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Weekly coronavirus-related chat, questions, and minor updates - week of June 22
This thread is posted weekly, 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!
I’m in Brazil, one of the most affected countries. Things here are tragic and only getting worse.
I’ve been talking with a girl I met on Tinder since before the quarantine. That’s more than five months of increasingly intense conversations. We seem to think alike. Yesterday I made her a “mixtape” on Spotify — she answered with a playlist of her own. Both were full of love songs. She even recorded a song with her own voice and sent it to me. Adorable.
At this point I don’t even know what this is anymore. Doesn’t feel like regular flirting. It’s weird to be apart, but I’m getting the feels. At the same time, all my instincts tell me that a love affair cannot be “real” unless there’s at least one encounter. There’s a series of signs that are only available in person, and it’s not uncommon for a virtual entanglement to cool down after the first encounter.
The social notion of “reality” is clearly gravitating towards the virtual, but I’m still a 20th century man in many aspects. To me dating apps serve the purpose of getting dates in the real world—that’s where the magic happen.
I also need to f$#¥... I mean, someone to play checkers with hahaha
Covid dating advice is welcomed.
For a long, looong, looooooong time I was stuck (still am really) with an unshakable mindset that romantic entanglements had to move in a specific direction and if they didn't work out they where a waste of time and that I was a failure. I wish with my entire soul that I could tell my younger self to just live. If a relationship doesn't work out, that doesn't invalidate all the the effort, emotional investment, and good memories (and bad memories, hopefully with lessons learned) that where part of it.
What I'm trying to say is, if you're having an enjoyable virtual relationship with this girl, don't worry about it. Enjoy it for what it is, a good relationship in a not-so-good time. It's unique to the time and circumstances of your life, but then so are all relationships.
Yes I am enjoying this virtual relationship. It’s super weird but also nice and sweet. I never invested in long distance relationships, usually I even try to stay in the same region or neighborhood! But yeah, she’s totally worth it. I’ll try to contain my anxiety. Thank you for the advice.
A large portion of my dating/marriage was long distance for about 8 years. It was 6 months of messages and flirting online before we ever met, but man was that first meeting fun. It felt so good to just be in the presence of the person I had gotten to know.
Technology has improved since then so you can probably come up with some alternative activities, but we played a lot of co-op games and spent time hanging out virtually. We planned the schedule for the first time we would meet out but I’m pretty sure it went all out of the window anyway, but it was nice to have a general guidance that was agreed upon. I’d say to take it slow but in reality that’s kind of impossible. You both will have months of flirting, feelings, and desires built up. It’s fine to act on them. Just set some boundaries beforehand and respect them. Your first few days of meeting should be pretty lazy IMO. It will probably be spent in various forms of undress and lounging.
You will want the physician relationship to catch up to where you are emotionally and mentally. We just kind of let it happen. I was stuck on a farm in the middle of nowhere in another country for two weeks. We had a blast.
I can probably talk to it more if you have specific questions. Good luck! Cherish those moments. You’ll look back on them fondly.
Just a little personal perspective. My place of work is attempting to open without adding to COVID cases. The problem I'm having and I think others are having is the visitors themselves. The great divide that seems to exist in the United States is resulting in two philosophical groups at odds with each other, with businesses caught in between.
We're definitely on the verge of having to permanently close if tomorrow's trial opening proves disruptive. We're requiring masks of all customers and other rules need to be followed. I've been told by people in other cities that this compliance simply will not happen. If this is the case then I'm almost certain we'll close, maybe for good.
Personally I find both sides of this philosophical split to blame, because cooperation is required for an open, democratic society to work. Whether we close or not is of small consequence compared to the long term consequences of non-cooperation for our nation.
Initial COVID-19 infection rate may be 80 times greater than originally reported. New research studies early stages of coronavirus outbreak to re-evaluate rate of initial spread in U.S.
Offbeat but fun:
Barcelona opera reopens with performance for more than 2000 potted plants (Guardian News video)
Why reopening isn't enough to save the economy - spoiler: you can open everything but if the people who still have jobs don't go out and spend money, none of those businesses will survive
The province of Alberta in Canada (where I live) just finished giving out 14 million masks through popular drive-throughs (A&W, McDonald’s, and Tim Hortons) and is still distributing another 6 million through various other methods. They're going to give away another 20 million in July.
This has been a really great program that's given masks to a lot of people without making them go out of their way to find them. I hope some other locations find a way to do something similar.
The EU plans to ban US travelers indefinitely after haphazard COVID-19 response
Interesting fact that's almost just a side-note in this AP article:
Bolsonaro is so bad it’s almost comical. I only hope that this tragic period teaches our voters a lesson. Many voted for him out of purely emotional considerations —- they wanted to out the Workers Party. Others voted because of the memes, as a joke. Some voted for Bolsonaro because they were racist, or homophobic, just like him. Others didn’t know anything about him.
After the end of the military dictatorship, Brazil went through severe economic troubles. Presidents regulated the economy by decree, with crazy measures aiming at a short term solution. The results were disastrous. And then came Fernando Henrique Cardoso, with long term neoliberal policies that modernized the economy, controlled the inflation and restored the buying power of the middle class.
After FHC we had four Worker’s Party presidential terms that, while far from ideal, kept the reasonable economic policies and increased the reach of social welfare.
The reason for Dilma Roussef’s impeachment was entirely legal, but every president before her had done the same. Her crime? Transferring resources from one application to another without congress authorization. Concerning, sure, but the impeachment was the result of a virulent right that would do anything to come into power after 16 years of humiliating defeats.
Alternation of power only makes sense when there’s a superior alternative.
Brazil had 20 years of relative political progress. So we decided to play with fire. It seems to me that the country will eventually have to come into terms with its own stupidity. And that might be a good thing.
I posted an article yesterday about the situation in Brazil that seemed good to me, I'd be interested in if you think it's accurate coverage.
Yeah, that's a good article.
offbeat: Can Being a Furry Protect You from Coronavirus?
tl;dr - no. but it's a fun read anyway.
Not much covid going on anymore around here but I got bitten by a tick, and I'm feeling a bit sick since two days... I don't want to go the the doctor but I might have to.
Lyme disease is no joke, so if you're in an area where it's common... get it checked out!
My uncle had untreated Lyme disease that eventually turned into a full blown autoimmune disease which ravaged his body, practically crippled him, and took many years to finally get under control. So seriously, @Staross, please go get checked. Lyme disease really is no joke.
Just re-emphasizing this for @Staross : go to the doctor. The rule of thumb I was told by someone who had been living with Lyme disease for years was because it's such a slow moving disease, for each year that you've had it, it will take an equal number of years to get rid of it. Which is a horrifying thought.
I went yes, she was a bit unsure but she still gave me antibio. Thanks @krg, @cfabbro.
Not strictly corona-related, but Trump is still trying to get rid of the ACA (Obamacare). In the middle of a fucking pandemic. https://www.npr.org/2020/06/26/883819835/obamacare-must-fall-trump-administration-tells-supreme-court
Some great demonstrations of the difference that wearing a mask makes: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1276629360212979712.html
A bunch of pandemic related news from NYT:
A Moratorium on Evictions Ends, Leaving Thousands of Tenants Fearful
F.D.A. Warns of Potentially Toxic Hand Sanitizers
Saudi Arabia imposed strict limits on this year’s hajj, dashing the hopes of many pilgrims
New cases in the U.S. account for 20 percent of new global cases as the pandemic surges around the world.
Clusters around the U.S. have been increasingly linked with social and religious gathering places.
Germany scrambles to contain an outbreak at the country’s largest pork processing plant.
FT put out another article on the latest worldwide figures yesterday with a bunch of great visualizations:
Coronavirus tracked: the latest figures as countries start to reopen | Free to read
Apparently I'll be back in the physical school classrooms by September 8th (article in Portuguese.) There's a note about how it'll be staged with the first stage of opening only having 35% of classmates which would make school more quiet and teachers more powerful but nothing says that's how they (my state government)'ll do it.
There's also the inevitable second wave that might jeopardize this, although given the state governor is a center-rightist I think they'll carry on.
Disney is postponing the reopening of Disneyland
Government must release migrant children in detention centers because of coronavirus, judge orders
Texas, Florida governors order bars closed, impose new restrictions as cases surge
I’ve spent the past week in Florida on a COVID-19 minded vacation and I can say with confidence I am completely unsurprised by the surge of cases here. Restaurants are packed. 90% of people aren’t wearing masks. Most are acting like life is normal. Pretty big bummer. Even the immediate family I’m staying with are all unconcerned about it. Attitudes like “if I get it, I get it” and “it was gods will.”
I’m pretty sure the precautions we took will mean we are fine (spent all of our time at the beach far away from others or the pool at the house, wearing masks for trips to pick up takeout or the grocery store), but I can’t help but be somewhat concerned, especially with the local attitude.
Want a coronavirus test in Texas? You may have to wait for hours in a car.
Houston paramedics report hour-long wait times to transfer patients from ambulance to hospital
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