OT: The Coronavirus thread (merged thread)

[RowdyFan]

We have been baking our own bread for several years. We're down to 1/2 bag of bread flour and no yeast.

I have bulk yeast I can share. I got my flours at Fiddleheads. PM me. I'm headed to Fiddleheads on Friday, April 3rd.

 

[Puppy Love]

I hope the stores make sure the shelves are stocked for the first responders. When they get off their shifts they may not have options to shop around, nor the time.

In my immediate family, I have a volunteer EMT (local fire department), a registered nurse, a physical therapist, and a registered dietitian. None of us can see each other because of the risk of infection. It is terrifying and we’re really cut out as much contact with other people as possible. I got groceries from Instacart yesterday, a splurge I would never otherwise consider. It felt slightly unethical because it means someone else is going to the grocery store and taking a risk. I gave a huge tip but even then it still feels wrong.

 

[Geew1992]

My mom, 75, is working at rite aid. They are the only store in the area that hasn’t adjusted their hours. Open 8am-10pm. They haven’t put up the glass either. She said people are so rude. Yelling at her because they don’t have anything... No paper towels, toilet paper, hand sanitizer, Lysol. And it’s “all her fault”. She had a rough day yesterday. Was almost in tears.

My daughter works at CVS in Texas. Although their hours are adjusted, she said people are ridiculous and rude!

 

[Ozimoto]

I read about grocery stores and decided to try pick-up on Friday. I'll wipe everything down as I unpack.

I'm concerned that the spring breakers who flocked to beaches 2 weeks ago will be carrying Covid-19 back to their homes. It could be like another Mardi Gras hot spot, but spread around. Approximately 15% of the population still thinks this is a hoax and distancing is unnecessary. We need to convince them.

Outside Baltimore, a home for seniors has 95 residents. 77 have tested positive so far. At least 5 have died. Places like that are highly, highly vulnerable.

My wife works for an assisted living community and is very familiar with the incident that you are referring to outside of Baltimore. Just got a notification that another nursing home has had an outbreak. Seven residents and one staff member so far. Going to get much worse before it gets better. Maryland officials say we are still two weeks away from the "surge."

Prepare for combat style triage if things get too of hand.

 

[Ozimoto]

My wife works for an assisted living community and is very familiar with the incident that you are referring to outside of Baltimore. Just got a notification that another nursing home has had an outbreak. Seven residents and one staff member so far. Going to get much worse before it gets better. Maryland officials say we are still two weeks away from the "surge."

Prepare for combat style triage if things get too out of hand.

 

[Ozimoto]

A high school buddy of mine who is an old school radio journalist posted this essay on his Facebook page. Thought provoking and hopefully more people are like him and not like the people who are losing their minds and sense of civility in this crisis.

"The last time Garrett County was under a State of Emergency, my friend Brad Frantz asked me to say a few words of inspiration to a FEMA team, MEMA reps, and locals who were at the end of a sleepless week of the Hurricane Sandy Snow Disaster.

Back then, we knew the snow would melt, and we would get back to normal in a few weeks. There were thousands of people without electricity, because the storm had laid waste to hundreds of power poles. You may remember all of those utility trucks descending on our county and rebuilding our power grid. I recall the pride I felt when I heard my neighbors were bringing those workers gloves and scarves to keep them warm.

That's what we need right now. We need to do our part to make certain we protect as many people as we can. We need to be creative in what is going to be a very restricted reality for the next month, and maybe beyond. We have to avoid the temptation to drive each other crazy, both within a cramped house, and on social media.

Our hurdle is one we haven't faced before.

May I recommend you spend the time learning about yourself? All of us are individuals who have different qualities, varied philosophies, and have many unique experiences. In addition to our upbringing, those events have shaped who we are, and will very definitely determine where we are going.

Once you have determined who you are, appreciate who you are. And then take that appreciation of self and realize we, as a group of unique people, have an opportunity to do something truly remarkable, but only if we take all of our individuality and temper it for as long as it takes, for the benefit of the greater good.

Each of us has the chance to make a difference. Making a difference means taking advantage of an opportunity. That's what we have here. An opportunity. But we have to do it as a whole. Whole families. Whole neighborhoods. Whole businesses. Whole congregations. Whole towns. Whole counties. Whole regions. Whole states.

The whole nation.

Realize that you may be the one link that could determine if someone else continues on, or falls to the disease! While the life you save could, indeed, be your own, that life may also belong to someone's grandparent, parent, brother, sister, child or friend.

"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. Or the one..."

Tonight, I'm thinking of those who are in the fight for their lives, and the families who cannot even be there to lend moral support. I'm thinking of those who have died without the peace of mind that their community would be there to support their families with a large turnout, or warm embraces.

I'm thinking of my friend Charlie Gischlar. Charlie is a highly effective and respected communications professional, who moved from the Maryland State Highway Administration to the Maryland Department of Health just in time for this nightmare.

I'm also thinking of those medical professionals, police, fire and EMS. All of those folks who are taking it on the chin and fighting this virus with all they have.

Can they count on you?

We are facing very tough times, but each of us has the chance to help limit the damage. But I cannot do it without you, and you cannot do it without me.

I pledge my best effort. Can I count on you?"

 

[Kaizen]

April 1, 2020 at 5:17 p.m. PDT
This story has been updated.
The Treasury announced late Wednesday that Social Security beneficiaries who typically do not file a tax return will automatically get the $1,200 payment.

The announcement is a reversal from earlier in the week when the Internal Revenue Service said everyone would need to file some sort of tax return in order to qualify for the payments. Democrats and some Republicans criticized the IRS for requiring so many extra hurdles for this vulnerable population to get aid when the government already has their information on file.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/04/01/bailout-checks-social-security/

 

[bluedevil]

In florida now the price of ground beef= a filet mignon and the price of steak= a pr of shoes....

 

[MilfordHusky]

In florida now the price of ground beef= a filet mignon and the price of steak= a pr of shoes....

Price gouging! Hopefully, the steak is more tender than the shoes!

 

[vtcwbuff]

I have not seen grocery price gouging here in CT and today I saw gas for $1.999. I paid $2.329 last week. Maybe I'm naive but I think the major grocery chains are too smart to try to price gouge during a crisis. If there are higher prices on some things it will probably be passed on from their supply chain.

 

[huskeynut]

In florida now the price of ground beef= a filet mignon and the price of steak= a pr of shoes....

I haven't seen that here in central Florida. I'll double check on Sunday morning when I shop.

 

[huskeynut]

Let's not forget our military.

Our youngest, a submariner and Petty Officer 2nd Class is stationed on Guam. He just came back from a deployment and is quarantined on his ship. Even though he has a residence on the island, he can't leave the ship. The entire island is quarantined. Now they are trying to house sailors from the Roosevelt in hotels on the island and meet all the guidelines set forth by the CDC. That's 5,000 more sailors.

 

[vtcwbuff]

Let's not forget our military.

Our youngest, a submariner and Petty Officer 2nd Class is stationed on Guam. He just came back from a deployment and is quarantined on his ship. Even though he has a residence on the island, he can't leave the ship. The entire island is quarantined. Now they are trying to house sailors from the Roosevelt in hotels on the island and meet all the guidelines set forth by the CDC. That's 5,000 more sailors.

Is your son on the Cable or a boat out of Guam? Better a boat. Small crew of smart guys vs the tender with a large crew and probably more than a few knuckleheads. A wee consolation, since he's a submariner he's used to confinement in small spaces.

I wonder if the boomer guys even know what's going on. My guess is no.

 

[SVCBeercats]

Yikes! First a car from Louisiana is seen parked in a driveway on the street to the east of us. Two days ago we noticed a car from Missouri on the street to the west. And then yesterday Mrs. SVC sees a white van roll up our street. Discreetly an EMT is painted on it with a State of PA seal on the driver's side door. It pulls into the driveway two houses up the street from us. Guy gets out and unloads a wheelchair from the rear of the van. He and his mask and latex gloves go into our neighbor's house. Approximately 8 minutes later he exits wheeling the neighbor lady and her mask and latex cloves into the rear of the van. He locks down the whelchair in far back part of the van. Drives off. Hmmmmmmm. Just 15 minutes ago Two cop cars and an ambulance sped up our street. 5 minutes later the ambulance leaves with a patient. This is two houses up from the house of the ambulance visit yesterday. Just doubled up the furnace and AC filters. Yesterday could have been a home accident. But two accidents on back to back days? I think we will forgo our daily walk. Climb the stairs dear! Covid-19 cases in the last 48 houses have jumped by 29 caes in our county. We are at 84. Our wet bar in the basement looks like a grocery store. We should be good for 6 weeks. Must convert to mail delivered prescriptions. God bless and stay well!!!!

 

[ShmiCO]

Yikes! First a car from Louisiana is seen parked in a driveway on the street to the east of us. Two days ago we noticed a car from Missouri on the street to the west. And then yesterday Mrs. SVC sees a white van roll up our street. Discreetly an EMT is painted on it with a State of PA seal on the driver's side door. It pulls into the driveway two houses up the street from us. Guy gets out and unloads a wheelchair from the rear of the van. He and his mask and latex gloves go into our neighbor's house. Approximately 8 minutes later he exits wheeling the neighbor lady and her mask and latex cloves into the rear of the van. He locks down the whelchair in far back part of the van. Drives off. Hmmmmmmm. Just 15 minutes ago Two cop cars and an ambulance sped up our street. 5 minutes later the ambulance leaves with a patient. This is two houses up from the house of the ambulance visit yesterday. Just doubled up the furnace and AC filters. Yesterday could have been a home accident. But two accidents on back to back days? I think we will forgo our daily walk. Climb the stairs dear! Covid-19 cases in the last 48 houses have jumped by29 caes in our county. We are at 84. Our wet bar in the basement looks like a grocery store. We should be good for 6 weeks. Must convert to mail delivered prescriptions. God bless and stay well!!!!

You should be fine inside your house, and it sounds like you are already minimizing trips out. I've been walking outside in the early mornings, not another soul around. Our town has a website where at-risk folks can request help with 'go-fer' stuff like picking up meds from the drugstore--maybe yours does too? Or a Facebook group for it? Stay safe and happy!

 

[JordyG]

I'm concerned that the spring breakers who flocked to beaches 2 weeks ago will be carrying Covid-19 back to their homes. It could be like another Mardi Gras hot spot, but spread around.

I've been concerned about this for a few weeks now. Now we see the results. Shame on all those people that either still think this is a hoax or continue to fiddle while Rome burns. Shame on all of you! The price you pay will be measured in heartbeats.

44 Texas Students Have Coronavirus After Spring Break Trip (Published 2020)

A group of about 70 students from the University of Texas at Austin celebrated spring break in Mexico, then returned to find that dozens had tested positive.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Watchdog]

It'll be interesting to see how things work out in Sweden where they are using an approach that approximates normalcy in the peoples' daily lives.
They monitor people and if they're sick they're quarantined, otherwise they are going to work, doing what they normally do and their statistics through today show a mortality rate of less than 6% on known cases. Of course, if they tested more people that death rate would likely be much lower. Only 5568 confirmed cases and 308 deaths in a country of a little over 10 million.

 

[huskeynut]

Is your son on the Cable or a boat out of Guam? Better a boat. Small crew of smart guys vs the tender with a large crew and probably more than a few knuckleheads. A wee consolation, since he's a submariner he's used to confinement in small spaces.

I wonder if the boomer guys even know what's going on. My guess is no.

Our son is on a sub tender, about 600 crew of sailors and civilians. He transferred off a boomer, the Maryland, about 18 months ago after 4+ years under the sea. He was originally assigned land duty but got himself on the ship. His ship is going out today, again. Knuckleheads don't bother him and his assignment.

 

[ShmiCO]

Another video, Gates on talking to Trevor Noah. Zero comedy in this one, but it's a fantastic interview. Lots of concrete information, some sobering but some very hopeful stuff too. For example, the Gates Foundation is building large factories now for seven possible vaccines currently in testing. They expect at most two of the vaccines to viable enough to go into mass production, meaning 5 or 6 factories will end up being expensive white elephants. But this approach saves months (and many lives) by making the vaccine available at scale as quickly as possible.

 

[MSUFan2003]

My mom, 75, is working at rite aid. They are the only store in the area that hasn’t adjusted their hours. Open 8am-10pm. They haven’t put up the glass either. She said people are so rude. Yelling at her because they don’t have anything... No paper towels, toilet paper, hand sanitizer, Lysol. And it’s “all her fault”. She had a rough day yesterday. Was almost in tears.

My daughter works at CVS in Texas. Although their hours are adjusted, she said people are ridiculous and rude!

The general public can be tough to deal with. I appreciate everyone working at grocery stores, CVS, ect. I think that is actually one of the higher risk places to work and shop because of the number of asymptotic carriers. We are sending people home from ERs to self-quarantine, but there is no follow up to see if they actually self-quarantined. I think there are a lot of people out and about in the community that are spreading it right now.

It's variable across states as to who can even get tested. It seems like we are testing anyone with a fever at my hospital, but I've heard different stories from colleagues in other states. The South is supposed to be the next hot spot, and Mississippi is supposed to peak April 21. New Orleans is an absolute nightmare from what I've heard. They are offering RNs $10,000/week right now to go down there, and I have a colleague going down next week. A lot of the cases we've seen at my hospital were tracked back to Florida and New Orleans initially. Now, it's anyone coming in with it.

We have 24 COVID ICU beds, and they were about half full when I left Sunday. We opened up 56 regular beds- about 1/3 full last Sunday. Everyone is getting ready. I'm going back for round 2 tomorrow. I work in cardiology, so we mainly have elective procedures. Since those have mostly been cancelled, my coworkers and I are taking turns on the COVID unit. Last weekend was an adventure but ended up okay. I did have appropriate PPE. We got some big donations of PPE from some local stores last week, which was nice.

I have so much respect for anyone working an Ebola crisis or something similar. It's absolutely miserable to stay in PPE all day.

 

[vtcwbuff]

Our son is on a sub tender, about 600 crew of sailors and civilians. He transferred off a boomer, the Maryland, about 18 months ago after 4+ years under the sea. He was originally assigned land duty but got himself on the ship. His ship is going out today, again. Knuckleheads don't bother him and his assignment.

If the tender is USS Frank Cable (AS-40) I am a plank owner. Part of the crew that commissioned the ship in 1979.

 

[vtcwbuff]

It'll be interesting to see how things work out in Sweden where they are using an approach that approximates normalcy in the peoples' daily lives.
They monitor people and if they're sick they're quarantined, otherwise they are going to work, doing what they normally do and their statistics through today show a mortality rate of less than 6% on known cases. Of course, if they tested more people that death rate would likely be much lower. Only 5568 confirmed cases and 308 deaths in a country of a little over 10 million.

Sweden's 6% mortality rate is higher than the world mortality rate of 5% and more than twice that of the US. Their known infection rate is close to the same as the in US. In Sweden the Covid-19 virus has infected .06% of their population. In the US the reported infection rate is .07%.

 

[Carnac]

If you think things could not get any worse, read this.

US Postal Service could shut down by June, lawmakers warn

This cannot happen!! The country would slow to a snail's pace. Business/commerce and too many citizens depend on getting mail daily for the government to even think about letting the postal service shut down. Everyone does not have direct deposit. How would folks get their retirement/social security checks, or other importan/time sensitive mail? How would people that don't have computers pay their bills?

 

[Kaizen]

Pray everyone is healthy and safe.

 

[HuskyNan]

If you think things could not get any worse, read this.

US Postal Service could shut down by June, lawmakers warn

This cannot happen!! The country would slow to a snail's pace. Business/commerce and too many citizens depend on getting mail daily for the government to even think about letting the postal service shut down. Everyone does not have direct deposit. How would folks get their retirement/social security checks, or other importan/time sensitive mail? How would people that don't have computers pay their bills?

The only thing I get in the mail these days is solicitations and ads. To survive without theUSPS, go online to your banks, utilities, etc and switch over to paperless statements and invoices.