Coronavirus (Covid-19)

[Ben]

[Daniel]

These are so well made. Here's another:

[EricJ]

In other news, Georgia's Governor Kemp wants to start early reopening next week, of gyms, beauty shops, theaters and bowling alleys.

Any smart political cartoonist would be immediately picturing:

[Randall]

Yeah, I understand that things will need to start slowly reopening at some point, but doing so before numbers go down, or before being prepared at the hospitals, is indeed shooting oneself in the foot. Or, yeah, dropping a bowling ball on one's foot.

Our numbers where I live in Canada are waaaaay better than just about any urban area in the States, yet (almost) no one here thinks we should reopen anytime soon.

Businesses shut down with just dozens or hundreds of cases in each state. Why on earth do they think they can reopen when there are more hundreds or even thousands of cases? Insanity.

[ShyViolet]

Really beautiful and inspiring short vid on how children are getting through this whole thing:

https://youtu.be/kLOZ4KcEJtc

[Bill1978]

Well things are happening here in my state in Australia, in a fortnight's time kids will return to school one day a week and the other 4 remote learning. And this Friday 2 adults are allowed to go and visit a household. Which is exciting news for me after being isolated 5 weeks by myself (I know that's not a long time). Not saying I will go visit people because it's not like before COVID-19 I was dropping in and seeing everybody but it's nice to know that if a friend wants to invite me over to have dinner with their family etc I can. Although as a science teacher with an actual science degree I think its far too early to start re-opening thing. But the economy is more important than lives.

[EricJ]

And then, there's Trump...Oh, dear entertaining Trump:
We're starting to let our senses of humor slip: FIRST, we get his little "Do we have a cure yet, do we, huh, do I get to take historical credit for it? " moment of suggesting we inject Windex to disinfect the virus, and absolutely nobody makes Steve Martin references about Merv Griffin.

Then, he claims "I was being sarcastic...Just wanted to see yer faces!" after the blowup, although everyone did make the "Pee-Wee's bike" references.

And now, after his aides pointed out to him that "Fake News reporters" win Pulitzer prizes, not the Nobel Prizes he's obsessed with, he pulled those Tweets, and claimed that was also "sarcastic". (Or, that no, wait, he misspelled "Noble prizes" on purpose, since he meant they should give back their "noble" Pulitzers.)

And no one...not ONE other single solitary soul on the Internet that I could perceive...had the common decent sense to quote:

[Randall]

Where I live, only healthcare clinics reopen next week, but that means I will be back at work. I would not have argued against staying closed another month or two, but we had closed down almost right after the virus hit here, so we are in decent shape. (Much more like Australia than Europe or the US.) Hospitals are empty, and testing capacity is now very good. Still, it certainly will not be business-as-usual. Lots of precautions will be added, and we will proceed slowly and cautiously with any further openings. Hopefully we will have a handle on this; if not, we will shut down again.

While we cannot take this too lightly, we will all have to learn to live with this disease for a long time. That will mean physical distancing as much as possible, wearing masks when out, and continued hand-washing and sanitizer use. A few countries seem have have gotten the hang of it, though it will not be "safe" by any stretch until new treatments or a vaccine is developed.

[Ben]

Been a bit quiet on the boards the past few days...just want to make sure our regulars and your nearest and dearest are all okay?

Stay safe, and sending best wishes to everyone.

[ShyViolet]

You as well, Ben! And every member/lurker here too!

I’m still hanging in. Mostly just trying to find stuff to do. Feels like forever since this craziness started...some businesses here in the States are slowly re-opening, but NY State is still more or less in quarantine mode since we’ve had the highest number of cases in the country. (Although my area has been much less affected by comparison.)

I miss Starbucks!

[EricJ]

I miss Starbucks!

The last remaining open one in town is at the grocery store (takeout only), which is a nice incentive to going out to restore provisions. That's one advantage to Starbucks trying to infiltrate every public place they can get a foothold into.

(I don't actually drink coffee, as I have enough trouble with the caffeine in a bottle of Coke Zero, but I like coffee as a minor flavoring to chocolate, pumpkin, caramel, gingerbread and whipped cream...)

[Randall]

Doing okay here. I am back at work, outfitted in gown, mask and face shield. Basically, getting used to the new normal. Local cases are still low in number, thanks to a quick shutdown once it got here, and the number of active cases is dropping (90% of known cases have recovered). And we still have lots of excess hospital space and testing capacity at the moment, which is why the government is allowing a cautious re-opening. Only healthcare clinics opened this week, but that is expanding to some other shops and businesses on May 18, though with restrictions in place. Not sure what to expect then, as we all know things can change in a hurry. But schools and churches are staying closed, and no gatherings of more than 10 people for a long time.

[Bill1978]

Spent my first day in six weeks onsite today. Just me and 10 kids in room. Them completing online learning, me supervising them and telling them every 30 minutes the new subject they should be moving on to. Not a single one of them was a student I taught before the pandemic shifted kids to online learning. While it was nice to finally have some fact to face human time, it was a relatively boring day and I missed the actual physical act of teaching and interacting with the kids as they learned. Starting rom next week, I am at work 5 days a week, while students attend one day a week, with that scenario being reviewed in a fortnight. Which the way Australia is heading will mean more days at school for the kids and a shift back to traditional practices. Unless some idiots decide to do something idiotic and cause a 2nd wave to sweep the nation.

[Daniel]

I'm still about and doing good. Just preoccupied. Mainly making up for all the lost time last month. Went to Wal-Mart for the first time since this whole pandemic started. Felt weird. Even with a mask I was nervous and slightly paranoid.

[Ben]

I’m not one for panic attacks but before this really got going my wife and I did our last big shop and after 45 minutes I started feeling claustrophobic and needing to get out. No-one was keeping their distance and it was quite the opposite, in fact. We got to the line and everyone was jostling, like they were going to be able to get out any faster.

I almost snapped at the lady behind me who kept nudging me with her cart, until I sternly said that doing this wouldn’t help me go any faster and she should back off, which she did. But, needless to say, I haven’t been back in a store since!

Luckily our movie night crowd has been good at keeping us going, with various people offering to drop shopping off or to pick up our home delivery options. All those free movie shows finally paid off...!