COVID-19 thread

[alice]

USA persons! Don't panic! Your president has the answer!

[gestaltist]

The counter-intuitive thing about this sort of crisis: the time is to act is when it seems (to laymen) that it's way too early.

This, so much. Here in Poland, our government did the right thing for once and started reacting very early. They announced the closure of schools when we were at 30 cases and a lot of people thought they were overreacting. A few days later, we're at 125 cases and 3 deaths anyway... Poland closed its borders, shut down schools, museums, cinemas, malls, and most stores and restaurants (grocery stores, drugstores, etc. remain open, you can order takeout or delivery at restaurants but not sit down to eat). People are encouraged to work from home which my company luckily did on their own accord (I have been working from home since Thursday). Thousands of people are in quarantine. I'm glad we're doing it now. It might already be too late anyway, but it will slow the spread and distribute the load on our less-than-stellar healthcare system.

In many places, people have been panic buying but I am really pleasantly surprised by my part of town: things haven't been bought out completely for the most part (only meat is in low supply), people have been queuing orderly 2 meter apart when buying stuff, etc.

It's a weird timeline where I can say "so glad I am in Poland and not in western Europe right now."

[Xwtek]

My university is now all online, thanks to COVID-19. After so long time Indonesia got infection-free, now people suddenly got COVID-19. Although, I have to be suspicious as the neighbours are all infected badly.

[Howl]

I'm in/near the biggest COVID-19 outbreak area in the Netherlands. That was caused by partying in crowded bars for the traditional carnival celebration with some infected people who just got back from a holiday in Italy.

The government here has finally implemented some appropriate measures, but it was really dragging its feet getting there. No events >100 persons are permitted, everyone with a cold or a cough has to stay home, and all people should work from home if they can. All restaurants, bars and schools are closed now. But testing is still not what it should be. From what I hear there is a shortage of test kits.

I've been working from home for the last week. With everyone working at home now, the VPN has become slow, though. I also see a lot of hoarding in the supermarkets the last couple of days. The shelves with pasta or toilet paper are nearly empty.

[Raphael]

Latest update: Today I was at a different supermarket than my regular one, and saw empty shelves myself with my own eyes for the first time. That is, almost all the shelves were still well stocked, but the ones for toilet paper and soap were completely empty, and the ones for durable crispbread were mostly empty.

A kinda weird note: I picked up an orthopaedic elbow bandage that I had ordered last week today, and at the place where I got it, pretty much everything was, well, normal, except for the big hand sanitizer dispenser at the entrance. And well, with everything going on that's going on at the moment, the very "normalness" of the whole situation felt kinda surreal to me.

[alice]

Something probably not of interest to the wider population is the effect of the virus on conlanging. Will we see more isolating languages as conlangers try to avoid unnecessary contact between morphemes?

Meanwhile, my local Tesco Metro was fuller than usual for a Monday morning, and most of the toilet roll was gone, but otherwise it was much the same as usual.

[Ryusenshi]

I know containment measures are necessary and no fun for everybody... and that there are people in much worse situations than my own... but I wish I was in my own home, or with my family. Now I'm stuck in this lousy Airbnb, in a run-down building, with no internet apart from my 4G, with four guys I have trouble communicating with (their English isn't great) and with, let's say, not the same conception of cleaning the dishes as mine.

[Travis B.]

There's a sort of eeriness of how everything is shutting down, and how there have been panic-driven runs on things ranging from toilet paper to soap to hand sanitizer, while one is just waiting for the virus to arrive, only hearing about how many more are affected today through the news (until today, for me, where it now turns out a coworker was potentially exposed, and now is at home with flu-like symptoms, now making me wonder whether they exposed me...)

[chris_notts]

Some shops are pretending to be out of stock as well. The Boots pharmacy near us hid all their children's medicines, but when presented with a sick child promptly produced some from the back.

[Raphael]

with four Indian guys I have trouble communicating with (their English isn't great) and with, let's say, not the same conception of hygiene as mine.

That kind of post isn't really cool, IMO.

[Ryusenshi]

Hmm, I now realize my post was kinda insensitive. Sorry about that. I've edited my post accordingly.

I just meant to say that I don't really get along with these particular four guys, and we don't really agree on how to use the kitchen. Is that better?

[Richard W]

Hmm, I now realize my post was kinda insensitive. Sorry about that. I've edited my post accordingly.

I just meant to say that I don't really get along with these particular four guys, and we don't really agree on how to use the kitchen. Is that better?

You now just come across as mealy-mouthed.

[Moose-tache]

Richard, calm down. You're allowed to not enjoy being crammed in a house with four bros who won't clean the dishes. It's not racist to not want to live in a frat house. Ryusenshi isn't saying he dislikes people because of their Indianness; that was just there to explain why he struggles to communicate with them. Unless cleaning the dishes is some dog whistle I'm unaware of...

Ryusenshi, that sounds like a legitimate hardship. I would hate to be trapped out of my comfort zone at a time like this.

EDIT: Back on topic...

I always knew I was unusually introverted, but the recent campaign for social distancing is really driving home just how differently most people see the world compared to how I see it. As soon as I heard that people should stay home I was like "OK. Done. I have Netflix." But twitter is full of famous people imploring their fans to stop going to parties. "I know it's hard to not go to a sweaty club with sticky floors and grabby dancers," they admit, "but try, against all odds, to read a book at home. Make this enormous sacrifice for humanity!" Other celebrities caution us to avoid social gatherings, and their irresistible allure of making small talk with people half our age, to instead cook a nice meal at home, as depressing as that task might be.

Who are these aliens that I've been sharing the planet with this whole time?

[quinterbeck]

snip

Yeah, I won't have any difficulty not going to parties either. But as much as I enjoy spending time by myself, I know that too much time alone is unhelpful for me. It makes room for bad habits. Regular social time really helps counteract my negative tendencies.

Personally, I'm going to struggle without meeting for church each week. For me it's not a place for small talk, but real connection with God and fellow believers. It's an important opportunity to encourage and be encouraged.

So I can empathise with people who feel drawn to go out partying (despite having no inclination to myself)

[Richard W]

Personally, I'm going to struggle without meeting for church each week. For me it's not a place for small talk, but real connection with God and fellow believers. It's an important opportunity to encourage and be encouraged.

My mother considers it totally inappropriate to suspend the fortnightly Holy Communion using the Book of Common Prayer. As the size of the congregation is about 8, I think one can argue that this is essential social contact. They've already foregone the sharing of the chalice.

[Linguoboy]

My mother considers it totally inappropriate to suspend the fortnightly Holy Communion using the Book of Common Prayer. As the size of the congregation is about 8, I think one can argue that this is essential social contact. They've already foregone the sharing of the chalice.

My cousin shared an opinion piece saying, if anything, we should have more masses, since--after all--when do people need God more? In a concession to evidence-based best practices, the author did make the point that it would avoid crowding and allow everyone to spread out more. What I don't get is that they already have televised masses for shut-ins. If it's good enough for them, why not for everybody?

Today is the Illinois Presidential Primary and (as you might expect if you know anything at all about Chicago) there's little consistency between polling places. Friends who voted in the neighbourhood just south of mine are reporting strictly-enforced limits on the number of people allowed inside, proper social distancing, freely-available hand sanitiser, etc. I saw none of that at my own polling place. I almost barked at the helpful old fossil who was working the ballot-scanning machine. He tried to get near to show me how to insert the ballot correctly and I was like, "Just tell me how!" Goddammit, old man, I'm doing my best here not to kill you.

[Pabappa]

i feel bad for the people at my old job, Walgreens, who are now running out of hand sanitizer even for their own use. the pharmacist had a bottle of Lysol toilet cleaner in stead of hand sanitizer though Im not sure if she was actually using it on her hands or just wiping the counter. Portland Maine just closed every restaurant in the city, and the city council recommends that restaurants start switching to take-out only service.

[Kuchigakatai]

I always knew I was unusually introverted, but the recent campaign for social distancing is really driving home just how differently most people see the world compared to how I see it. As soon as I heard that people should stay home I was like "OK. Done. I have Netflix." But twitter is full of famous people imploring their fans to stop going to parties. "I know it's hard to not go to a sweaty club with sticky floors and grabby dancers," they admit, "but try, against all odds, to read a book at home. Make this enormous sacrifice for humanity!" Other celebrities caution us to avoid social gatherings, and their irresistible allure of making small talk with people half our age, to instead cook a nice meal at home, as depressing as that task might be.

Who are these aliens that I've been sharing the planet with this whole time?

Here is a photo from the Sun Forum in Mexico City on this past Saturday in the afternoon, mind you that Mexico has 82 confirmed cases so far:
https://i.imgur.com/x4Vb09m.jpg

It wasn't full in the seat sections but the field being that full was simply irresponsible.

My mother considers it totally inappropriate to suspend the fortnightly Holy Communion using the Book of Common Prayer. As the size of the congregation is about 8, I think one can argue that this is essential social contact. They've already foregone the sharing of the chalice.

My cousin shared an opinion piece saying, if anything, we should have more masses, since--after all--when do people need God more? In a concession to evidence-based best practices, the author did make the point that it would avoid crowding and allow everyone to spread out more. What I don't get is that they already have televised masses for shut-ins. If it's good enough for them, why not for everybody?

One interesting recent decision by the US Catholic Church because of the virus was to get rid of the bureaucracy behind the streaming of masses. Dioceses have now been given free rein to stream them, but the churches continue to be open. Spain is doing the same in spite of the worse situation there, keeping the churches open while recommending people to do the mass by watching it on TV.

[Ares Land]

Ok, we're in lockdown.

Work has shut down almost entirely; one of the perks being that I'm not expected to do much, besides respond to unusual production incidents if any should could up.

No major inconveniences to report. I wish I had a garden though. Today was one of the first sunny days after months of endless rainy winter months.
Oh, and perhaps I should consider investing in a proper office chair for home when it's all over. My back hurts from sitting on the couch too much.

Re: introversion.

On the introvert-extrovert spectrum, I'm somewhere in the middle I believe. I'll miss social contacts -- on the other hand, I got a lot of books to read, a fair amount of conworlding to do, and a lot of stuff I'd like to learn, some work-related (I should really take the opportunity to check out Kubernetes, for instance, or learn Python) other not (hey, I could start again with the Italian lessons!).

The one unexpected benefit is that, suddenly, I have a lot of time on my hands again. OK, sure, I need the kids busy, but for a change there's no need to rush things.

[masako]

"This is bigger than any one of us," Biden said. "This calls for a national rallying of everybody together."

Kinda misses the mark of how to deal with a communicable virus, but his heart's in the right place, I guess.