COVID impacts

[astuffedshirt_perv]

Do you think we will see a dramatic upsurge in story submissions as millions of bored self-quarantined people decide to try their hand at writing?

 

[NotWise]

Do you think we will see a dramatic upsurge in story submissions as millions of bored self-quarantined people decide to try their hand at writing?

I thought maybe we'd get more readers. More writers follows, too.

 

[oggbashan]

UK position today, Thursday:

The total number of people with coronavirus in the UK has risen to 590, up from 456 on Wednesday.

Two more people were confirmed to have died from the virus in the UK on Thursday, bringing the total to 10, NHS England said.

A total of 29,174 people have been tested across the UK so far.

 

[ChloeTzang]

I thought maybe we'd get more readers. More writers follows, too.

Once local quarantines kick in, I can see that happening. Until then, most countries affected don’t have a lot of active writers here, and if you’re running around panicking in the supermarket... give it 2-4 weeks for the UK, and 4-6 for the USA and Canada. The new travel bans will help in slowing the spread in new locations outside of the existing ones.

I’d suggest using the time to prepare for local quarantines wisely. Think about what you’ll need if you can’t go shopping for 6 weeks, or if you do get it and you’re in self-isolation, and can’t go out of the house. Which is what it will be for most people.

Then double that as insurance, and because some of your neighbors and friends won’t be prepared at all. I suggested prepping to our neighbors but they laughed it off. They’re both older, one has a heart condition, when it arrives here they’re going to be stuck, so what the heck. We bought extra.

It’s all your usual prepper stuff. Tinned foods, dried foods that keep long term like rice and lentils and pasta. Dried vegetables, tomatoes paste, flour to make your own bread, anything you like that keeps without refrigeration. And I filled the freezer with meat. Now add in over the counter flu and cough medicine plus Advil and Tylenol. A crapload because who knows how much you’ll need. Plus any existing medication your on. I have no idea if Tamiflu will help but it doesn’t hurt to have some on hand. I got some prescribed and stashed it away.

Mostly it’s all stuff you’re going to eat anyhow. All you’re doing is buying it in advance, and before everyone starts panicking the way you’ve seen on the news. Plan on catching it, have all the emergency phone numbers you need on the fridge door, talk to your neighbors and exchange phone numbers if you don’t already know them. Mutual neighborhood support will do more for you when you get sick than overloaded local government.

And get a good supply of books, movies and booze or you’ll be really bored. If you’re not sick.

That’s my suggestions....

 

[OneAuthor]

That’s my suggestions....

I figured you'd suggest following the links in your signature.

That's what I would suggest.

And perhaps even the link in mine, if one doesn't find that sort of thing a toe-tal turn off.

 

[ChloeTzang]

I figured you'd suggest following the links in your signature.

That's what I would suggest.

And perhaps even the link in mine, if one doesn't find that sort of thing a toe-tal turn off.

Lol. Well I just saw pornhub Italy is giving free access to its premium service to all Italians for the duration. That is truly public minded!

 

[Candy_Kane54]

They closed all of the schools in my county for a month...

 

[TxRad]

All them sick people reading our sick stories. It'll either kill or cure them.

 

[OneAuthor]

Lol. Well I just saw pornhub Italy is giving free access to its premium service to all Italians for the duration. That is truly public minded!

Bravo Italia!

Now back to the subject of this topic...

I think there will be an uptick in readers, and then perhaps in writers. Bored people need something to get their juices flowing.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

I thought maybe we'd get more readers. More writers follows, too.

Well, for some utterly unfathomable reason, I got about three times the normal ‘readership’ yesterday. (I know, that’s the number of stories opened, not read. Yes, yes, but it was still up three times what I normally see.)

Probably coincidence. No objections, of course.

 

[yukonnights]

Can't hurt to be giving some thought to financial matters too — I think this could be a once in a lifetime buy opportunity. Read in news today that we're getting weird signals where all markets are showing weakness (both safe haven and normal equities/stocks showing weakness — eg. both bonds and stocks loosing value at the same time, gold down, etc.) This happened in the 2008/2009 market crash too.

We did the big shopping thing a day or two after the first news hit. It was already wild, shelves sold out , etc. Went again yesterday and it wasn't so bad. Truth is, it's possible no one will have the storage capacity to keep enough food on hand for the duration — but it's smart to do what we can. Like Chloe said, it's all stuff we'll use anyway.

But writing stories? I don't know, the weather is really getting nice ... and there's lots of fresh clean air, and very few people, not far from home

I wish the very best to all the good folks here ~

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Hmmm... interesting thread.

Stats in the U.S. - so far 30 people have died from the virus.

In other news... in the U.S. 190+ people will die from a heart attack TODAY!

Some kind of pandemic is happening, but not the one that is being given all the hype. Just thought y'all should know.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Hmmm... interesting thread.

Stats in the U.S. - so far 30 people have died from the virus.

In other news... in the U.S. 190+ people will die from a heart attack TODAY!

Some kind of pandemic is happening, but not the one that is being given all the hype. Just thought y'all should know.

Good info for right now. Let’s revisit those stats in a month and see where we stand then. I’m sure we’d all be delighted if they stay about the same.

 

[oggbashan]

Hmmm... interesting thread.

Stats in the U.S. - so far 30 people have died from the virus.

In other news... in the U.S. 190+ people will die from a heart attack TODAY!

Some kind of pandemic is happening, but not the one that is being given all the hype. Just thought y'all should know.

Those with a heart attack might not get the prompt treatment they need because of the pressure on hospitals from Covid-19.

One local man due for bypass surgery on Monday has had it delayed indefinitely because he would be at risk from Covid-19 after the operation.

 

[ChloeTzang]

Well, look at Italy for an example of it going out of control and overwhelming the system. South Korea also, where one super-spreader infected literally thousands of people. It doesn’t look serious in the early stages but once it goes exponential, you end up having to do what they did in Wuhan and Italy. You need to shut thing down well and early. Cutting flights from China was a good move, it may be a bit late either theEurope shutdown, but the really important thing to do is to slow transmission and keep it manageable. So all these shutdowns are good if they’re done effectively.

Read up on how Taiwan has handled it. They’re doing a superb job. We need to take a few lessons from them.

 

[OneAuthor]

Hmmm... interesting thread.

Stats in the U.S. - so far 30 people have died from the virus.

In other news... in the U.S. 190+ people will die from a heart attack TODAY!

Some kind of pandemic is happening, but not the one that is being given all the hype. Just thought y'all should know.

I've heard a LOT of people talking about how other things kill more people on a daily basis. And it's true. I mean, there's a better chance that I'll die a thousand different ways within the next few days than due to Covid-19.

However, I also believe it's irresponsible to use that logic to minimize or dismiss this virus, too. Do I think the panic level related to Covid-19 is too much? Yes. Do I think it warrants a shrug of the shoulders and a "meh, it's nothing to worry about" reaction? No.

At some point, there will be a vaccine and better treatments available for it. Until then - and as long as the number of cases keeps growing - we should exercise caution and care. This, of course, does not include buying 300 rolls of toilet paper and 30 gallons of hand sanitizer.

 

[oggbashan]

Just back from our local supermarket.

Tissue supplies - only very expensive brands.
Toilet rolls - the same.
Painkillers such as paracetamol and Ibuprofen - none.
Genuine Italian pasta - none. Even Italians are having difficulty getting it.
Italian tinned tomatoes - none.
Bread making supplies such as flour - none.

We could get everything we wanted.

 

[astuffedshirt_perv]

Stats in the U.S. - so far 30 people have died from the virus.

While true, and the death rate is high 'only' for old/sick people, many of those who get a mild case end up with pneumonia, which an't no joke even in a situation where there aren't packed ERs. Pneumonia will eff you up.

 

[ChloeTzang]

Well, all our non-med IT and admin people that don’t do actual medical or physical work here and who can WFH have just been told to do that from Today for the foreseeable future, until this is over. Smart move. My husband shut down his office and sent everyone to WFH from today as well.

When shit gets serious....

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Do you know why it's called COVID-19? It's been around since 2019. Where SARS has been around a lot longer, by the way, it is also a coronavirus, and killed a lot more people. I'm not shrugging it off, it's just that there are more people panicking over this then SARS which is deadlier.

 

[Charrla]

Zeb...you don't even know what you're saying. SARS went away. SARS mutated itself into oblivion and has been gone a long time. This one is just getting started. We are a long, long way off from comparing how this affected us versus SARS.

I get that people like you think the rest of us are making a big deal over nothing, but maybe just sit these discussions out rather than spread misinformation. You're the embodiment of "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing."

I'm not looking to overreact; I'm just looking to stay informed. And there's a lot of good, factual information out there from professionals who are actually on the front lines of this. Some guy calling himself Zeb on an erotica site? Just stop.

 

[astuffedshirt_perv]

Stats in the U.S. - so far 30 people have died from the virus.

While true, and the death rate is high 'only' for old/sick people, many of those who get a mild case end up with pneumonia, which an't no joke even in a situation where there aren't packed ERs. Pneumonia will eff you up.

 

[KeithD]

While true, and the death rate is high 'only' for old/sick people, many of those who get a mild case end up with pneumonia, which an't no joke even in a situation where there aren't packed ERs. Pneumonia will eff you up.

The points are that (1) this isn't a substitute illness for anything, it's a massive-potential (especially with the screwing up that the U.S. administration is doing) ADD ON threat, and (2) the United States isn't gearing up in hospital space, equipment, supplies, or staff to handle any size increase. Nontreatment isn't going to do recovery rates a bit of good.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Do you think we will see a dramatic upsurge in story submissions as millions of bored self-quarantined people decide to try their hand at writing?

This was basically the framing device for the Decameron. Though some of the responses have had me thinking more Masque of the Red Death.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

This was basically the framing device for the Decameron. Though some of the responses have had me thinking more Masque of the Red Death.

Of course! I must dig out my copy.