Coronavirus

[lighter]

If anyone is interested in giving blood, they're experiencing shortages, as you can imagine.

The Blood Connection was checking temps outside the door.  Everyone had to have masks.. the tech said the entire County is supposed to be wearing masks, but I don't know about that. Oldest DD and I were the only donors, besides the guy who was finishing up as we entered, so the place was very empty. 

Everyone is tested for COVID antibodies, unless they decline.  I'll know the results in 10 days or so.   My sister believes we likely had it in January also after passing through Fort Lauderdale airport. 

The facility was large and would have been all but empty had we moved through the process more efficiently than we did. 

I felt safe and will donate again.

Lighter

[sKePTiKal]

Hops - that's what I've been saying; the conclusion I came to also: right now, NO ONE "KNOWS" that much about this virus. Been chatting with an ER doc in Iowa, who didn't have many positive tests until the last week - 10 days - and now, it's a lot more critical cases - including healthy younger people. There's a meat-packing plant in his county; this is a small rural hospital. I keep seeing a stat, that 42% of deaths are nursing home related - but who knows how they're tracking that data? MI isn't even reporting nursing home cases to CDC.

So, I'm working on the theory that close, continued contact with lots of people - increases the probability of spread. It's just common sense, right?

I already have the habit of staying away from groups of people. So that doesn't bother me at all. I am not in the habit of gallivanting around "just to find something to do". Even shopping, I've always maintained a force field of "personal space" around myself, that is bigger than most people's - and I tend to be overly patient/polite and wait my turn, rather than squeeze in to pick something off a shelf quick. Hol & S, tend to go hiking or swimming in isolated places... and while she does go over the mtn, more than I do - they're masked, and she only does what she HAS to do. So, she's been conscious about bringing something home. Since early on, as S was working event centers in DC.

Buck is probably more conscientious than I am - I will go do what I need to do and not exactly "linger", but then that's my style already - B's immune system is pretty strong in the first place, even with the hospital infection - but he's only now feeling normally healthy and capable after 3 years. Not taking any chances.

I think we can only wait & see - at this point - what actually happens and in the meantime, keep on doing what we do to keep ourselves healthy (which has been the same for every virus since the Spanish Flu; and should've been SOP in the general population).

Our hospitals here are doing regular care and surgeries again. There are distancing rules, of course... but people are coping.

[Hopalong]

((((Lighter)))), I understand the anxiety. Share it. Happy you spend so much time outdoors and wish I would.

My main takeaway from the interview was that DISTANCING is more important than safety gear for regular folks.

Essential front-liners or those in health care situations have to depend first on gear. Non-medical-professionals should depend first on distancing.

My two cents,
Hops

[Twoapenny]

Well you guys are all doing the right thing; unfortunately I've come to the conclusion that there are just too many stupid people in England.  Although we are officially still in lockdown, the beaches are packed, buses and trains are full, one family was stopped doing a 440 mile round trip to go to the beach.  Petrol stations and food shops were supposed to be open for essential supplies only but it's abundantly clear that many are ignoring that and just doing what they like.  The number of recorded deaths today is lower than it has been, which is good, but the infection rate is up, hospital admissions are up, three hospitals have closed their doors to any other patients because they've no more capacity for any incident at all and we are at .9 where I live.  If we get to 1 we are back to epidemic level again and if we go over 1 we are in to NHS being overwhelmed level.  The number of ambulances going by is up; you can hear the sirens.

I understand, completely, loneliness, isolation, not being able to go to work, not having enough money, not being able to go out, see friends and family, all of those things, I truly do.  I can understand the fear and worry of your business going under or of losing your job.  I get that for a lot of people catching this will be no worse than flu and they'll be alright after a couple of weeks.

What I don't understand is no regard for the people who are having to work through this and exposing themselves to risk every day, no heed given to the 63,000 excess deaths recorded in the last three months, 10,000 people dying in care homes who didn't even have adequate pain relief, and absolutely no regard for the estimated 6 million people who are vulnerable and are looking at staying inside for the rest of this year and possibly longer.  All because people want to sit on a beach.

Anyway, son and I are staying in.  We won't be doing our daily walks for a while again now; I want to see how bad the infection rate gets again and what happens next.  I have been stocking up on food, fortunately, and have a food order coming tomorrow and will put my order for the following week in straight after that.  So frustrating when we've been in lockdown for so long anyway, a few more weeks could have really kicked this into place.

[lighter]

Keep yourself and your son safe, Tupp.   Do what you need to do.

Not everyone will agree on what the right thing to do is.

We're going to have to accept that.  We're going to have to find a way to make peace with it.

We have a County mandate on masks here, but it won't be enforced.

The State isn't using the word mandate.  They're just recommending we use them.

No consequences.  No enforcement.  I don't understand it either.

Lighter

[Twoapenny]

I'm having to resist the urge to rescue others, Lighter.  My first instinct is always to do what I can to help, and at the moment that's collating evidence, putting it together and posting it online, in the hope that other people will take heed.  But I've resisted doing it.  I think the truth is, some people just don't want to know.  They're so desperate to 'do their thing' that they don't care who or what else might become damaged by that.  I just have to accept that, keep myself and son inside, keep the both of us up to speed on facts, not government nonsense and work on keeping us both as fit and healthy as possible, indoors.

Fortunately son is a science buff and is reading information that scientists and doctors are putting out there so he's following them rather than government information.  It's interesting to me that a young adult with intellectual disabilities can do that, when many people without those disabilities can't.

I can only think your government and ours are going for herd immunity, although I have read there's no evidence yet that catching the virus once will stop you getting it again - which would make herd immunity unlikely anyway.  We're staying in, regardless.  At least we have a roof over our heads and the food deliveries seem to be going okay again now.  Hope that you're all doing okay xx xx xx

[Hopalong]

CB, I'm so sorry you don't have a safe place nearby where you could take in nature, trees and flowers. There's no pleasant park you could tote a camp chair to, or sit with a book? Is there any road with sidewalks nice enough to walk on? I wish you could come wander my back yard. You're being conscious and productive and sane, and that's saying a lot compared to a lot of people.

Tupp, your descriptions of what's happening in England are so vivid. You are born to blog, ime. That might be an engaging way to write, share and create, too. Ever thought about it? You can create different section themes and plug in posts about whatever you feel like writing about on any given day: Life, Disability, Nature, Cats, Autism, Parenting, Culture, Community, Home, Frugality, Covid-19, whatever. Just anything that interests you. There are lots of free blog sites with free design template and you can learn how to use one in half a day.

Amber, sounds like your nature is pretty well-suited to isolation and that you've been really far-sighted in your survival and food production plans. I think you're riding it out in a really good place. If folks in town can keep their distance in businesses and most stuff can be delivered, you'll likely all do okay. As long as no asymptomatic carrier comes to visit. I could use time on a mountain soon, M and I have talked about driving to that hidden overlook I showed him one day just to stare at the valley and get perspective back.

Stay safe, everybody.
I wonder how Betty Anne is doing....

hugs
Hops

[Twoapenny]

Oh, I do Hops! There's a nice common area behind my apartment with a cement path that I walk from time to time. Our weather is fast turning to summer here in the south so I dont go out consistently. Also my patio (ground floor) is right off the common area as well.

I tend to stay on the other side of the glass door because I have little animals that actually come up on the porch as long as there is no trace of me. I spent a half hour this morning watching the bunny who was eating while lying on his tummy in the cool grass with his stubby little legs stretched out behind him. I often get to see the squirrels very close, and to check mama's progress. One day she was close I could see the babies moving in her tummy.

It's lovely here. I probably should go out more but ....inertia!

CB

Aw, bunnies and squirrels, CB!  How cute!  They are so lovely.  Do you follow 'Mr Lumpy and Friends' on Facebook?  If not, you might like it, this lady is visited by badgers, foxes, squirrels and a few other things and she feeds them all and photographs them from behind her patio door.  It's really lovely.

I have turned into the mad bird feeder lady and the tree outside our house has several feeders and a home made water feeder as well.  I had a delivery from the local pet shop yesterday so I filled everything up this morning and the tree is just full of birds now.  So cute.  And then a ring of cats sitting at the base of the tree hoping the birds will fall out.  Lol xx

[Hopalong]

Lighter, you were right in your research on blood type. Just saw this:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/03/health/coronavirus-blood-type-genetics.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

Mine's A-positive, so all the more reason to stay home until there are zero new cases in our area for two weeks. Could be a loooooong time so that's what I'm intentionally trying to accept and adapt my mind to.

hugs
Hops

[lighter]

Find your comfort level, Hops... and get comfortable.

I'm so enjoying  my yard right now. 

Lighter

[Twoapenny]

R rate is back up to 1 in our area.  We have gone from being one of the lowest in the country to being one of the highest for new infections and I'm assuming that is because of all the people from out of the area who've been visiting the beaches after our twatting Prime Minister relaxed the lockdown.  I can't get my head around it - surely another four weeks would be preferable to this virus hanging around forever more?  It dies off if there aren't enough people to pass it around, as I understand it, so surely another four weeks - given that the numbers were dropping - would have knocked it on the head?

I feel so frustrated that there's a huge focus on people getting back to normal, but no focus at all on all the at risk people who won't be able to get back to normal all the time it's still out there.

[Hopalong]

I hear you, ((((Tupp)))).
It is very frustrating.

I think the only way people can win over all this by doing whatever thing helps us accept that we can't help what other people do or don't do, and as difficult and unfair as it is, making peace with what we can control and what we can't, spares us suffering.

Maybe that's where the hope and serenity are...radical acceptance. We just can't fight what we can't control. To me, it doesn't mean going passive or giving up or not advocating or whatever we individually can contribute to correct what we find wrong or ill-informed. It doesn't mean not objecting. It just means not sacrificing our mental health in the process--because the causes of these frustrations will be with us, each and all, for a looooong time. I wish it weren't so but these are part of human behavior (denial and short-sightedness) and reality is my ally.

Big smooshy hugs,
Hops

[Twoapenny]

I hear you, ((((Tupp)))).
It is very frustrating.

I think the only way people can win over all this by doing whatever thing helps us accept that we can't help what other people do or don't do, and as difficult and unfair as it is, making peace with what we can control and what we can't, spares us suffering.

Maybe that's where the hope and serenity are...radical acceptance. We just can't fight what we can't control. To me, it doesn't mean going passive or giving up or not advocating or whatever we individually can contribute to correct what we find wrong or ill-informed. It doesn't mean not objecting. It just means not sacrificing our mental health in the process--because the causes of these frustrations will be with us, each and all, for a looooong time. I wish it weren't so but these are part of human behavior (denial and short-sightedness) and reality is my ally.

Big smooshy hugs,
Hops

I agree Hopsie, I feel the most rebellious thing you can do right now is stay at home, keep yourself as fit and healthy as possible and not become one of their herd immunity statistics!  We're happy inside, very grateful for deliveries, limiting news/social media/outside awfulness and just trying to get on with things.  We both feel healthier from all the rest, it's just keeping that balance between resting and vegetating   Lol xx

[Twoapenny]

Well there are slightly mixed messages coming through here.  The death rate is down, which can only be a good thing.  Scotland and Northern Ireland have both reported no deaths and only a small number of people with the virus in hospital.  Twitter doctors and medical people are tweeting that hospital admissions are up and that things are quite bad, but I don't know anyone now who is affected or knows someone who is affected whereas a few weeks ago almost everyone I knew had story to tell.  They started relaxing the lockdown about four weeks ago - people were going back to work, using public transport, there were VE Day parties, people were going to beaches and so on.  There doesn't seem to be huge second wave yet.  We have had multiple protests over the last few days but if the crowds of people on the beaches didn't spark another wave of infections then I'm hoping that the protests won't, either.  So I'm feeling cautiously optomistic.  We'll have to wait and see what happens but if the worst of it is behind us I will feel very relieved.  I don't particularly miss anything - the only thing I'm not doing now that I did before was sitting on buses half the day to drop son off and pick him up again.  But it would be nice not to feel fearful of going for a walk or popping to the shop.  Anyway, we will see xx

[Hopalong]

We (city/county combined) had 49 new cases yesterday, whereas a few days ago it was under 10.

I will remain very cautious until there are no new cases for several months, not weeks or days. And I do believe a major second wave is likely beginning in fall. I sometimes check daily cases (I'm in the area of a hotspot--our county was just mentioned on national news as one, though the city is so far less so), I ain't relaxing vigilance for a long time. I'll continue to depend on deliveries and stay out of stores. I miss community, especially happy crowds downtown on a summer evening, etc. Not enough to risk it but I miss it. For me the brightest moments now are safely distancing with one friend at a time on the patio. Or rarely, up to four including myself spaced out 8 feet. It's work to arrange but such a relief to just talk and celebrate looking at each other's faces. Winter's isolation will be tough. But like this, that too will pass.

I periodically read another shattering story about what having the virus is like even for people far younger than I, and what the long-term aftermath can be even if you survive it. Puts some tin in my spine.

WHO sez:
The incubation period for COVID-19, which is the time between exposure to the virus (becoming infected) and symptom onset, is on average 5-6 days, however can be up to 14 days. During this period, also known as the “pre-symptomatic” period, some infected persons can be contagious. Therefore, transmission from a pre-symptomatic case can occur before symptom onset.

Air hugs,
Hops