COVID impacts

[lovecraft68]

My mother is a compulsive shopper. When I was in their basement last Christmas to bring up some chairs, I saw 3 48 packs of TP, at least three dozen 12 packs of soda because every time they have a sale she buys a few, four cases of water, and they have two freezers full of frozen foods and meats.

So...I can go shopping there

My dad owns several guns and does the same with ammo, guy has enough bullets to supply a small militia. Two days ago he's handing me three boxes of 9mm parabellum rounds for my glock with the "You might need these."

Followed by "You still have that AR-15 Uncle Butch left you?"

Me "Yeah, its in a case locked in the basement"

Him "What? Get that upstairs and clean it and make sure you have plenty or rounds!"

My parents have been waiting for the apocalypse for a long time.

 

[oggbashan]

Hmmm, newspaper. I don't claim to be the sharpest tool in the shed — but, isn't a quick shower more practical that smearing newsprint all over me self? Maybe this is more of a British thing
...

Smearing newsprint? Not if you use a quality paper.

It's a hangover from when British homes had an outhouse at the end of the garden. Squares cut from the Radio Times were preferred as they didn't transfer newsprint.

One of my mother's cousins, in the 1950s, had a mobile hut on wheels. Each year she dug a trench, placed the hut at one end, and after use there was a bucket of earth and a trowel to cover what was produced. When that part of the trench was full, the hut was pushed along to another part of the trench.

Next year, the previous year's trench was used for celery. It put me off eating celery.

 

[ChloeTzang]

My mother is a compulsive shopper. When I was in their basement last Christmas to bring up some chairs, I saw 3 48 packs of TP, at least three dozen 12 packs of soda because every time they have a sale she buys a few, four cases of water, and they have two freezers full of frozen foods and meats.

So...I can go shopping there

My dad owns several guns and does the same with ammo, guy has enough bullets to supply a small militia. Two days ago he's handing me three boxes of 9mm parabellum rounds for my glock with the "You might need these."

Followed by "You still have that AR-15 Uncle Butch left you?"

Me "Yeah, its in a case locked in the basement"

Him "What? Get that upstairs and clean it and make sure you have plenty or rounds!"

My parents have been waiting for the apocalypse for a long time.

I want to adopt your parents. Joking, my grandads could equip a platoon all by themselves. Called them to make sure they were okay and the one that owns a supermarket or two is like, “Chloe, of COURSE we have everything we need.” He has an employee’s family shopping hour now, before they open for seniors, before they open, and he’s organized free home delivery for seniors as well.

As for guns, good idea, but I think this is one of those times everyone pulls together and helps each other. Around here for sure. There’s a few places it might go to pieces if things get bad but that’s what you factor in as a risk. I do laugh at all the last minute gun shopping though. That’s why you prep. So that when something like this happens, you don’t have to because you’re ready. Must say I never factored in needing masks and disposable gloves and hazmat suits tho. Got a big medical kit, but viruses.... didn’t think of that back when the news first came out. Oh well, can’t cover everything....

Yes Ogg, I’d be off my celery too.

Frontline? Yep, I was reading up and nurses and nursing aids seem to be the most at risk. Risk you take, and someone’s got to do it. Unless they come up with a vaccine, most of us are going to get it over time unless they can lock it down and let it burn out, but I don’t know how likely that is. Best case I see and I’m no expert, is to flatten that curve and have enough hospital beds to deal with the severe cases without doing an Italy. New York is not a good precursor. I wish I saw more preparations going on - we should be slinging up more temporary hospitals now, and hiring anyone who knows how to spell medic. Instead we’re wasting time and it’s going to be one big bureaucratic ratfuck, to be blunt.

 

[BelleCanzuto]

Best case I see and I’m no expert, is to flatten that curve and have enough hospital beds to deal with the severe cases without doing an Italy. New York is not a good precursor. I wish I saw more preparations going on - we should be slinging up more temporary hospitals now, and hiring anyone who knows how to spell medic. Instead we’re wasting time and it’s going to be one big bureaucratic ratfuck, to be blunt.

I agree with you here. Definitely need more beds, more equipment and more meds.

We only disagree on why the dithering's occurring in the first place.

 

[yukonnights]

I want to adopt your parents. Joking, my grandads could equip a platoon all by themselves. Called them to make sure they were okay and the one that owns a supermarket or two is like, “Chloe, of COURSE we have everything we need.” He has an employee’s family shopping hour now, before they open for seniors, before they open, and he’s organized free home delivery for seniors as well.

As for guns, good idea, but I think this is one of those times everyone pulls together and helps each other. Around here for sure. There’s a few places it might go to pieces if things get bad but that’s what you factor in as a risk. I do laugh at all the last minute gun shopping though. That’s why you prep. So that when something like this happens, you don’t have to because you’re ready. Must say I never factored in needing masks and disposable gloves and hazmat suits tho. Got a big medical kit, but viruses.... didn’t think of that back when the news first came out. Oh well, can’t cover everything....

Yes Ogg, I’d be off my celery too.

Frontline? Yep, I was reading up and nurses and nursing aids seem to be the most at risk. Risk you take, and someone’s got to do it. Unless they come up with a vaccine, most of us are going to get it over time unless they can lock it down and let it burn out, but I don’t know how likely that is. Best case I see and I’m no expert, is to flatten that curve and have enough hospital beds to deal with the severe cases without doing an Italy. New York is not a good precursor. I wish I saw more preparations going on - we should be slinging up more temporary hospitals now, and hiring anyone who knows how to spell medic. Instead we’re wasting time and it’s going to be one big bureaucratic ratfuck, to be blunt.

I'm hoping that the guns aren't gonna be needed. I've got enough too — probably more than I would get to use if an organized group hit. But I'm not really concerned that will happen around me.

I agree about the need to pull together. Really, this is the only logical thing to do. But I also know there are those who are a half bubble or more off level. And, I do suspect there are some 'state actors' who will see this as their opportunity to sow discord and try to break down normalcy even more.

But dark speculations are self-defeating. What will be, will be. Back to the toilet paper crisis!

 

[yukonnights]

Smearing newsprint? Not if you use a quality paper.

It's a hangover from when British homes had an outhouse at the end of the garden. Squares cut from the Radio Times were preferred as they didn't transfer newsprint.

One of my mother's cousins, in the 1950s, had a mobile hut on wheels. Each year she dug a trench, placed the hut at one end, and after use there was a bucket of earth and a trowel to cover what was produced. When that part of the trench was full, the hut was pushed along to another part of the trench.


Next year, the previous year's trench was used for celery. It put me off eating celery.

Oh, this all turned out worse that I could have imagined. Since we don't subscribe to any actual newspapers, there was no choice between quality newsprint and bad. I get all my news on a shiny laptop — Then, it must have been something spoiled I ate! Maybe it's a fever? Maybe it's the end! In a delirium my thoughts locked on the word news — I ran for the toilet … now the laptop is ruined, I'm a mess — and to put the sword into my heart, the water main burst two hours ago! No shower, no newsprint — and I'm writing this on an old virus infected computer the size of a small car engine! Yikes! I touched a Virus Infected Computer

This may be it mates — this may be the last of Yukon the shining knight of light and wisdom.

 

[ishtat]

Something tells me the Chines government is not being entirely truthful. Gasps!

Well Chloe they are not on their own. My small company employs people in HK, UK, USA,and Oz and essentially we collect, audit, analyse and write protocols/reports for all sorts of statistical stuff often associated with clinical trials but frequently for quite different reasons. The only thing that one can say about the Corvid19 data is that they are mostly rubbish. Taiwan, Singapore, HK and S.Korea are probably the best (Sars experience?). Indonesia, Russia and Iran are likely among the worst.

China in fact warned us back in January that there was a major problem, but for the most part we smugly ignored them and even acted superior when we saw some of their enforcement methods. They were pretty brutal - but results?

It was only after about week 2 of March that western Europe and the USA started to catch on as nations, with plenty of evidence that their respective medical people were already hollering crisis and being ignored. Testing in Oz for example is less than ideal but many times the rate per head than the US with only one fourteenth of the population. The UK's test rates are also weak. The UK's fiddling around with 'herd immunity' in their circumstances was silly but they are improving, especially on isolation- as is the USA, substantially through the governors of NY and Cal. Our efforts in Oz with quarantine are patchy and too slow. NZ did better and closed their country down completely before anyone else (Woman in Charge )

The Japanese did very well with quarantine and isolation; unlike the USA or Australia their people are very good at doing what they are told! However, their figures don't stack up and their test rates compare with the USA. My contact there is confident they are under reporting, particularly on cause of death (Olympics?)

The best chance for the USA and western Europe is perhaps that their medical people were alive to the problem before the politicians woke up to it (I bet Chloe that you had specific training in hand before your government fully acknowledged the issue?) In addition, on the ground community support is a way of life in the west which you see less often in Asia.

Iran and Indonesia are an International disgrace, Java with 141 million people on an island smaller than Illinois is frightening.. Russian numbers are not believable at all.

Having said that, blame making is not going to fix anything; I noticed that China had flown in a plane load of supplies and expert medical personnel to help out in Italy. How would you and your people respond to a similar offer Chloe? Might be tricky.

Having blathered on for too long I should note that it is an ill wind; we have picked up 3 contracts in the past 3 weeks, 24 to 36 months work each - not directly related to this issue but because government agencies have been diverted to other work and have dumped regular work onto us at attractive rates. We have already started 15 more people with a similar number in the pipeline.

 

[ElectricBlue]

This may be it mates — this may be the last of Yukon the shining knight of light and wisdom.

The moose looked up from behind a tree. "Old Yukon's been licking the lichen again. Worse than bloody mushrooms."

"Yes," replied the beaver, "but the maple syrup makes it sweeter."

 

[ChloeTzang]

I agree with you here. Definitely need more beds, more equipment and more meds.

We only disagree on why the dithering's occurring in the first place.

Oh I don’t think we disagree. We should have moved faster and prepared better, but you could say that about pretty much every western country. Look at Trudeau in Canada, out of his depth on this one. The only country that’s handled this impeccably is Taiwan, and that’s because they’ve never trusted China on stuff like this and they learned from SARS.

 

[ElectricBlue]

...we have picked up 3 contracts in the past 3 weeks, 24 to 36 months work each - not directly related to this issue but because government agencies have been diverted to other work and have dumped regular work onto us at attractive rates. We have already started 15 more people with a similar number in the pipeline.

That's magic! Reminds me of one of my first project directors - he always insisted that "risks" and "opportunities" be shown on the same briefing chart, two columns side by side. It's a mind-set I've stuck to ever since. That, plus, "There's always someone worse off than yourself."

For example, in Australia, buy QANTAS shares when they bottom out, but don't buy Virgin, and keep your petrol tank full - we've got fuel for less than a dollar right now.

 

[eroticstoryspinner]

Yes, the toilet paper thing is weird. Washing is far cleaner than wiping with tissue, as long as you have water. I guess it’s maybe a carryover from power outages and earthquakes? I admit to having a few big packs of toilet paper but I buy from Costco anyhow, and I always have stuff stashed away so I just bought more a few weeks ago. But I also have a couple of big boxes of dehydrated meals as well. Good for hiking and a fallback for stuff like this. Oh well, On a Prepper website I’d be an amateur. Here, I can laugh at myself.

And if anyone is interested, I just was passed a snippet from a Chinese friend in Taiwan where they’re reporting that China Mobile he seen a reduction of 7.5 million accounts since mid-December. Something tells me the Chines government is not being entirely truthful. Gasps!

People react to the crisis they are used to. Some places get snowstorms others hurricanes, tornadoes, etc The bottled water assumes that services will be down (ie. a storm) Lot likely in this situation.

 

[ishtat]

It's a hangover from when British homes had an outhouse at the end of the garden. Squares cut from the Radio Times were preferred as they didn't transfer newsprint.
.

Gems of information like that Og make you irreplaceable.

 

[gordo12]

This may be it mates — this may be the last of Yukon the shining knight of light and wisdom.

Could you like finish the beta-read before you do your swan dive

 

[TarnishedPenny]

A

It's a hangover from when British homes had an outhouse at the end of the garden. Squares cut from the Radio Times were preferred as they didn't transfer newsprint.

Granny Weatherwax preferred the Almanac, if I recall.

 

[KeithD]

I Thought that was what the Sears and Roebuck catalog was for.

 

[RejectReality]

And if anyone is interested, I just was passed a snippet from a Chinese friend in Taiwan where they’re reporting that China Mobile he seen a reduction of 7.5 million accounts since mid-December. Something tells me the Chines government is not being entirely truthful. Gasps!

I'm thinking a lot of that is people choosing something more important to spend money on when they've been unemployed due to quarantine. Not saying I trust the numbers coming out of China. Just saying there's another very likely reason for that particular statistic.

 

[HeyAll]

Might have been already posted, but PornHub saw a huge increase in porn consumption. I'm sure the same is true for Lit.

https://people.com/human-interest/people-watching-more-porn-amid-coronavirus-outbreak-says-pornhub/

 

[Bramblethorn]

Might have been already posted, but PornHub saw a huge increase in porn consumption. I'm sure the same is true for Lit.

https://people.com/human-interest/people-watching-more-porn-amid-coronavirus-outbreak-says-pornhub/

I should record my view stats, and then re-check in a couple of weeks to see what's happened to them.

My state has just announced that schools will be closing from Tuesday, and we're going into lockdown on all non-essential travel. No extra writing time for me, alas - both my jobs can be done from home.

 

[yukonnights]

Could you like finish the beta-read before you do your swan dive

Heartless, I say — heartless. Here I am, maybe on my last day, and now I have to hang on a little longer in my suffering. And why? To give you more time to get it perfect — okay, just this once I won't die

And yes, I saw those snide remarks by a someone I'll leave unnamed (cause I am after all the 'knight of light'). I'll have you know, some folks are drinking 'black seed oil' with a shot of hope — while maple coated lichen is well known and respected as a cure all. The secret is to chase it down with 16oz of Jack Daniel — that's the magic most people down south don't know about
****
On a more serious note; Since day one, we've been very careful with all deliveries to the house. Just read an article tonight regarding the situation at UPS. FedX and some other large shipping companies. Bottom line, the workers, both in the distribution facilities and the drivers, are having pressure put on by management to work regardless of symptoms.

This virus can live for days on cardboard and paper. The life span varies, and is difficult to nail down due to the variation in both materials. We're putting on gloves and opening everything outside, wiping the contents with Chlorox wipes before bring stuff in the house, and immediately disposing of the cardboard.

We're doing the same with mail deliveries.

From the info I read, the virus can remain viable for around 6 or 7 days on stainless steel.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Now one thing I did read was that black seed oil is quite effective as an immune system booster and virus suppressor so I bought a couple of bottles of that plus Quercetin, COQ10 and C+Zinc. The black seed oil tastes absolutely disgusting and who knows. Might help and doesn’t hurt.

Pretty much any medicine that isn't pure placebo has side effects. AFAICT, black seed oil hasn't been closely studied either for health benefits or for side effects, but there are suggestions that it may be a bad idea for people who are pregnant, diabetic, or have low blood pressure or a bleeding disorder.

https://www.webmd.com/vitamins/ai/ingredientmono-901/black-seed

 

[lovecraft68]

Everything free will see a boost. Unfortunately for anyone trying to sell anything, good luck.

Its a fine line because businesses/people putting things out for free is a nice gesture. On the other side of things people who are trying to sell something and who need that money, especially now, are hurting.

Especially because there are plenty of people out there who do have money, and I'm not talking about the 'wealthy'. Not everyone will be financially ruined by a few missed checks, and those people are the ones scooping up the free, buying heavily discounted items-especially collectibles on e-bay and things like that- and down the line will profit off it when things come back to normal.

There are people who realize that. Smashwords is doing a big sale for the next month. They're calling it an author give back...but to me, its about them hoping to keep making money and authors will at least sell some books that are discounted

I got a five book sale yesterday, but they didn't use the coupon. A few minutes later I received a feedback from here from the buyer who said he knew the books were on sale, but wanted to pay full price as a thank you to me for still leaving a lot of stuff here for free, and figured authors need money too.

So I guess my message is if you're not in dire straits with this situation, stop being a goddamn vulture and try helping someone other than yourself and support some people scuffling to get by selling their wares/talent etc...

 

[lovecraft68]

So far none of this has affected me much other than making sure we stay home as much as we can and worrying about the wife who has some issues with her immune system.

My job was still going strong, I've worked 50+ hours a week since the first of the year and that has continued..

But...NJ just went on lockdown. Tiffany's warehouse is there and they are 90% of our business and if they are no longer accepting deliveries we can no longer even invoice so I imagine I only have a few days of work left.

That was inevitable anyway as they have closed all their stores nationwide so matter of time before they tell their vendors they don't need more things they can't move.

And that is why despite people claiming when the worst of this is over, we bounce quick are wrong. In my example Tiffany's second half of th year orders will be minimal because they, like many, will have so much inventory built up they won't need squat.

This is not a short term issue economically.

 

[oggbashan]

Locals are not impressed. the second home owners have fled London heading for the coast. Yesterday in Whitstable (Islington-on-Sea) the town was more crowded than it would be even on a summer weekend. Maintaining a safe distance from others was impossible.

 

[Vix_Giovanni]

So far none of this has affected me much other than making sure we stay home as much as we can and worrying about the wife who has some issues with her immune system.

My job was still going strong, I've worked 50+ hours a week since the first of the year and that has continued..

But...NJ just went on lockdown. Tiffany's warehouse is there and they are 90% of our business and if they are no longer accepting deliveries we can no longer even invoice so I imagine I only have a few days of work left.

That was inevitable anyway as they have closed all their stores nationwide so matter of time before they tell their vendors they don't need more things they can't move.

And that is why despite people claiming when the worst of this is over, we bounce quick are wrong. In my example Tiffany's second half of th year orders will be minimal because they, like many, will have so much inventory built up they won't need squat.

This is not a short term issue economically.

You’re right, it’s not a short term issue. And it’s a highly interconnected issue.

I got the email from Tiffany’s a couple of days ago about their changes to service, and tbh, was kind of irritated when I received it (my specific response I think was “Wtf needs crystal barware and Paloma Picasso jewelry in the middle of a crisis?!?”). But your post is an eye opener for remembering to keep things in perspective; all business streams are affected, and they are all affecting real people and we’re all in this together; everything’s connected.

Locals are not impressed. the second home owners have fled London heading for the coast. Yesterday in Whitstable (Islington-on-Sea) the town was more crowded than it would be even on a summer weekend. Maintaining a safe distance from others was impossible.

We have a lot of people in my neighborhood who have fled to their second home. There’s helicopter services that will airlift your NYC-based deliveries to you on a weekly or daily basis if you’re self-quarantining in the Hamptons and Montauk.

The current question in my neighborhood is whether mayor of NYC/gov of NY are going to close marinas. Almost all of my neighbors are ready to riot because the weather is good, but they don’t know if they’ll be able to dock their boats... someone in my building had the audacity to say to me yesterday that, that along with our tennis court and pool closing, “really makes all this hit home”....

 

[KeithD]

I'll have to hunker down where I am. I have a place in Key West, but that seems likely to be a hotbed of transmission with a lot of people just ignoring the social distancing guidance, and I have a place in Cyprus too, but I couldn't get there by any means now and I understand it's closed after German tourists brought the virus in with them. Our last necessary close contact with the world where we are (assuming our doctors' appointments in April will be canceled) was tightened this afternoon when we successfully negotiated curb-side grocery pickup at the grocery store.

I've been under lockdown with shooting in the streets a couple of times, with the longest being for a year--me at the office and my family in an apartment, the needs of both being filled by armed convoys--and before the advent of the Internet--so this should be relatively easy. Not even needing that much contact with my wife, with her work areas being at one end of a long house and mine at the other. Our garden is just coming alive, and we can go out there. We have no debts, our bank accounts are stuffed, and the bulk of our income is in government annuities. Our children are in similar condition, although our daughter-in-law is a nurse at a major city hospital. I'd suggest my son build her a She Shed in the backyard for now, but I'm sure that's a touchy subject. Granddaughters tossed out of their university and taking classes from home.

I think isolation is easier for writers--I can roam the world in my imagination for long stretches of time in front of the computer. Just hope the power grid and food supply hang in there through this.

I went into self-isolation right after seeing the first Trump committee dog and pony show.