COVID-19 Health and Preparedness - Strictly Moderated

[misshathaway]

Orlando, FL area. Cases have now been reported in the next county over. Went to Target today and, not that I needed it, all of the toilet paper was gone. They had a new appreciated disinfecting station in front of the cart area. I saw my first shopper with a mask on and gloves. The mask looked serious and had a square filter on the front.

The store was crowded and since there was no toilet paper all the carts were filled with bottled water. When I was in canned goods I noticed that most of the soup was gone.

It was a pretty courteous, unstressed group.

So far the community pool is open and it was mobbed today because the kids did not have school for some reason. Yesterday they had a function on the school playground with about 200 kids and parents. Didn't notice anyone distancing the 3 feet.

 

[Sunset]

We stopped at local grocery store today, as we were out at the bank, it was super busy, I had to go back out into the parking lot to get a cart when a lady was done with it.
Inside the store was packed with customers.

The rice was largely gone, and picked over like in a hurricane event, even some bags on the floor, very messy.
Many sections of shelving were empty.

At the meat counter, a lady told me she had just come from Walmart and it was worse there, they were "picked clean" , which explained why she was at this store.

Long lines for the cash register.

 

[harllee]

Thanks Bongluer. I guess I am high risk since I am age 68 but I have no underlying health problems (DH on the other hand...). I think I have all my supplies in for a while. I will not have to worry about any more library books for a while--our public library just announced it is closing indefinitely due to the virus. I guess it will be ebooks for me.

 

[stepford]

Does anyone know what the restocking interval is for staple goods at grocery stores? Since domestic supply chains are intact I assume everything getting bought up will be replaced on the shelves at some point. For stuff like soup, flour and rice I can't imagine the demand is endless, so when do we think they'll be back on shelves?

 

[REWahoo]

Does anyone know what the restocking interval is for staple goods at grocery stores? Since domestic supply chains are intact I assume everything getting bought up will be replaced on the shelves at some point. For stuff like soup, flour and rice I can't imagine the demand is endless, so when do we think they'll be back on shelves?

I'm sure it varies by location. In large cities it may be several times each week. Many years ago when I worked at a chain grocery (Safeway) in a small town, we got only one shipment of staple goods per week.

 

[Sunset]

I find it bothersome that the site I had been using a lot for Covid-19 reporting suddenly became unreliable, it was slow updating and now seems to be falsely reporting numbers lower than they are.

Of course it's hard to say for some things what the numbers "should be".

The site I think is wrong with Total #137,445 is:
https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6

The site I now use with Total # 145,336 is:
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

 

[Sunset]

Living in eastern Washington, where the majority of people here are blue collar workers, I do not see how they are going to be able to cope with having their 2 to 3 kids, age 7 to 12, home while they have to go to work.

This is messed up.

That explains the run on duct tape

 

[Dtail]

I find it bothersome that the site I had been using a lot for Covid-19 reporting suddenly became unreliable, it was slow updating and now seems to be falsely reporting numbers lower than they are.

Of course it's hard to say for some things what the numbers "should be".

The site I think is wrong with Total #137,445 is:
https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6

The site I now use with Total # 145,336 is:
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

Agree. The Johns Hopkins site is not timely despite claims otherwise.

 

[Kwirk]

I would guess that grandparents will be watching the grandchildren if they live close by. That’s how family in Poland is dealing with the situation.

We do what we need to do but that doesn't sound consistent with social distancing for the elderly. It's a bad situation all around.

 

[NW-Reader]

My health insurer just sent an email saying they are offering telemedicine without copays or deductibles.

Dear Molina Marketplace Member:

To help reduce the risk of infection and spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19), Molina Healthcare is now providing virtual health care visits through Teladoc Health without copays or deductible. Teladoc Health provides access to high quality health care virtually, so that our Marketplace members can connect with physicians anytime from anywhere. Molina members are encouraged to register or visit MyMolina.com or download the Teladoc Health app to register or sign up for the service.

 

[ckelly78z]

When I was young, I was on a stock crew for a large Kroger store. We started stocking shelves at around 1 am, and were generally done by 5am. By far, the best time to find a well stocked store is very early hours on a weekday before commuters start streaming in.

The dairy, produce, and pop/beer trucks were generally showing up around 6-7 am.

 

[NW-Bound]

Here's an interesting graph by the FT (paywall) comparing the rate of disease progression around the world.

https://www.ft.com/content/a26fbf7e-48f8-11ea-aeb3-955839e06441

.
.

I read elsewhere that some other European countries were only 1 week behind Italy. The above chart shows the data in the most convincing way. Look at the 33% daily increase line.

And indeed, Spain has just declared an emergency, and its prime minister now regrets not pushing for a serious response to the threat, instead of treating it just like another flu. There are too many news sources on this. I will not bother to post them as anybody can go look for them.

Some people still say it's just another flu, but I do not recall any country ever had so many flu patients that it had to set up field hospitals. I admit that I did not pay that much attention during the 2003 SARS, or the 2009 swine flu. I did make international travel in the above years, and did not have any concern, nor see anyone with masks, come to think of it.

By the way, I happened to see Vietnam has joined the US in banning European travelers, but it also included the UK in the list.

PS. I forgot to mention that two Spain ministers have tested positive. Sanchez, Spain Prime Minister, and others in his cabinet were waiting for test results on themselves. They are now doing meetings by video conferencing.

 

[Fermion]

Would you attend small get togethers right now? Things like card games with a couple of friends or for us, our weekly D&D game with about 6 total people?

I hate pulling out of that...the risk does seem small but then again, why take any risk?

I'll roll a D20 to decide.

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

Would you attend small get togethers right now? Things like card games with a couple of friends or for us, our weekly D&D game with about 6 total people?

I hate pulling out of that...the risk does seem small but then again, why take any risk?

I'll roll a D20 to decide.

I would just use Roll20 to play remotely, but then I used that with a group of online friends from around the country for a while. It's pretty handy. Even if you keep 6-10' of distance around the table, you'd also have to worry about what everyone touched, and at that point it's not as much of a social gathering anymore, so IMO might as well just make it virtual.

Now I'm thinking that I should join one of those campaigns I kept not finding the time to join....

 

[Tiger8693]

I would guess that grandparents will be watching the grandchildren if they live close by. That’s how family in Poland is dealing with the situation.

Not advisable (as they are most affected population), and probably 80% or more not possible due to geographics. The shutting down of schools will cost many people money and jobs. The FMLA rules passed last night, unless there was also a change to when FMLA applies to a worker (currently AFTER 1 year of employment), will leave a lot of people out.

 

[ERD50]

Originally Posted by Teacher Terry View Post
I would guess that grandparents will be watching the grandchildren if they live close by. That’s how family in Poland is dealing with the situation.

Not advisable (as they are most affected population), and probably 80% or more not possible due to geographics. The shutting down of schools will cost many people money and jobs. The FMLA rules passed last night, unless there was also a change to when FMLA applies to a worker (currently AFTER 1 year of employment), will leave a lot of people out.

Yes. The news was just on, and IL is closing schools until the EOM I think. And then of course, what to do with these kids? Oh, there will be park district events open to them

I can't help but think this will make things worse. It will be less controlled, and probably more interaction with more people than if they just went to school and stepped up the disinfecting protocols there. How will the kids get to/from the park district events? How many more people will they com into contact with, going to/from and attending these programs? And kids aren't even at high risk, probably best to let them mingle with a limited number of adults at school.

And they did say to reconsider having Grandparents watch the kids. Well, who do you think most of these parents are going to rely on?

Reminds me of the old saying "Don't just do something - stand there!"

They are taking actions for looks, but it may well be counter to any benefits.

-ERD50

 

[MichaelB]

Our DD lives in Il and we discussed the school closing yesterday. The school sent instructions that parents were to continue giving the children lessons at home. Teachers are still working and would be available to assist, presumably online. There definitely is no robust system for e-lessons, nor is there a communications interface designed to facilitate large scale, significant, detailed communication between individual teaches and parents.

This looks like an effort to count these days as school days. I think it’s still early to jump to conclusions, though. We do know that children are not easily infected. We can’t yet rule them out as carriers. Minimizing large group gatherings is recommended.

 

[Teacher Terry]

We don’t have grandchildren but as schools are closing it’s falling to the grandparents due to necessity. Some are single parents and will be homeless if they cannot work. We are not getting together with friends that are doing this because of the risk.

 

[ivinsfan]

Does anyone think there will be an extension of the April 15 tax deadline.

Have an appointment with our tax guy Thursday. In our county no local cases as of yesterday. Our tax guy is the owner of several small offices and goes back and forth between them. Unfortunately as of now all but one of the states cases are located in the counties where he works.

Right now I'm leaning toward canceling and seeing where the dust settles. Plan B is to figure my tax owed and if my payments don't cover it send a check and file an extension. Can't really see an upside to sitting across from the desk of someone I know lives and works where there are active cases/

WWYD...?

 

[GTFan]

Lots of good info about the current state of COVID-19 here (constantly updated):

https://arstechnica.com/science/202...ensive-ars-technica-guide-to-the-coronavirus/

Looks like there is some disagreement about whether asymptomatic folks can spread it without knowing, consensus now is no. This is very important.

 

[Gumby]

Around here, the teachers have been frantically preparing for on-line learning. I have my doubts about how much can be accomplished, but they are going to try it. And it will keep the kids somewhat occupied during the day. Yesterday, the schools in my town closed for at least two weeks. They are making arrangements to remain partially open to provide meals to the students who get free breakfast and lunch at school. All the city recreation facilities are closed, so there will be no park gatherings.

 

[Gumby]

Does anyone think there will be an extension of the April 15 tax deadline.

Have an appointment with our tax guy Thursday. In our county no local cases as of yesterday. Our tax guy is the owner of several small offices and goes back and forth between them. Unfortunately as of now all but one of the states cases are located in the counties where he works.

Right now I'm leaning toward canceling and seeing where the dust settles. Plan B is to figure my tax owed and if my payments don't cover it send a check and file an extension. Can't really see an upside to sitting across from the desk of someone I know lives and works where there are active cases/

WWYD...?

I would go with your Plan B, but then my taxes are not complicated and I have always done them myself. I expected this lock-down would come before April 15, so I went to the post office and mailed my taxes on Thursday morning.

 

[Fermion]

They are making arrangements to remain partially open to provide meals to the students who get free breakfast and lunch at school.

That doesn't really seem reasonable. How are the kids going to get to the school to get the meals? I would bet most of them normally ride the bus. If you are going to keep putting them all together on the bus, you have essentially removed the benefit of the school closing.

Better plan would be a temporary increase in EBT or WIC or whatever there is now.

 

[Nemo2]

Around here, the teachers have been frantically preparing for on-line learning. I have my doubts about how much can be accomplished, but they are going to try it.

Out in the mulga they've been operating remote schooling for eons.

https://www.assoa.nt.edu.au/visitors-centre/the-centre/history

From the initial idea by Miss Adelaide Miethke, the trial process and the official opening to the building on a specialised premises and the more recent switch from radio to broadband satellite technologies, the Alice Springs School of the Air has helped educate thousands of students. Facilitating daily contact between students, home supervisors and teachers, the school has always strived to find new and better ways of enriching the education of Australia’s most remote children.

 

[Gumby]

That doesn't really seem reasonable. How are the kids going to get to the school to get the meals? I would bet most of them normally ride the bus. If you are going to keep putting them all together on the bus, you have essentially removed the benefit of the school closing.

Better plan would be a temporary increase in EBT or WIC or whatever there is now.

Different towns are doing different things. One town is putting bagged meals on buses and driving them around the regular route. The kids go to the bus stop to pick up the meal. I believe our town is also giving out bagged lunches, but the parents need to get to the school to pick them up. In the city of Bridgeport, I believe they are actually going to feed the kids at the school, but I don't believe the buses will run, so the parents would have to get the kids there. I guess we have a natural experiment here in my local area that will tell us which way works best. We have to feed them, because their parents cannot.