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Post by autumnmist on Mar 2, 2020 11:10:49 GMT -8
I'm reading of some stores running out of staples as people stockpile. There are reports of people planning to hibernate in their homes. From photos, apparently masses of people are wearing masks as the Surgeon General tells people not to wear masks.
Are you concerned? If so, what precautions have you taken or planning to take? Keeping children out of school? Stockpiling? Staying home more? Cutting back on visits, entertainment?
Do you think that the hype and warnings have gotten out of control and are inciting panics?
Most importantly, and probably even safer than being in communal settings, are you changing your backpacking plans? Planning to spend more time away from "civilization", or at least avoiding areas that are more touristy than others?
Do you think that a lot of "hype" is creating unnecessary fear or panic? Are poor if inadequate governmental responses throughout the world contributory factors to the rapid spread of the virus?
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gabby
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Post by gabby on Mar 2, 2020 12:10:30 GMT -8
I'm washing my hands more often. Trying to train myself to not touch my face. Going to go visit Muley Point for a few months. I need one of these.
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Post by Lamebeaver on Mar 2, 2020 12:14:57 GMT -8
Someone's got to keep the wheels turning.
Personally, I'm not overly concerned. I am thinking that it may be a good time to book that trip to the UK, while airfare is low.
I have not done any stockpiling, and I will not be curtailing my travel or attendance or public events.
In short, yes, I think it's a lot of overblown hype.
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Post by georgeofthej on Mar 2, 2020 12:53:12 GMT -8
I flew last week and brought hand sanitizer. Used it on the plane a couple times, just on my fingertips so as not to put too much alcohol odor into the air. Luckily plane wasn't packed and I had 3 seats to myself. I will carry hand sanitizer more places (such as in my vehicle to use after grocery shopping) and wash my hands more. As Gabby wrote, training myself not to touch my face (not easy).
I'm postponing vacation plans to Mexico City. I'm still unsure about participating in a chess tournament that will be in a casino convention room; I might register now and risk eating the entry fee if I later decide not to play.
Most of the deaths, I understand, are among the elderly. I'm 63, so my risk of dying might be high. So I'm going to be a little more cautious than normal. I'm sure the virus is already here in my town. I don't know if we can really avoid it forever. Maybe we have to be exposed and hope we have a mild illness and then some immunity---at least temporarily--afterward.
One thing I don't like about the doomsday prepper mentality is that it's selfish. Stockpile months of supplies, isolate yourself, stockpile ammo to guard your hoard against marauders, and wait for others to fix the problem. A better idea is to figure out how you can be part of the solution.
But I totally like the "emergency preparedness" mentality. You don't necessarily hole up in your house, but you do have a reasonable amount of supplies stocked up, like bottled drinking water and some food. If you maintain these supplies all the time, not just rush out and buy during a crisis, then you are not hoarding. You are actually already part of the solution, because there is more stuff available for the underprepared.
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gabby
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Post by gabby on Mar 2, 2020 13:02:34 GMT -8
I think it's a lot of overblown hype. Maybe. We've had more serious threats. Two days ago, the count stood at 70/0, yesterday it went to 88/2. Today it's at 96/5*. *Growth is all West Coast.****The state of Texas won't tell us if anything goes wrong.
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davesenesac
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Post by davesenesac on Mar 2, 2020 14:33:26 GMT -8
Yesterday Sunday after sitting down early at a moderately full church, a woman and 2 of her children sat down in front of me. Her daughter looking about age 5 had a sinus infection with post sinus flow that kept her coughing and sneezing about once a minute. At an opportune time, I got up and walked to another seat at the back of the church. We are now near the peak of cold and flu season and I could hear numbers of people in the church likewise nursing probable colds. Thus at least in the near term weeks may stay away from that and other similar situations like riding public transportation with many nearby people. Of course in this era, significant numbers of people behave as though being sick is not a reason to stay home. Last Friday after entering alone into an 8 passenger enclosed gondola with a 15 minute ride, another 2 skiers entered and one immediately began coughing. I asked if he had a head cold and would have exited before the door closed if he had said yes.
The human body contains roughly 30 trillion cells and our microbiome roughly contains the same number of bacteria and maybe 10 times that or 300 trillion viruses most of which are harmless to we humans but are there to infect bacteria in order to take over their DNA machinery and make more viral phages. When we people are around breathing others, it is impossible not to breath in some microbes, however our body defenses especially the white blood cells, eliminate almost all unless microbes find a fertile location to multiple beyond what our defenses can cope with. For cold and flu, that is in our sinuses and throat because that is the only location cool enough in the body where they can multiple fastest. And is why colds and flu have evolved to attack people during colder seasons. Last night wore a down balaclava over my head that I use when I suspect I may have been exposed to sick people. Read more here:
www.davidsenesac.com/Information/avoid_rhinoviruses.html
I have airfare to Denver on Southwest for early April in order to ski MJ at Winter Park 3 days. It is possible there may be travel restrictions by that date. In any case am glad during the huge wild fires 2 years ago causing regional smoky air, that I purchased a disposable 3M 8293 P100 mask that I might wear during those flights. Notice on the news all such masks are sold out nationally or are being sold at 10 times normal prices. A case of 10 each 3M 8293 masks is normally about $70. Likewise if the local situation becomes more serious, I'll wear the P100 say when going to a supermarket. Otherwise as a senior without a need to be at work places and not much a restaurant enthusiast, it will be rather easy to avoid concentrations of people. About all I need to buy now is a larger container of alcohol based hand sanitizer.
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tigger
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Post by tigger on Mar 2, 2020 15:02:20 GMT -8
We were going to Disneyland in May. Now, we are reconsidering it.
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Post by High Sierra Fan on Mar 2, 2020 15:07:41 GMT -8
Not at all.
Some flutter in my retirement accounts but that just paper.
It was a novel disease so a good degree of caution was warranted: but the picture keeps clearing To the good for the most part.
A positive? Might be focusing more public attention in the necessity for those of those flu shots far too many don’t get. While that’s a disease that kills tens of thousands just in the United States every year.
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daveg
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Post by daveg on Mar 2, 2020 15:10:59 GMT -8
I don't think the information being provided by medical experts is hype. However, there is still a lot they don't know and the message may change as they learn more. On the other hand, humans are notoriously bad at assessing probabilities. As a result, many people are over-reacting or under-reacting to the information being provided. While getting sick (assuming one recovers) is not fun, the possibility of dying elicits a stronger emotional reaction. Mortality rates appear to vary significantly by age, sex, and underlying conditions. See linkThe demographic data, if accurate, shows people like me -- male, over 70, underlying conditions -- are at a higher risk of dying. I've seen estimates that 40% to 70% of the world's population will eventually contract COVID-19. People in their 70s have an 8% fatality rate. So if I have a 70% chance of contracting COVID-19 and an 8% chance of dying if I do, that means I have a 5.6% probability (0.7 x 0.08) of contracting the virus and dying as a result. Being a male and having underlying conditions probably increases that probability a bit. A 5.6+% chance of dying from the virus is not insignificant. On the other hand, that means there is around a 94% chance that I'll be fine. So I'm not fretting it. I'll take reasonable precautions and hope they are good enough. I'm certainly not changing my boating and backpacking plans at this point. EDIT: Corrected math error. Thinking one thing and typed another.
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davesenesac
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Post by davesenesac on Mar 2, 2020 16:27:07 GMT -8
This news link article is worth looking at to understand how Americans will behave once the epidemic becomes widespread. Especially read the Comments.
www.yahoo.com/money/coronavirus-sick-leave-health-insurance-162016804.html
Many working people will not stay home if they get sick because they rarely do when sick today with similar symptom head colds or influenza. And that will guaranty many more will become sick and spread the disease. That is often due to not having emergency funds in reserve in case something unexpected happens so people must keep working. Yes our American credit debt system way of materialistic life where we peons are all supposed to be in constant debt to the benefit of financial corps and their wealthy powers. Also due to universal unstated corporate management pressures that pressure people to go to work unless extremely ill if they wish to keep their jobs. Outside of home mortgage debt, American people need to change their habits to buy goods and services only after they have the money.
Another unwise behavior of the many medically ignorant is they immediately go to their doctors or hospitals even for illnesses like head colds or flu expecting to get some medicine to help them despite the fact there is little that can be done with such virus diseases beyond buying over the counter medicines to treat symptoms. And that is especially the situation for those poor without medical insurance unable to pay bills that understand how to game the system so. Ridiculous recent statistics show about 100 million visits annually in the USA for head colds. Thus once the epidemic ramps up, there will be chaos in our hospitals and clinics as such desperate people crowd our hospitals and likely also spread the virus to healthcare workers.
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leafwalker
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Post by leafwalker on Mar 2, 2020 16:45:04 GMT -8
Not. So far, just something to read about and think about the foolishness of our leader.
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Post by autumnmist on Mar 2, 2020 17:06:05 GMT -8
Outside of home mortgage debt, American people need to change their habits to buy goods and services only after they have the money. I think you're harking back to the days before the credit card became something that people relied on more than they relied on their income. I remember paying only in cash, or using layaways, and saving up to buy things. Those days are long gone. Materialism seems to reign and be the guideline now. I won't deny the benefit of credit cards, but I think that spending has literally become distanced if not separated from ability to pay. The Black Friday circuses remind me of the obsession with consumer goods. Just saw an article and flagged it for later reading on how Millennials overspend, and how they need to adjust their spending. I've seen that in person, and just kind of shake my head and be glad that I'm not paying for all that stuff.
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gabby
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Post by gabby on Mar 2, 2020 19:08:26 GMT -8
Mortality rates appear to vary significantly by age, sex, and underlying conditions. See linkThanks a lot. I feel a lot better. I'm still in hiding for a year or two. :^D
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cweston
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Post by cweston on Mar 2, 2020 20:08:07 GMT -8
Slightly off-topic, but my church made some changes...
We now encourage forms of greeting other than hand-shaking during the passing of the peace.
We used to encourage everyone to touch the offering plate, even if you weren't putting anything into it, because it is an act of community. As of this Sunday, we're no longer encouraging that.
We altered the way the Eucharist is served, so that only one server, who washed their hands immediately beforehand, touches the elements.
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Post by hikerjer on Mar 2, 2020 20:16:48 GMT -8
I’ve taken to washing my hands more often but that’s probably something I should be doing anyway.
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