Pandemic: Life on the ground

[Jersey Girl]

Hello All,

I thought I'd start a kind of companion thread to the original posted by Ms. Jack about "Life Under Coronavirus".http://mormondiscussions.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=53183.

I liked that we had some working threads regarding the pandemic. This one for reporting or discussing every day life during the pandemic. I appreciate hearing what is going on in your local areas, what you see happening, and how you are managing with it all.

Restrictions...our mayors seem to be working us back into a return to restrictions. I think the restaurants have 25% capacity restrictions and there are curfews on the bars. I don't go to either, but some citizens are ticked off. I don't know why anyone is surprised about this. Does anyone watch the news? Follow the covid trackers? Dr. Fauci at least?

Every forecast that Fauci has made, is coming to fruition right now. You can clearly see it in the trackers. I expect us to be back to stay at home orders within 2-3 weeks. Just going by what I see regarding the surge in new cases. They've been ticking upwards for a couple or three weeks.

Prepping...I've been doing this all summer, bit by little bit. I did it in stages. Started with cleaning products, toiletries, vitamins, basic OTC meds. Then some canned items and every single time I picked up groceries, I ordered paper goods (limit 1 per). I've been waiting to pull the trigger on stocking the freezer---that is happening tomorrow. In addition to our refrigerator/freezer, we have an upright that is over 30 years old and still kicking so that is getting stuffed tomorrow.

We don't worry about power outages and frozen food in winter. If the power goes down for more than a day or so, we can put the food in coolers or bags and shove it outside on the decks. Been there. It works.

The last round will be to get in some snacks which I don't eat a lot of to start with, but still...I expect this to be a really long winter. I did these things back in March/April and still have a few bits left from all of i, so I think I did a good job of planning. If I can stock an entire early childhood program for 9 months (which I can and have many, many times) then this is a walk in the park.

We've got "levels" of preparation as well. Example, if we ran out of paper towels and various cleaners, I've got cloths and enough dish detergent and bleach, to go down to a kind of basic survival mode for several months. I've also got laundry strips (kind of pricey but easy to store) in case the laundry detergent runs out. In place of fluid milk (which will go in the freezer) I have shelf stable milk if we reach the bitter end of the stash and can't go out.

I do a variation of this before winter anyway. The only thing I did differently this time was put the preparation on steroids in case we have to do stay at home orders throughout winter--I fully expect this to happen. With the exception of fresh produce, I think I have us covered for a good 6 months and we'll eat pretty darn good!

Anyone out there prepping?

p.s. I'm even getting a small turkey breast in case we have to regroup on Thanksgiving. Who is Justin Case and why is he ruling my life?

[Res Ipsa]

I follow a bunch of public health and infectious disease folks on Twitter, and I generally read their stuff every day. I read the NYT updates and look at their map pages for the US and my state daily. I listen to the regular twice a week WHO press conferences and our governor’s press conferences. Our county health district updates its page on Mondays, so I check in to see how we’re doing then.

Fauci is right because he says what 99% of the epidemiologists and public health experts say. He’s a smart guy and a good communicator.

We’ve been gradually stocking up over time, so we wouldn’t starve if we had to lock down for 2 or 3 weeks. We’ve never opened up completely. We’ll probably set our record for most new cases per day this week. Our hospitalizations are much lower than they were at our first peak because our initial outbreaks were in elder care facilities. But that won’t last unless we change our current exponential growth in cases.

Our Thanksgiving will be just the four of us at home.

[Jersey Girl]

I am going to need to check out some of your resources, RI. I can tell you are more well informed just by reading your comments on the board. I try to catch all the comments that I can from Dr. Fauci and I often view commentary by Dr. Gupta just because I like his approach. Fauci is a damn fine communicator who knows his topic. He must be SO tired of repeating himself yet he gets on whatever shows he can to continue spreading the word. I still check the covid tracker every single night and document the numbers that are relevant to me. That may seem like a tedious and unnecessary pursuit, but it helps me to see those numbers in list form as I have them on my computer going back to March. I know I can go back over the numbers on the tracker but I'm a list maker.

I also check local outbreaks and locations.

One of my family members thinks I'm obsessing. It's not that. It's that I am watching for valleys and peaks so I can try to be prepared for the next "stay at home" orders which I think will be happening here shortly. I like to know where I stand.

It's kind of like a duck and cover drill without the sirens.

[Res Ipsa]

One of my personal anxiety coping mechanisms is trying to understand whatever it is that I’m anxious about. Early in the pandemic, I started following infectious disease and public health experts and reposting to my Facebook account with what I was finding out. I still do the reading, but less posting. The pandemic is a threat far beyond my control. Learning about it something I can control. Maybe your number tracking does something similar for you. Our current situation is so stressful that unless coping mechanisms are really interfering with my life, I figure “have at it.”

If you use Twitter, I’d be happy to post names of folks I’ve found to be helpful sources.

[Jersey Girl]

I've read several reports that say we're 4 weeks behind the surges in Europe and the UK. England just went into it's second lock down. If I am not mistaken, the Republic of Ireland went to that stage a week or so ago, I don't think my idea that we'll be in lock down in 2-3 weeks is all that far off. It's not really lock down. I've been in actual lock downs. But you know, restrictions put back in place, basically stay the heck home only going out for essential needs--groceries, health care, etc.

So. The mother of all grocery hauls is done. It'll be tomorrow before I get everything put into storage and call it done. I guess since I had to pick up on a Saturday, they were out of some things. Hopefully be able to pick those up next week and even if I couldn't and if someone told us to hunker down tomorrow with no end date, we could probably do that for...I dunno....6 months, but I really need my favorite almond snacks.

I even got what I'm calling a Barbie size turkey breast for Thanksgiving plan B or who knows what's gonna happen. We have a whole Thanksgiving meal in stock if need be.

I went ahead and looked at the extended forecast (this is how much I overthink) for Thanksgiving and if it's anywhere accurate (which I doubt) it'll be mid-50's here which doesn't rule out an outdoor table. I really don't like Thanksgiving to start with. It's my least favorite of all holidays second only to Valentines Day. If we have to cancel, I'm cool with it. I could eat a salad for Thanksgiving and never bat an eye.

Anyway...mission accomplished.

[Jersey Girl]

One of my personal anxiety coping mechanisms is trying to understand whatever it is that I’m anxious about. Early in the pandemic, I started following infectious disease and public health experts and reposting to my Facebook account with what I was finding out. I still do the reading, but less posting. The pandemic is a threat far beyond my control. Learning about it something I can control. Maybe your number tracking does something similar for you. Our current situation is so stressful that unless coping mechanisms are really interfering with my life, I figure “have at it.”

If you use Twitter, I’d be happy to post names of folks I’ve found to be helpful sources.

Not exactly a tensional outlet. I follow the trackers to see if I need to be prepared for lock down. There's only a couple or three things we have any control over and they all involve our behaviors--masks, social distancing, avoiding crowds...that sort of thing.

At the beginning back in March I did feel anxious--ended up having to get my heart shocked back into rhythm for the first time in nearly a year. I was so disappointed in myself but I was triggered in every possible way that counts mostly having to do with...wait for it...getting in the stuff we need to stay put.

I don't feel very anxious about it now. Precautions are routine, I go about my business, judging if a trip is really needed or not, that sort of thing. I did spend about a month visiting some of my favorite stores but I won't be going back there for a while. Christmas shopping is done except for a few bits. Did most of that online, not all. Probably won't go in for another hair cut any time soon...pixie is grown out already...don't really care. If I feel like I'm got what I need for my people (Christmas...Thanksgiving...food storage) anything else is icing on the cake. If I get the virus, I fight it no matter the outcome.

My glass is almost always half full and/or I'm too stubborn to surrender to anything.

The one emotion that I do deal with is sadness. It's not often, but I know the grief process when I see it. I tend to think that people all over the world in are all poster children for Kubler-Ross stages of grief. Grieving for what we thought this year would be about. Grieving for lost freedoms. Grieving for the loss of loved ones. What really gets me more than anything else is something like what happened the other evening. One of our kids was coming to pick up her little puppy from an overnight. Her SO has a co-worker who has a friend who tested + for Covid. She asked me if I wanted to do contactless pickup, I said yes. I had made a little gift for the SO and put it out in the dog's overnight bag all dressed up in fall wrapping that I also made embellishments for. What is hard for me more than anything else about all of this is not being able to physically touch my people. Having to keep my distance. THAT gets to me like nothing else does. So of course I went to tears after they left.

Otherwise I'm in a state of waiting things out as best as I can.

I do think that if Trump wins re-election I am going to disassociate and disconnect from him and limit checking in with the covid tracker and outbreak list to once a week or just before I need to go out some place, and ignore Trump. In fact, for the most part I've been ignoring him for the past 2 weeks or so. I'll know if he does anything drastic but I'm not going to listen to the constant drone his blowhard comments or pay attention to stupid things he says on Twitter.

In other words, I'm over him. I've watched, studied, and followed him for nearly 4 years. I'm done listening to his crap.

I have an idea (I'm famous for saying that by the way, "Oh I have an idea!") about another thread I want to do here now since we're all virtually hunkered down together. Sort of riding all of this out.

[Jersey Girl]

New restrictions. Personal gatherings limited to 10 people from 2 households. So...what if you have 7 people from 3 households?

I don't know crap any more. Write that down.

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

Have any of you gotten the nose test done, yet? My wife and I got tested because she was exposed to a nurse who was contagious six days ago. Let me tell you, that mf'er stings. I had NO idea how sensitive our nasal cavities are. It's funny because afterward we were laughing about it, and I was like, "Man, I feel kind of emotional right now. That crap hurt." And then my wife was like, "Yeah, my feelings are hurt." Lol.

Anyway. Free and clear of the virus - same day results which is awesome.

But, yeah. I'm a little paranoid about catching it. My neighbor Jose likes to come over while drunk or high and tell me about whatever is running through his brain in the moment, and he doesn't believe in personal space. He has buddies over at this house, and they aren't taking any precautions whatsoever. I suggested to them, because they're all old and in ill health, to follow some common sense guidelines, but they just laughed it off. I mean, that's their prerogative, but I'm fairly certain if one of them catches it, they're all going to be hospitalized. They're drunk every day and they smoke weed every day, too. That said, I acknowledge the odds are in their favor so I'm hoping when reality shows up in their house they pull through. They're all good people.

- Doc

[Jersey Girl]

Just one person in the family here has been tested because a co-worker's friend tested positive. Co-worker tested neg and so did family member. Results took a few days to come in.

It's honestly a weird situation regarding the testing issue. Do you trust the results one day? What about 2 days later? So yeah.

I don't feel wigged out any more about this virus. I suppose that could change but I figure I'm taking the same precautions that I normally would regarding flu and cold season. If we had no flu vaccine, we'd be seeing an uptick in cases, hospitalizations, deaths, and taking the same preventative measures.

[Res Ipsa]

I was tested in June in advance of a medical procedure. It stung, but not as bad as I expected. Negative result. My wife was tested after having seizures several months ago. I don't think she was awake for her test. Negative also.