Tag: social distancing

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Resistance is Futile

The virus is real. The virus is here. It is highly contagious and potentially deadly. I think we can debate about the severity and the origins of the virus later, or, we could debate it now, but while staying the hell away from each other and cutting off this thing’s lifeline.

Okay, so, it’s easy for me to have that opinion. I’m lucky. Kind of. Ish. I’ve kept my job. Kind of. Ish. My pay has actually been slashed pretty badly. Commission has been cancelled for April and May so I’m going to be getting base pay only. Okay, yeah, I know a lot of people only get base pay and I was one of them for a very long time, and I’m lucky to have gotten anything above and beyond that. But I have been getting paid above and beyond my base pay and I’ve grown accustomed to a new comfort level. The stimulus covers that for this month, so I’m not feeling it yet.  But I’m lucky to have kept my job and gained the flexibility to do it from home, which is something I’ve been lobbying for to management for the past four years, anyway.

But the immediate lifestyle adjustments? Fuck, man. This is heaven. Sequestration is magical. I have a valid reason now for telling people to stay the fuck away from me when before I was just an asshole. I never had any desire to go anywhere anyway — and now I have the perfect excuse, and zero guilt. It’s fucking fantastic.

Okay, so, I like the lockdown. It’s not hard for me. I’m working from home, which is perfection. I want my commission pay back, my performance-based earnings, but aside from that, we can keep this lockdown going for everyone capable of working remotely for just as long as … well, forever. We can just keep this up forever.  

I don’t miss anything.  I don’t miss eating out. I don’t miss going out. In fact, I just had to go out, and it was sheer hell. I needed a VGA cable immediately, so I ordered one from Best Buy for curbside pickup. Traffic is fucking stupid. Fucking assholes everywhere. Nobody at Best Buy was wearing a mask or gloves, and they’re walking up to customers’ cars handing them merchandise, talking to each other in close quarters.  The guy who handed me my purchase weighed at least four hundred pounds. If he gets this virus, he’s pretty likely dead. This thing isn’t kind to the morbidly obese. Unfortunately, most of central Indiana is morbidly obese.

Okay, so, all cards on the table, I have ulterior motives. I like things shut down. So, of course I’m going to champion this course of action. But I also just think it’s the right thing … nay, the ONLY thing to do right now. The death toll will likely be at or very near 45,000 by the time I post this, and it is climbing steeply on a daily basis. And that’s with all of the extreme social distancing most of us are practicing right now. If we hadn’t done this, if we hadn’t shut down, we’d be over 200,000 deaths, easy, and it would be fucking chaos out there. Hospitals would be beyond capacity, mayhem would ensue. I have no proof of that, it’s just what I think. I can’t prove something that I think would have happened under different circumstances.

I’m not terrified of this thing. I’m being respectfully cautious. This is a formidable enemy. My goal is to not get it, to avoid it completely. That way I don’t roll the immune system dice on this disease at all, and I maintain a zero fault status in the spread of the virus. If I can pull that off, that will be a perfect game, I win. But this thing is highly contagious, and it is in my city, and it is inside far more people than the daily news numbers show because hardly anyone is being tested. Also, a lot of people get it, and they are just fine. If I get it, I will likely be okay. But, that’s not a guarantee. There is a risk. People say the mainstream media is collectively sensationalizing this. Well, of course they are, in their way. Of course they’re playing it up for ratings, that’s what they do.  

But I don’t think they are making it sound worse than it is. I was watching a news broadcast and they said that eighty-six percent of the people under fifty who died of COVID-19 had an underlying health condition such as an autoimmune disorder, obesity, diabetes, high-blood pressure, asthma, or being a smoker. First of all, those are all pretty common. That’s a lot of at-risk people. But second, that’s what they did say. Eighty-six percent of those under fifty who died had an underlying health condition. But what they didn’t say, and what I heard was this: Fourteen percent of the people under fifty who died of COVID-19 did NOT have an underlying health condition. That sounds fucking scary.  Yes, that is still a small number. Most of the people who die from COVID-19 are over eighty years of age. So, the percentage of people who died who are under fifty is low, and it’s fourteen percent of that number … but still. That’s otherwise healthy young people with no underlying health conditions who are dying. Greater risk for the elderly doesn’t equal zero risk for the young. That’s not how math or statistics work.  

I’ve watched videos online from real people. Nurses on the front lines in the hardest hit cities describing chaotic and dangerous conditions in hospitals. People who got the disease pretty badly, but recovered, recounting their terrifying near-death experiences. Yes, a lot of people have a sniffle and a cough. Yes, some people remain asymptomatic throughout the life of their infection, remaining symptom free, but still allowing the virus to replicate in their bodies so they can spread it. But this thing just slaps the fuck out of some people, and sometimes kills them, for no reason. Not because they’re old, or sick, or have an otherwise compromised immune system, but they’re just simply unlucky. I mean, maybe there’s something we don’t know. Perhaps they all have something in common, some underlying factor that hasn’t been identified as a risk. That’s surely possible. But still — do you have it, this factor? Do I? 

But fear of getting infected isn’t the main reason to distance and hunker down.

We should stay locked down and we should try our best not to spread it because it’s extremely contagious, and there is a pretty large section of our society, who, for various reasons, really shouldn’t be put into battle with this virus. A lot of them don’t have a chance, and we, as a society, need to do the right fucking thing and keep this bug as far away from them as we can. And if caring about the sick and elderly is outside of your capacity, just know that you aren’t safe, either. It could kill you, too. Fourteen percent of the people under fifty who died from COVID-19 did not have an underlying medical condition or compromised immune system. I’m sure they all thought they would be fine.

I have learned the following by reading articles written by experts in the field.

There are eight strains of SARS-CoV-2 circulating the globe right now that cause the disease COVID-19. No one strain is deadlier than another, they are all very similar to each other. SARS-CoV-2 is not likely to rapidly mutate and go airborne or get into the water supply. Its current method of transmission from human to human is so effective it has no immediate need to try to adapt or evolve. If and when it does need to evolve to try to bypass our eventual vaccine, it will take it a while. Coronavirus evolves, or mutates, at a slow rate, about four times slower than influenza.

I should be citing this stuff, but this is a blog, not a peer-reviewed paper. This isn’t shit I’ve discovered through testing and examination,  and I’m not trying to formulate my own hypothesis. I’m no expert in any of this, I’m just repeating shit I’ve found from articles that were well-sourced, and anyone can find them by Googling this stuff and seeing where I found it. But I digress, as I am wont to do.  Anyway, more science facts.

SARS-CoV-2 spreads from human to human in both large droplets and aerosol that exit the body during a cough, sneeze, panting, heavy breathing, etc. Any method that would allow moisture to escape the mouth on the breath. The virus can hang suspended in mist for up to three hours and remain active. The virus can live on paper and cardboard for up to 24 hours, and can live for up to 72 hours on plastic, stainless steel, and other smooth shiny surfaces.

So, on a relatively humid day, and, I know, how many of those are we going to see in mid-Spring, right? On a relatively humid day, an infected person sneezes. That infected aerosol can join with the water already in the air, and just float around ready to be breathed in for up to three hours. So, sure, stay six feet away, but if you move into a space someone else was just standing, you’re now breathing in what they just breathed out.

I don’t care who says what about masks.  I don’t need someone to explain to me how and why masks work. I get that the virus is small and can pass through very small openings and to be fully effective a mask would have to be rated to work against particles as small as the virus, which in this case is N-95. But I also understand that if you’re sick and you cough and you’re wearing a piece of cloth over your face, you’re going to greatly decrease the chances that you’re going to spread the virus. Yes, small aerosols will make it through, but a lot of the germs will be caught and never enter the atmosphere. So, yeah, masks are prudent. Any of us could have it, and we should try not to spread it in case we do.

I am lucky and I get to stay in my house. I don’t know what lies I’d be telling myself if I had to go out in the world every day like nothing has changed and do a thankless job. Everyone still out in the world and not practicing social distancing will probably get this. I may get this, despite my best efforts. Most of us will be okay. Some of us won’t. 

Posted on

Resistance is Futile

The virus is real. The virus is here. It is highly contagious and potentially deadly. I think we can debate about the severity and the origins of the virus later, or, we could debate it now, but while staying the hell away from each other and cutting off this thing’s lifeline.

Okay, so, it’s easy for me to have that opinion. I’m lucky. Kind of. Ish. I’ve kept my job. Kind of. Ish. My pay has actually been slashed pretty badly. Commission has been cancelled for April and May so I’m going to be getting base pay only. Okay, yeah, I know a lot of people only get base pay and I was one of them for a very long time, and I’m lucky to have gotten anything above and beyond that. But I have been getting paid above and beyond my base pay and I’ve grown accustomed to a new comfort level. The stimulus covers that for this month, so I’m not feeling it yet.  But I’m lucky to have kept my job and gained the flexibility to do it from home, which is something I’ve been lobbying for to management for the past four years, anyway.

But the immediate lifestyle adjustments? Fuck, man. This is heaven. Sequestration is magical. I have a valid reason now for telling people to stay the fuck away from me when before I was just an asshole. I never had any desire to go anywhere anyway — and now I have the perfect excuse, and zero guilt. It’s fucking fantastic.

Okay, so, I like the lockdown. It’s not hard for me. I’m working from home, which is perfection. I want my commission pay back, my performance-based earnings, but aside from that, we can keep this lockdown going for everyone capable of working remotely for just as long as … well, forever. We can just keep this up forever.  

I don’t miss anything.  I don’t miss eating out. I don’t miss going out. In fact, I just had to go out, and it was sheer hell. I needed a VGA cable immediately, so I ordered one from Best Buy for curbside pickup. Traffic is fucking stupid. Fucking assholes everywhere. Nobody at Best Buy was wearing a mask or gloves, and they’re walking up to customers’ cars handing them merchandise, talking to each other in close quarters.  The guy who handed me my purchase weighed at least four hundred pounds. If he gets this virus, he’s pretty likely dead. This thing isn’t kind to the morbidly obese. Unfortunately, most of central Indiana is morbidly obese.

Okay, so, all cards on the table, I have ulterior motives. I like things shut down. So, of course I’m going to champion this course of action. But I also just think it’s the right thing … nay, the ONLY thing to do right now. The death toll will likely be at or very near 45,000 by the time I post this, and it is climbing steeply on a daily basis. And that’s with all of the extreme social distancing most of us are practicing right now. If we hadn’t done this, if we hadn’t shut down, we’d be over 200,000 deaths, easy, and it would be fucking chaos out there. Hospitals would be beyond capacity, mayhem would ensue. I have no proof of that, it’s just what I think. I can’t prove something that I think would have happened under different circumstances.

I’m not terrified of this thing. I’m being respectfully cautious. This is a formidable enemy. My goal is to not get it, to avoid it completely. That way I don’t roll the immune system dice on this disease at all, and I maintain a zero fault status in the spread of the virus. If I can pull that off, that will be a perfect game, I win. But this thing is highly contagious, and it is in my city, and it is inside far more people than the daily news numbers show because hardly anyone is being tested. Also, a lot of people get it, and they are just fine. If I get it, I will likely be okay. But, that’s not a guarantee. There is a risk. People say the mainstream media is collectively sensationalizing this. Well, of course they are, in their way. Of course they’re playing it up for ratings, that’s what they do.  

But I don’t think they are making it sound worse than it is. I was watching a news broadcast and they said that eighty-six percent of the people under fifty who died of COVID-19 had an underlying health condition such as an autoimmune disorder, obesity, diabetes, high-blood pressure, asthma, or being a smoker. Those are all pretty common conditions. That’s a lot of at-risk people. Eighty-six percent of those under fifty who died had an underlying health condition. That’s what they did say. But what they didn’t say, and what I heard was this: Fourteen percent of the people under fifty who died of COVID-19 did NOT have an underlying health condition. That sounds fucking scary.  Yes, that is still a small number. Most of the people who die from COVID-19 are over eighty years of age. So, the percentage of people who died who are under fifty is low, and it’s fourteen percent of that number … but still. That’s otherwise healthy young people with no underlying health conditions who are dying. Greater risk for the elderly doesn’t equal zero risk for the young. That’s not how math or statistics work.  

I’ve watched videos online from real people. Nurses on the front lines in the hardest hit cities describing chaotic and dangerous conditions in hospitals. People who got the disease pretty badly, but recovered, recounting their terrifying near-death experiences. Yes, a lot of people have a sniffle and a cough. Yes, some people remain asymptomatic throughout the life of their infection, remaining symptom free, but still allowing the virus to replicate in their bodies so they can spread it. But this thing just slaps the fuck out of some people, and sometimes kills them, for no reason. Not because they’re old, or sick, or have an otherwise compromised immune system, but they’re just simply unlucky. I mean, maybe there’s something we don’t know. Perhaps they all have something in common, some underlying factor that hasn’t been identified as a risk. That’s surely possible. But still — do you have it, this factor? Do I? 

But fear of getting infected isn’t the main reason to distance and hunker down.

We should stay locked down and we should try our best not to spread it because it’s extremely contagious, and there is a pretty large section of our society, who, for various reasons, really shouldn’t be put into battle with this virus. A lot of them don’t have a chance, and we, as a society, need to do the right fucking thing and keep this bug as far away from them as we can. And if caring about the sick and elderly is outside of your capacity, just know that you aren’t safe, either. It could kill you, too. Fourteen percent of the people under fifty who died from COVID-19 did not have an underlying medical condition or compromised immune system. I’m sure they all thought they would be fine. 

I have learned the following by reading articles written by experts in the field.

There are eight strains of SARS-CoV-2 circulating the globe right now that cause the disease COVID-19. No one strain is deadlier than another, they are all very similar to each other. SARS-CoV-2 is not likely to rapidly mutate and go airborne or get into the water supply. Its current method of transmission from human to human is so effective it has no immediate need to try to adapt or evolve. If and when it does need to evolve to try to bypass our eventual vaccine, it will take it a while. Coronavirus evolves, or mutates, at a slow rate, about four times slower than influenza.

I should be citing this stuff, but this is a blog, not a peer-reviewed paper. This isn’t shit I’ve discovered through testing and examination,  and I’m not trying to formulate my own hypothesis. I’m no expert in any of this, I’m just repeating shit I’ve found from articles that were well-sourced, and anyone can find them by Googling this stuff and seeing where I found it. But I digress, as I am wont to do.  Anyway, more science facts.

SARS-CoV-2 spreads from human to human in both large droplets and aerosol that exit the body during a cough, sneeze, panting, heavy breathing, etc. Any method that would allow moisture to escape the mouth on the breath. The virus can hang suspended in mist for up to three hours and remain active. The virus can live on paper and cardboard for up to 24 hours, and can live for up to 72 hours on plastic, stainless steel, and other smooth shiny surfaces.

So, on a relatively humid day, and, I know, how many of those are we going to see in mid-Spring, right? On a relatively humid day, an infected person sneezes. That infected aerosol can join with the water already in the air, and just float around ready to be breathed in for up to three hours. So, sure, stay six feet away, but if you move into a space someone else was just standing, you’re now breathing in what they just breathed out.

I don’t care who says what about masks.  I don’t need someone to explain to me how and why masks work. I get that the virus is small and can pass through very small openings and to be fully effective a mask would have to be rated to work against particles as small as the virus, which in this case is N-95. But I also understand that if you’re sick and you cough and you’re wearing a piece of cloth over your face, you’re going to greatly decrease the chances that you’re going to spread the virus. Yes, small aerosols will make it through, but a lot of the germs will be caught and never enter the atmosphere. So, yeah, masks are prudent. Any of us could have it, and we should try not to spread it in case we do.

I am lucky and I get to stay in my house. I don’t know what lies I’d be telling myself if I had to go out in the world every day like nothing has changed and do a thankless job. Everyone still out in the world and not practicing social distancing will probably get this. I may get this, despite my best efforts. Most of us will be okay. Some of us won’t. 

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Shopping In The Time Of Corona

Look, I’m not an alarmist. I am skeptical, to an actual fault. I don’t take anyone at their word, and I require proof of a thing before I’ll re-categorize a thing from a possibility to an actuality.  I have scoffed my way through every big societal scare. I flashed a cocky smirk at people expressing worries about Y2K, dismissing their fears with a chuckle and promising them nothing was going to happen. I shook my head at people wearing masks during SARS. I fearlessly ate chicken and pork chops throughout the bird flu and the swine flu scares. I ate Big Macs and Whoppers while watching the world fall apart over Mad Cow Disease.

But I’m not fucking around with this. So far the death rate is higher than predicted. High risk people are really  at risk, and those of us who aren’t high risk — we’re still not in the clear. Lower risk doesn’t equal no risk.  I’m taking precautions; I’m staying home; I’m keeping away from people. Even before Corona, I was already being a germaphobe this season.  I was determined to not get the flu this year. I’ve been drinking daily Emergen-C packets since November.

Much as I hated to go out, I had to. Supplies were low. Amazon Prime took my mandarins, orange juice, and bananas out of my cart before I completed my order and they needed replenished. They also jacked up the price of the grapes in my cart so I had to take them out. So, I had to go out. I don’t have a mask, but I do have disposable vinyl gloves, and I wore them. I do plan on making masks for myself and my husband this weekend. 

Am I being too careful? I hope so. I hope I’m being silly and ridiculous. I can laugh at myself later. But I’m not taking my chances. I’m going to do everything I can to make sure I’m around to laugh at myself. And I’m going to do everything I can to make sure I’m not the reason someone else loses their life. None of us know if we have this virus on our skin, our clothes, or in our breath. Many of us may get this and never know we had anything more than a cold. Some of us will get this and feel really bad for a while. And some of us will get this and die. I want to live the rest of my life knowing I did everything I could to prevent further deaths during this time. 

Most people did very well in the store. Half of them had masks on.  We all kept away from each other.  I gave everyone at least six feet and I didn’t come within twelve feet of anyone who looked like they might be over 55.  I managed to get all my shopping done while all of us in the store gave each other distance, and I was in line, well behind the person in front of me.  People were in line behind me, at a reasonable distance. And that’s when I had to go off on some daft bitch at Aldi.

This woman comes up from my left and stands, not right up on me, but closer than I wanted her —  less than six feet away. She’s on her phone, yapping away, spraying mouth germs everywhere.

I took two steps to the right and said, “there are people in line behind me, and please move away from me.”

She didn’t move away from me. She kept blathering into her phone and took two steps  in my direction, closing in. I moved further away, and said, louder, “please don’t stand so close to me!”  She closed the gap again, at which point I yelled, “OH MY GOD, GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME!” And she continued  just standing there, yapping into her phone, at which point I turned and looked at her and screamed “YOU! Get the fuck away from me!”

At which point she became offended, asking, “Are you serious?”  And then began explaining to the person on the other end of the phone that she was just standing there and some idiot … and I don’t know what she said after that. I didn’t fucking care. She got the message and got the fuck away from me. And I don’t give a rats fat ass what the daft cunt thought of me. She was just aware enough of her surroundings to move in on me every time I tried to put distance between us, but not aware enough understand that I was desperately trying to put distance between us.

Fuck that bitch. Even when there’s not a highly contagious viral pandemic, I never want people near me in public. Stay at least six feet away from me, and under no circumstances attempt to touch me, are both pretty good rules to observe with me at any time. But now? 

Blogger’s artistic representation of the Coronavirus
Posted on

Shopping In The Time Of Corona

Look, I’m not an alarmist. I am skeptical, to an actual fault. I don’t take anyone at their word, and I require proof of a thing before I’ll re-categorize a thing from a possibility to an actuality.  I have scoffed my way through every big societal scare. I flashed a cocky smirk at people expressing worries about Y2K, dismissing their fears with a chuckle and promising them nothing was going to happen. I shook my head at people wearing masks during SARS. I fearlessly ate chicken and pork chops throughout the bird flu and the swine flu scares. I ate Big Macs and Whoppers while watching the world fall apart over Mad Cow Disease.

But I’m not fucking around with this. So far the death rate is higher than predicted. High risk people are really  at risk, and those of us who aren’t high risk — we’re still not in the clear. Lower risk doesn’t equal no risk.  I’m taking precautions; I’m staying home; I’m keeping away from people. Even before Corona, I was already being a germaphobe this season.  I was determined to not get the flu this year. I’ve been drinking daily Emergen-C packets since November.

Much as I hated to go out, I had to. Supplies were low. Amazon Prime took my mandarins, orange juice, and bananas out of my cart before I completed my order and they needed replenished. They also jacked up the price of the grapes in my cart so I had to take them out. So, I had to go out. I don’t have a mask, but I do have disposable vinyl gloves, and I wore them. I do plan on making masks for myself and my husband this weekend. 

Am I being too careful? I hope so. I hope I’m being silly and ridiculous. I can laugh at myself later. But I’m not taking my chances. I’m going to do everything I can to make sure I’m around to laugh at myself. And I’m going to do everything I can to make sure I’m not the reason someone else loses their life. None of us know if we have this virus on our skin, our clothes, or in our breath. Many of us may get this and never know we had anything more than a cold. Some of us will get this and feel really bad for a while. And some of us will get this and die. I want to live the rest of my life knowing I did everything I could to prevent further deaths during this time. 

Most people did very well in the store. Half of them had masks on.  We all kept away from each other.  I gave everyone at least six feet and I didn’t come within twelve feet of anyone who looked like they might be over 55.  I managed to get all my shopping done while all of us in the store gave each other distance, and I was in line, well behind the person in front of me.  People were in line behind me, at a reasonable distance. And that’s when I had to go off on some daft bitch at Aldi.

This woman comes up from my left and stands, not right up on me, but closer than I wanted her —  less than six feet away. She’s on her phone, yapping away, spraying mouth germs everywhere.

I took two steps to the right and said, “there are people in line behind me, and please move away from me.”

She didn’t move away from me. She kept blathering into her phone and took two steps  in my direction, closing in. I moved further away, and said, louder, “please don’t stand so close to me!”  She closed the gap again, at which point I yelled, “OH MY GOD, GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME!” And she continued  just standing there, yapping into her phone, at which point I turned and looked at her and screamed “YOU! Get the fuck away from me!”

At which point she became offended, asking, “Are you serious?”  And then began explaining to the person on the other end of the phone that she was just standing there and some idiot … and I don’t know what she said after that. I didn’t fucking care. She got the message and got the fuck away from me. And I don’t give a rats fat ass what the daft cunt thought of me. She was just aware enough of her surroundings to move in on me every time I tried to put distance between us, but not aware enough understand that I was desperately trying to put distance between us.

Fuck that bitch. Even when there’s not a highly contagious viral pandemic, I never want people near me in public. Stay at least six feet away from me, and under no circumstances attempt to touch me, are both pretty good rules to observe with me at any time. But now?