*washes hands for twenty seconds*

*twice*

*doesn't feel better*

heavily shrugs

I don't watch TV so I'm shielded from at least 70% of the state of panick the world is telling everyone they're supposed to be in.

The problem is, people are going into panick mode, and panicked people are stupid people. That sounds pedantic, but I'm really talking about global behaviors, not judging individuals. Thing is, doctors and hospitals are overwhelmed because anyone sneezing twice in one day suddenly think they have it, supermarket shelves are being emptied of pasta and toilet paper because you never know, and anyone looking remotely asian has now a clear area around them like they're plague-ridden. I'm not making this up, it's been seen in the tram in Montpellier. We're already in a really dark place when it comes to racism right now, but this situation is only making people more open about it. Panick.

Tens of thousands of people die from the flu every year. Media bias is making it look like people dying from the coronavirus is a new thing. It's not. It's more dangerous to people with health weaknesses, and probably a lot too, but this isn't the protomolecule (sorry - I'm in a deep The Expanse phase right now).

I'm not going "pft, who cares" because that would be equally as stupid. It's a dangerous flu. More than usual. We don't have a vaccine yet. I wouldn't want my father to catch it, nor my girlfriend and her asthma. But if I did, I'd be okay.

So let's be careful, things will eventually pass. Events being cancelled, infrastructures closing, that's okay, let's. Things will pass. This is not the end of the world, not yet.

Consequences - I don't have a kid so there's a whole spectrum of inconveniences I'm safe from. Schools, nurseries are closing and that's really a problem for a lot of working people. The biggest issue for me right now is that the retirement home my father lives in is now closed to visitors, so I may not be able to see him for a while. But he's in good hands, and phones don't transmit viruses (unless I didn't do as well in physics in school as I thought).

That said, the concert I'm attending tonight is maintained because they limited it to 1,000 people (which is, at the moment, the biggest crowd gathering authorized in France). So I've got that going for me.

We'll be fine. Look after your loved ones, be careful, and when all this is over, we still have the environment to panick about.

Oh, and unless the Internet itself goes down, the forum is always gonna be a safe place! Whee!

Welp, my office is officially quarantined, so looks like it's working from home for the next coupla weeks for me. Can't say I'm entirely unhappy about this.

My mom just got back from Costco and Total Wine, reporting that alcohol is the same price but gasoline is $1.99/gallon for regular and $2.34/gallon for premium.

She also got me a 1.75L bottle of Elijah Craig because... well... look around.

It's not affecting me personally, but it's absolutely impacting the store I work at. Events are starting to cancel/postpone; we haven't canceled our entire calendar yet, but there are two confirmed cases in the county, and if/when community spreading happens, it's probably just a matter of time.

It's slow as hell at work. The last three days, while not utterly devoid of customers, are markedly slower than they should be. Someone commented how easy it was to find a parking spot in town (a comment I have never heard, only the opposite).

I read that restaurants feel the pinch pretty hard. Inasmuch as I can afford to, I intend to patronize local restaurants in our area that might be feeling the same sort of slowdown. Doing my capitalist duty, or something, I don't know.

If I get sick, I get sick, and I self-quarantine. Take advantage of curbside grocery shopping. Catch up on my YouTube editing queue and my to-read shelf. I'm not worried; again, not for myself at least. But for businesses, it's gonna hurt.

I've been in crunch mode on a feature the past couple weeks and thus have hardly left my house. Was *really* looking forward to getting out and seeing people, as I'm getting a bit cabin fever-y. Time to hunker down, I suppose.

I get our store newsletter in my work email. Tonight I got one that stated, "We are here for you. We have lots of great books to read and toys to play with. Both stores are open, although we will likely shorten our hours soon." Emphasis mine. Hell of a way to find out about it.

I emailed my manager (newsletter was sent by the owner; two-location company, she's basically next in line down from the owner himself) to ask about it, because that's not a cool way for me to find out that my hours might be cut. I wasn't in the store today so I don't know if people were told in-person or something.

(Or, I mean, we're short-staffed as it is, maybe they'll close a day and pile up staff on other days so we're decently crewed?)

My manager responded, saying there was "no official word" yet, and "I'm sorry you read that outside of our internal communications."

Again, to reiterate - I work at a store. Working from home isn't exactly a thing, for us

Just got a call from my boss, since everything is such a mess and there's gonna be complications all over the place with all things financial and stuff, production is delayed by two weeks and the studio is closing for the next two weeks.

Amid complex feelings and a lot to think about, I can say I'm on vacation [the correct technical term is lay-off]. Silver lining: I have plenty of time to work on my tagelharpa!

France is now in phase 3, so all public places are closed. This is almost containment, but I'm pretty sure the police are soon going to be on the roads to enforce it.

Last edited by Saniss (2020-03-15 17:52:37)

I was thinking more of Coronharpa.

It just occurred to me that our forum is in a divergent timeline already. The GoDaddy explosion has created a black hole that sucked Holden back to Nov 9, 2017 and a tangent universe was created. Wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey...

We're gonna need a Crisis On Infinite DiFs to clean up these timelines.

Last edited by MartyJ (2020-03-15 21:15:36)

So. BC is pretty much shut down at this point: public spaces and restaurants are closed, the mandate is to stay isolated and try not to interact with people outside your household. My organization and other social service providers are getting ready to move to essential services mode.

I'm working from home, trying to stay on top of our external COVID-19 communications. I'm glad to be working, but I'm sure I'll be feeling overwhelmed at various moments throughout this and the coming weeks.

Wanted to drop in and say that:

1) I am gathering some resources on my website. Health info, uplifting news, entertainment in the time of social distancing, thoughts on how you can do good and help others. Feel free to check it out, to suggest things to add.

2) If anyone needs anything, from a chat to a few dollars to help tide them over, I am here for you. I can only give what I can give, but I am in a better position than many.

This place is home. I have been stressed, and even had a bit of a meltdown last week, and this place has helped me to feel connected and supported during this pandemic. So. Here for y'all. We're really in this now, but we're in it together.

"Working from home," providing daddy daycare for the boy, and the two teenaged chicks e-learning all day. I'm extra lucky, in that I've been pushing to be allowed to WFH for along time; my job is 90% sitting in front of a PC while virtually sculpting imaginary machines. The other 10% where I get dirty under trains is cancelled for the foreseeable future.