Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on.”

We won’t go back.

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

Beware of advice from anyone for whom Democrats are “they” and not “we.”

The arc of the moral universe doesn’t bend itself. it’s up to us.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Sadly, media malpractice has become standard practice.

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

When they say they’re pro-life, they don’t mean yours.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Let there be snark.

This blog will pay for itself.

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

Days Since JD Vance Insulted Women Across America: Zero

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

“Let’s not pretend [Trump] wants to engage in high-minded discourse.”

Fuck that bum, let’s go Joe!

Ron DeSantis, the grand wizard, oops, governor of FL.

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 / COVID-19 Coronavirus Update (Informational) – Tuesday/Wednesday, March 10/11

COVID-19 Coronavirus Update (Informational) – Tuesday/Wednesday, March 10/11

by | 130 Comments

This post is in: , ,

Via WereBear & Elizabelle – Flatten the Curve, a handbook with hyperlinks.

Reader Interactions

130Comments

  1. 1.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    I know this is trivial compared to the sober reality of illness and death, but my publisher moved my book’s release from November (when all eyes will be on the election) to May (when we will most likely be in the grip of a pandemic). Oh haha, Irony. You are so funny.

  2. 2.

    Darcy

    Least important takeaway here but, Megan Mcardle right about a thing(Wapo column)? I am for shocked.

  3. 3.

    Chyron HR

    Reuters: U.S. TREASURY LIKELY TO PUSH BACK APRIL 15 TAX FILING DEADLINE – WSJ

    Does… does Donald know he’ll still have to pay his taxes by April 15th anyway?

  5. 5.

    Matt McIrvin

    Yesterday we bailed on a rock concert we’d been planning to go to for months (not canceled). I felt terrible since the tickets were a Christmas present for my wife. But regardless of the fairly low personal danger, we just couldn’t risk making this worse. We’ve got more tickets down the line–we’ve been seeing much more live music lately. I can only assume a lot of those events aren’t going to happen.

  6. 6.

    joel hanes

    @Darcy:

    McMegan was right about how all the apparent increase happens in the last few days, but got the timescale wrong by a factor of two.

    If her pond is 100 yards wide, it’ll be covered in less than 20 days. She pulled “40 days” out of her ass — after 40 days, her doubling lilypad would cover one million 100-yard-wide ponds.

  7. 7.

    joel hanes

    @Matt McIrvin:

    In three weeks, it will seem to us that holding the concert at all was a criminal act of negligence by the organizers.

    Thanks for not going.

  8. 8.

    NotMax

    Any place – any place – with a thriving tourist trade is gonna take a hit. Hard.

    P.S.: Reports are the big casinos in Las Vegas are shuttering their buffets.

  9. 9.

    joel hanes

    Three of the TSA officers working the San Jose airport, “Silicon Valley’s Airport”, are reported to have tested positive for coronavirus infection.

  10. 10.

    joel hanes

    Joe Biden is an old man.

    If he gets COVID-19, his chances of dying might be about 25%.

    We need him to stay isolated as much as possible.

  14. 14.

    gvg

    @joel hanes: # workers who greet cruise ship passengers at Port Everglades Florida tested positive. Also first positive in my county of Florida-a woman from Georgia.

  15. 15.

    Rob

    Anne Laurie, a big thank you for creating these daily posts. They are a vital part of my keeping up with developments.

  16. 16.

    The Thin Black Duke

    Nixon was nailed by Watergate. Carter was brought down by the Iranian hostage crisis. Iraq blew up in GHW Bush’s face. Dubya inexplicably got a pass on 9/11 but wasn’t able to get out of the way of Katrina. Oh Donald? Here’s COVID-19. it’s got your name on it and it’s waiting for you.

  17. 17.

    Kristine

    So I’m working at a local primary site next week. One of our judges already needed to be moved to another site because of cancellations. Thing is, many folks who staff election sites are elderly, and I’m sure many of them are assessing their overall risk right now, if they haven’t already. Without them, voting sites will be hurting.

    I did hear that, at one early voting site at least, the numbers are up. Person who told me seemed surprised. I’m not. Folks choosing the room with a few people over the room with more people.

    I’m in Illinois, which has a vote by mail option. Tomorrow is the last day to request a mail-in ballot. I wonder if they’re being swamped.

    Last I checked, they’re recommending that next Tuesday folks bring their own pens .

  20. 20.

    Dupe1970

    @Matt McIrvin: SXSW was cancelled. I think that should have alerted and shocked everyone in the music industry to rethink what they are doing. If someone offered my free courtside tickets to the Mavs I would look at them and say “no thanks, I think I will stay home and play Civ 6.”

  21. 21.

    BobS

    @NotMax: Are the Vegas casinos disinfecting slot machines after every user?

    We had someone test positive at the hospital I work at in the Detroit area.

    Apparently Italy has been forced to triage potential ventilator patients. It had occurred to me several weeks ago that one result of an epidemic here would our being forced to deny the (ofen futile, always costly) ‘heroic’ end-of-life care we’re accustomed to providing.

    It also occurs to me there’s one thing we should be extremely grateful for- this virus appears to be sparing infants and children. Also, reading Al Jazeera this morning (their coverage is really good) really made me realize this is one world and we’re all in this together.

  22. 22.

    Immanentize

    I am this very day shaving off my facial hair because I like toying with my mustache when I’m nervous.  Much less face touching when clean shaved.

  23. 23.

    Dupe1970

    @NotMax: They are. Patton Oswalt tweeted out to his wife “Grab the tupperware and meet at the Burbank airport in 2 hours. We need to stock up!”

  24. 24.

    PenAndKey

    @Immanentize: I am this very day shaving off my facial hair because I like toying with my mustache when I’m nervous.  Much less face touching when clean shaved.

    I got a strong smelling hand lotion for the same reason. The wife vetoed me shaving, but I figured I had to do something. I also wear glasses and adjust them more than I probably should, but I’m trying to minimize that too. Every little bit.

    And did anyone else see the latest WH proposal to cut the payroll tax to 0% for the rest of the year? And proposed tax breaks for the energy industry? All while not pulling back on their desired CDC budget cut. It really is all about the money to these cretins, isn’t it?

  26. 26.

    Shalimar

    I was listening to ESPN college sports radio yesterday when I was driving around.  Mark Packer kept saying “be smart, be smart, be smart”, but he meant people were panicking far out of proportion to the crisis and was saying he wasn’t changing his behavior because a few people had it.

     

    If 100,000 people listen to his program, only 1% take his advice and keep going out to public events,  and total infections end up being 10% of the population (all very conservative estimates), he just killed 2-4 people.

  28. 28.

    Shalimar

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: That doesn’t actually sound bad.  If I end up self-quarantined, I will probably order dozens of books I want to read.  Online book sales could be one of the few businesses that booms.

  29. 29.

    MomSense

    This is a surreal experience.  Those of us paying attention know that this is the calm before the storm because of the asymptomatic nature of the early infection stage.  It’s such a strange experience to just wait for something and not know who or when or what.

    A lot of people I talk to think this is all just a bunch of media hype.  They don’t seem to be concerned at all.  Sometimes I wish I could be like that.

  30. 30.

    MomSense

    @PenAndKey:

    I heard a snippet of a new Rocky Mountain Mike parody song – Can’t touch face set to the old MC Hammer song. It was nice to be able to laugh for a minute about this.

  31. 31.

    Baud

    @MomSense:

    People know they can’t trust the administration, and too many things are media hype.   I can see why some people aren’t taking it more seriously.

  32. 32.

    MomSense

    @Baud:

    I’m having the opposite reaction.  I can’t trust this president and administration which makes me more concerned.

  33. 33.

    zhena gogolia

    @MomSense:

    That’s where I am.

    My older friends are just going about their lives, going to concerts in New York, etc. I sent some of them a link yesterday to a CDC recommendation that people over 60 stay home as much as possible, and one of them wrote back, “Very interesting. I’m not worried.”

  34. 34.

    PenAndKey

    @MomSense: A lot of people I talk to think this is all just a bunch of media hype.  They don’t seem to be concerned at all.  Sometimes I wish I could be like that.

    My coworkers did this just this morning right next to my desk. I’m the facility quality manager and a have a microbiology degree with a long history of working in the field. I’m usually level headed, but listening to them downplay this as “media hype” and haring one of them pull out the “isn’t it funny how this always happens during election season?” line set me off.

    I don’t yell at work, never have, but I’m pretty sure everyone that was in the room knows exactly how much I’ll tolerate that sort of thing here after today. Many of them are older, so I wasn’t exactly gentle in pointing out the most at risk demographics, symptoms, infection rates and asymptomatic phase duration, or death rates. They really didn’t like me pointing out that their plans to go on vacation and that everything was peachy were… ill-advised. I also may, or may not, have said that “anyone who thinks this is ‘just the flu’ is clueless and will end up getting people killed”.

    They’re going to like me even less when I get done talking with our corporate quality team and get approval to give them all a crash course on why none of us can afford to pretend their buddies on Facebook are legitimate medical advisors. Especially when, unlike me and the senior leadership team, they’re almost all hourly and the company isn’t offering compensation for the company mandated two-week “self” quarantine they’ll face if they test positive. (a whole other issue, but an important part of the discussion)

  35. 35.

    catclub

    @NotMax: Reports are the big casinos in Las Vegas are shuttering their buffets.

    Are you telling me that sneezeguards are not enough?

    I love the word sneezeguard.

  36. 36.

    Barbara

    The death rate in Italy based on known infections is over 6%.  I now understand why they have decided to shut things down.  We are not on average as old or as densely populated as Italy, but something even half or a quarter as bad would still be horrible.

  37. 37.

    NotMax

    @zhena gogolia

    92-year-old Mom still going to the opera, concerts, lectures and classes. Her most expressed worry is touching banisters in the subway, the train station, the Met, etc..

    I tried to impress upon her the wearing of fashionable winter gloves as opposed to risking a tumble down the staircases.

  38. 38.

    Barbara

    @Gin & Tonic: This is where you learn to write letters explaining why you should not have to pay for things.  When my dad went to a university ER because he was in so much pain, they told him there was “nothing wrong” with him and sent him home without doing a single test.  My mother got the bill the same day he was finally diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, a diagnosis that was made because a first year resident at a different ER took his complaints seriously.  I told my mother to write a letter explaining why she was not going to pay for the hospital’s so-called “service,” and she never heard from them again.

  39. 39.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @PenAndKey: Oh yeah? Well my buddy Joe who sits at the end of the bar tells me I got nothin to worry about and he’s a medical courier so I know he knows what he’s talkin about!.

  40. 40.

    PenAndKey

    @OzarkHillbilly: That really does sum it up, doesn’t it? I’m pretty sure it was hearing a 60 year old asthmatic joke about memes that may have set me off. I don’t feel bad for making her feel bad, and if she’s scared? Good. That was the point. Maybe she’ll take it seriously now. I’d rather she be pissed at me than, you know, dead.

  42. 42.

    joel hanes

    @Chyron HR:

    I did not post “Joe is going to die”

    We are all at risk, and old men (I am one) at substantially more risk than others.   Old men who spend a good deal of time traveling and meeting people …

    These are simply facts.

    I hope that Jill Biden counsels her husband accordingly.

  43. 43.

    joel hanes

    @Barbara:

    The death rate in Italy based on known infections is over 6%.

    This is what happens when the health-care system saturates and they run out of ventilators.

  44. 44.

    zhena gogolia

    @NotMax:

    My contact in the German govt. said wear gloves when you’re out in public and then wash them every day. I’ve been rocking a pair of Humane Society gloves that are black with white paw prints and I wash them each evening. I look like a nut but I don’t care.

  47. 47.

    MomSense

    @PenAndKey:

    I heard the exact same line about how it’s funny this always happens in election season.  Did Sean Hannity say that last night or something?

  50. 50.

    PenAndKey

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Smoking rates in Italy were, per my Google-fu, 23.7% in 2016. Anything that compromises lung capacity is going to be a risk factor, so I’d be surprised if it doesn’t factor in. Not much, but definitely some.

    @MomSense: I heard the exact same line about how it’s funny this always happens in election season.  Did Sean Hannity say that last night or something?

    I haven’t tracked down the source, but I guarantee it started somewhere and is making the rounds in the usual circles now. The big question: deliberate or organic? I know which way my cynical side leans on that one.

  51. 51.

    Barbara

    @germy: Yeah, so obviously, let’s hit her and risk getting her blood and saliva all over our hands!  Yeah, that’s the obvious thing to do!  This is about using anything handy as an excuse to express your hate.

  53. 53.

    Feathers

    @joel hanes: There was someone on Twitter saying that at their hospital they had made the decision to give ventilators to the youngest patient who needed it and had no preexisting conditions. The age cutoff was currently 35.

  54. 54.

    Barbara

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: My understanding is that few populations have a higher rate of smoking than Chinese adult males, and their death rate was higher, but it never approached that rate.  I suspect that people dying are almost all elderly, based on everything I have read.

  55. 55.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @joel hanes: My 64 yo smoker brother works in an ER. His 50 something smoker wife is a nurse.

    sigh

    ETA they both have high blood pressure too.

  56. 56.

    rp

    @MomSense: Everything with them is projection, so this is effectively an admission the Ebola scare in 2014 was nonsense driven by the election. (which we knew anyway)

  59. 59.

    Immanentize

    @NotMax: My Mom is at 90 resigned.  She is very practical and is taking all reasonable direction, but she does not to want to end her days hiding out.

  60. 60.

    Barbara

    @OzarkHillbilly: According to some articles I have read, Chinese doctors reviewing records of those patients who became seriously ill concluded that high blood pressure put a person at seriously elevated risk.  That does not bode well for a lot of us.

  61. 61.

    CaseyL

    Well, I went into the office yesterday, as I had to access some information that I couldn’t from home (tech issues) and did a little grocery shopping.  And last night I had a reaction to something.  The reaction is gone, but it did spook me some (I’m in two higher-risk groups).  And I may need to go into the office again today or tomorrow to take care of more stuff.

    *sigh

  63. 63.

    The Moar You Know

    So, I’ve got an interesting situation, with some observations.  I’m in my very early fifties; I’ll probably get sick, it probably won’t be serious.

    I’m in a band, and they are all quite a bit older: 65-68.

    I have a GOOD day job and do this for fun; I don’t need the money.

    My bandmates don’t have day jobs and REALLY need the money.  They’re not going to cancel gigs unless the venues cancel gigs, and I don’t see that happening down at the club/bar level, they’ll try to stay open until forced to close (and if forced most of them will be permanently out of business, it’s not like the owners have Swiss bank accounts or…savings accounts, or really jack shit).

    There’s a lot of service economy folks in the same position as my bandmates, but very few in that age bracket.  I’m thinking we could lose a LOT of older musicians with this thing.  And quite a few venues.  Musicians always are talking about the death of live music; it hasn’t happened yet, but this is not going to do an already crippled institution much good.

  65. 65.

    Immanentize

    @Barbara: I have not read any article saying hypertension was a “serious” risk factor, just ” a” risk factor.  If you have a link to more analysis of it as a serious factor, I would like to see it?

    Asking for a friend and Ozark’s family….

  66. 66.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Barbara: I read the same, that’s why I mentioned it. I have HBP too. And COPD, And I’m pre-diabetic. And allergic to anti-inflammatories.

    shrug

  67. 67.

    New Deal democrat

    Since if I post a link to a twitter account, it will get stuck in moderation, I encourage everybody to google Jim Bianca + twitter + coronavirus and “early warning” + coronavirus to see very specific graphs of the exponential path the US is on. At the rate of growth in the US so far, we are going to be Italy by about the weekend after this.

    I wish one of the front pagers would put one of these graphs up. It is as stark a warning as you could imagine.

  68. 68.

    BobS

    @Immanentize:

    It’s not going to help efforts to contain this that we have a country full of (relatively) robust 90 year olds who don’t want to ‘hide out’ and are determined to define what’s “reasonable” for themselves.

    I finally managed to convince my 89 year old parents to cancel upcoming travel.

  69. 69.

    CaseyL

    @The Moar You Know: That is a horrible situation to be in, for your bandmates and the venue owners.

    Does the venue have a raised stage to keep some space between the band and the audience? Can you wipe down everything before and after you touch it? Maybe not drink or eat anything from the bar or kitchen, but bring your own food and drink?

    Take a few precautions, and hope for the best.

  71. 71.

    Immanentize

    @joel hanes: This issue of older folks dying seems to deeply interest you.  Please tell us about Bernie Sanders’ mortality chances, but consider him 80 or over rather than his true age.  Like you did for President Biden.  Include known health issues rather than just speculative health issues.  Also, factor in the variable that Sanders’ wife is not a doctor at all.

    I’ll take your answer off line.  Thank you!

  73. 73.

    Barbara

    @Immanentize: I will try to find it.  As with a lot of what we are seeing, it is necessarily impressionistic and can be rigorously reviewed only in  hindsight

    ETA:  It was Bloomberg.  We have a subscription at work but I think you can read at least one article without having to pay:  Source.

  76. 76.

    Immanentize

    @BobS: My Mother hasn’t ever driven in her life.  She has no money to “travel.” She is alone in an apartment in a transitional facility in upstate NY where they have no reported cases yet.  She walks about a mile to and fro to church, the bank, CVS and the grocery store.  If church is cancelled, she will watch it on TV but it is an important part of her life (and death).  Perhaps your parents are in different circumstances?

  80. 80.

    MrSnrub

    A local private high school in our area (suburban philadelphia) is closed because a student’s relative has coronavirus, and I think the student has it as well(?).  It gets hazy really fast.

    Now we just learned that a kid from my son’s high school had some form of minimal contact with the kid from the other school, and is in self-quarantine at home. The school announced this, but has decided that risk is minimal and staying open for now.

    I’m stuck between wanting to be reasonable and wanting to be cautious.

  81. 81.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    @Feathers: Triage at it’s most brutal, but calculations people in low resource environments have to make all the time unfortunately.  This is also going to have knockon effects for people with other conditions that often require periodic hospitalization and have risk factors.  Examples: Children and adults with severe asthma, cystic-fibrosis patients, adults on dialysis, transplant recipients, people who take cyclosporine or methotrexate (which can suppress the immune system), don’t know about Humira…

    I have a brother on Humira for severe Crohn’s and a sister in law who has lupus and kidney disease…  I will be fine but I am marginally terrified for them.  My brother works in a hospital.

  82. 82.

    JanieM

    @Rob:

    Anne Laurie, a big thank you for creating these daily posts. They are a vital part of my keeping up with developments.

    Seconded. Having a central source of information and analysis is invaluable, and is helping keep me sane.

  83. 83.

    Barbara

    @BobS: I think canceling travel is prudent, but canceling grocery shopping is not.  People can go shopping at “off hours” and make sure that they have a prepared list so they can get through quickly.  I have also been buying “double” what I need for the upcoming week for several weeks now, so that my freezer and pantry are practically overflowing.  That should allow me to avoid additional trips.  There is not enough home delivery to save us all, especially in a place like upstate New York.  My mother could not get her groceries delivered in a first tier suburb in Pittsburgh.  I looked when she was discharged from the hospital after a hip replacement, so I went and did a mammoth amount of food shopping before I had to return home.

  85. 85.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @joel hanes: Don’t. Just explain that you worry our all but nominated candidate is at heightened risk for corona virus infection and that while the other aged competitor is also at heightened risk he is not the all but nominated candidate.

    If you want you can even explain that due to the vote totals so far, you feel that the not all but nominated candidate would apparently have a much harder time defeating trump.

  90. 90.

    Mandalay

    Ugh. A tweet from Piscataway NJ Police warning about a very ugly (if predictable) side effect of coronavirus:

    We are advising residents that the CDC are NOT going door-to-door to conduct coronavirus-related surveillance. If anyone claiming to be from the CDC knocks on your door, do not speak with them or let them inside your home, contact us immediately at 732-562-1100.

  92. 92.

    Immanentize

    @The Moar You Know: Is it a metal band in which a face mask might be a good part of the show?

    I am joking, but the suggested limit on gatherings is currently 20 in our area with a one yard distance.  They have not closed any bars or venues.  Also, no town meetings, etc. have yet been put off except big events in Mass.

  95. 95.

    Immanentize

    @Barbara: Thank you.  I just started on my first high BP meds (serious heart disease in my father’s side, but I lucked out with my Mom’s circulatory system.  And I never smoked.  But still, genetics are strong!  That and salt?  But I am only slightly over the treatment threshold.  “Start early and get used to it” is what my Doc said.

  99. 99.

    sherparick

    Meanwhile, something that goes along way to explaining why Mr. Market in the U.S. keeps going up with the Orange Yam starts gibbering away, most of them have allowed their brains to be eaten by Fox News, Fox Business News, Rush Limbaugh, etc.  See below from the reply to Dan Drezner’s tweets.

    See new Tweets

    Conversation

    Daniel W. Drezner

    @dandrezner

    ·
    1h

    My conclusion from this parable is that the stock market is dumb.

    Quote Tweet

    Joe Weisenthal

    @TheStalwart

    · 1h

    Markets were excited yesterday by prospects of Trump’s stimulus. Then Trump didn’t show up to talk about it, even after saying he would https://bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-10/trump-s-a-no-show-after-promising-briefing-on-economic-plan  Show this thread

    Daniel W. Drezner

    @dandrezner

    ·
    1h

    I’m mostly serious about this. It was obvious within a few hours of Trump’s payroll tax trial balloon on Monday night that there was zero planning and skepticism on both sides of the aisle. Why did traders believe the president?!

    See reply below

    ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

    @poliforecast

    Replying to
    @dandrezner

    I work with college educated, professional, successful older Republicans and I’m here to tell you that these not gullible men rely uncritically and exclusively on FOX for news of the world. It’s crazy listening to them discuss news and politics and the markets with each other.

  100. 100.

    Immanentize

    @Omnes Omnibus: There is a joke about that here in Boston — man collapses on the Red Line between Park Street and MIT.  The person sitting next to him calls out, “Is there a Doctor here?” Twenty plus people call out, “I am! I am.” Hands waiving, Then the good Samaritan restates, “Is anyone a medical doctor?” Followed by silence.

  101. 101.

    Gin & Tonic

    @New Deal democrat: You can embed the Tweet. When you have the Tweet open, click on the downward-pointing caret in the upper-right corner, select “Embed Tweet” then select “Copy Code” in the resulting page. Open a new comment here in text, not visual mode, and paste in what you copied.

  102. 102.

    Immanentize

    @Barbara: I think that for my Mom, walking out in the air is probably healthier than staying in the facility.  Or just as unhealthy?

  103. 103.

    BobS

    @Immanentize: Quite a bit different- pretty comfortable financially, still driving (my dad), shopping, eating out frequently, going to movies, flying, etc.

    I had to impress upon them that their age places them among the most vulnerable, and that voluntarily limiting their activities is not only the best thing for them to do personally, but also from a societal standpoint, i.e. preventing that rapid spike that could potentially overwhelm our healthcare system.

    I’ve resigned myself to the fact I’m going to have to minimize my own contact with them- I’m in my mid-60’s and working regular ER shifts in a hospital that has just seen it’s first COVID-19 patient.

  105. 105.

    Sebastian

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Significant. Also, Lombardy has some of the highest levels of air pollution in Europe. On top of that, much of the pollution is coming from diesel exhausts (overwhelming majority of personal cars are diesel powered) and diesel emits very high levels of micro particles which are very bad in regards to respiratory effects.

  106. 106.

    PenAndKey

    @Immanentize: But I am only slightly over the treatment threshold.  “Start early and get used to it” is what my Doc said.

    I’m at the “increase your rate of exercise and lose 20 pounds and we’ll see how things sit next year” level myself. I’m doing that, and on my way to a good weight reduction, but as of right now my levels are still borderline high. It’s my only real risk factor, but it’s definitely there. I have a feeling we’re going to be seeing quite a few people who haven’t kept up with their physicals finding out they’re in the same boat fairly soon.

  108. 108.

    geg6

    @Barbara:

    My mother could not get her groceries delivered in a first tier suburb in Pittsburgh.

    Seriously?  No Walmart or Giant Eagle near by anywhere?  Both do delivery.  And Amazon does, too, in a pinch.

  109. 109.

    The Moar You Know

    That is a horrible situation to be in, for your bandmates and the venue owners.

    Does the venue have a raised stage to keep some space between the band and the audience? Can you wipe down everything before and after you touch it? Maybe not drink or eat anything from the bar or kitchen, but bring your own food and drink?

    Take a few precautions, and hope for the best.

    @CaseyL:  We play about 12 different venues regularly, they’re all different.  Yeah, most have raised stages, about six inches to a foot, the bad news is that’s no barrier at all to the drunk guy who wants to tell you how awesome you are.   As for bringing your own food and drinks, that’s actually against the law in most states (venues that only serve alcohol can allow in outside food at their discretion in states where that is legal).

    As of this AM, all three of my older bandmates are sick with something.  Not COVID symptoms, thank goodness.  Good thing we’re without gigs until the end of the month.

  111. 111.

    Immanentize

    @BobS: Good luck to you and your parents and your patients!  What a strange time we are in.  We always were going to get hit hard at some point by the microbes, but I feel we were not sufficiently ready….

    That said, flattening the curve is going to be hard but doable.  I look at the general reaction of the whole metro Boston area after the marathon bombing.  I was amazed at how seriously people took their voluntary! responsibity to stay home for days!  We are capable if the leaders tell it straight.

  112. 112.

    PenAndKey

    @geg6: The closest my area does for groceries is curbside pickup. And we’ve got multiple Walmarts with grocery sections. They don’t even offer that much. Oddly enough, the 8k population town 30 minutes away has a Hy-Vee that offers delivery. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

  113. 113.

    Aleta

    @Immanentize: Also, I haven’t seen a distinction between treated high blood pressure that is controlled vs untreated.  (Except a very early mention of untreated HBP as  a risk.)

  114. 114.

    Couch Thing

    Covid-19 can’t turn into the real world equivalent of Captain Trips, can it? I wouldn’t have thought so, what with this country having the best scientists, doctors, and researchers. I mean we have an entire government team dedicated to fighting epidemics and –

     

    nevermind.  Turns out we are a nation ruled by idiots and criminals.

  115. 115.

    Barbara

    @geg6: Three years ago, there was no delivery in her zip code.  It has probably expanded, but it is zip code specific and if there isn’t enough demand in that zip code, you can’t get it.  I saw that I might have been able to get it in other areas of the city that are generally more affluent.

  116. 116.

    BobS

    @Barbara: The point I was making is that everyone has a different definition of what is “reasonable”- my 89 year old parents thought a plane trip to Savannah was “reasonable” until I convinced them otherwise. Someone else mentioned their 92 year old mother ‘reasonably’ using the subway to get to the opera. At this point in time, with what we are (potentially) facing, I think it’s “reasonable” for me to consider their “reasonable” behavior as somewhat foolish, from both a societal standpoint and with respect to their own health.

  118. 118.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @PenAndKey: The other problem is the Italians were deliberately flaunting the Distancing recommendations because “Italians HAVE to socialize”.

    I wouldn’t be surprised when this is over in the US some regions fare relatively well because the community there took the threat seriously and others it becomes a disaster because no one can tell them what to do.

  119. 119.

    MomSense

    Breaking News: interrupting this thread for some happy news.  Middle kid is getting a puppy.  He’s a big, black muppety looking dog.   So far the name in first place is Kebo which is one of the peaks in Acadia and a favorite trail there.   My dog is terribly jealous and hates other dogs in her house so I may never see my son again!

  121. 121.

    ziggy

    Things just keep getting uglier here in the PNW. Two more nursing homes have infected patients, as well as an assisted-living facility in Seattle. I am so glad I don’t have a parent in one of those type of facilities, I’d be totally stressed out. My heart goes out to those who have no other options. If there is any consolation, it is that we haven’t seen deaths from the community at large, even though there is surely a much bigger pool of infected people now than has been measured with testing (testing situation–mind-boggling incompetence, if not evil intent).

    Governor Inslee announced new rules for nursing homes and similar facilities, and is going to announce a ban on gatherings of 250 or more in the Seattle area. Also expecting to be making announcements on a regular basis for the foreseeable future. Coronavirus is definitely here and changing our lives in the PNW.

    I’m really curious about where the different comments are posting from, maybe posters here could let us know where they are?

  122. 122.

    ziggy

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    I wouldn’t be surprised when this is over in the US some regions fare relatively well because the community there took the threat seriously and others it becomes a disaster because no one can tell them what to do.

    Exactly–we are going to see 50 different societal experiments on what happens with virus transmission based on local attitudes and local leadership.

  124. 124.

    TomatoQueen

    Commenting system rife with 405 errors the last few days. Needs its lights punched. 2nd try:

    Just off the quarterly phone conference with staff at my Dad’s facility in Connecticut. He’s in their memory care unit and is high risk due to COPD and congestive heart failure. For 89 and frail tho, he’s doing well. The facility is on no-visitors lock down and is doing all it can to keep residents in place, such as suspending routine off-campus doctor appointments. More protocols are being developed  as needed.

    OTOH, my severely disabled lad attends a day support program that follows the local school system schedule, and that’s Fairfax Va Cty schools, one of the nation’s largest systems. The first sign of a global response is a declaration that Monday 3/16 will be a teacher planning day, so school/program will close. My lad is medically stable w/o chronic illness, but is fed by feeding tube and needs full-time personal care, so is in a high risk category. I worry for him and all his friends and companions, and their caregivers, and for the daily caregivers who come in to help me with him for derisory wages and no benefits.

    I haven’t left the house in months. Merlin makes everything good and tried to steal my morning biscuit. The naughty boy.

  125. 125.

    BobS

    @ziggy: I work in the metropolitan Detroit area, live ‘up-north’.

    My daughter-in-law is a physician at a Seattle area hospital. I talked to her and my son the other night, but had to cut the conversation short- they were on their way out to a movie.

    Home delivery of groceries was mentioned elsewhere in the thread- my daughter lives in Manhattan, and with a new baby has gotten increasingly dependent on home delivery- she said the wait time for her last delivery of fresh produce went from 1 day to 3 days (more people eating in?).

  126. 126.

    Kristine

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    We’re early voting in IL tomorrow partly because we don’t want to wait in a crowd of people for however long it takes on March 17.

    I am honestly hoping for a very light crowd, as long as it’s light because they opted for mail-in or early/absentee voting.

    I really hate living in interesting times.

    (it was great meeting you at Capricon, btw!)

  127. 127.

    Kristine

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:  One other thing you will avoid with the earlier release date is the flood of Christmas releases/seasonal books. One of my mmpbs came out in Oct or Nov–this was back in 2000–and when I called the local B&N several weeks after the release date, I found out that the books hadn’t even been unboxed and put out on the shelves yet. Because I called and was a local writer, they pulled them out, and iirc I drove over and signed them. I did hear horror stories of store clerks opening boxes of mass markets, ripping off the covers, and tossing said covers in the box to be returned to the publishers–they never even made it onto the shelves.** Trade and hardcovers don’t get treated that way, but you’re still one among many more.

    **while trade and hardcovers get returned intact to publishers, practice was–and I think still is–that mmpbs were too cheap to bother with, so only the covers were returned for credit. If you’ve ever bought a mass market pb with the cover torn off, that book was a Return. The author got dinged for it on the royalty statement and received no credit for the sale.

  128. 128.

    opiejeanne

    @geg6: The Amazon/Whole Foods grocery delivery system is overloaded in my area, near Seattle. They say their ability to deliver is limited by the sudden extreme demand.

    I ordered shelf-stable milk from Amazon and it took nearly 2 weeks to get here. This item was not a next-day delivery, but I think their next-day delivery has gone kerphlooey.

  129. 129.

    J R in WV

    West Virginia, so far, has no confirmed by testing Covid-19 cases… good, so far. I’m going to do another shopping trip, fill up the SUV with goodies and dog biscuits, they don’t understand when they can’t have a biscuit in the morning!

    I see where Trump and his trumpkin minions are striving to distort reality by trying to limit testing whenever and wherever they can, because keeping “The Numbers Low” is really important to Trump, as that’s a simple concept he can almost understand. Even hiding the real numbers when possible!

    But this is a limited effort that is going to backfire on Trump and implode, because regardless of his distortion of “The Numbers” those people who are vulnerable, like my 75-y-o farm lady neighbor whom we love, who has RA and takes drugs that suppress her immune system, we are going to die in the same proportions (generally) as they do in other locations around the world.

    One statistic that states track very carefully is deaths — and that number won’t be kept secret. It is not federal data, and Trump can’t do anything about that number for very long. People will know that number and watch it growing, and see that it is far and away unrelated to numbers from the CDC. And will see that Trump isn’t doing much to prevent that number from increasing, doubling every week or so.

    Grim, but it won’t help Trump get reelected. Even Fox will probably mention the death rate, maybe rarely, but it will get around even in the bubble of Faux News addicts. And please don’t attempt to get on me for rooting for disaster. I’m not. I’m just confronting it and expecting it to confront Trump before too long. I’m 69, wife is 70, we’ll be staying home to the maximum extent possible.

    I intend/hope to buy more of my perscriptions on my next shopping expedition, for hard earned cash because my “insurance” requires me to be down to a 3 day supply to receive benefits for a refill. I do have a “GoodRx” card which does get a discount on some drugs.

    I wish everyone the best of luck, with the notable exception of those who are interfering  with national prep for this emergency!

  130. 130.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: I kind of think the same thing.  I live in Connecticut, our governor and state and local reps seem to be taking it very seriously.  The Universities and colleges seem to have started moving to online classes and are trying to move the students out of the dorms.  Local VA hospital has instituted new entry checks but with the number of people who work there I am not sure how much they can cut down on unnecessary entries.  Local elementary and high schools seem to be deciding by school district but I don’t have kids in school anymore so I don’t know.

Comments are closed.