COVID-19 Coronavirus: practicalities

[KyushuWoozy]

I'm in inbound travel industry, literally 100% cancelled, Spring should be our time to make money. With peculiarly bad timing we recruited our first full-time staff months ago with start date March 01 so we have to find her salary (and pension, insurance etc) from zero income. Currently applying for interest free loan. Tough times for sure for lots of people ...

 

[mdchachi]

I'm in inbound travel industry, literally 100% cancelled, Spring should be our time to make money. With peculiarly bad timing we recruited our first full-time staff months ago with start date March 01 so we have to find her salary (and pension, insurance etc) from zero income. Currently applying for interest free loan. Tough times for sure for lots of people ...

Can you postpone or let her go? Or are you just trying to help her out? In the U.S. with everybody being an at-will employee there are few employment protections.

 

[KyushuWoozy]

I want to avoid letting her go if at all possible. She quit from a management stream in a big company, with higher pay and subsidised apartment, because she bought into our dream. That's my sentimental reason. Also, if this situation passes quickly (by autumn) the reasons I employed her will still stand. We need her to help build our future. We live an hour from the nearest city and finding another staff with her skills and personality traits would be extremely difficult.

To answer your second point: staff here have a lot more employment protection rights than many other countries.

Fingers crossed ...

 

[mdchachi]

I want to avoid letting her go if at all possible. She quit from a management stream in a big company, with higher pay and subsidised apartment, because she bought into our dream. That's my sentimental reason. Also, if this situation passes quickly (by autumn) the reasons I employed her will still stand. We need her to help build our future. We live an hour from the nearest city and finding another staff with her skills and personality traits would be extremely difficult.

To answer your second point: staff here have a lot more employment protection rights than many other countries.

Fingers crossed ...

That's tough. I hope things get back to normal for you (and all of us) quickly.

 

[Grandpa Frank]

I find it interesting how people can be so easily steered into buying sprees by what they see on the media. The latest frenzy scares me a bit. Guns and ammo are the latest craze. Some stores are now empty of hundreds of guns and all the ammunition. Without training in how to use firearms safely and knowledge of when you can legally use them , people are headed for trouble. I'm sure there are some areas where those without decide to take from those with.
One of Maine's biggest and well known stores , L.L.Beans , just closed , which has only happened 4 times in it's long history. In one week , Maine went from no worries to now almost being house arrest for everyone. I have to admit , being 70 with crappy lungs , I'm a bit nervous.

 

[Lothor]

I find it interesting how people can be so easily steered into buying sprees by what they see on the media. The latest frenzy scares me a bit. Guns and ammo are the latest craze. Some stores are now empty of hundreds of guns and all the ammunition. Without training in how to use firearms safely and knowledge of when you can legally use them , people are headed for trouble. I'm sure there are some areas where those without decide to take from those with.
One of Maine's biggest and well known stores , L.L.Beans , just closed , which has only happened 4 times in it's long history. In one week , Maine went from no worries to now almost being house arrest for everyone. I have to admit , being 70 with crappy lungs , I'm a bit nervous.

That is worrying about the stockpiling of guns and ammo. Let's hope people stay calm.

 

[Buntaro]

I am presently in Texas, and the big thing here is that toilet paper is sold out everywhere!

 

[Grandpa Frank]

I am presently in Texas, and the big thing here is that toilet paper is sold out everywhere!

The internet is sure full of ideas.

 

[Mark of Zorro]

I find it interesting how people can be so easily steered into buying sprees by what they see on the media. The latest frenzy scares me a bit. Guns and ammo are the latest craze. Some stores are now empty of hundreds of guns and all the ammunition. Without training in how to use firearms safely and knowledge of when you can legally use them , people are headed for trouble. I'm sure there are some areas where those without decide to take from those with.
One of Maine's biggest and well known stores , L.L.Beans , just closed , which has only happened 4 times in it's long history. In one week , Maine went from no worries to now almost being house arrest for everyone. I have to admit , being 70 with crappy lungs , I'm a bit nervous.

If I were you I would stock up on humidifiers. Probably take lots of hot baths too.

I don't know what exactly is wrong with your lungs so I cannot say if this is good advice, but the lungs can be exercised by simply taking slow deep breaths, filling the lungs to capacity and then letting the air out. But I say slow because you can get light headed taking in too much oxygen at once. I do this driving sometimes, especially when I have not been exercising enough. It seems rather rejuvenating, perhaps because deeper parts are finally getting some decent amounts of oxygen to work with.

 

[Mark of Zorro]

I am presently in Texas, and the big thing here is that toilet paper is sold out everywhere!

The people who were thrashing Japan on its toilet paper buying spree are not going to like that.

 

[mdchachi]

I find it interesting how people can be so easily steered into buying sprees by what they see on the media. The latest frenzy scares me a bit. Guns and ammo are the latest craze. Some stores are now empty of hundreds of guns and all the ammunition. Without training in how to use firearms safely and knowledge of when you can legally use them , people are headed for trouble. I'm sure there are some areas where those without decide to take from those with.
One of Maine's biggest and well known stores , L.L.Beans , just closed , which has only happened 4 times in it's long history. In one week , Maine went from no worries to now almost being house arrest for everyone. I have to admit , being 70 with crappy lungs , I'm a bit nervous.

That is nothing new. It will be interesting what the numbers are when this chart is updated. Will this end up being scarier than a U.S. election?
And really doesn't anybody who wants guns have them by now?? Seriously...

 

[Grandpa Frank]

I think some people think we are going to end up like the TV show , "The Walking Dead". I sure hope things never get so bad , people have to shoot someone to protect their toilet paper.

 

[SomeCallMeChris]

I sure hope things never get so bad , people have to shoot someone to protect their toilet paper.

Allegedly someone already shot someone else for buying the last roll of toilet paper at a wal-mart. That was a comment section remark from a supposed witness, with no news article to back it up, but they appeared to be a regular account and not a troll account. And to be fair, non-fatal shootings don't always make the news (if the police report includes a mention that it was over toilet paper though, it's sure to make headlines sooner or later; they may leave the motive out of the report for just that reason though).

Anyway, whether that is true or not, people are getting violent over the issue. I've been watching the google news search results for 'toilet paper fight' and 'toilet paper violence' for a few days, but it's mostly minor scuffles. All the most (in)famous incidents are summarized here.

Amidst Coronavirus Scare, People Are Getting Into Physical Fights Over Toilet Paper - ScoopWhoop

In an incident that happened in Australia, two women started fighting over toilet paper as one of them was buying them in bulk, not leaving a single roll for the other.

www.scoopwhoop.com

 

[Grandpa Frank]

I don't think I will ever understand the toilet paper hoarding , even after reading what the experts say.

 

[Mark of Zorro]

I don't think I will ever understand the toilet paper hoarding , even after reading what the experts say.

I know that "I will never understand" is a figure of speech, but its easy to understand. People are prone to hysteria, hype and panic. Hysteria leads to "monkey see monkey do" and all sorts of other irrational thoughts and behaviors as well. Fear is the mind killer. And people are fearful.

 

[Mark of Zorro]

And really doesn't anybody who wants guns have them by now??

That one is hard to figure. As far as I know its long been about half of American households that have guns. My Mom got a gun when she thought she needed it, then she got rid of it. I suspect a lot of generally anti-gun Americans do the same.

Plus the only guns I ever owned were .22s. with low round capacity. If I sensed I was ever going to NEED a gun, would go get a couple with actual magazines and higher caliber.

And all of the above would indicate people you don't want to suddenly own a powerful semi-auto. I say indicate, as I have had experience with a lot of firearms besides my own, grew up around gun owners, and at least took a short firearms safety course.

 

[Chef Varas]

Not so bad, but it has been a bit difficult as an immigrant with not a lot of friends other than workmates it is hard to have 2 kids to take care of without school and both parents working. And the fact that we are not supposed to travel, following the prefectural advice makes it even harder. Amazon books have been our best ally during this time not to mention Netflix and youtube. I try to stay away from social media as it mostly focuses on the negative parts of all this situation bringing paranoia and anxiety to a whole new level. On the bright side, I believe this situation made me think of the importance of always tell that people you care for exactly that because out of the blue you can lose someone before telling that person what it means to you. I think this global crisis just reminded us how small and fragile we can be to sickness, and it should bring awareness that if we don't know how to cope with each other in harmony we might not have a future as promising as we once thought.

 

[Lothor]

Not so bad, but it has been a bit difficult as an immigrant with not a lot of friends other than workmates it is hard to have 2 kids to take care of without school and both parents working. And the fact that we are not supposed to travel, following the prefectural advice makes it even harder. Amazon books have been our best ally during this time not to mention Netflix and youtube. I try to stay away from social media as it mostly focuses on the negative parts of all this situation bringing paranoia and anxiety to a whole new level. On the bright side, I believe this situation made me think of the importance of always tell that people you care for exactly that because out of the blue you can lose someone before telling that person what it means to you. I think this global crisis just reminded us how small and fragile we can be to sickness, and it should bring awareness that if we don't know how to cope with each other in harmony we might not have a future as promising as we once thought.

Actually, my Facebook feed is full of gentle humour and people trying to support each other, so social media is not all bad! All the best with this difficult time.

 

[Mark of Zorro]

Actually, my Facebook feed is full of gentle humour and people trying to support each other, so social media is not all bad! All the best with this difficult time.

You must have 1) carefully chosen what groups you participate in or 2) chosen your Facebook friends very wisely, perhaps only people you actually know in person?

My Facebook time has been limited to ideological groups and they are littered with jerks. As I have been banned for the entire Corona scare, I don't know what they are saying, but I bet the abuse is rife.

 

[mdchachi]

How many people know somebody affected? Closest so far for me is just got word a parent from another elementary school in our district other than the one my son goes to is hospitalized.

I do wonder if I may have encountered it. A guy in my office who returned from a biz trip to Japan the last week of February had a low grade fever and was coughing a little bit about 10 days after his return. I had a tingle in my throat for a few days that week. I combatted it with gargle kusuri. It could have been ki no sei though. No way to tell.

 

[Lothor]

I've persuaded my boss to change my hours slightly to reduce my contact with peak transport and raised the possibility of working at home in the near future. As I guess in many companies, the coronavirus has been an elephant in the room and it took a foreigner to address the issue.

 

[Mark of Zorro]

Not necessarily as a reaction to corona, but it did get me thinking about general emergency preparedness; I only drink bottled water. I often have a ton of empty 1.5 liter bottles and I do have a stash of tap water I put in them and have for years. But I thought I should just start buying my water by the case, so I will have a policy on them: one open and one closed case at all times, same as with I do with bags of rice. So I have two cases now.

I also replenished my supply of canned foods, as it was getting low.

I was considering restarting my freezer unit and stocking it with frozen food. I shut it down since the wife flew the coop. But the problem with a freezer full of food is, what do you do with it when the power goes out? If the corona madness gets so bad there is literally no food at the store, how long till the power goes out? Not long I think.

 

[Lothor]

Not necessarily as a reaction to corona, but it did get me thinking about general emergency preparedness; I only drink bottled water. I often have a ton of empty 1.5 liter bottles and I do have a stash of tap water I put in them and have for years. But I thought I should just start buying my water by the case, so I will have a policy on them: one open and one closed case at all times, same as with I do with bags of rice. So I have two cases now.

I also replenished my supply of canned foods, as it was getting low.

I was considering restarting my freezer unit and stocking it with frozen food. I shut it down since the wife flew the coop. But the problem with a freezer full of food is, what do you do with it when the power goes out? If the corona madness gets so bad there is literally no food at the store, how long till the power goes out? Not long I think.

The coronavirus is many things but it's not madness.

To get your answer, I think you have to look at countries further along the timeline. The infrastructure is not damaged unlike after an earthquake, and countries tend to clearly define key workers in such situations. They would include people responsible for maintaining the country's power supply. I've not heard of any power outages in other countries, so stocking up on your freezer is a sensible idea. If there is a power outage, then get eating, or if you want to make your frozen food last longer, get a cool box, but food stays frozen for quite a while in a freezer as long as you open the door as little as possible.

Also, have you talked to your neighbours about the virus? I mainly live around people in their 80s, so I have been actively knocking on their doors (then standing well back!) and offering to help. One of them gave us some fish last night. Pooling resources is always a good idea in such situations - surplus frozen food would be gratefully received in a power cut and you might get something back.

 

[Grandpa Frank]

Sometimes I think here in the US , some people have been brainwashed by the TV show , "The Walking Dead" and many other zombie type movies. Like runs on toilet paper and other things , now there are runs on guns and ammunition in many states. It seems many people fear things will get so bad , they have to shoot people trying to take their supplies. People who in the past hated guns and wanted to outlaw them seem to be the ones now running out to buy them. Many gun dealers feel it's dangerous to buy a gun when you have no knowledge of owning one and don't know their local laws on using them. Here in Maine , they have closed down all the shooting ranges where novices could go to learn gun safety and use. So far there have only been a few shootings in stores because of hoarding. The gun culture here in the US does have some bad points in the past and I hope it doesn't get worse in our future.

 

[mdchachi]

This week I stocked up a bit more on cold goods such as meats and cheese that won't expire for 1-3 months. My main goal is not to be able to "survive" disruptions and have enough supplies for months but to minimize my shopping and, thus, exposure. For example once every two weeks instead of every week.
We have a big American fridge/freezer, a 1.5m freezer and another dorm-size fridge. All are pretty full.
I keep forgetting to buy ammunition. I guess I should put it on the list.