Health and Sanity Check-Ins

[sprocketta]

Things are crazy now. I think we are all trying to stay healthy and maintain sanity as well. I thought I would start this thread so folks can check in and discuss how they're doing. I want all my BIC friends to be okay. I will kick this off with a first post. Take care of yourself lovelies.

[treestar86]

@Ispend2much6  exactly.  so in that sense, it does get frustrating for the ppl that aren't affected by it.  and I think that's why ppl are just going to get fed up after a while and start going outside, bc as we've seen here, there are plenty of old ppl that don't even care!!  It would be more helpful to just quarantine those susceptible, rather than the entire population.  at least then the entire economy wouldn't collapse and have to spend trillions of dollars to ppl that can't work.

[Ispend2much6]

@treestar86   The unemployment does worry me.  So many people are suffering. 

[itscarin]

@jozkid @We’ve never seen anything like this so we have no idea how to process all the information we’re getting. The experts don’t even know what’s going on and are sending conflicting messages about do or don’t wear a mask. And then we have politicians who are just worried about the short term implications to our economy. 

I thought this thing was going to blow over at first too. I thought it’d be like SARS, Ebola, Zika, etc. and not effect me at all. Boy was I wrong!  

My boss was telling me Tuesday  how she didn’t think think the shelter in place order would last until June 10th. Yesterday we found out we have 48 hrs to get our personal belongings out of the office because fema is taking over our entire building to turn it into hospital beds for covid 19 patients which they expect to peak around middle of May. 

I’m normally very relaxed but this has me shook!  I’m worried we’re going to lose access to food. I bought seeds last night so I can grow some myself. This is how concerned I am. 

[Ispend2much6]

@itscarin   I think we are in the same state, but you are much farther north.  We have family up near you, so I'm glad you shared about FEMA taking over your work space. 

The only thing I heard about food is that on the west coast there were disruptions in the supply chains because they were the first large area to get infected.  This was expected to extend to the east coast (although for us it looks like it is getting leveled out some.)

The reason is, apparently Americans eat out a lot, and now that the restaurants are closed, more people are buying groceries.  And probably stocking up.  The distributors aren't set up for that kind of consumption, so are having to rework things.  It is stunning to me that King Arthur Flour has been out of flour for weeks already.  And still are.  I did find a couple of stores that had some, but only two.

[jen81]

@Ispend2much6  I’m in KC and have been trying to locate bread flour through online ordering. None to be had.  I went out his morning to target and found some. I had looked online at my local store but no such luck. Last time I went out physically two weeks ago the store was picked over and only one or two bags of white whole wheat flour. I did manage to get some yeast from amazon. I was amazed at how much things were picked over this am. No dried pasta what so ever. Some canned tomatoes. No chicken. There was so more expensive cuts of meat. Also found some sanitizing wipes which I was excited about! No sanitizer of course. Cheese was almost all gone. There was milk and plenty of yogurt. There were lots of workers stocking supplies though. I had purchased some dried pasta in February as a just in case along with canned pasta sauce. Not a lot just a few boxes. I think people are just going crazy and ordering/ buying a ton. 

[Ispend2much6]

@jen81   Target is where I was able to get a few packages of flour- good thinking!  It is a little crazy.  I found out that the wipes I stocked up on are not the best option for killing coronaviruses...now looking for alcohol based sanitizer!

[jen81]

Oh no @Ispend2much6   Probably ones I have 😩. I had been able to get some rubbing alcohol but that dries out your skin so quickly.  I Iike the sanitizer for kiddos and when I ran to store. some local place here is turning their distillery into making sanitizer but it’s hard to come by still. 

[Ispend2much6]

@jen81   I have Wet Ones.  They contain benzalkonium chloride.  Alcohol and chlorhexidine gluconate are the better chemicals.  But please don't trust my memory!

[sprocketta]

Wow @itscarin that's crazy! I hope you can stay safe and healthy.

[Ispend2much6]

@jozkid   I was floored today when my son got an invitation to drive in a car, with three other people, to a hiking site three hours away, and stay in their family's cabin overnight. 

No way.  If they are that careless to confine themselves in a car and breathing the same air for hours with strangers, imagine how careless they probably were in their everyday life, which increases the risk of infection.

Just as an aside note, I was kind of stunned that the invitation came from a girl.  I know I'm old-fashioned, but that seemed like a bold move for a nineteen-year-old classmate for a first "date."  And no, that relationship will not be encouraged.

[jozkid]

@Ispend2much6  When the first wave of warnings to socially distance came through here, my sons asked if they could go hiking with a friend of theirs who was sent home early from college. I love the kid — he's a great kid and a good influence on my kids. But I had to tell them no. It's tough to have to be the bad guy, but they needed to know this was for real.

As for your son's invitation, I'm shocked the girl's parents were going to allow them to go away together. Not from a sexual standpoint, but from a health one. That's too much togetherness to be safe.

[Ispend2much6]

@jozkid   There were going to be four people there, but it still seemed a little intimate when you don't really know each other.   It is tough for the younger ones in particular.  I would be okay with my son going for a walk in a park with a buddy, as long as social distancing occurred.  However, allergy season is in full bloom, so there would probably be a lot of sneezing, so they would have to walk 27 feet apart to avoid contagion. 🙂  They would have to yell at each other to talk.

But, yes, it's only yesterday that I started seeing a couple of other people wearing masks in the grocery store, and one of those was a health professional (wearing scrubs) shopping on their lunch hour.

The health dept. estimated that our city number is in the 300's, not the official 111, because of test results not yet returned.

[MissPuff]

@Ispend2much6  That is MIND BOGGLING! It's like all those kids that still partied during spring break, are now testing positive, and just going home to all their respective states, then wandering around. WHAT?!

[Ispend2much6]

@MissPuff   I saw a map that showed the movement of the spring breakers via tracking their cell phones- the whole East Coast looks like it was contaminated.  Our beaches are "closed," except for fishing and exercise..  But the rental homes and hotels are open so...what's the point?  We already started getting people from NY, NJ, and CT, since all the beaches around that area are legitimately closed.

And cruise ships- no way would I go on one right now.  I can't wrap my brain around that!

[MissPuff]

@Ispend2much6  The rental and vacation homes thing is a HUGE issue up in New England. Locals that live year-round on the Cape and in the Berkshires are reporting tons of out-of-towners coming in way early (no one goes to the Cape in MARCH), clearing out supermarkets, then congregating in groups and otherwise acting like they're on vacation, NOT social distancing. These towns often have just one or two small hospitals, with a limited number of beds and staff and are not meant to handle ALL of these new people coming in (and it seems, bringing new cases of covid19 with them!).

[pocketvenus]

@MissPuff @Ispend2much6 This is happening too in Ontario's cottage country. These places have a seasonal economy and there isn't the retail capacity and maybe not in the healthcare system.

[Ispend2much6]

@pocketvenus   Kind of shows how easy it is to be short-sighted and assume that everywhere else is the same as your own four corners of the world.  I may have invented/mixed up some platitudes there!

Some stronger intervention is needed in those cases. 

[Ispend2much6]

@MissPuff   Exactly.  I'm sorry this is happening in your area also.

[itscarin]

@Ispend2much6 @I’ve read that parents are having a hard time controlling their older children. Especially since other parents are not enforcing this. The entire country is shutting down. You think the ceos of Nordstrom Sephora ulta etc make the decision lightly to close their doors for weeks?  This is not a test!  This is the real deal. 

[Ispend2much6]

@itscarin   I can imagine.  I had hoped that after their usual spring break time was over, the quarantine would seem more serious, but I guess not.  It is hard on the younger ones to be away from their friends. But they could still get together outdoors, in groups of 10 or whatever, but keep a distance.  

[pocketvenus]

@jozkid Please stay safe! Arg! It's like some people cannot compute that healthcare workers are literally preparing to die.

I just read an article about covid denial and climate denial. The interviewee basically said people are happy to defer to experts and science so long as they are comfortable with the implications of it. But if not, they will just deny the facts and evidence. Her suggestion was that you understand and recognize someone's pov and emotional state and start from there. Not that anyone has the time to do that with an acquaintance.