[SpookyZalost]

@guardian: you're forgetting that it wasn't 100 years ago that influenza was an epidemic like corona virus is now, it's not dumb it's just difficult to treat/kill because it's so gods d*** shifty and they're afraid of making it worse/stronger/harder to kill even if they've already done so.

I've been watching the corona virus inch closer and closer to my city.
no confirmed cases here yet, but it's hit maybe 2 or 3 cities away including denver, and it's kinda freaky how all the stores are running out of supplies as people panic.

as a side note: I've been dealing with the common cold this weak so I'm not sure I want to get sicker

[Guardian]

Well, just like the bird flu, swine flu, etc., the flu strain is different every year and can't properly be prepared for. It still kills more than the coronavirus, and they still haven't gotten it figured out. They're not going to. We know how to treat it and its symptoms to reduce potential problems but we still say just get the flu shot but keep living your lifestyle that's contributing to it. People need to get more sun (vitamin D), and eat healthier (Vitamin C and a ton of other vitamins and minerals) and stop eating so much dairy (inflammatory and has been linked to prolonged illnesses).

[Double Knot]

I live in the smallest province of Canada and people are starting to panic after the announced that first case was here a couple days ago from a 50 year old from who had just returned from a cruise. The lady got taste and has self-isolated herself so doesn't spread. There's short is of toilet paper, cans of soup and a bags of flour because are paranoid about that they don't want to go to eat.

[Darth-Apple]

I live in the smallest province of Canada and people are starting to panic after the announced that first case was here a couple days ago from a 50 year old from who had just returned from a cruise. The lady got taste and has self-isolated herself so doesn't spread. There's short is of toilet paper, cans of soup and a bags of flour because are paranoid about that they don't want to go to eat.

We've had much the same reaction here. I went to the store today, and it was a madhouse seeing so many empty shelves. Luckily, there's still plenty of food. Just not soup, toilet paper, and some of the other go-to items. 

Hope y'all fare well up that way. We have a number of members here from Canada, so please keep us updated!

[SpookyZalost]

same, we finally got our first few cases here, it went from 2 to 6 across today and we've had apocalypse levels of panic.

Grocery stores are out of food, restaurants are closing down, and everyone is remaining in doors.

and here I thought it was hard to find a date before... lol.

[Darth-Apple]

same, we finally got our first few cases here, it went from 2 to 6 across today and we've had apocalypse levels of panic.

Grocery stores are out of food, restaurants are closing down, and everyone is remaining in doors.

and here I thought it was hard to find a date before... lol.

Lmao  Never easy to find a date...

What state are you in again? I'm keeping up with things pretty closely regarding the virus.

[Guardian]

This is just a trial run or the zombie apocalypse.

At least that's how people are acting...

[SpookyZalost]

same, we finally got our first few cases here, it went from 2 to 6 across today and we've had apocalypse levels of panic.

Grocery stores are out of food, restaurants are closing down, and everyone is remaining in doors.

and here I thought it was hard to find a date before... lol.

Lmao  Never easy to find a date...

What state are you in again? I'm keeping up with things pretty closely regarding the virus.

I'm over in Colorado, it's the college students who are sick in my city though.

[Darth-Apple]

@Zalost: Ah, I'm assuming they most likely cancelled colleges out that way as well?

My city isn't shut down yet. We're doing well. Some of us are in a frenzy but most of us are holding our heads up about it and are still optimistic. We will see how that goes in the next week or two.

[SpookyZalost]

@Zalost: Ah, I'm assuming they most likely cancelled colleges out that way as well?

My city isn't shut down yet. We're doing well. Some of us are in a frenzy but most of us are holding our heads up about it and are still optimistic. We will see how that goes in the next week or two.

I think so yeah, all schools are closed, as well as restaurants, small shops, recreational centers, and other related facilities, as well as physical and social distancing being encournaged.

my work is actually talking about setting up a work from home plan, instead of closing IBM entirely.

[Lain]

I'm actually loving the panic right now.

We're decently stocked up on food rn if shit hits the fan. No need for like 100s of rolls of TP when I can get a bidet from Amazon for like 30$ if need be, but my family usually keeps a pretty hefty amount of non-perishables in the basement anyway, like bags of rice, lots of boxes of instant ramen, canned checkpeas and tomatos, etc. basically everything that has decent nutritional value. We topped it up over the last few days because of the panic. Not that we want a massive stockpile, but shelves are running low or empty in some grocery stores, so best to just make sure we have enough if that keeps up and not for if the virus goes crazy and all of a sudden 70% of the city gets infected.

My in-person classes are cancelled for the time being until they can be fully put online, but the University campus is still open and is operating as usual (normal office hours for professors, other student and admission services same business). I needed to talk to a professor about a grade I got a while ago. Wasn't a bad grade, but I'm just not sure about one of the questions and I reckon it'll be on my next midterm so I wanted to get it clarified. Well, I forgot the assignment at home and only realized after my 1hr+ commute to campus, so scrapped the idea of seeing the prof. and instead decided to go study for a bit in my fave building with all the nice study rooms.

These rooms are usually full-capacity or more (people stealing chairs from other rooms) but right now, I'm sitting here and it's probably like 5-10% full. Everything is nice and clean (probably recently sanitized over the weekend) and since services are operating as normal, our Health Promotion student service (free pregnancy/carbon monoxide/drug/HIV testing and other goodies) gives out free hand sanitizer bottles to anyone who asks. Luckily, barely anyone even knows they exist, so they're stocked up and they love when anyone drops by. There's like 0% risk of being infected here. We've only broken two confirmed cases in a week, both completely unrelated and both only began to show symptoms very, very recently and came into contact with almost no-one before then. Neither of them are students or have any relation to students as far as we know, too, so again campus should be fine.

---

On a slightly unrelated note, Rant Time.

I talked to one of my friends recently whom I met with for a crazy acid trip back in early february (2nd or something?)
He's a few years younger than me, just graduating HS now, and he's Polish, as am I, so we mainly got to know each other through mutual friends in the Polish community here. No, I'm not corrupting the youth with illicit substances, he does shrooms all the time too. Chill.

Well, his mom was recently in Poland to visit family since the flights were a bit cheaper before spring break and all that. During that time, Poland experienced its first few cases of Corona. So her stay ended, she came back on schedule.

The very next day, Poland closed its borders. All incoming and outgoing flights cancelled until further notice.

She was incredibly lucky, and is currently sitting in self-quarantine (with my boy) at home to make sure she didn't contract anything. They're both healthy and happy as far as we can all tell, though, but precautions are good and employers in my area are generally pretty understanding of that because they also don't want to get sick.

And now we're seeing Trudeau closed Canada's borders for flights today as well.
(wtf Trudeau raysis now????)

Anyway, my family met with mutual friends of my boy and his family two days ago on Saturday.
And ngl, I kinda hate them a lot. Two parents and a daughter, daughter wasn't there though. But the mom is high-key insane, even though we all pretend not to notice (except myself since I don't take bullshit from people, be shitty, go f*** yourself). The subject of my friend's mom came up, because they knew she was taking a trip and apparently this woman has been calling her place since she was supposed to get back, getting no reply. So, of course she starts running her mouth that either friend's mom got stuck back in Poland, or is just ignoring her by not answering, and getting heated for literally no reason. Typical.

Well, I chime in, since I do know about the situation. I tell her that friend's mom is currently in self-quarantine, she got lucky and managed to get back the day before borders closed. Then she flips her shit like 'why isn't she picking up the phone? She's ignoring me? She's sick so she's in quarantine now????' the usual over-reaction you'd get from her.

And, well, I don't take this kinda bullshit.

"No, she just might be at risk because of the cases in Poland plus the risk of flights with an infected person or being in close proximity like at the airport with someone who may be infected. She's taking the normal precaution to self-quarantine, that doesn't mean she's sick. I shouldn't have to f*** explain this shit. Cut the woman some slack. She's got more important shit like the illness on her mind, calling friends can f*** wait until she's confirmed safe. It's not about you, for f*** sake."

That's mostly in-quote from what I remember. She was a little pissed, needless to say.

Most Polskis are like this in my area. I find it pretty unbearable so I try not to associate with them too much, but if I'm forced to, I'm not afraid to call out their bullshit.

Rant over.

[Lain]

Just got word from my (host) family in Japan, so here's a little insider update from over there:

• Their prefecture (Kanagawa) has only a few cases, something like 60, but most people are trying to self isolate.
  
• They have a family-owned business making treats (mochi, dango, all sorts of buns, etc.) which has been hit pretty bad with cancellations and basically shutdown.
  
• More people work from home because most jobs are office jobs in Japan.
  
• Subways and public transit are still just about as crowded as ever, though. Lots of people still work non-office jobs like at the stations, or construction, landscaping/maintenance, etc., so that could significantly impact the infection rate. Don't know how many of those jobs are impacted, but Japan does have one of the most unproductive populations. **
  
• Shonen Jump!, the largest anime publisher/producing studio (Naruto, One Piece, etc.) has made their magazine free online so people can try to not lose their minds from the mundanity of staying indoors all day.
  
• Seems like pop-culture stuff is getting delayed there too, we might see Evangelion 4.0 get delayed again. That being said, most mangaka are shut-ins anyway so your fave manga will still have a chapter ready in due time.
  
• Most universities and higher-education have fully cancelled the semester. No online, no nothing. Just a full cancellation until perhaps the next semester/term in May. Campuses are closed (although residences are generally privately-owned, so no issue there,) but there's no word about compensation yet for the paid classes and lost time.
  

From our short convo today. I didn't want to drag it on too long because although I messaged them at like 4AM (Eastern Time, -5:00) last night (5PM their time), they only got back to me at like 2PM my time (or 3AM there) and I figured they would want to get some sleep.

---

** - I don't mean any offense to that statement, that's how J-List senpai/owner (Peter Payne) described it in a blog post/email which I can't find now. But as an anecdote, in some subway stations (Tokyo) they have typical ceiling tiles. One time while travelling, I saw a crew replacing a damaged one. There was a total of six or seven people in that crew:
1. Getting up on the ladder to replace it.
2. Holding the ladder as to not let it fall
3. To pass the replacement tile to the guy on the ladder.
4. To take the damaged tile from the guy on the ladder.
And a few people to literally just stand around and 'guard' the crew from people walking by, maintaining enough room to work in.
Not to mention they already had orange tape + pylons around the area to do the same job as those last few guys.
I think there was also someone holding a light, but that might have been the guy that was passing the replacement tile to the guy on the ladder.

In the West here, you'd send a crew of three people tops to do that job. Maybe even two. Partially because it's way cheaper to do it that way, but also because you really don't need that many people to do a simple job like that.
Their unemployment rate might be low, but many of the 'taken' jobs are just like that. Most of those jobs, however, are usually just like week-long contracts or whatever that you would find in a magazine at the subway station. Many of those jobs involve stuff like crossing guards for alleyways where cars don't drive anyway, and whatnot.

[Darth-Apple]

Interesting post @Lain.

Seems like much of the world is going through the same sort of thing right now. Transportation and subways don't surprise me. I mean, you still gotta get around, and how else are you going to do it?

I love how magazines are making their products free... The west would never, in a million years, attempt that. I love it.

[Lain]

Interesting post @Lain.

Seems like much of the world is going through the same sort of thing right now. Transportation and subways don't surprise me. I mean, you still gotta get around, and how else are you going to do it?

I love how magazines are making their products free... The west would never, in a million years, attempt that. I love it.

I mean

Pornhub (Premium) is free for Italians right now
Get your VPN going

[Darth-Apple]

Interesting post @Lain.

Seems like much of the world is going through the same sort of thing right now. Transportation and subways don't surprise me. I mean, you still gotta get around, and how else are you going to do it?

I love how magazines are making their products free... The west would never, in a million years, attempt that. I love it.

I mean

Pornhub (Premium) is free for Italians right now
Get your VPN going

America would never.

[Darth-Apple]

My job had its first suspected case today. They are getting tested currently, and it’s likely that a lot of people were exposed ad a result during the past few days. It appears we may be shutting down.

My city is still functioning well. Most places haven’t closed yet, and people are still living a normal life more or less. Toilet paper is back on the shelves, but the stores are still very busy and there is a lot less traffic. We can’t eat out anywhere unless we take out, and the restaurants that are still open are very busy.

The beach is still busy. The malls are closed, the theaters are closing, and there’s not much left to do but the beach. The parks are busy. We’ve been organizing a lot of basketball teams because there isn’t much else to do.

We are holding up well so far though. Hopefully this stays the same after the weekend. From the looks of it, this will all be changing very soon for us.

[SpookyZalost]

so on sunday I'm getting my work laptop and setup to work from home.

starting monday night I'll be working from my house... for at least 2 months, and until further notice due to concerns of the virus.

[Darth-Apple]

so on sunday I'm getting my work laptop and setup to work from home.

starting monday night I'll be working from my house... for at least 2 months, and until further notice due to concerns of the virus.

They're sending everyone home across the country, and nobody has any idea how long any of this will last. Hope they are able to get it under control soon. 

You work at IBM IIRC?