How COVID-19 is affecting society

[Anya Ristow]

 

[Anya Ristow]

This segment isn't being well received by independent media.

 

[Cindy Claveau]

I've been suffering unusually high stress and anxiety the last few weeks, as many of you can probably understand. It's not simply the isolation part, though that's part of it, but I realized finally that I'm feeling less optimistic about the future than ever before.

This whole experience feels so lonely to me, even sharing a house with my husband. Am I the only one?

I decided today that one way for me to cope would be to try to help some local organizations. I gave cash to Harvesters Food Pantry, a little more to the local Rescue Mission and the last bit to the shelter where we got our pup, Molly. All transactions online. It really did calm my feelings of hopeless anxiety.

 

[Katheryne Helendale]

And then there's shitheads like this:

18-year-old claims she has COVID-19 and would 'willfully spread' it, police say

Texas police are looking for Lorraine Maradiaga, who will be charged with terroristic threat after they say she made the claims online.

abc30.com

 

[Katheryne Helendale]

File this under "what the hell were they thinking!?"

Louisiana police frighten some after using siren from ‘The Purge’ during COVID-19 curfew

Louisiana police frightened many community members after officers sounded a curfew alarm identical to the one used in the horror film, "The Purge."

www.wvlt.tv

 

[detrius]

Trying so hard not to post replies to my (distant) relatives on Facebook who think the fact that grocery stores are open but their church is closed must be due to an atheist conspiracy. Especially when their memes are phrased as a question with an obvious, if snarky, answer.

Tell them that it's dishonest to disguise a statement as a question, that unnecessary contacts between people will lead to deaths and to look up Proverbs 6: 16-19.

 

[Jolene Benoir]

I'm not stepping out of self-isolation until I'm damn good and ready, regardless of what anyone else does. So for all intents and purposes, I've been removed from the local economy for spas, restaurants, movie theaters and casual shopping. I have the luxury to sit this out from home (and I'm well aware how blessed I am to be in that position). I'm sure that I'm not the only one who can do that, so yeah, it's going to be interesting to see the long-term effect of these quasi-permanent changes in behavior.

My biggest fear is that this will follow a similar trajectory as the 1918 flu epidemic whereby they were hit in the spring, it eased up in the summer, then hit hard and very hard in the fall/winter. They falsely felt that the worst was behind them.

I'm going to minimize public places as much as possible for some time to come.

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

My biggest fear is that this will follow a similar trajectory as the 1918 flu epidemic whereby they were hit in the spring, it eased up in the summer, then hit hard and very hard in the fall/winter. They falsely felt that the worst was behind them.

By the way I've learned a very interesting fact about the 1918 flu: we all call it still today the Spanish flu, but as far as scientists know today the outbreak started probably in Haskell County, Kansas while others consider New York City more likely to be the origin. Anyway all so far agree on North America being the most likely origin of the pandemic. So in hindsight the American flu would be probably a more appropriate name for it.

Spanish flu - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Sid]

If this is true, it's bloody strange that the Czech republic had its first confirmed case a couple of days after the UK and yet we have more than 14K dead now and the Czech republic? They have 177. As far as I can see the only difference between the Czech republic and the UK is that everyone wears a mask. Not hospital-grade clinical masks, but home made cloth masks.

Not only do masks stop the aerosol spread of droplets when someone coughs or sneezes, but they also limit the viral load you receive from other people. So even if they don't stop you being infected, they help to ensure you get a small amount of virus and your body has a chance to react appropriately. If someone sneezes or coughs and you get the full force of their explusion without a mask, the viral load is much bigger.

If there are things I don't know about the low level of deaths in the Czech republic, please enlighten me, but as far as I am aware, the UK is doing all the same things except for the wearing of masks. Why in hell WHO hasn't advised the wearing of masks, I can't imagine.

The virus hasn't spread evenly over the continent.
So although two countries have the virus in their country, doesn't mean they have the same sort of outbreak at hand.
The south of the Netherlands is our national hot spot. In the northern provinces there are (until now) only a few cases of Covid-19.
We even have transported severe cases from the south to those northern provinces to lay in their ICU units.

The main reason why the Dutch RIVM is not in favor of the use of homemade masks is mainly that they are afraid that there will be a feeling of safety level among the users, that is not justified at all. People with even slight symptoms should self quarantine at home and not go out to the supermarket with a cut out T-shirt or towel before their face.
These self made masks do slow down the spreading of the virus to a certain amount, but if the users start breaching the main orders (distancing, stay at home with symptoms, cough in your elbow) they become counterproductive.

The advise of the WHO is ironically mainly based on a research from the RIVM nine years ago.
That research had the outcome that everything before your mouth/nose helps to some degree.
They now oppose the use of the home brews so far.

 

[Sid]

By the way I've learned a very interesting fact about the 1918 flu: we all call it still today the Spanish flu, but as far as scientists know today the outbreak started probably in Haskell County, Kansas while others consider New York City more likely to be the origin. Anyway all so far agree on North America being the most likely origin of the pandemic. So in hindsight the American flu would be probably a more appropriate name for it.

Spanish flu - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

“What's in a name? that which we call a rose. By any other name would smell as sweet.”
- William Shakespeare

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Just saw this. Wow

The main reason why the Dutch RIVM is not in favor of the use of homemade masks is mainly that they are afraid that there will be a feeling of safety level among the users, that is not justified at all. People with even slight symptoms should self quarantine at home and not go out to the supermarket with a cut out T-shirt or towel before their face.

However, there's still the valid point that face masks offer protection to others in circumstances where it's impossible to follow rules on social distancing (public transport, for example):

Liverpool region mayor backs Sadiq Khan over face mask use

Steve Rotheram says covering face would make people more aware of coronavirus situation

www.theguardian.com

And, as I keep saying in another thread, there's Eku's point that, apart from protecting others when the wearer (who is probably asymptomatic) coughs, they also protect the wearer from inadvertently touching her mouth and nose with contaminated hands and fingers.

 

[Kara Spengler]

File this under "what the hell were they thinking!?"

Louisiana police frighten some after using siren from ‘The Purge’ during COVID-19 curfew

Louisiana police frightened many community members after officers sounded a curfew alarm identical to the one used in the horror film, "The Purge."

www.wvlt.tv

Curfew? Do they think it spreads more at one time than another?

 

[Kara Spengler]

My biggest fear is that this will follow a similar trajectory as the 1918 flu epidemic whereby they were hit in the spring, it eased up in the summer, then hit hard and very hard in the fall/winter. They falsely felt that the worst was behind them.

I'm going to minimize public places as much as possible for some time to come.

Yeah, I am hoping this is not seasonal. A lot of people will rush to get out then it will be even harder to get people to self isolate in a few months.

 

[Sid]

However, there's still the valid point that face masks offer protection to others in circumstances where it's impossible to follow rules on social distancing (public transport, for example):

Yes, but those masks should not be from the category home made. They only help from next to nothing to very moderate, depending on the used materials.
One of the reasons that public transport is almost at a halt over here right now.

Tragically there is still a huge shortage in more reliable masks.
We can hardly provide them for medical use at the moment.

 

[Arkady Arkright]

They only help from next to nothing to very moderate

Either of which is better than absolutely nothing, under some circumstances.

 

[Sid]

I agree, but I wouldn't set foot in a train, bus or tube crowded with people wearing home made masks and not distancing at least 1.5 meter to each other.
So I don't use public transportation for the time being (as most people here).

 

[Plurabelle Laszlo]

The psychological side-effects of wearing a (home-made) mask are not one-dimensional. I started to wear them two weeks ago, and what I have noticed is that they are a constant reminder of having to be careful. I indeed almost never touch my face or the mask, and even more importantly - it seems to remind others of the situation, too. I have noticed a lot of people seeing the mask, and immediately stepping to the side or back as if they just remembered they should keep distance. And, to me personally there is another, unexpected, side-effect: the masks I made (two layers of cotton with a non-woven layer in between, plus removable kleenex layers) are fantastic to keep pollen away - they might offer only minimal protection against the virus, but they keep me from getting lynched for having an uncontrollable sneeze attack at the supermarket.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

I agree, but I wouldn't set foot in a train, bus or tube crowded with people wearing home made masks and not distancing at least 1.5 meter to each other.
So I don't use public transportation for the time being (as most people here).

People shouldn't be using public transport at all unless their journey is absolutely necessary, but if you can't avoid it (e.g. key worker in central London trying to get to and from work) then that's different.

 

[Sid]

What others do is their own responsibility, but a crowded bus, train or tube is not accepted over here. It will not leave the bus stop or station.

 

[Kara Spengler]

Yes, but those masks should not be from the category home made. They only help from next to nothing to very moderate, depending on the used materials.
One of the reasons that public transport is almost at a halt over here right now.

Tragically there is still a huge shortage in more reliable masks.
We can hardly provide them for medical use at the moment.

I saw one thing that even tshirt material reduces the viral load you expel if you are contagious. Which makes sense, the virus is not truly airborne but instead travels on water droplets you expel and any fabric would catch some of them.

Right now my spouse and I are using things like scarves and headbands. We ordered 2 masks designed for bicycling that are certainly not medical grade (they do not list viruses in what they stop for example) but more to keep bicyclists from breathing in exhaust.