Coronavirus Outbreak: Is it safe to travel?

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4363

This is honestly one of my biggest concerns in dealing with this. I’m absolutely certain that there are people who are not going to leave the house. Fear is a great motivator, and in some regards, people are essentially being conditioned to be afraid. While there is truth out there, sensationalistic headlines and charts and graphs that are nothing more than wild speculation give people much to be afraid of. There are people who are afraid to go outside without a mask. People who are afraid to go outside at all. People who are afraid that the virus is so small, it’s creeping in through the ventilation and there’s nothing they can do anyway. How will these people ever feel comfortable enough to resume their life and get back to living?

My mother is 70 years old. She enjoys taking walks and hates wearing a mask because it makes her feel suffocated. She’s walking in fairly empty areas and she feels better when she gets back. I applaud her for safely doing what it takes to keep up her mental health. Her sister and her good friend, on the other hand, scream at her because, with her age, she’s in a high-risk group and shouldn’t be going anywhere without a mask. They’re basically trying to convince her that by walking outside “unprotected” she’s going to drop dead. Fortunately, she can call me and we can talk it through. But the fear is out there and I am not confident that it will ever be eradicated for many people.

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4364

+1 to basically all your points.

Another thing to mention is that people’s current levels of fear and caution are with the effects of social distancing in place.

I know my levels of fear and caution are much higher than average for this forum. I think this is mostly because my sister-in-law is stuck at Northern Italy for almost 2 months now, they implemented social distancing very slowly there and I ended up hearing a lot of heartbreaking stuff from her (there were so many news, but it is different when it is someone you know living through it).

Without social distancing, fear and caution would keep rising by seeing people in the same community being affected. So people might start not feeling safe eating out but being Ok with going furniture shopping, and after weeks decide that they prefer to stay at home as much as possible. If 95% of people reach this conclusion, you end up with the same economic effects of social distancing, just a more spread out through a series of cascading effects.

And there is also the issue of, depending on local regulations, some people not being entitled to unemployment benefits if they quit their jobs because they or someone in their house is at a high risk group for corona, while at the same time needing the money to make ends meet. They might be better of receiving unemployment benefits then being forced to make such an impossible choice. But this is more on the ethics side of things then on the economic side of things.

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4365

My group at work had a video conference today. One of my coworkers asked us to predict when we would get to go to the office again. He said the closest guess will get a prize from him and he can personally deliver it!

Surprisingly, my coworker, whose family lives in China, gave the earliest date of May 15. We live in California. Our governor is slow to ease up on sheltering in place. He just announced 2 days ago that essential surgeries can once again be scheduled. Anyhow, this is the same coworker who was fearful and anxious in early February, wouldn’t go to group lunches starting as early as mid-February, and started telecommuting 2 weeks before we were mandated to shelter in place. What has changed her mind and given her such optimism?

Her family in China has been out and about doing normal things for more than 6 weeks. While everyone wears face masks outside, her elderly parents go shopping and go to doctor appointments.

We have 150 staff on two floors. If they allow 30 of us go to the office each day, there is plenty of space to social distance over two floors. Plus, we will be required to wear masks everywhere except our cubicle anyway. But many still won’t want to go to the office because they need to take public transit. I would be willing to go to the office once a week. I am not ergonomically set up to work at home like I am at the office. This has flared up my back and neck pains. I have a headache today because my back needs an adjustment. I need to go see my massage therapist and my chiropractor, but I can’t. I need a new prescription for my glasses to see better, but I can’t. As the list of these “sufferings” and no relief in sight, people will start rebelling.

We have certainly flattened the curve in CA and LA is nothing like NYC. But our cases and deaths have started to climb the last few days. We had our deadliest day yesterday, 115 deaths.

But all of CA is not LA or the Bay Area. Some rural areas should be able to phase in reopening now with precautions soon. They hardly have any cases or deaths.

We really need more testing and it is so so slow in the coming. The Governor has his 6 guiding points to reopen in phases. But people need more concrete information, which he can’t provide. His second phase of sheltering in place closed all of the playgrounds! Gardeners were required to shelter in place. I scratched my head over that one. One of our state colleges, CSU Fullerton, announced it will still be online come fall. I can see the other colleges following.

Sorry, I’m rambling because I’m in pain today.

On the plus side, we have extra time to spend with DS19 who came home to do online college this quarter. He didn’t get an internship this summer because of this shelter in place. And he will unlikely be able to work as a swim instructor. More time for him to spend with us! DH and I actually get to sit down for worship service together every week! We haven’t done that in probably 20 years because we go to different service to accommodate our areas of ministry.

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4366

I checked in with someone I know that’s a pretty solid medical research scientist. He feels pretty good about the chances for a vaccine. Figured he could get a better read on that situation than the average me.

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4367

How good are we talking? Just that one will eventually be found at all? Or that it will come sooner than the 18 months people keep citing?

4368

There was some speculation posted here (or another thread-it gets blurry?) earlier about a vaccine not being possible at all (there isn’t a vaccine for HIV or the common cold, for instance). I was curious if that had any merit so that was the specific speculation I asked him about.

It’s articles like this that are generating those speculations:

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4369

Since I am the queen of anecdotes - here’s another few.

I think SOME people are more than ready to shop.
I don’t know if they’d get on a plane, or go to a movie, but I think there plenty who want to shop.

I’m one of the naughty people who goes to the store whenever I need something. And I use need in the most traditional sense of the word, not the literal one. I did my big shopping at ALDI on Wednesday and most people were wearing masks, but a few were not. (It is mandatory in NY now). Then I went to Walmart and there were an handful not wearing them, including a man and woman I know and he is a first responder. :thinking: Both stores were super busy.

Then I went to Walmart again yesterday for things I didn’t have for tonight’s mission cooking. Again, they are limiting the number of people in, but it is still very busy inside. I think because no one is really shopping for clothes, or bedding, or such. They are all in food, health & beauty, and home improvement. Most carts had just a handful of random items. Rare to see a cart with just “essentials.” People were passing well within 6 feet, but doing so courteously. I asked someone who was taking forever if I could go past him, he was cheerful and said, “Absolutely. Sorry.”

After dinner I went to Lowes. I was there on the weekend too. It is SUPER busy. Good social distancing, but absolutely hopping. We have a contractor coming on Monday to give me a quote on a bathroom remodel and I need to know what kind of tile I want. There were lines in paint, the tile and flooring section was busy. There were people with consultants discussing kitchen and bath remodels. People were buying power tools and light fixtures.

Meanwhile in another county here in NY, Walmart is being threatened to be closed bc patrons are not doing good social distancing.

I think this is going to make crowds worse at Walmarts in nearby towns as people will get pushed to those. That same town closed a Lowes recently, too, so it may be a power thing?

I think it is hysterical that THAT Walmart is providing their staff with TWO MASKS A DAY and the nurses are getting one mask every five days.

Ok - enough anecdotes for one morning.

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4370

I am very concerned about the mental health issues. Since we closed schools on March 16th, I’ve had two students that had parents complete suicide. My school only has 900 students. We are looking towards the fall and how we are going to address the mental health of the staff, students, and families.

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4371

That’s so sad!

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4372

A walmart in Aurora (suburb of Denver) was closed yesterday

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4373

This has been discussed earlier in this thread. I’m sure you can find it. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

The first time I read a story about the possibly C19 could be more of a chronic virus, it depressed me. The only thing to do is hope for the best (completely against my nature).

everyday there seems to be something new. Perhaps this is because so much research and so many resources are now dedicated to this.

Also, I’m starting to feel that it isn’t just politicians using this to their own advantage. Get yourself a headline, and it shines light on you and your research.

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4374

It is very sad. It really is going to take years to process and heal from all of this.

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4375

In positive news, our pastor sent an email today detailing returning to Mass on the weekend of May 2/3rd!

For our small parish there will be:

  • 8 masses at 4 different times over two days

  • one of those times only for those 65 and older (although I don’t know how this really helps)

  • One family per pew (our family of 7 fills one comfortably by ourselves)

  • every other pew in use

  • Simultaneous masses in the main church and the old church.

  • Live broadcast to an overflow hall for 3rd location

  • Everyone to wear mask and use sanitizer upon entering the church or building

They are also asking that everyone go to their usual Mass time. We go to 8 am and I’m not sure how on earth we’ll pull that off. :crazy_face:

We have not decided if we will attend the first first week back - livestream will continue as will dispensation for not attending.

Anyone else have news about churches resuming?

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4376

We do have some data, based on places that had stay at home orders vs. those that did not. From a NYT article:

I was surprised at how small the difference was between places with and without stay at home orders. Of course, this is just one data point, but it illustrates how such things can be studied based on existing data.

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4377

I wish our church could return to Mass then. My DD8 was supposed to have First Communion May 2, but there’s no way it’s going to happen then.

4378

I read in several places here that people were unable to get glasses repaired or get a new glasses prescription. I looked at Lenscrafters and My Eye Dr, the two big chains that I’ve used here, and both are open for emergencies. Falling apart glasses sounds like an emergency to me. One of them specified that if someone is having trouble seeing and it’s really impacting them they will see that client. Of course, I know this kind of thing varies a lot based on where you live, but I wanted to put that out there in case it would help someone.

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4379

I was able to pick up contacts I had already ordered before our stay safe orders came. Skeleton staff and limited hours. Optometrists (and dentists) are on the federal essential list many places are using. Many here seem to be handling urgent needs but not routine exams. Probably best to call ahead.

4380

Ok, I think I’m caught up on White House press briefings, my local/Texas briefings, and watched Cuomo from Thu and Fri.

When Cuomo spoke to the study results on Thur, he identified the issues with the sample selection we discussed here and that they’re keeping that in mind as they use the data.

It’s certainly a lot of briefings to watch for just a few key takeaways. Would it be worth it to anyone for me to type my highlights into a post?

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4381

Yup.
I lost access to TV.
Where are you finding things most easily?
(Part of my problem is my iPad is from 2012 and I can’t use a service like YouTube TV or Hulu on it.)

4382

We use a good ol’ fashioned bunny ear antenna to get local news sources. As well as a few other channels. I can watch Andy Griffith any day of the week! :laughing:

Might not work so well in the basement, but they make fancier antennas nowadays that may do the job.