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Offline Tisslils  
#1 Posted : Friday, March 13, 2020 3:43:43 AM(UTC)
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Be careful. Wash your hands, wear a mask.

Things are getting serious. I wouldn't be surprised if the ICUs in the states get overwhelmed in the way it happened in Italy. Unlike the flu, a lot of people will need ventilators and intubation. With this, the mortality rate is low. If ICUs get overwhelmed, the mortality rate skyrockets.
A lot of my colleagues involved with infectious diseases are worried about this.

Be careful, I wouldn't want one of my favorite authors to die. Especially before he finishes writing his books. :)

Edited by user Friday, March 13, 2020 3:50:57 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Offline The Author Guy  
#2 Posted : Tuesday, March 17, 2020 2:23:30 PM(UTC)
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Thanks, but it's too late, I've already got the "something"

I really think it's the flu, I had a friend catch the "thing" two days after going for an outpatient test at a hospital, he was at my place the day he started feeling sick, then two days later, while he was there again, I started feeling sick, almost exactly 48 hours after him.

The first week was worse than I've had in a decade, standard cold like symptoms, plus low grade fever of about 100, chills, sweats, aches and total exhaustion. So I self quarantined at that time.

My friend was over it in under 2 weeks, but I'm in week 3 and still having exhaustion and low grade headache, but some of that could be allergies and the fact that I am still in freaking overdrive with work. I always work from home except for visits to client sites, which I stopped doing, and do everything on Zoom...

I'm in Chicago, and we've now gone whole hog, all restaurants are closed for dine in, so delivery or pickup only, and many stores are limiting the number of people that can come in. Movie theaters are closed as well.

So, very weird. But I am bunkered down, now only Tizzy comes in and out, and demon germs don't seem to affect people.

Keep safe yourself. Everyone!
Offline Tisslils  
#3 Posted : Wednesday, March 18, 2020 2:54:10 PM(UTC)
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Oh gosh. This really reflects the poor ability of the US currently to detect and test for this disease. Did you or your friend ever try getting tested at one point or another?

Stay safe, monitor your fever and breathing. If you get difficulty at any point, you should head to the ICU asap. We have stories of patients dropping dead in their homes because they thought they were going to ride it out in isolation, and then testing positive post-mortem.
Offline The Author Guy  
#4 Posted : Wednesday, March 18, 2020 8:21:01 PM(UTC)
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Testing??

People in the rest of the world have tests for this thing?

Apparently the tests were stopped at Trump's border walls!

Dancing

It is absolutely pathetic how horrible the response has been here.

Pretty sure Astlan has a better healthcare system than the US.
Offline Korwin  
#5 Posted : Saturday, March 28, 2020 4:52:35 PM(UTC)
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Hope you are better.
I am in Home Office (two weeks next monday).


According to this site, 2.239 confirmed cases in Chicago:
https://gisanddata.maps....40fd40299423467b48e9ecf6
And that with the (apparently) bad testing...


Offline The Author Guy  
#6 Posted : Saturday, March 28, 2020 8:34:27 PM(UTC)
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I think this is going to cause people long term agoraphobia if it goes on too long.

So, I am sequestered in my "Dungeon" with my partner for about the last 2 weeks. We mainly only go out to grab a cup of coffee from any shop that might be open (almost all Starbucks are closed, 75% of locals are too) or a convenience store. None of which are heavily busy, all of which limit the number of people in store.

So yesterday we went to get some groceries at a nearby grocery store, which, historically, is always crowded and way too small due to urban environment (it has a parking garage on top of it). Riding the escalator down, I could literally feel psychosomatic symptoms like shortness of breath and dizziness, just staring at all the people in the store (actually fewer than normal for a Friday night before sundown, but still quite a few--there are a lot of synagogues in the area so this is a busy time)

And as I roam the store, I am wishing I had brought some latex gloves and I stare enviously at those with masks, even though I know the masks are useless if you aren't infected, and are only needed if you do have some sort of symptoms to keep you from spraying everyone/thing else.

It was surreal for me. It's also a big change from 7 days ago when I last went to a couple different stores trying to get what I needed.

The point being, the longer this goes on, the more ingrained it gets, the more effort it will take for people to get back to normal.

Even once full retail/bars/restaurants/theaters are open again, I think it's going to be quite a while longer before business comes back to normal.

Offline Ratchet Olympian  
#7 Posted : Monday, April 6, 2020 5:49:49 AM(UTC)
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Embrace your inner Howard Hughes.

Tissue box slippers are quite comfy actually.
Offline Dungeon Roomba  
#8 Posted : Monday, April 6, 2020 3:47:06 PM(UTC)
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I feel a bit sorry for everyone in more urban areas. We're not completely shut down here. Most fast food places are open, just drive-thru only. Grocery stores, convenience stores, parks, etc. are all still open, but limiting numbers of people. We're on the start of the wave, just now getting COVID-19 cases ramping up, but the curve is a lot flatter than most U.S. states have been. So we're hoping we won't get flattened like a lot of more urbanized states. Basically, when your nearest neighbor is 1/4 mile away, "social distancing" just means a Tuesday. LOL

Hope you start feeling better, though, TAG.

BTW, what's up with ZOOM? I literally never heard of the program until COVID-19 showed up, and everyone was like "work from home with ZOOM". I've used Skype for years, but took a look, and can't really tell a difference between Zoom and Skype. Well, except for all the security flaws I'm hearing about. Why is everyone so gungho about Zoom all of a sudden?

Edited by user Monday, April 6, 2020 3:50:13 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Gelatinous Cube
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"Because there's always a 10x10-foot room for Jell-O"
Offline The Author Guy  
#9 Posted : Tuesday, April 7, 2020 4:37:30 PM(UTC)
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Rural areas will be much slower, although psuedo-rural areas could be hit very hard.

By psuedo I mean areas that are technically considered rural, but not as rural as say midwestern states or western/non-coastal.

What I call the mideastern states, or the rust belt, places that have higher population densities than say Iowa or Nebraska but still not quite urban. Those areas have been grossly affected by medicare and medicaid cuts that rural hospitals depend on, resulting in closures and lack of adequate medical care. Not that full rural regions don't have this problem, but there the social distances are much greater than 500 ft or 1000 ft.

Zoom is closer to WebEx or GoTo Meeting than Skype, although Skype has evolved that way too.

Big thing with zoom is an easier to use interface that makes it more fun/easy to use, and a better pricing model including a free tier, so for companies, universities, heavy meeting people get paid subscriptions and others that don't do large meetings are free, but can also initiate.

The free tier is unlimited time in 2 person meetings and 40 minutes in larger meetings. Then they also have very good conferencing tools for huge meetings/conferences with 100s, and thousands of participants.

So, it's basically all those other video thing v3.0 and feels more like the most modern tools. One cool aspect is green screening (even without a green screen) so you can hide all the dirty clothes strewn about the house/home office.

The big problem with Zoom Bombers is users not setting their permissions correct. Not password protecting meetings and allowing them to be open to everyone that wants to join. There are mitigation tools, like a "waiting Room" but originally those weren't turned on by default, now they are. Of course, if you do want a big town hall where strangers come in, a Zoom Bomber is going to be a risk.

In particular though, it's been hugely popular for online classes because of whiteboards and the ability to let anyone share their desktop, web recording and just more advanced/easy to use features that were either not there, cost extra or were hidden on the other services.

Offline The Author Guy  
#10 Posted : Tuesday, April 7, 2020 4:40:27 PM(UTC)
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It's also a great way to play otherwise in person games since it's all very visual, and you could, for example setup a "Dice Cam" account and have a separate account pointed at the dice for everyone to see, or just move your own camera to show your dice role, or the Trading Card you are playing. Etc.

You can see everyone at once and whoever is talking gets highlighted or more attention, and if you have multiple monitors you can have multiple screens etc.
Offline Mikey  
#11 Posted : Sunday, April 19, 2020 9:19:26 PM(UTC)
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Here in Finland, we've been on lockdown for quite a while.

I started in February, before it was really a thing, but I've yet to use a face mask even though I was able to grab some in January, when the news from China became public.

In theory, people can still go to work, but in practise, employers that make people who could work from home, come to the office, are shat upon from up high. The country's president is mostly a figurehead, but quite respected, and apparently he's personally called some of the managers who have been reported in the social media for doing that, and had a short, confidential, discussion. People got the message, even though he has no real power beyond persuasion.

Traffic between the most infected capital region (where I live) and the rest of the country was cut for a month, but was reinstated after the rest of the country became pretty much even, on a per capita level.

All schools are closed, except primaries for the children of emergency workers.

Restaurants, cafes, bars and pubs are closed, but can deliver food.

Pretty much everything else is voluntary, and people are pretty good about following the restrictions voluntarily.

Of course, it's pretty cold outside, so making the decision to stay in is currently quite easy.

Edited by user Sunday, April 19, 2020 9:21:03 PM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Offline The Author Guy  
#12 Posted : Tuesday, April 21, 2020 4:50:33 PM(UTC)
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Very similar here in Chicago.

But of course, there are various crazies that have to protest and rebel and cause me to marvel at their stupidity.

I get irritated reading or hearing about them and make grumblings about praying to Darwin to cast a "Natural Selection" spell upon these people but to no avail...since...well...obviously he's not a god.

Despite crazy politicians and rich people that want to save the economy at the expense of lives, the fact is, the economy, no economy, is going to recover until people feel safe going out and about and shopping and dining and whatever. You can try and open all those things if you want, but some workers won't go and a lot of customers won't either.

But...summer will create a much harder test, it's easy to stay sheltered in place when its cold and nasty, we see it here, sheltering is great when its snows or is cold, but sunny warm days, everyone is walking their dog and out and about. So it will be an interesting test. But I still bet people won't go to stores or theaters etc until they feel safe.

Offline Dungeon Roomba  
#13 Posted : Tuesday, August 4, 2020 12:52:51 PM(UTC)
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BAH! I jiggle at this human frailty! This ringvirus thingy is just a pain in the corners.
Gelatinous Cube
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Offline Tizzy  
#14 Posted : Sunday, September 6, 2020 5:47:26 PM(UTC)
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One ringvirus to rule them all!
Offline Dungeon Roomba  
#15 Posted : Monday, September 7, 2020 9:18:42 PM(UTC)
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From what I've been hearing from a couple of the "Earth" planes, the ringvirus has pretty much conquered the world, restructuring societies to it's liking, and isolating people to more easily control them like puppets. Soooo, I suppose you're correct...as always!
Gelatinous Cube
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"Because there's always a 10x10-foot room for Jell-O"
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