Coronavirus / COVID-19

[Mandella]

 Went to the supermarket for some ice cream last night at 9:30pm and people were lined up and down the aisles with carts overflowing waiting to check out.

I did my regular grocery shopping Tuesday, everything pretty normal. Tried to "run in" since I realized that I had forgotten to pick up some rawhide chews for the dogs last night and found the apocalypse. Toilet paper aisle stripped bare, folks queued up in lines that were going to take an hour to get to a register.

Yeah I put the chews back and left. Sorry doggies.

[Fabricated]

I went to the store today and it was pretty normal outside of a lot of bottled water being purchased and hand sanitizer/wipes/toilet paper being mostly sold out. They had sold a fair amount of pasta and some other common bunker-type sundries but there was still plenty of most stuff in.

Parking lot wasn't super full at the one I went to, people were pretty orderly, checkout lines were running pretty well. This was at a bit after lunch though. So I dunno what it'll look like after work lets out or the weekend hits.

[RhyssaFireheart]

Employer keeps faffing about trying to decide if people will be told to work from home or not.  The rumour mill's been working and per my manager, I'm supposed to plan for an extended WFH situation when I leave tonight.  So take everything I need with me when I head out, except that nothing is official yet and nothing's been communicated to people yet.  And I work for Big Pharma, too.  Yay. 

[Hammond]

So we are trying to get stuff in order for a portion of people WFH. Unfortunately we are a manufacturer so we have to have people onsite to actually do work. We have a plan in place for who can work from home but the list is roughly 1/3 of our employee count. In our factory people are pretty spread out with only a few people per building. They are trying to make sure we get stuff shipped out as quickly as possible to make sure our customers have what they need in case we have to limit production. So far we haven't had any outbreaks in our area although our hospital has a few confirmed patients from other more rural areas



 

[MahrinSkel]

So we are trying to get stuff in order for a portion of people WFH. Unfortunately we are a manufacturer so we have to have people onsite to actually do work. We have a plan in place for who can work from home but the list is roughly 1/3 of our employee count. In our factory people are pretty spread out with only a few people per building. They are trying to make sure we get stuff shipped out as quickly as possible to make sure our customers have what they need in case we have to limit production. So far we haven't had any outbreaks in our area although our hospital has a few confirmed patients from other more rural areas
 

Might want to create some "Best Practices" training about social distancing (no handshakes/high fives, don't sit close together in break rooms/meetings, etc.).

Maybe amiable can provide some links or advice?

--Dave

[schild]

i have NO idea why people are buying water

[Brolan]

Because a tornado, hurricane, or flooding might occur?

[Hawkbit]

Folks are panicky in Seattle. Shelves were mostly bare in West Seattle: Trader Joes couldn't keep up and QFC said they were getting truckloads of goods overnight that never made it past 10am. No TP! :) But seriously - its a weird vibe. Nine meals from anarchy.

[Mandella]

I went to the store today and it was pretty normal outside of a lot of bottled water being purchased and hand sanitizer/wipes/toilet paper being mostly sold out. They had sold a fair amount of pasta and some other common bunker-type sundries but there was still plenty of most stuff in.

Parking lot wasn't super full at the one I went to, people were pretty orderly, checkout lines were running pretty well. This was at a bit after lunch though. So I dunno what it'll look like after work lets out or the weekend hits.

What a difference a day makes. I dropping back into my local Kroger tonight to have another try at the dog chews, and that was the way I found it too. Interesting to wander the aisles and check out what people were stocking up on. It wasn't all junk, but folks are planning on making a load of spaghetti in the next week or so.

I also happened to be walking down the sanitizer aisle while the stockguy was stocking it, and was handed two bottles right from the box.

[Sky]

Boss actually said that if we close the library to the public, it would be a great opportunity to do staff development.

If we close, staff will likely still have to report to work as normal.

Welcome to my world, working for a martyr. And I say this as one of the prime koolaid drinkers when it comes to the mission of the library.

[Khaldun]

My wife's cousin in New York state (not far from New Rochelle, where the quarantine has been) who manages a supermarket said they did more business yesterday and today than they have ever done before. The store is basically empty of almost anything. She said folks were buying Twinkies, Mr. Clean, charcoal, Cheeze Whiz, just about anything you could buy.

[schild]

people are buying sesame rolls at costco and those are inedible trash

[lamaros]

My wife's cousin in New York state (not far from New Rochelle, where the quarantine has been) who manages a supermarket said they did more business yesterday and today than they have ever done before. The store is basically empty of almost anything. She said folks were buying Twinkies, Mr. Clean, charcoal, Cheeze Whiz, just about anything you could buy.

This is before manufacturers start getting sick workers and have to shut down production.

[Sky]

So yeah, after most libraries closed in the state, the federal, state, county, and local governments all declare a state of emergency, and NYLA recommends all libraries close....our director finally closed the library.

But we have to report for work on Monday...

[HaemishM]

My department just became the first state agency to go to skeleton crew/essential operations only, with no timetable on going back to full time mentioned, all because my director asked for the authority and was told she had the authority. That's fucking leadership. Of course, I'm part of IT so am considered essential, but that means I get to work from home all but 1 day a week. We'll only have 1 IT person in the office per day and other essential operations departments will only have 1-2 people in the office at any one time. All public facing operations are closed, all events canceled.

I'm hoping it won't get much worse here (we have 4 confirmed cases in the state, which will likely turn into at least 100+ by the end of the week).

[01101010]

Has to run to Autozone a few streets over to grab an oil filter for the car and had Spotify playing. Ads broke in and I got my first taste of one that is using the outbreak to push gear, this one was about laptops and how to best work from home - all while they had sniffing and sneezing and coughing soundbytes firing off in the background. 

[Jeff Kelly]

What’s it with humans and toilet paper?

I’ve been shopping today and you still can buy nearly everything in abundance. Well except soap, disinfectant of any kind, canned tomatoes, milk and toilet paper.

Are they building nests? Is this some weird tomato and TP based fetish? A new drug that’s made of alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, cellulose and tomatoes? Aliens?

The amount of TP people bought could pay for a Japanese butt cleaning toilet or a bidet and you’d probably still have money left.

[schild]

A good Japanese butt cleaning toilet starts at $3500. So, no? Your ass doesn't stay clean while you're saving up for a toilet.

[01101010]

A good Japanese butt cleaning toilet starts at $3500. So, no? Your ass doesn't stay clean while you're saving up for a toilet.

Just need a good quart squirt bottle and a few washcloths. $5 and reduces your waste!

[Jeff Kelly]

A good Japanese butt cleaning toilet starts at $3500. So, no? Your ass doesn't stay clean while you're saving up for a toilet.

They have dropped to sub 1000 over here and nearly every manufacturer of toilet ceramics offers multiple different series of them

[Trippy]

You can also get kits that attach to existing toilets.

[Tale]

Holy shit. From my parents who are visiting a town a few hours north. Identifying details removed. I last saw them on Saturday.

We are fine. Unfortunately we have been in contact with someone with Corona virus on Monday morning at [activity] and were not advised until 30 minutes ago. The others in the group just heard today too. [Name] let the health authorities know and I now have the email.  Isolation until [date] March. We are not sure whether to go home or not. I would like to. Anyway no signs of it yet, but we have been in contact with lots of people at the supermarket and [name] and [name] and more!

Their doctor has summoned them home and will swab them in his car park.

Update: they're getting swab results tomorrow (Monday Aussie time). They're still not sick, but one person who was in their group has got sick so it' s pretty close thing. Delivered groceries to their doorstep yesterday and waved through the window. Actually happy to see them going through this now, as they'll definitely get treatment if it happens, and they're protected from the virusy world [unless I turn out to be sick and gave it to them via the groceries].

[Hawkbit]

Wife had been fighting allergies from our pets over the last few years, so the allergist said we have to wash the dog and (last of three) cat EVERY WEEK. We bought this:

https://www.amazon.com/Waterpik-PPR-252-Shower-Attachment-Bathing/dp/B01N4LM3SV

It doubles as a taint washer really well! Five stars, no complaints.

[BobtheSomething]

Those pants tho

They hide her hooves.

[schild]

You can also get kits that attach to existing toilets.

this is a little ghetto

A good Japanese butt cleaning toilet starts at $3500. So, no? Your ass doesn't stay clean while you're saving up for a toilet.

They have dropped to sub 1000 over here and nearly every manufacturer of toilet ceramics offers multiple different series of them

Toto Washlet+ Wall-Hung or death. They start at like $2100.

[MahrinSkel]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/14/anti-inflammatory-drugs-may-aggravate-coronavirus-infection

tldr: Don't take anything for the fever, if you must take something for body aches/headache, take Tylenol. Better plan: Suffer, neither one is going to kill you, and it appears to contribute to it progressing to pneumonia in younger patients. Also multiple similar reports out of Italy and Switzerland.

--Dave

[Jeff Kelly]

This is a hoax. There’s no evidence that ibuprofen makes the sickness worse. The info has been shared all over the web and claims that it’s from the university of Vienna but they already said it’s fake news and they never issued such a claim.

[Cyrrex]

i have NO idea why people are buying water

It’s like having a portable bidet when the TP runs out, duh.

[Jeff Kelly]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/14/anti-inflammatory-drugs-may-aggravate-coronavirus-infection

tldr: Don't take anything for the fever, if you must take something for body aches/headache, take Tylenol. Better plan: Suffer, neither one is going to kill you, and it appears to contribute to it progressing to pneumonia in younger patients. Also multiple similar reports out of Italy and Switzerland.

--Dave

I unfortunately only have German language sources like the German equivalent of snopes: https://www.mimikama.at/allgemein/coronavirus-falschmeldung-ibuprofen-verschlimmert-covid-19/

This news stems from a popular WhatsApp hoax which claims that the "University of Vienna" has found that anti-inflammatories like Ibuprofen or Cortisone can make Covid19 have a worse outcome.

The university has since debunked this as fake news.

There is currently a hypothesis that angiovascular medication like ACE-inhibitors https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ACE_inhibitor  may be harmful in combination like a corona virus infection.

https://www.pharmazeutische-zeitung.de/restwahrheit-in-einer-fake-news-116246/

There is one lancet article from march which elaborates on the hypothesis that diseases that are treated with ACE-inhibitors (cardio-vascular diseases like hypertension) or that affect ACE-receptor expression (e.g. insulin sensitizers for diabetes mellitus) may affect the likelihood and severity of corona virus infections.

This includes ACE-inhibitors like Captopril or Thiazolidinediones like ACtos or Avandia

They speculate that it may also affect Ibuprofen but offer no substantial proof. Right now this is only a hypothesis based on very small and unreliable data set and based on one article.

[MahrinSkel]

My apologies, I waited until it was in English media sources before passing it on here, since I can't read the original sources.

--Dave

[Mandella]

And in the "this is why we have pandemics" category, I know sooo many people who have taken the school closings as a fortuitous early spring break vacation and are already travelling.

 

Also local Irish Pub is still planning their Saint Patrick's Day party, but they are going to have it *inside* instead of out in the parking lot, so everything will be all right.

 

[jgsugden]

If you're in the US, go read the CDC guidance.

No, seriously.  Go do it. 

Look at what they tell you to do, and what they tell you not to do.  Note what they say nothing about and ask how hard it would have been for the to say, "Don't do that, either."  People are calling others out for being stupid and irresponsible when they're doing nothing ill advised at all in the eyes of the CDC, the experts.

This virus is going to do a lot of damage.  Know what else is?  The people overreacting and doing harmful things out of paranoia, misinformation and fear.  Especially the assholes hording things they do not need that others need right now.

[Brolan]

Has anyone else been following this drug remdesivir?  it was developed for Ebola but they are testing it on COVID-19 patients.  It may hold some promise.  But it has some nasty side effects.

[Khaldun]

It's an utter hail mary for people who are gonna die anyway. It's in super short supply. I suspect in most cases they will let people die, because they don't have any choice anyway. If rich people decide the drug is what they need, the plutocrats will stockpile it.

[Mandella]

If you're in the US, go read the CDC guidance.

No, seriously.  Go do it. 

Look at what they tell you to do, and what they tell you not to do.  Note what they say nothing about and ask how hard it would have been for the to say, "Don't do that, either."  People are calling others out for being stupid and irresponsible when they're doing nothing ill advised at all in the eyes of the CDC, the experts.

This virus is going to do a lot of damage.  Know what else is?  The people overreacting and doing harmful things out of paranoia, misinformation and fear.  Especially the assholes hording things they do not need that others need right now.

And the link is:

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html