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Daily coronavirus-related chat, questions, and minor updates - March 27
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!
A suggestion to anyone feeling cooped up: Take an opportunity to do some handyman work around your place. That bookcase with that shelf that's falling apart could use a couple of cleats to hold it together better. The walls might use a fresh coat of paint or two. Or maybe just a quick cleaning to get the dog grease off that one spot. (Seriously, anyone else get dog grease strains on the wall?) In all, make your living space more pleasant to live in. Fix the issues that lurk so far back in your mind that you've long forgotten about them being a problem. In the end, you'll feel much more comfortable spending time in that space and you'll feel less cooped up.
So for the LA update, I don't have much to add since my initial observations about lockdown behavior (panic buying followed by seeming cooperation by many). Gotta go out today and finalize the purchase of a new (used) car. My first meeting was the first business day after the lockdown. They seemed to understand that they should try to put into place some new protocols, but didn't understand exactly how to go about doing it. I'd like to think that I've influenced them a bit (for all I know I might be their only customer this week because I certainly didn't see anyone else in there that wasn't an employee). But when I showed up, did the test drive, then immediately got out a bottle of 90% isopropyl and wiped down my hands and phone I got a bit of a weird look followed by a dawning understanding that things were indeed changing.
That was Monday. Yesterday I went back in to perform an inspection of the car while it was on a lift. The mechanic's shop was basically empty. Easily two dozen lifts and no work being done. The salesman had the paperwork ready for me to take home. There wasn't even much of an attempt to sell me on any extras except for an obligatory hey do you want an extended warranty? No? No problem here's the paperwork without it. Considering the extras are where they make the vast majority of their money, I'd characterize that whole sequence of events as unorthodox and noteworthy. On the one hand, I'd be astonished if I was their only buyer for the week. On the other hand, it kinda feels like that might be the case.
Sorry if this post seems kind of all over the place. It's a bit of a long-winded way for me to explain how much of a ghost town it feels like right now. Which in a lot of ways I see as a good thing. We have a fairly robust economy in California and it has the potential of bouncing back here a bit more easily than in other places. But we have too high of a population for our medical system to handle this uninhibited. It makes much more perfect sense to me to take a hit now and bounce back later than to try to stick this out (as recommended by some of the more foolish of the administration) and end up with a much bigger hit down the road.
And also, self isolation has been a way of life for me for a good long while. I'm an old hat at this. I like not feeling obligated to shake hands. I like everyone having to stay at least 6 feet away from me. I like that the roads are relatively empty when I do need to go out. I'm not a big fan of feeling like a germaphobe and bringing a bottle of isopropyl along for the ride, but many of the people I care about are at-risk and I'm completely on board with doing anything I can to keep them safe. Hell, I smoked for 20 years. I could use a bit of caution myself.
I like @cwagner 's daily updates from Germany so I'm going to steal their format
Michigan, USA
2,856 confirmed cases (+561 from yesterday) 60 deaths (+17)
Well we've got plenty more days to iterate on it 😐
Brazil has 3036 cases and 77 deaths. It sounds bad and it is, but we have 209 million people. We’re far from the worst case scenario for now.
I agree. I think we should measure the magnitude of the crisis in cases per capita instead of as a whole, in which case the US is still far from the end of it.
Italy reported almost 1000 deaths today, their worst day yet. The chief of their Superior Health Institute also said that they haven't hit the peak yet.
Staff is wearing face shields and gloves at my GP. People with respiratory infections are apparently in the waiting room, while those without wait in all the available spaces elsewhere. Front desk told me to stay outside while they were processing someone with an infection. Reasonable precautions if you ask me. I'm confident I didn't catch anything.
Good thread on Twitter by Carl T. Bergstrom about how difficult it's been to deal with all the misinformation, polarization, and politicization while trying to make predictions: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1243252341756669953.html