Impact of the Coronavirus and Self-Isolation

[postsaurischian]

Everybody should wear a mask, especially the infected people. It doesn't have to be a high risk mask.
We could slow that whole thing down if the infected people (of whom a lot do not know that they are infected) would have something covering their mouths and noses.
I can't understand why Western people are having such a big problem with doing so. Korea has shown that it's working!

I have to go to my job at the hospital everyday. Working as a male nurse on an oncologic station, it's not possible to avoid close contact to foreign people and my patients could quickly die if they get in contact with the virus. So I'm wearing a mask 8 hours a day only interrupted by eating or drinking. I got used to it. I started wearing one when I go to the supermarket or the butcher - just in order to give the employees a better feeling of safety which to me means respect.

Let's wear masks! If you're not able to get a professionally produced one, build your own mask! Use a silk scarf for example! It won't kill the virus but it would definitly slow things down and we could protect our hospitals from collapse, which is essential!

[UK]

Thanks for the wishes everyone. It's a strange time we're in.

Helge, I understand what you are saying about masks. Currently in the hospital I see roughly 1% of people wearing them. Virtually no staff. And medical staff are the worst for social distancing too despite us needing to set the example. I've become a real wasp to people who come to work but leave their brains at home.

I'm sure HR will be on my case but some people just will not listen. If you don't care about your own life, at least care about others.

[Shonisaurus]

For all of you who work in hospitals or with people with coronavirus, don't forget to use disposable rubber gloves.

One of the main sources of coronavirus infection is through contact with the hands. Hands must be washed constantly to prevent coronavirus.

[postsaurischian]

Helge, I understand what you are saying about masks. Currently in the hospital I see roughly 1% of people wearing them. Virtually no staff. .......

I'm a bit shocked to read that.
My colleagues and me are forced to wear them througout the whole shift, no matter where we are - patient's room or nurses' station.
Maybe it's because of oncology.

For all of you who work in hospitals or with people with coronavirus, don't forget to use disposable rubber gloves. .......

You're not saying this to a professional nurse, are you? I've been using about 40 - 50 pairs a day throughout the last 16 years.
Anyway, of course you're right and I thought we were one step further. Isn't it already clear that everybody has to take care for his or her hands painstakingly?

[BlueKrono]

For my own impact, more specifically as it relates this site, I'm ordering a lot less to free up shipping lines for essential items people need right now. I've stopped buying from Amazon entirely and won't again until they can keep TP in stock, and I've been messaging eBay sellers and asking if I can pay them when I win and have them ship it in a month or so once we're in a better place.

One big seller told me they can't do that because it would negatively impact their seller rating. I'm holding off buying from them until things are more under control. I don't need more dinosaurs right now, but people need TP and diapers.

[UK]

Helge, I understand what you are saying about masks. Currently in the hospital I see roughly 1% of people wearing them. Virtually no staff. .......

I'm a bit shocked to read that.
My colleagues and me are forced to wear them througout the whole shift, no matter where we are - patient's room or nurses' station.
Maybe it's because of oncology.

For all of you who work in hospitals or with people with coronavirus, don't forget to use disposable rubber gloves. .......

You're not saying this to a professional nurse, are you? I've been using about 40 - 50 pairs a day throughout the last 16 years.
Anyway, of course you're right and I thought we were one step further. Isn't it already clear that everybody has to take care for his or her hands painstakingly?

Helge, I do yoga with the clinical director for oncology. It sounds like immune suppressed / neutropenic patients are out of the main site or cared for at home.

Hand washing is scrupulous and many of us are showing the signs of dry and raw hands.

Keep up your amazing work, people are at long last recognising the dedication and bravery of our medical, nursing and care staff. Not forgetting supermarket and delivery staff. Thank you all.

[Faelrin]

Thanks for everyone working on the front line here or who has family that is doing so. I hope you all and they all can stay safe during this.

@UK I hope your son can recover from this soon too.

[Shonisaurus]

@postsaurischian I was just trying to do my bit to prevent the coronavirus, not at all trying to amend the plan to a professional nurse like you. I said this with my best wishes and I apologize if I have offended anyone other than you.

[DinoToyCollector]

... I've been using about 40 - 50 pairs a day throughout the last 16 years...

Now I feel challenged to count my consumption 

This whole situation is pretty unreal. Leading a team whos working with handicapped people brings us a great challenge. Like others here I have to be careful as I can be to make sure none of my clients will die. A lot of "my" clients have been affected by lung infections and pneumonia earlier in their lifes which worries me a lot. Only one person has to bring in this virus and everything will go crazy. At this very moment the situation is, well not normal... but very calm and I am awaiting a big storm. I don't think we can prevent the virus from finding its way to us, but any delay in infection rate will prevent us from a collapsing health care system. I know everybody would be happy to go outside or go to work but I took a few days off to save my energy for the things to come. I am glad that most people are acting as it is recommended (staying home, keeping distances) although it might be hard. But in long term this is the right way!

My biggest hope for the "afterwards" is that people will think of all the poorly paid jobs like police, garbage collectors, doctors, nurses, grocer, postman (...) that are the most necessary and keeps things going on to a relatively "normal" state right now. Yes, people are applauding to them but I fear they will forget quickly...

@UK I wish you all the best in this situation

[Syndicate Bias]

I hope everyone here is fine. Hopefully nobody has been laid off and such from the impact on the economy that the virus has caused. A couple of months ago in the investing/options/financial community it was pure speculation that the virus would cause the market to crash and it did. However for those that are unaware the value of the dollar could possibly explode or fall depending on the FED's artificial market pumps to keep it afloat. Just last week we had historic rises to match those of 1929 and 1933 respectively and if history and our graphs and fancy charts and how the world is slowly turning are anything to go by, we are most definitely gonna crash even lower causing more jobs to be lost in the process. Already 3 million unemployment claims and hospitals being overrun. In the next two months, the market is most likely crashing yet again, testing new lows and corporate debt is the big bubble at risk of popping this time instead of the housing market. Hope everyone stays safe because the virus at this point isn't the biggest issue when the economy is in peril now.

There was a big sell off this friday after the market rally which means we are going under again next week. Some more seasoned people have said the S&P500 will be testing new lows soon which is not a good thing but to be fair we were long overdue for a correction in the market as everything was extremely overvalued because of the last 12 years.

For those that are wondering the virus is basically an issue that many companies didn't expect to happen, a "black swan" event that is potentially putting them at risk of defaulting on their loans. While some companies are getting bailouts, others will not which means less employment and so on. The reason for this is because alot of them got "soft and relaxed" over the last decade of ups in the market which caused them to bite off more than they could chew essentially to put it simply.

[Shonisaurus]

In any case, in my case, even without a coronavirus, I saw it many months before that there was going to be a huge economic crisis, I perceived it and it was discussed on a journalistic level. I published it in previous threads and I see that I was not confused, but I honestly never thought that it was as big an economic crisis as I imagined. Hopefully our global politicians and economists can resolve this looming tragic situation by taking appropriate action when this global pandemic nightmare is resolved. You have to trust that this will be resolved. Hope is the last thing you lose.

Now we must pray that the greatest number of human lives affected by this cruel and immutable virus in the face of human pain are saved.

[Syndicate Bias]

In any case, in my case, even without a coronavirus, I saw it many months before that there was going to be a huge economic crisis, I perceived it and it was discussed on a journalistic level. I published it in previous threads and I see that I was not confused, but I honestly never thought that it was as big an economic crisis as I imagined. Hopefully our global politicians and economists can resolve this looming tragic situation by taking appropriate action when this global pandemic nightmare is resolved. You have to trust that this will be resolved. Hope is the last thing you lose.

Now we must pray that the greatest number of human lives affected by this cruel and immutable virus in the face of human pain are saved.

The damage has already been done and the ball has been rolling since February regrettably. We will be dropping lower at most by May but may be earlier. (Market wise)

The U.S failed to lock this down early enough I overheard there's talks of shutting down non shipment flights soon as well.

[TaranUlas]

I agree with @postsaurischian that everyone should be wearing a mask if you are going to be out around others. This disease is troublesome in that it has a higher tendency than normal of appearing asymptotic despite still being capable of spreading. Masks and gloves significantly  Thankfully, we got a hold of some this weekend so we're going to reserve them for our grocery store runs (TP is actually starting to be in stock again. Mainly because the stores in my area now just give them out as single rolls and you are still limited to two.)

In slightly rougher news, my family had a health scare when we thought that my dad (who is in the more at risk range of people) had this this past week. He is thankfully okay now and it turned out to be more of allergic concerns mixed with immune-suppressant issues, but we got our first run around at Isolation at home and it was... it was not fun. I would not recommend it, but it is something that we will likely have to do again over the course of these next months. The main advice I would give from my own experience is make sure they're decently comfortable and then hide. Also wear gloves.

In the more ironic news, I have obviously lost my Dino teaching role at the zoo for the time being (Mainly because the zoo is closed until May at the earliest.) My cousin, however, has asked me to do some Dino/science teaching with her kid since she doesn't really know how to home school him on the subject while still working full time from home. Don't worry, I'm not meeting them in person (Mostly because they live in Iowa and I'm in New York, but also Coronavirus too) so I'm currently going to have to figure out how to teach a 12 year old via video comm without irritating either of us too badly. Still, it's at least something to do and mostly it's just figuring out how to present what I already know in a way that won't be too boring.

[terrorchicken]

Im confused about the masks , Ive seen so many wearing them but Ive read from reputable news sources that only sick people should wear them and that the simple paper dust masks wont help anyway. The gloves seem pointless to me unless you're sick(so you wont transfer the virus when you touch something/someone). But if you touch something infected with the gloves on and then keep touching other things and then your face or another person and then ditch the gloves in the trash you still passed on the virus,  seems easier to me to just wash your hands and keep using hand sanitizer. 

[stargatedalek]

Im confused about the masks , Ive seen so many wearing them but Ive read from reputable news sources that only sick people should wear them and that the simple paper dust masks wont help anyway. The gloves seem pointless to me unless you're sick(so you wont transfer the virus when you touch something/someone). But if you touch something infected with the gloves on and then keep touching other things and then your face or another person and then ditch the gloves in the trash you still passed on the virus,  seems easier to me to just wash your hands and keep using hand sanitizer. 

It's impossible to know that you aren't infected unless you've been (recently) tested, as many people are asymptomatic not necessarily just long into the phase where they can infect others but potentially throughout their entire time having the virus. Things like paper/surgical masks or scarves won't help prevent someone from catching the virus but they will help negate or at least heavily slow someones potential to spread it.

[UK]

Good news my son is recovering well. Day 10 or so and the pressure on his lungs is diminishing. I think his poor girlfriend is going up the walls with the isolation in their small flat. They are both normally active with a good social life.

Strange and difficult times.

Keep well everyone.

[DinoToyForum]

Im confused about the masks , Ive seen so many wearing them but Ive read from reputable news sources that only sick people should wear them and that the simple paper dust masks wont help anyway. The gloves seem pointless to me unless you're sick(so you wont transfer the virus when you touch something/someone). But if you touch something infected with the gloves on and then keep touching other things and then your face or another person and then ditch the gloves in the trash you still passed on the virus,  seems easier to me to just wash your hands and keep using hand sanitizer. 

It's impossible to know that you aren't infected unless you've been (recently) tested, as many people are asymptomatic not necessarily just long into the phase where they can infect others but potentially throughout their entire time having the virus. Things like paper/surgical masks or scarves won't help prevent someone from catching the virus but they will help negate or at least heavily slow someones potential to spread it.

Yes. There's also the issue of mask-wearing procedure. By adjusting it, removing/replacing it to eat, talk or blow nose, wearing it more than once, wearing it incorrectly, the wearer could increase their changes of spreading/catching the virus. A false sense of security might also make mask-wearers more lax when it comes to washing hands, staying home, and other behaviours that are far more important to limiting the spread of viruses than wearing a mask.

Also, imagine the public reaction if authorities mandated or even just recommended the public to wear a mask. We saw how the general public reacted when they (erroneously) thought stocks of toilet paper were under threat. There have already been reports of people stealing hand sanitiser from hospitals in the UK. We don't want the general public panic-stockpiling PPE and potentially making it unavailable to those who absolutely need it to do their jobs.

I think this is why there is so much confusion about masks. Authorities realise that, in the case of the general public, there is a chance the cons could outweigh the pros.

By the way, the lump in my throat has cleared up now. Stay safe everyone. @UK, glad your son is doing better.

[Shonisaurus]

@UK I am very glad that your son is recovering well, that is a very good sign. Cheer up!!!

[UK]

@UK I am very glad that your son is recovering well, that is a very good sign. Cheer up!!!

Thank you @Shonisaurus. I'm quite chipper at the moment. See how we all are in a few months time 🤔.

In terms of thefts from the hospital, a number of low lifes were stealing bucketfuls of sanitisers to the extent front line staff had shortages. They even took from people's desks. Shameful and shameless.

[SidB]

@UK I am very glad that your son is recovering well, that is a very good sign. Cheer up!!!

Thank you @Shonisaurus. I'm quite chipper at the moment. See how we all are in a few months time 🤔.

In terms of thefts from the hospital, a number of low lifes were stealing bucketfuls of sanitisers to the extent front line staff had shortages. They even took from people's desks. Shameful and shameless.

My suspicion is that times like these, where people are stressed and fearful, don't so much make this type of behavior inevitable, as rather to manifest this tendency in the culprits in question. They have already decided to be this type of anti-social individual and now it comes out. Fortunately they are small minority.

Here in Toronto we had one lad who grabbed up 17 packages of chicken breasts from the 20 that the store had just placed in the meat section. Throwing them into his cart, he raced for the checkout. He never made it. He was mobbed and relieved of his booty by an angry crowd of grocery store patrons.