COVID-19 Rant

[Alex]

The government here has done something I totally did not expect and I have to applaud them here as much as I am not generally a fan of Boris. They have said to businesses that if you are not making something essential, send your workers home and we will pay them 80% of their wages.

It is a move that is estimated to cost £4 billion per quarter directly, not to mention lost income from the businesses. In the long run it could save a lot of money though and lives.

[RCMerchant]

The state of Michigan goes on lockdown at midnight tonite.

[Alex]

At 20:30 tonight the government announced restrictions on large gatherings and said they would be forcefully broken up if needed. You can leave your house once a day to exercise and you've to stay at home unless work is vital.

[RCMerchant]

I went to the small Grocery store here in town, and the cashier said to me- "Your lucky- an hour ago this place was packed!" Because tonite is the lock down. Usually there are about 5 people in there.
On the good side- I saw my cousin Ronnie!   He's 61 now. No toofers, white hair. And he's only 3 years older than me. I got my hair- though it is thinning and I had to move the part from the left to the right.
My eyebrows look like Andy f**king Rooney's.
What were we talking about?

[chefzombie]

i forget, i'm busy envisioning andy's eyebrows....

[Trevor]

Thanks COVID19: I'm going to be housebound for 21 days.

[chefzombie]

are you okay, trev???
i just read that prince charles has tested positive.

[Zapranoth]

I live in Washington state in the USA, about an hour south of Seattle.   We've had a good, organized response here.  Generally, the people here seem to be taking the isolation measures seriously.   But, we lost a bunch of people early in this in a nursing home, so that (in an awful way) gave us a good scare to get us up and running.

The kids are out of school, I'm sure, until the new school year in September.  No way anyone's going to be business as normal in a month or two.

Alaska appears to be having a good, organized response too.  Much of my family is there, and that's where I trained.

Oregon (the state to my south), not so great, per a colleague of mine this morning.

I'm watching New York with horror.  That is going to be a s**tshow, a real mess.  They are behind the curve and nothing can be done to take it back, now.  Hopefully as a country we can rally and help them.   Cuomo's words, so far, are some of my favorite of what I've heard during this outbreak so far.   I'm glad I don't have that man's job.

The UK seems to be taking good steps.

I was all impressed with India's lockdown, until I read an article about how doctors and other medical staff are being ostracized.  Often as I'll complain about American culture, hey, we're not as bad off as that.  We do have some respect for each other and some love for each other.  (not to say that India doesn't.  But, I'm a doctor.  It particularly hits home for me that they are mistreating the people who are risking their own lives, to save others.)

Ronnie, did you just say that you were introducing us to yourself, to your cousin Ronnie, and to your other cousin Ronnie?   Yeah, that's what I thought I heard.  :)    Stay home and stay safe, you drunk.   Don't let this virus get you.

[Rev. Powell]

I live in Washington state in the USA, about an hour south of Seattle.   We've had a good, organized response here.  Generally, the people here seem to be taking the isolation measures seriously.   But, we lost a bunch of people early in this in a nursing home, so that (in an awful way) gave us a good scare to get us up and running.

The kids are out of school, I'm sure, until the new school year in September.  No way anyone's going to be business as normal in a month or two.

Alaska appears to be having a good, organized response too.  Much of my family is there, and that's where I trained.

Oregon (the state to my south), not so great, per a colleague of mine this morning.

I'm watching New York with horror.  That is going to be a s**tshow, a real mess.  They are behind the curve and nothing can be done to take it back, now.  Hopefully as a country we can rally and help them.   Cuomo's words, so far, are some of my favorite of what I've heard during this outbreak so far.   I'm glad I don't have that man's job.

The UK seems to be taking good steps.

I was all impressed with India's lockdown, until I read an article about how doctors and other medical staff are being ostracized.  Often as I'll complain about American culture, hey, we're not as bad off as that.  We do have some respect for each other and some love for each other.  (not to say that India doesn't.  But, I'm a doctor.  It particularly hits home for me that they are mistreating the people who are risking their own lives, to save others.)

Ronnie, did you just say that you were introducing us to yourself, to your cousin Ronnie, and to your other cousin Ronnie?   Yeah, that's what I thought I heard.  :)    Stay home and stay safe, you drunk.   Don't let this virus get you.

Too bad you weren't around when Zelmo was going off earlier. I notice he's gone quiet; hopefully he's figured it out. Like I said, at first I pooh-poohed the threat, but as the evidence built I changed my mind.

[Alex]

Nice to see you posting on this Zapranoth. I hope things stay, well the minimum amount of crazy possible for you.

As for Zelmo, I don't know if this is a recurring pattern or not but the last time he showed up he seemed to try and cause trouble and then go quiet for a while. Might just be his MO.

As for the UK, people seem to be more or less listening to the advice where we are. London is being reported as largely ignoring the restrictions and the tube trains being busy. I can see the government stepping up action there and hopefully before it all goes to hell in a handbasket. Beyond that, some places are reporting the rules being broken (like the 20 odd neighbours in the Midlands who decided to have a BBQ and were all standing shoulder to shoulder when the police arrived to break them up. The police simply knocked over the BBQ and made everyone go home), but this seems to be the exception rather than the rule. We are all standing by in case we need to support the emergency services.

[Zapranoth]

Too bad you weren't around when Zelmo was going off earlier. I notice he's gone quiet; hopefully he's figured it out. Like I said, at first I pooh-poohed the threat, but as the evidence built I changed my mind.

Don't call it a comeback, I been here for years!     

Nah,  I watched that part and stayed out of it, mainly because it was not productive and zelmo's opinion is, obviously, unimportant.  Fortunately for him his state's governor is taking the right steps to protect him. 

At first I was hopeful that this would be "just" as bad as influenza.  But the evidence quickly tossed that idea.

Feel free to throw out any questions, I'll answer as I can, if anyone has any.

[chefzombie]

i have a question, zap, if i may. i know several people who had what they thought was the flu back in january/early february, do you think it could have been coronavirus instead? this illness in at the end of january was part of why my baby sister had a heart attack, and her doc thinks it may have been covid19, since she tested negative for the respiratory flu going around in wisconsin then.

[zelmo73]

Nah,  I watched that part and stayed out of it, mainly because it was not productive and zelmo's opinion is, obviously, unimportant.  Fortunately for him his state's governor is taking the right steps to protect him. 

At first I was hopeful that this would be "just" as bad as influenza.  But the evidence quickly tossed that idea.

What evidence tosses that idea? Statistically, more people have died from the flu this season alone than from COVID-19, during the same time-span (October 2019 to March 2020). The mortality rate for COVID-19 is based largely on China's statistics, who still carry the largest death rate for the virus, by the way. It mainly kills old and sickly people, of which I honestly had no idea is a description that apparently makes up most of the people that post here; with a few younger folk here and there, but all of whom had pre-existing health conditions.

My apologies to all of my fans here who have missed me during my absence. Unfortunately, I do not live here like some of you do. I was busy spreading the good word on Twitter. To your credit, the chicken littles that post here are not nearly as paranoid and delusional as some of the yahoos that post on Twitter. So for that

[Zapranoth]

i have a question, zap, if i may. i know several people who had what they thought was the flu back in january/early february, do you think it could have been coronavirus instead? this illness in at the end of january was part of why my baby sister had a heart attack, and her doc thinks it may have been covid19, since she tested negative for the respiratory flu going around in wisconsin then.

No real way to know.  Probably not, given that the virus is thought to have started out in November.  I don't know if we know when international spread happened earliest.   The problem is that there's such variety in how sick people can be.    When we have serologies available to see past infections we'll learn more.

[chefzombie]

if you're allowed to, please keep us updated on any possible testing for past illness that could help create vaccines, zap, and thank you!