68 thoughts on “C-19 Chat Post – April 7 2020”

  1. I was running low on masks. Thankfully I found a place selling them and was able to get a pack of 50 of these style ones https://imgur.com/a/7kTXxEd – Cost me 35 bucks though but since I have to go to work I want something other than or in addition to a bandanna.

  2. Snuck in a food delivery last night as I had been refreshing the order page all day. Got a 7-8PM window at around 1 or 2 PM. I thought it was a fantasy slot, but to our
    surprise we got it. Delivery was around 7:20, right on schedule.

    It took us 2 hours to do the proper sanitation to store the items. We actually got cheese this time, but no eggs? I suppose we can’t have it all.

    Frozen dinners were carefully removed from carton and dropped onto the table
    Then after proper hand washing were inserted into the freezer.
    Milk contained was lysol’d down and placed in back of fridge.
    Cheese was taken out of baggie and carefully unwrapped as to not touch cheese
    and dropped onto a piece of aluminum foil
    Non-perishables went into the quarantine pantry.

    I still have to wash all of the fruit and vegetables as I was too exhausted to continue last night.

    I think this is over-kill, but when I see a reasonable person like
    Dr. Sanjay Gupta tells everyone to do just this, I figure there must be a real concern
    for fomite transmission.

    1. Only wash fruits and vegetables with water not soap. Forgot to mention this – if you go to that grocery washing video that’s become popular he has had to add a few corrections and clarifications in the description. (Took a screenshot of all the clarifications: https://imgur.com/a/8LYy1X5 ) The reason being that fruits and vegetables are porous and using soap will get them to absorb the soap and that’s not something you want to be ingesting. Don’t know if you have been using soap but wanted fo mention since that video was shared here and a lot of people don’t routinely check for updates in descriptions of videos lol

      1. I saw using soap also on either the video your refer to or another video and cringed. Some of the videos including one I shared a while ago don’t make sense to me.

        JPD. I don’t think it is overkill. There is that meme circulating that shows a jar of skittles. Two are contaminated. Which ones are you going to eat? Or something like that.

        1. Thank you and thank you doc. I have been using soap. Not lysol or anything, just plain dish soap. No affect on
          tomatoes and potatoes, but it did the carrots in.
          Many thanks for sharing this. Much appreciated.

            1. Just for the record I run warm water over my potato for a minute or so then rub gently with a paper towel then put in oven. Baked potatoes are nice comfort food imo! 🙂

          1. Additionally allow me to share this with you and vicki and whomever else as it offers the simplest directions in regards to washing fruits and vegetables: https://youtu.be/pJTULzwZvSg

            Never feel bad about doing things one way out of caution and then having to amend those ways later – we are all learning as we go with this. We are all doing our level best and just have to hope that’s good enough. I’ve been telling myself to expect one year of this stricter style of living and that I at least don’t have to plough, till and tend to a vast garden. We have started planting some of our own stuff though so that if stores were to run low on things we have our own stock and we also don’t have to be a fastidious with the cleaning.

            I’ve been far too verbose today lol

  3. I heard this morning that 7 states still do not have any “stay at home” orders. Not to mention many churches still plan to have Easter Services as usual. I haven’t heard specifically about Good Friday but one can assume those services will be held as well.

  4. Just to remind folks, I am also desperately looking for positives. From a selfish perspective I want to be able to see my daughter who lives 3,000 miles away. I can’t right now and won’t for several more months and maybe longer (unless I quarantine on both sides of the Atlantic for 14 days, which I just couldn’t do in London; really impossible financially and logistically). This crisis is really affecting me.

    But, what I don’t think is constructive is false hope. It’s not just our government that’s doing that. In Europe, it’s happening too. The Netherlands, for example, had their highest death total by far today, 234. That’s a very high number for a small country. They’ve also effectively reached their ICU capacity. Yet, the government – that failed to act promptly a month ago – continues to sugar coat its messages to people. I believe that realism at this point is more constructive.

    I compare it to the airline announcements we often hear at airports. “Hey, folks, yeah it looks like the incoming aircraft is gonna be about 15 minutes late.” And then an hour later, “yeah, a little delay here, folks, aircraft should be here any minute.” A half hour later, “we’re really sorry, folks, but it’s gonna be another 20 minutes or so.”

    1. I am so sorry you can’t see your daughter, Joshua. I know it isn’t the same but can you face time? I suspect it will be a very long while before I can see my son since he may be exposed through work. We just don’t know. But he has a few things to pick up here so we will see other across the yard. Sadly, you can’t even do that much.

      How is your son?

      We are planning a family zoom for Easter. I pick up hams at our farm today. And then I need to learn how to use zoom.

        1. Thank you. I will ask. Older daughter is using for her school committee meetings and kids are using for school so I’m probably only one not familiar. But I love new tech

    1. Until social distancing is no longer required, NO sporting events whatsoever should be scheduled. If that means total cancellations of seasons then SO BE IT!

      NBA, NHL and MLB should cancel their perspective seasons immediately! NFL should delay practices, ota’s etc. by at least one month.

      If a half dozen teens can’t have a pickup basketball game in an open park out of doors then how can the NBA finals be held before a packed crowd in an indoor arena??

      My rant.

  5. There will be a demand as the warmer months arrive and the curve goes down for a relaxation in social distancing rules. This would be folly but it being an election year will make the situation particularly prickly because those in power will want to not seem authoritarian with rules. Not necessarily here in Massachusetts but definitely in the less impacted less metro type of areas. It will also not be unique to the United States. Smaller scale sporting events might get a pass with the caveat of some social distancing, blocked off seating, masks that come with tickets, etc. – as I mentioned in the previous days post the summer will lead towards complacency. If the oil pricing war continues you will see a lot of people traveling merely because of how cheap it is (add to that hotels that need a boost, restaurants that could use the business and smaller retail stores that are allowed to reopen in a limited fashion.) There are so many facets to the future that people aren’t yet considering that could be dire for a second curve.

    If everyone without exception wore a mask the second they exited their homes we could probably have a small return to normalcy just for the summer months. But most wouldn’t want to wear a mask during warm weather. It’s been a wait and see type of year. New England will have a bit of a lag time for long stretches of warmer weather so other states that get sustained warmer weather sooner will wind up being a template of things to come.

  6. What there talking about for baseball returning is playing the whole season in the Phoenix Arizona area. The players coaches and staff would be away from their families for the season and the travel would be to the park and to the hotel. No fans would be allowed. These players want to play and get paid so I think as much as they don’t want to be away from their families for a long period of time they will jump on board with this plan.

    1. It’s such a logistical nightmare. Playing without fans in attendance takes a lot of wind out of the sails. Add to that the team, the opposing team, the coaching staff, the supporting crews for both teams, the people needed for a broadcast – that is an insane amount of people to try to essentially sequester – then you have the issue of how will they get food to stay totally off grid and away from potentially contaminated items? Will they stay at hotels? Will the hotel staff be sequestered away? This is why even golf which can easily have everyone apart on the field of play isn’t going on as normal.

        1. All we’ve been hearing from our public Health officials is “social distancing”, “social distancing”, “social distancing” etc. and yet they actually support this.

          I for one do not like these mixed messages.

  7. Golf is hoping to come back sometime during mid June and hoping to play three out of the four majors. This is a fluid situation with this virus. The baseball situation was described last night on Sportscenter as playing in a biosphere. The union and players association is going to have talks this week so will see what happens but it doesn’t look like any baseball fan is going to see their team in person this season.

    1. Even as a biosphere there are quite a few variables that will be difficult to control. If even one player contracts anything that’s going to be a PR nightmare and add to that when the general public sees people playing baseball as usual – even if there are a hundred caveats repeated throughout the game that this is a controlled environment – it’s going to give an awful lot of people a sense of complacency. Perhaps I am being too overly cautious but that’s my thinking.

    2. Hasn’t the Masters been scheduled now for November? That month seems as the most reasonable I’ve seen as far as sports in general is concerned.

  8. I know different sports are eager to say when they hope to resume and give their fans something to look forward too. But I don’t think any date ranges should be announced until we are more clear on when it will be safe for such events.

    I think including dates, even months at this point is just a set up for a potential let down.

    trust me I’d love to see the NHL to finish its season, but I’m also very clear on what the priority is at this point.

    1. Sadly it is all about the TV money. $$$$$$ and to heck with the many deaths reported daily throughout this nation, not to mention the world. 🙁

  9. As far as baseball saying it wants to start in May I am looking at as one of the forecast models showing a major snowstorm way in the future where I don’t get my hopes up but rather keep tabs on the situation.

      1. In the mountains of Arizona a snowstorm is possible. Baseball has to contend with summer temps in Arizona that average around 100 -105.

  10. I wish the minuteman bike trail was opened, apparently they closed it because there were to many people on it. I just wanted a nice bike ride. Why do people need to mess it up. Apparently it was open a few days ago but there were to many large groups going through and people not maintaining distance. I wonder how the trails are on the Cape.

    Also I am happy that I am no longer on St. Thomas as all the beaches were just closed through April 20th, as the government do not trust people to maintain social distancing during Easter which is big on the Islands. Going camping and doing stuff on the water is a major event on the Virgin Islands for Easter.

    1. also will add, look for the first day of summer being the day to look forward too just my gut feeling at least for New England.

  11. Thank you to everyone who asked about my son. He’s doing well. No fever.

    I hope all of you are faring well, roo.

    Quick data analysis update for today. Italy is improving. Still over 600 deaths, but new cases are really slowing. Spain provides 2 batches of data. The first is pretty much the same as yesterday. Not bad. Not good. France looks truly horrific. The worst day by far, with more than 11,000 new cases and 1,400 new deaths. Calamity. Belgium and Holland also suffered really bad days in terms of new deaths, 410 and 234, respectively. Remember, these are small countries. U.K. suffered its highest death toll. The U.S. preliminary data look bad. Headed towards well over 2,000 deaths today. I do NOT understand the media reports yesterday. Even today, I see reports that the government thinks the deaths “won’t be as bad as it projected.” Maybe that’s true, I certainly hope so, but the current data suggests that. Remember, this was a government that just a few weeks ago said it had the “situation contained.” Damn it, stop sugar coating. Don’t say anything if you don’t have definitive information. Speculation at this point is ridiculous. If the media does that, or our government, people will give up on social distancing and we won’t recover soon, both from a public health and economic perspective. There will be prolonged agony, false hopes dashed, and chaotic, disjointed responses. I’m really angry. And, I’m rarely mad.

    1. I hope you are faring well, Too, not Roo.

      Also, I meant to say “current data do not suggest that.”

    1. It cannot be contained properly WITHOUT proper testing, period.
      I just that a Market Basket employee died of Covid-19. So sad.
      Proof positive that the virus is lurking in those grocery stores, pharmacies,
      liquor stores and gas stations.

      1. A thought I’ve been mulling. Without testing (due to lack of tests) for anyone outside of essential workers, if everyone is home, it seems to me it stops spread.

          1. ah ha you are correct. Excellent point. I knew something was missing in my theory.

            We don’t have the tests, And perhaps until we do, it seems to me we need to take a strong stance on another front to make up for lack of testing. IMO that would be a nationwide lockdown. if folks did what they should, maybe not. However, too many show a marked lack of common sense.

  12. There is only 1 other country in the world that has more covid-19 cases than New York State and that is Spain which has: 140,511
    NY has: 138,836

  13. NY Governor Cuomo saying the three day average of hospitalizations is down.
    The bad news in NY the number of fatalities has increased the past few days with a big jump from Sunday to Monday.
    4/2 562
    4/3 630
    4/4 594
    4/5 599
    4/6 731

  14. Are the 13,837 Covid 19 positives in Mass from yesterday? Have they not yet released today’s numbers?

    1. Thanks JPDave! Unfortunately, 96 more state deaths which nearly triples the previous high Massachusetts death toll. Wow! Not good.

  15. alisonarod I am interested what you think being in the medical profession what you think about baseball wanting to play in the Phoenix area for the season which is being reported that they want to see the season start in May. Do you think this idea that they have come up with could work having players coaches and team staff stay there for four and a half months and just go from hotel to ball park back to hotel?

    1. I’m not the medical expert but I can tell you that this is really all about $ and not much else. They are banking on the NBA & NHL having to cancel their seasons and the fact people will be itching to watch something besides reruns of 1980s sitcoms and other various things they are cycling through for the 3rd time, and they will even pick up some “non-fans” just for the sake of having something different to follow. Yup. It’s really all about money, not much else.

  16. Concerning the 96 deaths reported in MA today. There is this note:
    Please note that today’s reported deaths reflect deaths occurring over the weekend and the past 24 hours. DPH receives reports of deaths from more than one source that are then matched to laboratory confirmed cases and reported out as quickly as possible.

  17. Longshot, I am answering your question on here, but we just don’t know if wind has an impact with the virus, this is still a really new virus, we know about UV light but that’s about it. We can not even really think about the temperature thoughts as we just do not have enough data yet.

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