Social Isolation/distancing

[LizStreithorst]

What are the folks in everyone's country doing about this virus thing? What about people in different areas of the States? What about you yourself. I'll start.

I know that we've had 2 reported cases in my county. I noticed when I had to go to Hattiesburg this morning that there wasn't much traffic and the stores that I had to go to were empty of customers.

As far as what I do, I don't have much contact with people other than a few friends, and we talk out of doors or on the phone. I like people mostly, but I've always loved a solitary life. That's lucky right now because I'm an old person. I don't bathe or wash my hands any more often. I'll go to my little supermarket in my little bitty town tomorrow. It's in a county with no reported cases. I don't need toilet paper. It will be interesting to see if it's been sold out. I hope people there aren't going crazy and buying out everything in the store.

[seanyuki]

Stay safe and be healthy Mama Bear.

[RogueDiscus]

I'm in a medium-small city in Oregon. Store have been running out of dry goods/staples, definitely toilet paper. Lines at Costco, but manageable. They're rationing some things. We had a violent episode at a Walmart, someone pulled a gun over baby diapers. Aarg. I have family in several areas of southern California. It's been getting bad for two weeks. Nothing in stores, lines around the block at Costco. Sounds worse there.
We're doing OK. Not many (1?) cases in our community, but everyone's getting ready. It's all in our heads right now. Very weird.
Steve

[danotaylor]

I am Australian but live in Cincinnati. I just returned Tuesday last week from an 8 day trip to see my parents in Australia. I work as an RN in a Cardiac ICU...
Where to start...really...
There has been a lot of panic buying at the grocery stores here, loads of empty shelves. I went to the store on late Sunday night and got some fruit & veg as some of the shelves were being restocked. I bought a few other bits and pieces like my favorite ice cream. I brought Aussie candy back with me so all good there My sons and I harvested 3 deer this past season so we have plenty of meat in the freezer. I don't need toilet paper either...the shower is right beside the toilet for bum washing
Work had me go through screening questions regarding my travel to Australia. I am free to work but have to self monitor temp x 2 daily and report any new onset of resp symptoms and self isolate at home under those circumstances. We have had 0 positive test results on our patient population this far, and we have a pre-screening tent set up in the ED car park. Our hospital protocols are being updated daily, so hopefully as things develop we will be able to service our community and keep our staff and their families safe.
My parents live on a coastal island with only 900 in the town they're in. No cases reported there. We spent the 8 days I was there at the beach in the sun & salt air. It was ruff, lol. It has gone past the 14 days for my travel TO Australia, so I am happy I didn't carry anything with me, though I took precautions to protect myself as I travelled.
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The kiddos are home for 3 weeks for now, but my wife is an exceptionally creative teacher and we homeschooled for years so we're all good there.
I reckon if everyone just calms down a bit, stays smart, and adheres to the wise boundaries our leaders are proposing that this too will pass, just as SARS & H1N1 did...I'm not saying people should be overly casual, and especially not ridiculously foolish like the new Corona challenge that sprung up on social media...just stay calm, protect yourself, think of others, and wait it out...

[pastry]

My family members in VA (Williamsburg and Hampton Roads) say it's bad. Here in Charleston SC we just shut down. I know the cases aren't accurately tracked because here they required a family we know to provide documentation of recent guests who have confirmed virus prior to authorizing tests. The screens are not the same thing. They've made it difficult. Also lag time has been disgusting to me because we knew of first 2 positive tests through CDC acquaintance who told us 48 hours in advance before they were announced publicly.

That said, as a nation, I think it's the right call the way it's responded. I can only imagine how much faster it would have spread by now. We're only at the beginning but I agree to be overly cautious since it'd significantly affect older population (and not just the extremely old... but ages now a day that are still decades away from deaths door). Of course, my opinion and interpretation... take with grain of salt.

[dspeers]

When people cram together in order to hoard TP and water I have to shake my head and wonder. All of the recent policies to date are to drastically reduce the velocity of exposure given that there is no natural immunity in the community. Korea and (China if you believe their numbers) have shown what draconian measures can accomplish. Italy and Iran have shown what ignoring these measures can lead to. In the last college basketball game they allowed 200 fans of both teams into the arena, and the game was stopped at half time. Sadly a picture of the game in progress showed a bunch of the fans sitting together side by side. What we know: 6 feet distance is required separation to avoid inhalation exposure of aerosol by cough/sneeze. Aerosols can persist for up to a couple of hours so even distancing isn't perfect, so go out only when you need to. Lots of sneezing is probably not COVID 19, tends to skip the nose. You can shed virus prior to any symptoms but the levels are low and the risk to others is less but not zero. You can shed virus up to 40 days even if symptoms resolved weeks prior, that's a problem and no one should be released from quarantine till testing is negative. The virus can survive for up to 3 days on some surfaces, therefore your hands are the enemy, use soap or sanitizer liberally and frequently, and play a game where anyone who touches his face has to contribute to the "cuss jar". Masks work by reducing infectious aerosol but only when used by sick people, unfortunately there are no masks available, except all the boxes sitting with unused toilet paper in peoples' garages. We will win fairly soon with either a vaccine or antiviral Rx, but that is months to a year out. If we follow current rules the # of cases will start falling off drastically in 2-3 weeks. If we do not, we will be having to triage who of our most vulnerable population gets ventilators and lives and who does not. Lets hope we can get there without too much more damage.

[14Discus]

Here in north central IL, things are like elsewhere. No school, restaurants, bars, parks, etc. I live out in the country and do lots by myself. Can call friends, do lots of fish stuff, play w the dog, soon will be putting out the basement koi, install the pole building storm door and yard stuff. While not panicking, I do hope people take this seriously. If I go out, it will be to go fishing, insect collecting, or whatever, but I’ll be alone and not taking risks. It’s a pain, but I’ll try to make the best of it and hopefully our country will learn from this and be better prepared next time.......and there will be a next time. Interestingly.....I’ve always bought to stock up while my wife is a spur of the moment buyer. Luckily, we have all we need wo joining the crowds bc I’ve been doing most of the shopping since she is still working while I’m retired.

[Johnny95132]

I live in the Bay Area, and the measures put in place by the State have felt extreme. First all schools in the county were closed- and aren't expected to open until next fall, and now all citizens have been ordered to stay at home to practice social isolation. That means no going to work unless you work in a "necessary" industry- food, delivery, public health... With around 7 million people ordered to stay at home, the difference here has been night and day. There's been no cars on the street when we usually have the nation's worst gridlock alongside LA and NYC. And you can definitely feel the hysteria in the air with people lining up in hordes to buy groceries. Everything you've seen in the news, with the toilet paper hoarding, empty shelves, have been in full display here the past few days. When you see the people packed in the stores it feels like a breeding ground for the virus. That being said, I think the measures did more harm than good. It instilled a sense of fear into the populace and drove people to extreme measures of buying. I hope other states will learn from the Bay Area in finding a way to impose a mandate without spreading panic when the time comes.
I believe the impact on the local economy will be far greater than the health of the populace. People that were living paycheck to paycheck now are suspended from their jobs without pay. Now folks are stuck at home staring at one another...
I know this post feels doom and gloom, but maybe it's due to the fact I've been cooped up at home to long.

[dspeers]

"Drove people to extreme buying" I hear you but how do we stop it. Some of it to my mind is due to the hypercritical nature of the the news coverage, and some extremely nasty and deceptive political bickering on both sides. Leaving the schools, restaurants, theaters, etc. open would have resulted in a massive # of patients. Even at a conservative 10-15% that is ~ 1 million victims. Severe illness of 3 % requires 30,000 ICU beds, most of which would require ventilators. Even if you save 50% which to date we have not, that's 15,000 dead. Some folks panic, some don't. Not sure how anyone can control that reaction. Just FYI, the entire ventilator inventory for the US is ~70,000, that includes current hospital inventory and reserve stockpiles. Before you get too into the blame game, the US probably has the most per capita in the world. Also just as a FYI the US had cases basically starting the same time as Korea, Iran, Italy, Germany, Spain and France, all mid Feb. https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ Statements that we are weeks behind them and the worst is coming are just not true. It will get worse here for two reasons, we need to test ALOT more and inevitably will find more cases when we do, and the response to even the most effective preventive measures always lags by the incubation time, in this case 4 to 14 days. If we follow the rules new cases should be rapidly dropping in about 12 days.

[danotaylor]

+1 with your view of the truth Don. The public needs to have information in a pandemic situation. To withhold that vital info is suicide. The govt can't control peoples reaction to information they need to survive...

[bluelagoon]

I'm from Halifax Canada and we have a few cases here in this small city. All canned food is off the shelves, no bread, eggs and milk left. One thing for sure it brings out the crowds to mingle, to give it a better foothold. I received an email yesterday to come back to work; the government is asking retirees to return to nursing. Nothing like putting older people into more danger, I thought. I wrote back and told them that I would not be interested and said why. Right now we can't handle the health care system as is without the thousands of folks that will be getting ill. The Canada US boarder just closed for travelers as I write. The way it looks we might be in this til the end of June. We do need a total shut down to stop it or we can just keep prolonging it, like we've been doing.

[Shan_Evolved]

My family members in VA (Williamsburg and Hampton Roads) say it's bad.

.

I live in the Hampton Roads area and I can confirm its pretty crazy. What's the craziest part as everyone else have said is that people don't fully understand the COVID 19 nor what to do in situations like these. With as much as information available at your fingertips nowadays, it's embarrassing as a species.

People wearing the wrong masks. Overcrowding in grocery stores. Not washing their hands after touching millions of things touched by other people like shopping carts, door handles, and public restroom utilities. It's pretty baffling that the general population is so lost. May sound super harsh but perhaps this planet needs a COVID 19 to to stimulate some good ol fashioned Darwinism.

Anyways, I feel bad for all the people not allowed to work but still having to pay bills. What kind of bullcrap is that

[danotaylor]

It does sound super harsh Shan, and a little like what a communist Chinese official would say and think...let all the weak and elderly die off so the rest of the world can benefit...
Maybe you don't realize this mate but many of our faithful SD members who share there knowledge freely are older citizens, and some of us have elderly parents & other loved ones in the ultra vulnerable category...so yea, a pretty tasteless & heartless comment to be sure!

[Shan_Evolved]

**** man I didn't mean to make the elderly population, especially the kindest people here feel that way - apologies everyone.

My harsh remark was just directed at the annoying crowds of stupid people at my local grocery store. Most of which are younger people or middle aged at best

[danotaylor]

Apology accepted Shan. We all just need to think a little longer about how what we post publicly on social media communicates to others.