Stay safe, wingnuts

D

-danr-

Vice Admiral
So, in these unprecedented times - how is everybody doing? Anybody in isolation?

In my coutnry - The UK, the government has just announced the 'indefinite' closure of all bars, restaurants, cafes, gyms, leisure centres, theatres and cinemas in addition to calling for social distancing, an end to non-urgent travel and school closures to all but the children of 'key workers' (medical staff, military, and anybody involved in the food supply line).

I'm self employed these days, I mostly work from home and live alone so isolation has been pretty easy so far. I'm thinking about doing a full Wing Commander series play-through now that I have some time for gaming.

How about you? Are you well? Am I right to assume that @Bandit LOAF and @Dundradal will be shelving All Wings Considered for a little while?

Please stay safe, listen to the authorities and protect the vulnerable. At least until we get news that the Confederation's sportin' in a vaccine.
 
Yeah, man, it's real crazy. The stores are wiped out of many supplies and lots of food. They get frequent resupplies, but then you're nervous to go out. More people have masks and gloves on. The stores are occasionally busy, but the roads are super empty.

We have had all restaurants and places like the ones you name closed for a while now. All schools are closed and will be for at least another month. They've already changed the laws to pass all students to the next year if we don't resume school before summer. I live outside Seattle, and the first confirmed case in the US was near here, and that nursing home where 30+ folks died is just 10 miles away.

I have one friend with a confirmed case in the hospital now in rough shape, and a dozen or more in isolation quarantine because they have first hand exposure to someone confirmed. We've had multiple confirmed cases here where I work, yet we're still expected to come in. I don't know how a quarter of the US population is under shelter-in-place orders, but they haven't closed all non-essential businesses in Washington yet. These are historic times. Be careful out there!
 
Heh, I've been confined in my mate's flat for the entire week, now, with maybe one hour outside since Monday to grab some groceries. I've got it easy thanks to my company being prepared already for full remote working.
 
ChrisReid said:
Yeah, man, it's real crazy. The stores are wiped out of many supplies and lots of food. They get frequent resupplies, but then you're nervous to go out. More people have masks and gloves on. The stores are occasionally busy, but the roads are super empty.

We have had all restaurants and places like the ones you name closed for a while now. All schools are closed and will be for at least another month. They've already changed the laws to pass all students to the next year if we don't resume school before summer. I live outside Seattle, and the first confirmed case in the US was near here, and that nursing home where 30+ folks died is just 10 miles away.

I have one friend with a confirmed case in the hospital now in rough shape, and a dozen or more in isolation quarantine because they have first hand exposure to someone confirmed. We've had multiple confirmed cases here where I work, yet we're still expected to come in. I don't know how a quarter of the US population is under shelter-in-place orders, but they haven't closed all non-essential businesses in Washington yet. These are historic times. Be careful out there!
Click to expand...

I'm sorry to hear about your friend. May I ask if they had any pre-existing conditions? Covid-19 has not yet infected anybody I know, although there are a number of cases in my area. That's scary about the nursing home deaths! I actually think the true number of people already infected is probably going to be in the hundreds of thousands in most countries already, but not enough people have been tested to know.

The scene here is much like you describe - busy supermarkets, but eerily empty roads. Hoping that the antivirals Trump is trying to get fast tracked by the FDA will help to turn the tide, in your country and elsewhere.

L.I.F. said:
Heh, I've been confined in my mate's flat for the entire week, now, with maybe one hour outside since Monday to grab some groceries. I've got it easy thanks to my company being prepared already for full remote working.
Click to expand...

Well, stay safe! Remote working might be tedious and lonely, but much better than needlessly exposing yourself.
 
All Wings Considered will return! :) Unfortunately, things went south for us a few weeks before this all started when my mother in law passed away suddenly and completely unexpectedly... the show was on hiatus while we worked through that and now it might be a little longer. Or maybe Ali and I will start doing them ourselves once we go stir crazy sheltering in place :)
 
Bandit LOAF said:
All Wings Considered will return! :) Unfortunately, things went south for us a few weeks before this all started when my mother in law passed away suddenly and completely unexpectedly... the show was on hiatus while we worked through that and now it might be a little longer. Or maybe Ali and I will start doing them ourselves once we go stir crazy sheltering in place :)
Click to expand...

Oh man, I'm sorry for yours and her loss. That's terrible. Whilst you have a rather loyal fanbase with AWC, real life is more important. Just stay hunkered down and look after each other, my thoughts are with you both.
 
Things seem not too bad where I am... however they just announced basically the same measures as Chris said for the entire province. All restaurants are take out or delivery only, schools are closed and many businesses - while not under order - are just closing anyway or reducing hours and limiting numbers in the stores. Cases are going up all the time but I feel like the only reason the numbers aren't higher is that there's too much of a delay between tests and results where I live as well as limited amount of testing. The plus side is that there miles and miles of outdoors around here where we can go to relax without having to ever see anyone.
 
I think the death rate is at this point well established because there are cases where the full population has been tested (obvious example is the Diamond Princess); good medical care ~1%, over-stretched medical care about 3.5%. It takes a little over two weeks for someone infected to die. Take your death count, multiply by 100; that's your number two weeks ago. Then look at the rate of increase of cases (which should be a fair indicator unless the country has changed its testing practices in that period); until the point of any extreme lockdown, and you'll have your answer.
In the UKs case it could be as many as a million by now including all those not yet presenting symptoms.

Here in Japan the numbers are coming in at an almost linear rate on deaths (ignore the case numbers as not enough testing is being done), but even so I'd estimate about 15,000 cases here.

Nothing major going on here, infact I think the government is getting complacent; they are talking about re-opening schools. The people though have been taking it seriously since before any cases were reported here.
Most people are voluntarily distancing (and to be fair the goverment does recommend work from home which my company is complying with). Fortunately I live right next to a mountain, don't need to take any transport to get in some exercise so I'm not exactly stuck indoors.
 
AD said:
Things seem not too bad where I am... however they just announced basically the same measures as Chris said for the entire province. All restaurants are take out or delivery only, schools are closed and many businesses - while not under order - are just closing anyway or reducing hours and limiting numbers in the stores. Cases are going up all the time but I feel like the only reason the numbers aren't higher is that there's too much of a delay between tests and results where I live as well as limited amount of testing. The plus side is that there miles and miles of outdoors around here where we can go to relax without having to ever see anyone.
Click to expand...

Yes, I have the same benefit here - living in South Western, rural England makes for a lot of places where you can easily go and be alone. That said, the weather's been awful and I've been using my stationary bike and free weights for exercise.


Pedro said:
I think the death rate is at this point well established because there are cases where the full population has been tested (obvious example is the Diamond Princess); good medical care ~1%, over-stretched medical care about 3.5%. It takes a little over two weeks for someone infected to die. Take your death count, multiply by 100; that's your number two weeks ago. Then look at the rate of increase of cases (which should be a fair indicator unless the country has changed its testing practices in that period); until the point of any extreme lockdown, and you'll have your answer.
In the UKs case it could be as many as a million by now including all those not yet presenting symptoms.

Here in Japan the numbers are coming in at an almost linear rate on deaths (ignore the case numbers as not enough testing is being done), but even so I'd estimate about 15,000 cases here.

Nothing major going on here, infact I think the government is getting complacent; they are talking about re-opening schools. The people though have been taking it seriously since before any cases were reported here.
Most people are voluntarily distancing (and to be fair the goverment does recommend work from home which my company is complying with). Fortunately I live right next to a mountain, don't need to take any transport to get in some exercise so I'm not exactly stuck indoors.
Click to expand...

Your estimate is probably about right, the problem with testing here is that they switched from testing anybody showing symptoms to testing only those who were hospitalised, as far as I understand anyway. That said, the government have announced they're going to dramatically increase tests to something like 25k per day within the coming weeks.

If there really are a million cases with a majority of whom haven't started showing symptoms yet, the health service will be overwhelmed in a matter of days, even if it is only ~5% that require hospitalisation. It's going to be a difficult summer here.
 
First couple of cases reported in Oklahoma a couple of weeks ago; found out last Friday of the first case in the OKC area, which turned out to be a member of the OU staff. OU cut us loose and sent us home - the entire campus staff for the entire week. It was Spring Break for the students anyway so that worked out; wasn't going to take off but got the week anyway. They're now doing virtual classes for the rest of the semester and I'm facing having to telecommute in a house where three young obnoxious tech addicts are going to be expected to do virtual classes. I can't see that going any way other than 'badly'. Mostly it's all been mere annoyance so far. Only so much of my kids' videos I can stand in a day; only so many video games I can play. More and more I find myself wanting to play an honest-to-God board/card game with anybody willing...and of course everybody else in the house is perfectly happy with their devices...

I'm probably not as scared about this whole thing as I should be - I'm a diabetic, my wife and eldest son are asthmatics, and my middle son has severe food allergies including one not in the big eight (twelve, however damn many it is). So far nothing's wrong with my youngest son aside from being a precocious four-year old spazz. My eldest and I were in Dallas the weekend before last, and then Monday we learned that the mother of one of my eldest son's classmates tested positive. So yeah, we've probably all been exposed and I may not have symptoms for another few days.

I tell y'all what really worries me about this whole thing. Springtime in Oklahoma is always the freakin' Hunger Games - you better hope the damn odds are in your favor. My family always goes to shelter at the OU library (where I used to work; I still work for the libraries but I've been moved off-site) on bad severe weather days since the basement is two stories below ground. With the campus effectively closed (certainly closed to crowds of hundreds hunkerin' down), I have no idea where we'll go when (not if) we get a bad tornado day. Shelter-in-place just ain't an option that guarantees survival...

I'd like to say something positive about this whole deal; best I can come up with at the moment is that things aren't so bad here yet that we can't get out of the house to at least do something like walk around the neighborhood (which is good since that's pretty much the only exercise I've been able to get in this entire week). Could definitely be worse here.
 
-danr- said:
Well, stay safe! Remote working might be tedious and lonely, but much better than needlessly exposing yourself.
Click to expand...
Thanks!

I'm not worrying much, the friend and I are keeping each other sane, and the remote working is pretty social, as the company has procedures, numerous conference calls, etc. In the end, it's just a longer and drier version of the time I got stuck home due to hurricane Harvey back when I was working in the States.

1) Make sure to follow the rules.
2) Don't be the ass who panic-buys and hoards.
3) Call your loved ones regularly to make sure they're OK and to maintain the social links alive.
4) Have faith in your fellow humans, even if there will be asses among them.
5) Have something to do, whether a professional activity, a personal project, something beyond games/series/etc.
6) If you really need something delivered, call Sam Porter Bridges.
7) Youtubers and random internet posters know less than experts.

8) Keep calm and carry on.
 
2) You should have a two week supply to ensure you can easily go into self isolation. Most people will have this anyway so do inventory before running out. No lockdown will last more than a month so anything more than that is hurting others for no reason...
...that said do change your shopping habits; if like me you tended to buy odds and ends every single day consider switching to weekly shops or online orders to limit the crowds in supermarkets.
 
Pedro said:
2) You should have a two week supply to ensure you can easily go into self isolation. Most people will have this anyway so do inventory before running out. No lockdown will last more than a month so anything more than that is hurting others for no reason...
...that said do change your shopping habits; if like me you tended to buy odds and ends every single day consider switching to weekly shops or online orders to limit the crowds in supermarkets.
Click to expand...
I'd say it seriously depends where you live. In European large towns and cities, grocery stores are usually within five minutes on foot, and the lockdowns allow grocery runs, so I got out after four days to get food for my standard grub (when I can't get food in restaurants and stuff, I tend to cook a single dish that includes all necessary nutrients in large enough quantity to eat for four or five days).
 
still early stage here but people are slowly stocking up groceries etc, some of my friends also started working from home and I'm still on leave for a week,

sorry about your mom in law LOAF, all the best buddy.

L.I.F , thanks for the list, we like to go for a walk or jog abit, I'm also busy with some small projects around the house, I'm back at work by month end and I don't know if there are any plans to stay at home from my company.

I also started replaying from the start WC1 and 2 and I finished Privateer 1, played Righteous fire about 3 quarters into the story-line.

all the best for you guys and thanks for keeping touch !
 
L.I.F. said:
I'd say it seriously depends where you live. In European large towns and cities, grocery stores are usually within five minutes on foot, and the lockdowns allow grocery runs, so I got out after four days to get food for my standard grub (when I can't get food in restaurants and stuff, I tend to cook a single dish that includes all necessary nutrients in large enough quantity to eat for four or five days).
Click to expand...

The two week self isolation is for other peoples benefit, not yours. If you believe you may be infected you shouldn't be going anywhere regardless of whether or not you *can* get groceries. Once you already suspect it is too late, which is why medical sites here (and I've seen it in english language sites too, including CNN) recommend 2 weeks of supplies.
But even in lockdown you should try and minimize your movements, a supermarket is unfortunately a terrible place to spread disease. It's not about the journey there; it's your time in the store.
 
Pedro said:
The two week self isolation is for other peoples benefit, not yours. If you believe you may be infected you shouldn't be going anywhere regardless of whether or not you *can* get groceries. Once you already suspect it is too late, which is why medical sites here (and I've seen it in english language sites too, including CNN) recommend 2 weeks of supplies.
But even in lockdown you should try and minimize your movements, a supermarket is unfortunately a terrible place to spread disease. It's not about the journey there; it's your time in the store.
Click to expand...
We don't really have supermarkets around where I live, only very small grocery stores, and there's noone in it when I get in the one 40 seconds away from my place, the cashier is wearing gloves as well as a mask while we use contactless payment with cards. Long story short, I don't touch anything I'm not bringing back home and I could almost do the run without breathing.
 
Last edited:
My family is under quarantine because we had exposure to an infected person. So far we feel well enough but the kids certainly are not tired enough at the end of the day. And the battle against the little hypochondriac in me is the worst part. Stay healthy everybody and don't take unnecessary risks.

Bandit LOAF said:
All Wings Considered will return! :) Unfortunately, things went south for us a few weeks before this all started when my mother in law passed away suddenly and completely unexpectedly... the show was on hiatus while we worked through that and now it might be a little longer. Or maybe Ali and I will start doing them ourselves once we go stir crazy sheltering in place :)
Click to expand...
I am very sorry about your and Ali's loss, my condolences.
 
L.I.F. said:
We don't really have supermarkets around where I live, only very small grocery stores, and there's noone in it when I get in the one 40 seconds away from my place, the cashier is wearing gloves as well as a mask while we use contactless payment with cards. Long story short, I don't touch anything I'm not bringing back home and I could almost do the run without breathing.
Click to expand...

Masks aren't perfect, small as the chances are anyone working there meets hundreds of customers; hundreds of chances for the unlikely to happen, and then hundreds of chances to pass it onto someone else. Which is why they say don't go out AT ALL if you suspect you may be infected, and limit your interactions in lockdown as far as possible. Easy way to do that is not pop to the store every few days.
 
Mekt-Hakkikt said:
My family is under quarantine because we had exposure to an infected person. So far we feel well enough but the kids certainly are not tired enough at the end of the day. And the battle against the little hypochondriac in me is the worst part. Stay healthy everybody and don't take unnecessary risks.
Click to expand...

Even though you're probably fine, that's still scary. Hoping everything works out for you.

-danr- said:
I'm sorry to hear about your friend. May I ask if they had any pre-existing conditions?
Click to expand...

Not that I'm aware of. They're younger than me and seemed fine. A lot was made of elderly and people with other issues to begin with, and that may be where most of the deaths are, but it can hit younger people hard all the same. It's looking like in the US here that a third of more of serious hospitalization are people younger than 45.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top