I’m interested in hearing thoughts about this as well. I’ve seen pictures of near-empty flights, then other pictures of the more typical sardine thing. We have been talking about the feasibility of going to St Martin in January. My gf saw that airfare is lower than it was in recent years. I’m not at the point yet where I want to be on a crowded plane. I may never reach that point again.
I’m also wondering if all the current airlines will still be in business. Any chance of consumers loosing their $$ if an airline folds?
My completely unscientifical opinion is that you can’t sterilize the breath/droplets exhaled by CV carriers. Nor will a mask protect others unless that mask is sealed to the face of the infected person. What I’m reading is that the longer people are in a space together, the more hazardous it is. So dashing in and out of the grocery store is not so risky. Sitting next to (or even six feet away from) people in church, at a concert, and certainly for hours on an airplane is quite risky. YMMV.
I just ordered an anti-body test kit in Germany. I will get in a week, I guess. I will take a blood sample from my finger, fill the blood into a tube and send it to the lab and will be able to see the results online. I am already excited. I will be terribly disappointed if I learn I don’t have the antibodies.
Thanks. I am also concerned about the security screening. I sure hope they aren’t making everyone take off their shoes, walk around, and putting everyone’s bags through the same X-ray, (the cloth “drapes” as each bag enters and exits would be, AIUI, a prime spreader of viruses,) unless somehow you can spray some disinfectant on all bags.
We had planned this last weekend to do a weekend getaway in Kansas City. We were uncertain how much had reopened there and, frankly, are hesitant to stay in a hotel as of yet.
My daughter had the anti-body test last week, was negative. She had concerns about her bout with the flu end of December. She was still completely wiped out at the end of January, with issues that trailed on even into March. While she resides in a small college town, they have a fair amount of international students from China.
Yesterday she woke up, coughing, throat on fire, slight temperature.
Strep test negative, now she’s pending results from a COVID test. On her way out the doctor’s office, two people brushed up against her. She thought nothing of it. As she was waiting for her ride, someone from the office came out and told her she was just exposed, go home, decontaminate, check for signs, etc.
Mercifully, I have been about as unaffected as humanly possible. I am tech support in a school district and, when Pritzker declared COVID-19 “An Act of God”, our shutdown was the equivalent of “paid administrative leave” The school calendar was unaffected so, even with Remote Learning in place, spring break happened and school closes on June 1st. More importantly, the key people in my life have been unaffected health wise, although I did lose one friend to the disease. I was completely work from home for 5 weeks. I returned to work 4 hours a day, Monday through Thursday, at the beginning of May, with the rest at home. When Remote Learning ends on May 29, I will begin the next week working a full schedule here in preparation for what will hopefully be the beginning of school during the 3rd week of August.
I think this quarantine is affecting folks in different ways even under the same roof. My wife has lost a ton of weight over the past two months. I’ve gained everything that she lost and then some.
She did have the Flu flu, poor kid. She was still on my medical at the time, had to drive down to pick her up, I want to say on 12/20? She was off work until mid-January, just wiped out, couldn’t breathe, coughed until dizzy, human snotbox. She tried going back to work as FT as she was, couldn’t make it through a normal 8 hour shift until almost mid-February. Even then, she would go home, eat then sleep for 12 hours.
Good news, as of her test yesterday, negative for COVID. But, they want her to stay at home for 14 days due to her exposure. She can’t afford to do that. Her boss asked if she was wearing a mask when she left. Yes. That was good enough for him, come to work in the bakery of a busy grocery store tomorrow.
As an update to my earlier posts I am still alive. My mom is still alive. My nephew is still alive. So far all the scares we have had have been false alarms.
My anxiety has been better but I am stressed a little as my state slowly opens back that we will have a resurgence of cases and have to go back to strict lockdown measures. I can’t wait until this is finally over.
Glad to hear from you. The anxiety takes its toll on you. The trouble with this anxiety is that it’s not about nothing. Most anxiety you can talk yourself out of-- is the plane going to fall out of the sky, if I get up on stage will people laugh me out of the building, is this lump a cancer that will kill me in six months… generally, those are not likely to happen. Not impossible, but not likely. But THIS that we’re all facing… it is a real danger. Not something to be blown off and ignored. That low level of reality-based anxiety humming in the background is like a vibration that just wears and wears and wears you down. Hang in there, buddy.
There is also the fact that life legitimately blows right now, even if you aren’t sick.
Up until 2 weeks ago I had a pretty sweet job which I was mostly doing from home anyway. Except for when I would occasionally travel to a client, training, or some conference - which I like. One of the things I always loved about my job is just going to another city for a few days and visiting some company and seeing how other people work/live for awhile. Ok, fine. That sucks. I’ll find another job eventually, but it’s still annoying.
But since I don’t know how long it’s going to take to find a job, we let our nanny go. Which sucks for her, but it’s probably for the best anyway. She was sick every other week with everything EXCEPT COVID-19.
So now I’m a stay at home dad, home schooling my son. Who, by the way tested on the autism spectrum last year. And as far as I can tell, his particular brand of high-functioning autism manifests itself as an obsession with all things LEGO and a complete refusal to do any school work I (just me) ask him to do. So IOW, very similar to the DSM-IV standards of being a five year old.
Because my wife works in the bedroom all day long (mostly on the same stuff that destroyed the economy in 2008), and I’m teaching my son all day, our daughter is mostly feral. Pausing from watching Disney+ films about princesses to hunt down and kill whatever food she can find around the house.
Of course there is nothing to DO all day (or night) anyway since everything is closed. I mean the whole reason we pay so much for an overpriced small condo on the Hudson River is because we both work in Manhattan and we spend a good portion of our time enjoying the benefits that provides - restaurants, bars, parks, museums, zoos, the NY Botanical Garden, etc, etc. I can’t even use my buildings gym anymore.
So mostly my routine (aside from my son’s schooling) is donning a stupid mask and going to a) Starbucks to pick up an app order, b) the grocery store or c) the liquor store. Sometimes d) takeout at a local restaurant.
I mean I don’t want to complain too much because everyone is healthy and even with my lack of job, we are better off financially than most. I actually just heard that our former next door neighbor passed away from COVID-19. He had moved to Brooklyn last year after he quit his job as our building’s super. So that kind of makes you think whether he would still be alive if he stayed here. And I have a couple of friends who caught COVID-19 and recovered.
I don’t know. I just fucking hate this shit. Like this virus attacks everything I like doing - occasionally traveling for work, hanging out with friends, drinking at my favorite local bars, going to restaurants with my wife, taking the kids places around New York City, just basically doing stuff - and basically leaves me trapped in an overpriced 1150 sq foot condo with my family annoying the crap out of each other 24/7.
A buddy of mine who owns a bar and a bar/restaurant, both of which might never reopen, messaged me a few days ago asking if I knew anything about a rumor that restaurants with outdoor seating could reopen.
I explained to him that the governor would announce this, not rely on word-of-mouth rumors. He insisted he’d heard this rumor from reliable sources, but he’d listen to me and wait.
Turns out several restauranteurs also heard this rumour and opened up for sales on their decks. All were quickly reported, fined, and shut down.
One of my favorite independent stores in Portland, ME won’t be reopening because of the pandemic. The owner is an awesome lady who has loads of neat stories about the Old Port, and the bags she made are absolutely gorgeous (and durable, too!). I can absolutely understand why she won’t reopen; social distancing in her shop would have been impossible.
The trouble with this anxiety is that it’s not about nothing. Most anxiety you can talk yourself out of-- is the plane going to fall out of the sky, if I get up on stage will people laugh me out of the building, is this lump a cancer that will kill me in six months… generally, those are not likely to happen. Not impossible, but not likely. But THIS that we’re all facing… it is a real danger. Not something to be blown off and ignored. That low level of reality-based anxiety humming in the background is like a vibration that just wears and wears and wears you down. Hang in there, buddy.