going. Be smart, take precautions and live. If it gets you it gets you. Its not like you can see this coming.

    What if they do, after you're already there?

    There’s a lot worse places to be stranded.
    @just_Tomek Enjoy!

    I agree but my concern's with potentially, being unable to return to work upon time. If/when, there's a travel suspension and/or quarantine. I assume that even though it'd be unfair that they still're at risk of being fired.

    Canadian labour laws generally tend to be better than the US.

    The only thing that I know of here's that an employer's unable to fire an employee, for jury duty but 1 did try & got arrested, after the judge noticed that the potential juror was upset.

    I tried to parse this and failed, but US laws about jury duty are not germane to the lack of sick leave protections for many US workers.

    It was my response to a reply concerning the fairness of an employee facing long term absenteeism beyond their control regardless of why, that's known here by law & that it should extend to protect others, within those unfortunate situations.
  • bpetrosky
    bpetrosky Posts: 3,911 Member
    edited March 2020
    As far as preparing, I'm am stocking up on food sufficient for a couple weeks. Just enough in case there were a requirement to self-quarantine at home for a period of time. Not hording anything, but putting a couple extra packs of chicken and fish and frozen vegetables in the freezer, as well as the typical staples eggs, rice, bread, that keep well. There hasn't been any confirmed cases in my area yet, but I don't want to be behind the curve in case people get stupid once a few are reported.
  • DecadeDuchess
    DecadeDuchess Posts: 315 Member
    bpetrosky wrote: »
    nutmegoreo wrote: »
    just_Tomek wrote: »
    I have a 2 week trip planned for Morocco that starts on March 16. If the WHO does not declare this a pandemic, which most likely will affect all travel, I am set on going. Be smart, take precautions and live. If it gets you it gets you. Its not like you can see this coming.

    What if they do, after you're already there?

    There’s a lot worse places to be stranded.
    @just_Tomek Enjoy!

    I agree but my concern's with potentially, being unable to return to work upon time. If/when, there's a travel suspension and/or quarantine. I assume that even though it'd be unfair that they still're at risk of being fired.

    Canadian labour laws generally tend to be better than the US.

    The only thing that I know of here's that an employer's unable to fire an employee, for jury duty but 1 did try & got arrested, after the judge noticed that the potential juror was upset.

    I tried to parse this and failed, but US laws about jury duty are not germane to the lack of sick leave protections for many US workers.

    It was my response to a reply concerning the fairness of an employee facing long term absenteeism beyond their control regardless of why, that's known here by law & that it should extend to protect others, within those unfortunate situations.

    Jury duty and sick leave are completely different situations.

    The relevance's that both might cause long term absenteeism beyond the control of the employee. If jury duty's considered a necessary protection against firing, it's fair to expect health be also & questionable, as to why it isn't.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    I went to the grocery store, I got there by 8AM. It was pretty empty. I should have taken a pic of the guy with the sterile gloves, face mask and large cart full of bottled water, Clorox wipes, packaged pizza and soda. I mean. Okay. Whatever.

    There was one pallet of TP. The store employees said it was empty yesterday along with bottled water and other staples. The store has people who do shopping for delivery and pickup and those people were working hard. One of them said they are slammed. I can imagine. No one sneezed or coughed that I noticed, the checkout lady was wearing sterile gloves.

    It was interesting to me that I had to fight the urge to double-buy certain staples that I don't really need.

    I worry about the fact we use our own reusable shopping bags these days due to recycling laws...I can see that as a problem, sanitation-wise.

    I'm glad I was in and out early, in Washington we are already using social distancing. Not mandated - they aren't cancelling mass spectator events yet, but just a suggestion with which I don't mind agreeing.

    Oh wait, I do that all the time! "Social distancing," I like that there is a term for it.

    I happened to have forgotten to bring in my reuseable bags yesterday - hadn't thought about those from a hygiene standpoint.
  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
    bpetrosky wrote: »
    As far as preparing, I'm am stocking up on food sufficient for a couple weeks. Just enough in case there were a requirement to self-quarantine at home for a period of time. Not hording anything, but putting a couple extra packs of chicken and fish and frozen vegetables in the freezer, as well as the typical staples eggs, rice, bread, that keep well. There hasn't been any confirmed cases in my area yet, but I don't want to be behind the curve in case people get stupid once a few are reported.

    I tend to keep extra stuff around anyway, just in case I'm too lazy to go to the grocery store one week, I have plenty. I did pick up a few extra canned goods this last trip, but I can typically last about a month on what I have around the house. It won't be anything fancy, but if you're hungry enough anything will do. Although I do suddenly have a craving for some homemade rice pudding.
  • DecadeDuchess
    DecadeDuchess Posts: 315 Member
    bpetrosky wrote: »
    nutmegoreo wrote: »
    just_Tomek wrote: »
    I have a 2 week trip planned for Morocco that starts on March 16. If the WHO does not declare this a pandemic, which most likely will affect all travel, I am set on going. Be smart, take precautions and live. If it gets you it gets you. Its not like you can see this coming.

    What if they do, after you're already there?

    There’s a lot worse places to be stranded.
    @just_Tomek Enjoy!

    I agree but my concern's with potentially, being unable to return to work upon time. If/when, there's a travel suspension and/or quarantine. I assume that even though it'd be unfair that they still're at risk of being fired.

    Canadian labour laws generally tend to be better than the US.

    The only thing that I know of here's that an employer's unable to fire an employee, for jury duty but 1 did try & got arrested, after the judge noticed that the potential juror was upset.

    I tried to parse this and failed, but US laws about jury duty are not germane to the lack of sick leave protections for many US workers.

    It was my response to a reply concerning the fairness of an employee facing long term absenteeism beyond their control regardless of why, that's known here by law & that it should extend to protect others, within those unfortunate situations.

    Jury duty and sick leave are completely different situations.

    The relevance's that both might cause long term absenteeism beyond the control of the employee. If jury duty's considered a necessary protection against firing, it's fair to expect health be also & questionable, as to why it isn't.

    It's likely because jury duty has traditionally been seen as a citizen's duty to the state, while illness is a private matter.

    Illnesses that aren't dangerously contagious're private matters but when the government has to intervene, that's a public matter.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    bpetrosky wrote: »
    nutmegoreo wrote: »
    just_Tomek wrote: »
    I have a 2 week trip planned for Morocco that starts on March 16. If the WHO does not declare this a pandemic, which most likely will affect all travel, I am set on going. Be smart, take precautions and live. If it gets you it gets you. Its not like you can see this coming.

    What if they do, after you're already there?

    There’s a lot worse places to be stranded.
    @just_Tomek Enjoy!

    I agree but my concern's with potentially, being unable to return to work upon time. If/when, there's a travel suspension and/or quarantine. I assume that even though it'd be unfair that they still're at risk of being fired.

    Canadian labour laws generally tend to be better than the US.

    The only thing that I know of here's that an employer's unable to fire an employee, for jury duty but 1 did try & got arrested, after the judge noticed that the potential juror was upset.

    I tried to parse this and failed, but US laws about jury duty are not germane to the lack of sick leave protections for many US workers.

    It was my response to a reply concerning the fairness of an employee facing long term absenteeism beyond their control regardless of why, that's known here by law & that it should extend to protect others, within those unfortunate situations.

    Jury duty and sick leave are completely different situations.

    The relevance's that both might cause long term absenteeism beyond the control of the employee. If jury duty's considered a necessary protection against firing, it's fair to expect health be also & questionable, as to why it isn't.

    If a company has more than 50 employees, they also have to follow FMLA, which would protect workers from being fired in the event of a long term absence due to illness or taking care of a family member with illness. My work also provides short term disability as a provided benefit and long term disability if you buy in.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    bpetrosky wrote: »
    As far as preparing, I'm am stocking up on food sufficient for a couple weeks. Just enough in case there were a requirement to self-quarantine at home for a period of time. Not hording anything, but putting a couple extra packs of chicken and fish and frozen vegetables in the freezer, as well as the typical staples eggs, rice, bread, that keep well. There hasn't been any confirmed cases in my area yet, but I don't want to be behind the curve in case people get stupid once a few are reported.

    I just listened to Radio Boston with guest Dr. Leonard Marcus, founding Co-Director of the National Preparedness Leadership Initiative, a collaborative effort of HSPH and the Kennedy School of Government, developed in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the White House, and the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Defense.

    At the end of the show when asked to pass along one key message, he said, "The key message is: Get prepared to be quarantined... what would you do? Have the procedures, have the food, go through the drill with your friends and family.

    Host: And that means food and medications, right?

    Lenny: All of your essentials. ...imagine that you will be out of the loop for two weeks and prepare yourself for that eventuality.
  • DecadeDuchess
    DecadeDuchess Posts: 315 Member
    nutmegoreo wrote: »
    bpetrosky wrote: »
    nutmegoreo wrote: »
    just_Tomek wrote: »
    I have a 2 week trip planned for Morocco that starts on March 16. If the WHO does not declare this a pandemic, which most likely will affect all travel, I am set on going. Be smart, take precautions and live. If it gets you it gets you. Its not like you can see this coming.

    What if they do, after you're already there?

    There’s a lot worse places to be stranded.
    @just_Tomek Enjoy!

    I agree but my concern's with potentially, being unable to return to work upon time. If/when, there's a travel suspension and/or quarantine. I assume that even though it'd be unfair that they still're at risk of being fired.

    Canadian labour laws generally tend to be better than the US.

    The only thing that I know of here's that an employer's unable to fire an employee, for jury duty but 1 did try & got arrested, after the judge noticed that the potential juror was upset.

    I tried to parse this and failed, but US laws about jury duty are not germane to the lack of sick leave protections for many US workers.

    It was my response to a reply concerning the fairness of an employee facing long term absenteeism beyond their control regardless of why, that's known here by law & that it should extend to protect others, within those unfortunate situations.

    My comment about the labour laws was made because the person you were referring to is Canadian (according to his profile), he isn't likely facing unemployment should he be quarantined in another country. I took 2.5 weeks off work this year with pneumonia and didn't need to worry about being fired. Your stated worry of someone being fired because they may be quarantined in another country while on vacation is specific to where you are living. My only point was that, many countries protect employees in a way that this wouldn't be a worry for them.

    I understood that, that's why I put "here's" within my comment to differentiate them.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    nutmegoreo wrote: »
    bpetrosky wrote: »
    As far as preparing, I'm am stocking up on food sufficient for a couple weeks. Just enough in case there were a requirement to self-quarantine at home for a period of time. Not hording anything, but putting a couple extra packs of chicken and fish and frozen vegetables in the freezer, as well as the typical staples eggs, rice, bread, that keep well. There hasn't been any confirmed cases in my area yet, but I don't want to be behind the curve in case people get stupid once a few are reported.

    I tend to keep extra stuff around anyway, just in case I'm too lazy to go to the grocery store one week, I have plenty. I did pick up a few extra canned goods this last trip, but I can typically last about a month on what I have around the house. It won't be anything fancy, but if you're hungry enough anything will do. Although I do suddenly have a craving for some homemade rice pudding.

    I am never out of the ingredients needed for homemade rice pudding :)
  • ahoy_m8
    ahoy_m8 Posts: 3,053 Member
    jthillk wrote: »
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    jthillk wrote: »
    My family traveled to Oklahoma this weekend to visit other family (military) that was in the states from South Korea temporarily. Once we got to Oklahoma we discovered that virtually the entire city was without water for most of our trip. I feel like the Coronavirus is out to get me.

    @jthillk why no water?

    The city we were in apparently has a recurring problem with broken pipes, water leaks, low pressure, etc.

    What a sorry state of affairs. It's not like the USA is poor nation. It's that dependable potable running water, in some places, is not a priority. Evidently, in this town, fracking is. SMH. And you're right, all the hand washing admonitions are a little difficult to do without water, so the juxtaposition is timely.

    I have 3 kids in 2 colleges. Both schools ended their study abroad semesters in places with outbreaks and brought back those study abroad students last week. One kid is on spring break this week. The other 2 tell me some instructors are accelerating classes in case of disruption, and one course went online because the instructor's doctors advised him to stay away from campus. It's nowhere near the same as having to work sick or lose pay, but students also have motivation to go to class sick. Some classes move pretty quickly with pretty challenging material, and very few can afford to drop a class they've already paid for, especially if it is on the student's major track.