Topic: Is the Corona virus the elephant in the room?

[smokester]

I'm beginning to think I am in a dream state that I can't wake up from. Here in London I am now finding it hard to get basic things like pasta and loo roll. It's not at the point of crisis yet, but there are some I know who are struggling to get these basic things locally as they aren't surrounded my all the big supermarkets like we are here in south west London.

It is a big concern I know and to be honest I bought a contigency-plan store of food about 5 weeks ago and then got on with life knowing I could isolate my family for a month if I had to as long as I had running water. Things then just proceeded as normal while incorporating basic advice like using hand cleaner as a rule when entering our apartment.

Things have changed now. It's like people are breaking the "break-glass" boxes as if the zombies have attacked.

I didn't think the world, with all its freak weather etc., could have become even more surreal than it was. But it has.

How is everyone else here holding up?

[8ullfrog]

My mom has caught the madness, she's bought a bunch of stupid poo and substitutes for foods that just don't work.

For example, she bought these weird vacuum packed ham slices, and I found a recipe. You stick it in the middle of a grands biscuit, and top it with white gravy.

So she bought crescent rolls and chicken gravy. That... doesn't work.

She was saying that she would make me take a rideshare to the doctor instead of the bus, until I told her ridesharing was how it is spreading in NY state.

The entire situation was taken too casually initially, and now it's led to all this crazy poo. I'd read Corona sales have dropped because of it, so when I was picking up whiskey I checked.

I imagine it's the price that's driven down Corona sales. A six pack is $11, a 12 pack is $18. You can get a 12 pack of Heineken for $11.

People are certainly losing their poo, I drove off the jehovas by repeating the advice I heard on the news, maintain a six foot distance from people.

The panic certainly is greater than in the past, the closest I'd say it is reminds me of the anthrax scare and the run on Tamiflu.

There's a great playlist on youtube where the host breaks down assorted movie and comic book viruses, and he started with all the zombie movies.

It is interesting to see how fragile the systems we take for granted break down. Well, Terrifying really.

One I found strange, the percentage on rubbing alcohol seems to have been marked down. I usually buy 90% for electronics cleaning, and I've heard 60-80% is ideal for wound cleaning, but all the stuff I've seen lately is 50%. I wonder why that is.

Of course, our Business Man in chief said this will all blow over by April. I still wonder what the golly made him think that, let alone say it out loud.

I'm trying to remember some of the crazy foods from the simpsons, for instance, in homer's WWIII shelter, he had canned chicken wings.

I'd eat Cheezus H. Rice. Chunky Farms Tail & Tendon Soup, not so much.

[6pairsofshoes]

I'm not worried about food or basic necessities, but given it's in my area, I suspect it's merely a matter of time before people we know begin to get sick.  I've heard that it's not as bad as everyone says, and I've heard that it's much worse than everyone thinks.  So, I'll just keep on as before hoping that it doesn't get bad and adjusting to whatever conditions occur. 

I do wash my hands a great deal more than I did in the past.  That's supposed to help -- that, and avoiding touching one's face.  I don't take public transportation to work, in part, because it seems a good vector for disease, at least more so than my car.  I have the impression that alcohol based hand sanitizer doesn't really have any effect on the virus, so I haven't bothered.

[8ullfrog]

Johnny Carsonesque toilet paper shortages have been reported across Australia.

It's panic buying. They heard that the first thing to run out in Wuhan was toilet paper, and decided to join the club.
I hear Tescos is rationing. Rice and Bean madness have hit the US.

My Jack in the box decided that the drop in foot traffic was as good of an excuse for a remodel as any, and will be closed for four months. (A car recently drove into it)

[6pairsofshoes]

The local Safeway is busy as normal on weekends but I haven't seen anyone hoarding toilet paper.  I guess it would be inconvenient to run out, but it's not clear why a respiratory infection should send people running out for that product.  Maybe I'm a bit slow on the uptake here.

[8ullfrog]

I just read a small blurb on it. People go to store for food. Store is out of food they want. Toilet paper is there. Toilet paper is large item, Toilet paper does not expire. People buy Toilet paper, people experience false victory feeling.

I don't know if I buy that, but there's one explanation.

[6pairsofshoes]

I went to the store today.  To my amazement, one entire side of an aisle was empty with a sign saying the supplier had been wiped out of stock.  This was the rice and dried beans aisle.  Fortunately, I buy rice in 20 pound bags (a year's supply of basmati from the Indian grocery) and we have enough dry and canned beans to last for years, so I didn't need to put any strain on the food supply.  The store was mobbed but I think that's kind of normal for Sunday afternoon, thanks to the M-F work week.

I didn't check the toilet paper aisle.  One woman was shopping in a mask, which seemed silly to me, as the masks offer no protection against this virus.  We just had a cruise ship full of sick passengers assigned to the Port of Oakland, where they are theoretically being quarantined. 

When I was younger, I went to Paris and a day after I landed, terrorists bombed the airport where I'd just arrived.  I figured that if it's your time, if there's a bomb or a virus with your name on it, there's not much you can do to thwart fate.  You can do the best you can to try to stay healthy, eat well and take exercise, but other than that, I don't think you can avoid an epidemic.

[smokester]

Running the numbers it seems that virtually everyone is at some risk of dying from the virus regardless of age or health, and I think those odds are what is driving the panic.

If you were diagnosed with something serious and the doctor told you that you have a 99% percent chance of a full recovery you'd be jumping with joy. But by the same token, if you were in a room with 99 other people and someone was going to shoot a single bullet into the crowd, given the opportunity I'd rather not be in the room in the first place.

Let's be honest, if we all isolated for 2 or 3 weeks, it's the virus that would be dead. And I could catch up with some admin...

[6pairsofshoes]

It's interesting, and somewhat concerning, to see the stock markets' current rollercoaster trading behaviors.  Automatic pauses to trading have been instituted after the market plunged this morning.  Locking down sections of the industrial producing areas, like they're doing in Italy, can't be good for business.  The Fed keeps throwing money at this, reducing interest rates and offering more short term loans to banks.  Oil is trading at very low prices.  I'm wondering about whether the average consumer will see a drop in gasoline prices -- probably not.

As for not being in that room in the first place, yes, I agree.  But, in preparation, I go dig up my yard, believing somehow that digging soil might be beneficial.  Exercise and getting down with the local microbes might give me a little protection.  But that's probably just wishful thinking.  The weeds have gotten ahead of me, so it can't hurt to make the yard look better.  Right now, I'm trying to deal with daylight savings time.  I hate having the clock moved forward and backward.  It's disruptive in basic ways.   Have a good day and remember to wash your hands.

[8ullfrog]

Those pauses make me question the utility of the stock market in the first place. At this point they're just trying to mitigate damage.

[smokester]

I do feel that this crisis is a true wake up call to all those who have been living in a dreamworld of opulence.

Perhaps, after it's all over, we can all get back to the business of just living rather than racing to the imaginary top.

[8ullfrog]

I mean, the existence of that "circuit breaker" implies the opulent will be defended, but if you have to go to work, even if you're sick, you're even more bent now.

Apparently the "circuit breakers" are designed to prevent weird computer behavior that happens after such drops. It happened in 1987. Apparently the computers start making weird buying/selling decisions in such a scenario, but that's as far as the article I was reading got into it.

I found out that 50% alcohol is functionally worthless. Any idea why they sell that crap six?

I've read the Oil thing is some form of economic war between the Saudi's and Russia. Guess they decided to dump fuel on this crisis.

[goldshirt*9]

life is life
or not for some

[smokester]

This is true. In fact for most folk the "some risk" approaches 100%.

Do ingrowing toenails count in comorbidity? Assuming you had the virus, that is.

[6pairsofshoes]

They can't help.  The pain, alone, must be an added stressor that depresses the immune system.

I stay off of public transport as much as possible.  Even though I'd be happy to let them take me from one place to the next, I feel safer in my car.  At least there's probably less germs.