Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Spilling the end game before they can coat it in frankl luntz-approved dogwhistles.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

In short, I come down firmly on all sides of the issue.

Let’s finish the job.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

This fight is for everything.

In after Baud. Damn.

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Cole is on a roll !

It’s the corruption, stupid.

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 Coronavirus / Saturday Morning Open Thread: The View From Boston

Saturday Morning Open Thread: The View From Boston

by | 167 Comments

This post is in: ,

The state reported its first coronavirus-related death yesterday (an 87-year-old with underlying health conditions), and my city, a dozen miles north of Boston proper, reported its first case (not severe; the patient was sent home to self-isolate). But I can’t think of anywhere in America where I’d rather be living under the current lockdown than here. The government, and just as important most big employers, have been taking the possibility of a global pandemic seriously well before that ill-stared Biogen conference; there have been public news reports since at least early February, when the first case was reported in a traveller returning from Wuhan. Even our Republican governor has resisted the impulse to either underplay or scaremonger news updates. And we’ve got so many hospitals, we can afford to convert one (albeit maybe not the highest-rated one) into a dedicated coronavirus treatment facility!


And this was a mood-lifter:

Some of the requests are simple: Deliver a 6-year-old’s birthday cake from Whole Foods to a single mother who’s afraid to leave the house. Donate an old laptop to a student trying to connect to virtual classes.

Others are profound: College students from Nigeria looking for somewhere, anywhere, to live after their dorms closed. Out-of-work cooks, fitness instructors, and musicians who can no longer afford to feed their children.

But for so-called mutual aid groups now springing up across Massachusetts, no ask is too small or too large. Collectively, leaders of this grass-roots movement believe, local residents already have much of the expertise and many of the resources their neighbors will need to survive the coronavirus pandemic.

To get the job done, the helpers are relying on free time, anxious energy, their trust in each other — and online spreadsheets.

“No one knows or has everything, but as a community we know a lot and we have a lot of resources,” said Anna Kaplan, a 25-year-old volunteer who helps lead the Mutual Aid Medford and Somerville group. “It’s actually been really amazing to watch people offer up so much, from donating $10 to a room in their house, all to people they don’t even know.”

Decentralized “mutual aid” networks, which can serve a single neighborhood or up to several adjacent municipalities, existed in some places before the current crisis. But with the economy crumbling, and the government’s response slow and haphazard, an unprecedented number of ordinary residents in Massachusetts and across the country are forming or joining such groups.

The way it works is simple: Those with needs enter their requests into a shared online spreadsheet, along with contact information. Those with resources, time, and skills can reach out directly to help, or list their offerings in a separate spreadsheet that anyone can peruse.

Meanwhile, designated “pod leaders” collect phone numbers of their immediate neighbors, stitching together a hyper-local network that can quickly share news and urgent requests by text message, and collate lists of other free resources and institutions offering help. The idea is to create a one-stop resource that any overwhelmed resident can contact for immediate help, or at least a friendly pointer in the right direction…

What’s going on in your neighborhood, pandemic-related or otherwise?

Reader Interactions

167Comments

  1. 1.

    Japa21

    Good morning. First day of sheltering in place, mainly at the insistence of offspring and spouse.

  5. 5.

    MagdaInBlack

    In Chicagoland, my corporate masters have determined that body shops are essential services thus we remain open, and then cut my hours by 25%.
    I’m still not sure how I feel about this, other than lack of surprise.
    AL, one of my “since grade school” friends lives in Lowell, Ma. Shes a vet tech, theyre still open, but predictably, her pet sitting service has fallen off.

  13. 13.

    satby

    I see online that the Farmers market is insisting on staying open, though many of them are telling people they offer curbside service. I’m kind of appalled.

  15. 15.

    MagdaInBlack

    @satby:

    ?? Cars…… 700 shops in the U.S. and Canada.

    My lack of appointments, bookings and phone calls suggest we arent so essential ?

  16. 16.

    NotMax

    As it’s Open Thread –

    Put in a small order with Amazon (no foods, no paper goods, nothing like that) for a very few inexpensive odds ‘n’ ends from the someday will get around to these list kept as a text file on the computer and a couple of minor kitchen utensil replacements for ones which have done their duty well and are in need of retirement. Wouldn’t mention it at all but for something which frequently – and unusually – cropped up while I was going through and checking on prices and availability. That something being a notice that an item is in stock but “cannot be shipped to your location.” Know such notice was not there when first put those things onto the list as wouldn’t have bothered keeping them for future consideration had it been.

    “Guaranteed” delivery is now 8 days.

  19. 19.

    Chris

    Haven’t read anywhere else about Dr. Fauci at yesterday’s briefing. That man is not well. He kept touching his face and wiping under his nose and at one point popped a lozenge in his mouth. My husband said he’s definitely sick. Then, my god, we watched him wipe his nose on his jacket sleeve! After wiping under his nose with his fingertips he stepped to the podium and adjusted the mic. If we lose him we’re even more screwed.

  20. 20.

    raven

    @OzarkHillbilly:  The day before we got married I accidentally cracked open the bridge of my nose with a SUV door. My family was staying at a little cabin outside of Appo and we were all scheduled to meet up an my wife’s family home later that day. When we got their my nieces were in a tizzy and they ran into the house and said “what are we going to to about his nose?” She looked at them and said “I don’t know, I decided to marry him anyway’! Ca -ching!

  27. 27.

    WereBear

    I’m just not ordering anything from Amazon at the moment: my pet and medical mail order channels still working, groceries and sundries locally available.

    I am glad my giant wardrobe revamp was completed a couple of months ago. Not nearly so much choice now! The disconcerting part was walking into the local Marshall’s a few months ago and discovering, in some kind of Twilight Zone move, that as a woman I am no longer allowed to buy actual pants, only some kind of weird leggings hybrid which are decorated to look like pants.

    The giant revamp of my life to address my autoimmune issues resulted in enough weight loss to turn all my previous, actual, pants into clown pants. I hope they are greeted with joy wherever they landed :)

  28. 28.

    NotMax

    re: Army Corps of Engineers.

    Repeating this from a previous thread wherein some inherent drawbacks and infrastructure concerns were briefly discussed.

    Army Corps has a plan to convert hotels, dorms into coronavirus hospital rooms. Here’s how .

    The hotel or dorm rooms would follow a blueprint design […] just approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The Corps did not immediately make the design public, saying it would be discussed publicly in further detail next week.

  29. 29.

    Betty Cracker

    @Chris: CNN says one of Pence’s staffers tested positive for the virus. I hope The Beast’s minions haven’t infected Dr. Fauci. The Beast insists that the task force huddle around him at the stupid daily briefings — maybe so we can’t tell where his stupid ends and their expertise begins?

  30. 30.

    Jeffro

    @janesays: 

    listening to his greatest hits on YouTube at the moment…I’m kind of surprised at how well I still know most of these songs.

  32. 32.

    JWR

    @Chris: If we lose him we’re even more screwed.

    Yep. And a sick man is more susceptible to Trumpitis, (or whatever that orange pallor is.) But I missed the story about Mexico’s president having an incredibly nonchalant attitude towards the virus:

    But it is the president’s personal attitude that has Mexicans puzzled. He continues to attend mass public rallies, shaking hands and kissing babies. Asked how he was protecting Mexico, López Obrador removed two religious amulets from his wallet and proudly showed them off.

    “The protective shield is the ‘Get thee behind me, Satan,’” López Obrador said, reading off the inscription on the amulet, “Stop, enemy, for the Heart of Jesus is with me.”

    Yikes!

    ETA the link

  33. 33.

    Amir Khalid

    Angela Merkel has praised Germans for coming to each other’s aid. The King of the Netherlands has said the same about Dutch people standing together. These are the helpers one looks for, as Mr. Rogers put it. Many Americans are similarly doing their best for each other in these times, and Trump has had nothing to say about that.

  34. 34.

    mali muso

    This is a righteously angry read.

    We have slid clear out of the information age into an apocalypse where a greedy ignorance swallows up knowledge. Trump’s Katrina has come and gone; the pandemic is Trump’s 9/11—an even stupider 9/11 than the original stupid one, 9/11 if the president’s security briefing on Sept. 10 had been titled “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S. by Hijacking Commercial Airliners Out of Washington and Boston and Crashing Them Into Major Buildings in September,” and people had just read it out on TV for the public to hear, and also camera crews had followed Mohamed Atta to the Portland, Maine, airport but the government had not bothered to keep track of him when he entered the terminal. And the security checkpoints had been shut down as a gesture of spite toward the previous administration.

  36. 36.

    beth

    @satby: I work at a golf resort which, in spite of occupancy levels in the single digits, is staying open because “golfers are still golfing”. So they are risking their employees’ health because some people can’t give up golfing for a few weeks. They’re pulling in less than 10 grand a day; nice to know our lives are worth so little. Of course anyone who doesn’t want to work is welcome to remove themselves from the schedule but no one is sure if that would affect unemployment claims or not since the company didn’t lay us off. I’m in the management side and can do some work from home but not all. The owners keep pushing discounts to lure locals to the hotel and unfortunately it seems to be working – we’ve been quite busy on the weekends. The feeling seems to be that guests know the risks and we are lucky we haven’t been laid off yet. To say I’m appalled would be putting it mildly. I’m horrified at their “money above all else” attitude – up until now they’ve been incredibly good at employee relations, one of the best I’ve worked for actually.  I guess you really do see who people really are in situations like this. I know I’ll be looking for a job elsewhere when this is all over.

  40. 40.

    Robert Sneddon

    @Betty Cracker: The UK government briefings are carried out with only the speakers present, no gaggle of supporting extras in the background. The speakers (usually PM Johnson and two others, medical people or Government ministers) are positioned at podiums over a metre apart, a clear example to anyone watching that social distancing is a good thing.

     

    I detest PM Boris Johnson and all his Tory cheerleaders but he’s listening to scientific and medical advice and following best practices on this.

  42. 42.

    biff murphy

     

    Ted Cruz ( Weasel-R-Texas)

    Check that pic out… Cruz is checking out Elizabeth’s ass.

  43. 43.

    J R in WV

    I’m not commenting much lately… perhaps too angry to remain civil?

    But I am reading the threads, and am grateful for all you guys and your commentary.

    Thanks! This is my social meeting place now, so no viruses, please!

    Last night  Adam told one of the regulars that it was not moral to hope that the trumpkins catch the trump-plague. I disagree with Adam. I think it is highly moral to hope that Trump and his minions reap the harvest that they have sown. Otherwise how will they learn not to sow grief and horror?

    We’re self quarantined uppa hollow, have provisions, but are near out of MilkBonez for the puppers. So sad! But I did  buy a couple of bags of goldfish which, tho tiny, they seem to like a lot. So I pass them out, one at a time. Dogs lick their chops for them!

  44. 44.

    Darkrose

    The community college where I work managed to get hold of around 600 Chromebooks when the district announced we’d be going to all online services as of Wednesday. They came in on Monday, and since then library staff have worked like crazy to get them to students. As of today we’ve checked out 300.

  45. 45.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @beth: The great Terry Prachett had a quote that perfects fits the situation you’re describing: “Sin is when you treat people like things.” RIP, Sir Prachett.

  47. 47.

    raven

    @J R in WV: Our local pet store is doing online ordering and they bring it to your car so I just ordered dog food and treats for the pups,

  48. 48.

    Chris

    @Betty Cracker:

    Yeah, I just now read that about the Pence staffer. Fauci is definitely sick with something. My husband also noticed the woman dr. (forget her name) kept inching away from him. And yes that moron always always has to have his props (he especially loves it when they wear uniforms/construction garb, etc.) all huddled up behind him to be sure and make it in the frame. I swear that gigantic orange blob of incompetence and idiocy will be the only one not to get the virus.

  51. 51.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @raven: Thanks, dude. This song brought the first smile to my wife’s face today. It’s a great antidote to the news.

  53. 53.

    Princess

    That drone footage from Boston makes methink of thedrone footage from Wuhan you posted back in January or early February.

  54. 54.

    What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @NotMax: Yeah I filed up a cart at Whole Foods for free 2 hour prime delivery and it wasn’t until I got to the checkout that they told me that service isn’t available in my area. Like, you have my address, you could have told me you couldn’t do it up front.

  55. 55.

    PST

    @MagdaInBlack: Speaking of body shops being essential services, I was surprised to find out that bike shops are considered essential as well. I was desperate yesterday to get my bike back from the shop before sheltering in place kicks in because I want to avoid cabs, ride-shares, and buses like the plague. You can carry a lot of groceries in a nice set of panniers. Anyway, the bike guy was having trouble loosening rusted bolts on a chain ring, but he said not to worry, Chicago considers him essential. The rules actually seem pretty loose to me, with a broad range of services considered essential. I don’t think next week’s new normal will be much different from this week’s.

  58. 58.

    raven

    So we live in a county that has gone “stay at home”. We have an adjacent county that is a bedroom community of Athens and essentially all white. Many big retailers have relocated out there and one hair salon has an ad saying “Aren’t you glad we are in Oconee County so we can be open”. There are a good many people complaining mightily about the shutdown but to try to take advantage of it like that? And we should wish ill on these motherfuckers?

  60. 60.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @raven: Dylan has had a truckload of great singers covering his songs. I love Richie Haven’s version of “Just Like A Woman.”

  64. 64.

    J R in WV

    @raven:

    That’s good. I bought a big stash of DF kibble and CF both kibble and canned in the beginning of all this. We have 3 big dogs now, and it’s going pretty quickly. 8-30 pound bags to start with, have 6 of those left, then got 4-20 pound bags more.

    I was feeding puppy chow to the puppies, but they’re14 months old now, so once this batch of puppy chow is gone, they gonna turn into grown-up dogs, at least nutritionally. But I didn’t think of milk bonez, which they really like getting in the mornings. My bad. Next time I go to town, late next week or the following week.

    We’ve still got salad greens, last tomato was used last night.

    Hanging in there…

  67. 67.

    prostratedragon

    @JWR:  … and things were going along fine until it suddenly became clear that the re-entry angle was much too flat …

  69. 69.

    WereBear

    @beth: I guess you really do see who people really are in situations like this. I know I’ll be looking for a job elsewhere when this is all over.

     
    This is why we need Emergency Orders when people have their head up their ass.

    I’m in NY: which state are you in, if I may ask? I think it’s pertinent to all of us as we make these reports.

  70. 70.

    japa21

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I was still working part time at Costco but took the no penalty option of not doing so.  BTW, Costco is opening from 8-9 AM on Tuesday and Thursday for seniors only. (at least mine is).

  73. 73.

    beth

    @WereBear:  I’m just comfortable saying it’s a Southern red state. I’m already becoming a pariah around the office for my vocal opposition to remaining open.

  75. 75.

    bemused

    I wouldn’t doubt some talk of economy crashing and we have to live in a deep dive slump even worse than the Great Depression. My almost 97 year old mother-in-law lived during the GD and remembers well how FDR programs kept the rural area residents alive. I don’t think she ever imagined she may live in another great or greater depression. “If I live that long” is what she’d say.

  77. 77.

    Immanentize

    @raven: The Immp just watched that for the first time last week.  Made some Pho and we put it on. He loved it.

  78. 78.

    MagdaInBlack

    In Illinois, the folks who “get” to go to work are the folks who keep the wheels moving. The worker bee’s. 

    I have mixed emotions about working. Im glad to still have the income, but I’d really of like to have a couple weeks of no daily multiple contacts.

    I do think the folks working safely at home could tone down the ” WTF are you idiots doing?!? ” tone of their emails. Remember, perhaps, who is keeping the shops running and the money flowing…to them ?

    lot to ask, I know ?

  80. 80.

    raven

    @Immanentize: I remember seeing it at an art house in Atlanta when it came out and people didn’t know what to think! I was dyin but many juts sat there. Who of them knew what the Port Huron Statement was???

  81. 81.

    WereBear

    @beth: By all means! And I’m sorry to hear :) It’s a real knife edge.

    Short-term, I’m okay, able to work at home and still get paid. Long-term, who the heck knows? I’m in an area where the entire economy is based on tourism.

  85. 85.

    Immanentize

    @raven: now this is a perfect example of our age difference.  I met James Kunen and  knew pretty well some of the other Strawberry Statement peeps back in the late 70’s.  Talk about two very different ideas coming from two very different places (UAW/Columbia Uni.)

  86. 86.

    leeleeFL

    @Robert Sneddon: Because PM Johnson may be that broken clock that is correct twice a day.   He has, otherwise, seemed gob- smackingly stupid and/or awful.   I would do a facepalm, but I don’t want to touch my face.

  88. 88.

    leeleeFL

    @Robert Sneddon: Because PM Johnson may be that broken clock that is correct twice a day.   He has, otherwise, seemed gob- smackingly stupid and/or awful.   I would do a facepalm, but I don’t want to touch my face.

  89. 89.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @japa21:

    We don’t have a Costco membership. I think we’ll wait a few days and then go to Jewel, maybe mid-morning.

    I heard Dr Abdul El-Sayid (an epidemiologist) talking to the Obama bros about what he does when he grocery shops. He carried Clorox wipes and wears gloves. When he gets home, he wipes down all his groceries, except produce obviously.

    My SIL just email that she was able to order washable gloves from the Vermont Country Store. Maybe I should do that. We’re still washing our hands whenever we come back from stepping outside our door, even if it’s just to get the mail or carry out dinner.

  95. 95.

    debbie

    @debbie:

    Bruce Springsteen’s live version of “Chimes of Freedom.”

    Anyone who says Dylan is not a poet is an asshole.

  97. 97.

    raven

    @Immanentize: I knew some hard core trots who were tryin to organize labor in Chicago, they weren’t much fun. I kind of liked the Zippier better.

  100. 100.

    PST

    @raven: No, but I am now. Thanks for the tip and the link. I moved a few years ago but never changed bike shops because I could always ride my bike to the old one. This week I had to push it, so I needed to find a new place within a couple of miles. It’s called Pedal to the People and makes no effort to be slick and commercial.

  102. 102.

    JMG

    A brief story of romance under coronavirus. Tonight my son will formally propose to his girlfriend. They’ve lived together for over a year and have already begun wedding planning, so an acceptance is expected. Josh had planned to have a surprise party of his and her friends after the proposal. Since they live in Brooklyn, this is now impossible. So he has had those friends (and his parents) video congratulatory toasts which he is splicing together as a virtual party in their apartment. People are better at coping than we give ourselves credit for, I think.

  104. 104.

    Amir Khalid

    @debbie:

    I’ve been listening to that Bruce cover. The way he plays it makes me want to stand at attention with my hand over my heart.

  106. 106.

    J R in WV

    Dylan so deserved that Nobel Prize they shockingly awarded him.

    I was just amazed that it happened, that Scandinavians saw that he was a literary genius as well as a great composer and musician. Have seen him live twice here in Charleston WV. Both shows were great, although the first one he did quite a bit from his religious album, which wasn’t my fav.

    More recently he was at the Civic Center, and our seats were on the floor, right across from the sound booth, so our sound was great.

  107. 107.

    debbie

    Re that Warren tweet up top, how long until Trump tweets back something snide with the word “Pocahontas” in it?

  109. 109.

    Sab

    @beth: Welcome to my world. Different line of business but they only got serious about this week. I’ve been speaking up since January that this is coming.

  111. 111.

    raven

    Meant zippies ”

    The origin of the word is an evolution of the term Yippie, which was coined by the Youth International Party in the 1960s. “Zippie” was briefly the name of the breakaway Yippie faction that demonstrated at the 1972 Republican and Democratic Conventions in Miami Beach.[1][2]

    After these events, “the Zippies evolved back into Yippies”,[3][4] but the word Zippie remained, used by record labels, rock bands, and assorted others,[5] since there has never been any copyright.”

     

    Then I started to write an account of my experience at the convention and it just went poof!

  112. 112.

    Amir Khalid

    @JMG:

    Congratulations to your son and future daughter-in-law. Thir happy news is indeed a ray of hope for all of us.

  114. 114.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @Drdavechemist:

    I remember someone saying The Big Lebowski was for people who thought Fargo was too mainstream. Made me laugh.

    @JMG: Congrats to them. That’s sweet.

     

    @japa21: I’ll  have to check for special senior  hours at my local Jewel. I didn’t notice any when I looked at their website to see if they delivered (which they do, but probably are booked up for days).

  115. 115.

    zhena gogolia

    @MagdaInBlack:

    Yes. It’s annoying, I’m sure. I don’t think people get the point that ANY reduction in human contact is going to slow it down

    ETA: What I mean is, you’re not being irresponsible if you’re part of the essential mechanism of society.

  116. 116.

    raven

    @J R in WV: I have a buddy who knows him and his band. He’s actually in a picture in Levon’s band bio holding Dylan’s jacket at a gig in the Lone Star. One day he came up to me and said “I have to have a ride to Atlanta to see Bob at the Fox”. I thought he was full of shit but I drove him anyway. We went to the back door and I’ll be dammed if he didn’t give his name and they let us in! We stood back stage and it was awful!!! Jagger was making a movie in the Atlanta and he was there too. After the gig Bob walked off stage with his bodyguard and Mick was yelling “Bob, hey Bob” and Bob just kept walking. Strange day.

  119. 119.

    PST

    @raven: Yes, I went to the web site and see the good work they do. It’s also a repair shop. I am trying to remember a place in Uptown (I think) that used to do a different kind of bike-related service. It provided people who didn’t have space or tools somewhere they could do their own repair and maintenance. It also had classes. I wonder if it’s still there.

  121. 121.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @debbie: It was a great performance, and a textbook example of what a gifted musician does when they make a mistake. Patti stopped, apologized, picked up where she left off and then motherfucking nailed it. Patti Smith is a Goddess and I would humbly bend the knee for her anytime.

  125. 125.

    Elizabelle

    @J R in WV:   I love to think of your puppers enjoying goldfish crackers.

    And you remind of something we should do on the blog later:  recipes for homemade pet treats, using staples/ingredients we are likely to have at home

    Jackals are a resourceful group.

  129. 129.

    Nicole

    A friend of mine runs a online language learning service. His girlfriend told me he got more calls from schools about signing up for the service this week than he got in all of last year.  She said listening to him try to talk through signing up for the program with technically challenged older teachers has been both hilarious and endearing.

    (He’s also decided to offer the service free to schools for the next 90 days, to help weather the ones that offer language programs through this crisis, and then with luck he’ll pick up some continuing customers down the road.)

  131. 131.

    Mousebumples

    Posted in the dead thread downstairs, so I’m reposting before I read this thread:

    Pharmacist checking is, re: hydroxychloroquine

    There is growing evidence that it works to treat COVID19. Only 10 or 14 days of treatment is currently recommended, but with this being a worldwide thing… On a per patient basis, that’s huge demand. And hospitals may be stockpiling for their patients and potential future patients.

    There are other, similarly cheap, medications for RA that haven’t shown any efficacy in COVID19 that you could ask your doctor about. (phone call, internet message) Methotrexate, Leflunomide, Sulfasalazine, etc.

    Hopefully you’ll be fine if you elect to go without, but I would suggest asking your doctor for a different (cheap) option. Good luck!

  132. 132.

    raven

    @Nicole: I spent 20 years doing that kind of faculty support. One time we were having a session with the old towers and a prof thought the optical drive was a cup holder!

  135. 135.

    debbie

    @The Thin Black Duke:

    “Gloria” was life changing. I was in painting class, bored by the music blaring from someone’s tape player (something stupid and boy, like Foreigner or something), and then someone switched cassettes. It was like a jolt of electricity.

  136. 136.

    Mousebumples

    @MattF: I’m not at work now, but there is some info from the University of Michigan (iirc) and out of China that looks promising. And studies are happening during this time, as evidenced by the NEJM study showing a proposed use of an AIDS therapy doesn’t help.

    We’re throwing things at the wall to see what works at this point. I’m not guaranteeing hydroxychloroquine works by any means, but doctors are using it, for the time being at least .

  139. 139.

    debbie

    @MattF:

    Thank you for that link. For one thing, saying that one doesn’t need to worry about effects on vision for 10 years is totally bogus. It has to be monitored from the very beginning.

    How long before the lawsuits begin?

  141. 141.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @debbie: Ain’t nothing like listening to a song that you’re going to love the rest of your life for the first time.

  143. 143.

    debbie

    We’re throwing things at the wall to see what works at this point.

    Yes, things like spraying oneself with diluted Clorox. //

  145. 145.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @debbie: I’m 65, and I’m grateful that music still feels just as good as it did when I was in my teens. I’m Blessed.

  147. 147.

    Kattails

    @MagdaInBlack: Oh, no, thanks for hanging in there! Multiple contacts get nerve-wracking after a few hours. Take best care of yourself.

    I worked through my scheduled week which was Wednesday and then took myself out for ?3? weeks, just not in a good demographic.  Just applied online this morning for unemployment, and as I mentioned in another thread there are so many apps that the state is taking them on a rotating basis by first initial of last name. And they had specific coronavirus questions on the “reasons” menu, i.e. self isolating, employer-mandated, home child care. This is in NH. It was really smooth.

  148. 148.

    FlyingToaster

    I’d been in charge of procurement through Thursday afternoon, when my headcold got too nasty to continue.  Most of the places I need to shop — Target, HomeDepot, Staples — have the website where I can confirm availability, and Russo’s is simply stocked.

    And yeah, it’s my normal March allergies (the juniper outside my south door) plus plugged sinus, post-nasal drip, slightly itchy throat, and completely plugged right eustachian tube.  It’s the spring head cold I’ve pretty much had every fucking year for over half a century.  I was dizzy Friday, but not today, so I’m currently manning the Zoom session for Group Violin, listening to Vivaldi.

  150. 150.

    Miss Bianca

    We have a small, neighborhood-based mutual aid society going on, mostly to help with shopping. A text chain connects us all, and I have been one of the ones delivering groceries and supplies. Now we all ask each other every time one of us goes to the big city. A small thing, but it helps us all stay connected without visiting.

  152. 152.

    Quiltingfool

    I mentioned in thread a few days ago that my mother passed away (not from the virus).  Yesterday my dad and I went to make funeral arrangements and, well, we aren’t having a funeral next week – the funeral home limits 10 people at a service.  They are looking out for people, and I’m very glad of it.  However, there are members of my mother’s family that are not happy about it, and my dad feels he is being criticized, and oh, crazy town.  I’ve told dad that they will understand, and this is something not in his control.  The funeral director was so good, and she assured dad that services could be at a later date, no problem.  She is being cremated, so services can be anytime.  He’s wanting a graveside service in June, her birthday month, so I think that may work out well.  In a health care crisis like this, we simply have to roll with the punches, look out for each other, and understand this won’t be forever.  Hard to do when you are out of a job, but the jobs will come back.  We will get through this.

  153. 153.

    Elizabelle

    @Quiltingfool:   All the best to you and your father.

    Sounds like your mom’s relatives may be displacing their grief and anxiety onto their comments about the funeral.  In time, they will understand your wisdom there.

  156. 156.

    WaterGirl

    @Elizabelle: People with pets, be careful with goldfish crackers. They have onion power in them (or on them) which is very dangerous for cats.  Not great for dogs, but not as awful as for cats.

    My kitty soulmate LOVED goldfish crackers – he would stick his face in my bowl and eat them.  He was diagnosed with kidney failure, and I lost him.

  157. 157.

    WaterGirl

    @raven: For real?  I thought that was an urban legend.  It was a story that got told as having happened to a Dell tech support person who got a call from someone whose “cup holder” had broken.

  158. 158.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @WaterGirl: Raven is actually the originator of many things that one thinks of as urban legends.  The “I knew a guy who knew a guy who” person?  That guy is actually raven.

  160. 160.

    StringOnAStick

    I’m a dental hygienist, or at least I was until I got in a screaming fight with my boss Monday that we should close down to emergencies only.  He wanted to stay open based on what his doctor buddy in FL said, which was “it’s too late, everyone has it, it won’t make any difference but we have to save the economy”.  6 hours later the state dental association said all dental offices should open to only treating emergencies.  Last month I brought up the question of if we should be asking our patients if they’d recently been in China, and was told I was over reacting.  We’ve closed for 3 weeks, and I am sure it will be longer.  We had a couple come in 2 weeks ago who after their cleaning went on about how hard it was to get out of northern Italy 3 days prior. Yes, they added that Fox told them this was all overblown.

    Yesterday the state closed all nonessential services like hair salons, massage, etc and told all offices that have gloves, masks, etc to inventory it and provide that information to the state by Monday; I think the “be prepared to donate it” was implied.

    And, I think I might have it, and I’m sure I was exposed at work because the ultrasonic instrument we use create a 6′ cloud of contaminated aerosols and our masks are just simple surgical masks that don’t work against such small particles.  I’m monitoring myself and no fever yet but I feel exceptionally weird currently.  If you have a cleaning appointment coming up, you might want to reconsider.  Reconsidering if I even want to do this sort of now dangerous work since I’m 10 months from retirement.

  161. 161.

    mad citizen

    @mali muso: I’m reading a dying thread, but wanted to say thanks for posting this one.  It is an excellent summation of the shitshow.  I tweeted a link of it to my R Senators, Rep, and one who wants to be my rep and is mailing me crap with the “support Trump’s America First” policy on it.  I don’t get it at all.  Why is anyone in thrall to this idiot narcissist?

  162. 162.

    WaterGirl

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Raven is actually the originator of many things that one thinks of as urban legends.  The “I knew a guy who knew a guy who” person?  That guy is actually raven.

    That’s great.  I laughed and laughed.

  164. 164.

    WaterGirl

    @StringOnAStick: Yikes. To all of that.

    That’s why we need these shutdowns, to save people who know better from having to choose between their lives and their livelihood.

    Glad you are at home now, and if you have it, I hope it’s a mild case.  Take care.  Do you have someone with you or do you live alone?

  165. 165.

    StringOnAStick

    @WaterGirl: I have a husband.  Unfortunately he has CLL but is very, very early in that disease so he probably isn’t immunocompromised (yet).  I’ve got neighbors and friends close by as well but I don’t mind saying that while I am not someone who panics, I’m a bit freaked out but holding it together.  Everybody hates Cassandra though, and here I am in that position.

     

    I am handy with a sewing machine so I’m going to gather up some energy and make some masks; too bad I gave away most of my scraps but I’ve got some useful materials.

  167. 167.

    Jay Noble

    @raven: Thanks for the reminder! I’m pretty sure I have Apple pay but have never used it. Went shopping yesterday and except for using the chip card reader at checkout, I never took off my winter gloves (blizzard on 1st day of spring in Nebraska is fairly normal). Both terminals took apple pay. I’m still getting over the amazement of Safeway’s digital coupons!

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