Tales from Coronavee-rooss Italy, mamma mia!
-
The cakes bear slogans including "wash your hands," "don't touch your face" and "pretend you're an introvert."
Pretend...? Um, yes, will do.
-
@Polygeekery but the thing is, we tried to brush it off at first too. This is not really a bet on the unknown and the unknowable, it's not a leap of faith. In fact, Milan's mayor urged people not to stop going out and to live a normal life, "Milan never stops", "don't be afraid". Funnily enough, the "Democratic Party" leader took part in an aperitivo with a few Milanese lads and was later found to be positive to Covid-19 (probably not related, but still). And Milan isn't even among the hardest hit (nearby cities Bergamo and Brescia are having it much worse). It took about three weeks from the first timid attempts to isolate the virus (with many people actually voluntarily choosing to avoid crowded places, in fact bars and restaurants had already seen a large hit) to meaningful lockdown. So all right, maybe we were outliers for all sorts of reasons (cultural practices, density, much stronger family ties - although this tends to be mostly true when it comes to the South, not as much in the North) but frankly I do not see the large US city areas as a significantly different environment for the virus to spread more slowly.
-
@boomzilla said in Tales from Coronavee-rooss Italy, mamma mia!:
It seems clear to me that a lockdown can slow the rate of spread. But is it great enough of a difference compared to social distancing and hygiene discipline compared to the cost?
Alas around here it seems like the only way to get the latter was to impose the former.
There are always assholes who can't seem to keep their distance.We've had our own run for the beaches too.
On the other hand there were country-wide protests of shopping mall workers asking for a closedown, so that might have helped.
-
@Tsaukpaetra said in Tales from Coronavee-rooss Italy, mamma mia!:
Hell, I recently learned about people who stand up to wipe!
?
?
...
?
-
???
-
@dfdub said in Tales from Coronavee-rooss Italy, mamma mia!:
@topspin said in Tales from Coronavee-rooss Italy, mamma mia!:
Most American’s don’t wash their hands enough and aren’t aware of how to actually wash your hands.
(which gets a from me)
You shouldn't be so surprised. Most people anywhere don't know how to wash their hands properly or at least don't do it.
Doctors had to be dragged kicking and screaming into washing hands between surgeries.
-
@Polygeekery said in Tales from Coronavee-rooss Italy, mamma mia!:
@topspin said in Tales from Coronavee-rooss Italy, mamma mia!:
(which gets a from me), it seems quite possible that people wouldn't take those seriously enough to be as effective as they could be.
Yes, it is a definite . I've had numerous people over the years see me washing my hands and ask if I was a doctor or surgeon. No, I just don't think that soap touching my hands and then rinsing them off counts as washing your hands.
I think most people that had jobs that made the hands proper dirty had learned how you really wash your hands. They just don't do it when their hands aren't black.
-
@Zecc said in Tales from Coronavee-rooss Italy, mamma mia!:
@Tsaukpaetra said in Tales from Coronavee-rooss Italy, mamma mia!:
Hell, I recently learned about people who stand up to wipe!
?
?
...
?
Haven't heard of that? Well. Consider yourself enlightened...
-
@Tsaukpaetra said in Tales from Coronavee-rooss Italy, mamma mia!:
@Zecc said in Tales from Coronavee-rooss Italy, mamma mia!:
@Tsaukpaetra said in Tales from Coronavee-rooss Italy, mamma mia!:
Hell, I recently learned about people who stand up to wipe!
?
?
...
?
Haven't heard of that? Well. Consider yourself enlightened...
Note that we're educating people about things regarding toilets, poop knives are worthy of mention as well.
-
@jinpa said in Tales from Coronavee-rooss Italy, mamma mia!:
As an introvert, I have been preparing my whole life for this.
Actually, as an introvert, it's worse. I depend on having a few hours a week alone, both so I can recuperate from being with other people, and also so I can get things done. Since the pandemic, the house is never empty.
-
This has probably already been discussed somewhere in the thread. But are masks and gloves effective? If so, simply telling people to wear masks and gloves in public would be far less damaging to the economy then social isolation.
The virus is really only dangerous to the elderly and the sick. I am glad that we are compassionate towards them. (Klingons would be less concerned.) But couldn't the worldwide damage to the economy cause a loss of life as well, especially in poor countries?
-
@jinpa said in Tales from Coronavee-rooss Italy, mamma mia!:
This has probably already been discussed somewhere in the thread. But are masks and gloves effective? If so, simply telling people to wear masks and gloves in public would be far less damaging to the economy then social isolation.
They don't work. You need proper biofilters and eye protection.
The virus is really only dangerous to the elderly and the sick. I am glad that we are compassionate towards them. (Klingons would be less concerned.) But couldn't the worldwide damage to the economy cause a loss of life as well, especially in poor countries?
Seems like more people are not-dying in traffic and other things than are dying from the disease.
-
@jinpa a heavy case of pneumonia isn’t something to take lightly even if you don’t end up dying from it.
-
Thanks to this whole thing there's been a lot of "I just discovered that staying at home doing things you want to do is actually more enjoyable than going to work" posts on reddit.
Wow. Imagine that. Who could possibly have known.
-
@anonymous234 One has to wonder how much that will affect the unemployment statistics...
-
While total cases continue to climb in the US (as they should, since that's a monotonic positive function), both new cases per day and deaths per day have dropped for the last 2 or 3 days. If this keeps up, we're not in worst case. And this is with dramatically increased testing, which would tend to inflate the rate of new cases until it reaches the actual curve.
Negative derivatives are good news, assuming they hold out. Not predicting anything, just reporting data.
-
@jinpa said in Tales from Coronavee-rooss Italy, mamma mia!:
gloves
Given how I've seen them being used, I'd say that gloves are almost always counterproductive - unless you're deliberately using them to give supermarket customers a false sense of proper hygiene. When people use their hands, at least they remember to occasionally wash them and think about what they touch.
-
@dfdub said in Tales from Coronavee-rooss Italy, mamma mia!:
think about what they touch
Sometimes I can't help myself
-
@ixvedeusi said in Tales from Coronavee-rooss Italy, mamma mia!:
ETA: That said, I do appreciate the effort of pushing back against the mindless panic and doomsday prophecies that seem to be bubbling everywhere.
True. But I still have people react to our canceling of an event (scheduled for next weekend) as overreacting. Because fuck everyone else, this is personally affecting what they wanted to do.
-
@Carnage said in Tales from Coronavee-rooss Italy, mamma mia!:
Note that we're educating people about things regarding toilets, poop knives are worthy of mention as well.
That would probably explain the sea shells...
-
@anonymous234 said in Tales from Coronavee-rooss Italy, mamma mia!:
"I just discovered that staying at home doing things you want to do is actually more enjoyable than going to work"
No idea what they're talking about... (Logs back into work computer and continues working like normal)(okay, not today, I don't get paid enough to work more than 5 days a week! No amount of pay is enough for that.)
-
@dcon said in Tales from Coronavee-rooss Italy, mamma mia!:
I just discovered Safeway Signature Whiskey (Canadian 8y and Bourbon 4y).
While bz and I do have Safeways nearby, local laws limit them to wine only, not liquor.
-
@TwelveBaud said in Tales from Coronavee-rooss Italy, mamma mia!:
@dcon said in Tales from Coronavee-rooss Italy, mamma mia!:
I just discovered Safeway Signature Whiskey (Canadian 8y and Bourbon 4y).
While bz and I do have Safeways nearby, local laws limit them to wine only, not liquor.
Some local laws are just weird and dumb! When I was in IL, we had beer/wine/liquor but it was in a separate (gated) section. Which was closed on Sunday until noon. Then I moved here (CA) and it's all just in the regular aisles like regular groceries...
-
@dfdub said in Tales from Coronavee-rooss Italy, mamma mia!:
Given how I've seen them being used, I'd say that gloves are almost always counterproductive - unless you're deliberately using them to give supermarket customers a false sense of proper hygiene. When people use their hands, at least they remember to occasionally wash them and think about what they touch.
I'm not one for regulations but I would be all for a federal requirement that restrooms doors open outward from the inside so that no one has to touch door handles when leaving restrooms.
-
@Polygeekery said in Tales from Coronavee-rooss Italy, mamma mia!:
I'm not one for regulations but I would be all for a federal requirement that restrooms doors open outward from the inside so that no one has to touch door handles when leaving restrooms.
That's a potential fire hazard, though.
-
@Unperverted-Vixen said in Tales from Coronavee-rooss Italy, mamma mia!:
@Polygeekery said in Tales from Coronavee-rooss Italy, mamma mia!:
I'm not one for regulations but I would be all for a federal requirement that restrooms doors open outward from the inside so that no one has to touch door handles when leaving restrooms.
That's a potential fire hazard, though.
Just make it so they swing both ways!
-
Meanwhile in Ecuador:
TL;DR, two flights were organised to pick Europeans stuck in the area. They flew there empty, but the mayor found somewhere it was carrying 11 ‘passengers’ (the crew for the return flight wasn't on duty, so it would have to be listed as passengers). And the mayor, instead of, maybe, calling up someone in the airline and getting things explained, freaked out and closed the airport…
-
@dcon You're aiming for the Quotes Out Of Context thread.
-
@Polygeekery said in Tales from Coronavee-rooss Italy, mamma mia!:
@dfdub said in Tales from Coronavee-rooss Italy, mamma mia!:
Given how I've seen them being used, I'd say that gloves are almost always counterproductive - unless you're deliberately using them to give supermarket customers a false sense of proper hygiene. When people use their hands, at least they remember to occasionally wash them and think about what they touch.
I'm not one for regulations but I would be all for a federal requirement that restrooms doors open outward from the inside so that no one has to touch door handles when leaving restrooms.
Or simply use the design that requires no doors apart from the ones on the stalls. No touching anything with any part of the body apart from the soles necessary.
-
@Carnage @Polygeekery really it's all for peace of mind because anything you touch in a bathroom is going to be contaminated. The doors, the taps, the toilets (seats and all), even the toilet paper is not going to be immaculate. Just wash your hands as thoroughly as possible and silence that voice in your head that tells you're going to die of something that wouldn't be out of place in House, MD.
-
Just for the laughs. This was an ad by the Milan section of the traders' association, issued right when the lockdown measures were temporarily lifted at the end of February.
Basically, it says:
A few suggestions on how to spend the day despite the virus
- Start the day with a nice breakfast at the bar
- Read a book: booksellers will always know what to recommend!
- Last days of sales: go get yourself a nice bargain!
- Take care of yourself: go to the hairdresser's or beautician's
- Buy newspapers and magazines from the newsagent's!
- Plan your next holiday at the travel agency!
- Shop locally: your local shops are open, as are street markets
- Go for a drink with your mates, bars are no longer shut after 6pm!
- Go out for dinner: restaurants are open!
- Go for a walk and get a nice ice-cream before going back home
I mean, my first reaction was "am I Rockefeller to you?".
Meanwhile, my local section of the traders' association bought some ad space in the local radios and basically saidDon't stay at home, go out and live! We're there for you!
-
@admiral_p said in Tales from Coronavee-rooss Italy, mamma mia!:
but the thing is, we tried to brush it off at first too.
Part of the problem with this is that our ideas about when "at first" was are pretty wrong, IMO. Especially given how many people end up asymptomatic or with mild symptoms, mixed in with the usual winter shit, no one was paying attention when the real patient zero showed up in any particular place.
I think it's probable that if the Chinese had at least been straight about the fact that it could be transmitted between humans (WHO was still quoting them at least as late as Januray 14th that it was only animal to human transmission) people might have taken it more seriously earlier. Supposedly the Taiwanese had figured it out before then, but WHO shuts them out and the message didn't get out, or was drowned out by misleading information from WHO.
No doubt other countries had various other things going on that we all thought was more important (here in the US, national news was pretty much all about Presidential primary elections and impeachment).
It seems inevitable that we over react in situations like this before calming down and taking a more effective approach. The key will be figuring out where the sweet spot is, especially since it's likely to be different for different places.
-
@jinpa said in Tales from Coronavee-rooss Italy, mamma mia!:
@jinpa said in Tales from Coronavee-rooss Italy, mamma mia!:
As an introvert, I have been preparing my whole life for this.
Actually, as an introvert, it's worse. I depend on having a few hours a week alone, both so I can recuperate from being with other people, and also so I can get things done. Since the pandemic, the house is never empty.
Weather is getting nice, though. Go outside. Take a walk or something.
-
@boomzilla said in Tales from Coronavee-rooss Italy, mamma mia!:
Weather is getting nice, though. Go outside. Take a walk or something.
Still visible to other people.
-
@dcon said in Tales from Coronavee-rooss Italy, mamma mia!:
@Unperverted-Vixen said in Tales from Coronavee-rooss Italy, mamma mia!:
@Polygeekery said in Tales from Coronavee-rooss Italy, mamma mia!:
I'm not one for regulations but I would be all for a federal requirement that restrooms doors open outward from the inside so that no one has to touch door handles when leaving restrooms.
That's a potential fire hazard, though.
Just make it so they swing both ways!
Most NYC restaurants wouldn't have the space.
-
@admiral_p said in Tales from Coronavee-rooss Italy, mamma mia!:
@Carnage @Polygeekery really it's all for peace of mind because anything you touch in a bathroom is going to be contaminated. The doors, the taps, the toilets (seats and all), even the toilet paper is not going to be immaculate. Just wash your hands as thoroughly as possible and silence that voice in your head that tells you're going to die of something that wouldn't be out of place in House, MD.
Our work bathrooms have motion taps, flushing, and paper towels.
While working from home, I keep expecting the toilet to flush itself.
-
@Karla my local drinkery has automated lights. It's practically a certainty that the lights will switch off mid-piss, and you gotta do that weird dance with your head to get the thingy to sense movement.
-
@boomzilla tbf there probably wasn't enough conclusive evidence to say that human to human transmission was a thing. And for all China's lack of free speech and censorship and persecution of individuals, not all whistleblowers are not hoax spreaders. Of course in China they make it so they all are, but we've had our fair share of pseudoscience bullshit (like, loads of junk treatment protocols supposedly effective against cancer or stuff like that). It is reasonable on the WHO's part that they did not confirm human to human transmission at first.
-
@admiral_p said in Tales from Coronavee-rooss Italy, mamma mia!:
@Karla my local drinkery has automated lights. It's practically a certainty that the lights will switch off mid-piss, and you gotta do that weird dance with your head to get the thingy to sense movement.
LOL
First, I was like, why don't you use your hands...them I like, OH yeah, dude.
Office lights are motion also but they don't turn off until a long time of lack of motion. Only happens if I stay at work late.
-
@Karla said in Tales from Coronavee-rooss Italy, mamma mia!:
@admiral_p said in Tales from Coronavee-rooss Italy, mamma mia!:
@Karla my local drinkery has automated lights. It's practically a certainty that the lights will switch off mid-piss, and you gotta do that weird dance with your head to get the thingy to sense movement.
LOL
First, I was like, why don't you use your hands...them I like, OH yeah, dude.
Office lights are motion also but they don't turn off until a long time of lack of motion. Only happens if I stay at work late.
My classroom has automated lights with a turn-off time of about 45 minutes. Which would be fine...except that the sensor/light-switch is
a) across the room from my desk. I'm way out of its range. Which seems to be about 10 feet.
b) around a corner from my desk. I'm not even in it's line of sight.So the light turns off on me pretty frequently. And I'm too to get up and wave at it, so kids come in and find me sitting in the dark (except my monitor) pretty frequently, especially in the mornings when I've been there for over 1.5 hours by the time they get there.
-
@admiral_p said in Tales from Coronavee-rooss Italy, mamma mia!:
@boomzilla tbf there probably wasn't enough conclusive evidence to say that human to human transmission was a thing.
Dude, covering for a brutal dictatorship's lies is ugly. Also, Taiwan thought there was:
Even if there wasn't whatever sort of evidence would convince you, do you really believe that they thought that two months after people started getting infected?
And for all China's lack of free speech and censorship and persecution of individuals, not all whistleblowers are not hoax spreaders.
Yes, I don't know what to believe out of China but I do believe that they were arresting doctors and suppressing doctors from discussing the details of the virus.
Of course in China they make it so they all are, but we've had our fair share of pseudoscience bullshit (like, loads of junk treatment protocols supposedly effective against cancer or stuff like that). It is reasonable on the WHO's part that they did not confirm human to human transmission at first.
Seriously, dude, you're carrying Xi's water here. You really need to stop.
-
@boomzilla no, I'm not. If anything, I'm carrying the WHO's water. Of course China has an interest to keep things quiet. But what's the WHO's motive?
-
@boomzilla said in Tales from Coronavee-rooss Italy, mamma mia!:
Even if there wasn't whatever sort of evidence would convince you, do you really believe that they thought that two months after people started getting infected?
For all I know, it is possible that the virus mutated in the meantime. It is a virus after all.
-
@admiral_p said in Tales from Coronavee-rooss Italy, mamma mia!:
@boomzilla no, I'm not. If anything, I'm carrying the WHO's water. Of course China has an interest to keep things quiet. But what's the WHO's motive?
I think I saw some "theories" that the WHO is largely paid by China.
-
There's plenty of evidence that the WHO has been bought by China. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwFTZawOc9k
-
@magnusmaster the WHO was initially criticising China. Of course, if you look at it the right way, you could say it was all a cover. Everything is plausible
-
@boomzilla said in Tales from Coronavee-rooss Italy, mamma mia!:
Weather is getting nice, though.
Weather was nice last week, but around here the spring brought night frost. It was freezing this morning, just barely above freezing the whole day today and forecast says morning minima will be below zero for three or four more days.
-
@admiral_p said in Tales from Coronavee-rooss Italy, mamma mia!:
@Karla my local drinkery has automated lights. It's practically a certainty that the lights will switch off mid-piss, and you gotta do that weird dance with your head to get the thingy to sense movement.
At least a quarter of public restrooms I've ever been to is like that.
-
@Rhywden said in Tales from Coronavee-rooss Italy, mamma mia!:
@admiral_p said in Tales from Coronavee-rooss Italy, mamma mia!:
@boomzilla no, I'm not. If anything, I'm carrying the WHO's water. Of course China has an interest to keep things quiet. But what's the WHO's motive?
I think I saw some "theories" that the WHO is largely paid by China.
I haven't heard that, but I've heard that China helped get the current Director-General elected (but I understand that Obama also supported him).
The US sends the most money to the WHO. China doesn't send very much:
In any case, the WHO hasn't exactly covered itself in glory over the last few months.
-
@admiral_p said in Tales from Coronavee-rooss Italy, mamma mia!:
@magnusmaster the WHO was initially criticising China. Of course, if you look at it the right way, you could say it was all a cover. Everything is plausible
Do you have a link for that?