Oh for fuck's sake....
Oh for fuck's sake....
Yeah, I've been sick as hell since Tuesday, and you just can't help wondering if you've got it. But I probably don't cause I don't have a fever, and it sounds like that's one of the few symptoms that's pretty consistent across all cases. I think I read somewhere around 90% of cases get a fever. But goddamn, this is an absolute motherfucker of a cough. I'm completely raw at this point. It hurts so bad, I swear, it's like someone's slitting my throat every time I cough.
Just to be safe, I'm 100% self-quarantined now. My life has become so strange, like some crazy hermit or something. It's weird cause I'm pretty introverted and reclusive by nature, but fuck, I never wanted it to be like this.
I'm really surprised that Washington/Seattle hasn't taken measures like NY or CA has with complete lockdown. Seattle was, at one point, the epicentre of the virus in the USA. Now that seems to be NYC, but Seattle is still #2 in the country. More drastic measures need to be taken.
It's sad to see people still congregating in groups. I only see it getting worse in the months to come as more sunny/warm days approach.
Couple pages back there was talk and videos of idiots in Miami partying and on the beach...
Here is one of them that caught it. 25 yr old from Toronto. Went to Miami for spring break and here is his story:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toron...RV3-rN9Hp5ZDk8
Bet those kids in that video saying "if I catch it, I catch it" will be eating their words soon...
You're supposed to be a hermit right now.
I saw a Dr. expert on television the other day who said that the best way to keep this virus from spreading is if everyone acted like they had it.
Because the reality is the vast majority of people spreading it are actually totally asymptomatic. No fever, no nothing, they feel fantastic, but they're REALLY contagious.
Which is why these vids of people using thermometers on everybody in China are so damned stupid.
If everybody acts like they "have" it and if everyone stays away from everybody, we'd all keep the spread of this virus wayyyyy down.
For what it's worth:
With a normal "flu," you feel great one day and the next day you wake up and feel like you got hit by a truck. TERRIBLE sore throat, mostly irritation from coughing so much, mucus, etc.
This isn't a normal flu. Experts are saying that this comes on very gradually. See this.
At its height if you progress to the worst-case-scenario: A REALLY terrible pneumonia.
Oh, and if you happen to get this, don't take Ibuprofen.
They think they're pretty close to having a test that can tell if you ALREADY HAD IT.
This way, they can try to determine if you've developed an IMMUNITY. Which is important, because there was a second wave of the Spanish Flu in 1918 that killed even more people than the first wave.
Last edited by allegro; 03-22-2020 at 03:40 PM.
Rand Paul tested positive.
I'm avoiding bad Karma and not saying anything out loud.
saw this posted:
Rand Paul has coronavirus. Or vice versa.
Okay, but here's the thing I don't really understand about what we're doing. If they literally had every single person do a 100% lockdown worldwide, they could probably suffocate this thing and obliterate it completely. But realistically that's just not going to happen. There's no way to get 100% of the population to lockdown for a whole month. So instead we're just sort of doing this "slow it down/flatten the curve" thing, but what exactly does that accomplish if ultimately the virus is still out there spreading? I get that it prevents the hospitals from being overwhelmed in that moment, which helps save lives, and that's great, but beyond that I feel like we're just delaying the inevitable.
Let's say we all shelter in place for 3 months and successfully slow the curve enough so that the cases in the US drop to a tiny fraction of what they once were. Then what? Does everyone come out of lockdown mode and resume life as usual? Because if the virus is not 100% eradicated, it'll spread once again. The whole thing about COVID-19 that's so scary is just how easy it is for it to spread at a fast rate. So that tiny fraction that we've worked so hard to get down to will just go right back to being a full-blown outbreak again, and all of our shelter-in-place efforts will have been for nothing. Until this thing is 100% gone, either through a vaccine or whatever, I don't see how we'll ever have normal life again.
Exactly! It allows us breathing room (no pun intended) to ramp up our medical and hospital supplies, decrease deaths, etc. And, as I said, to see if those who already had the virus developed an immunity and, if so, if that immunity is valuable in a mutation, because this thing will likely mutate.
The more we buy us time and don’t completely overload our hospital system, the more we can beef up our system, supplies. staff, learn about the virus, treatment, develop more treatments, fast-track vaccines, etc. We can’t do any of that if the proverbial ship is sinking.
Illinois Governor Pritzker is begging retired healthcare workers to return to work:
https://abc7chicago.com/society/come...lines/6038154/
Last edited by allegro; 03-22-2020 at 04:11 PM.
it doesn't make sense to ask for retired folks to help, they're the ones who age wise are the highest at risk. I understand we need all hands on deck...but that's almost like a death sentence for some of them.
Me either, and that scares me... I don''t want to live this anti-social/social distancing/disinfecting the house/never leaving/no more concerts/shitty hours/all businesses closed lifestyle for the next 2 years (or longer), the timeline of this just keeps getting scarier and scarier. This is not a life to wish on anybody. Really gives you a newfound appreciation on life if/when this shit does pass. I honestly hope this isn't the new "norm" for the world.
I am so fucking sick of this shit.
I believe I can see the future.
You fucking LOVE TO SEE IT.
This current crisis will pass. But it seems certain that there will be long lasting changes to society as a result. Exactly what those changes will be is hard to predict. After 911 we ended up with increased security screenings, increased surveillance, and various other stuff. After the Tylenol tampering in '82 we ended up with tamper resistant packaging for damn near everything. I remember life before everything imaginable was sealed with annoying tamper proof seals.
Within a few months, it seems likely that treatments will become available, a portion of the population will have immunity, and rapid spread of the virus will be under control. But I doubt life will just return to normal, or the way it was before this pandemic. How the future unfolds depends upon what extent we are all able to come together as a society. Or what extent we are unable to come together, and social order simply fails.
I am doing what I can to stay positive, and be helpful to others. I hope others have the same mindset!
Today my partner randomly called and said to come outside and he brought me a big box of shelf stable food and paper towels and TOILET PAPER! I had been trying to find toilet paper, unsuccessfully, since the 12th - didn't want to tell him that I lucked out on finding it on Amazon Fresh AND finding a Tuesday delivery slot at like 4:30 this morning.
But it was really fucking weird, after nine days of having no contact with any people at all to have him drive an hour and a half, be a few feet away from me, and not be able to touch him or hug him or anything. I think I was handling everything relatively well until that moment when he walked away after chatting for a few minutes. He has kids and is a bit older, so logically I know it is not worth the risk, but that was rough.
I imagine the test results for the person I had contact with will be back tomorrow. Or at least I fucking hope.
Cuomo says we need to be prepared for months of this - day 9 in isolation and I got emotional already!
There's a part of me that thinks it will go on for about a year or so. It will be tough coming out of it once it's over. A couple weeks ago, before things started to get crazy I was randomly watching videos of old timers talking about living through the Great Depression. Now my thought is: "this will be me in a few decades" .
The cynical side of me can already picture a voice over in a post-apocalyptic movie. "When the virus first started, there was relative peace. People had virtual meetings, virtual happy hours. Others had concerts online. Some even sang on their balconies together. But after a few months, the unrest really started to kick in. The government was stalling on putting money into the unemployed peoples hands. Riots started. Doctors said the virus cannot be controlled. Worse, it came back as a different strand the next year."
...except it isn't a movie. I never, ever, ever want that to happen.
I know this might sound morbid, but I'm kind of grateful my grandmother passed in the fall. She was in a home and couldn't really talk anymore, so this would have meant the severing of all communication with her. She would be utterly alone, except for a skeleton crew of nursing staff, at the end. I don't know how I would have dealt with that, and I know it would have absolutely destroyed her kids.
For some reason today I'm freaking out. Reading about the severe cases in young people...
I live with my mom, and I'm just worried about both of us. She's 66. I also read a report that people with type A blood are at a higher risk of infection, and we're both type A. I wish I could be more logical, but it's killing me today.
I have to take a pre-employment drug test tomorrow, and I really wish I didn't have to. At least I can sit in my car until they text me to come into the center. I just hope people stay the hell away from me.
Not all retired medical staff is “old” and the healthcare system is SO short-staffed, we don’t have a CHOICE. There’s already a shortage of healthcare staff, and a huge percentage of doctors and nurses are already over 50 (many doctors in their 60s and 70s).
Retirement age is a death sentence only if they have underlying conditions and don’t have proper protection. There are younger people at higher risk of being hospitalized or dying (with obesity, Type 2 diabetes, smokers). The HC system is going to be overwhelmed. They will have no choice. I guess they are going to let medical STUDENTS work.
Last edited by allegro; 03-22-2020 at 10:55 PM.
YES! Two different kinds, even! So now I'm going to be one of those assholes who has like... 40 rolls.
So the TP started popping up on Amazon Fresh around midnight. I put some in my cart along with some other canned/dry items and then of course when I got to checkout, it said there were no delivery spots. But I was up all night writing a paper so I'd go back every 30 minutes or so and refresh the checkout screen. At about 4:30 this morning, a whole bunch of windows for Tuesday appeared! Not sure if that is the typical time they open up or what.
My advice is to load your cart up with everything else you want, so if/when the universe aligns and there is TP AND a delivery window, you're like 5 clicks away from making it yours!
So the Dollar General here, (which is sort of like a tiny wal mart,) is getting trucks on thursdays. Then they close until 2, and then, people are waiting outside, with carts, to rush in.
I did it on Thursday.
You are only allowed 3 4-packs of toilet paper, and three flats of bottled water, and you have to be there to run in and get it, like it's a goddamned game show or something.
This is in a town of 2000.
The shelves were pretty damn bare at the nearest walmart on Monday, which is in a town of maybe 10,000, 40 miles away. There was no tp, and the only bottled water was those individual VOSS things: the cylindrical ones.
I got a bunch of very strange pastas, and hot dogs: no shortage of hot dogs, among other sort of unusual groceries.
I live in one of the most remote parts of the country- this area used to be called "No Man's Land."
And yeah, it's definitely affecting us here, now- the shortages I mean. I DID get 24 rolls from a truck stop that monday, RIGHT before the shortages really started affecting our tiny town.
Oh, and we also have a tiny grocery store here, whose business model seems to be price gouging people who don't want to drive to a bigger town, and exists in every tiny little town around here, but ANYWAY:
You can only get two of each item there, now, no matter what it is
I've been watching the daily US task force shit show. Most of them spend 5 minutes kissing Trump's ass before saying anything except for the little doctor from NIH. He's calling things as he sees them even if he contradicts Trump, Pence, etc.
He was notably absent on Sunday. Anyway, they are up there saying that testing isn't that important. It's a total smoke screen to try & cover up the fuck ups leading up to this. The WHO says testing is the most important thing we can do & sadly I trust them more than the CDC or my government at this point. I should say federal government. My governor, Jay Inslee Washington, is doing a fine job in the face of extreme circumstances. I hope the propaganda that isn't true stops soon & we just stick to the facts of the situation. I have my doubts that it will happen though. Sorry for the rant. Not feeling well at all & am on pins & needles waiting for my test results. Should have them today or tomorrow. Probably Tuesday. In the meantime, I've been taken off my anti inflammatory medicine. As you've probably heard, ibuprofen & the virus don't play nice together. My doctor says there may be issue with other meds of that type, especially if there is a steroid component involved. The issue is being tested & studied now. I hope every one is safe & well. Take care.