Impact of the Coronavirus and Self-Isolation

[Libraraptor]

@TaranUlas There are periods in my life when I am quite  prone to anxiety and depression, too. Especially when I´ve got too much time to think or fray due to too many responsibilities.
I then try to get myself into states of flow by writing, reading and latterly: Buildung up my old LEGO Starships and Space Stations. As Winston Churchill said:

"If your´re going to hell, keep going."

[Shonisaurus]

In my nation they comment on television that the real number of deaths in Spain from coronavirus is not the real one and that if we add those deaths not recorded in the official statistics of Health, they will compute around 65,000 deaths throughout Spain. It seems to me an absolutely exaggerated figure but it has just been mentioned on a television in my nation, so in Spain it would be the percentage country with the most deaths per million inhabitants and the most statistically infected. Hopefully that is not the case, but I have relatives who are in the field of medicine, nurses, doctors and ophthalmologists who have been infected with this coronavirus but fortunately are discharged.

I understand that we will be around the 30,000 deceased at the most taking into account the deceased figures provided by two Autonomous Communities, although according to that television channel we could speak of more than 65,000 deaths, a death toll that seems totally excessive to me. The truth is that the gravediggers of cemeteries and funeral services are not enough with so many deaths that I believe that fortunately they are remitting today and it is expected in the next few days (in a very short time) a de-escalation of mandatory confinement.

Even taking into account that there are more than 20,000 deaths, it is still a tragedy for a nation that represents 0.6 percent of the world population. Taking into account those figures mentioned in this paragraph, we would have a death rate of 20% of coronaviruses in the world and taking into account, as I have already mentioned, that the population of my nation does not represent 0.6 of the world population, the result does not leave of being something dramatic.

[ceratopsian]

@TaranUlas - I too can get very anxious and certainly was finding it difficult to cope well mentally as the pandemic hit home.  I'm naturally a fairly pessimistic person. Like the others, I find keeping busy the best thing.  I'm bringing my records of my model collection up to date, which is quite engrossing and time consuming.  I've joined an online Latin reading class (which means plenty of preparation required in advance of each session), and a second one starting next month (an old, old interest from university days and earlier).  I'm finding talks to "attend" - I belong to a national cactus society, and they are organising weekly talks on Zoom; I've found some geology talks by a good speaker, also on  Zoom.  In less than an hour I'll be joining a Palaeontology Round Table I came across by chance, again Zoom.  The things I'm trying to avoid: being dragged into lengthy and prolonged conversations about the dire effects of the virus (e.g. when I speak to my father, who lives far away from me, who can be reluctant to talk about anything else); and constantly checking the news on my phone.

[Shonisaurus]

@TaranUlas The important thing is to keep your mind busy. I am preparing two oppositions in this quarantine and in this way I keep my thoughts busy and make me forget everything that is happening globally because of that terrible pandemic and what's more, now I am very addicted to reading and I try to All ways avoid negative thoughts and in this way I avoid stressing, although I have to affirm that due to stress my atopic dermatitis comes out and wounds arise from scratching due to stress, but leaving my personal issue aside, try to keep my mind occupied and be positive.

[sauroid]

all the numbers/statistics released by the authorities all over the world including the WHO are always inaccurate because there are still cases that are unrecorded/unreported. there are people who got well without them knowing they were infected in the first place (asymptomatic cases), and people dying without being hospitalized.

[Duna]

Just an update: we all who work at the ICU have been tested with PCR because we have been using false-faulty FFP2 chinese masks provided by the hospitals. Afortunately all have resulted negative at the ICU. We will be tested again twice (another PCR and a quick inmunoglobuline test).

Situation at hospital is better than last month.

[Shonisaurus]

Fortunately, in Spain a gradual de-escalation will be carried out over the next few days. The virus is remission by luck. Of course, life will be very different from before the pandemic.

[sauroid]

we will all have to adjust the way we live, everything will be modified according to how we can avoid further infection. so, life will never be the same again, at least for this generation.

[Halichoeres]

Duna, I'm very glad to hear that things are improving. Some parts of the US are improving as well, but it seems that some places are just getting started.

[Faelrin]

@Duna I'm glad to see your area is seeing some improvement.


PA is going to go by a color coded zone by zone basis after May 8th I think, so there might be some limited re-opening, and reduced restrictions depending on how low the spread has been or how in control it is. My immediate area seems to have fallen in the middle, which has seen few cases in my city (the last I heard it was 17, but could be higher by now), but probably larger numbers in the surrounding area (such as the state's capital city Harrisburg, and elsewhere).

Map of the zones: https://www.governor.pa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/20200423-Bureau-Community-Health-Systems-Regional-Map-Opt.png

Rules of the color coded area by area thing here (be warned there was an obnoxious auto playing video ad thing, so muting before visiting it might be a good idea): https://6abc.com/tom-wolf-pa-covid19-pennsylvania/6122781/

What this means for my area is that school's will still be closed, gyms, movie theaters, malls, etc, will be closed, restaurants and bars will still be take out or delivery only, large gatherings are still prohibited, and some non-essential business, etc could be opened as long as safety guidelines are still followed.


Anyways, aside from all that I made my first trip out of the house after several months, due to the arrival of masks made from a family member, since there was no way I was going to go anywhere without at least wearing some form of face protection. My mother was in a search of a board game for my nieces, and stuff for dinner, etc, so I went with her to two Target stores (first store didn't have what she needed so we called and checked the other store out after they confirmed they had what we needed). While she went in to search for what she was looking for, I made a quick stop by the Jurassic World section just out of curiosity and to pick up a few things that were available (Tarbosaurus, and some mini figures for myself and my nieces). I don't know if that was the best idea, but thankfully nobody was really around when I stopped by there to look, in both stores.

It was absolutely surreal though seeing everything after being stuck in the house for months now. It's one thing to read all of this stuff online, but to actually see it in person really sells home the impact of this pandemic more and how this is literally effecting where I live and everyone around me. This is the certainly the first time in my life I've ever encountered something like this (I'm almost 29 now), and it is truly frightening. Nearly everyone was wearing a mask (at least those taking it seriously, as there certainly is those that aren't, which are unfortunately putting other's lives at risk) and some folks at least were trying to keep their distance from others. Both Targets I went too had signs up on the doors saying people showing any signs of sickness needed to go home and would not be welcome to shop. There were signs showing what was out of stock and in stock right at the entrance. There was plastic barriers covering all face side registers and help desks. Stickers were on the floors as a guide for folks to keep their distance. Since Target sells food they are considered an essential business hence why they were open at all, although I was surprised to see non-essentials were not blocked off like they have been in some Walmart stores as of late (maybe those Target stores has less customer traffic hence less of a need to do something that drastic?).

[Halichoeres]

The man who taught my first college zoology class died late last week. He was only in his 50s.

[TaranUlas]

First off, thanks to all of you who wished me well. I was very happy to see that and it helped a lot when I was feeling pretty lousy. So thanks. Again. I wish I could say that everything was better now... so I hate to be the bearer of bad news...

For several days here, things were looking up. My dad was doing better, I was feeling better and we were actually doing some fun stuff. We pulled out an old dino puzzle today (It's Haruo Takino) with him focusing on that and me helping while jokingly griping about inaccuracies (dino artwork from the 90s.) I left midway through our puzzle to take a shower when something just went completely wrong during that.

Bad news is that my dad got admitted to the ER because he had shortness of breath, chest pain, light headedness, and was just in general having a panic attack on top of that. Seeing him get wheeled out of the house was rather... traumatizing to say the least.

Good news is that none of his symptoms point towards COVID and his vitals seem surprisingly strong (I was absolutely not expecting 100% oxygenation considering the laundry list of medical issues he had, but somehow he has that.) The doctors in general have made it clear that they are checking his chest with X-rays and checking his heart as well. Not doing COVID testing.

Needless to say, this has been a very stressful 12 hours so far and well... the only reason I am not drinking right this minute is that there is a non-zero possibility that I would need to drive and pick him up later.

[Faelrin]

@Halichoeres My condolences to you.

@TaranUlas I sincerely hope that your dad can have a successful and speedy recovery.

[Shonisaurus]

@Halichoeres I am very sorry about the death of your teacher who will surely have very good memories of him.

@TaranUlas God grant your father to fully recover from the coronavirus. It comes out of that disease. Cheer up friend and member of DTF!

[Jose S.M.]

@Halichoeres I'm sorry to hear about your professor passing, I feel some sort of emotional attachment to some of my college professors so I imagine it was to hear those news

@TaranUlas I'm glad your dad it's doing better now and I wish he fully recovers soon.

@Duna  I'm sorry to hear you were affected by that faulty masks issue. It must've been very scary to realize that but I'm glad you and your unit are ok and things are improving.

[Halichoeres]

Thanks everyone. I was surprised by how much it affected me.

Wishing you and yours the best, TaranUlas

[ceratopsian]

I was so sorry to read this news @Halichoeres.  Teachers make a huge impression on us, even though the time we spend with them is a small proportion of our lives. This is especially so when their subject is important to us.

Thanks everyone. I was surprised by how much it affected me.

[TaranUlas]

@Halichoeres I'm sorry to hear about your teacher. This is making me want to check on the teachers and professors I had growing up and see how they are doing since well... I'm sure that some of them will pass away during this. I just hope that it's not the good ones I had or the bad ones either.

Good news! My dad didn't have a heart attack. As far as the doctors can tell, it was just a massive anxiety attack that gave off symptoms like a heart attack. His anxiety is still pretty bad now so that's fun, but his medication should be actually taking effect this week so... fingers crossed. Overall, it's just a very stressful time for me and I'm probably going to need to start talking to a therapist myself soon enough for dealing with this. Thank you for everyone worrying about him. It helped me to know that we're not alone in being concerned about this so thank you again.

I'm just glad that my state's been very good about keeping us safe and healthy during this. In some ways, this would be so much more stressful if everyone wasn't being forced to wear masks into stores and restaurants to pick up stuff. At least now, it feels like something that we can handle. It's terrible and nasty and stressful, but god knows it's more livable like this than having to be even more paranoid about everyone else.

[Shonisaurus]

@TaranUlas Let's see if God wants your father to recover soon. It is my best wish. I put myself in your place and I wish for you the best and that this nightmare passes.

In my case I have become a hypochondriac, I do not give hugs or my father at home for fear of infecting him, for me it is horrible my situation I try not to touch my face and I usually wash myself as if I suffered from schizophrenia continuously with soap or disinfectant gels. Without being so, I am afraid to go out to work physically next May 11, I have to attend to the public and sincerely I am not afraid for me (I am not afraid of my death) I fear that it may cause death directly or indirectly to other people. I am concerned because for me this pandemic is very treacherous and I do not think it will end in a few days, it will persist for a long time. What I hope is that virulence decreases and unfortunately there is no vaccine and it is very easy to get infected. I am very worried in my case.

[sauroid]

medical experts and pharmaceutical companies are all rushing to find vaccines for this virus so i hope within the next few months we will have a solution (within the year or til early next year), as opposed to the estimated year and a half time to finalise an effective vaccine.

how's the quarantine situation in your cities/countries? is the restriction easing gradually? i heard that cases are starting to slow down and decrease and governments are starting to impose less restrictions, but i hope they dont become complacent to prevent a reinfection/second wave that would be even more disastrous.