Coronavirus/COVID in the U. S. & Elsewhere

[amberjack1234]

I have been living exactly like that for 20 years now. :lol:

[Martin B]

I have been living exactly like that for 20 years now. :lol:

 

If I had to choose between (1) a wife so lax on hygiene that she cuts meat with her bare hands after using the bathroom w/o washing hands or (2) a hygiene dictator,

 

I'm not sure which I'd choose. Maybe option (3)

[Bert]

We have arguments about hygiene all the time. She thinks I am unhygienic. Previously, we had to take off our shoes and clothes and wash our hands as soon as we entered the house. We were golden after that. Same thing; she handles meat with her bare hands, goes to the bathroom, whatever. No need to wash hands ever again until we leave the house. Dishcloths only get washed when they are visually filthy. She might even use them to wipe the floor and then dry the dishes. In her mind, after she sweeps the floor, you can eat off of them no matter how long ago it was. Same with the toilets. Once clean, they are golden. I usually have to clean them. I can only tolerate so much. She uses the countertops to make bread. She sees no need to clean them before rolling the dough. I bought a faucet with sensors that are used to turn the water on and off. You have to left the faucet in the on position for it to work. I hoped that you would use it after handling meats to wash her hands. She uses it as a regular faucet, so it takes one extra step to turn the faucet to the on position then wave your hand, totally defeating the purpose.

 

It was I who bought the hand sanitizer and Lysol and wipes. She had to wait until someone Chinese suggested it before she asked me to buy it. I had to show her again that we already had it. Now, she's a hygiene NAZI. But, she hasn't figured out the wipes yet.

[Randy W]

Jack Ma donates to the US - from the SCMP

 

Coronavirus: Jack Ma to donate 500,000 test kits and 1 million masks to US

Ma’s businesses have already sourced and donated supplies to other countries being hit by the virus, including Japan, Korea, Italy, Iran and Spain

 

 

 

“We hope that our donation can help Americans fight against the pandemic!”

[Greg.D.]

Regarding some themes in this thread, I'm seeing similar strategies here. Because people who contract the infection unknowingly get it from somebody who probably doesn't know they have it, nearly anything can be justified.

 

For instance, taking the kid out of preschool before they declare it closed. It costs us $65/Day whether he goes or not, so I'm not likely to see that money thrown away.

 

Then, the hand cleaning. In the end, if you went to Walmart and co-mingled with some sick people, it's probably on everything you brought home anyway, a little hand cleaning helps for a minute but then you pick up your car keys again.

 

True re Chinese having near superstition quality understanding of hygiene and germs but Jewish tradition got a lot of that right with kosher rules well before the advancement of germ theory. Now, though, we know that excessive hygiene with modern methods has probably caused the surge of childhood asthma. That is to say, let kids get dirty and share food with the dog.

 

Hoping my workplace moves on with a shutdown soon as most of Denver has.

[Martin B]

Schools shut down until (tentatively) March 30 here. So basically my stepdaughter will be on spring break for two weeks. If they need to extend the closure, classes will be online starting March 30.

 

Luckily I can work from home and my wife stays home with our 1.5 year old so we've got childcare covered.

 

I really feel for those that cannot easily get childcare and whose jobs require them to be physically present.

 

If there's any silver lining for us, it's that our stepdaughter (who has been in the US for 2 months now) will have extra time to catch up and practice her English while everyone else is relaxing.

[Greg.D.]

 

 

If there's any silver lining for us, it's that our stepdaughter (who has been in the US for 2 months now) will have extra time to catch up and practice her English while everyone else is relaxing.

If you manage it right: mostly English in the house.

 

mom staying home with the child is worth maybe $20K/year or more

[Martin B]

 

 

 

If there's any silver lining for us, it's that our stepdaughter (who has been in the US for 2 months now) will have extra time to catch up and practice her English while everyone else is relaxing.

If you manage it right: mostly English in the house.

 

mom staying home with the child is worth maybe $20K/year or more

 

 

We did the math and in the first year we estimated it being worth a lot more when she decided to stay home.

 

Daycare would be about $1400/month (yes, that much) here. That's $17,000 a year post tax, which means she'd need to earn maybe $25,000/year to break even, and around $55,000 to actually net $10/hour after paying all income taxes and daycare.

 

Her staying home means we were able to get away with having one car for a while which saved maybe about $2,000 in gas, insurance, and maintenance. Plus during downtime she's optimized our shopping trips, finding deals, coupons, and whatnot. We also don't need to hire any help for cleaning, yard work, snow shoveling etc.

 

But the biggest benefit has been the peace of mind that our daughter is with my wife who does a phenomenal job of raising her. No worrying about taking time off when the kid is sick, no scrambles to find child care when something at work pops up, and so on. Once the kiddo is in pre-school, she'll go to work.

[Bert]

I live to die another day. The governor will announce in a few minutes that the schools will shut down for two weeks. Two weeks will put us at the case, case, case, cluster, cluster stage, and a couple of weeks before Spring Break. No way it ends in two weeks. It will only get exponentially worse. The boom should happen after Spring Break.

[Greg.D.]

I just got word I can telework. Still I’ll go in on Monday for a meeting and to see what’s going on.

 

I can imagine a few scenarios for how it unfolds in the U. S. It’s not that we don’t want to be China - we don’t want to be Italy: a modern system which had advance warning and, yet, 368 died from Covid-19 yesterday.

 

Re mom staying home with the baby: agreed about no price on the job that only the mother can do with her child.

[Randy W]

from the WaPo, about preferred vasectomy dates

 

Sports cancellations leave one group of fans particularly deflated: Vasectomy patients

 

 

That’s been, um, deflating for male sports fans who scheduled vasectomies to coincide with March Madness. Urologists have long seen a spike in appointments for the surgery timed to the tournament’s tip-off. Doctors generally prescribe 48 hours of bed rest after patients get snipped, a period that a great number of men choose to spend on the couch or in bed watching hoops while hoping their brackets don’t get busted.

 

[Greg.D.]

Two Emergency Room Doctors Are in Critical Condition With Coronavirus

The hospitalizations sharpen fears that the nation’s front-line medical workers could be uniquely vulnerable, a health care organization said.

By Karen Weise

• 
  
  
  
  March 15, 2020
  
  
  
• 
  
  
  

  
  

  • 
    

  
  
  
  
  

SEATTLE — Two emergency medicine doctors, in New Jersey and Washington State, are in critical condition as a result of coronavirus, reinforcing concerns that the nation’s front-line medical workers are becoming especially vulnerable to the virus, the American College of Emergency Physicians said.

“A lot of us think that despite everything we do, we will probably be exposed,” said Dr. William Jaquis, the chair of the group. Still, he said, “The first reported case certainly sends a shock wave through the community.”

Emergency rooms represent a busy intake point for hospitals, where patients come in with symptoms but no diagnosis. As the coronavirus spreads during the typical flu season, emergency physicians are triaging large numbers of patients around the country with symptoms that could be the virus.

“As compared to anyone else at a hospital, you are operating with the most incomplete information,” said Dr. Angela Fusaro, an emergency doctor in Atlanta.

One of the ill physicians, a man in his 40s, is a doctor at EvergreenHealth Medical Center in Kirkland, Wash., a hospital near Seattle which has seen one of the largest concentrations of cases in the United States.

“EvergreenHealth is providing care for one of our physicians who has a confirmed case of Covid-19. He is in critical condition but stable,” the hospital said in a statement.

Dr. Jaquis said it appeared that the doctor had access to adequate protective equipment. “This was an area with an outbreak, so they were expecting and prepared. That obviously makes us more nervous.”

The other physician, a doctor in his 70s in Paterson, N.J., was also in isolation in intensive care. The doctor led his institution’s emergency preparedness and was admitted to the hospital several days ago with upper respiratory problems, the physicians’ group said.

The nationwide shortage of N-95 protective masks has been concerning to doctors, who increasingly feel the need to use them in more situations to stay safe, Dr. Jaquis said.

[Martin B]

Looks like the Wuhan-style lockdowns are coming to the US: https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/in-defining-moment-san-francisco-to-order-residents-to-stay-home-over-coronavirus/

 

Our area is already crazy quiet today even without a formal quarantine/curfew. We live right on a busy street. Traffic is about half, if not less, of what we'd usually see on a Monday. Restaurants are seeing fewer customers inside - the local Starbucks drive thru was like 15 cars long. All K-12 schools closed until end of March (and likely online until June). All universities in our area have gone fully virtual. Most offices are working from home. My wife's friend reported that the local supermarkets she visited are still well-stocked aside from a few things like rice, pasta, hand sanitizer, and toiler paper.

 

I'd say our state is doing a decent job - we just need better/faster access to testing. Economically this is going to be a disaster and even if this dissipates by summer time, I wouldn't be shocked if it takes the economy 2-3 years to recover.

Edited March 16, 2020 by Barfus (see edit history)

[Greg.D.]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2020/03/17/evangelical-leader-denounces-trump-calling-coronavirus-chinese-virus/?hpid=hp_hp-banner-low_evangelical-915am%3Ahomepage%2Fstory-ans&itid=hp_hp-banner-low_evangelical-915am%3Ahomepage%2Fstory-ans

 

 

Evangelical leader denounces Trump for calling coronavirus the ‘Chinese virus’

March 17, 2020 at 4:00 a.m. MDT

Mr. President: This is not acceptable. Calling it the "Chinese virus" only instigates blame, racism, and hatred against Asians - here and abroad. We need leadership that speaks clearly against racism; Leadership that brings the nation and world together. Not further divides. https://t.co/wPTcnoO5QU

— Eugene Cho (@EugeneCho) March 17, 2020

After President Trump called the novel coronavirus “the Chinese Virus” in a tweet Monday, an evangelical leader responded by calling the label “unacceptable,” warning that it “instigates blame, racism, and hatred against Asians.”

On Monday, Trump tweeted his confidence in American industries before calling the coronavirus “the Chinese Virus.”

“The United States will be powerfully supporting those industries, like Airlines and others, that are particularly affected by the Chinese Virus. We will be stronger than ever before!”

In a reply, Eugene Cho, a former pastor of a Seattle church who was just tapped to begin leading a large Christian nonprofit called Bread for the World in July, suggested that calling the coronavirus the “Chinese virus” could be dangerous. Cho said in an interview with The Washington Post late Monday that he was not speaking on behalf of the Washington-based hunger- and poverty-fighting organization and is still living in Seattle, one of the epicenters of the outbreaks in the United States.

“Mr. President: This is not acceptable,” he wrote in his tweet. “Calling it the “Chinese virus” only instigates blame, racism, and hatred against Asians — here and abroad. We need leadership that speaks clearly against racism; Leadership that brings the nation and world together. Not further divides.”

Cho, who was born in Korea and immigrated to the United States when he was 6, said he knows three people who have been assaulted in the past couple of weeks, incidents he believes are tied to the spread of the coronavirus.

“I can’t speak for all Asians,” he said. “I know for myself and my family, we’re not just contending with a health crisis. … There might be backlash verbal and physical.”

[Randy W]

See CFL topic

USCIS Offices Temporarily Closed to the Public.- coronavirus

 

until "at least Apr. 1"