Coronavirus prep
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Nony_Mouse wrote: »Nony_Mouse wrote: »Meanwhile I'm mucking around trying to get my hair to curl...
(it's my apocalypse project #priorities)
I'm going to have to go for it and cut my bangs pretty soon. I did it routinely when I was younger but it's been years. I'm not optimistic.
I always cut my own. Start longer than you want them, so you have extra for straightening up. Also, if you have thick bangs, it can be easier to get straight if you do it in layers. And at worst, no one's gonna see them for a while!
Thanks! And yeah, if I botch it, it's not like the fashion police are coming for me 😄
Next tip, cut the bottom layer slightly shorter than the top, so it's not too blunt3 -
Nony_Mouse wrote: »This is the brief on income support measures for NZ: https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/govt-takes-significant-economic-decisions-nz-readies-alert-level-4-covid-19-fight
More detailed: https://workandincome.govt.nz/products/a-z-benefits/covid-19-support.html?utm_source=business.govt.nz&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=special_cv_edition#null
We (DH & I) are small business owners, and so glad for the wage subsidy on offer - we still are required to pay employees at least 80% of their usual wage, which is higher than the subsidy, but it's a slower drain on our resources, so I hope we can ride it out. Our biggest worry is paying for the business premises while in level 4 shutdown and zero income (I already lost my other job) - waiting to get info from the bank about options there.
We're really "happy" with the step up to level 4 though...just think it's necessary, and better to go hard now than wait till things get further out of hand. And jumping to 4 gives us certainty - felt like we were constantly waiting for the next announcement and recommendation. Now it's simple (if not easy): Stay Home!
DH could technically get called in for emergency jobs (a sparky with some essential services customers) but we would be turning away most things and really not keen at all. If it can possibly wait, it will.
I am feeling glad I went out yesterday morning and topped up at the supermarket before the announcement - I thought it was busy enough then. We are well provisioned for now. And after a lot of running around today stocked up our prescriptions too. Ready to go (or stay, to be more accurate).11 -
hello i'm back from my fight with the rona, let's never do that again. my dad's also doing much better. called into work this morning to tell them i'm on the mend only to have just caught my boss on his way out because surprise, they're shutting down for at least the next two weeks. i work for a school district, and the state superintendent wants to shut down school for the rest of the year. just hoping like hell that the district still needs people to run routine maintenance while the kids are out. i was so craving having at least a bit of my routine back, now i'm not sure when i'll get it back, or if.
my fiance's job's in the air too. jewelry's not exactly in high demand these days. i'm trying to be light about it and joke with them that they're gonna have to open back up in a few months once all the post-quarantine shotgun weddings are on but they're really devastated, and frankly as much as i'm trying to hold it together, i am too. precarity and being a giant humanoid ball of anxiety don't mix right, and there's no way, absolutely no way in hell that things just fall right back into their normal places once this deescalates. the unemployment numbers and predictions coming out right now alone are as unfathomable to me as a billion dollars, absolutely bone-chilling.23 -
JustSomeEm wrote: »Thanks - I could have googled, I guess. I just read the release, and he is still allowing restaurants to provide take-out/delivery services, along with a whole host of other businesses... There are so many exceptions that it doesn't seem as if as many are affected as could be...
Apparently American officials have decided to "split the difference," by keeping open what businesses they can while keeping home as many people as they can--balancing economic and medical concerns. I guess only time will tell if that strategy is worthwhile. I think it gives folks a mixed message and is not completely consistent with CDC recommendations. But IF it works, then the economic impact will be worth it. I don't know that the economic benefit is worth risking more lives, though.
It's not just about mitigating the economic impact. It's about lessening social anxiety and ensuring a certain level of "buy-in" from the public. If people couldn't get food or prescriptions filled (or toilet paper!) in a legitimate way, some would resort to illegitimate means, and many, many more would increase political pressure just to call off all restrictions. A brief contact between a customer and a cashier or delivery person is apparently unlikely to be a point of contagion, according to what I have read from medical experts (assuming nobody is sneezing or coughing or spit talking). It's when an infected person spends 10 or 15 minutes talking to somebody that the amount of virus transferred starts to become dangerous, apparently.
It would have been much better to shut everything down when the first cases occurred, but even if there had been someone at the helm who could understand that known cases are running at least two weeks behind infections, and how fast the doubling rate is, it probably wouldn't have mattered, because they wouldn't have been able to convince a meaningful segment of the population to go along with it until enough cases, and a few deaths, started getting them worried.16 -
kshama2001 wrote: »@BarbaraHelen2013 I've been wanting to pull out and reread The Stand too! I just finished a few Robin Cook (medical thrillers) though they weren't related to an outbreak.
I downloaded a bunch of Robin Cook thrillers from my library last week. I love love love being able to get library books for my kindle. (Digital books can also be read on a computer - no ebook device required.)
My library is closed now - people without library cards can check to see if they can get these remotely. Library systems are a fabulous resource. I've been using Overdrive for 10 years, but apparently there are all these other services as well:
Your library is committed to keeping you entertained and informed throughout this difficult time. Here
are just some of the great resources we offer online:
● Hoopla – Download/stream music, movies, ebooks, audiobooks, and comics
● Overdrive – Download ebooks and audiobooks
● Kanopy- Start watching the Criterion Collection, The Great Courses, Sundance and Oscar winning
films and documentaries.
● RBDigital – Download magazines
● ODILO – Foreign Language e-books in Spanish, French, Portuguese and Russian
● Creativebug – Arts and Crafts classes for all skill levels. Class topics include: Art and
Design, Knitting and Crochet, Sewing and Quilting, Papercrafts, Jewelry Making, Food
and Home Decor, Holiday and Party Ideas, and Crafts for Kids
● Freegal Music - Download music and music videos from your computer or mobile device.
All you need is your library card!
Wow, I didn't know about the majority of this, thank you! I've been decluttering and the hardest thing to get rid of is books, I've been rereading stuff and then donating it to the library for their friends-of-the-library program (left with a few too!) so my Kindle's been resting. I met with a career coach at the library the other week and there's also resources for making and having your resume reviewed among other things. I wonder if this means the two cookbooks I checked out don't need to be returned next week!?
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spiriteagle99 wrote: »lynn_glenmont wrote: »
I went out both Saturday and Sunday -- I had errands, but it had the feel of what in my youth was called "going for a Sunday drive," where you piled into the car and just drove someplace, maybe looking at houses or flowers or scenery in a more rural area ... No need to have human contact that could spread a virus just because you get in your car for a drive.
Generally the roads are a lot less busy around here. However, yesterday I went for a run in the state forest. There's a gravel road that leads back into the mountains. There's not much to see but trees and a small creek, and it seems mostly to be a hunting/fishing area in season. Normally when I run there, I'll see 1 or 2 cars an hour. Yesteday I saw 18 during my 8 mile run. Nobody on foot, though there were a couple of cars parked there, so presumably someone was running or biking. I just never saw them. I figured it would be a lot less populated than the state park or running in town. I was right.
Re the bolded, I've noticed that where I am too. Normally my house street is quite busy throughout the day as it's a main thoroughfare for multiple subdivisions. I walked out to retrieve our trashcan this morning, and there wasn't a single car as far as I could see in either direction. It was a little eerie.
I had an 8 a.m. appointment to give blood today at a location that normally would have easily been 40 minutes away under "good" rush hour conditions, and it barely took me 20 minutes to get there today. And we weren't even under statewide shutdown of non-essential businesses yet at that point.4 -
amusedmonkey wrote: »The silver lining, although at a great cost, is that the whole world will be prepared for anything similar in the future. We'll know in hindsight what strategies work best.
I don't share your faith in the lasting value of the lesson. It's not like the lessons of the 1918 influenza led to our being prepared this time around.14 -
Report from WBUR's Here and Now program, broadcast on US National Public Radio (NPR):
https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2020/03/23/malaria-drug-shortage-coronavirus
Summary: Hydroxycholoquine (brand name Plaquenil) is an anti-malaria drug being tested for potential use against COVID-19/coronavirus. CDC sounds hopeful, but says proof is needed. US President has touted the drug in press conference as "a tremendous breakthrough" and "a game changer".
The drug is also important for treatment of people with other conditions, including autoimmune conditions such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.
In some areas, demand has risen to the point where supplies are challenging to get, for people with the relevant health conditions who routinely need them.
Some of the increased use is potentially health professionals understandably doing anything possible (even if unproven) to avoid contagion in a context of inadequate protective equipment, but speculative over-prescription and hoarding are also suspected.
I'm trying really hard here to keep this post a simple factual summary, in light of the MFP community guidelines against political content. I think the core issue would be of common interest, but especially so to those who currently depend on hydroxychloroquine prescriptions.
I am really upset by this because my grandmother is one of those who is prescribed hydroxychloroquine for a medical reason. Now she has yet one more thing to worry about, in addition to being in a very high risk group.
It's unbelievably irresponsible to tout that something might be helpful with only anecdotal evidence - both for those who currently rely on the medication and those who might be tempted to take it because of what-ifs.
ETA: just in case it's not clear, I'm not saying Ann is irresponsible for sharing.
The New York Times has reported a case of a couple who decided to self-medicate with some sort aquarium fish anti-fungal that contained hydroxycholoquine (even though they hadn't been diagnosed with covid 19). One of them died, and the other was in the hospital but apparently will recover.0 -
lynn_glenmont wrote: »amusedmonkey wrote: »The silver lining, although at a great cost, is that the whole world will be prepared for anything similar in the future. We'll know in hindsight what strategies work best.
I don't share your faith in the lasting value of the lesson. It's not like the lessons of the 1918 influenza led to our being prepared this time around.
1918 was a different time with different technologies and economies. The world is more connected now and things are more heavily documented.7 -
cosmiqrecovery wrote: »hello i'm back from my fight with the rona, let's never do that again. my dad's also doing much better. called into work this morning to tell them i'm on the mend only to have just caught my boss on his way out because surprise, they're shutting down for at least the next two weeks. i work for a school district, and the state superintendent wants to shut down school for the rest of the year. just hoping like hell that the district still needs people to run routine maintenance while the kids are out. i was so craving having at least a bit of my routine back, now i'm not sure when i'll get it back, or if.
my fiance's job's in the air too. jewelry's not exactly in high demand these days. i'm trying to be light about it and joke with them that they're gonna have to open back up in a few months once all the post-quarantine shotgun weddings are on but they're really devastated, and frankly as much as i'm trying to hold it together, i am too. precarity and being a giant humanoid ball of anxiety don't mix right, and there's no way, absolutely no way in hell that things just fall right back into their normal places once this deescalates. the unemployment numbers and predictions coming out right now alone are as unfathomable to me as a billion dollars, absolutely bone-chilling.
Welcome back, @cosmiqrecovery . Glad you are feeling better!4 -
bmeadows380 wrote: »bmeadows380 wrote: »...
I ran some math numbers for my mother yesterday which I hope she understood and took to heart: if you have 50% of the some 330 million people in the US get this, with 10% of that number being hospitalized for serious cases, you have some 16.5 million people needing extreme care. If only 1% of those people die from this, that's still 165,000 people. And yet there are still some people who claim this isn't any worse than the flu!...
My understanding is NOT that 1% of people who are hospitalized die. It's 1% of people who get infected will die. So if you run your numbers again, if half the people get it, then 1% of that half dies = 1,650,000. That's 10 times as many.
maybe so, but that just means my estimate was extremely conservative; in any case, the big question is whether or not my mother took me seriously. My family typically dismisses me as a "know it all" who don't know what she's talking about.......like when I tried to explain to my mother that baldness does not pass through from the mother's side of the family as that's not how genes work. She insists though that because her father had a full head of hair, that my brother will never need to worry about going bald because "it comes from the mother's side". *sigh*
Um, there absolutely are recessive traits passed on the X chromosome, and since men only get an X chromosome from their mother, the trait passes from the mother's side of the family to her sons, e.g., color blindness. So, yes, that is one way that genes work. A quick Google search suggests that baldness is controlled by multiple genes, so it's probably not straight-forward.
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amusedmonkey wrote: »lynn_glenmont wrote: »amusedmonkey wrote: »The silver lining, although at a great cost, is that the whole world will be prepared for anything similar in the future. We'll know in hindsight what strategies work best.
I don't share your faith in the lasting value of the lesson. It's not like the lessons of the 1918 influenza led to our being prepared this time around.
1918 was a different time with different technologies and economies. The world is more connected now and things are more heavily documented.
What are you saying? 1918 heavily transformed the way we go about things now. We have discovered viruses since then. There has been major advancements in public policy, advancements in research and technology of antibiotics and vaccines as well as the role of germs and bacteria in our everyday life.
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ataleforthetimebeing wrote: »amusedmonkey wrote: »lynn_glenmont wrote: »amusedmonkey wrote: »The silver lining, although at a great cost, is that the whole world will be prepared for anything similar in the future. We'll know in hindsight what strategies work best.
I don't share your faith in the lasting value of the lesson. It's not like the lessons of the 1918 influenza led to our being prepared this time around.
1918 was a different time with different technologies and economies. The world is more connected now and things are more heavily documented.
What are you saying? 1918 heavily transformed the way we go about things now. We have discovered viruses since then. There has been major advancements in public policy, advancements in research and technology of antibiotics and vaccines as well as the role of germs and bacteria in our everyday life.
What I'm saying is that this pandemic will have a major impact on the world's readiness for the next one, including the best ways to balance slowing down the spread and the impact on modern economy, just like other modern (smaller scale) pandemics taught us to start working on developing a vaccine right away. We have not had a modern pandemic with this kind of spread before, and there will be valuable lessons to learn.8 -
lynn_glenmont wrote: »bmeadows380 wrote: »bmeadows380 wrote: »...
I ran some math numbers for my mother yesterday which I hope she understood and took to heart: if you have 50% of the some 330 million people in the US get this, with 10% of that number being hospitalized for serious cases, you have some 16.5 million people needing extreme care. If only 1% of those people die from this, that's still 165,000 people. And yet there are still some people who claim this isn't any worse than the flu!...
My understanding is NOT that 1% of people who are hospitalized die. It's 1% of people who get infected will die. So if you run your numbers again, if half the people get it, then 1% of that half dies = 1,650,000. That's 10 times as many.
maybe so, but that just means my estimate was extremely conservative; in any case, the big question is whether or not my mother took me seriously. My family typically dismisses me as a "know it all" who don't know what she's talking about.......like when I tried to explain to my mother that baldness does not pass through from the mother's side of the family as that's not how genes work. She insists though that because her father had a full head of hair, that my brother will never need to worry about going bald because "it comes from the mother's side". *sigh*
Um, there absolutely are recessive traits passed on the X chromosome, and since men only get an X chromosome from their mother, the trait passes from the mother's side of the family to her sons, e.g., color blindness. So, yes, that is one way that genes work. A quick Google search suggests that baldness is controlled by multiple genes, so it's probably not straight-forward.
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snowflake954 wrote: »missysippy930 wrote: »A question for states that have shelter in place in effect, ie: California, if people are going to beaches, are arrests being made for violations? Many, maybe all, states have only essential businesses open, with no formal, shelter in place, mandate. What’s the difference?
On the bright side, no one probably wants to visit beaches here for at least 6-8 weeks at the earliest, when it will be warm enough.
No. At least not in the Manhattan Beach/Hermosa Beach/Redondo Beach area. I don't think people should be arrested, but I do think maybe the police who drive by routinely on the bike path may want to occasionally issue a verbal reminder to some of the larger groups. Or maybe one of the lifeguards could walk the 3 feet from the big lifeguard station and suggest to the 50 or so people gathered around the building with their gym equipment that they need to separate a few feet from each other.
It's a little cold and rainy still so that is keeping the crowds down.
We have drones patrolling some of our beaches in Italy now. They hover over people and tell them to distance and that they are supposed to be at home.
While I understand and agree with the action, the mental image of that is just creepy as *kitten*.
We have the same drones in Belgium, in large parks in the capital and on beaches in coastal areas. It is Big Brother to the extreme and indeed very scary.
First time offenders get a warning, the second time the fines can go up to 4.000€ (roughly 4.200 USD) and a 3 month jail time.7 -
If you really want nightmares, re-read Edgar Allen Poe's short story "The Masque of the Red Death". 😄
I've been thinking about that off and on since this started. Also the Decameron. Both seem to parallel my current situation of being at home supposedly hiding from the potential contagion. The Masque of the Red Death is, of course, much creepier given the ending.3 -
bmeadows380 wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »SisterSue, you get a 10++ for your very thoughtful action of offering freebies to those who need it!!
I've stuck with my usual once a week shopping, am a little ahead on a couple things, mainly for my dogs. But am finding stores have little to none of: paper products, cleaners, and bread. I haven't been able to get one loaf of bread in 10 days now. Not even frozen bread dough. I'll have to resort to homemade but I remember trying that a couple times, years and years ago.
Lots of great recipes and tips for making bread in this thread! https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10454582/so-i-was-going-to-bake-my-first-bread/p1
All you need is flour, water, salt, and yeast
I prefer the Dutch oven method these days, but I have definitely made good bread in regular bread pans, and flatbread, and rolls...
Here's a fabulous bread book: Flour Water Salt Yeast: The Fundamentals of Artisan Bread and Pizza
Under normal circumstances I would suggest seeing if your library system has it (mine does) but likely your library is now closed
Speaking of bread: I experimented with making my own homemade yogurt this weekend, and had decent results on the second try - 1/2 gallon of milk produced 2 cups of yogurt and about a quart jar and a half of whey - course there was some yogurt sediment in my whey jars that filtered through with the whey; I'm not sure how to stop that.
If you happen to have cheese cloth, multiple layers will help keep that from happening. If not, something like a pillow-case under whatever you're using to strain the yogurt. When I strain mine I use a colander, place a folded pillow case (clean, obviously) inside, on top of the pillow case I place layers of cheese cloth, then put the yogurt in. I have recently started to get everything damp before I put the yogurt in to strain in an attempt to keep the cloth from soaking up all the whey. I have no idea if it actually works, but it makes me feel better.
And agreed - bread products made with whey instead of milk are lighter and fluffier and taste as if they are made with butter milk. Yum! A friend of mine used whey recently to make homemade sour dough bread... I need to get her recipe.4 -
bmeadows380 wrote: »...
I ran some math numbers for my mother yesterday which I hope she understood and took to heart: if you have 50% of the some 330 million people in the US get this, with 10% of that number being hospitalized for serious cases, you have some 16.5 million people needing extreme care. If only 1% of those people die from this, that's still 165,000 people. And yet there are still some people who claim this isn't any worse than the flu!...
My understanding is NOT that 1% of people who are hospitalized die. It's 1% of people who get infected will die. So if you run your numbers again, if half the people get it, then 1% of that half dies = 1,650,000. That's 10 times as many.
It doesn't really work that way either. We do not know the true percent of fatalities because we have no idea how many people are infected. It could be that some people are simply carriers and will develop no symptoms at all.
In addition we shouldn't view this in a vacuum. In the US something like a half million people have died since Jan 1 already from every cause including other diseases. How many people has the virus saved because of a greater attention to hand washing? They were admitted to the hospital and something even more life threatening than the virus was found? They were not on the street getting into car accidents? The examples could go on for ever. Everything ripples outward.
Of course it works the other way too. How many people will die because all routine medical check-ups are being delayed? How many people will die because they were at home alone instead of at work where a co-worker would have called 911? How many ingested an aquarium cleaner?
At the stage we are now I am not sure if there is a way to know if statistically more or less people have died since the virus arrived. It sounds like big numbers on the news but someone dies in the world every second.
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kshama2001 wrote: »SisterSue, you get a 10++ for your very thoughtful action of offering freebies to those who need it!!
I've stuck with my usual once a week shopping, am a little ahead on a couple things, mainly for my dogs. But am finding stores have little to none of: paper products, cleaners, and bread. I haven't been able to get one loaf of bread in 10 days now. Not even frozen bread dough. I'll have to resort to homemade but I remember trying that a couple times, years and years ago.
Lots of great recipes and tips for making bread in this thread! https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10454582/so-i-was-going-to-bake-my-first-bread/p1
All you need is flour, water, salt, and yeast
I prefer the Dutch oven method these days, but I have definitely made good bread in regular bread pans, and flatbread, and rolls...
Here's a fabulous bread book: Flour Water Salt Yeast: The Fundamentals of Artisan Bread and Pizza
Under normal circumstances I would suggest seeing if your library system has it (mine does) but likely your library is now closed
Thank you for sharing that. I talked with 1 of my dds last night, she's doing sourdough starter so I looked more into that online(you only need flour and water)and came across a site called DIYNatural.com. Wonderful site for lots of make it yourself ideas, including maple syrup marshmallows. Lol
My library is closed now. But they have a plethora of online material so will definitely check into all they have to offer.1 -
Nony_Mouse wrote: »cosmiqrecovery wrote: »hello i'm back from my fight with the rona, let's never do that again. my dad's also doing much better. called into work this morning to tell them i'm on the mend only to have just caught my boss on his way out because surprise, they're shutting down for at least the next two weeks. i work for a school district, and the state superintendent wants to shut down school for the rest of the year. just hoping like hell that the district still needs people to run routine maintenance while the kids are out. i was so craving having at least a bit of my routine back, now i'm not sure when i'll get it back, or if.
my fiance's job's in the air too. jewelry's not exactly in high demand these days. i'm trying to be light about it and joke with them that they're gonna have to open back up in a few months once all the post-quarantine shotgun weddings are on but they're really devastated, and frankly as much as i'm trying to hold it together, i am too. precarity and being a giant humanoid ball of anxiety don't mix right, and there's no way, absolutely no way in hell that things just fall right back into their normal places once this deescalates. the unemployment numbers and predictions coming out right now alone are as unfathomable to me as a billion dollars, absolutely bone-chilling.
Welcome back, @cosmiqrecovery . Glad you are feeling better!
Yes, welcome back!! Hope you and the rest of your family recover in all ways!! It's a scary time, to be sure.
Personally, I think we need to hear more from people who have been there and are on the mend. All we've been hearing lately is how devastating and deadly this illness is, and I get that. Truly, I do. But somewhere, we need a 'light at the end of the tunnel' so to speak, to hang onto some hope, right?? I saw a headline that said 'seeing the faces of Covid-19'. So, thinking it was going to talk about survivors I clicked on it. But no, just the opposite, it told about people who'd died. *I* personally need to read the stories of survivors and know there is hope. It's hard to find a positive spin on much of anything lately.
And I cannot even stand to think of the stock market atm. My dh is almost 69, working at the local high school and I know, would like to retire. But we've lost about 1/5 of our retirement fund in the past month and have no clue what to do. I'm scared, to say the least, but still try to remain upbeat and carry on, figuring we'll adapt and everybody's in the same boat, plus it could be so so much worse. He's turned into quite the grumpy curmudgeon lately.8
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