Just Rewatched Contagion...

[logs]

A few days back I thought the reaction to the corona virus was largely overblown. I'm not sure I think that any longer. I went grocery shopping after work tonight around 10:00pm only to find a packed store of grim-faced shoppers. There was definitely an odd vibe in the place. A man kneeling down by the ramen noodles selection yanks an entire case out from under the display and hastily loads it in his cart. A mom rolls by with an overflowing cart filled with Puffs Plus boxes and plus enough food for what could easily be a Thanksgiving meal for twenty. The checkout lines were crammed with anxious looking customers and governed by stressed out employees who looked exhausted. If you're thinking about buying basic necessitates, buy them soon. If you think tobacco hoarders are nut jobs, just wait till you see the grocery store people. It's not a pretty picture out there.

When I came home, out of morbid curiosity (and to maybe get a peek into our near future), I watched Steven Soderberg's Contagion. Anyone happen to know where you can get a hazmat suit like Jude Law's? I'm starting to feel like it might come in handy pretty soon.

 

[olkofri]

I hear aromatic pipe fumes keep the virus away. Latakia attracts it.

 

[tobefrank]

A few days back I thought the reaction to the corona virus was largely overblown. I'm not sure I think that any longer. I went grocery shopping after work tonight around 10:00pm only to find a packed store of grim-faced shoppers. There was definitely an odd vibe in the place. A man kneeling down by the ramen noodles selection yanks an entire case out from under the display and hastily loads it in his cart. A mom rolls by with an overflowing cart filled with Puffs Plus boxes and plus enough food for what could easily be a Thanksgiving meal for twenty. The checkout lines were crammed with anxious looking customers and governed by stressed out employees who looked exhausted. If you're thinking about buying basic necessitates, buy them soon. If you think tobacco hoarders are nut jobs, just wait till you see the grocery store people. It's not a pretty picture out there.

When I came home, out of morbid curiosity (and to maybe get a peek into our near future), I watched Steven Soderberg's Contagion. Anyone happen to know where you can get a hazmat suit like Jude Law's? I'm starting to feel like it might come in handy pretty soon.

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What you are describing is more a reaction to the perceived risk of the corona virus as opposed to the actual risk. People freaking out about the idea of what might happen when the corona virus spreads further.

I'm currently at home after having a sore throat and a minor cough after coming back from a surftrip to Indonesia. When I called the Corona Virus Helpline and told them I had been to Indonesia they said the risk is very low that I might have contracted it and said to just monitor the symptoms to make sure they didn't get any worse.

There was no mention of the need for self isolation, I guess because Indonesia is still a very low risk country. I have also been super careful, washing my hands with hand sanitiser every couple of minutes and wearing a face mask in the airport/plane. I did go to get myself tested yesterday, more because I wanted to know that it was safe for me to go back to work without being patent zero for my workplace.

Knowing that the likelihood of having contracted it is extremely low made me feel kind of silly going to get the test done, but I know I'll be relieved when the test results come back.

I'm not so concerned with whether I have it or not, but more with not wanting to pass it on to anyone else.

 

[mikethompson]

. If you think tobacco hoarders are nut jobs, just wait till you see the grocery store people

A friend of mine lives out in Edmonton and everywhere is sold out of hand sanitizer, toilet paper, and bleach.

Am I right to say that the flu kills more people a year than Corona has? Shouldn't we always be washing our hands and everything?

 

[Elric]

I'm not an expert, nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, but based on everything I have read, we are 10 or so days behind Italy on the exponential growth curve. With the additional time that has elapsed, I'm thinking we have another 5 - 7 days until a possible SHTF moment. That said, I hope I'm completely wrong and we just lunt along into the summer months.

 

[logs]

I have no clue whether the threat is real or not but it's definitely making my life hell at work where I'm now supposed to sterilize all computer and camera equipment that students use and do it repeatedly, given that it's in continual use. I have extremely limited cleaning supplies and zero training on how it ought to be done effectively. My students either treat the idea like it's a joke, or freak out and empty a bottle of giant bottle of sanitizer like it's the only thing that stands between them and instant death.

 

[donjgiles]

I have no clue whether the threat is real or not but it's definitely making my life hell at work where I'm now supposed to sterilize all computer and camera equipment that students use and do it repeatedly, given that it's in continual use. I have extremely limited cleaning supplies and zero training on how it ought to be done effectively. My students either treat the idea like it's a joke, or freak out and empty a bottle of giant bottle sanitizer like it's the only thing that stands between them and instant death.

I am sure all the students are using digital cameras, but do you still teach film and darkroom techniques to the new students?
Just curious...

 

[logs]

I am sure all the students are using digital cameras, but do you still teach film and darkroom techniques to the new students?
Just curious...

In the photography department they still do. I work in the motion picture department. Everything is digital.

 

[donjgiles]

In the photography department they still do. I work in the motion picture department. Everything is digital.

That is wonderful, film is the best way to teach a new student about still photography.

 

[Casual]

No one really knows how to evaluate this risk, and there are competing experts everywhere with contradictory evaluations. The best thing you can do is to pay close attention to your information sources, evaluate them as best you can, and take your chances.

In the age where all our scientific institutions have been politicized, we are on our own to figure out who to trust and what to do. Whatever your choices, make sure to draw your community together, we may need to help each other out before this is over. Or not. But it can’t hurt to have friends.

 

[Elric]

At least this community is well prepared with our plague pipes!

 

[logs]

I hate to say it but old guys who smoke tobacco are low hanging fruit for this virus. The way things appear to be heading, there's no question my modest cellar will outlast me.

 

[Elric]

I hate to say it but old guys who smoke tobacco are low hanging fruit for this virus. The way things appear to be heading, there's no question my modest cellar will outlast me.

Stretch goal: we all stay home and smoke our brains out, hopefully keeping the virus at bay and self-isolating by chasing off those pesky family members!

 

[subsalac]

I learned a valuable lesson once in my mid 20's I wish to share. Supposedly some huge hurricane was coming. The media was constantly bombarding the air waves here for weeks with non stop hurricane visuals, non-stop destruction, non-stop footage of everyone going nuts in stores buying all the water and TP and whatnot. In the streets here in NYC, you'd see all the glass taped up, some boarded up, because ya know, everyone was "informed". After all, we had a category 12 trillion 'nado something or other coming and that meant the apocalypse, right? Everyone had to get off the streets, some had to evacuate, some had to get into a special shelter... oh shit.. would my 100+ year old apartment building hold? Oh shit... oh shit... it's coming... it's getting windier...

So I did the only sane, rational thing:

I had a panic attack. I thought I was going to die, I frantically, and with futility, tried to board up my rickety old windows that probably would shatter or dislocate if you sneezed on them. No good. Oh shit... oh shit... I'm dead. Then I went to sleep and woke up to...

... the gentle hum of wind.

And then I took a walk that next day, saw all the boarded up windows. Wow... everyone was duped, just like me. But yet... who won? Who is the winner here, in the end? Why... the economy. Stuff got purchased. People panic, and there is money to be made. What if... power goes out? Well then we need a generator. What if we're stuck? We need lots of bottled water. And aren't we out of nails and 2x4's?

Where there is money to be made, there will be exploitation of the public. It turns out that when you can manipulate hundreds of millions of people because you control "The Message", the hot topic, the "news", that's a profound level of power to socially engineer for really any goal... economic, political, and so on. And this is why the media is a monopoly that won't budge. It's a tremendous level of power, held by very few people. Just let that thought simmer for a bit.

So uhhh... what I'm getting at is, be skeptical-- especially when the news is essentially telling you to panic. Don't be the guy sitting on 20 crates of Ramen in your garage because the sky is falling. The apocalypse myth is something that has been abused for millenia by the tops of human hierarchies, and for good reason. It makes money, it maintains order, it distracts. Fearful and anxious people spend more. They also alter the behavior of their neighbor, it's contagious . This causes them to fail to notice that the kings and shamans and warlords are duping the farmers and peasants-- The ancient scam.

 

[Bowie]

I'm normally a cynical person when it comes to the media narrative. A few scientists over-reacting in the media is one thing. But when epidemiologists and infectious disease experts worldwide are sounding the alarm, and entire nations are on lockdown, and sports leagues are shutting the doors based on advice from experts more knowledgeable than me on this, then you have my attention and concern (and, admittedly, still some skepticism).

I have a daughter with a severely compromised respiratory system and an elderly mother-in-law nearby. As much as I want to be, I cannot be nonchalant about this. A certain amount of prudence is in order to protect my family: refill all medications even if not needed in case of supply line disruptions, wash hands upon returning home, minimize trips where we are exposed to large numbers of people, keep the vehicles gassed up, etc.

I'm not in SHTF or TEOTWAWKI mode, but many extra measures are warranted in my case.

(Incidentally, for those of you familiar with Minneapolis, a lot of Contagion was filmed in that area. The scenes near the end with the large open building full of people dying or dead on cots is the old National Guard Armory downtown.)

 

[Elric]

I'm normally a cynical person when it comes to the media narrative. A few scientists over-reacting in the media is one thing. But when epidemiologists and infectious disease experts worldwide are sounding the alarm, and entire nations are on lockdown, and sports leagues are shutting the doors based on advice from experts more knowledgeable than me on this, then you have my attention and concern (and, admittedly, still some skepticism).

I have a daughter with a severely compromised respiratory system and an elderly mother-in-law nearby. As much as I want to be, I cannot be nonchalant about this. A certain amount of prudence is in order to protect my family: refill all medications even if not needed in case of supply line disruptions, wash hands upon returning home, minimize trips where we are exposed to large numbers of people, keep the vehicles gassed up, etc.

I'm not in SHTF or TEOTWAWKI mode, but many extra measures are warranted in my case.

Well said!

 

[logs]

What's clear to me is that by the time the average person has sufficient evidence to make a reasonable rational decision about the level of threat, all the useful supplies will have already been taken. Take the pipe tobacco hoarding mentality and apply it to every type of ordinary grocery item.... because it's ALL Penzance now. I now have to worry that students don't rip off the industrial sized bottles of sanitizer from work and try to sell them on ebay. I have no doubt someone's going to get scalper prices.

 

[Dandy Pipesmoker]

This is what's happening today in Switzetland, I live not far from the boarder with Italy:

- schools at any grade are closed or closing
- bars, restaurants etc. allowed only 50 people at a time (personnel included).
- food supermarket are open but you have to stay 1 meter away from other customers when lined up at the checkout
- in pharmacies and all medical staffs wear gloves and protection masks
- no public or private events allowed
- cinemas, concert halls, theaters, even gym are closed
- the governement asks to not leve home if not strictly necessary, primarly old people and people with deseases

We're not even close to the numbers of contagions and deaths of Italy and other countries but this is te actual panorama.

Can't say if it's excessively precaution but the situation it's to be taken seriuosly...

 

[whsergent]

With an r0 of 4 and the ability to survive airborne for as long as three hours, all of us will get it anyway, at least all of us that live in a populated area.

I live in a seniors building. The way the ventilation works is that vents in the halls of each floor blow air, the air goes into the units and is sucked up by intake vents. If someone coughs in the hall, pretty much everybody on the floor is toast.

All the panic and prepping look pretty much useless to me.

 

[whsergent]

I hate to say it but old guys who smoke tobacco are low hanging fruit for this virus. The way things appear to be heading, there's no question my modest cellar will outlast me.

Yeah im 64 and have had pneumonia twice in the last decade and i live in a seniors bldg in the middle of a large metropolitan area. Im pretty much resigned to the fact that even at the outside chance i make it, most of my friends will die.