Coronavirus

[Randi]

Randi, Michael, and I have been having PM discussions concerning the coronavirus, but thought it might be good to set up a topic for general discussion. This is an issue that will likely eventually affect everyone on this project.

I have an immediate interest because I live about 20 miles from the nursing home near Seattle where the local outbreak began. I live in Kent and it only took a few days before new cases showed up in cities just to the north and south of me.

Many people have panicked and are constantly disinfecting everything and are afraid to leave their homes. Schools and businesses have closed for disinfecting when someone had flu-like symptoms or had been in contact with someone who had flu-like symptoms.

I think more people are taking an attitude more like myself. Since people can be carriers for up to two weeks before showing any symptoms, may not even develop any symptoms even if they do have the virus, and it is so highly contagious, I expect that one way or another I will come in contact with the virus despite any efforts I might take to avoid it. So I am not letting it change my daily routine.

Before we had vaccines for the flu, measles, mumps, and chicken pox, these diseases would pass through a community. People knew there was a good chance they would get hit by whatever was going around, but went about their daily routines. Schools and businesses did not close. Events weren't cancelled.

Hopefully a vaccine will be developed for the coronavirus, but until then in my opinion we shouldn't be letting it have such an impact on our lives while we are healthy. If we catch it, take a break for a couple of weeks to treat it, and then get back to enjoying our lives.

However, I do believe that people with weak immune systems or respiratory problems should be taking extreme caution to avoid catching the virus. Those people are the ones who end up in the hospital when they catch it.

Link to archive of this discussion from the old forum

[Randi]

Stay safe...

[Randi]

FYI

World Community Grid: August Update: OpenPandemics - COVID-19

[Michael]

Victoria, BC – Patrol officers served a party host a $2,300 fine last night for violating the COVID-19 Related Measures Act (CRMA).

At approximately 10:30 p.m. on August 21st, Patrol officers attended to a suite in a multi-unit residential building in the 1000-block of Fort Street for a noisy party where a large number of people were gathered.

Patrol officers had previously attended this suite at 7 p.m. and warned the resident regarding COVID-19 safety protocols surrounding large gatherings, after learning of information that the resident planned a large party.

When officers attended the scene at 10:30 p.m. they observed approximately 15 people inside a one-bedroom suite. Officers asked the host to end the party as it was causing a disturbance, and unsafe during the COVID-19 pandemic. The host told the officers that he would cooperate.

Officers remained in the area and continued to observe groups of people coming and going from the building. The officers re-attended the one-bedroom suite and noticed approximately 30 people inside, not practicing physical distancing. Many of the party attendees were youth. The room was densely populated, hot, and moisture had built up on the windows. Patrol officers believed approximately 40-60 people attended the party.

The resident of the suite failed to document the attendees and their contact information to assist with contact tracing in the event that someone was later found COVID-19 positive.

Officers served the resident a violation ticket for $2,300 under section 2 of the CRMA for contravention of the Provincial Health Officer Gathering and Events Order. A $300 victim surcharge levy was included in the $2,300 fine.

Party attendees were directed to leave the area. No additional violation tickets were issued.
This just in. Four more places fined.

[Hanibal94]

I recently asked my stepfather about the tests he and his team have been working on.
They're currently in use at a hospital, and there are plans to use them in senior homes as well.

[Michael]

[AvastMH]

I recently asked my stepfather about the tests he and his team have been working on.
They're currently in use at a hospital, and there are plans to use them in senior homes as well.

Well done to your stepfather! We could do with those test kits over here. The old age pensioner homes have rising levels of Covid again. Though it looks like a lot of England might end up under something close to lockdown again soon.

[Randi]

In the "The NY Times asked its readers to share six-word pandemic memoirs." vein...

Cut my own hair — looks ok.

(From the front — can't see back)

[AvastMH]

Nightmare over here. Over 6600 cases today and 40 deaths. Today the local news reported on a party at Brookes University (up the hill in Headington district) of over 100 students with complete disregard to the rules. And that is within a mile of three major hospitals. It's unbelievable that the Brookes authorities were not on their guard for this during Fresher's Week. Clearly the vast majority of students behaved well. But there are now over 100 modern Typhoid Marys wandering around Headington/Oxford. After this I can imagine that Oxford University (town centre) will be bracing itself to ensure that the same does not happen in a couple of weeks time when Freshers starts there. A lot of towns are bracing themselves for the same problem. I'm sure that this is true world-wide. I just don't understand having fun at such a cost.

[studentforever]

Glasgow Uni has 600 students isolating in 2 halls of residence in West End of city with 124 positive tests. Area of high population density with lots of tenements (not slum ones). The students are paying for it now - stay in room for 14 days with shopping delivered and complicated rules on use of shared bathrooms, toilets and kitchens (the halls are effectively laid out as self catering flats with 4 or 6 students per 'flat'). Not only that but not allowed to 'go home to mum' for TLC if they feel unwell. Many of them are supposed to keep up with on-line learning as well. Most courses are only having limited face to face teaching in labs and very occasional tutorials.

Boy am I glad I'm retired from one of the other Unis in the city. Trying to carry on in my old building would be a nightmare - it just wasn't designed for social distancing. Setting up the lectures on-line would have taken me hours longer than just teaching them as well.

[Hanibal94]

My stepmother is currently in Lyon, France.
She recently went to a wine store where she and my dad are regulars, and asked the owner how he was doing economically.
He said "I'm doing fine - the government has declared that wine stores are an essential service, so I didn't have to close!"

Only in France

[AvastMH]

'Vive la difference!' then

[arboggs]

Most states in the U.S. have made liquor stores essential so they have been open pretty much the whole time. In my state they were the first and best at the protections for their employees. It's wild.

I hope any OldWeather people stuck in a university setting are able to find a way to stay healthy. The situation in Glasgow sounds hellish. The colleges and universities that opened here have mostly been a disaster and it's really obvious they only opened the way they did so that the schools could make more money off the students. And I'm sure there's probably a lot of students that decided to stick with university for now because there's no work to be had.

[Michael]

It makes me glad my university days were over 50 years ago. I don't envy the young people these days.

[AvastMH]

One of my young friends has just started at Oxford and is already wondering about the benefit of working here as against being at home. So far their 'flat' is covid free, but there are seven of them so they will need to be very careful. However the cost of living in Oxford in order to use the educational facilities scarcely once a week is not looking very fair.

[ggordon]

I am so glad I retired a few years ago. On my last job we were crammed into cubes 10' by 10' with four to a cube along with our desks. The company cited research saying we could do our jobs better if we were physically close to each other for better communication. It was so tight that the backs of our chairs were touching. In my area we had well over a hundred of these cubes, all open with just low dividers between cubes. I did work that could be done from home, but the majority of the people working there had roles that required always working on-site. I no longer have any contacts there, but have wondered what it must be like now. How do you stay 6' apart when the next desk beside you only allows your chairs to be 4' apart and the two of you sitting back-to-back have a space of 6' between your desks? Not to mention the people on the far inside needing to get out past the other people in the cube to the opening? They were working on plans to remove the cubes and desks, and just have everyone seated in an open area with tables so that we could be even closer together.

The irony is that even though we were physically close together, we usually communicated through virtual meetings on our laptops because our manager and some team members were located in other cities.

[Randi]

[AvastMH]

Gordon you have my deeply heartfelt sympathies for this one.
When they reformatted my office area they were *not* going to make provision for anyone to be able to get out of the main area to make research calls. So I fought for us to have 'skype' rooms. They built them and fitted sliding doors- which did not fit fully across the door hole. The staff complained that the noise was greater when the door was shut. So I sat inside one and pondered the problem. In a flash it came to me - I was sitting inside a violin box. These little rooms had become the prefect reverberation chamber to magnify the sound. Hurrah! Stradivarius would be proud.

[Hanibal94]

My stepfather has developed a test for a certain gene inherited from Neanderthals, where having two bad copies (chromosomes come in pairs) means you are more heavily affected than normal if you get COVID-19.
Me, my mom and younger brother all took the test - we each have one good and one bad copy, so we're OK.
My dad hasn't taken this as far as I know, so I have no idea if my bad one is from him or my mom.

[Randi]

Happy to hear that!