How's the corona virus situation in your area?

[Deledrius]

For you history fans: A Brief History of Toilet Paper

[Karkadann]

West Coast
Never seen any thing like it. Panic causing unnecessary impulse buying, store shelves empty. People are pretty calm still or so it seems.
and the only social gatherings with more then ten people allowed are in multiplayer video games.

Who would have thought Myst Online and games like it could help prevent world wide cabin fever.
So um..................Thanks for the help guys from every one who might need it.........

[diafero]

I'm in Germany. Working from home for the last week, which also means I have to (finally?) learn how to cook well enough to actually eat my own stuff every day , as university mensa where I usually eat is entirely shut down. Throughout the last week, despite more and more restrictions and public announcements, many people still didn't "get it" and just kept gathering on the riverside and other places after clubs and then bars closed -- but now since Friday, with the latest level of restrictions (no more groups of more than 5 people allowed, and there's basically a whitelist of things I am allowed to leave the house for), finally people seem to take it serious. I never saw trains or the city center here so empty. That's good, I hope this means there don't have to be even further restrictions (like shortening that whitelist).

I'm spending most evenings meeting online with friends, and we also have virtual lunches together. So, yeah, could be much worse. I'm also still allowed to leave the house for doing sports alone; I'm happy that's still on the whitelist (doesn't seem to be like that on other places, but then my brother tells me that in Austria people do it anyway^^).

Can confirm, most people are getting paranoid. We're all fed up of hearing about it, yet we keep talking about it. I'm under the impression lots of people fail to realize the flu and car crashes both kill waaaayyy more people each year, and it's also not a big threat if you're in good health. With that said, being cautious is good - it's still quite dangerous to elder people, and the hospitals are having a very bad time currently (French hospitals are always understaffed anyway).

I am not at all worried for myself -- but at the same time, this sentiment leads to many people not taking this serious enough, which means the virus doesn't slow down in its spread, which means our healthcare system will be overloaded because too many people get sick at the same time. Also looking at the numbers, at least in Italy it has surpassed yearly car deaths and probably also average yearly flu deaths after just a few weeks of the pandemic, so I don't think your statement holds up.

I wouldn't want to live in the USA right now.

Oh yes. I planned to move there later this year (temporarily, for a post-doc), and I am very happy right now that this did not happen yet.
All the best to our American friends here, stay healthy!

[Tsar Hoikas]

I wouldn't want to live in the USA right now.

Oh yes. I planned to move there later this year (temporarily, for a post-doc), and I am very happy right now that this did not happen yet.
All the best to our American friends here, stay healthy!

Maybe by then we will be rid of the Cheeto.

[Sirius]

I am not at all worried for myself -- but at the same time, this sentiment leads to many people not taking this serious enough, which means the virus doesn't slow down in its spread, which means our healthcare system will be overloaded because too many people get sick at the same time. Also looking at the numbers, at least in Italy it has surpassed yearly car deaths and probably also average yearly flu deaths after just a few weeks of the pandemic, so I don't think your statement holds up.

I admit, the current situation is quite different. That thing spreads fast.
Keep in mind that a week or so before I wrote that, there were only four confirmed deaths in France, and both the news and people were going batshit crazy all day long because of that.
Now the situation is different of course.

Like I said, the news were really dramatic about the virus way before it became a real concern here. This lead to people either freaking out for nothing, or being fed up and thus taking things too lightly - and unfortunately, people rarely change their opinion about things.
Our yearly death toll for the "normal" flu is still an order of magnitude above covid death toll though - let's hope it stays that way.

It's really a bother for people working in hospitals and the like. I know a few people who do, and it's really difficult for them.
Staying at home with little physical exercise, little social interaction and not much to do is boring of course, but it could be much worse, especially since we are people who regularly use the Internet !

which also means I have to (finally?) learn how to cook well enough to actually eat my own stuff every day

I'm not a great cook, and cooking twice a day is a bother. But I sure do enjoy having more time for cooking more complex stuff at least

We don't use bidet in North America. In your local hardware depot, you can find the necessary material to make one. We don't even need an extra furniture in our bathrooms, it is self-contained within the toilet seat. I think it is only a cultural thing, I wouldn't like to receive water up there, so we stick with TP!

As a TP user, I get it, but I'd rather still lack TP than actual food !
Worldwide TP shortage, hehe... this is silly as far as crisis go

[Deledrius]

Like I said, the news were really dramatic about the virus way before it became a real concern here.

Unfortunately, if you wait until it's a real concern, it's too late.


"Everything we do before a pandemic will seem alarmist. Everything we do after will seem inadequate." -- Michael Leavitt

[Korovev]

Don’t forget, an unknown percentage of the population can be asymptomatic carriers.

[Aloys]

I now know two people who are infected and hospitalized.. This thing is getting scary.

[Sirius]

I'm sorry to hear this. I do hope they and as many people as possible will recover and make it through, of course...

What weirds me out the most, is staying at home doing nothing with a calm and sunny outside, while the news report are bad. Feels like hearing thunder and pouring rain on a cloudless day

Possibly more bad news Show Spoiler

I'm curious to know how accurate is the number of cases China reported. People are starting to say it's [i]heavily[/i] biased. Obviously there are many false rumors spread around these days, but looking at the actual numbers, that sounds unfortunately quite possible. In this case... this is insanely criminal misinformation about how threatening the virus is.
But then like I said, there have been so many rumors floating around that it's hard to keep track of what is actual facts. For now let's just focus very hard on doing as little as possible :roll:

Let's just sit tight, keep calm and wait... Put some music on, and eat chocolate since Easter is around the corner. Chocolate is good.

[diafero]

Let's just sit tight, keep calm and wait... Put some music on, and eat chocolate since Easter is around the corner. Chocolate is good.

And don't forget, meeting your friends in safe virtual environments -- such as your favorite Uru Shard.