Coronavirus

[Lady Vulpix]

That's great news! Here in Argentina, we're waiting for Monday, when we will finally learn how things will proceed.

[Mr.E]

On the one hand, there's a little bit of schadenfreude to be had watching normal people squirm over a couple months experiencing what I've been experiencing 15+ years at this point. On the other hand, losing even the tiniest shreds of social interaction I've recently started to scrap together is a much bigger loss to me than people who still have friends and lovers and family to consort with indirectly.

[Lady Vulpix]

Mr. E, you've been shut in for over 15 years? Why didn't you ever mention it? Once this is over, I hope you can get out and see the world - or a part of it, at least - and are able to hang out with people.

Today I'm going to talk about the latest trend in misinformation: face masks. Lots of people want them because they make them feel safer - someone even started a petition to make it compulsory to wear face masks while outdoors - and one thing all those people have in common is that they have no idea about what is or isn't safe.

Examples:

• One door-to-door salesman was selling face masks made of fabric, which he picked from a bag with his bare hands. They had no wrapping, and I saw someone buy 20.
• A neighbor from around the block was wearing a face mask. When she saw me and my dog, she slid it off with her hand to talk to us and then put it back on.
• A greengrocer wore a face mask on his mouth while unloading his products from a van. Yes, on his mouth. His nose was uncovered.

And those are just things I saw while taking my dog out to fulfill her canine needs. I can't imagine what else may be going on that I don't get to see.

[ChobiChibi]

Hello friends

I am currently not having to do many lock down procedures, but this is because I work for the NHS, so I am a busy bee.

I work in outpatients though, and not qualified enough to be needed elsewhere, so I am not going to end up on the Coronavirus wards, just doing lots of admin. I miss my patients

My husband went back to work today after a long time of absence, he said it felt post apocalyptic.

I keep seeing people out and about that should probably just be at home. And my neighbours keeps inviting people to their house. My friends/colleagues that ARE treating Covid patients could get the virus cos of stupid people like that. So they need to do one. Yet they all came out and clapped for the NHS...

[Lady Vulpix]

Good luck with your work, Becki! And with staying safe in the meantime.

The subject I teach had its first online lecture today. It went quite well! I only assisted the professor today, but it was an interesting experience, and fortunately the students who attended were quite active. All 59 of them.

And now our government has decided that we all have to use some king of mask to cover our mouths when we're outside. I still see people without them, and even people who stand on the sidewalk chatting together like everything's normal. I hope that doesn't make things worse. Me? I'm following the rules by using an upside down blindfold over my mouth and nose (rather than eyes and nose). I checked the government's website and it fulfills all the requirements, with the added bonus of looking utterly ridiculous.

[Magmar]

Gabi, that made me laugh out loud! I've been wearing a bandana when running errands - masks have been sold out since the Apocalypse began - though I run in an empty space and don't even see people while exercising, so I bring a bandana anyway but rarely need it.

Becki - I hope you stay safe and well You are so awesome!

I'm frustrated by all these people continuing to have social events. It's day 32 of isolation for me and I'm going crazy. Yesterday I had all this pent up energy and wound up going a bit mental, and cleaned the surfaces and floors of the apartment with gusto. When my next door neighbor has a bunch of people hanging out on her porch, I feel so jealous. Yet it's because of selfish people like her that the pandemic continues.

[Lady Vulpix]

It is. Is it legal to do that where you live?

[Magmar]

Hey Gabi! Any gatherings of 10 or more individuals are banned here. That hasn't stopped people from having gatherings of, say, 5-6 folks.

[Lady Vulpix]

Oh. Here, all social gatherings are banned. I'd love to be able to have a family dinner with my mother and brother like we used to, or visit my father and get to know his new dogs. Or even get some help cleaning my apartment. I hope I don't have to wait until spring* for all of that to happen.

But for now, we don't have much of a choice, since my country doesn't have enough resources for treating thousands of patients simultaneously, nor for mass testing... Or even for providing masks for everyone, which is why we've been told to make our own.

*Late September, for those not familiar with seasons in the Southern Hemisphere.

[Knight of Time]

My home province now has 26 positive cases of coronavirus.

But that's not all, my little island also has declared a state of emergency; meaning nobody can leave or enter the island unless it's for essential travel.

[Drusilla]

Illinois has now had 27,575 positive cases. My county is at 237 cases. I'm still working solo with little interaction with people and I'm surprised I haven't run for the hills screaming just yet. I've been doing Zoom calls, which helps a little.

I'm also thinking about my upcoming RPG, for those interested. Should keep me occupied for a bit.

[firepokemon]

Tomorrow we hear if we'll have less restrictions. Currently at Level 4 which is pretty much essential workers only. Online stores allowed open for essential goods and grocery stores/pharmacies open. Level 3 means all online shopping allowed and drive thrus are open and pizza deliveries would be allowed. Shops would stay closed. I've been working for the last two weeks since our company moves some essential goods. Prior to that, the company was paying 80% and I was topping up to 100% by using annual leave.

New Zealand is doing better than basically every other country. 1431 total confirmed and probable cases. 12 deaths (7 in my city). Today we had just 9 new or probable cases. On track to basically eliminate coronavirus. I can't see a lot of other countries doing that at the moment.

[shazza]

Australia seems to be flattening the curve, however doesn't seem like it is on track to eliminate it entirely. Compared to a lot of other countries, we're very fortunate.

[Drago]

Such is the benefit of low population density, general isolation from the rest of the world, and from what I have noted (considering I am not a political person at all), pretty slick response from the government

[Lady Vulpix]

Argentina's been flattening the curve too, but we still have two problems:
1. Idiots who ignore the restrictions; now no one's allowed into a supermarket without a mask, but some people will still hang out on the sidewalk as long as there's no police officer around to stop them. And too many people wear masks on their chins. O.o
2. Lack of resources. A recently published study revealed that 14% of the covid-19 patients are health professionals who were treating other such patients. That's because there isn't enough supply of protective gear. And there aren't enough reactives for tests either. Which makes me fear that, even when a vaccine finally comes out, it'll take a long time to reach us, because the producers will have their hands full providing for rich countries.

We've been on lockdown for over a month now, and we've still surpassed 3,000 confirmed cases. (3,031 as of today.)

Something that bothers me is that people are so... on edge, I guess... that if I pass by someone on the street and say "hello", even while wearing my mask, and even though I don't stop walking, they either ignore me or glare at me as if I'd done something horrible.

At least now I have a written note from the vet saying my dog is under treatment and needs excercise for health reasons, so if a police officer stops me while walking her around the block, I can show them the note.

[ChobiChibi]

Hello friends again

Thank you Gabi and Barry for your well wishes. I am still safe and well! In the south west, we haven’t been affected so badly by COVID, so it’s still very quiet in the hospital. National figures still continue to rise, although is slowing, but my dickhead neighbours are still inviting people over at weekends.

All of my colleagues are also safe and well, so all is good.

Life is pretty normal for me I guess. Enjoying the many perks of working for the NHS, such as 10gb free data on my phone a month, free parking and being able to skip to the front of any supermarket queue. I don’t wear a mask out, just keep observing the 2 meters and constantly washing my hands. Hands are so dry.

[Lady Vulpix]

Hand moisturizing cream is useful at times like these.

I'm tired of seeing people wear masks on or under their chins. What's the point?

Anyway, small towns and cities with under 500,000 inhabitants and no covid-19 cases are already returning to their normal activities, but I think it'll be a long time before big cities like mine can do the same. Back in March, I got worried when my dad said he'd see me before summer (late December). Now I'm not entirely sure that will be possible.

[Austrian ViceMaster Alex]

Our general lock down ended today. Still some restrictions but things are mostly back to normal with the exception of keeping distance outside and wearing face masks. Restaurants are planned to open again in two weeks as well.

I suppose there will be an increase in cases again but hopefully it'll remain relatively low.

[Lady Vulpix]

You have 15,558 confirmed cases already. I hope ending the lockdown won't make things far worse. Right now we have 4532 confirmed cases and no clear plans to life the lockdown in sight. Our next checkpoint is on the 10th. We've been on lockdown since the 20th of March. So far we've had checkpoints on the 31st of March, 13th of April and 26th of April, and every time all the President did was tweak the restrictions a bit and set a new checkpoint. Some restrictions became lighter and others harsher. We'll see how it goes next time.

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

I don't even know much about the current circumstances, I've been avoiding the news because I'm one of those who get worried too easily. I know that the southern part of my country was closed for a while, and some schools had the education in distance. I should know more tomorrow or the day after it.

[Magmar]

Glad to hear from all y'all!

My state is one of the less-affected of the US, which has its blessings in a way. But it also means people don't take it as seriously. Our governor is reopening Missouri tomorrow, and I believe all counties in Missouri will reopen (with some new ways of doing business) by the 15th of May.

Well, every county except mine, that is. St. Louis County MO has been one of the worst affected in the region - about 2% of the population have tested positive for COVID-19. It's a bit weird but St. Louis City is an independent county and we have way less than half that in terms of rate. People in the county are those stubborn folks who will believe any conspiracy, but folks in the city tend to wear masks and such. Regardless, we're surrounded by a county teeming with COVID and Illinois on the other side, which is at this point a synonym for COVID.

What I have learned is that young, straight couples (no offense to young, straight people) do not obey social distancing. If I'm going for a run, older folks tend to yield, and wherever possible I do the yielding. Some younger folks though just walk in a wide horizontal line with their dog to their side, taking up more than the whole sidewalk and forcing everyone else to run out into traffic to get around them or stop exercising. I've cursed out a few of them--don't care--what are they gonna do, a 210 pound rugby player is running at them, so I'm just like "f-ing social distancing bro, get the f out of my way" and keep going. Getting sick of seeing grandmas out their in their masks asking politely and them getting stink eye from these jerks.

[Lady Vulpix]

While it is wrong for anyone to do that, I can imagine why most people who break social distancing are young: they are less vulnerable and have less experience, and those who aren't conscious enough won't even think of what consequences their negligence can have. We're talking about the same groupd of people who do all sorts of reckless things because they don't feel anything bad can happen to them. Of course, this is not all young people - fortunately - and some older people can be ignorant and reckless too, but older people tend to be more afraid of dying, so at least they're more careful in that respect. Personally, I don't want to have anyone's death on my conscience, so I'm as careful as I can be.

I'm really sad and worried about what's happening in the USA, not only because it puts the whole country at risk, but also because it's allowing the virus to branch into multiple strands, making it even harder to come up with a cure or a vaccine.

Here, the situation is much better because we've been on mandatory lockdown since late March. It is annoying, especially since the process of shopping for groceries can take me 4 hours now, and also because I miss human contact, I miss having someone to help me with my housework, I miss getting things from Chinatown, I miss swimming and I miss giving regular lectures at university rather than online ones, and it hurts me that Anthrocon had to be cancelled. But I'd much rather take all of that and be safe than end up like the US.

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

I should know more tomorrow or the day after it.

Still, our government is discussing on what I was referring to here. They just can't make up their mind! Well, looks like they have hard time deciding! Also, some schools are to re-open, a thing that both teachers and parents have been protesting. The Finnish summer holiday is just around the corner, so the main argument is that children learn nothing during a few weeks. Of course some schoolboys and girls are dying to see their friends and some families have trouble packing both adults and kids below one roof, especially because many Finns have tendency to drink alcohol at home. But, still.

[Austrian ViceMaster Alex]

You have 15,558 confirmed cases already. I hope ending the lockdown won't make things far worse.

While true we are down to 1,500 active cases, all others have recovered or passed away. We get barely 30 new cases every day so we should be good.

[Lady Vulpix]

Oh. I hope you can keep it that way. I wonder how you managed to keep it in check so well. We're still getting over 100 new cases everyday.

O_O 10,559 new cases in Russia yesterday!

[ChobiChibi]

Still getting 500+ cases every day, yet we’re apparently easing ourselves out of lockdown. Worst death rate in Europe, second highest death rate in the world, and the government just keep giving out shitty advice.

What a time to be British.

Most people I think are still following the whole stay at home mantra. Which is good, there are lots of places where it’s just not safe to work.

The hospital is still quiet though. 40 confirmed cases, 13 suspected was the last I heard. So the South West is still doing okay. I really fear for London though, the tube is packed, I wouldn’t be surprised if they spiked again. (Those who have met me know that I live a considerable distance from London, so I’m fairly safe).

[Lady Vulpix]

You're painting a really scary picture. We're up to about 300 confirmed cases a day this week, which is twice as much as we had last week. We're back in the top 50. I heard there was a big outbreak at Villa 31, the least uncomfortable shanty town in the city of Buenos Aires, and since it's located at one of the city's most crowded areas it started spreading rapidly.

Our public transportation is working at a slow pace and gets very few passengers (whenever I see a bus, it has only 3 to 5 passengers in it), and there are still many regulations about who can use it and how, but we're slowly coming out of the lockdown too. Many stores are reopening... even hairdresser's! And many streats have been changed to pedestrians-only so that people can keep their distance while they shop. I'm still not planning to shop for anything other than groceries, and medicines if I need them.

The good news is I heard there's a new treatment that's giving good results, so hopefully more patients will start recovering soon. Still, I fear the situation is going to get worse before it gets better.

[Drago]

Metropolitan Melbourne back in lockdown.

Thank god, I was sick of having to fucking deal with people.

[Knight of Time]

Well, we had been doing quite well here with all 27 people having recovered from coronavirus, but then this past weekend we had 3 new cases on Saturday, and another 2 new cases on Sunday. Even though none of these new cases have recovered yet, at least that none of them are related to the opening of the Atlantic bubble (which involves Canada's Maritime provinces). I'm just hoping this won't lead to a new surge of positive cases here, as we didn't have any positive cases for two months prior to these 5 new cases.

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

Today I learned there's one cause in Ylivieska. *shrugs* I guess it just had to happen one day.

[Katie]

I'm so fucking boooooooooooored. I'm tired of socializing via Zoom and Discord and Jackbox.

[Drago]

Have you considered drugs?

[Heald]

I decided to put a baby inside Mrs Heald. You know, just for fun.

[firepokemon]

I decided to put a baby inside Mrs Heald. You know, just for fun.

grats

[Knight of Time]

I decided to put a baby inside Mrs Heald. You know, just for fun.

You're gonna be a dad? Congratulations Heald, that's awesome news!

[Fett One]

I decided to put a baby inside Mrs Heald. You know, just for fun.

Congrats!!

[Drago]

that's the best news TPM has received in ages

[ChobiChibi]

I decided to put a baby inside Mrs Heald. You know, just for fun.

Congrats dude! Mr Becki put a baby in me also (sounds creepier this way around?! XD)

I am due in early March. I hope Mrs Heald is doing okay. I know I’m totally done with hormones and I’ve got so long to go.

[Drago]

that's the best news TPM has received in 5 days

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

Congratulations everyone.