Covid-19 Discussion, arguments (please be nice 👍 ) thread

[Pen]

18 minutes ago, Garga said:

So...I’ve been watching my friends on FB sloooowly change their perspectives.  This one is the most dramatic.  She’s 65 and has a decent amount of medical issues.  This tracks what she’s been saying from Saturday through to today:  (cutting and pasting will mess with the font)

 

EDITED:  Just realized I should not quote her exactly...so I’lll summarize

Saturday:

She states she will NOT sequester herself.

Monday:

She states that she WILL break the rules of quarantine and went out to see some family members.

Thursday:

She rails against 20 and 30 year olds for not taking this seriously. She tells a story of friends she has in another country who went to be tested and discovered that the majority of people standing in line to be tested were in their 30s.  She chides parents for not telling their young people to stay home.  She tells everyone to stay in quarantine.  She lists the reasons why she is high risk and calls anyone who isn’t willing to stay home “entitled” and adds some guilt telling them that the bible says to take care of the widows (by staying home and not spreading diseases to them).

 

——

This is Garga again: quite the 180.  I’ve seen this play out a few times now.  Over the weekend I was pulling out my hair reading my FB people downplay this and toss the words “conspiracy” and “nonsense” and “I’ll go out if I want to” around.  But things started quieting by Monday and by now, I’m seeing some of those same people out there with the zeal of new converts calling people to stay home and distance themselves from each other.  

 

This is also something I have seen.

 

and the new converts thing too— where one day people are insisting on their right to go to large homeschool coop gathering. Or whatever. Then a day or two later they suddenly “get it” and are yelling at anyone who isn’t totally in isolation.

 

 

[Pen]

So, speaking of stages and changes, what stage are you at now?

Personally?

Other close family? 

 Emotionally?

Intellectually?

Level of social distancing?

Level of “lockdown” or still going out and about? (I realize that this may part be individual choice, part work or similar necessities, part shelter in place or lockdowns mandated for your particular location, and may also differ by know cases local to you and health or age.) 

[Joker]

My college kid is with five friends playing D&D today. I'm mostly disappointed that they're being so stupid as they are usually quite level headed. Dh and I aren't sure what to do. We can say no more (don't even know if he has future plans yet) but he's 20 and we feel he would probably just go stay somewhere else then. I go back and forth but I'm thinking if he plans to come and go after today I will just tell him to stay elsewhere. It stinks and is frustrating. 

[Pen]

 

Just now, Pen said:

Level of social distancing?

Level of “lockdown” or still going out and about? (I realize that this may part be individual choice, part work or similar necessities, part shelter in place or lockdowns mandated for your particular location, and may also differ by know cases local to you and health or age.) 

 

I’ll start answering some of my own questions.

My immediate family and I will start on ~98% physical isolation/ major distancing today.

I worked my 18 yo into a gradual acceptance of this with an expected noon start.  (He is currently with one friend— which is not awful, but that friend has other contacts, who have contacts, who have contacts, etc.    )   

I am going to try to cut down to once per month fresh food shopping trip if possible, otherwise be home except for emergency, plus dog walking along local road area.  

Our mailbox is in a group of about 15 or so boxes of neighbors and sometimes has been a chat spot, but if others are there I plan to stop at a distance, wave, say “social distancing” and maybe chat from across street.  I’ve not figured out my approach if I’m at box first as someone else is approaching. 

 

 

[Pen]

7 minutes ago, Joker said:

My college kid is with five friends playing D&D today. I'm mostly disappointed that they're being so stupid as they are usually quite level headed. Dh and I aren't sure what to do. We can say no more (don't even know if he has future plans yet) but he's 20 and we feel he would probably just go stay somewhere else then. I go back and forth but I'm thinking if he plans to come and go after today I will just tell him to stay elsewhere. It stinks and is frustrating. 

 

I can “relate.”

my 18yo high school kid and I had a butting heads over skateboarding yesterday. I told him I thought it was ill advised to do anything at this time that increases risk of needing hospital.  That if he did it and got hurt, dealing with that was entirely on him.  That I am a person with higher risk factors from health plus close to 60. And I won’t go to hospital for something arising from having taken a completely unnecessary risk. 

I think he went ahead and skateboarded and did not get hurt. I don’t know.   I realize he has never gotten hurt skateboarding, and that I skateboarded as a kid and never got hurt— but I do think it is overly risky in present circumstances.

[Kanin]

So, speaking of stages and changes, what stage are you at now?

Personally? Pretty accepting, since I'm teaching from home. Still feel like I'm in a bad dream though.

Other close family? My mom is similar to me. 

 Emotionally? Sad, bored, frustrated, concerned about world health + economies. Lonely.

Intellectually? Same.

Level of social distancing? Not seeing friends, talking to neighbors from the edges of our lawns.

Level of “lockdown” or still going out and about? I wouldn't say I'm on lockdown - not confined to the house. I go for walks, drives. I went to Walmart the other day wearing gloves and a mask. Still go to the grocery store when I need to (every couple days/week). 

[edelweiss]

8 minutes ago, Pen said:

So, speaking of stages and changes, what stage are you at now?

Personally?

Other close family? 

 Emotionally?

Intellectually?

Level of social distancing?

Level of “lockdown” or still going out and about? (I realize that this may part be individual choice, part work or similar necessities, part shelter in place or lockdowns mandated for your particular location, and may also differ by know cases local to you and health or age.) 

My family (DH, DD19, DD16, and me) have not been in close contact with any other person since last Thursday night.  All groceries/supplies have been delivered or picked up.  Have not set foot in a store for about 2 weeks.

My girls were telling me about something they saw about the 3 types of moms during the coronavirus. I am definitely the 3rd type-- no one comes in, no one goes out! 😂

We're doing okay emotionally.  We are all bored, but we are fortunate that we have a large house, lots of things to do here, and the educational aspect hasn't changed too much.  DD19 was commuting to college this semester, so now she is just doing her classes at home everyday instead of at school.  She is only a freshman, so she isn't too far out of the stay-at-home routine since she was homeschooled all the way through high school.  

DM71 has been staying home for the past two weeks.  I check on her everyday and she doesn't seem to be too lonely or feel too isolated.  She walks her dog everyday and is enjoying piddling around the house.  

DF72 and his wife don't seem to be taking it quite as seriously (at least a few days ago).  I don't think my dad is going out much, but I think my stepmother still is.  And my half-brother and his toddler are living with them right now.  I'm not sure if my niece is still going to daycare or not or if my brother is still going to work.  I hope my dad will be okay.

[Garga]

37 minutes ago, Pen said:

So, speaking of stages and changes, what stage are you at now?

Personally?

Other close family? 

 Emotionally?

Intellectually?

Level of social distancing?

Level of “lockdown” or still going out and about? (I realize that this may part be individual choice, part work or similar necessities, part shelter in place or lockdowns mandated for your particular location, and may also differ by know cases local to you and health or age.) 

Personally: am an introvert so am tickled pink that I’m ordered to stay home, but then I feel soooo guilty because this is so serious and deadly.

But I watched an episode of Gilmore Girls yesterday and they were out and about visiting and hanging out with friends, and I got a twinge of ... something.  I don’t know.  A twinge of unsureness of where this is all headed.  Will this blow over ever? For how long?  

Other close family: dh is a lot like me.  But he’s fretting that his job will stop paying him.  He works at a college, so as long as students are enrolled the money comes in to the college, but he’s not a teacher and he’s thinking that his job will dry up and they might not pay him.  He just doesn’t know, and I can tell he’s on edge.

My ds15 is BOOORED all the time right now and it’s a bit annoying.  I may have to crack down on him and impose a bunch of chores on him.  I was letting him relax (he’s being cyberschooled this year and for some reason they shut down for 2 weeks), but now I might have to make him get some work done because it’s annoying to hear him whine about being bored.  The cyber school will start back up on the 30th and I think he’ll feel bad that he wasted this time just hanging around being BORED and not doing anything useful. Live and learn, I guess.

Intellectually: I am 100% on board with all the quarantining and wish it was even more.

Level of social distancing: Oops, I already wrote about that i the “personally” category.  I’m ok with it, but feeling twinges of something I can’t seem to name: not fear; maybe wariness? About the future. We are not going anywhere except for groceries.  Oh, and we ordered some soup to go from a local restaurant where we buy soup every Wed night for date night.  They’re a tiny restaurant and we want to financially support them if we can.

Edited March 19, 2020 by Garga

[Reefgazer]

Here's a head-scratcher:  MY DH works for MSC, a government agency connected to the Navy.  He is not an essential employee, and most in his division are not.  But they are all  still working full tilt boogie because, although the commander in chief wants isolation, the decision on what to do at each branch is left to the admiral of the branch, so they are all going full on.  And there is a lot of cross-socializing work there.  DH doesn't have to work, and can work from home if authorized; but no one is authorizing it, so here we are, with a huge weak link in our family chain.

[Joker]

1 hour ago, Joker said:

My college kid is with five friends playing D&D today. I'm mostly disappointed that they're being so stupid as they are usually quite level headed. Dh and I aren't sure what to do. We can say no more (don't even know if he has future plans yet) but he's 20 and we feel he would probably just go stay somewhere else then. I go back and forth but I'm thinking if he plans to come and go after today I will just tell him to stay elsewhere. It stinks and is frustrating. 

Quoting myself in case some think we're awful. He has an apartment an hour away near campus that we're still paying for. He would rather not be there because he doesn't drive and all his friends are here, so it's not like he has no where to go. Youngest was born with a messed up lung, so that takes priority over ds wanting to hang with friends while staying home. We're trying to avoid this virus for as long as we can.

[Pen]

14 minutes ago, Joker said:

Quoting myself in case some think we're awful. He has an apartment an hour away near campus that we're still paying for. He would rather not be there because he doesn't drive and all his friends are here, so it's not like he has no where to go. Youngest was born with a messed up lung, so that takes priority over ds wanting to hang with friends while staying home. We're trying to avoid this virus for as long as we can.

 

Not at all think anything awful.  I gave my 18yo still in high school and living at home a choice between home and physical  isolation  except necessary things (can socialize online or phone) or that he could move out and do his own thing...   Not in a mean booting out way, I’d help him with move out and give him guidance via phone or texting etc.  As well as start him off with rent first month last month and security deposit .  But that time had come for decision.  

So at least for now he is home.  We will take it a step at a time.

 

[Pen]

Emotionally: I think I am mostly at the acceptance stage.  Trying, mostly, to be extra courteous and kind to those I deal with knowing people are under a lot of stress.

But I feel very angry with the partying college kids and people who do similar stuff.

 

Intellectually: I think we could get through this by September IF people would close down activities and contacts that spread the illness —close down as much as possible aside from necessities. (Necessary Work, food, medical care etc). 

But from looks of the college kids beach parties etc, that does not seem to be happening.

My approach  though  is to say even if thousands or millions are still out playing, I am / we are going to do our parts not to contribute to the medical burden. 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 19, 2020 by Pen
More clarity

[Farrar]

Is wiping your mail in Clorox a stage? I’m at that stage.

[Sneezyone]

1 hour ago, Reefgazer said:

Here's a head-scratcher:  MY DH works for MSC, a government agency connected to the Navy.  He is not an essential employee, and most in his division are not.  But they are all  still working full tilt boogie because, although the commander in chief wants isolation, the decision on what to do at each branch is left to the admiral of the branch, so they are all going full on.  And there is a lot of cross-socializing work there.  DH doesn't have to work, and can work from home if authorized; but no one is authorizing it, so here we are, with a huge weak link in our family chain.

 

DH doesn't have the option of not working but I wish commands would just order essential personnel to stay on base and reduce the exposure me and our kids face. We don't *have* to go anywhere but DH comes and goes multiple times a week. He is our weak link. If he brings something home and I get it bad, we're screwed and he will have to retire...immediately. We have no family in this area. This family operates on me and Grace.

Edited March 19, 2020 by Sneezyone

[pitterpatter]

I don't wipe the mail down (yet), but I do promptly throw the envelopes in the trash, spray down the counter, and wash my hands. Now that I think about it, though, my bills are probably contaminated with that method. 🤔

I've been flummoxed about the most efficient way to process DH's laundry. Right now, I pinch the corners of his clothes while holding them away from my body, drop them in the washer, wash my hands, pour detergent, push the buttons on the washing machine, then wash my hands again. I don't like it. Plus, I feel like our dirty clothes basket is contaminated and then I have to root around in it up to my elbows to find all the pieces for a specific load type. I've thought about using vinyl gloves, but I only have one box of them. Seems like wasting.

37 minutes ago, Farrar said:

Is wiping your mail in Clorox a stage? I’m at that stage.

 

[Sneezyone]

12 minutes ago, OKBud said:

 

Same. He runs his department so his command does need him *if* they are unwilling to drastically change things. But damn. We need him. Let us have him 😐

 

Yeah, there isn't really a way to change things for us. I feel like they want to have it both ways, allowing people to come and go at will but risking the exposure of the members AND their families by permitting non-essential access to the bases and freedom of movement within the wider community. It's dumb. 

[Pen]

36 minutes ago, pitterpatter said:

I don't wipe the mail down (yet), but I do promptly throw the envelopes in the trash, spray down the counter, and wash my hands. Now that I think about it, though, my bills are probably contaminated with that method. 🤔

I've been flummoxed about the most efficient way to process DH's laundry. Right now, I pinch the corners of his clothes while holding them away from my body, drop them in the washer, wash my hands, pour detergent, push the buttons on the washing machine, then wash my hands again. I don't like it. Plus, I feel like our dirty clothes basket is contaminated and then I have to root around in it up to my elbows to find all the pieces for a specific load type. I've thought about using vinyl gloves, but I only have one box of them. Seems like wasting.

 

 

I am giving privacy to back porch and having strip down there with laundry going into plastic garbage bags and tied up. Left outside till ready to deal with it, possibly at least overnight, ideally. 

Then down to basement where machine is, out of the plastic bags directly into machine (I should start having pocket stuff go in box before strip stage). 

My load types separation are currently category 1: home clothes versus category 2: away from home clothes. 

(Though with new 98% isolation that started today, “away” clothes should be much fewer.)

 

[Pen]

On less easy to wash items I am thinking of best handling for item.

So, for example,  I currently have a jacket hanging in sun from a tree. 

Obviously this specific would not work in an apartment.  But I’d try to think through what would. When I lived in  small apartment in city with a public health problem I used the strip and plastic bag method just inside of front door and left bags there till they could go to the laundromat room. Or unwashable winter costs as bagged as possible till next rewearing.

Edited March 19, 2020 by Pen
Clarity

[Paige]

My DH cannot work from home and has to keep going. It makes me nervous as he's the least cautious among us. He is way more cautious in the last week but still is going to stores or wherever, not changing clothes when he comes in, etc.

Other than him, we haven't gone anywhere in about 2 weeks. We take the dog for walks and play in the yard. Most of my kids tend towards social anxiety, so this isn't hard for them. The other ones are getting bored, but we have enough siblings to take the edge off and our school hasn't been disrupted so it feels pretty normal.

I'm a little apprehensive. I hope they will get a hold on this soon because the next year will be pretty bleak if they don't. 

 

[Wheres Toto]

Stages for us:

I'm mostly fine.  A little at loose ends, I tend to do better with an outside imposed schedule.   I'm taking this week to adjust, especially since dh was away most of the week since his dad passed away Monday.    I already told the kids that next week we're going back to a more usual schedule - getting up by 7:30/8am, I'm going to continue going to the science center to do yoga in the morning, maybe hit the punching bag for a little bit of exercise, take care of the animals, do some cleaning/rearranging.  Since I'll be the only one there, no real risk.  

Nothing much has changed for the younger kids or dh (except his dad dying).   Dh is at work today but works alone in an office with a few people working in a lab nearby.  They are in their own building so no shared elevators or anything.   The kids are doing school, hanging in their rooms, talking and playing online with friends.   Except for missing my science classes, nothing has really changed. 

We are social distancing fairly well except we helped a friend move yesterday.  There were 8 of us there moving furniture.   That was probably the last time we'll be around non-family people except dh's work and grocery store trips.    We'll go outside for walks and hikes when weather permits.

[Wheres Toto]

1 hour ago, Dotwithaperiod said:

https://upennstatesman.org/2020/03/18/penn-stole-our-senior-year-over-the-common-cold/

Poor widdle boy. All this over the common cold.

Wow, he sounds like a real a$$hole, as well as a moron.

[Paige]

1 hour ago, Dotwithaperiod said:

https://upennstatesman.org/2020/03/18/penn-stole-our-senior-year-over-the-common-cold/

Poor widdle boy. All this over the common cold.

Even the Ivy League students don't understand math? His essay is appalling. The writing is poor, the content is poor, the comprehension of the situation is poor, and he is a senior! He's had 4 years to grow into this. I think of all the kids reading this whose applications were rejected from his school.

[SKL]

As for where I am personally on this, I continue to treat it as if I have the flu, even though I don't have symptoms.

Since the beginning of this, more info has been provided from respected sources about the incubation period and the commonness of people being infected but asymptomatic.  That doesn't really change my behavior though, because I have always assumed I'm going to get it, and therefore stay away from situations where I might spread it.

My kids are off school, and I think closing school was the right decision.  However, we still have people living in the house who go to work every day, and we still have reasons to go out of the house.  My kids and I are low risk.  The other two adults are slightly higher risk, but they are the ones who go out to work, and shuttering the whole business just isn't gonna happen.  There is always a risk that people will catch something that will hit them hard.  We are all taking our vitamins and doing aerobic exercise etc. in order to minimize the damage when it hits.

[wendyroo]

On 3/19/2020 at 2:10 PM, Pen said:

So, speaking of stages and changes, what stage are you at now?

Personally?
Tired.  Resigned for the long haul.  I'm stressed and jittery during the day and not sleeping well at night.

Other close family? 
My kids are absolutely falling apart.  My oldest is extremely anxious; he isn't sleeping, is more rigid and tunnel-visioned than I have every seen him, and is incredibly needy.  He is designing an alien space base, and "needs" someone to listen intently and show great interest for hours a day just to keep him functioning.  My second is barely sleeping at all, tantrumming for hours and hours every day, and kicked me so hard today that I was honestly worried for several hours that he might have fractured my leg.  The younger two are feeding off the disregulation of the older two...plus they are dealing with the double whammy of being scared about all the societal upheaval and scared about getting hurt (or me getting hurt) by their brother.

Level of social distancing?
Complete.  No one in, no one out...other than to take a walk around our grey, rainy, freezing-cold neighborhood.  I won't necessarily have to go shopping for several weeks, but I probably will venture out once late next week to restock perishables so that we don't have to use up all our shelf-stable foods.  At this point all local grocery delivery and curb-side pick up services have shut down and grocery stores are limiting hours which makes me worried that they will be more crowded when I go.

Level of “lockdown” or still going out and about?
I'm expecting we will officially be told to shelter in place in the next week or so.  We already are, so this won't really affect us.  I am already stocking up to celebrate Easter and two children's birthdays while under lockdown.

 

[SKL]

Reading the other thread, and some facebook posts etc., I have a proposal.

What if we could all go a whole day without trashing any government or politician?  Just a one-day blackout.  Wanna give it a try?

[Pen]

I wish I had asked where people are located for the how people are and stages emotionally, physically etc.  

[Pen]

1 hour ago, SKL said:

Reading the other thread, and some facebook posts etc., I have a proposal.

What if we could all go a whole day without trashing any government or politician?  Just a one-day blackout.  Wanna give it a try?

 

I’m in 👍!

 

(that said, I sort of intended this to be a thread where people could vent, argue etc, to take some pressure off of the main Wuhan-Coronavirus thread!)

Edited March 20, 2020 by Pen

[Donna]

Personally? Just trying to do what I need to do and stay busy. I accept what is happening and trying to see whatever bright spots I can within the situation. Keeping in contact with friends and family through social media/internet calls.

Other close family? Same. 

 Emotionally?  I am doing well emotionally. A bit sad for DD who was having the time of her life doing work she loved while touring the world and anxious over the length of time this may take to get under control and the hard times it will cause for friends and family unable to work. Hard to see how things go back to "normal" for those who will be unable to pay bills for possibly months on end.

Intellectually? Overwhelmed by all the information and trying to sift through what is true and what is not so true. Wondering why they keep giving numbers when not everyone with symptoms has been able to be tested let alone those who might be infected but symptom-free. 

Level of social distancing?   Personally, I have not left home in almost a week except to walk the dogs around the neighborhood. When meeting neighbors on walks, we stand about six feet apart to chat. DD has been the same. Home completely for almost a week except to take dogs for walks. DH does online delivery service so he has been out and about. He picks up whatever we need and he works. He has hand sanitizer and anti-bacterial wipes that he uses before and after each delivery and says most request he drops off at door so he has very little contact with others though he could obviously be touching something contaminated. The delivery service he works for is supposedly sending masks, gloves, and sanitizer but we've yet to see any of that. My DS's are both still working but have jobs that do not require much person-to-person contact. 

Level of “lockdown” or still going out and about? (I realize that this may part be individual choice, part work or similar necessities, part shelter in place or lockdowns mandated for your particular location, and may also differ by know cases local to you and health or age.) DD and I have been at home, not going out. DH is working.

•