Covid-19 Observations

[cats4ever]

You all have probably seen the reports how pet adoptions have been surging during the pandemic, partially through encouragement from shelters, to "ease" social distancing.
I kept wondering how this is possible when people are out of work and they don't have any money to spend.
In normal times, lots of people have no idea what the price tag is on taking proper care of a pet.
I am happy for all the dogs and cats being welcomed into new homes, and I hope their new families received proper counseling on what it takes for this lifelong commitment.
The following article might be helpful, even though I thought there were some exaggerated examples ( a Casper dog bed, really?)

https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/...cid=spartandhp

[Karen]

I am glad of the adoptions, and we all have no idea how long this will last. I would rather the animals be in long-term homes, rather than shelters at this time. Yes, there will be expenses down the road, but the situation now is so uncertain, why not choose love? If civilization collapses, at least you will have a non-human companion!

[snakemama]

You all have probably seen the reports how pet adoptions have been surging during the pandemic, partially through encouragement from shelters, to "ease" social distancing.
I kept wondering how this is possible when people are out of work and they don't have any money to spend.
In normal times, lots of people have no idea what the price tag is on taking proper care of a pet.
I am happy for all the dogs and cats being welcomed into new homes, and I hope their new families received proper counseling on what it takes for this lifelong commitment.
The following article might be helpful, even though I thought there were some exaggerated examples ( a Casper dog bed, really?)

https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/...cid=spartandhp

A LOT of people are opting to foster instead. My local shelter had to stop accepting foster applications while they process the 4,000 they have already received.

[wolflady]

This situation has certainly brought out both the best and worst in people. I had a stroke at the end of 2014, so I've been struggling for a very long time since then with anxiety, panic attacks and crazy overwhelming emotions which I was just starting to get "under control". My dad died unexpectedly in Feb, right before this thing hit. That was a huge blow and I'm back to being in a very precarious mental state. I've noticed some people are understanding and supportive, while others become very antagonistic or passive aggressive. I even "cleaned up" my FB friend list as I just want to take better care of my mental health and don't need those unnecessary digs by others. I'm already struggling enough and life is too short to spend time on being upset by these people.

Some good observations:
People are willing to grocery shop for the elderly and immunco-compromised. I'm immuno-compromised since my stroke and a friend of mine did my grocery shopping for me which was lovely of her as she lives 40 minutes away.
Many are donating meals to the front line workers (like hospital staff)
I love how there are more kids playing outside and being active or creative. I've been seeing chalk mosaics drawn on driveways which is a nice find on walks! Sylvia did a small one on our back porch step. She wants to do the driveway one next.
A neighbor painted stones and placed them all along the street to find. Made for a fun walk of the 'hood!
People are putting up pictures drawn by their kids in a front window so you can see them as you walk the 'hood!

What else has everyone else observed in their community?

[Karen]

This is a very rural area of Vermont, which is a pretty rural state anyway. But someone made wooden hearts and put them on sticks at the corner of my street and the bigger road, one of which says "April distance brings May existence" - there are two more that I don't remember.

It has been crazy busy here at my job at the Post Office - many, many, many more packages are being sent out, and received these days. And did folks know you can go to Hallmark.com/CareEnough and get three free cards and envelopes to mail out to loved ones? Nice, right?

[wolflady]

...And did folks know you can go to Hallmark.com/CareEnough and get three free cards and envelopes to mail out to loved ones? Nice, right?

No, I didn't know that! Very cool! *goes to look*

[Randi]

The Corona crisis does indeed bring out the best, and sometimes the worst in people. Some of the worst things was that people started hoarding the very same evenig our Prime Minister announced the lock-down from the next day, but that soon stopped and there has no shortage of food - or toilet paper.

Some children drew some colourful paintings in the street, saying “ It will all be good again” My upstairs neighbours put two banner on they balcony, urging people to show solidarity with the less fortunate, and my friend in London came out one morning where someone had put three baskets of food and greens in front of her door.

Our Queen, who has her 80th Birthday today made a speech to the nation a while ago, I think made an impact. Here it is with English subtitles:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDRgDsa2jDU

Companies and certain politicians are pressing hard to open more up, but I think it’s a bit too early.

[Karen]

This is a very rural area of Vermont, which is a pretty rural state anyway. But someone made wooden hearts and put them on sticks at the corner of my street and the bigger road, one of which says "April distance brings May existence" - there are two more that I don't remember.

Looked at them again today, the other two are, "You are allowed to scream, you are allowed too cry, just never give up!"

And "Hope is stronger than fear" - I am afraid that one is not always true,, but it would be nice if it were.

It was strange what things were out of stock in the grocery store - no unscented deodorant in any of the "gender neutral" brands, but I was able to get an "unscented" deodorant "for men"

[cassiesmom]

This is a very rural area of Vermont, which is a pretty rural state anyway. But someone made wooden hearts and put them on sticks at the corner of my street and the bigger road, one of which says "April distance brings May existence" - there are two more that I don't remember.

I like that! There are calls around here for the governor to let businesses open up again, but so far he is still holding off. That seems prudent to me. He did extend the closure of schools through the end of the academic year - I think that's late May or early June for most districts. I'm sorry for the kids who will miss the end of year dances, proms, trips and other events. Will have to wait and hope for the best.

[Karen]

The good thing is, businesses get to decide - once their state decide it is safe, whether or not to open, and under what restrictions.

It was strange seeing people enter the grocery store today with no mask or even scarf over their nose and mouth, but at least they were in the minority. and others were good about the whole social distancing thing. There are social gatherings - like church, and ceramics open studio, that I miss, but staying away for the sake of everyone's safety is a minor price to pay.

[Karen]

Two of my high school classmates have lost parents to Covid-19 this week.

A friend here, an older woman who emigrated to America many years ago from Germany, heard from her sister back in Germany that the sister has pancreatic cancer. She is only 62. My friend is hoping she can hang on long enough for a visit to be possible, but fears with the uncertainty of Covid, she may not get to see her before she dies.

And it is sad to see people so divided over whether or not to wear a mask - I wear two whenever I am out of the house, as given my job at the Post Office, I am exposed to a lot more potential pathogens than most people, and am in "touch" - not literally, we take precautions - with many elderly people in the community, people with young children, and everyone in between.

[cassiesmom]

There are calls around here for the governor to let businesses open up again, but so far he is still holding off. That seems prudent to me. He did extend the closure of schools through the end of the academic year - I think that's late May or early June for most districts. I'm sorry for the kids who will miss the end of year dances, proms, trips and other events. Will have to wait and hope for the best.

Things are opening up in Indiana and Wisconsin but so far our governor is still holding off. Our case numbers don't seem to be falling off yet. He does have a formal plan for how the state can reopen in stages. The Chicago area has the highest case numbers of the entire state - which I think is to be expected.

It's also nice out today, sunny and breezy, so that helps too. I can open the windows and I will try to get outside for awhile.

[Karen]

Covid-19-safe season Farmer's Market was yesterday. It was strange and sparsely populated, and not without stress.

I got everything set up, got all the Golden Cakes into "safe" ziplock bags, same for the tea cookies, and all the ceramic pieces out on display. There were ropes set up and all the "booths" had a booth worth of space between them. Then they put up another string 6 feet in front of my table, no one was allowed to touch anything, etc. But people - all masked and careful, touched things anyway (getting scolded by the market manager), and I sent two dragons onto their happy homes, as well as selling some golden cakes. But there were very few people, and folks were only supposed to walk in one direction around the rope-created loop. All the picnic tables were roped off as well, because we were not allowed to encourage people to linger.

Things keep changing, so hopefully it will go smoother next week.

[Karen]

From Sunday:
MemorialDay 2020 in one photo;

Respect, Sacrifice, Care and Mask. My niece and my Dad's marker

Also Paul

[RICHARD]

A few of my observations?

I worked in a hospital for a long time - around the ER and the OR for most of it.

I was there for ALL the big diseases. Legionnaires, HIV/AIDs, Hanta, Lyme and some others. I learned enough to fill a book and remember enough to fill a thimble. After a while I learned NOT to panic and to be aware of what I was doing.

When i heard about the CV and the experts talking about it, I laughed.

Not because of the illness itself, but of the dire predictions.

They were selling the story with predictions that it was as bad as the storyline in books like The Andromeda Strain, The Stand or The Hot Zone.

Namely that people were going to drop dead in the streets in minutes after being exposed? (I think we know now that take at least two weeks for it to show up after exposure?)

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For the record?

A virus needs a warm or moist medium/area to thrive in/on. You can relate this to the 'fire triangle' they teach in a safety class. you need oxygen/fuel and heat to start a fire - except that the fuel is a moist environment for this disease to live on. If the chain is broken, the disease dies.

Not to say people should not be careful -its just that most of the time wiping stuff down is not really needed. its good to be careful, but not to panic or go crazy when thinking about it.

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I have a suspicion that this disease was here in the states as early as October of last year.

Why?

I was sick for all of nov/dec with something that I was told was 'nothing' (I think people thought I was losing my mind!)

I stopped eating (Not a great way to lose weight) I was down to a Cup-of-Noodles every two-three days, violent stomach upsets, a fever, labored breathing and lethargy.

I spent days in bed only getting up to go to the bathroom, getting a bite to eat and doing simple stuff around the house. I had to sleep sitting up because i could not catch my breath and something simple like taking out the trash and going to pick up the newspaper required me to think about if for a half hour beforehand, do it and spend 15 trying to get my wind back. one flight of stairs would almost make me pass out. Another weird effect was that I was seriously thinking that death was probably better than feeling the way I did.

That had me freaked out a little...more on that later?

I toughed it out and by the first of the year I was feeling a lot better.

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When the media picked up the story -this is where I laughed - they sold it like a walking dead episode. people dead in the streets and zombies strutting about asking for brains to eat.

Again, i was not laughing at the loss of life or the illnesses, it was the dire predictions of the eminent extinction of all man kind - the toilet paper shortage amused me.

The world would end and every one dying with a clean butt hole.....dark humor amuses me?

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After a few weeks of the news reports i began to suspect that I was indeed sick with something kinda unusual, but it really hit home when a talking head on tv reported that 'his head was not right' while he was sick.

When Doris walked into the man cave and said "I think you had the CV" I felt kind of vindicated - Her and I had some moments because she would ask me what I wanted for dinner, she would cook it and I just did want to eat. Another by product of this illness was I just had to sit up in bed and that would make wretch -this was 5-15 minutes of wanting to throw up with nothing in me stomach.

One benefit? I got to work out my abs every time!

Do I know for sure?

No, but here is an interesting tidbit? I had scheduled a colonoscopy and got in the day before the hospitals closed down. I went in, got it done and awaited the results.

I got a phone call two weeks later and was told I was exposed to a worker who tested positive.

they gave the info to the health dept and I was to take the necessary precautions. I was irritated for about a minute and then called my doc who told me that I didn't need to be tested (this was when the testing was barely getting started).

And then?

nothing....no problems at all.

I am NOT saying to ignore what is happening outside your front door, common sense and keeping your wits about you will get everyone thru this.


Oh, and always buy you toilet paper in bulk......we had to buy the cheap stuff and it was like wiping yourself with wax paper.....