I'm sort of mystified why there has been no topic posted on the on-going Pandemic of Covid 19. Since there has been none, I thought I would start one, but I would like to remind everyone to stay on topic. Do not interject anything that is not Covid 19 related PLEASE. I think this topic should be confined to how each of has been dealing with the virus and offering factual based tips on how to stay safe. I'll start. Do not use electronic kiosks like, super market self checkout kiosks, Atm's, food ordering kiosks, and others unless you or the owner of such kiosks cleans the surface after every single use. If you have home deliveries, after bringing the item into you house, immediately wash your hands. The CDC and others say that in most cases it takes more than 24 hours to get to so it should be safe. Well, not exactly - do you know if the delivery person is infected? Be careful. Do not use a mask or gloves - if you are not infected, the mask will not protect you. You still must use your hands to put it on and take it off. If it is not an N95 mask it will not protect you against air borne viruses. Gloves do offer some protection, but again, you must use your hands to put them on and take them off. Religiously follow the 6 foot rule. If someone is closer to you than 6 feet, ask them to back off. Do not run to the hospital if you think you are infected. Use Telemedicine ot Telehealth. Above all, do not panic. Do not buy more food than you can use in a week. Super market shelves are bare because people are panicking and buying more than they would normally use. Well there you go. I gave you a few things to think about. Add your own.
I am surprised and mystified and/or maybe just don't understand why people in general are doing some things that are counter acting what they think are the proper safe procedures regarding the virus. If you are staying home and then go to the grocery store are you then needing to start over on your self quarantine? The question holds true to those that still have their friends over for dinner or drinks or meeting them at the golf course....do they think their friends are automatically following safe procedures or do they think their friends are immune? The same holds true if family members are visiting. Possibly I am missing something......are the only people infected with the virus the people you don't know or have never met? Help me out here...surely I am misunderstanding the instructions.
Well GC, this is how I see it and being probably the lone Sun City expert on the Black Death here goes. If you show no symptoms of Covfefe 19 and go to the grocery store or medical appointments, you do not have to start your self quarantine over. If you have the symptoms or suspect you have the symptoms, DO NOT leave your residence!!!! Have your groceries delivered, reschedule medical appointments and do not have any face to face contact with anyone! If you feel the need to visit with friends over dinner and drinks or hang after a round of golf, you are incredibly stupid. Just because you or they show no symptoms, that does not mean you or they are not carrying, think Typhoid Mary. If there is some urgent need to visit with friends, be creative. Hold a dinner party via FaceTime, Skype or What’s App. As for golfing, you are not immune as this nasty thing does travel through the air as per WHO (not the band but the organization). Is 18 holes of golf more important than your health? These rules are especially if you have pre-existing conditions. Since I am basically a walking medical school, I take the precautions very seriously and you should also. Some final thoughts on the topic. Do not listen to either the President or Vice President as do not know what they are talking about and/or lying. Case in point, anybody know where those one million test kits were shipped to last week or the five million that are being shipped this week because none of them have shown up here or any place I am aware of. Neither has a background in public health or medicine, although the VP managed to create an AIDS crisis in one of Indiana’s counties because he believed a needle exchange would increase drug use. Instead it created an increase of deaths because he did not believe his public health officials. Now he is in charge of the Covfefe 19 task force. The president is just plain clueless and governs on his hunches in 15 minute time spans. Dr. Anthony Fauci, who has spent almost his entire professional life studying and advising on diseases like this is probably going to be fired or sent to some dopey department because he is not kissing the president’s ring or some body part enough. I have no political axe to grind, I am concerned about my life, your lives and all of American lives because we are doing way too little way too late. Next up on the pandemic schedule is Brazil closely followed by Mexico. You heard it here first. Stay safe and healthy as we are all in this together.
I agree with Geoffrey 100% in that we should not be listening to the President or Vice President. What they are telling everyone in their daily briefings is completely different than what is being reported by all the news agencies. The only thing they are doing is breaking their own arms patting themselves on the back for a less than effective response to this Pandemic. The president and Vice Pres should keep their mouths shut and let the medical community dictate how to handle this crises. I suspect Dr. Fauci has been ordered not to contradict anything the Pres and Vice Pres says. If you listen to him speak, he is very guarded on what he says trying not to contradict the Pres and Vice Pres. This pandemic is very similar to the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic where abandoning stay at home orders re-ignited the Pandemic. See this video - https://www.pbs.org/video/american-experience-influenza-1918/ Also, this administration held mock drills on just what is happening now. The outcome and the results of those drills pointed out that PPE's would be in short supply, hospital beds would be in short supply, and generally the nation is not prepared for a global pandemic. Use Google to look up Crimson Contagion. Very enlightening. The Hoax Meister is saying he wants to open up this country to getting back to work by Easter. The only reason he would like to see this is his hotels and resorts are hemoraging money due to lack of guests. He says we cannot recover from a recession or depression. Totally false - it has been done in the distant and recent past. He is attempting to scare people into going back to work so he can open up his hotels and stop losing money. He is solely thinking of himself and not the physical health of the nation. Please be careful in your journeys outside and follow all CDC recommendations.
Thank you GdV for your information and insight. I'm sure it provides some clarification to many who visit this sight. I might add in jest that your "political axe" still has a sharp edge and is not well hidden.
How safe is safe? Fact – Anytime you are near someone who is infected, or touch something that someone infected has touched recently, you risk being infected. You can debate how far "near" must be, or how long “recently” needs to be for the composition of surface you touched, but to what end? To convince yourself the risk you took doesn't exist? Since you don't know whether someone is infected, and often they don't yet know either, the risk exists. If someone is coughing across the street and the wind is blowing across you from their direction you are at risk. Be honest with yourself. People with our demographics – ie, over 60, many of us with heart, lung, etc conditions – are at higher risk. The medical experts say symptoms of Coronovirus may not appear for up to 10 days after actually being exposed/infected. To me that means every trip I take off my property and every mail delivery, Amazon package, takeout food delivery, etc I touch starts a 10-day countdown to determine if I got infected from that incident. And this is why the epidemic won't end soon (let alone by Easter as our our "I don't take responsibility at all" leader said recently). Am I paranoid? I don't think so, but I do take survival seriously. What I'm seeing and hearing leads me to believe others seem to have little concern for themselves. I'm somewhat OK with that – it's their life they are risking and the gene pool could stand losing them. What I'm not OK with is that their risky behavior affects others who they may unknowingly infect – ie, you and me. We as a nation have to isolate. Everyone. 2-weeks or longer. So far, as of yesterday, only 17 states have mandated isolation, and cities in an additional 12 states have also. It needs to be nationwide. India just told all 1.3-billion citizens they are restricted to their homes for 3-weeks. In comparison, Arizona closed schools and non-essential businesses (which leaves the bulk of businesses open). Sun City? Many residents are carrying on as usual – hiring yard workers, cleaning people, playing golf, meeting at the grocery stores, etc. Far too many are still questioning what the hub bub is all about as they stay glued to news that's not particularly creditable. Me? I believe the news sources that are reporting the worldwide pandemic trends/statistics and have copious interviews with reputable doctors and academics. Consequently I'm sequestered at home and only go out for things I can't absolutely do without – doctors, medicine. I hope I'm around to miss those who don't survive!
This is funny. I thought about starting a thread that would be titled "COVID-19 A Safe Place to Vent, Moan & Groan"(Read at your own risk!) I may still do it but this thread may morph into it if posts don't follow your rules regarding staying on topic.
We are behaving and following the COVID-19 Guidelines. Our kids are checking in often to make sure we're not getting lax on isolating ourselves. We have had visitors show up at our house and as awkward as it was I refused to let them inside. We talked at a safe distance through the screen door. The senior/compromised reserved store hours are a step in the right direction but there's still the risk of infection. We found that many of the items we wanted weren't being stocked. Fortunately we have always kept a good supply of food/household necessities on hand. If only one person prepares meals(as it is in our home) the days confined are a mixed blessing. Coming up with meals with items on hand occupies time and extra work but most times the effort is worthwhile. There are no complaints allowed or the complainer is welcome to dining on TV dinners for 3 meals a day. I am concerned for those seniors that are alone and hope they are getting the supplies/food that they need. I'm still reading my way through library books and tend to ration the time so I don't finish them too quickly. It's sad that I have requested items being shipped to the library and they're there just sitting unclaimed on the shelf. I may have to get some books from Bill P. to tide me over. Hang in there everyone!
Spending more time reading articles on the internet and have a couple of books going. Plus just got my 15 book supply of Louise Penny books in. The elliptical is up and running and the 6 foot walls keep intruders out. I do drive by the Bell Rec Center and check out the "guards" keeping the lawn bowling greens free from invaders. Awesome. At least the golf courses are open. Revenue you know. Gov Ducey made golf courses and essential service. For real. Saved the best for last: The dumbest man in America is none other than a Louisiana Pastor by the name of Tony Spell (Life Tabernacle Church of Baton Rouge). He's still drawing crowds of 1000 plus to services. When asked why, the genius said this:""It’s not a concern, the virus, we believe, is politically motivated. We hold our religious rights dear and we are going to assemble no matter what someone says." Lord help us all. PS. Aggie, or anyone else, let me know got tons of really great series.
Thanks for your kind comments GC as I see many locals (Sun City and others) ignoring the quarantine suggestions. I just want to scream out “What part of pandemic don’t you understand!” The recent letters and comments in the Independent saying this is overblown or the selfish I am going to do what I want to, make me want to say turn off Fox News as they are just a propaganda channel for the White House. As for my axe GC, it is really neutral as to this virus thing. As my ex wife said lovingly that I seem to have problems with people in positions of authority. I replied no, I have trouble with idiots in positions of authority. She also said lovingly of course, that my four finest qualities was that I was hostile, belligerent, argumentative and confrontational. What can I say, I am from Chicago. On a serious note, I am currently reading WalterIssacson’s biography of Leonardo da Vinci with David Blight’s biography of Frederick Douglass, Ron Chernow’s biography of U.S. Grant, Thomas Asbridge’s biography, The Greatest Knight, William Marshal and Mary Beard’s history of Ancient Rome, SPQR next. I will be again listening on my computer to Professor Dorsey Armstrong’s Great Course The Black Death while firing up the crock pot. Be safe people and stay healthy.
Food for thought for those still not taking Covid-19 seriously... (From the Arizona Republic) according to Dr. Rebecca Sunenshine, medical director for disease control for the Maricopa County Public Health Department -- "No matter what city you live in, in Maricopa County there are cases of COVID-19 and that’s why you have to change your daily habits," Sunenshine said March 16. "There is nothing about knowing where anyone lives that is going to help you avoid the spread of COVID-19.” If infections continue at their current pace, illnesses would peak in April and hospitalizations would peak in May, state Health Director Dr. Cara Christ said at a Wednesday (Mar 25th) press briefing. "... When we look at the modeling and the number of cases based on the trajectory, we anticipate that we could need an additional 13,000 hospital beds and additional 1,500 ICU (intensive care unit beds)." With news like that, it would seem imperative that we all need to do everything possible to NOT get infected and require hospitalization. There are seemingly unavoidable risks, though. Eventually we'll run out of food and shopping for groceries/other essentials present challenges due to the evolving uncertainties -- eg, supermarkets that deliver are currently swamped and are giving out delivery dates weeks and months from now, if at all; Amazon has had to close some warehouses because of infected employees, etc. Can grocery stores remain open when things get worse and will their supply chains be able to provide product? Meanwhile -- my neighbor (who completely embraces the "Covid is a liberal hoax" idea) called last evening ranting because his computer service guy wouldn't come fix his printer which was not printing in color. Said he was going to get a new ink cartridge when he's out today! I mumbled something to myself about him becoming Typhoid Mary after he hung up....
I am wondering things such as, "Is a two year old frozen pizza found in my freezer still good? The acceptable answer (to me) is "well I won't get the flu from it." I am helped a bit by already being a hermit whose contacts are mostly with other hermits. But I do check the "Recent deaths" link on wikipedia every day and am keeping a list of the 2 or 3 or 4 deaths reported daily. Remembering that these are people who already have articles about them in wikipedia. I know of very folks in Sun City who are the subject of a wikipedia article so a death here would not show up there. But what I have not seen on this thread is that Sun City is a collection of the folks in the highest vulnerable age group and should it get started here . . . . . . . . . ......................... In the meantime I am (slowly) working my way through an extensive backlog of reading materials, just finished a fascinating bio of Tim Tim and have moved on to "The Great Arizona Orphan Abduction," a true local story from 1904.
CT, I believe that your frozen pizza is fine, I would eat, but then that’s me. I had a pork chop last nigh of indeterminate age with some sautéed onions and garlic, mixed with a 14 ounce can of diced tomatoes favored with some red pepper flakes, oregano and dried basil with a nice bottle of Dago red. Not being racist, learned that from our next door neighbor who was Italian. Pleased to see that you are one of the smart ones holed up and staying safe. Between books I have Roku courtesy of the Significant Other/Life Partner who purchased an upgraded Roku. Aside from watching Longmire for the second time, I have been watching Jack Taylor on Netflix and a lot of programming on Acorn. She is also sharing Amazon Prime for some great stuff. Since I have lived on my own for the past 30+ years, this self quarantine thing is not difficult and is also giving me a chance to get rid of accumulated stuff. The thing that concerns me most is the lack of test kits because we really do not know the extent of the the infection. Thank you for your lies Vice President Stiffy to keep the numbers down to help President IQ45 re-election. Is it me or is this packing churches for Easter the latest moronic idea from the White House? This should assist the pandemic spreading bigly. Stay safe people.
So I guess eating pizza makes me not a racist too - though as far as Italian cuisine goes, yours sounds better than mine.
Just thought I would add some info. The attached pdf was sent out to Civil Air Patrol, USAF was author of the content. Air Force bases are on shut down for the most part, AF Academy cadets are on HPCON Charlie alert, etc. If the military is taking this seriously I suspect it is not a hoax. Stay safe folks. Bruce aka: Chaplain (LtCol) Bruce A Wright, CAP
Hey Bruce, hope all is well. I suspect your plans are on hold...like everyone else's are. Anyone, and i do mean anyone that thinks this is a hoax or nothing more (or less) than the common flu need give their head a shake. With too much time on my hands i am spending too much time on the net and it is terrifying to read the idiot comments from those downplaying it. If you don't want to believe it, i guess it is your right but telling others it's all BS is shameful. Just downloaded this site which keeps running totals from around the world on a day to day basis. You can find it here. It's not about panic, it's about common sense.
I don't think Bruce is suggesting it's a hoax, but many still are. But since we seem to have time on our hands, I am in the middle of an argument about the nature of "common sense." My feeling is that when I hear that phrase I am about to hear someone's opinion, disguised as something greater. Others seem to feel that ther is some pool of knowledge or understanding that we all should be able to access. Or something. So could you please define "common sense" - not fro a dictionary but from your understanding. Anyone can pitch in.
After typing this out it seems more like random thoughts... that's what happens when your stuck at home and the weather is a bit cool. Well, plans are not completely on hold, but this mess definitely has put some kinks in our plans. My fear is that we will end up moving to AZ in the dead of summer. But the good news is all my family is healthy and we are taking all the proper precautions. This is definitely about common sense. Problem is common sense is not as common as one might hope. Panic is foolish and just makes it worse for those that are trying to apply common sense. I don't need a 6 month supply of TP, if everyone would just calm down the supply chain would catch up. COVID 19 is not the plague, but it is serious stuff, especially for our age group. CO has a stay at home order. Of course you can go out and do necessary stuff, but if you don't have leave home... don't. Some folks are just laughing it off saying they are young and healthy, recent evidence is showing some younger folks could be a carrier and not have traditional symptoms. The rules seem pretty easy to follow... wash your hands and use hand sanitizer don't touch your face (really hard to not do) sanitize your home regularly (no telling what you might bring home if you go out). stay home and only go out if necessary if you have to go out, stay a safe distance from others as much as possible if you are sick, STAY HOME and call your doctor My semi-retirement job is at Home Depot, they are paying me to stay home because I am in the high risk category. If a company like Home Depot is taking this mess serious, it is serious.
