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Daily coronavirus-related chat, questions, and minor updates - March 25
This thread is posted daily, and is intended as a place for more-casual discussion of the coronavirus and questions/updates that may not warrant their own dedicated topics. Tell us about what the situation is like where you live!
The park/woods where i walk my dog is so fucking busy. Absolutely chocked full of middle aged couples getting their 1 mandated daily outgoing and people riding their bikes for the first time in years. I thought corona would keep people in and make the walks less busy, not more!
I went down a local trail yesterday on my bike, as I'd been cooped up for a week, and it had more people on it than I think it would normally have had.
Something I've been contemplating this week to try and think of positive things: we should establish an international holiday 1 year from now.
I was thinking of something like "International Social Anti-Distance Day" (what a terrible name). Basically a day in March to celebrate being able to come together in all our various communities and celebrate with food and drinks.
Also maybe preceding it with an International Work From Home day.
New York Governor Cuomo shared some projections today that predict NY won't even hit its apex of hospitalizations for another 21 days. That's crazy and means that it could still be quite a long time before we start seeing the worst of everything.
Your state went back regarding finals, last I heard. Going to be held after all.
There are people in prison for greater than 1.5 years over unpaid fines????
I would interpret that as a logical or, rather than an and. Any sentence that is <1.5y or that is over unpaid fines is suspended for the time being.
Edit: My interpretation holds
Also, the german legal system does most of it's criminal punishment by way of fines, based on the daily earnings of a person. So we'll try to get an estimate of how much money you earn (after subtracting any hard costs) per day. A penalty is assigned as e.g. "30 day-fines". If you can't pay, that's 30 days of prison for you. (which is a significantly harder penalty, so that's an issue of criminal justice / discrimination against the poor, but that's another can of worms.)
Ohh, I see. Hmm, I doubt that's
possible.likely.PSA for anyone in the US: shipping and delivery times are increasing significantly. Many services have not yet caught up with the demand, and it remains to be seen whether they will be able to. Plan ahead and order things now that you might need soon, because they might not arrive for a while or might be out of stock when you need them. Also, only order what is necessary, and a single bigger order is better than multiple small ones. Also, if you are financially in a place to do so, tip your delivery people VERY well!
For example, it's probably a good idea to put in a grocery delivery order now, even if you don't need anything immediately. The service my husband and I started using only lets you schedule deliveries two weeks in advance, but everything is full up and there are no available times we can sign up for. Even after the window rolls over to the next day, everything is full. We were able to luck into an open slot when we checked the app in the middle of the night, but that delivery is a full two weeks away. We're fine and have enough food to make it through until then, but we're now essentially planning our consumption habits weeks in advance to work alongside delays like this.
Optional Handsoap Ad
I'm collapsing this part of the comment just because it's going to read like an ad, so I want to give people the option to skip it. I normally avoid plugging specific companies unless asked about them directly, but I figure I'll do so here in case anyone is in need. Hand soap is in short supply seemingly everywhere, but it appears that Blueland still has some available. They sell dissolvable tablets that you put in water to make soap, and you can buy them in bulk for a cheaper unit rate. They also have a branded "forever bottle" you can use with the tablets, but it's not required -- their formula works with any other "foaming" hand soap style pump and basin you already have on-hand. That said, their forever bottle, while pricey, is quite nice. It's solid, sturdy glass, and, if it fits your price range, is worth the money, IMO.
We went for a short hike yesterday morning and it was quite normal, mostly dog walkers as usual. People were keeping their distance. From the news I had expected it to be busy (parks have been closed in Marin County due to crowds, for example) but I guess that's at other parks.
Other than that, we've been staying home and I've been obsessing over the news, with occasional accordion practice. I haven't felt like working on my accordion synthesizer project lately.
On Monday I had a couple of buy orders trigger at what turned out to be exactly the right time, at least for now. So that's nice, but I expect prices will go down again soon.
Between 5 mile walks, I've been digging for no-contact ways to help.
Just volunteered for Crisis Text Line, under the assumption that mental health is going to be one of the areas in short supply. It's going to take a bit of time to get enrolled, as they require background checks, but the training is entirely online.
After yesterday's experience, I can say that in the U.S., it's probably not worth the time to try calling your elected representatives.
I'm trying to stay away from the news, because it's so demoralizing and there are other things I should be doing. The last bout of obsessive housecleaning left my eyes, throat, and chest so raw from all the chemicals that I was starting to panic about COVID. I've got no focus for reading or studying, writing is a mess, solo games are boring, the closets and drawers are sorted, the friends and family have been contacted...
I'm not supposed to do it, but I may take up running just to burn off the excess energy outdoors.
Here in the US it looks like congress is about to pass a massive stimulus bill. I was just thinking last night that if the economy continues to tank and Biden is elected president then that might be the only shot we will have at passing something that would resemble the Green New Deal. The most disheartening thing about the coronavirus response is seeing how long it took for most governments to take it seriously and realizing that it will probably be the same way with climate change. In fact, it already is that way when it comes to climate change. I've never been one to argue against the benefits of incremental progress, but the part of me that is really worried about climate change is kind of hoping that everything goes to shit so we'll have the opportunity to pass something big and meaningful before it's too late. Unfortunately, a deal like that would hinge on unprecedented levels of competence and good messaging for Democrats, so it's never gonna happen.
It's day 1 of lockdown here in New Zealand, so it's basically official now: stay home. We now have 205 cases (189 confirmed, 16 suspected), 22 cases have recovered—most news cases are still from international New Zealanders returning home. Given this demographic is causing so many of our cases, the government announced that if you fly in from overseas, and cannot get to self-isolation by complying with lockdown rules, or you display symptoms of COVID-19, you will be forcibly quarantined for 14 days in a government facility.
We also received an emergency alert on our phones 6 hours before lockdown yesterday to remind us how serious this is.
Do you know if the NZ immigration officials in contact with travelers have the required PPE?
Not entirely sure. One can only hope, they're probably at greater risk than even our healthcare workers at this point.
We're up to 71 confirmed cases in Nebraska. It makes me nervous wondering how much of our relative lack of cases is because of lack of testing.
My county just issued a shelter in place. Stuff like dispensaries and liquor stores can remain open though.
The coordinator of my school passed us a school project online about the coronavirus during the quarantine. I would throw a temper tantrum just for the sake of moar free time but TBH I find this to be probably the most relevant school project they have passed yet and ultimately a good decision.
It's quiet in the UK, when I went running yesterday the park was mostly empty and people who were there seemed to be following the rules.
Unfortunately last night I started feeling feverish with aches and pains plus a mild cough. This morning my fever seems to have burnt itself out and overall I'm feeling better. The one consolation is I've had contact with hardly anyone the last few days so hopefully no transmission has occurred.
Time to find some things to do round the house for the next week.