Coronavirus Sars-CoV-2/Covid-19 Megathread

[viper37]

Working effectively digitally is a skill. It has to be learned. Face-to-face is always going to be easier, because it's what our monkey brains are attuned to. In my experience, once you shed that crutch, it's actually pretty liberating.

Virtual shouting is not the same as a slap behind the head.

And all these mass murderers, trying to shoot people in deserted office and malls, you ever tought about these poor souls, now? 

[viper37]

I was, with great surprise on my part, authorized to work from home. You see, I am Test Tech & I work on all projects my work division does. I brought my lab home with me.

So, all those games on Steam, with early access, where we mere peons pay, you get to play them AND getting paid for it?  Damn.  I knew I missed something in life!
(just kidding I signed up for a few betas here&there, I'm actually happy I wasn't selected for the last ones )

[viper37]

After Netflix reducing bitrate in EU by 25%, YouTube has agreed to only permit SD streaming here for the next 30 days.

I'm wondering if they'll be offering discounts then for people paying for HD.

They'll possibly keep HD for those who pay.

[Agelastus]

East Midlands Railways (local train company) and Stagecoach (local bus company) are going to reduced timetables on Monday.

The bus timetable is not up yet.

The rail timetable...I won't notice the difference assuming that Sheffield University Hospitals don't shut visiting down completely.

[Seriously - one an hour to Sheffield, first stop Leicester, and another one an hour to Nottingham that serves the stops between London and Leicester is the basics of what they do now!]

[mongers]

East Midlands Railways (local train company) and Stagecoach (local bus company) are going to reduced timetables on Monday.

The bus timetable is not up yet.

The rail timetable...I won't notice the difference assuming that Sheffield University Hospitals don't shut visiting down completely.

[Seriously - one an hour to Sheffield, first stop Leicester, and another one an hour to Nottingham that serves the stops between London and Leicester is the basics of what they do now!]

Welcome to the pre-railway age. 

Ang, have you considered intermittently renting a car for you duties whilst the crisis lasts, there must be some good rental deals about, plus fuel will be relatively cheaper.

[merithyn]

I mentioned earlier but I wonder if we'll very soon view going outside without a mask if you've got a cold the way we view people spitting in the street.

As partial reasoning for why this seems to have been far less deadly in South Korea, this has been common there for years. Same in China.

[viper37]

3 restaurants closed here.
McDonalds and Tim Horton's only allow take-out now.
Subway was deserted yesterday, and they no longer give trays.

In Quebec city, Ashton (local fast food chain serving fresh (unfrozen) products has shut down.
Biggest furnitures and electronic stores (Tanguay) has shut down all its stores.

Most of them say they do it out of concern for the health of their employees or customers, but I suspect there's simply not enough customers going out to justify keeping these non essential services open.  Anyhow, with all that uncertainty flying around, it ain't really the time to buy a new tv or a new sofa.

[viper37]

I mentioned earlier but I wonder if we'll very soon view going outside without a mask if you've got a cold the way we view people spitting in the street.

As partial reasoning for why this seems to have been far less deadly in South Korea, this has been common there for years. Same in China.

Didn't protect the Chinese much, did it?

What worked in South Korea was agressive quarantine from day one, and they started to track infected people from the cellphones to make sure they would respecte the quarantine.  Patient 31 managed to escape all controls and only after she'd spread the disease a lot did they manage to track her and isolate her.  It ain't a question of mask.

I do not think that kind of surveillance would be possible in Canada or the US.

[Fate]

The surgical face masks help. Why do you think the CDC tells front line healthcare workers to wear the very same ones?

[Agelastus]

East Midlands Railways (local train company) and Stagecoach (local bus company) are going to reduced timetables on Monday.

The bus timetable is not up yet.

The rail timetable...I won't notice the difference assuming that Sheffield University Hospitals don't shut visiting down completely.

[Seriously - one an hour to Sheffield, first stop Leicester, and another one an hour to Nottingham that serves the stops between London and Leicester is the basics of what they do now!]

Welcome to the pre-railway age. 

Ang, have you considered intermittently renting a car for you duties whilst the crisis lasts, there must be some good rental deals about, plus fuel will be relatively cheaper.

I am probably the only Languishite who has never learned how to drive.

As an additional update I have now booked my food delivery for Thursday 16th April; this delivery day would have been available for the first time today on Tesco website.

There were no slots available before the 15th April. I can't be the only one who has now picked a day and is waiting for it to roll round every week to book my slot four weeks in advance.

Tamas will probably be surprised at the lack of expansion of capacity; ignoring the issues with buying and converting vans as well as hiring drivers I discovered when I had my delivery yesterday that the local Tesco was not making any of their booked evening deliveries yesterday or today, and that this might continue for some time...as they would have run out of stock by the time it became time to pack these deliveries thanks to the panic buying.

I really hope people get a grip soon...

If not, at least I book a 9am-10am slot...

[merithyn]

... over here ...

My ex learned of a second confirmed case in her circle. Either she's really unlucky or the situation in Barcelona is pretty bad.

I'm still not aware of any case among friends or family *touches wood*.

A friend of mine in Peoria, IL, has just been semi-diagnosed. (They're still not testing, but she has all of the symptoms and is a nurse.) She has a fever of 100-101f, chills, body aches, feels like there's a band around her chest, and is so exhausted she's struggling to do much at all around the house. She's young (mid-30s), healthy, and generally doing okay. But no question she has it and hasn't been tested.

No meds, no treatments. Just rest and stay home for 14 days.

[fromtia]

My employer is expecting me to come to work tonight, just got off the daily call. Trying to balance being sympathetic to the managers, who have found themselves suddenly doing a weird balancing act, with my desire to yell at them for being, in my opinion, reckless and ill informed. I strongly suspect that a number of them are still very much in the "its an internet panic" camp. Some of the official employer messaging on Hotschedules seems shaded by that.

Its been a great job, great income, love my colleagues and hope very much to return to normal in six months or so, but Im a bit frustrated with how behind the curve they are. Dont get me sick you fuckers its a $35,000 hospital bill or worse and also, small national and worldwide emergency going on requiring group participation to mitigate - have you not noticed?

My former mother in law dropped off a box of food. Very sweet. Also offered to help with my mortgage if I get into trouble (shes rather well off). Bless her.

I've been playing civ 5 mostly. Animal Crossing: New Horizons dropped last night, so gf has disappeared under a blanket on the couch for the next 5 weeks at least.

[Sheilbh]

Yeah at least one friend has it - not tested but given symptoms it sounds 100% like coronavirus.

[The Minsky Moment]

I'm not ready to join the lynch mob just yet.  If anything, peddling the libtard hoax line after the briefing and stock sales would tend to keep prices up, which they didn't benefit from.

Gives them more time to spread out the sales.

By the date of the briefing the virus' existence and early global spread were common knowledge.  What info could they have recieved in the briefing that would constitute "insider information?"

Lack of US preparedness, e.g. results of the 2019 simulation NYT reported today.

[Grey Fox]

I was, with great surprise on my part, authorized to work from home. You see, I am Test Tech & I work on all projects my work division does. I brought my lab home with me.

So, all those games on Steam, with early access, where we mere peons pay, you get to play them AND getting paid for it?  Damn.  I knew I missed something in life!
(just kidding I signed up for a few betas here&there, I'm actually happy I wasn't selected for the last ones )

Sadly, not really, I haven't work in gaming in 12 years. I make machine vision cameras.