What's YOUR problem?

[Zen]

The real surprise was that the other two dogs actually cared that the Yorkie got himself trapped in the bathroom. With as much of a little dick that dog can be to the other two, you'd think they would think, "AHHH! Peace and quiet! Let's just leave the little prick to rot in there!"

Edit: There's a bit of a dominance battle going on with the younger Yorkie and the older mutt who has been the alpha bitch for a long time...

[Phoebe]

[Phoebe]

Hello, my name is Phoebe and I have OCD, yet I'm extraordinarily calm and rational and chill in the face of constant covid 19 news stories and urgent emails being sent to me by everyone from my local health department to my employer. I was really congratulating myself on being so calm while driving home. Then I washed my hands in the new specialized clean-up station I set up by the door, wiped down everything I had touched in or on my vehicle with Clorox wipes, and went into my exquisitely organized pantry to think about language to insert in the will I'm rewriting, while updating all my financial documents. Just in case, you know. Possibly some minor work could be done on the whole chilling thing. I'm completely relaxed though.

[Mike]

Maybe this helps, maybe it doesn't: while solid numbers are hard to come by, the death rate from COVID-19 appears to be similar to that of the flu. The threat is mostly to those who already have a compromised immune system, and usually is the result of pneumonia or other secondary infections. Therefore, in my opinion, you and your immediate family are not in great danger. None of you is in a vulnerable group, you are taking precautions, watching for signs of infection and have access to excellent healthcare. For you, getting this coronavirus is roughly as dangerous as getting the flu.

This year and next will probably be very rough, especially for more vulnerable populations--infants, the elderly, the immune-compromised, the poor and uninsured. Without a vaccine, those populations will be hit harder. And then, in a year or two, we'll have an effective vaccine, and this will fade into the background of all the horrible things in the world.

[Phoebe]

I wish reason was determinative in such matters - reason is up there waving its wee arms and signaling with flags to the other parts of the brain. They don't care; they're quite tricky. They tell the reasoning part that they're totally calm even as they arrange little perfect rows of canned soup and make a mental inventory of how long a medium cat food bag lasts. But a rational worry: elderly parents. Big worry there, and husband who is vulnerable to this. One rational worry seed can grow a whole flourishing greenhouse.

[Tahlvin]

I read an article about this yesterday. The problem when comparing COVID-19 to flu is that, while the death rate is just slightly higher for COVID-19 than for flu, there is quite a bit of herd immunity due to vaccinations for the flu, while there is nothing of the sort with COVID-19. So if an outbreak occurs, you are much more likely to catch it because it is easier to transmit without that community immunity. And of those that are infected, there is a much higher rate of serious complications requiring hospitalization than for the flu, which will overwhelm the medical facilities, increasing fatigue in the staff at those facilities, and increase the likelihood of those staff becoming infected themselves, thereby decreasing the ability of the staff at those facilities to deal with the outbreak. In the end, the estimate was that the death rate could end up being about 100 times worse than a typical flu outbreak.

[Stan]

Tahlvin, you're quite the ray of sunshine on a Monday morning.

[Tahlvin]

Sorry, don't mean to be a downer. It's just what Mike was implying about it being similar to the flu was the exact opposite of the implication from the article I read, which was explaining how it was so much more dangerous than the flu.

[Mike]

Except that the rates of serious infection and death ARE similar to the flu (sorta)--maybe slightly higher, but maybe not, because there is no widespread ability to test for it and 80 percent of cases are mild, so the total infections are likely under-reported, but deaths are not, so the rate could be inflated. But our best numbers are also just China. Maybe once it sweeps Europe, Africa... the world, we'll find out it's much higher. Or lower?

However, while the chance of death seems to be similar, the overall death total may be much higher due to a lack of vaccinations and immunities leading to a far greater number of infected persons. So like I say, if you are prepared and have access to good healthcare, the chance of dying from this is similar to that of dying from the flu, however, you will be far more likely to just get COVID-19 in the first place.

And all of our information is shaky at best. China, and now Trump, are actively trying to downplay the dangers, we have 15,000 test kits for the entire nation so far, there's a ton of misinformation and fearmongering. So maybe everything I've said is wrong.

Wash your hands a lot. Don't go out if you are sick. Prepare your home like you would for an intense storm--have food and supplies ready in case you can't go out for a week. Disinfect commonly shared items and surfaces on a regular basis. Get to the doctor if you have extreme symptoms or any shortness of breath. Maybe get facemasks if you have to care for a sick person in your home. You're doing all you can, so focus on living your life.

[Eliahad]

I don't get paid sick-days and/or vacation. But I do what I love, so when I don't have work for a few weeks because of something beyond my control and people are canceling school and lessons and shows, and I can't afford insurance for that sort of thing, because I do what I love, it'll be fine. Wow, I'm cynical as hell today. I didn't get a ton of sleep last night. Okay, I'm one of the lucky ones in my profession, who has enough savings that I can go about 6 months without work and be fine, but I'd much rather have that cushion intact in case I break an arm or a finger or something. I guess this is kind of the same. It's just scary and frustrating.

[Tahlvin]

I feel for you. Good luck. Unfortunately, I think it's going to get much worse before it improves. Hopefully not 6 months' worth of bad!

[Phoebe]

If you want I would be happy to pay you for at least a lesson or two of cello if you experience a downturn, since I can mail you a check and you can spritz it with Lysol to your heart's content! And we can do it through video conference.

One note of caution however: I have been video conferencing for much of the day for work and just after lunch the neighbors dog got loose, so my dog barked for approximately an hour and a half straight. I had to hide myself away behind as many sets of shut doors as I could manage and seal the opening.

[Eliahad]

Thanks, folks. I woke up cranky today, clearly. I'm very much goi g to be okay. Even have started gathering the long term dry goods and frozen foods, just in case. I would still be happy to Skype cello lessons, though.... Especially if it also involves dogs barking *wink*

[Zen]

[Tahlvin]

Heck, I'll pay to Skyp with you and listen to you play! There's you new market: live streaming cello porn!

[Eliahad]

[Eliahad]

[Phoebe]

I don't know what a twitch channel is but it sounds dirty. How much do we have to pay to watch this?

[Phoebe]

Happy to report I have resolved my virus-prepper issues and have managed to regain a realistic focus on the main object of concern, which is simply to avoid passing unnecessary germs to my parents.

[Ronster]

A few days food isn't a bad idea. A few weeks food is more than I need. Even water expires.

We can sit at home and eat mac n cheese and drink powdered milk as we live stream cello music.