This morning someone sent me a silly video about the virus. Which got me to thinking, is there a point at which the average person has acquired sufficient basic info to reasonably deal with the virus after which their attention might better be directed at simply enjoying their life as best they can?
I’m not suggesting anyone act irresponsibly. But once you’ve decided how you intend to shelter-in-place, is your time better spent researching more and more about the pandemic, or directing it in more pleasant - or at least benign - directions?
Of course this would differ depending on whether your income has taken a hit, or if someone you love is seriously ill. I’m just wondering what your thoughts might be as to how much information about the virus is enough. I respect caution and responsibility, but I sense some people are causing themselves more stress than necessary, when they could view the current situation as an opportunity to do whatever they might previously have felt they lacked the time to do.
For me, the sole big negative has been not seeing my granddaughter as frequently as I’d like. But otherwise, I’m playing more music than ever before, my wife has been painting, we’ve been training our puppy, I’m enjoying reading Shakespeare… Focussing on those is far better for my mood than dwelling on the worst-case scenarios.
Hell - I can be glib. This morning my wife was able to score our brand of TP at the local grocery! 
If a problem can be solved, there is nothing to worry about. If a problem cannot be solved, then worrying will do no good.
At first I was watching the news constantly, but after CA Governor Newsom announced the statewide stay-at-home order and I understood the conditions of that, I pretty much disengaged from the news. It’s easy to get worked-up about the spiraling situation and there is an ease for info overload. I have been staying away from the news except for about an hour of local news on TV, and no facebook (not that I was a frequent user anyway). I have work to do, go out walking for an hour at least once a day with good music, ride a bicycle, eat and drink well, and get plenty of rest, and try not to think too much about what it going on - I have no control over the situation - only how I handle things in my own world.
I think more about the social response to it, than I do about the actual disease. Social isolation is a physical thing, but it foments enormous amounts of fervor over society itself. Polarization is along the same lines as always, but the intensity is ratcheted up daily. The right has to support the current administration more fervently than ever. All the things they were crowing about, the DOW, unemployment, international alliances are now at least in question, if not obviously crumbling. So, the Right can tolerate no criticism, and the left can offer no suggestions aside from blame.
Ugly facts don’t make a firm foundation for long term planning. A whole lot of people are going to die, and a whole lot of people are going to go broke. A different bunch of people are going to make a whole lot of money because of it. Sixty acres of estate, and thirty people who consider living at work a benefit more than they ever have before are a fair approximation of quarantine. Soup kitchens are better than starving, but they are not close to quarantine.
A president who immediately follows the advice of the CDC with a smug pronouncement that he has no intention of following it has to be accepted as brave leadership by anyone who doesn’t want to face that he is not a stable genius, after all.
Since around the middle of February, the majority of my internet usage has revolved around the virus. But I don’t think it has been wearing me down any. I am still working, doing yardwork, playing with my cat, doing my housechores, hiking in the woods, shopping for stuff online, strolling through the neighborhood, reading a memoir, and thinking about what to eat for dinner. All while listening to music.
I’m worried, don’t get me wrong. My scary dreams remind me that current events really are hitting me psychologically. But it’s not like I’m hiding under my covers with a face mask one in one hand and a shotgun in the other.
I probably would feel differently if I lived in a hot zone. Or if I knew someone who was struggling for their life right now. And as far as I know my income is fairly secure. It’s easy to not worry when you know you can pay your bills or keep yourself fed. And I don’t have to worry about my boss forcing me to go into the office. A lot of people who are really anxious have to deal with shittiness that I am not having to deal with.
I don’t spend a lot of time online looking up stuff about the virus and I’m not personally worried; I found the recent Labour Party leadership selection (in the UK) more interesting, even though I’m not British. I’m young enough that the risk of illness is low, but I live with my elderly mother, so I could not have symptoms but still make her sick. So I stay in a lot. My mother, as mentioned in another thread, is anxious, and is always trying to get me to believe conspiracy theories sent to her via WhatsApp.
My niece was supposed to graduate last year, but failed, and failed the first term this school year. We want her to move out when she graduates because she’s not a pleasant person to be around. She finally smartened up and went to school for all the days this term, presumably because they won’t let her repeat again, until schools were closed. There is little info on what will be done to save the school year. Apparently online? But how will they even contact adult students like her (do they even have her phone number?) and while she has a laptop, it wasn’t working last week. Good luck getting someone to fix it. I’m sure there’s many poor students who don’t have computers too, only smartphones.
Also, it impacts my work. I’m basically paid to do nothing. Good for me, I guess, but not sustainable.
Grocery shopping has become a real irritation. People don’t space themselves out, and things other than toilet paper sell out fast such as perishable food, on the day they are resupplied. Grocery stores close earlier. I can’t go to restaurants (I know at least a few are open, but I avoid them). Some of my hobbies are done in person, and the online version is less satisfying or we can’t “meet up”. I’m craving steak for some odd reason and ordered some takeout (I don’t know of any restaurants that will deliver steak) which is very expensive.
My last doctor’s appointment, and one next week, have to do be done over the phone or online. This is less satisfying.
So not thinking about the virus itself much, but thinking about the impacts it is having on my life and the lives of people I know (and in general).
I’ve been thinking about it almost every day for a bit. Mostly how it’s affecting my mom. She’s in an assisted living place.
I was thinking about it way too much. And way early since my old company had a major factory complex in Wuhan, and one of my good work buddies in Wuhan was patient zero for that company (he was a deaths door in the ICU, but recovered and went back to work after a few weeks).
Live in Seattle, with relatives in China, so probably ahead of the curve than most folks.
My new company instituted mandatory work from home the first week of March. My first day consisted of getting my badge and laptop, and then being told to work from home. Being a new job, I wasn’t that busy and read waaaaay too much news.
Now I have settled down to checking the health departments of communities I care about, and tracking the daily number of tests and positive cases. This New York Times tracker is awesome: How Severe Are Coronavirus Outbreaks Across the U.S.? Look Up Any Metro Area - The New York Times
In other words, I’m watching the data. Quit watching the daily propaganda broadcast from the white house amatures or spending more than about 10 minutes on covid related news per day. And the data for my area and the places I have close personal connections to, is showing to be cautiously optomistic. Which is obviously not the case for a huge chunk of the world.
I think about it, but I follow the news less than I did in the beginning. Except of course, the news I get here. I don’t have cable, only a Roku, and I never watch any news on TV or on the computer. I only read news stories online-- local paper, NYTimes, WaPo, Atlantic. I’ve also started shutting down the computer and avoiding all news on my phone or kindle from 7 pm on. Sometimes I check this board once after that before I go to bed. One reaches a saturation point after a while.
The isolation thing isn’t that different from my regular retired not-much-social life before CV, and when we get back to “normal,” my daily life won’t change much.
Obviously thinking about it too much: I’ve had several coronavirus-related dreams in recent nights.
You’re not the only one. Article about people having coronavirus dreams.
Not any more. Coronavirus hours are 9:00 to 9:30 and 18:00 to 18:30. If I am tempted to research or think about in between I wait for the next allotted worrying time and get on with something else…
Right now it’s my job to think of it. I see patients in the office 5 days a week, including suspected COVID infections, and on the weekends I work from home catching on labs and details and trying to help with the pandemic planning. I worry about my daughter with her lung disease. If she gets it, it would be very bad. I’m going a bit squirrelly, but the Mrs. and I took a nice walk in the woods with the dog today, in the sunshine, and that helped.
Last night we watched Frozen II, which we both thought sucked. Tonight it’s either Jumanji II or maybe the new pixar one, Onward! Tomorrow night it’s Westworld.
Then back to the health unit on Monday by 6:30 AM, get screened to make sure I’m not feverish, and start work again. I’m generally home by 4:30.
I’m not working near as hard or under as bad a conditions as many of my colleagues in NY and other really hot spots, though. I’ve got that to be grateful for.
I mentioned this in another thread: personally, my stress level is weirdly, bizarrely low. The things that stress me out are all gone: I am getting enough sleep for the first time in at least a decade. I don’t have a commute. I feel a lot less pressure to be an active mom, coming up with things to go see and playdates and park visits and engaging activities. I can just chill with my kid, and he’s great. I’m not going to have my professional worth evaluated by test scores this year. Whatever additional costs this quarantine has brought are more than offset by spending we are no longer doing, and my job is about as secure as anyone’s can be. I’m still working, teaching from home, but that’s an interesting challenge, not a burden. I can get it done in less hours than I was spending before. I am getting chores done, going on more walks.
But I still worry a lot about the state of the world, the course of the pandemic. I can’t imagine skipping the news for a day, or even a half day. Part of it is just worry: I want to keep my eye on what’s happening. The other part is just a sense that history is unfolding before me, and I should pay attention. Good lord willing, I’m gonna read the book in 5 years, and then the next book in 10 years, and then another one in 20. I want to remember what we knew now, what it seemed like, so I can have that context later.