COVID-19 and your life

[karaddin]

I get so annoyed when people act like the mortality rate being under 1% means it does nothing to the other 99%. Everything I see and hear about it paints it as an intensely unpleasant experience even at the (layman usage) mild to moderate level. The level of severity that can still be covered by a clinically mild case can be fucking horrifying, and that's going to leave a psychological impact on everyone that experiences it.

We can try speculate on what long term physiological impacts it might have, but we can't know the breadth of that until we've actually had people live a long time after having had it.

That all matters, it's ok to be scared of that and want to avoid it, and should be part of the consideration in the policy making, not just the bottom line number of deaths.

I hope you start to get some relief from that soon Rippounet.

[ljkeane]

17 minutes ago, karaddin said:

I get so annoyed when people act like the mortality rate being under 1% means it does nothing to the other 99%. Everything I see and hear about it paints it as an intensely unpleasant experience even at the (layman usage) mild to moderate level. The level of severity that can still be covered by a clinically mild case can be fucking horrifying, and that's going to leave a psychological impact on everyone that experiences it.

Just to counter that a bit, the one person I definitely know has had it (as in she was tested and it came back positive) described it as worse than a cold but not as bad as the flu. Yeah, it could be deeply unpleasant in even milder cases but it won't necessarily be that bad. We shouldn't underplay how bad milder cases could be but don't overstate it either.

[karaddin]

6 minutes ago, ljkeane said:

Just to counter that a bit, the one person I definitely know has had it (as in she was tested and it came back positive) described it as worse than a cold but not as bad as the flu. Yeah, it could be deeply unpleasant in even milder cases but it won't necessarily be that bad. We shouldn't underplay how bad milder cases could be but don't overstate it either.

Of course, and there are the people that are completely asymptomatic. It's a balancing act between "get people to take it seriously" and "don't make people feel despair, even and especially if they've just contracted it".

Most people who have it will be fine, but the number of people who will have it be a significant life event is substantial and a LOT higher than the sub 1%. It's just all treated as so black and white, and I feel the general attitude towards it manages to achieve the opposite of my above goals on both axis.

[Werthead]

36 minutes ago, karaddin said:

I get so annoyed when people act like the mortality rate being under 1% means it does nothing to the other 99%. Everything I see and hear about it paints it as an intensely unpleasant experience even at the (layman usage) mild to moderate level. The level of severity that can still be covered by a clinically mild case can be fucking horrifying, and that's going to leave a psychological impact on everyone that experiences it.

We can try speculate on what long term physiological impacts it might have, but we can't know the breadth of that until we've actually had people live a long time after having had it.

That all matters, it's ok to be scared of that and want to avoid it, and should be part of the consideration in the policy making, not just the bottom line number of deaths.

I hope you start to get some relief from that soon Rippounet.

The stat that gets me is the 20% requiring hospitalisation. The chances of dying being 1 in 100 or maybe less (once it's all over) is one thing (even though still horrific when you have a population in the billions), but the chances of having to go to hospital being 1 in 5 is much less encouraging odds.

[karaddin]

Just now, Werthead said:

The stat that gets me is the 20% requiring hospitalisation. The chances of dying being 1 in 100 or maybe less (once it's all over) is one thing (even though still horrific when you have a population in the billions), but the chances of having to go to hospital being 1 in 5 is much less encouraging odds.

And it can linger so long as well. It's not like you're feeling crappy with some mild fever aches etc then bounce back to normal like you do with an equivalent level of severity from a cold. 

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

18 hours ago, Fury Resurrected said:

I’m in Minnesota.

My industry has been shut down for six weeks and we are all independent contractors. So far the unemployment piece of the CARES act for 1099 workers hasn’t come through for us, and that is very stressful since it is impossible to get through to call the unemployment office to see if there is something wrong with your application that must be fixed because the lines are too jammed. Yesterday I was trying to call every two minutes for over four hours with no success.

I was on vacation in Mexico when the first cases showed up in my state and I was back for about a week before the shutdown, so I feel like it’s been months since I was tattooing. It’s very weird. I decided at 10 years old I wanted to tattoo and it’s pretty much the only job I’ve ever had or wanted and I adore it and it’s so much a part of my whole person that it hurts to be without it emotionally much more than financially (though the zero money thing also sucks)

I had everything set to go with my realtor and mortgage broker before going on vacation that I’d file and pay my taxes once I got back to document my 2019 income and then start shopping for a house here in Minneapolis. Obviously, that plan got torpedoed and while I’m glad I didn’t buy a house before I left in a market that could crash, the apartment feels very small to be stuck in with 3 cats and Young Boring Danzig.

As for Young Boring Danzig and I, it’s okay, definitely more strained than our usual no stress arrangement of each living like indoor outdoor cats. He is a professional musician and delivers for DoorDash, his life is mostly unchanged. He’s not doing a good job of social distancing, he won’t wear a mask while on deliveries and he has been meeting up with his band mates and parents. I have lupus so I’m high risk and not pleased about this shit. He says I can’t talk because I have been helping my sister with childcare because she is a nurse, has four kids, and needed someone to watch them. He has some very woo woo ideas about healthcare, so it’d be a days long almost religious fight with him I have no energy for. He’s always insisting I can cure my lupus with vitamins, for example. My sleep schedule is all screwed up.

My boss, who in all other scenarios is awesome and puts top priority on safety in the shop- thinks this is less serious than the flu and we should return to work now. He thinks the mortality numbers are falsely inflated. This is extremely stressful.

Kay 

Has selling art you can do from home gone well at all? 

[Fury Resurrected]

1 hour ago, Tywin et al. said:

Kay 

Has selling art you can do from home gone well at all? 

I’ve been painting pet portraits, which has had more demand than the current shutdown duration can fill. I’m super grateful for the support of my work and something to do. But, it’s also tough to switch gears on something that has always been for myself and recreation and involve money and responsibility and other people’s ideas (maximum first world problem). It’s a stressful time but so far my dad and my grandma are healthy and I know that is not the case for everyone. I also convinced the landlord and pest control guy via joking/not jokingly saying if my cats got sick I’d have to burn the building down to use only traps.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

11 minutes ago, Fury Resurrected said:

I’ve been painting pet portraits, which has had more demand than the current shutdown duration can fill. I’m super grateful for the support of my work and something to do. But, it’s also tough to switch gears on something that has always been for myself and recreation and involve money and responsibility and other people’s ideas (maximum first world problem). It’s a stressful time but so far my dad and my grandma are healthy and I know that is not the case for everyone. I also convinced the landlord and pest control guy via joking/not jokingly saying if my cats got sick I’d have to burn the building down to use only traps.

Reading this made me spill my grinder. I demand a portrait of Bailey now (Cream and white Husky/Lab mix). @Jace, Basilissa will pay for it. 

I'm glad to hear dad and grandmother are doing well though.

Hopefully we can get some fucking sun here soon again. This weather has been miserable. 

[Guy Kilmore]

8 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

Reading this made me spill my grinder. I demand a portrait of Bailey now (Cream and white Husky/Lab mix). @Jace, Basilissa will pay for it. 

I'm glad to hear dad and grandmother are doing well though.

Hopefully we can get some fucking sun here soon again. This weather has been miserable. 

It is brightening up right now, at least down in Bloomington.  And it looks like Mid 60s until next Tuesday again.

[Fury Resurrected]

4 minutes ago, Guy Kilmore said:

It is brightening up right now, at least down in Bloomington.  And it looks like Mid 60s until next Tuesday again.

Sunny and too hot in Zimmerman for my mechanics coveralls working on the El Camino

[Guy Kilmore]

3 minutes ago, Fury Resurrected said:

Sunny and too hot in Zimmerman for my mechanics coveralls working on the El Camino

That's good!  It looks like we are getting some nice days coming up here.  I am kinda curious to see where things go in our state come May 4th.  Things have been quiet from Walz's office.

 

[Fury Resurrected]

2 minutes ago, Guy Kilmore said:

That's good!  It looks like we are getting some nice days coming up here.  I am kinda curious to see where things go in our state come May 4th.  Things have been quiet from Walz's office.

 

I think yesterday he was with Pence and today he’s dealing with the meat plant situation

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

6 minutes ago, Guy Kilmore said:

That's good!  It looks like we are getting some nice days coming up here.  I am kinda curious to see where things go in our state come May 4th.  Things have been quiet from Walz's office.

 

He's in a tough spot politically.

And you better be right about the weather.

[Guy Kilmore]

1 minute ago, Tywin et al. said:

He's in a tough spot politically.

And you better be right about the weather.

That is what my weather app says, but hey, I have been hearing that weather forecasting is tough right now, because they apparently rely on information from airplane travel and that is way down.

I imagine so, especially if what the UofM and Mayo is saying about testing, that is one major shape, so my guess is it is going to be something similar to now, but altered?  Who knows?  We aren't projected to past our peak here until mid May.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

1 minute ago, Guy Kilmore said:

That is what my weather app says, but hey, I have been hearing that weather forecasting is tough right now, because they apparently rely on information from airplane travel and that is way down.

I imagine so, especially if what the UofM and Mayo is saying about testing, that is one major shape, so my guess is it is going to be something similar to now, but altered?  Who knows?  We aren't projected to past our peak here until mid May.

Yeah, but the hospitals are likely broke dude. That's why I am here, at 2:40, smoking weed, drinking a beer and about to play some video games before doing yoga then going for my second run of the day.
 

[Guy Kilmore]

Just now, Tywin et al. said:

Yeah, but the hospitals are likely broke dude. That's why I am here, at 2:40, smoking weed, drinking a beer and about to play some video games before doing yoga then going for my second run of the day.
 

Hey I know, I work in mental health, the struggle is real.

[Guy Kilmore]

Well, it looks like Minnesota gets to know tomorrow what is going on for the next couple of weeks.

[RhaenysBee]

I am overall in an extremely lucky position even though that took me a good month to realize.
I moved to the country to my mother’s house along with my sister mid March so I wouldn’t spend the quarantine in the city confined into 85 square meters and a tiny balcony with the sister (who temporarily lives with me in the city while her own place is being renovated) . Here we have a sizable garden, dogs, privacy as well as company and roughly 1800 people instead of 2 million - everything is easier, and we get to keep an eye on my mum. Having said that, we (the sister and I) have gone back to the city a few times for necessary errands (this is completely in line with government guidelines and involved absolutely no close contact with anybody aside from each other - please note that we do not have a lockdown, only restrictions). Relations are all right, sister is a handful even without quarantine but having shared a flat since September, we are able to cope and tolerate each other. No issues with my mum at all, apart from minor household disagreements that I usually keep to myself (her way of grouping laundry is plainly wrong). So I not only have all the comforts I could ever need, I even lucky enough to have a choice where I’m staying. 

As for work, the company I worked for went into a WFH arrangement the same week I left the city - and announced complete financial crash three days later. We were given an ultimatum to decide if we wanted to stay or go (quarter of the previous pay, legal arrangements I would rather not describe, 200% capacity, etc) and I opted for go (long, not-virus-related story). My 4-week notice period ended just before Easter. Since then, I’ve been living the best life I lived in years. I have hobbies again, I’m cleaning, decluttering and organizing the house for my mum, I spend time outside, I breathe fresh air, I have breakfast on the terrace, I’m covered in dog hair every day. I have an infinite list of things I want to do that I haven’t had the chance to spend time on for years. I’m not worried about money - yet. I calculated that I can comfortably spend 6 months looking for a new job, or 10 less comfortably. And should all fail, luckily, I still have an option B, C and even D to sustain myself. I have of course applied for jobs but recruitment is even slower than usual and only had one interview so far. 

Mental health was quite rough from early March to early April. I felt helpless, vulnerable, afraid, hopeless, anxious and apocalyptic all the time. I felt a tremendous amount of guilt for having it as easy as I do and the amount of privilege I realize I have in this life. And I also wasn’t able to open Netflix for about 3 weeks because I felt too guilty about what’s going on in the world to allow myself to enjoy things or have leisure time. This quieted down as I formed a new routine and weaned off BCC news. I still don’t sleep well and I have a knot in my stomach whenever I phone my dad, who refuses to work from home. I keep asking how he is but because I know he would lie, I roll on the conversation long enough to see if he coughs while we talk. I have no reason for this other than general paranoia (he had a negative quick test last week, I pray it stays that way). Anyway, I’m quite all right now and allow myself to enjoy the positive side of unemployment, spring, the countryside. Ironically, a long countryside break was something I dreamed of back in November and January and even though I never wanted to have it this way, the least I can and should do is make the most of the current situation. Be careful what you wish for is certainly a takeaway. 

/sorry about the length, I am simply incapable of keeping my posts short 
 

[Fury Resurrected]

3 hours ago, Guy Kilmore said:

Well, it looks like Minnesota gets to know tomorrow what is going on for the next couple of weeks.

It is hilarious to me how many of my fellow tattooers think we get to go back to work on Monday so sincerely the are booking appointments again.

[Zorral]

Today was all about groceries.  We made a huge online order from our local -- WONDERFUL -- supermarket.  Everything we put on our list was available with the exception of 'premium' crackers -- though there are acres of the high fat salty crunch snax, which we don't do.  But it doesn't matter.  We got non salted nabisco saltines in a big box which goes great with home made humus.

Among everything the supermarket today was running a special on cleaned, pre-cooked giant shrimp, and we leaped at it.

After a couple of hours of disinfecting, lifting, shoving, bending, twisting, etc. we got it all put away.  I made a dinner of a bit of stock, olive oil, some (fresh) ham, fresh kale and carrots, herbs, bit of chili sent from New Mexico, black olives (from a can), and the shrimp, plus big pot of rice and a smaller kettle of left over black beans. Gad! SHRIMP!!!!!!

Some to neighbor across the hall. Some to neighbor across the street. Some to the old guys who mattered so much to the Puerto Rican music world back until Now, and nobody is caring for, and who don't understand what is going on -- coz neighbor across the street will bike over there and give the food to them.

Didn't get to work out today as I should have, but didn't sit on my ass all day either, so that's Something!

Tomorrow class again -- wonderful students, wonderful class.  Will miss them so much when it's over, which is soon.

Partner is working so hard on the docu film of spiritual music, dance, ritual in contemporary Cuba, but is always there to pitch in, if I have the sense to ask for it.  Hard for me still after all these years to 'ask.'