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Coronavirus.

31K views 154 replies 23 participants last post by  superswire 
#1 ·
Well, SOMEONE had to bring it up here. Thoughts? Fears? Anybody had it yet? (encouragement - people ARE surviving). Folks are going crazy down here. Stores are selling out of essentials (toilet paper - REALLY?). Gloves, masks, sanitizer...GOOD LUCK. Saw some clown trying to sell masks on craigslist for 15.00 APIECE. Dennis
 
#2 ·
Crazy here in Texas also. Went to sams this morning to pick-up a birthday cake we ordered a week ago. What a madhouse. People buying toilet paper like it's gold. If I was going to be buying anything it would be food, I can't eat toilet paper. I'm in the high percentage of folks that can die if contacting it, my age, so what am I to do? I'm not going to become a hermit, but I'll exercise caution and be sensible about all things. Big birthday tomorrow for our 21 year old granddaughter. About 10 will be in our house. Dennis, read where those masks give a false sense of security, that they would best be worn by the person that already has the illness to prevent spreading it. 15 dollars each, that's price gouging for sure.
 
#4 ·
Here in Utah people are acting irrationally in terms of panic buying TP, face masks, hand sanitizer, and bleach based cleaning supplies. I figured we wouldn't see the craziness with food here because the LDS Church has been telling its members to have 72-hours of food supplies for, well, 150 years. But I was wrong and either the members of the church haven't been living by that word of wisdom or we have had such an influx of non-members in the state that store shelves are being picked clean. I've never seen anything like it in my life. Craziness.

As for the actual virus, for myself I'm not too concerned since I'm young and mostly healthy. I am worried about my parents and my grandmother, though. They are right in the high risk zone, particularly my dad who has a history of respiratory issues. My grandmother is 85, so she bought herself $250 worth of wine and is isolating herself for the next couple of weeks! :D

My biggest concern is that the healthcare system will get overwhelmed like it has in Italy. This is why all the recommendations to stay home and avoid large gatherings are prudent. This is the best article I've seen that explains the impact that COVID-19 has had and could have depending on different conditions:

https://medium.com/@tomaspueyo/coronavi ... d3d9cd99ca

Basically, be smart, stay home if you can, use common sense and we'll get through this.
 
#5 ·
SRN said:
Here in Utah people are acting irrationally in terms of panic buying TP, face masks, hand sanitizer, and bleach based cleaning supplies. I figured we wouldn't see the craziness with food here because the LDS Church has been telling its members to have 72-hours of food supplies for, well, 150 years. But I was wrong and either the members of the church haven't been living by that word of wisdom or we have had such an influx of non-members in the state that store shelves are being picked clean. I've never seen anything like it in my life. Craziness.

As for the actual virus, for myself I'm not too concerned since I'm young and mostly healthy. I am worried about my parents and my grandmother, though. They are right in the high risk zone, particularly my dad who has a history of respiratory issues. My grandmother is 85, so she bought herself $250 worth of wine and is isolating herself for the next couple of weeks! :D

My biggest concern is that the healthcare system will get overwhelmed like it has in Italy. This is why all the recommendations to stay home and avoid large gatherings are prudent. This is the best article I've seen that explains the impact that COVID-19 has had and could have depending on different conditions:

https://medium.com/@tomaspueyo/coronavi ... d3d9cd99ca

Basically, be smart, stay home if you can, use common sense and we'll get through this.
YES!!! As one who is having to deal with this pandemic first hand, I can simply say please do your research through the CDC database, or other credible resource, as they are providing up to date information as well as accurate charts and suggestings for limiting the spread. If people would have listened in the beginning and stayed put, the virus would not have spread as it has. Please use basic hygiene practices as you mingle in the public. COVID-19 can survive on surfaces and through the air, very very short distance, however, and is usually killed by simply washing or sanitizing hands and surfaces. The media is a massive fuel source for the chaos created. They neglect to tell people the virus only has around a 3% mortality rate, mostly affecting older individuals with weakened immune systems, and is pretty much treatable. They throw statistics up showing all these cases of COVID-19, yet they don't show you how many are confirmed or found to not be the virus. Take TN for example, the news shows 289 cases throughout the state via the TN Department of Health testing. They leave out that only 19 were positive for COVID-19.

Use common sense during all this and take care of yourselves and your family and don't play into the hype. BUT make sure you go buy all the TP and hand sanitizer you can!!!
 
#6 ·
Really P****D me off. My daughter is an RN. Saturday night she was called to an administrator's office and told "tell your staff no more masks, no more gloves, YOU PEOPLE are protecting YOURSELVES, but handling knobs and buttons and our visitors will get sick". My daughter said "no brainer - stop the visitors. We have a crisis". They went from 0 cases, to 8 cases in a 24 hour period. My daughter told her staff "This is what the management said, I say take care of yourselves".
My work put as many on partial furlough (with pay) today as possible. Not practical for our department (Public Works). We are a small city with only about 20 in the Public Works Department.
Yes, the craziness continues. This whole area is a tourist destination. It's Spring Break. The City of St Pete (former employer) just ordered all bars "last call" will be 9:00 PM. Beaches still have 2:00 AM. Dennis
 
#7 ·
I'm surprised at how "panic friendly" people are. This whole thing is a lot of media hype. Common sense seems to be thrown out the window. I understand the risks, but people seem to think it's black death 2.0
 
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#8 ·
lots of mis information at first...followed by proper info.....tempers have been flaring ...I saw several fist fights at local dollar store
over items like ramen noodles and toilet paper.....I've also seen the beginning stages of price gouging.....you can always trust human beings to be ugly,and stupid.....at times...

one of the local bars in Midtown Memphis, decided to not listen and close down, and have a full blown st.paddy's day
fest...with lots of people located within their plastic enclosed patio.....jesus, in my opinion, a sure recipe for disaster...

public outcry against the bar, was swift...and rightly so.

auto repair shops in town, are taking steps ...from cleaning inside of vehicle, and after, as they service your vehicle.

rumours are flying that this could go on...etc etc...for the next 18 months.....

damn, are we gong the route of the '12 monkeys ? '.......probably not, but anything is possible......

been keeping my trooper in tip top shape, as it will be needed in the days ahead..

stay safe everyone....
 
#10 ·
yup, lots of places closed. I went back to work march 9, only to get laid off on the 19th..well, not really laid off, as I wasn't on the books just yet...the boss called me Monday from Omaha, told me to bank my hours for now, and stay on unemployment.

this morning, my boss paid out all of the banked hours owed to any employee- I wish I had more than 60 hours...

yesterday, was at a grocery store to fill up prescriptions, get a few items, then go home for a few weeks....the boss and 3 other guys are on their way back from vegas and ida grove, driving... not sure if they will make it over the border before it closes (they should get thru anyways, being canucks returning home)

there are lots of empty shelves at the local grocery stores. limits on buttwipe and hand sanitizer. ( if any can be found)
on Wednesday, by 4 pm, Wal-Mart was out of milk, eggs, flour, beans, rice, butt-wipe, paper towel, napkins, and other items- they had a list printed on their doors as you walked in, stating what they were out of.

local brewery has shifted its production of ''spirits'' ( moonshine ) to ethyl alcohol, to mix with aloe vera gel, and making hand sanitizer that it is handing out free of charge. ( I tried their moonshine, it tastes like rubbing alcohol- nasty stuff ! )

small town gas war near my house, 59 cents/ liter. $32 to fill the trooper from BELOW E...! nice !

if everybody works together, we can beat this. stay inside if you can, limit your exposure to other people and public places, WASH YOUR DAMN HANDS FOR MORE THAN 20 SECONDS WITH HOT WATER AND SOAP, use paper towel to dry your hands, not the germ spreading air dryers that are getting way too common....

just great, I get to spend more time at home, fixing stuff...
 
#11 ·
oh, and one of the local parts stores has locked their doors to walk-in customers, but still open....you call them to see if they have a part, and if they do, they meet you at the door with the part, they only accept debit or credit cards, no cash, they pass the card reader thru their mail slot, its covered in a plastic bag / pouch and then you punch in your numbers, the customer removes the plastic bag/pouch and if it goes thru, they open another door near the front entrance, and set your parts outside. sign posted NO RETURNS / REFUNDS...its easier if you have an account, and / or e-transfer for large purchase.
 
#12 ·
Same basic story in my neck of the woods (central North Carolina), increased closures, more places doing delivery and curbside pick ups, etc. The grocery store I do the majority of my shopping at has been out of the items one might expect like toilet paper, but earlier in the week I was taken aback by people having cleared out 99% of the tomatoes in the store:



A number of other fairly perishable items were gone as well, while canned goods and frozen foods were almost untouched. Everything was fully stocked a couple days later and have remained that way since, I still haven't completely figured out the logic in this. :dontknow:

I wish everyone the best as this episode plays out!

Jonathan
 
#13 ·
Ugly human nature at it's worst. People hoarding, people buying up and then trying to profit from it. MEDIA running wild with scare rumors and sensationalism feeding much of it. Yes, it's serious. Yes, (many of us) need to be prepared.
Last week, my (City) work shut down or furloughed non critical employees and departments. Thursday, we were told to keep our I.D. badges with us, especially if we didn't take out uniforms home. Out county is already under a low level EOC (emergency operations) status, and there is a daily conference call among the leadeship foe the entire county. Each municipality (most) has their own beaches (it's Spring Break). The COUNTY shut down "County" beaches earlier in the week. The dumb media announced that ALL Pinellas county beaches were closed, which was far from true (and they STILL have it listed that way). Our beaches shut down at midnight last night (3/20). Clearwater, shuts down Monday morning (3/23). All have been encouraging a 6 foot separation, and no groups larger than 10 (hasn't been happening on the beaches). The news goes out and interviews and these dumb kids say "that's for OLD people" or "I'm young, I don't have anything to worry about".
We've been adding a little over 100 new cases daily. If it doesn't come under control, this will increase exponentially. The medical community is under prepared, and are scrambling to try to cope with things.
This morning, because we were short on a few staples, I waited in line at Walmart. It was just like Black Friday. Line all the way across the front of the store. As soon as the doors opened, people started cutting line straight from their cars. Line people started yelling "get in line". It could turn ugly. The shelves emptied rapidly. I needed eggs, milk, bleach, and I wanted some Pop Tarts (for emergency work breakfast - my wife won't keep them in the house). I got an 18 pack of eggs. There was another lady who already had three 18 packs, and was inspecting contents to get at least one more (hope she has a large family. Got my 4 items and beat feet out of there.
There is talk of a 7 to 14 day shut down. Some states already have gone to shutdowns of various kinds. I do hope this thin comes under control. Wish well to all my friends here. Dennis
 
#14 ·
Agree. People are like lemmings. I will not take part in hoarding, hell I could stand to lose a pound or two anyway. :mrgreen:

I heard a physician say that anyone that presents with a fever and respiratory congestion is considered positive for Corona without testing. I think this is very misleading since we are technically still in the cold/flu season. So until they actually test people we will never know how wide spread this is or more isolated. Death rates etc will never be accurate. The media has fanned people into a frenzy and don't doubt that the first TP hoarders are also the types that will show up at the emergency room with a scratchy throat.
 
#15 ·
Dennis,

We were down in your neck of the woods a few weeks ago. We rode the Withlacoochee State Trail, and spent a day visiting Dunedin to scout out the Pinellas Trail for another trip. Shortly after our visit, we saw reports of two cases in Pinellas County.
RickP said:
I'm not concerned at all. I have a super strong immune system. My dad is 86 and I'm not really worried about him, either because he rarely gets sick, also.
RickP -- With all respect, I hope you're not saying that you don't intend to change anything. People who go about their lives as if there's no danger put the rest of us at risk and will prolong this pandemic. If you're taking precautions and thus "not concerned at all", then I applaud your calmness. Best wishes to you and your dad.

I'm confident that this will pass, and we can get back to some form of "normal". But for that to happen soon, we need to limit our social contact.

Jack
 
#16 ·
It's slowly spreading here. Have two cases in our county, one of which I would personally like to choke. Dude visited NY a week or so ago and contracted it, then decided to come back here. Our stores are somewhat stocked, no meat, bread, tp or fish. Plenty of beer though, seems a necessity to me.... All our restaurants have went to drive thru or take out only. At work we've been told to limit our exposure to the public as much as possible. Some are heeding this, others have something to prove. My concern are the city wide shutdowns and movement bans, forcing the PDs to to question and even arrest those out and about. I can understand the attempts to limit the spread but now it's getting a little extreme. I've heard rumors of the National Guard being called in to some places, but again, only rumors. This is getting out of hand. It's to be taken seriously but some are dangerously overreacting.
 
#17 ·
National Guard is HELPING in some areas of Florida. as in MEDICAL help (so far). Could we see Martial Law? I believe it could go that far. Talking to my daughter, who is WELL informed about all of this, well she says one reason it (kind of) came under control in China is the fact that if the government says "do this", or "don't do this", well they have a strong history of fearing and respecting the government. Now HERE, well, we were founded on rebelling againstthe government (England). And now with all the "political correct, don't make me cry" stuff of late, well our government may have to put their "big boy" underpants back on (as opposed to the panties they have been wearing).
As an area that is used to hurricanes and the unrest that goes with them, I can easily see the potential. A few days ago, gun sales spiked. Many gun buyers said "we just don't know what's going to happen". On a more positive note, my best friend went in to his local Publix last Friday. He had already stocked up on most needs, but there were a few things he still needed. The Publix was having a BOGO on staples. GOD BLESS THEM.
From what I have seen (yesterday) and hear (today). These stores need to have security or supervision on the aisles where T.P. and other demand items are located. Also now hearing about some hospitals having had problems where "visitors" were going into rooms and stealing the masks and gloves that were (or used to be) provided in patient rooms. Of course, many hospitals are now restricting visitors (which my daughter suggested a week ago).
As a history buff, this reminds me of the early days of WWII. Our forces in the Pacific were caught off guard, under supplied, and often equipped with obsolete equipment. The early defenders in the Phillippines were using ammunition that was left over from WWI. We came back then, we will come back now.

I have mixed feelings about these senators who cashed in stocks. On one hand, they had privileged information and acted on it for themselves, on the other hand, what were they to do? announce to the whole country "cash in your stocks?", or take the hit themselves?
Personally, I had a decent nest egg. I considered having my agent transfer everything to a "safe account" 3 weeks ago. I didn't. I kind of wish now that I did. Well, I still have my health (so far). I have my faith. Dennis
 
#18 ·
the wal-mart greeter is the guardian of the hand sanitizer at the front door....people kept taking the big bottles of sanitizer that were always mounted on the wall by the shopping carts as you walk in.

now, there is a separate chair for the greeter, and a separate stool for the bottle of sanitizer, that is mounted inside a metal enclosure that is bolted to the chair, and a cable tying the chair leg to an eyehook on the wall. that was on Thursday, when I was last out of the house.

frikkn people
 
#19 ·
Yes, it is getting bad. Our county (Dallas County) just issued a shelter in place prder which becomes effective tomorrow at midnight. Means stay at home (your shelter) unless you need essential services or goods. Stay safe everyone. Dennis, saw on our news where 5 people who attend college there in Tampa all tested positive. They just had to go drink beer on the beach.
 
#20 ·
I've got to be strategic about grocery shopping. I managed to get a typical 2 week or so supply of paper products by going very early. What is really embarrassing is with 3 kids and my wife and I, we usually buy a lot of beef and chicken each week and meal prep for the week on Sundays, so now I look like a hoarder even when I'm just getting my normal stash! But we started using the instapot and slow cooker more, so we can do the cheaper or less in demand cuts of meat. I'd rather be able to get it all at once to limit needing to go out multiple times per week, but it is what it is.

Also, me and the rest of humanity around here all seem to be trying to take advantage of the time at home to knock out projects, so the local lowes has been packed almost every day. It's like a breeding ground for disease, God help us if someone gets it there. I try going in very early before everything's been coughed on. I wonder how often they clean the handles on the hardware drawers...
 
#21 ·
Kind of crazy but the home centers have been deemed "essential" here in TN.

My machine shop is still working too but there is only two in there and they are in the middle of nowhere. I'm hoping they finish my engine soon and I can start the rebuild while all you experts are sitting around with nothing better to do than help a hack rebuild his engine! :mrgreen:
 
#22 ·
I just got a group text telling me that my workplace is closed until further notice. there are 12 or 15 other small companies that work out of this building ( my boss owns the building & 10 acres around it) some of these companies CANNOT work from home.
my boss extended everyone's healthcare benefits past april 1st. good guy.

no clue when I will start work again. oh well, stay home, stay safe....
 
#23 ·
I'm much more worried about what these shutdowns and "social distancing" is doing to our society and economy than I am the virus. Humans are not built to live like this and remain sane.
The virus has been here (officially) since early December and possibly months earlier, and even if you take the released number of deaths at face value (I don't) we still are at about 1/3 of Swine Flu numbers.
The PANIC merchants that promote hysteria p!ss me off to no end, as well as the politicians and shills that use this for political ends.
Nothing adds up.
RANT: on [OFF] Don't wanna pollute an automotive forum with my ramblings..

I do worry about my daughter. She has RA and is on 2 immuno suppressants. She's also on the hydroxycloroquine... but the 2 suppressants probably offset any prophylactic properties of the hydroxychloroquine.
She is a programmer at the local college and has been working from home for a few weeks now.

My wife and I are both "essential", food supply chain, so we're working... she's not happy about that. Hates her job more than wanting to shelter..
I went on a quest yesterday for zinc and tonic water. Found one store that still had zinc in stock and another that still had tonic water.
Tonic water has quinine in it. Quinine and zinc... may help, maybe not. Who knows.. But they're in short supply so I'm not the only one.
 
#25 ·
I was originally "skeptical". I've taken it seriously for a good 3 weeks now. I was hearing the situation from my daughter (RN) about hospital overload. That's for real. I get regular "inside" updates from work because there is a daily conference call among local governing authorities and administration and our Department Director believes in keeping us (his critical workers) in the loop. Florida is adding an easy 1,000 confirmed cases per day. This is about double what it was a week ago. This is exactly what my daughter was concerned about hospitals being overwhelmed.
I can't even begin to count how many times a day I wash my hands. Our SOP is come in, spray down everything we would touch (door knobs, handles, cabs of vehicles etc) with a bleach solution. Keep doing wipe downs as necessary, and another wipe down as we leave. It's all about habit. I watched one co worker get a phone call, then immediately hand the phone to another worker last week. Today, right at the end of the day, a guy borrows 3 wrenches from me. immediately before I leave, he hands them back to me. This is exactly how this gets spread.
I agree about the difficulty with isolating and "distancing". Just like the time from 9-11 to now, life my never be the same.
On a side note: The BULL over the Navy Captain being relieved of command. I now hear that the acting SECNAV has resigned. I only hope they reinstate the Captain, and give him due recognition. Dennis
 
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