How Is COVID-19 Affecting your Life? Let’s Keep Talking.


CDC

“Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less.”― Marie Curie


I was surprised that my *I don’t have time to do a post* post generated over 300 comments with discussion centered around coronavirus. None of us have faced such a stunning change in our day to day lives.

Today, we were told by the federal government that we should not gather in groups of greater than 10 or eat out in restaurants. My elderly mother lives in an independent senior facility. Today we were told that I cannot visit the facility except to help her with her medicines or to deliver food. I have decided not to bring her to my home since my husband has daily contact with patients. Two physicians in the US have been infected with the virus.

Two American emergency-room doctors — one in Washington State and one in New Jersey — were in critical condition with Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, the American College of Emergency Physicians said on Saturday. Dr. William Jaquis, the organization’s president, said it was unclear whether the doctor in Washington, who is in his 40s, had contracted the virus at the hospital. The physician in Paterson, N.J., who is 70, had been leading his hospital’s emergency preparedness

So here are some things I’ve been thinking about. I would like to know what has changed or happened in your daily life.

Have you prepared for the possibility of a two week quarantine?

I have often kept canned food around when there are predictions of storms. However, canned goods expires. So, a couple of months ago, I purchased 10 days worth of freeze dried foods for four people that have a shelf life of 25 years. I keep these on hand for an unexpected emergency. I purchased enough fresh food for a week and also have enough canned and frozen food for another 10 days.

What is missing in your local grocery stores?

Besides the toilet paper, cleaning supplies, and hand gels, I’ve noted the scarcity of dairy products, eggs and chicken.

Have your church, schools, and planned activities been cancelled?

My church services and activities and the local schools have been cancelled for two weeks. Our Christian medical group had planned a continuing education course for this past weekend. It had to be cancelled because two speakers got sick. Our local venue allowed us to postpone and did not charge us.

Have you done something dumb during this time?

Today, I was waiting in a pharmacy line, a nice employee who often gives me a quick side hug stopped to say *hi* and I automatically attempted a side hug but quickly switched to an elbow bump. Kicked myself for the rest of the afternoon.

Have you seen someone else do something dumb?

In that same pharmacy line was a woman in front of me who had a terrible cough and looked feverish. I backed up, waaaay back.

Have you heard or seen anything humorous?

My mother insists on using half and half in her coffee. She became upset when our local grocery store ran out. She said “Surely they can find some half and half for an old lady.” I had to school her on the situation out here.

One TWW reader claims that this is a world wide judgment from God. What do you think?

He believes the world is being judged via this virus.

John Piper once claimed that God sent a tornado to destroy the spire of a liberal Lutheran church because of their support of LGBTQ initiatives. He also appears to believe that miscarriage took place possibly due to a man’s porn viewing habits.

So, did God send my daughter a brain tumor to punish her at the age of 3? I believe that bad things happen to all people due to the fact we live in a fallen world. I also believe that God walks with us in our pain and suffering. However, I am interested in hearing from you on this matter.

Can members of your family work from home?

My husband is a cardiologist and must go into the hospital and medical office within that hospital. However, the docs are looking at telemedicine so patients can stay at home but still get some medical care. They will still do this from their office. I can stay at home.

What about this situation frustrates you the most.

Both my husband and I miss our Saturday evening church service.

Who do you feel for during this time?

  • the elderly
  • those dependent on jobs like those in food service who will not be getting tips.
  • single parents who don’t know how to care for their kids who are out of school

Have you or those close to you contracted the virus?

I don’t know anyone at this time. I bet that will change in the near future.

How confidant are you that a cure or treatment will be discovered?

I believe in the ingenuity of the medical and scientific world.

Are you afraid of this virus?

Yes and no. I am immunosuppressed due to medication I take for my psoriatic arthritis. However, one of those medications Plaquenil (aka hydroxychloroquine), is being used to treat COVID-19.

Update: As I was getting ready to publish this, I just heard on a news show that a study is about to be released that will show the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine against coronavirus. For once, there is a upside to my arthritis.

Finally, do you have a Bible verse or saying that you find comforting or inspiring during this time?

Psalm 4:8 NIV

In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety.

My thoughts and prayers are with all of you for good health and safety during this time.

Here’s a picture of Cold/Flu/Coronavirus symptom list that you can right click and download to your computer. GBTC

Symptom Chart

Comments

How Is COVID-19 Affecting your Life? Let’s Keep Talking. — 337 Comments

  1. I think we should start a specific list of churches that are abusing there members by making them think they need to come to their services in person during this crisis.

  2. I live in a hot spot in California where we have been told to shelter in place until April 7. Last week my school closed down and I am learning how to teach remotely. Because I lived overseas for several years, I had a hunch COVID would be bad, so I bought some extras and I will pick up a few more tomorrow using a shopping service at a smaller grocery store. I’m a bit past 60 and orthopedically disabled, so I don’t ever do Costco.

    My elderly cat is thrilled to have me home all day. She camps out on my lap while I work and gives a bit of a miffed mew when I need to get up.

    I think what is occurring is just another indication of how messed up the world is due to sin. And, I believe God can use it for good as we follow directions from higher ups about best practices and encourage those around us.

    Psalm 90-all of it-the brevity of life, the strength and majesty of God, and his mercy to us.

  3. Jeffrey Chalmers,

    My church locked the doors last Friday. I am proud of our leadership! There is a pastoral presence in the building, but you have to make an appointment for a really good reason to go in. Services are online.
    All houses of worship in Santa Clara county-churches, mosques, synagogues, temples-are all closed down. Spiritual leadership seems to be taking the situation seriously.

  4. I am also supremely frustrated by how much the US was caught “with it’s pants down” in this. In fact, I think this is worse than Pearl Harbor. Do I think the US could have prevented it from spreading to the US? No. But there is so much we could have done to slow it down.
    I also think that the anti-science bent of evangelicals and fundies have contributed to the US being “caught ill prepared”
    I have been engaging my classmates from my fundy HS about our current “crisis”, and it is breath taking how il informed they are, how much they only listen to the “right wing nuts”, and how they they think my wife (a doctor) is just incompetent in her not being able to get tests for the Virus…

  5. Psalm 91 is comforting. In part, “You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday.”

    My mom is in a nursing home. I visited yesterday. I got a call today that they’re now closed to visitors. I’m thinking I’ll phone and ask to speak to her during this closure.

  6. I commented extensively on the last thread so I will not repeat myself. I just want to add that one of my granddaughters is an ICU nurse in Phoenix. She got sick almost 2weeks ago. There were no testing kits available so she doesn’t know if she has the virus. There is such a shortage of nurses that the hospital wants her to comeback to work regardless that she is still not feeling well.

  7. “Have you prepared for the possibility of a two week quarantine?”

    The likelihood is increasing that some localities will declare shelter-in-place. It would be wise to amass a 2-4 week supply of food, even though grocery stores will most likely stay open, to limit social interaction.

    “Do you have a Bible verse or saying that you find comforting or inspiring during this time?”

    Although some would argue “What about Christians who don’t survive these things?”, I find Psalm 91 comforting in times like these.

  8. Linn:
    Jeffrey Chalmers,

    My church locked the doors last Friday. I am proud of our leadership! There is a pastoral presence in the building, but you have to make an appointment for a really good reason to go in. Services are online.

    All houses of worship in Santa Clara county-churches, mosques, synagogues, temples-are all closed down. Spiritual leadership seems to be taking the situation seriously.

    That takes care of San Francisco and Santa Clara counties; what about San Mateo County, sandwiched between them on the peninsula?

  9. Jeffrey Chalmers:
    Leslie,

    We suspect the same thing, undiagnosed cases, going back to late January.

    Since four out of five cases are “mild” (not requiring hospitalization or supplemental oxygem), they probably were able to hide inside a nasty flu season. The initial symptoms are near-identical. I know I had flu-like symptoms (fever and cough) in early February (duration three-four days) and the bronchitis cough has been hanging on ever since.

  10. Have you prepared for the possibility of a two week quarantine?

    I’m trying to do so. However, the combination of hoarders and slow restocking have made this task extremely difficult. I stopped by a grocery store on the way home from work late this evening. Paper products, fresh meat, pasta, and fresh produce were either in short supply or cleaned out altogether.

    I work at a hospital and telework isn’t an option. For now my job is safe but that could change at any time. A few weeks ago I passed the 11th anniversary of being laid off from my previous job at a company where I worked for over 20 years. I cannot financially tolerate another long period of unemployment like that one.

    My church is holding online services only and has cancelled or suspended all onsite activities. The church staff is working remotely. I understand the need to be cautious since I’m past my 60th birthday and have some health issues. However, I fear the closed churches and suspended ministries will result in a missed opportunity for outreach and Gospel witness at a time when a lot of folks are scared and more open to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I’m also concerned what effect this enforced isolation will have on widowed persons, singles and others who are lonely.

  11. On Feb. 26 our Federal Health Minister warned Canadians to stock up, a pandemic was coming, the global risk was evolving quickly etc., etc.

    So we personally did – for a month +. The cat has her drugs for 2 months, we have ours. As an introvert, I’m content and at peace. Lots to read, games to play, friends to phone and check up on, a charity I can volunteer with from home…

    I can’t repair the world, but I can help my neighbours and I can pray.

    I’ve been following this closely since early January. My twin was a funeral director trained in infectious disease and pandemic scenarios. As a reporter, I covered my share of Emergency Measure drills, health care shortages etc. So we prepared and encouraged friends and family to do likewise.

    I think last week was a world wide turning point, and we saw Canadians panic.
    There will be more turning points, more shock, more panic.

    The grocery store nearby is stocked, the drug store nearby is fine too. A friend was laid off yesterday (tourism/hospitality) maintains benefits and is fast tracked for unemployment insurance.

    I grieve for Italy and for our friends in the USA. In the States, there are so few safety nets, a lack of co-ordination in government. I grieve for health care workers in Italy and the rest of the world and I grieve for countries with no health care structure or clear communication and information.

    I know we are 13-16 days behind Italy and a two week stay at home will stretch out for at least 2-3 months. Our hospital system will be overwhelmed, today the federal health minister was asked about Canadian Armed Forces helping out with tent hospitals etc when the time comes. That is not a surprise. I know the world economy will take a long long time to recover.

    When Prime Minister Trudeau self-isolated because his wife is sick, I was reminded of the Father Damien story – my fellow lepers.
    Canada went through SARS, and while our government is far, far from perfect, I am grateful for the lessons learned.

    Team Canada – Team World – Team Human. We are in this together.

    Ecclesiastes 7:12-14 New International Version (NIV)

    12 Wisdom is a shelter
    as money is a shelter,
    but the advantage of knowledge is this:
    Wisdom preserves those who have it.

    13 Consider what God has done:

    Who can straighten
    what he has made crooked?
    14 When times are good, be happy;
    but when times are bad, consider this:
    God has made the one
    as well as the other.
    Therefore, no one can discover
    anything about their future.

  12. I just found out today that I will be working from home until April 30th and my allergist is closing till the beginning of June-no injections for any patients until then. There is only so much I can do at home as I work with the public in workforce services and am employed by a non-profit. Thank goodness my wife works and we have saved for a rainy day. I tried to shop at Trader Joes today and there was a long line waiting to get in so I ditched that idea. Besides that, I am doing fine.

  13. Headless Unicorn Guy,

    All 7 Bay Area counties go into shelter in place at midnight.Of course, there are lots of exceptions for leaving the house-you can go hiking for example, as long as you maintain 6 feet of social distance. It’s okay to do a grocery run (I have one tomorrow), and for people in the gig economy to work. But, it’s really pretty tight otherwise and goes through 4/7. Restaurants can only do take-out/delivery orders, and most retail businesses will probably close because no one will be out shopping.

  14. Headless Unicorn Guy: “mild” (not requiring hospitalization or supplemental oxygem), they probably were able to hide inside a nasty flu season. The initial symptoms are near-identical. I know I had flu-like symptoms (fever and cough) in early February (duration three-four days) and

    I had bad cases of RSV and sinus infection for more than 3 weeks……. went through 2 rounds of antibiotics . I still have a nasty cough, and sometimes I sneeze so hard it hurts, and it just doesn’t let up.
    I went to get a haircut today, and the manager politely declined the salons services because of my cough. No hard feelings.

    I have wondered, though……. I have to go to Ft. Campbell military base at least once a month, every month for medications. There are people there from all over the world, and every state in the Union. When they go home to visit, what do they bring back here with them??? Have I been unknowingly exposed to …. something? I have a grandson who just turned 1 year-old. I love to play with him and teach him things that drive his mama (my daughter) insane, but right now , I’m a bit uneasy being around him

  15. Wow we were lucky. Just got home from Asia last week before the travel restrictions.

    Working from home. Kids are out of school. Currently self monitoring. My work and the school want us at home. My wife’s work is ok with her going in as long as we’re all symptoms free.

    All public services have ceased. No libraries, sports activities or church services going on. Restaurants are going take out only. All 7 confirmed cases are travel related.

    Not worried about supplies. Stores are stocked. Funniest thing seen? Local co op grocery. No toilet paper but Kleenex is stocked to the ceiling. So are paper towels.go figure

    I think things will normalize in about 4 weeks. The province will know if they have a handle on it by then.

    This is no scourge of God. There are way worst things than this. Not worried about my own safety or even the family but we have friends who are vulnerable and I can take the hit for them.

    The hard lessons were learned in China and Europe. This can’t be contained only mitigated.

    I suspect covid will circulate in the population permanently and raise it’s ugly head periodically in care home, hospitals & cruise ships like Norwalk viruses.

  16. I think a lot of the temporary shortages are due to just in time manufacturing. There’s no extra “padding”in the supply chains. Normally this saves a lot of money but it leaves people vulnerable. Think if this virus had the 35% mortality of MERS or the higher mortality of Hanta virus.
    However in six months time we’ll be drowning in toilet paper as the factories all pump it out based on current demand.

    Toilet paper – the “tickle me Elmo” of the Apocalypse.

  17. In the county where I live, we had our first presumptive positive case reported on Saturday (3/14). The young man in question was already over it by the time it was reported and contracted it from out of country (European) guests that had already come and gone.

    Most (not all, but most) music gigs (including one of mine) had already been cancelled or postponed. All other public gatherings have been cancelked / postponed, including all school / University sporting events. A major, national annual sporting event that takes place at the end of May was just cancelled today. We’re waiting to see if they will cancel a major annual music festival. It takes place the end of June and draws upwards of 50,000 people for the weekend from all over the world – I’ll be shocked if it isn’t cancelled. Both the public schools and the university are on spring break. The public schools are on a minimum of 3 week hold on returning to class – may be until May. The university is going the route of virtual online classes for now. Some fast food places have closed their dining rooms and gone to drive thru / delivery only. Many restaurants are encouraging takeout or delivery with no-contact delivery options. Grocery stores have reduced their hours and are limiting the number of certain items (tp, hand sanitizer, etc.) that can be purchased per day per person. The hospitals have stopped allowing vistors. Most churches have gone to online only services (a notable and not surprising exception being my former church). My current church is doing a live stream service where only the pastor and worship team are on site. They will do this for three weeks and them evaluate if it needs to go longer.

    My sister, who is homebound, was negatively impacted by the freaking hording. She has to do her grocery shopping online and when she placed her order, the site said Walmart had TP in stock. By the time they put her order together, they were out. She only had 2 rolls left to last her a month. I reached out to a friend who runs a local non-profit that helps homeless families and she sent someone to my sister with TP from their stock.

  18. Sorry, my phone glitches and posted the comment I did on the other thread….here is what I meant to post…

    In addition to what I listed on the previous thread, our governor issued a mandate this afternoon that all restaurants in the state have to close their dining room. No more sit in dining. They can do take-out and delivery only.

    I have doctors appointments this week to have scheduled tests done. If I cancel, I probably won’t be able to get another appointment for at least a month – which is a problem as I have docs I need her to fill out that have to be done in person and have to be filed with Dept of Human Services by a certain date. I also have a scheduled MRI for my neck. Rescheduling would take at least a month….and all of this has to be done via taxi as I have no car. Sigh. Part of me would love to just go into hibernation mode…but if these docs don’t get filed, I could lose what little income I currently have – which would create a snowball effect that could lead to becoming homeless. So I do what I have to.

    That said, if I feel ANY symptoms, I will self-quarantine, regardless….and hope for mercy.

  19. We are very hunkered down in my area, lots of cases, everything that can be is closed down. I’m hoping for the best but I fear things are going to get worse before they get better. I worry about all the people who are basically out of work for the time being through no fault of their own, and all the businesses who may not survive this period. How are people going to pay their bills.

    We are seeing many acts of kindness in the midst of this which is very comforting.

    I have what I need personally but I don’t understand why stores didn’t put limits on the amounts of things people could buy, you know like when there’s a sale and it says “limit 4 per customer” or whatever. I also think it would have been nice if they’d set aside a time for the elderly to shop first when the quarantines started rather than forcing the vulnerable to battle the hoards of strong people.

    I came down with a sore throat today. So far it’s mild and I hope it stays that way. I hope for safety for our medical people and for all of us, may this pass quickly. Take good care of yourselves, everyone!

  20. Jeffrey Chalmers: I also think that the anti-science bent of evangelicals and fundies have contributed to the US being “caught ill prepared”
    I have been engaging my classmates from my fundy HS about our current “crisis”, and it is breath taking how il informed they are, how much they only listen to the “right wing nuts”, and how they they think my wife (a doctor) is just incompetent in her not being able to get tests for the Virus…

    I’m ready to give up. We have the example already of how this has played out in other countries, what helped, what didn’t help, and it’s just lost on these people. I throw my hands up in dismay.

  21. Another Santa Clara resident, I’m fortunate enough to be able to work from home. I’m glad we are at least permitted to take walks as long as we avoid other people. I also suspect I’m going to be using Zoom a lot more in the next few weeks (I’m already somewhat familiar with it from work). Testing is ramping up here (it helps that Stanford Medicine developed their own test kit which other local hospitals are also using and now has drive through testing [though an appointment arranged by a physician is needed to use the drive through]). I am concerned about the homeless and in particular a group of mostly older and some elderly women who are in a seasonal shelter run by community volunteers in a local church. They really need shelter where each has their own room with a bathroom where they can stay all day. The same goes for the other 9,700 or so homeless in Santa Clara many of whom live in encampments. Also with the loss of jobs from businesses closing at least temporarily, many of the former job holders may find themselves homeless though there is a moratorium on evictions in many places.

  22. I live in a rural community in NE TX. COVID is not known to have hit our county (or the neighboring counties) yet, but this is, in part, because of an inability to test. Much of the explosion in cases is because of an increased ability to test.
    I am a healthcare worker. I alternate between calm and fear. Things are changing hour by hour. My mother, in her 80’s, is on chemotherapy. I shop for her. (People, that meme on FB “hey groceries put by an hour so that elderly and disabled and come in and to there shopping”……NO. The elderly should not be out unless you have treated your store with disinfectant prior. People posting this meme, identify the elderly and immunocompromised that may be isolated in place and shop for them!!!!!!!! Being out and about in spaces that haven’t been disinfected (which we can’t expect the stores to be able to do daily) will leave them vulnerable). I fear for my mother yet I and my coworkers don’t really fear for ourselves. We have a sense of resignation. I haven’t hugged Mom in over a 2 weeks, with the growing fear that I may harbor this thing unwittingly. This weekend, I delivered groceries but then stepped back.

    In our community, we don’t have enough personal protective equipment. If (when) this comes to our community healthcare workers will be exposed. As I read articles where people are handed N95 masks to fly on a plane, I question the priorities…..should we not shuttle those to healthcare providers? Or, no. All of our supply chains have been out for weeks so I don’t understand how people are getting them.

    From an email sent out by Reverend Donnie Wilkinson of Broadmoor UMC in Baton Rouge, LA (forwarded to me by mother)

    “One person of faith we can look to from history is the famous Protestant reformer Martin Luther (1483-1546). Luther was a pastor at a time when pandemics were far more common than they are today, and I believe his words from the past are wise counsel for our future:

    “I shall ask God mercifully to protect us. Then I shall fumigate, help purify the air, administer medicine and take it. I shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order not to become contaminated and thus perchance inflict and pollute others and so cause their death because of my negligence. If God should wish to take me, he will surely find me, and I have done what he has expected of me and so I am not responsible for either my own death or the death of others. If my neighbor needs me however, I shall not avoid place or person but will go freely as stated above. See this is such a God-fearing faith because it is neither brash nor foolhardy and does not tempt God.” (The Annotated Luther, Volume 4: Pastoral Writings, page 404)”

    For those of us who do not need to be about in the world, stay at home — not widely discussed but asymptomatic carriage has been documented, so you can potentially transmit without knowing (although it is believed that the symptomatic are more likely to be infectious).

    As a nation we need to pray. Psalm 91 is going up on my bathroom mirror (my bathroom mirror is sprouting lots of prayers….)

    If you are young and healthy, look at your community. Think about that elderly person that night need a food run, think of that immunocompromised person that might be lonely. Call them, text them. I am happy to go to Walmart daily if it keeps my mother and her friends out of the stores. Think about that single nurse with 2 kids now out of school. Did she lose her day care but still has to work at the hospital? See if she needs some help. Don’t be out if you don’t need to be, but create a small community and work to keep that community alive.

    Pray, pray, pray.

  23. Please don’t post this if you feel that it’s too political, but the government here in Ohio is really bungling our primary election. Yesterday, the Governor and Secretary of State filed pleadings in an 11th hour attempt to postpone it, but a judge denied the pleadings. The Governor then said they were cancelling them anyway, which he technically does not have the power to do so.
    I totally understand the need to protect people during this crisis, but curtailing people’s civil liberties by using some kind of ‘emergency powers’ makes me a bit skittish to say the least! The election is today, but I still really don’t know if I should go to my polling place or not!

    Verse of encouragement? How about John 16:33– “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” Now there’s some good news we can use!

  24. Headless Unicorn Guy: I know I had flu-like symptoms (fever and cough) in early February (duration three-four days) and the bronchitis cough has been hanging on ever since.

    I am wondering if lots of people have already had it. In early Feb I had a very bad virus that pretty much matches the COVID-19 symptoms. The fever only lasted a few days but it tool a few weeks for the cough and stuffy head to finally clear up. After the fever cleared I tested negative for the flu and went back to work. Many people in my area had a similar experience.

    It would be great if there were a way to test for the antibodies so that people who are no longer susceptible could be out and about to help others instead of being part of the quarantine.

  25. My husband is a professor and is teaching his classes online, from home. I am a bank teller and am still going to work every day.

    Psalm 4610-11: “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.”

  26. I am working from home some, but my job is very people-oriented, so there’s just not much to do. I do have a mild cough and am self-isolating, but I suspect the cough is because pollen season ramped up and not from the virus. Been taking my temp every day to make sure.

    There are multiple cases of the virus in town, so everything is closed. Last night, in a very dramatic meeting, the city-county council voted to limit gatherings to 10 and enact a voluntary curfew. The proposal was for an absolute curfew, with only emergency services allowed out, but that failed, with the commissioner who proposed it crying for several minutes, so that’s the talk of the town this morning on Facebook.

    Today I plan to plant my garden and work on some spring cleaning, in addition to doing some work. I figure getting outside will be good. The weather has been a bit unpredictable lately, so hopefully that won’t work against me.

  27. I always work from home, so no change there for me. But my wife is a pediatric genetic counselor (so she won’t be dealing with treatment for covid-19) at UNC Chapel Hill, and they’ve got her division doing some sort of staggered schedule, where one person comes in each day so that someone is in the office – otherwise they work from home. She told me yesterday that masks aren’t available (though I’m not sure if that means masks aren’t available *at all*, or just maybe limited to the most significant needs) – and she was told that the hospital is nearing capacity. North Carolina only has 33 official cases, but it looks like they’re getting full with people who have pulmonary issues who are presumed to have covid-19. It’s all pretty worrisome.

    In our dance community everything has been cancelled as of about a week ago. There’s at least one group leader that was being really stubborn (I think he’s pretty right-wing) about cancelling, and he finally agreed to cancel over the weekend. On the plus side, people set up a big facebook group for the community to share fun stuff, videos, music, support links for callers & musicians, online concerts, etc.

  28. I work for an airline. Not even sure I will be finishing my job today or have one tomorrow.

  29. I came down with an illness in mid-January. It wasn’t quite a cold and wasn’t quite the flu. I began feeling ill on Friday and spent the weekend at home. I felt better by Monday so I returned to work, but I had lingering congestion for about three weeks following my recovery. I didn’t experience shortness of breath or a really high fever. I live in suburban Washington, DC, an area with a large immigrant population and plenty of folks who engage in international travel. So who knows what I had?

  30. Richard,

    I just heard today that any hospitals are faced with mask shortages. I’m so sorry. I have to adit I got a giggle when I heard your group leader wanted to continue dance lessons. I know these bring much fun and joy but…seriously! I think your Facebook group sounds like fun.

  31. Ken F (aka Tweed): It would be great if there were a way to test for the antibodies so that people who are no longer susceptible could be out and about to help others instead of being part of the quarantine.

    There has been some concerned that the immunity usually received after an infection may not be a guarantee with this one. On one medical talk show they discussed some concern that some people may have had the disease more than once.

    Here’s a link. https://www.scotsman.com/health/coronavirus/can-you-get-coronavirus-twice-and-if-you-are-immune-after-recovering-covid-19-2457100

  32. We have a furniture repair guy coming later this week to fix the recliner mechanism on a chair. If my wife coughs (seasonal allergy), it will probably scare him to death. If he coughs, I will ask him to come back next year.

  33. Mati: “I shall ask God mercifully to protect us. Then I shall fumigate, help purify the air, administer medicine and take it. I shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order not to become contaminated and thus perchance inflict and pollute others and so cause their death because of my negligence. If God should wish to take me, he will surely find me, and I have done what he has expected of me and so I am not responsible for either my own death or the death of others. If my neighbor needs me however, I shall not avoid place or person but will go freely as stated above. See this is such a God-fearing faith because it is neither brash nor foolhardy and does not tempt God.” (The Annotated Luther, Volume 4: Pastoral Writings, page 404)”

    Thank you for this quote!

  34. Erp: I am concerned about the homeless and in particular a group of mostly older and some elderly women who are in a seasonal shelter run by community volunteers in a local church. They really need shelter where each has their own room with a bathroom where they can stay all day. The same goes for the other 9,700 or so homeless in Santa Clara many of whom live in encampments.

    Thank you for this comment and for caring .

  35. “I’ve noted the scarcity of dairy products, eggs and chicken.”

    Chicken seems to be the hot item! I don’t know why. Bread a little.

    I always have lots of pasta and rice and grits and stuff in the house, so I just got a little extra meat and some bread flour/yeast for making bread. I’m also sharing with my BF and he has a ton of stuff. Not worried about running out food, actually feel guilty not eating out because I know restaurants are suffering. We ate out Sunday (at a safe distance!) before stuff started to get shut down to just delivery.

    I am worried about virus, but the economic impact to individuals in certain industries is going to be serious. I know someone laid off already, best to DanFromGeorgia.

  36. SiteSeer: I have what I need personally but I don’t understand why stores didn’t put limits on the amounts of things people could buy, you know like when there’s a sale and it says “limit 4 per customer” or whatever. I also think it would have been nice if they’d set aside a time for the elderly to shop first when the quarantines started rather than forcing the vulnerable to battle the hoards of strong people.

    I have a feeling we will be smarter the second time around but I’m also hoping there won’t be. second time.

  37. There was a call-your-question-to-an-expert session on the news this morning. One person asked “Is it OK to keep my nail appointment in a nearby city?” The expert answered kindly “No, that is not essential travel.” Folks like this concern me … I immediately wondered if they had enough toilet paper on hand.

  38. “How confidant are you that a cure or treatment will be discovered?”

    I don’t know about a ‘cure’ but I think a vaccine will likely be developed, one was apparently in the works for SARS but it disappeared so it got shelved. It will just take a long time to get out.

  39. Max: “No, that is not essential travel.”

    On the flip side, I feel bad for small business owners. This will do some of them in.

  40. Jeannette Altes,

    There are many people who are in your boat. Here is a view from the other side. My husband sees about 20 patients a day. Yesterday, 30% of the folks cancelled due to fears of coming to the office. Many offices are experiencing the same thing. They are looking at the possibility to doing some visits by a telemedicine system since many of their patients have serious heart disease and should be seen. Those little EKG things for phones are pretty good. https://store.alivecor.com/products/kardiamobile

  41. Jack: I think a lot of the temporary shortages are due to just in time manufacturing.

    I agree. Your toilet paper comment made me laugh.

  42. JeffreyChalmers:
    I think we should start a specific list of churches that are abusing there members by making them think they need to come to their services in person during this crisis.

    Mine is happily not! Although it was kind of adorable to watch them attempt to do videos when we are really NOT the kind of ‘watching well produced videos on the big screen during the morning service’ kind of church. I imagine those guys are more prepared for this type of thing! Even though I usually hate that, this is there time to shine.

  43. Jack: Just got home from Asia last week before the travel restrictions.

    Good timing. Did you see the immigration lines at O’Hare a couple of days ago?

  44. “I’ve noted the scarcity of dairy products, eggs and chicken.”

    I’ve been wanting a good excuse to get some live chickens for eggs. This seems like a good one! Chickens are allowed here, and we already have a pen.

  45. JeffreyChalmers: But there is so much we could have done to slow it down.

    We did a TERRIBLE job on the tests. We are absolutely under reporting because we can’t possibly test everyone. Made it so much easier to spread.

  46. Vance: my allergist is closing till the beginning of June-no injections for any patients until then.

    Wow, I didn’t know about that. What happens with people who get severe allergic reactions without their shots?

  47. Max: coughs

    I guess I’ll not stop by. Had the flu 2 weeks ago. Coughing up the phlegm from my lungs will likely last another few weeks.

  48. Bene D,

    Thank you for the update from the north. Can you keeps us informed if things change? I am so happy to hear your friend has good unemployment insurance.

  49. singleman: I work at a hospital and telework isn’t an option. For now my job is safe but that could change at any time. A few weeks ago I passed the 11th anniversary of being laid off from my previous job at a company where I worked for over 20 years. I cannot financially tolerate another long period of unemployment like that one.

    I have a feeling that your hospital job will be secure. From what I hear, there may be a shortage of hospital bed so they are going to need all hands on deck. I just prayed for your job security during this time.

  50. Jack: All 7 confirmed cases are travel related.

    Our first confirmed (or presumed?) case caught it at mardigras! So. And then several healthcare workers who treated them. Ugh.

  51. Max,

    I cannot wait for the panic to subside as the public realizes that we still have food and supplies. Eventually my mom’s half and half will be fully stocked.

  52. Leslie: There is such a shortage of nurses that the hospital wants her to comeback to work regardless that she is still not feeling well.

    Good night!!

  53. Shannon H.: got a call today that they’re now closed to visitors. I’m thinking I’ll phone and ask to speak to her during this closure.

    Its hard on the elderly who are often isolated. My mother was upset yesterday when she found I couldn’t stop by for daily chats like usual.

  54. Jeffrey Chalmers:
    I think we should start a specific list of churches that are abusing there members by making them think they need to come to their services in person during this crisis.

    A person on a mailing list I’m part of was telling about a church he and his brother attend. They have thousands in attendance and didn’t close over the weekend because of the verse about not forsaking assembling together. Not having a live stream either for that reason. The brother runs the technology and really didn’t want to be there but felt pressured. What happened was that they made everyone who came sit six feet apart, and only a few hundred showed up. No idea where this was.

  55. Root 66: John 16:33– “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”

    Amen and Amen!

  56. dee,

    That’s cool that there is that option on the EKGs. Thanks for the perspective. It helps. I go from being okay to fighting fear.

    For me, the visit has to be in person as the paperwork has to be filled out and the tests require blood and urine samples. Short or a transporter, that requires physical presence….hmm, transporters wouldn’t work anyway as they filter out most diseases….lol.

    Like singleman, I was sick in January. It wasn’t a normal cold and wasn’t flu, either. Started with 3-4 days of sore throat, then a day of aches & fever, all with a dry cough. Then mild congestion / drainage with continued cough for a couple of weeks, gradually getting better. Having had pneumonia a couple of years ago, I was paying close attention to my lungs. It never got had enough to concern me. I don’t go to doctors for colds as there’s nothing they can do about it, so I didn’t go for this. Now, I’m curious about antibodies, too…

  57. KenF: In early Feb I had a very bad virus that pretty much matches the COVID-19 symptoms.

    The problem is that all the symptoms overlap with all the symptoms of other things, like colds, flu, allergies…without a test who knows?

  58. dee:
    singleman,

    So glad you are doing better.

    Thanks, Dee.

    I’m now dealing with an early onset of seasonal allergies due to our warmer-than-normal winter. I hope they don’t send me home on account of the constant nose-blowing. The hospital where I work is basically on lockdown due to the COVID-19 threat; visitation is sharply restricted. A lot of folks are unhappy about this and are letting me know in no uncertain terms. School being out until mid-April isn’t helping, especially among folks with their kids in tow. One father sat with his two children in our waiting area last night while his wife was visiting a patient. Not long ago the whole family would have been allowed to visit, but these aren’t normal times.

  59. singleman: The hospital where I work is basically on lockdown due to the COVID-19 threat

    ours is screening employees and visitors before they can come on campus, too.

  60. dee: It’s hard on the elderly who are often isolated.

    Indeed. We live in a subdivision that is primarily 65+. A simple phone call to check on older folks will lift their spirits – a neighbor called to check on us last night.

    Blogging with the Wartburgers certainly helps me … some of y’all feel like family!

  61. Looks like UNC just got its test approved, and they’ll be able to test 300 samples/day by the end of the week – and that’s pretty huge, I think (at least for the Triangle area of NC). Apparently they’ve had the test ready since mid-February, and it took this long to get through the FDA approval paperwork. And the way the developer spoke, it sounds like it might not depend on those specific materials that have such low availability.

    Hopefully lots of other universities and private labs will also come on-line with testing soon, so we can really get a handle on number of cases, and maybe some geographic boundaries.

  62. dee:
    Root 66,

    Its perfectly fine to discuss this. I just don’t want to get into a Bernie/Biden/Trump brouhaha.

    I normally try not to get too uptight politically, but I really don’t like the idea of politicians monkeying with our constitutional right to vote–regardless of the reason! I hope other states approach this more cautiously and learn from this sort of bumbling. The Director of the Ohio Dept. of Health declared a “Medical Emergency” and cancelled our primary. Again, I totally understand the reasons why, but the fact that they cancelled an election with such relative ease is very disconcerting!

  63. Max: Indeed.We live in a subdivision that is primarily 65+.A simple phone call to check on older folks will lift their spirits – a neighbor called to check on us last night.

    Blogging with the Wartburgers certainly helps me … some of y’all feel like family!

    There is definitely a community spirit going on here…and I like it! I love how everyone has different perspectives and approaches to helping each other during this time.
    Not to sound too terribly ‘churchy’, but I really think this is what the Apostle Paul had in mind when he told us in Romans 12 to, “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.” Faith and Love are action words, folks! 🙂

  64. dee,

    So, will 9 MARXS ops, 9 MARKS churches response to this be? Given they will not give communion to shut-ins, I really have to wonder…..

  65. dee,

    Kaiser, my health provider out here in California, is flat out cancelling any non-essential appointments. I went in last week for some routine injections with my dermatologist, and he was very surprised to see me. No one had called. Anyway, I had my injections AND I know not to go back unless it’s an emergency.

  66. Headless Unicorn Guy: I know I had flu-like symptoms (fever and cough) in early February (duration three-four days) and the bronchitis cough has been hanging on ever since.

    Update: My writing partner said in his area (Central Pennsylvania) that he’s seen a lot of that (mild “flu” followed by bronchitis cough hanging on for months) since around January. He wonders if it had actually been a first wave of mild COVID-19.

  67. Root 66: Not to sound too terribly ‘churchy’, but I really think this is what the Apostle Paul had in mind when he told us in Romans 12 to, “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.”

    NOT quote proof texts about plague as God’s Wrath.

  68. In case you missed it, Happy St. Patrick’s Day! I am sitting here at my computer, on time as always, and I haven’t heard from any of my students yet.

    On a lighter note, my elderly cat (17.5 years) is absolutely thrilled to have me home all day. She prefers that I sit in my recliner, working on my computer, than in my office chair because my lap is more accessible. However, I just can’t do that for eight hours a day!

  69. Thanks for the opportunity here, Dee, to share.

    We are working remotely while keeping in touch with family & friends. All good.

    Practicing voluntary rationing. Minimal living while robustly seeking God & kindness to others.

    Hear tell, pubs & casinos were packed over the weekend, though community events were cancelled. Eat, drink, be merry, for tomorrow …

    “My soul finds rest in God alone, my salvation comes from Him.” Psalm 62.

  70. Ken F (aka Tweed): I am wondering if lots of people have already had it. In early Feb I had a very bad virus that pretty much matches the COVID-19 symptoms. The fever only lasted a few days but it tool a few weeks for the cough and stuffy head to finally clear up. After the fever cleared I tested negative for the flu and went back to work. Many people in my area had a similar experience.

    Same here. Late Jan-early Feb.
    And (as noted above) my writing partner (the burned-out country preacher) has observed the same, starting about the same time — early Feb.

    It would be great if there were a way to test for the antibodies so that people who are no longer susceptible could be out and about to help others instead of being part of the quarantine.

    Even being out-and-about to continue working would be enough for those on the edge.

    But we can’t even get tests for the virus in this country (One test kit for the state of Connecticut – ONE), let alone for its antibodies.

  71. Headless Unicorn Guy: NOT quote proof texts about plague as God’s Wrath.

    Yeah, if this were a plague from God, nobody would be walking away from it! I am truly saddened that people perceive that God hates us all so much. I’ve actually discovered that quite the opposite is true!

  72. I was supposed to get my teeth cleaned this morning. Dentist canceled all appointments for those over 60. I really wasn’t concerned about going to see him. I’m having oral surgery next week to get an upper dental implant put in and sinus lift. It may be later this week if anyone cancels. I hope my allergy clinic doesn’t cancel shots. I’m due to get mine in 2 weeks. The pine pollen is so bad here that the driveways, decks, and cars are covered in yellow. I live in east Texas. So far we have 4 cases of the virus in our county. I found 4 small bottles of hand sanitizer this past week while cleaning some drawers out. Maybe I’ll find more. But, the bottles are several yrs old, so they probably expired.

  73. I’m mostly retired, and what little work I do, I do from home anyway. As of last night, there were no known cases in my county… yet. I’m over 60 but am, thank God, free of the cautionary underlying medical conditions. And I would have to say that the ways in which this pandemic affect me would all fall under the category of “first world problems.”

    My church has switched to online services. This past Sunday, it was just the worship team and the pastor on site, and the service was conducted pretty much as usual.

    For the last 3 weeks or so I’ve been sorting and clearing out my sister’s storage units, and I have a moving company scheduled to come Thursday to take what’s left to an auction house–in a town which now has a shelter in place order, although “essential businesses” will still be open (gas stations, banks, grocery stores, pharmacies, laundromats). So I am waiting to hear back from both the movers and the auction house as to whether the move can still take place. If not, it’s going to cost my sister additional rent on the storage units, which she can ill afford.

    I have just now heard from the mover, who tells me that moving and trucking are considered essential operations so unless he is directly told to stop, he intends to go through with the move. I am still waiting to hear back from the auction house, however, as to whether they can receive the load.

    And since God knows the number of hairs on my head, I know he’s got this in hand, but I sure wish he’d clue me in….

    I was supposed to sail on a 7-day rock ‘n’ roll cruise charter on April 1. Our charter company was able to negotiate a full-privileges postponement with the cruise line, with the new dates to be announced later. The last we heard, our ship was one of the ones rerouted to dock space in Jacksonville, since its home port of Miami had no vacancies. I spent nearly 2 hours on the phone canceling my pre-cruise hotel reservations. I was able to cancel my flights online but it will take a phone call to put the frequent flyer miles I booked with back into my bank.

    I think I have enough food to go the distance… but if not, well, I could stand to lose a few pounds anyway. Meanwhile, for those who can’t get to the gym, try storage unit spelunking. That’s a harder workout than any gym workout I’ve ever done….

  74. dee: I agree. Your toilet paper comment made me laugh.

    “MOMMY! MOMMY! WHAT’S CORONAVIRUS?”
    “SHUT UP AND EAT YOUR TOILET PAPER!”

  75. How about a moratorium on evictions and exorbitant rents payed by the working poor?
    Those who work low-paying jobs in the public service industries.

  76. MuffPotter: How about a moratorium on evictions and exorbitant rents payed by the working poor?

    The local water utility company has said they will not shut anyones water off, as it is essential right now.

  77. Thank you, Dee, for opening up discussion about COVID-19 to the TWW community.

    I’m basically on forced vacation (paid leave) indefinitely, because there’s no way to hold symphony orchestra concerts. Even live streaming concerts isn’t possible, because of the restrictions on meetings with 25+ people (or is it 10 now?).

    While this is financially concerning for my orchestra, it’s economically devastating for freelancing musicians.

    My sister already couldn’t make ends meet with her graphic design business, and now clients are dropping like flies. She is cheerful and texted how she made a $10 dinner for 6 (fried rice), but I know she is anxious.

    But there’s really no other way to contain this thing, I gather.

    Hoping & praying for accurate testing / effective containment soon.

    Right now, I’m staying in a rural area of NJ where there are (currently) no cases in any of the surrounding counties.

    Before I left Boston, I visited a small, new (egalitarian) Christian Reformed church plant that devoted its last in-person worship service to coronavirus-related prayers. Two people (out of 20?) in the congregation asked for prayers for kids who in “high conflict” families, who are in a lot more danger, because of being forced to spend more time at home. This tells me that this is a congregation that is aware of & concerned about abuse & related issues. A small but significant encouragement at an odd time.

    Stay healthy & safe, everyone!

  78. Lea: The local water utility company has said they will not shut anyones water off, as it is essential right now.

    Glad to hear that they voluntarily elected to do the right thing in this time of crisis.
    Wouldn’t be great if landlords and financial institutions could follow suit in these dire straits?

  79. Root 66: Yeah, if this were a plague from God, nobody would be walking away from it!I am truly saddened that people perceive that God hates us all so much.I’ve actually discovered that quite the opposite is true!

    After being infected with the first perception during my time in-country (the Age of Hal Lindsay and Jack Chick), I’ve never been able to fully discover the second.

  80. Ava Aaronson: Hear tell, pubs & casinos were packed over the weekend, though community events were cancelled.

    And today’s that BIG drinking holiday, St Patty’s.
    Watch for cluster spikes in 1-2 weeks.

    And if any teen comes up to you and deliberately coughs in your face, DECK ‘EM!

  81. I got permission to work from home “for the time being.”

    I had to ask. I have a pre-existing condition that puts me at somewhat increased risk from any communicable infection. I’m told they may require a doctor’s note, even though I’m still working.

    My two colleagues who do the same job and both of whom live with their elderly parents were denied permission to work from home.

    The local county government offices have gone to necessary personnel only status, but our work is still making most of its several hundred people come to work in the same building as usual. It’s regressive and frankly insane.

    Schools will shut down starting tomorrow but my wife, who is a teacher, is teaching today. They should have shut down days ago. Also regressive and insane.

    I’m doing what I can but a whole lot of people in positions of responsibility are being negligent.

  82. My oldest son is at U CO Boulder; they are finally closing the dorms now, but he says many students were still gathering and partying last weekend for St. Patty’s Day. He will get no college graduation in May, and the remainder of his visits to grad schools he’s been accepted to are cancelled (except some on-line talks with profs) – one school was U Washington! – so that will affect his grad school decision and (resulting) career for many years to come. Not complaining, but I do think the ramifications are far-reaching. I guess this is assuming that Universities can open again in the fall!
    A Korean church in our town is trying to scramble to find temporary housing for Korean students at the local University; there is some prohibition about them being able to take classes from overseas, so to finish their semesters they would need to stay in town rather than traveling home.
    Our medical office is very slow, also, as we are trying to screen out the sick people (the opposite of our usual!) and older people and triage them over the phone. I have commandeered my daughter’s science lab goggles in case we have a respiratory infection sneak in (we have a few masks still) – saved the one I used when I was sick in Jan. Like others, I think a lot of people have probably had this infection already.
    The local Dog Shelter is also trying to mostly empty since their employees need to be home with families, too, so we are trying to get a temporary foster puppy or dog; that might give our high-schooler something to do other than moan about her curtailed social life…

  83. And yesterday I had an 86 yo patient whose employer required a DR NOTE for her to stay at home right now, ridiculous! She would have lost her chance at a bonus w/o the note.

  84. Muff Potter: Wouldn’t be great if landlords and financial institutions could follow suit in these dire straits?

    You’re a dreamer Potter.

  85. Muff Potter,

    They did that in the city where I live in Santa Clara county-no evictions for late rent for those who cannot work due to the current situation with Covid.

  86. Here in Aotearoa New Zealand things are beginning to be closed and anyone coming from overseas has to self-isolate for 14 days – tourists are being deported for not following this.

    We are thinking and praying for all of you in the USA.

  87. Hmmm, it’s just adding to my weirdness a bit – I’ve been off work for 4 months with work burnout, so it’s kind of more of the same, but with less food when you go to the shops.

    I now live right next to English L’Abri & they could definitely do with some prayers for all the students who have to find their ways home – this has hit them all hard, & they also have to make some big upgrades to the fire safety measures at the old Manor House they call home.

  88. LInn:
    Muff Potter,

    They did that in the city where I live in Santa Clara county-no evictions for late rent for those who cannot work due to the current situation with Covid.

    That’s also happening in Seattle. No evictions for late rent, no utility turnoffs. A coalition of landlords proposed the no eviction policy, which kind of amazed me.

  89. Lea: We were just talking about how the casino’s haven’t closed in a lot of places.

    Some of the big ones in Vegas have told folks to clear out.

  90. I hope this comment doesn’t come across as “political” …

    I am an ex-government employee. I am very familiar with the systems and procedures which gov’t agencies must work under and the cogs that make things move or not. I can say based on my experience that the current administration is on it (COVID-19), regardless of media reports to the contrary.

  91. readingalong:
    And yesterday I had an 86 yo patient whose employer required a DR NOTE for her to stay at home right now, ridiculous! She would have lost her chance at a bonus w/o the note.

    The Feds told companies yesterday to suspend that rule. It will just bottleneck medical offices and possibly get more people sick.

  92. GuyBehindtheCurtain: Some of the big ones in Vegas have told folks to clear out.

    Well that’s good! I hear missouri was closing some. Not sure about the rest of the country but we just got our first cases last week and everything has ramped up from there. Just hope it’s enough, but without proper testing supplies (which I’ll have to agree to disagree with max on the handling here) we can’t know how widespread it is.

  93. “Have you prepared for the possibility of a two week quarantine?”
    Yes. My husband is a federal employee and we’ve gotten into what I call “prepping for shutdown” mode. I stocked up on extra food. I’ve had toilet paper and bar soap on Amazon Subscribe and Save for a number of months so those were things I didn’t have to worry about.

    What is missing in your local grocery stores?
    Toilet paper, cleaner, peanut butter, soups, OTC meds, meats, water, and — oddly enough — pregnancy tests and condoms.

    Have your church, schools, and planned activities been cancelled?
    Our church has gone online for the time being. We will not be meeting at the building. Public school has been cancelled until the end of March. My son is doing digital learning at home.

    Have you done something dumb during this time?
    I’m not sure . . . but if I haven’t, I’m sure I will at some point. 🙂

    Have you seen someone else do something dumb?
    No, but see, the rest of my answer to the previous question.

    Have you heard or seen anything humorous?
    My son’s teacher sent a joke for St. Patrick’s Day: Who is Irish and stays out all night? Patty O’Furniture!

    One TWW reader claims that this is a world wide judgment from God. What do you think?
    Not necessarily. I do believe God may be using this virus, as He does all of the things we deal with, to test us and see what we’re made of.

    Can members of your family work from home?
    I can; however, I work from home anyway so that is not a change for me. My husband works for the feds and technically could work from home IF he had a secure Internet connection. If, however, the feds tell all “non-essential employees” to stay home, he will be affected.

    What about this situation frustrates you the most.
    My son has autism and disruptions to his routine affect him greatly. He’s 21 and can communicate reasonably well, which is good. Not being part of a church service bothers him because he has his “niche” there and I think he’s lost without it. When his routine’s off, his anxiety spikes and I’m usually the one who deals with it (he will ask a lot of questions about things or he will come find me a bit more often than he usually does.) Today was hard because I was on a hard deadline with my own work and my son kept interrupting me with questions about how to do his school assignment. (My son is part of a job-training program through the public school system.)

    Who do you feel for during this time?
    Special needs parents like myself who are having a rough time handling disruptions in routines.
    People in the gig economy whose business is being cut WAAAYYY back.
    People who depend on tips. (My son and I both got haircuts last week and I tried to tip generously.)
    People who are self-employed who may have their business seriously affected. (My sister and her husband run a commercial roofing business. I don’t know how they will be affected.)
    Have you or those close to you contracted the virus?
    I have not and know no one that has; but the son of someone I know may have been exposed.

    How confidant are you that a cure or treatment will be discovered?
    I am not sure about a cure; I am pleased about the progress being made towards a vaccine and I also see that of people who have gotten the virus, there are many who have recovered.

    Are you afraid of this virus?
    I may be more anxious than I probably should be. I’m reasonably healthy, though, and have not been exposed to anyone who’s been ill.

    Finally, do you have a Bible verse or saying that you find comforting or inspiring during this time?

    Psalm 46 — “God is our refuge and our strength, a very present help in times of trouble.”

  94. I just want to ask for a prayer request. A family I know was in a car accident last night. The two teen boys didn’t make it. As far as I know, the parents are still in the hospital. It’s a really sad situation.

  95. Eli: Two people (out of 20?) in the congregation asked for prayers for kids who in “high conflict” families, who are in a lot more danger, because of being forced to spend more time at home.

    This has been my greatest concern. Children and teens who escape abusive homes during school hours will be doubly at-risk – first just being home and second because the adults are out of work and extremely stressed with no income. Been praying about this daily.

  96. ishy: Chickens are allowed here, and we already have a pen.

    The chickens in our area are too dumb to write with a pen.

  97. Frustrating week getting insurance companies to pay for telehealth sessions for mental health. You think it would be an automatic response to keep folks from going out in the community. Then again, the promised parity between mental health coverage and healthcare coverage promised in the last law change has never come about.

    I have enjoyed doing sessions today in my bonus room wearing pajama pants and a dress shirt . . .

  98. Linn: I think what is occurring is just another indication of how messed up the world is due to sin.

    I’m having trouble with this idea, since so many people have different notions about which sins would cause a pandemic. This one is mainly taking the lives of our elders and the medically vulnerable. An Italian journalist said last night, “We are losing a generation.”

    Certainly we can turn away from sins associated with the pandemic. We can share, donate money to food banks, obey local health restrictions, refrain from panic buying and hoarding.

    We can also act without reference to sin, showing mercy and kindness in countless ways, many of them outlined here.

  99. we’ve been ordered to shelter-in-place for 3 weeks. There is a thunder every few minutes outside (perfect). now i can add ‘ominous’ to ‘totally weird’.

  100. Friend,

    “I’m having trouble with this idea, since so many people have different notions about which sins would cause a pandemic.”
    +++++++++++++++

    other people’s sins, of course

  101. Westerner: That’s also happening in Seattle. No evictions for late rent, no utility turnoffs. A coalition of landlords proposed the no eviction policy, which kind of amazed me.

    Maybe said landlords got a clue.
    Or are figuring that having tenants in arrears for a time means the rental property stays occupied and “we can straighten all this out later”.
    Also, the number of rentals a landlord has (and whether they can take an accounts receivable hit) might also factor in. Somebody with two homes who’s renting the older one out would react differently than a corporate landlord with Divine Right of Stockholders/Investors in play. (As recently as last week I was getting Hot Investment Tips on Real Estate Investment Trusts; I am suspicious of such things.)

  102. Jeffrey Chalmers:
    I think we should start a specific list of churches that are abusing there members by making them think they need to come to their services in person during this crisis.

    “YOU DO THIS – YOU GET FAMOUS.”

    Like a list of bounced check names/dates/accounts on a storefront window.

  103. Coronavirus lingers longer on surfaces when humidity is high and temperatures are low to moderate. For instance, going from 68 to 86 F (20-30 C) cuts the lifespan of the virus on surfaces by half.

    Where I live, winter is the rainy season, usually lasting from November to March. This year after some storms in November, we had late spring weather – sunny & dry with winter heat waves into the 80s. Until now. A week ago our normal winter weather hit – cool and rainy, ideal coronavirus persistence conditions. And forecasts say it’ll stay cool and rainy for at least another week.

    My roommate is high-risk for COVID-19; in a phone consultation last night, our GP told me it COVID-19 could very well be fatal for him. I’m the one going out of the house to work and if I bring back the virus it could kill him. We’re homebound in a DIY lockdown, but I still need to go out for work and resupply. (Though I’m in IT, I am not equipped to work from home, and I’m the indispensable hotshot by default.) At work, I’ve been driving back in (instead of taking the train) for over a month and generally don’t mix much but we had two birthday lunches in the past two weeks where everybody gets together. And from what I’ve read, “social distancing” and lockdown might need to be maintained for MONTHS to over a year.

  104. He believes the world is being judged via this virus.

    When the words “God” and “Judge” appear in the same sentence, is it ever a GOOD thing?

    I got my fill of the “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” God during the End Times mania of the Seventies (any minute now… any minute now…) and the damage and distrust is still there.

  105. Noted for prayer, too: in Willowbrook Village, DuPage County, Illinois, Chicago Area but not naming the nursing home… Tom Joseph @TomJChicago:
    “Info from a 100% solid, firsthand source a/b COVID-19 in Chicagoland:
    1 Many hospitals now have patients
    2 A suburban nursing home has 22 confirmed cases.”

    Praying. God bless the elderly, the vulnerable, and all who work with them. May God keep them safe.

  106. Headless Unicorn Guy: I got my fill of the “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” God during the End Times mania of the Seventies (any minute now… any minute now…) and the damage and distrust is still there.

    It’s a terrible indictment on our culture that this sermon is considered the most famous American sermon. I too spent time in that country. It was stuff like this that helped get me out of it:
    https://perichoresis.org/blogs/sermons/god-in-the-hands-of-angry-sinners
    I like the how the title plays with Edward’s words.

  107. Ken F (aka Tweed): It’s a terrible indictment on our culture that this sermon is considered the most famous American sermon.

    It’s famous because as an essay/thesis, it’s near-perfect. Every argument, every point, every paragraph, every word all coming together to make its point.

  108. dee,

    Imperial College London has just published a paper about the cost of not trying to mitigate the pandemic: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperial-college/medicine/sph/ide/gida-fellowships/Imperial-College-COVID19-NPI-modelling-16-03-2020.pdf

    Pay close attention to pp 6-7: “In an unmitigated epidemic, we would predict approximately 510,000 deaths in GB [Great Britain] and 2.2 million in the US, not accounting for the potential negative effects of health systems being overwhelmed on mortality.”

  109. Friend,

    More from the paper:

    “For an uncontrolled epidemic, we predict critical care bed capacity would be exceeded as early as the second week in April, with an eventual peak in ICU or critical care bed demand that is over 30 times greater than the maximum supply in both countries.”

  110. Friend,

    This article does not surprise me at all… This is why many of us started “flipping out”….
    Especially when it became so politicized and our fearless leader “had a hunch” it would not be that bad.. It is not “just like the Flu”… maybe on how it initially feels, but that is all…
    as I keep saying, I saw similar predictions 20 years ago..

  111. emr: No, just lots of hand washing and hand sanitizer.

    Hand sanitizers and anti-septic hand soaps ARE NOT what they’re cracked up to be.
    They HAVE NO cutting action.
    Your best bet is good old-fashioned Ivory soap.
    It cuts the natural oils on your hands, and then like Noah’s flood, when you rinse, you execute judgement on all those tiny nasty beasties.
    There, that oughta’ start a good food fight…

  112. I’m at home for the duration. I cancelled physical therapy for the next three weeks and I can work from home. The mixed signals coming from management, though! I told my manager I was working from home because I am in a high risk group per the CDC. This was before our senior vice president sent out an email saying that everyone who had the ability to work at home and did not have to be on a campus should do so. But my manager’s manager was all, “WAITASEC we have to do this in an orderly fashion, you just can’t go home” and *he* lives in a county that is under a “shelter in place” order! Then there’s the site I work at. Some poor manager (higher pay grade than me, thank God) is going to have to work on site for the time being because some techs are unable to work at home until they get laptops and security for those machines. They’re going to have to work extended hours, too.

    We also lost a huge chunk of our coworkers in the Philippines when their building was abruptly shut yesterday morning. (Abruptly: their manager came on our chat and said, “We’ve been told to leave NOW.”) Some of them are able to work from home, but the immediate effect was that us tech managers are now on dual on-call. Which means we have to be available 24×7 for a week more frequently. On-call, or the 24×7 nature of it, just makes me crazy.

    It appears to me that in general the US communications networks are holding up rather well considering how they’re being stretched by the number of people working at home, people who are not working but trying to keep entertained by watching videos, and kids playing video games.

    The orange trees are in bloom and I stupidly opened the windows this morning for fresh air. OOPS. Some sneezing, some coughing. We are up to 20 confirmed cases in my state, but I suspect the number is way under-reported due to the shortage of tests.

    I’m pretty much a loner anyway (years ago I’d sometimes cancel dinner with my parents by calling up and telling my mom “I am in an anti-social mood, I’m not coming over”) and I have ways to entertain myself. However, what is disturbing me is how my routine has been completely shaken up. I expect to be in the office Monday-Friday, visit my mother on Saturday, that sort of thing. I ate dinner Friday, Saturday and Sunday at my mother’s this past weekend, which is not usual. I dislike this lack of routine. I will just have to DEAL.

  113. elastigirl: There is a thunder every few minutes outside (perfect). now i can add ‘ominous’ to ‘totally weird’.

    Maybe you’re the real Sarah Connor.

  114. Headless Unicorn Guy,
    County just went into shutdown. NO gatherings at all (takes care of the birthday lunches). Will be into work tomorrow trying to figure out what to do. Hoping to swing something like working only a couple days a week to minimize exposure and seeing how many will be working from home. If it’s only me and a couple others in the shop, that might work.

  115. We just learned tonight that my husband’s youngest sister may have COVID-19. One of her coworkers has tested positive.
    The family lives in Orange County, New York. Both she and her husband both work for a travel agency in northern New Jersey. She is relatively healthy, but her husband is a severe diabetic.
    They have three beautiful 15 yo daughters – triplets.
    She has all of the symptoms, and has been tested, but the results will not be back for 4 or 5 days.

  116. Headless Unicorn Guy: (As recently as last week I was getting Hot Investment Tips on Real Estate Investment Trusts; I am suspicious of such things.)

    There’s always a way to make a profit off of human misery.
    Investing a few bucks in the global arms industry can bring some handsome returns if ya’ know what yer’ doin’.
    Same with rental properties, slumlords always make good bank.

  117. I’m in Ohio. My son’s school shut down Monday with online learning ramping up today. They hope to resume April 6.
    Restaurants closed by end-of-business Sunday.
    The Primaries were canceled or routed to “curb-side” options.
    I work as a cardiac nurse (night shift). We have been rationing masks for 2 weeks. They are kept under lock and key with a signout book! Yesterday it was announced that patients may only have 1 visitor per day unless it was end-of-life circumstances. And…all elective procedures and surgeries will come to a halt by end-of-business Wednesday (tomorrow). It will be very interesting to see how we operate once Covid-19 hits hard (if it does). I believe our biggest problem will be staffing and the ratios that come with it.
    I had 2 uncles die in the past month – both were buried out-of-town. In February, the officiating pastor had just returned the day before from a trip to S.Korea and refused to self-quarantine (as recommended). Instead, she gave the eulogy and made sure to hug each of us. Um, okay. This past weekend, we traveled to Pittsburgh for another burial and my aunt (who lives in the Netherlands) made the trip to attend. So…I guess I have been “exposed” to foreign travelers. Yay…
    I have a very small household – just myself and my small son. We did not really purchase anything specific to prepare for lockdown. I have plenty of paper products on-hand for the two of us. However, I ordered groceries last night from Krogers and the first available time for me to pick them up is Friday! Normally, they are available 6-12hrs later. So, they must be hit hard with new “pick up” customers. We have other food; however, as we are customers of Home Chef and receive a box of ready-to-make meals every other week or so. Home Chef has indicated their service will continue per normal.
    Here’s hoping I don’t bring Coronavirus home with me from the hospital. Cheers!

  118. MuffPotter: Hand sanitizers and anti-septic hand soaps ARE NOT what they’re cracked up to be.
    They HAVE NO cutting action.
    Your best bet is good old-fashioned Ivory soap….
    There, that oughta’ start a good food fight…

    Are you trying to start a fight? I just listened to a listing of all the bacteria that grew on bar soap so I’m pretty skeptical of your claims. Hand sanitizes are not as good as soap, but they are not meant to replace it, they are meant to supplement when you can’t get it.

    Also, HUG, i don’t think we know for sure how much heat might affect this virus yet. Maybe on surfaces but the type of surface matters quite a bit (who knew copper kills germs dead?)

  119. MuslinDeeHolmes: However, what is disturbing me is how my routine has been completely shaken up.

    There was a washPo article I saw yesterday from a psychologist about how disturbances in routine are bothersome so you aren’t alone! I am enough of an introvert that I have enjoyed this so far, but I’ve also been at work every day and visiting family and hanging out with my bf, so I haven’t actually been alone much at all yet. When it drags on will see..

    I was looking for the article (which I think mentioned creating/continuing some routine was helpful?) but found this one about avoiding loneliness instead which is also good:
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/03/17/combating-loneliness-an-age-self-quarantine/

  120. Lea: germs

    For household cleaning, the Environmental Protection Agency has posted a table of household cleaning products that destroy coronavirus AND other viruses. Click the link, and then:

    1) Expand to show All, since it displays only the first 25 products.

    2) Type “coronavirus” into the Search box and press Enter to tailor the list.

    3) Optionally type, say, “clorox” into the search box to determine whether your favorite or available brand is effective.

    4) The table shows how long a surface has to remain wet for the virus to be eliminated.

    Link:

    https://www.epa.gov/pesticide-registration/list-n-disinfectants-use-against-sars-cov-2

    NOTE: EPA does not test hand sanitizers. That’s the job of another agency. I’ll try to find good information about soaps, etc.

  121. Friend,

    CDC information shows that soap and water is preferable to hand sanitizers, and how to evaluate and use hand sanitizers.

    The page does not mention coronavirus, but it was reviewed by CDC in recent days: https://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/show-me-the-science-hand-sanitizer.html

    “Many studies have found that sanitizers with an alcohol concentration between 60–95% are more effective at killing germs than those with a lower alcohol concentration or non-alcohol-based hand sanitizers 16,20. Hand sanitizers without 60-95% alcohol 1) may not work equally well for many types of germs; and 2) merely reduce the growth of germs rather than kill them outright.

    “When using hand sanitizer, apply the product to the palm of one hand (read the label to learn the correct amount) and rub the product all over the surfaces of your hands until your hands are dry.”

  122. Charis: In February, the officiating pastor had just returned the day before from a trip to S.Korea and refused to self-quarantine (as recommended). Instead, she gave the eulogy and made sure to hug each of us.

    Human hubris (not to mention human idiocy) knows no bounds.

  123. Lea: Are you trying to start a fight? I just listened to a listing of all the bacteria that grew on bar soap so I’m pretty skeptical of your claims.

    I CAN PROVE IT WITH SCRIPTURE!!

  124. Muff Potter,

    I came across some formal research somewhere a while ago on the efficacy of various soaps against various pathogens. What they found was that ordinary soap was surprisingly effective, but for an interesting reason. It wasn’t so much that it killed virusteria as such, as that it washed them off your hands and thence down the sink.

  125. So, I was making some chocolate icing this lunchtime. It’s the kind for which you melt butter, chocolate and cream together and leave it to cool (unless you actually want to pour it all over your cake and, presumably, the floor as well). What was interesting is that I went over to stir it at one point and it was still entirely liquid, albeit no more than tepid. Then at some point in the next few minutes it underwent an abrupt phase transition into its final room-temperature state. So that was exciting.

  126. Nick Bulbeck: I came across some formal research somewhere a while ago on the efficacy of various soaps against various pathogens. What they found was that ordinary soap was surprisingly effective, but for an interesting reason. It wasn’t so much that it killed virusteria as such, as that it washed them off your hands and thence down the sink.

    How soap absolutely annihilates the coronavirus
    https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2020/3/11/21173187/coronavirus-covid-19-hand-washing-sanitizer-compared-soap-is-dope

    “You’re not just washing viruses down the drain. Soap destroys the coronavirus, a chemistry professor explains.”

  127. NickBulbeck: What they found was that ordinary soap was surprisingly effective, but for an interesting reason.

    (I think it makes a difference if you are using personal soap or community soap. Your own germs are less likely to be an issue iirc)

  128. Daisy: How soap absolutely annihilates the coronavirus

    Just FYi, I was talking about bar soap vs. liquid not hand sanitizer, which is only for when you can’t access soap. I’d rather not use *community* bar soap if possible.

  129. Muff Potter,

    Yeah, see, I don’t understand why so many people are obsessed with hand sanitizers and hoarding it, when all the news reports I’ve seen where scientists and so on are interviewed say plain, old fashioned, regular (not even anti-bacterial!) soap is the most effective way of killing the virus on your hands.

    I would think all the hoarders would therefore be hoarding the soap, but no.

    Also, I don’t like hoarders or hoarding.

    I don’t object to folks stocking up for one to two weeks worth of rations, because you may have to stay isolated for that time. I understand that.

    I’m talking about people who are buying 234,233 rolls of toilet paper in a single trip.

    Or the doofus reported online who bought several states’ worth of hand sanitizer to sell at mark up on Amazon’s site.
    (He got into trouble with his state’s AG, if I remember right.)

    I am not hoarding anything.

    Well, what if I need a jug of milk, or a single box of four rolls of T.P.?

    I am SOL, because from what I’ve seen on Twitter, a lot of store shelves have been stripped bear by the lug headed, panicky hoarders.

    The funny (sad? ironic?) thing about all this is that I have had GAD (anxiety disorder) going back to the time I was a kid, and I am pretty laid back about the virus stuff

    I don’t know why so much of the public (most of whom do NOT have an anxiety disorder) are spazzing out about all this, acting like it’s the Zombie Apocalypse, but I’m not.

    Maybe my decades of dealing and coping with anxiety every day (even over minor stuff the rest of you take for granted,
    for instance, I am terrified of driving on highways / interstates but force myself if need be, etc) has made me more equipped to handle societal melt downs like this, I dunno.

    But folks like me may need TP or milk too, so please, stop stripping shelves bear – just take what you need for one or two weeks and leave the rest of the merchandise for other people to buy.

  130. Lea: Just FYi, I was talking about bar soap vs. liquid not hand sanitizer, which is only for when you can’t access soap. I’d rather not use *community* bar soap if possible.

    I did not see your post, so I am not sure what you are talking about.

    Most public spaces have liquid soap that comes out of a dispenser

    I was thinking in terms of my bathroom at home, where I have a bar of soap AND a bottle of liquid soap by the sink

  131. Daisy,

    I said:

    “a lot of store shelves have been stripped bear by the lug headed, panicky hoarders.”

    Or should that be “bare” not “bear”?
    Hmm.

  132. I made a blog post the other day:

    Mental Health in the Midst of Coronavirus (Resources and More)(specifically depression & anxiety)
    https://missdaisyflower.wordpress.com/2020/03/18/mental-health-in-the-midst-of-coronavirus/

    Mental Health issues can get lost in the shuffle, while people are thinking about the economy, job loss, pay checks, possibly being infected by the virus, etc.

    (That one post is getting so long that I may make a Part Two later on, if I continue finding any helpful or good links about mental health in the midst of the pandemic.)

    I dealt with clinical depression for many years, and I still have generalized anxiety disorder.

    So I’m already pretty accustomed to having to cope with anxiety.

    One of the things one of the articles mentioned that is linked to at my blog is that people who have no previous history of mental health disorder may develop depression and/or anxiety because of Covid 19 and its fall out.

    Like some people may become depressed due to social distancing.

    (I’m also an introvert, so that one is not much of a problem for me, usually.)

    But there are “normal” people who may spiral into anxiety or depression from Covid 19 ramifications. Some of the links at my blog post discuss that.

  133. Life indoors-day #3-I woke up this morning to no hot water and a non-working dryer. That was not what I needed! However, someone is coming this afternoon to look at both.
    I always remember the words of a radio preacher I heard years ago (the late 70s). I don’t even remember his name. But he said that many people came to him because they didn’t have this or that. He would look at them and say, “Did you have dinner last night? Breakfast this morning? Did you sleep in your own bed? I see you’re wearing nice clothes. Why not be thankful for what you do have and thank God for that?”
    So, Phil 4:19 it is–and we’ll see what the tech says this afternoon. And, I’m thankful I was able to find someone!!!!

  134. Friend: I’m having trouble with this idea, since so many peoplehave different notions about which sins would cause a pandemic. This one is mainly taking the lives of our elders and the medically vulnerable. An Italian journalist said last night, “We are losing a generation.”

    Certainly we can turn away from sins associated with the pandemic. We can share, donate money to food banks, obey local health restrictions, refrain from panic buying and hoarding.

    We can also act without reference to sin, showing mercy and kindness in countless ways, many of them outlined here.

    One could argue that the choices of those who govern have implications for the governed, and when the leaders “miss the mark” in terms of wise governance (for example, assuming that it is completely safe to off-shore the production of life-saving medicines and necessary medical devices and that there will be no adverse consequences for anyone), the consequences of that will fall disproportionately on the governed, and especially on those among the governed who are most vulnerable.

    In Kings/Chronicles, David famously violated a specific command (no census of the fighting men) and the nation was punished with a plague; David survived but many of his subjects died. That isn’t what’s happening here — violation of a specific command — but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t “sin” issues in the broader sense of our rulers “missing the mark of wisdom and justice in the conduct of their governance”.

    That’s more or less why I interpret this to be a Romans I “wrath of God” scenario; the drive for profit at all costs has led to a reorganization of our economy and our medical systems in ways that are “more efficient (in normal times)” but also “more brittle and vulnerable to failures at many points (in abnormal times)”. In retrospect (but also prospectively) this has not been wise. We too heavily discount the future (and it is not hard to see how this is still happening, in spades, in other ways).

    Given that it is not clear whether our rulers will consent to “greater resilience” in the macro sense, it might be wise for each of us to in future intentionally live with the goal of greater resilience in the micro sense. There are numerous ways to do this and I won’t clog the thread further.

  135. SamuelConner: In retrospect (but also prospectively) this has not been wise.

    Seeing the consequences of bad decision making is not the same thing as seeing god’s wrath come down on earth (or what have you). Particularly when you are talking about one person’s bad decisions leading directly to another persons illness/death. I’m not cool with that rational, personally.

  136. Lea: Seeing the consequences of bad decision making is not the same thing as seeing god’s wrath come down on earth (or what have you). Particularly when you are talking about one person’s bad decisions leading directly to another persons illness/death. I’m not cool with that rational, personally.

    I appreciate the concern.

    OTOH, “if you get one thing, get wisdom”, is a command of God, and when the rulers of a land disregard this command, one might not be surprised if bad outcomes follow.

  137. Samuel Conner: OTOH, “if you get one thing, get wisdom”, is a command of God

    I remember once when I was looking at Pentecostal/Charismatic types (classic 80s charismatics, NOT NAR woo-woos), they always would ask you what Gift of the Spirit you wanted. I think I was the only one who answered “Wisdom”; everyone else chose “TONGUES!”

    My rationale was: Wisdom is the command control over all the others, telling you when to use them and (more important) when NOT to. Completely obvious to me; why didn’t anybody else realize that?

    Though Wisdom has a downside. When (in the words of Kipling) “The dog returns to its vomit, the sow returns to her mire, and the burnt fool’s bandaged finger wobbles right back into the fire” over and over and over again…

    Remember Cassandra from the Iliad? Cursed by the Olympian gods with Prophecy, Perfect Foreknowledge of the Future — and that nobody would ever believe any of her foretellings or warnings. EVER.

  138. Headless Unicorn Guy: I remember once when I was looking at Pentecostal/Charismatic types (classic 80s charismatics, NOT NAR woo-woos), they always would ask you what Gift of the Spirit you wanted. I think I was the only one who answered “Wisdom”; everyone else chose “TONGUES!”

    It seems a bit odd that Solomon’s wise request to YHWH to be granted the requisite wisdom to govern the people entrusted to him wasn’t noticed in people’s reflection one what gifts to prefer. Or Paul’s explicit command to “prefer the greater gifts, especially prophecy” (it is perhaps relevant that it is possible for a wise person’s counsel to be as useful as “the word of YHWH” in the mouths of the prophets — for example Ahithophel before his alienation from David on account of the Bathsheba/Uriah incident). Even the “service gifts”, such as “helps”, seem in Paul’s estimation to be more valuable to the community than “tongues”.

    I’m guessing that there is some social pressure going on here. Tongues is in some groups regarded to be the sine qua non evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit. I prefer the “love on another” hypothesis for that.

  139. Headless Unicorn Guy,
    Half of our shop is working from home. The remaining half are spaced out around the office. All birthday lunches cancelled for the duration. Found my old desktop hand sanitizer expired two years ago; am taking it home tonight to empty & refill it with fresh sanitizer. Developing handwashing OCD worthy of Pontius Pilate.

    Have a box of latex gloves incoming from my writing partner across the country. He reports stuff slowly reappearing on shelves, slight uptick in ammunition sales but NO panic-buying of guns as was rumored.

    Informed that some of our local grocery stores are opening an hour ahead of normal on certain days for “seniors”; I think I can qualify for one or two of them. When I did a drive-by check on the Smart & Final on my way to work I observed some shelves (most likely TP) still empty, parking lot only 10% full, and a couple people waiting for the doors to open. A couple. Do not know what stock has been able to recover.

  140. Samuel Conner: I’m guessing that there is some social pressure going on here. Tongues is in some groups regarded to be the sine qua non evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit.

    I figure that’s because Tongues is obvious and flashy.

  141. Headless Unicorn Guy: grocery stores

    Some of our stores are offering contact-free home delivery, and/or pickup from chilled lockers outside the store. Services are limited because of demand, but it’s something else to look into.

  142. Headless Unicorn Guy: Remember Cassandra from the Iliad? Cursed by the Olympian gods with Prophecy, Perfect Foreknowledge of the Future — and that nobody would ever believe any of her foretellings or warnings.

    Given that myths and legends often have some kind of basis in fact, however tenuous, I have a private theory that Cassandra was autistic.

  143. Beakerj: what is his basic theological stance?

    He earned his PhD.from Kings College, Aberdeen University in Aberdeen, Scotland under Professor James B. Torrance. He grew up Calvinist and studied everything Calvin wrote, but he later left Calvinism (he has an essay on his site that explains why he left). I suppose he might call his theology Trinitarian. It is close to EO in many ways, but he is not EO.

  144. Brian: Besides TP, I’ve seen a run on Pop-Tarts.

    People are expecting a run on kitty litter when it mutates to a feline form.

  145. The virus being a judgement of God? Maybe yes, maybe no. Besides living in a fallin world, throughout the Old Testament God chose when and when not to intervene. And when to lift his protection, as with Job. We as humans don’t have enough knowledge to be certain. 🙂

  146. Friend: We had several months to act like Noah.

    We didn’t, though. We weren’t (still aren’t really) prepared with tests and we let it go so far we lost the ability to stop it. That is why we are trying to ‘flatten the curve’. Let’s hope its enough.

  147. Lea,

    Friend,

    If you look at the article from Imperial College London I linked above, the cost of doing nothing could be 2.2 million untimely deaths in the USA and 510,000 in the UK.

    The good news is that we are doing something, although not enough. Every precaution we take, as individuals and as a nation, reduces the risk a little bit for us and for strangers.

    See page 6, Table 2: Summary of NPI interventions considered. It talks about reducing (not eliminating) contact from outside a household, and expected rates of compliance (not expecting 100%).

    Small acts matter.

  148. Lea: we let it go so far we lost the ability to stop it.

    Did we ever have the ability to stop it? From my understanding, there will be no way for the vast majority of people to avoid exposure to this virus, but delaying exposure can mean less people needing critical care at the same time. What we really need is immunity so that when it finally hits us (again?) We wont get sick from it. It wouks be great if a vaccine can do that. But even if a vaccine does not come, one does not develop antibodies without getting exposed to it.

  149. KenF: Did we ever have the ability to stop it?

    Good question. When you have an emerging virus, tracking all cases, contact tracing and testing are very important. We didn’t have enough tests and we greatly limited the testing we would do (people who likely had COVID-19 were not tested, because they didn’t meet overly stringent criteria). That is the opposite of what you want to do if you want to stop something.

    At this point, its been circulating in the community and it can’t be stopped entirely. We can slow and all this late activity will hopefully be enough not to overstrain the healthcare system (ala italy).

  150. Samuel Conner: One could argue that the choices of those who govern have implications for the governed, and when the leaders “miss the mark” in terms of wise governance (for example, assuming that it is completely safe to off-shore the production of life-saving medicines and necessary medical devices and that there will be no adverse consequences for anyone), the consequences of that will fall disproportionately on the governed, and especially on those among the governed who are most vulnerable.

    This times one thousand.

  151. For those of us whom do not recognize any kind of “Christianity” that has totally divorced the Bible from its beliefs, teachings and practices, let me suggest for you daily meditations the very first and last references by God using the term “pestilence.”

    Exodus 9:15, God Himself speaking: “For by now I could have put out My hand and struck you and your people with a pestilence, and you would then have been cut off (obliterated) from the earth.”

    From Wikipedia: “Though theologians and popular culture differ on the first Horseman, the four riders are often seen as symbolizing Conquest[1] or Pestilence (and less frequently, the Christ or the Antichrist), War,[2] Famine,[3] and Death.[4]”

    The horseman who has the power to spread plagues or pestilence is from Rev. 6:8, “So I looked, and behold, an ashen (pale greenish gray) horse [like a corpse, representing death and pestilence]; and its rider’s name was Death; and Hades (the realm of the dead) was following with him. They were given authority and power over a fourth part of the earth, to kill with the sword and with famine and with plague (pestilence, disease) and by the wild beasts of the earth.”

    The Holy Spirit was given to guide us into all truth. May we hear what the Spirit has to say to the churches today…

  152. Brian: Besides living in a fallin world…

    There’s a town near Stirling called Fallin. Like many Scottish placenames, the accent is on the second syllable, so it’s pronounced fuh-LIN. So they do live in a Fallin world there.

    AWWBA, there’s also a town in Scotland called Dollar. Although it’s officially pronounced as in the currency, I prefer to call it duh-LAR.

    Not far from it, there’s a town called Saline. It’s not pronounced as in saline solution, but SALL-in.

    Also not far from it, there’s a place (just a few houses, actually) called Rumbling Bridge.

  153. Friend: The good news is that we are doing something, although not enough.

    I did see the article thank you and yes, we are doing…something. It’s just had we competently handled this to start we might have headed off much misery. It’s so frustrating to see the way this has gone.

  154. Nick Bulbeck: His writing style does work best in a Scottish accent.

    But he was born and raised in the deep South USA, in the buckle of the bible belt. He maintained his thick southern accent, and claims he nearly froze to death in Scottland.

  155. Lea: It’s just had we competently handled this to start we might have headed off much misery. It’s so frustrating to see the way this has gone.

    On the other hand, taking the needed draconian actions earlier would have been considered an abusive crackdown on civil liberties. It is only after it was already to late that the general population began to support the types of actions that should have been taken sooner. Hindsight is always so clear. Still, we have many in the younger generations not taking it very seriously because not so many of them die from it.

  156. I just put a nice picture of the Cold/Flu/Coronavirus chart at the end of the main post. Just above the first comment.

    Right click on it to download it to your computer/tablet/phone/device.

  157. We are pretty much on lockdown here. No bars restaurants open.l Schools closed. theaters closed. City is trying to help as they can, and many will suffer. My husband can work from home, as he works in the federal court system, and I always work from home anyway. I’m an introvert so don’t mind not going out, and yet the idea of not being able to go out bothers me. Counting myself blessed that we have a yard and deck so can go outside. If we still lived in an apartment without an outside access I think I’d lose my mind.

    We can have anything delivered, so I’m well-supplied except for the parishables. Those I can get. Ihate to cook, but amleery of ordering delivery. I just don’t know the cleanliness of those who handle the food or even deliver it, considering our orders have been tampered with in the past. When I get a grocery delivery, I disinfect the outside of containers and wash my hands thoroughly just in case.

    Our internet went down and the guy who came sat out in the cold rather than coming inside to check the modem. Fortunately, it was an outside problem, and I’m sure they’re being told not to gi inside, as they always have in the past.

    My dogs are being a little naughty because they’re used to lots of excursions so are bored. The cats think this is wonderful to have us around all the time.

    I haven’t seen anything where churches are helping. The first exposure in my town was at a local church. 5 cases at the local university and 2 at an elder care facility. A friend got my prescriptions filled for me, as I can’t drive and don’t want to take public transit. I’have asthma so am considered high risk, I, like others, was sick in February with flu-like symptoms, though I tested negative for flu. The cough lasted for weeks. Does make one wonder. We have a university here with lots of foreign travel, and I go into the city often onpublic transit.

    I am worried about older friends and meople like my editor, who is in NYC. And I wish I knew how to help those who can’t work, who are being put out of work. It’s all pretty frightening, frankly, and I’m trying not to panic because that solves nothing.

    But I have started unfollowing people in Twitter who are spouting Christianese platitudes: “Instead of washing your hands, fold them in prayer.” Oh, puhleeze!

  158. KenF: On the other hand, taking the needed draconian actions earlier would have been considered an abusive crackdown on civil liberties.

    I am talking about *testing* here Ken. We are in this crackdown because we didn’t do that earlier. This is not about civil liberties, this is about infection control and knowledge of who has the virus.

    We STILL aren’t testing. SK tested everyone. They’ve had the best results.

  159. Samuel Conner: I’m guessing that there is some social pressure going on here. Tongues is in some groups regarded to be the sine qua non evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit. I prefer the “love on another” hypothesis for that.

    Some while ago I was reading a book on the history of revivals over the last few hundred years. The bit on the Azuza Street / Pentecostalistism thing was interesting. There was a point, early in the movement (not quite the right word, but it’ll do) where its leading influencers decided they needed to define the single definitive hallmark of baptism in the spirit, as they saw it.

    They decided, therefore, that they would each go and look through the bible to see what it said was the definitive hallmark. They all independently came up with tungs, and they took this as a sign that the Lorrrd was indeed revealing to them that baptism in the spirit was identically equal to speaking in tungs. I think it far more likely that they simply all found what they were all hoping to find, as tungs was the whole movement’s defining Thing. At any rate, it became embedded as a tradition. I came across clergy in my journey here in the UK who, despite being several generations removed from Azuza Street in every sense, nevertheless have gone to great lengths to contrive a “biblical” argument for Tungs As Necessary First Evidence.

  160. Headless Unicorn Guy,
    I checked the location of this and it’s in a public park the next county over which allows gatherings of less than 10. However, I think the guy organizing it is in my country which has banned all gatherings. Should I try to contact the health depts. of both counties?

  161. The disease management situation has affected me primarily through work, which mostly continues as normal but from home. Our major sales conference was moved to virtual which doesn’t affect me at all, but is a source of a good story. Instead of cancelling the band scheduled to entertain, it became a virtual concert (livestreamed last night, still available) that had a few hundred thousand viewers at peak.

    “the “vast majority” of that money going to the salaries of the band’s crew — the people who tune instruments, set up lights and the cameras, load and unload equipment and more, whose livelihoods rely on gigs and whose jobs don’t allow for working from home during the coronavirus outbreak.

    “When people think of a band, they think of, in this case, you know, roughly seven people who are standing on stage,” Brenner said. “But what they don’t think about is the massive amount of people that surround them.”

    https://www.bizjournals.com/boston/news/2020/03/18/why-a-cambridge-tech-firm-sponsored-the-dropkick.html for the article that quote came from.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5j06g0TE_Ao too watch the two hour livestream if you didn’t get enough St. Patrick’s day in yesterday.

    Posted from an alternate ID to keep my employer separate from my personal identity. GBTC – delete if not appropriate.

  162. Allie: But I have started unfollowing people in Twitter who are spouting Christianese platitudes: “Instead of washing your hands, fold them in prayer.”

    Better would be: “Instead of washing your hands, fold them in prayer, and ask for teachability and wisdom. Then wash them like you should have done in the first place.”

  163. Headless Unicorn Guy,

    Here’s an article about strategies for shutting down bars that stayed open: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/03/18/coronavirus-bars-defy-government/

    Social media pressure can work if done appropriately. So can calling the police, or whoever regulates the place where people are violating temporary safety regulations. If the meet-up is in a place with a liquor license, folks can call the liquor control authorities.

    Normally I say live and let live. But right now, live and let live is a bit too literal.

  164. Allie: I, like others, was sick in February with flu-like symptoms, though I tested negative for flu. The cough lasted for weeks. Does make one wonder.

    Same time and symptoms as mine, and matches what my writing partner observed in his part of PA. I was not tested because it fit the description of flu and (except for the bronchitis cough) lasted only four days. My last bout with bronchitis two years ago (after getting caught on an open platform in the worst storm of that year) followed the same pattern.

  165. Nick Bulbeck: Some while ago I was reading a book on the history of revivals over the last few hundred years. The bit on the Azuza Street / Pentecostalistism thing was interesting.

    Azusa street was over 90 years ago, but it WAS in my local metro area.

  166. My daughter in law is Chinese. It has gotten so bad here in Texas, she went and took her handgun carry license this past Saturday. They were already in a hermit stage at their home. But still they need groceries.
    I they are in an urban area and I have been trying to go and get her and bring her to the woods of East Texas, but she want to “hang in there. “

  167. Lea: I am talking about *testing* here Ken. We are in this crackdown because we didn’t do that earlier. This is not about civil liberties, this is about infection control and knowledge of who has the virus.

    Are you naive? Even if we had the millions of test kits that would have been needed back then, the same people who are are refusing to follow protocols are the same ones who would have avoided testing. And mandatory testing would have been viewed as an infringement of civil liberties, especially if it involved forced quarantines. I’m not at all saying the testing has been great. But it takes time to produce the numbers of test kits needed, which means testing must be limited, which means someone has to decide who gets tested and who doesn’t. There is also the problem of both false positives and false negatives. Earlier and better testing would not have stopped the spread of this virus.

  168. Headless Unicorn Guy,

    Get the organizer’s contact info and all details. Call the local TV news station and newspaper. Call the parks department, the sheriff/police non-emergency number, the county official whose territory includes that park, the local office of the state representative. Call any public building inside that park or next to that park. Somebody should be very interested.

    People need to change their behavior today. Examples are powerful.

  169. Headless Unicorn Guy: And I’ve already gotten one meetup announcement breaking it. Actually called “New Member Potluck XX – F Coronavirus! We’re not gonna let some mindless speck of DNA dictate our lives.” I think I should report it to some sort of authority, but I don’t know who. THIS IS DANGEROUS.

    Oooooooh. Petri dishes and swab sticks – instead of paper plates and plastic forks???

  170. KenF: Are you naive? Even if we had the millions of test kits that would have been needed back then, the same people who are are refusing to follow protocols are the same ones who would have avoided testing.

    I am not naive, but I believe you are extremely misinformed about this.

    I’m not sure further discussion would be productive.

  171. Lea: I believe you are extremely misinformed about this.

    I’m not sure further discussion would be productive.

    Maybe you can inform me by stating how testing could have stopped the spread of this virus. Along with your proposal for how testing could have stopped this, can you inform me on the resources involved? For example, exactly how many test kits did the US need and on what date were they needed? What were the approved test kits that were available on that date? How many approved test kits were available on that date? Who should have been tested? If not the entire US population, who and by what standard should they have been selected for testing? What should have been done with the people who tested positive? Help me to understand what I am missing.

  172. Video Conferencing.

    If you have an iPhone running the current version of iOS group FaceTime session work well. We did a 3 way video chat last night with some family members. On 20 miles away, the other 1100 miles away. We were all on phones but iPads would work and give more room on the screen for the various video streams.

    Not sure of what the Android options are.

  173. Working at home and WiFi

    If you’re working at home in a way that requires you to remote control/observe another system you will find that in almost every case having the home computer you are using WIRED to your local home network/router gives a much better experience.

  174. Ken F (aka Tweed): the same people who are are refusing to follow protocols are the same ones who would have avoided testing

    South Korea successfully flattened the curve on the coronavirus outbreak because they have a culture in which citizens obey national authorities in emergencies like this … unlike the U.S.

  175. Headless Unicorn Guy,

    I don’t know whether anyone remembers the “swine flu” epidemic. At some point in late 2010, I think, I had a particularly nasty cold, accompanied – unusually – by a noticeable fever. My GP thought it was probably swine flu, so I was at the tail end of that one.

  176. Working at home and surge protection.

    Most surge protectors are junk. Sorry but tis so. Several points.

    Start with at least 3000 joules. 4000 is better. All of those things you see at Best Buy and Lowes with 600 joules are basically a fancy power strip. Not enough surge worth mentioning.

    Surge protectors (at least anything costing less than $500) wear out. How fast is very hard to tell. But each little spike eats into that joule number. Just because that little light is on indicating protection is active just means it might be down to 1 joule. And measuring this is hard to tell. So I tell people to write the date you put a surge protector into service on it with a Sharpie and after 3 years or a lightning strike nearby consider it a no surge power strip. Write that on it also. If you live in an area with poor power or frequent storms drop from 3 years to 1 or 2.

    IF IF IF all you have is a laptop that is ONLY wired to it’s power adapter (no other wired connected to the laptop) you are somewhat protected due to the way the laptop power lumps are made. But I’d still recommend a decent surge strip if possible.

    Here are some decent ones in terms of price and joule ratings.

    $14 at monoprice
    https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=15871

    $17 at Amazon Basics
    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07GFRKSXD

    $22 Belkin at Amazon
    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000J2EN4S

    Which reminds me, Dee it is past time to replace yours on your various things. 🙂

  177. For you Apple TV binge watchers.

    I’ve found these are great to use with the Apple TV remotes. They help in 3 ways.

    1. You can now find them if you get colorful instead of it blending into the cloth of your furniture / bedding.

    2. When you drop it on your hardwood or tile floor you are much less likely to break the touch area.

    3. You can tell what is the top vs. the bottom in the dark. 🙂

    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B082HVCCQH/

  178. Maybe I’m the crazy one but I can’t find macaroni but plenty of peanut M&Ms. Where are people’s priorities?

  179. nmgirl: Maybe I’m the crazy one but I can’t find macaroni but plenty of peanut M&Ms.

    People love pasta~! #signed a person who loves pasta.

  180. Allie: I have started unfollowing people in Twitter who are spouting Christianese platitudes: “Instead of washing your hands, fold them in prayer.” Oh, puhleeze!

    Some folks are so spiritually minded that they are of no earthly use. This is the same attitude that churchgoing anti-vaxxers have. Pray AND wash your hands! Pray AND get vaccinated!

  181. nmgirl: Maybe I’m the crazy one but I can’t find macaroni but plenty of peanut M&Ms.

    We’re going to all be crazy before this is over. We still have bread, eggs, and milk in local stores, but no toilet paper. However, the shelves have been picked clean of pasta, beans and rice. Wish I had bought some peanut M&Ms now.

  182. Max: Wish I had bought some peanut M&Ms now.

    I did. I shouldn’t have. Big Costco container was empty way too quickly.

  183. GuyBehindtheCurtain: Wish I had bought some peanut M&Ms now.

    I did. I shouldn’t have. Big Costco container was empty way too quickly.

    Ahhhhh … that’s what you’ve been doing behind that curtain!

  184. Longtime lurker here, drawn out of the shadows by the current crisis. I turn to TWW for the collective wisdom and sarcasm that might keep me sane. Hubby and I are both high risk due to age and health issues so we’re staying home except for truly necessary grocery runs. My church has been closed for 2 weeks but will try an online gathering tonight. My husband’s church (we go to different churches) met last Sunday and when I watched a few minutes of their live stream, I was appalled by the hugs and handshakes during the “greeting time.” Fortunately hubby stayed home. We’re hunkered down, as are our kids and grandkids. We’re into gardening but nothing is up yet, so we’re dependent on whatever the stores have on hand. For anyone who can garden, I recommend New Zealand spinach. Not a true spinach but better and tastier. You can harvest what you want and the plant keeps growing. Just a few plants will provide lots of healthy greens for salads. Seeds are available online. I also recommend planting a few flower seeds (zinnias, marigolds, whatever) because fresh flowers lift the spirits in these dark times. God bless all of you. Hang in there. We’ll get through this together. Remember, if we die, we wake up in the presence of the Lord.

  185. GuyBehindtheCurtain: Surge protectors (at least anything costing less than $500) wear out.

    If funds are not a limitation and you really can’t tolerate either damage to gear or loss of the protector, the “Brick Wall” and “Zero Surge” line conditioners (no sacrificial components and should never wear out, barring a nearby lightning strike) can be had for significant but not outrageous $$$. I had been longing for one of these since the ’90s and finally splurged on one last year after a generous B-day cash gift.

    Made in US, too. Could probably be produced in Far East to retail for mid 2-figures (modulo supply chain problems); I would think that the original patents on the concept must have passed into public domain.

  186. Was in a Spectrum customer store today. For those not in the US, Spectrum is one of our big Internet/Phone/TV providers.

    One of the staff was saying a customer kept wanting details of which packages included which sports channels. His answer was “Why does it matter?”

  187. GuyBehindtheCurtain:
    Samuel Conner,

    Please link to more details.

    Here’s the “Brick Wall” site. This is the name that came to my attention back in the ’90s, but the price was prohibitive at the time.

    https://www.brickwall.com/

    Here’s the “Zero Surge” site:

    https://zerosurge.com/

    I think that these are identical technology and may even simply be different distributors for the same “under the hood” product.

    I’m thinking about getting a cheap UPS to put on the regulated side of the line conditioner to allow me to shut down orderly in the event of future reliability issues in the local power grid. OTOH, I’m not thrilled about having a big Li-ion battery in the house. Maybe make a DIY UPS with a bank of NiMH cells — which are made in the Far East, doubtless 🙁

    I’m not expecting power outages, but it would seem possible that, what with the supply chain disruptions, local utilities might have some issues maintaining desired levels of spares.

  188. Oldster: Seeds are available online. I also recommend planting a few flower seeds (zinnias, marigolds, whatever) because fresh flowers lift the spirits in these dark times.

    Heartily agree! The sense of darkness/foreboding for me sometimes feels like it’s midnight all day long. It’s important to get outside into the daylight. Plant some beauty for one’s own sake, and for neighbors’.

    A plant that has given many friends much joy is Tithonia aka “Mexican Sunflower”. The “Torch” variety grows to about 5′ high, and perhaps 4′ across, covered in vivid orange and yellow daisy-like blossoms. You won’t need to buy seed for the next year; each plant produces many thousands. A brother-in-law, retired from greenhouse growing, pushed a couple of these last year with soluble fertilizer and they grew to about 8′ height. They attract butterflies and hummingbirds.

  189. Max,

    Oh, I dunno, Max. I’m as uncooperative as the next American, but I’m up to date on all my shots. (Except maybe feline distemper, according to my hubby.) 🙂

  190. Allie: But I have started unfollowing people in Twitter who are spouting Christianese platitudes: “Instead of washing your hands, fold them in prayer.” Oh, puhleeze!

    During the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918, one diocese in central Spain responded by calling a novena to a patron saint against pestilence. (In defiance of the SECULAR health authorities.) For nine days the churches were packed with prayers and devotions, including kissing the relics of said saint.

    That town had the highest per-capita death rate of any in Spain.

  191. GuyBehindtheCurtain: I just put a nice picture of the Cold/Flu/Coronavirus chart at the end of the main post. Just above the first comment.

    Right click on it to download it to your computer/tablet/phone/device.

    Thank you! I notice it’s all in Peanut M&M colors… is the original a mosaic?

  192. Friend: Thank you! I notice it’s all in Peanut M&M colors… is the original a mosaic?

    You’ll have to ask Yale New Haven Health. 🙂

  193. @Samuel Conner

    Thanks for the Tithonia recommendation. I’ve seen it in catalogs and always thought it was beautiful.

  194. Jerome: 9Mark Dever posts video shaming T4G Conference refund seekers. From his darkened study, Dever has Matt Schmucker raise the specter of the T4G organization’s bankruptcy

    “If this teaching or movement is merely human it will collapse of its own accord” (Acts 5:38)

  195. Jerome,

    And no one else is taking a hit during this current crisis?
    The economic fear I see, and hear in working people just breaks my heart… where do you think I want my money to go? As if I would give T4G anyway….

  196. K.D.: My daughter in law is Chinese. It has gotten so bad here in Texas, she went and took her handgun carry license this past Saturday.

    My prayer and solidarity is with you and your loved ones K.D.
    I cannot and will not tolerate ill will and maltreatment toward any human being and especially when it’s based on race, national origin, and religion.

  197. Jeffrey Chalmers: And no one else is taking a hit during this current crisis?

    Twenty percent unemployment is a possibility mentioned by our own Cabinet.

    The rate in 1933 was 25%.

  198. I live in a mobile home park with either original owners, who are all seniors, or working class Vietnamese with multi-generational families. I’m a still working “young” senior. We all get along fine, talking and/or waving and smiling depending on our shared language skills. My neighbors knocked on my door this evening. They assembled food bundles of dry goods for all the seniors on our end of the park and dropped them off, fifth grader in tow. I was so touched, I almost cried. I don’t “need” the food (and I will probably pass quite a bit of it on to a friend who does really need it), but the fact that they thought of us and were that kind says there are some good things coming out of this mess. I always find it heartening that the seniors in the Vietnamese families stay with their children until they die, and they have purpose-cooking, tending to grandchildren, gardening, running errands, sometimes odd jobs. It’s a good thing to emulate.

  199. Friend,

    My parents grew up during the Depression. My dad wasn’t wealthy, but my mom was extremely poor. She used to tell stories about “make do” and still having fun, as well as how her neighbors watched out for the widowed mother with the six kids (my mom lost her dad when she was six months old). Sometimes the worst does bring out the best in us.

  200. LInn,

    It’s so heartening to hear stories like this amidst the “someone stole the last box of diapers out of my shopping cart” stories going on.

    I belong to a small moms group at church. Tonight we “met” during our regular meeting time via video chat. Among other things, we discussed starting a coordinated effort at our church to reach out to the seniors in the congregation and start filling specific needs, like grocery store runs and helping figure out technology needs to stay more connected with community. I’m really pushing for this to go somewhere.

  201. Lea,

    My brother in Hong Kong has to deal with Hospital lock-down. His wife had a mild stoke sent to hospital. He and their kids not allow to visit her. He can only drop off personal stuff at the reception.
    Make me realize the impact is beyond those who are infected by the virus.

    There are a few case in Hong Kong from what I read that a patient recovered, tested negative, and infected again. Not sure if the virus went dormant after quarantined or caught the infection again from someone after release.

    Fort Worth started limiting number of people at restaurants, bars, etc. By the looks of it, my guess a complete shutdown is imminent.

  202. Ken F (aka Tweed): Earlier and better testing would not have stopped the spread of this virus.

    This is not what the experts in infectious disease are saying. They are all saying that testing is the first and necessary step in developing a plan.

    There were many people who wanted and needed to be tested who could not be. It would have made a huge difference, both to letting people know that they needed to avoid contact with others and in giving all of us the correct understanding of exactly what we were dealing with. We squandered our head start and now we must just hope we have enough resources for those who need them all at the same time.

  203. SiteSeer: This is not what the experts in infectious disease are saying. They are all saying that testing is the first and necessary step in developing a plan.

    Can you point me to an expert who claims that earlier testing would have stopped (prevented) the spread of this virus in the US? Can you answer the questions I wrote above where I asked what amount of testing would be required?

    Perhaps we have different understandings of what it would mean to stop the spread. I am saying that this virus can be slowed but not stopped or prevented until people acquire immunity.

    The Imperial College reported cited above has some good info about testing as a means to help understand how the spread of the virus can be limited. I have not read anything describing how testing could have prevented this disease from spreading in the US. If you have expert info contrary to what I am stating please post some links.

  204. Jerome: 9Mark Dever posts video shaming T4G Conference refund seekers. From his darkened study, Dever has Matt Schmucker raise the specter of the T4G organization’s bankruptcy

    For his church, Dever refuses to live-stream. But for T4G he is pushing hard for live-streaming. What hypocrisy.

  205. Pondering on the article linked by Ken the other day:

    God in the hands of angry sinners

    It struck me that the supreme tragedy of penal substitutionary atonement is illustrated in the quote from “Pierced for our transgressions” cited by the author near the beginning of the article:

    The doctrine of penal substitution states that God gave himself in the person of his Son to suffer instead of us the death, punishment and curse due to fallen humanity as the penalty of sin… That the Lord Jesus Christ died for us – a shameful death, bearing our curse, enduring our pain, suffering the wrath of his own Father in our place – has been the wellspring of the hope of countless Christians throughout the ages.

    In other words, the foundation of all the Gospel™, and the underlying premise behind the historic creeds themselves, is that God’s defining characteristic is anger and vengeful loathing. God loathes you for being born. Your best endeavours to reach out to him only increase his loathing of you. In other words, if you hate God, he hates you; and if you love God… he hates you.

    Enter Jesus.

    If indeed it is true that to see Jesus is to see the Father, then everything is different. The true wellspring of hope for his followers through the ages is that God does not hate you.

  206. SiteSeer: We squandered our head start and now we must just hope we have enough resources for those who need them all at the same time.

    My understanding is that the point of having generous testing ability is to be able to rapidly test people who have been in contact with known cases, in order to identify those who are infected, so that they too can be isolated (or treated, as needed).

    Testing is an important part of contract-tracing and quarantine for the sake of containment.

    I’ve read that even in Wuhan, China, where the disease was so widespread that one could reasonably have assumed that containment was impossible, this contact-tracing, testing, and quarantine method was employed (in the context of a strict lock-down and shelter-in-place policy, which slowed further spread).

    There were over 9000 epidemiologists working in Wuhan on this contact-tracing agenda. It’s bog-standard public health action in an epidemic.

    To my amazement, there were no new cases reported yesterday (assuming one can trust the statistics out of China) in Hubei province, where Wuhan is located. These methods work.

    This is what we were late out of the gate doing due to the lack of testing capacity. We were not able to aggressively test asymptomatic contacts of known cases. Hopefully this situation will be corrected soon.

  207. Samuel Conner,

    A point I should have emphasized is that the ability to aggressively test asymptomatic contacts of known cases allows one to pursue the chain of transmission further. One cannot quarantine every contact of a contact (repeat N times) of a contact of a known case, but if one could test all the contacts of each known case, and then test the contacts of new cases that turn up in each round of contact testing, one could identify asymptomatic cases and quarantine them before they spread the disease to large numbers of others.

  208. Nick Bulbeck:

    If indeed it is true that to see Jesus is to see the Father, then everything is different. The true wellspring of hope for his followers through the ages is that God does not hate you.

    Nick, you’re right. If I hadn’t come to this realization a few years ago, I probably would have lost my faith. I devoured books and videos by Thomas Talbott, Robin Parry, Brad Jersak, David Bentley Hart and others, and they restored my hope.

  209. Oldster: Thomas Talbott, Robin Parry, Brad Jersak, David Bentley Hart

    IMO a useful pandemic reading list (and a quite a bit by them can be found online), but do that in the evenings. During the daylight, dig those gardens!

  210. Samuel Conner,

    Exactly – testing contacts, and figuring out the boundaries of where the virus is, is a huge part of slowing this down. If you look at countries that have dealt with this effectively big-time testing is how they’ve done it, along with social distancing. It’s correct that we don’t necessarily have the governmental powers that some places do, but we darn well have the power to enforce a quarantine of an individual who won’t self-quarantine. I just read the other day about a guy who has deputies parked outside his house because he refused to self-quarantine – but it sounds like he’s being compliant now. And really, most folks who catch this are going to be willing to quarantine, because most folks aren’t utter jerks.

    I’ve been reading that cases with mild or no symptoms have been a big part of spreading this virus – and that’s where widespread testing would help. I’m kind of gobsmacked that this would even be a question, honestly.

  211. SowresweetDayes: Make me realize the impact is beyond those who are infected by the virus.

    Absolutely it is. I work for a hospital and have family who do as well. Everyone is on alert, procedures are being changed, visitors limited or eliminated (depending on the area). All this social distancing is to attempt to save the healthcare system from being overwhelemed, which would affect anyone who gets sick or has an accident.

  212. SamuelConner: We were not able to aggressively test asymptomatic contacts of known cases.

    We weren’t even testing *likely* cases, who wanted to be tested, unless they met overly restrictive criteria.

  213. Wild Honey: we discussed starting a coordinated effort at our church to reach out to the seniors in the congregation and start filling specific needs

    Think about the things many/most elderly will NOT ask for due to embarrassment. Like Depends.

  214. Rich: I’ve been reading that cases with mild or no symptoms have been a big part of spreading this virus – and that’s where widespread testing would help. I’m kind of gobsmacked that this would even be a question, honestly.

    The latest news I have seen is that there are a LOT of Millenials showing up in the hospitals. They have a much lower mortality rate than the elderly, but some of them still require in-hospital supportive or even intensive care, and that consumes precious capacity that should be reserved for the more vulnerable population. It’s incredibly selfish that these people are recklessly exposing themselves.

    It appears that many people in the “less-at-risk” population are not taking this seriously, and are endangering themselves and especially the more at-risk groups. It might be a measure of a break-down of public-spiritedness and sense of community that has taken place in recent decades.

    I think that we might need an aggressive public information campaign to propagate memes such as “social distancing is patriotic”. In the churches, that would be “social distancing is a way of ‘seeking the good of the city in which you dwell” (Jer 29:7) as well as an obvious expression of “love of neighbor”

    speaking of “memes”,

    Ken F (aka Tweed): For his church, Dever refuses to live-stream. But for T4G he is pushing hard for live-streaming. What hypocrisy.

    It looks that way to me, too, but I suspect that from inside Dever’s view of things, this makes perfect sense. For him, the people of the church are not “the church” ( ekklesia , “assembly”) of God except when they are assembled for … what they assemble for. This is why these guys don’t want to bring Communion to shut-ins — it doesn’t “recognize the (assembled) ‘body’ “.

    But T4G is not about “assembling for the reasons the assembly assembles”; it’s about “meme-reinforcement” and “meme-propagation”, and electronically distanced forms of that are perfectly appropriate for those purposes.

    Also, as this crisis is sure to weaken the bonds that are holding together the local T4G/A29 style assemblies, it’s probably considered important for the modern-day successors of the apostles to continue to work together in some fashion (like the apostles in Jerusalem after the Acts 8 dispersal of the big assembly) to chart paths forward.

  215. SamuelConner: It appears that many people in the “less-at-risk” population are not taking this seriously, and are endangering themselves and especially the more at-risk groups.

    Part of the problem is that pretty much nobody outside of places like, maybe, washington st were seeing cases or taking it seriously until maybe a week ago…and ‘this is just a bad flu/younger people are immune’ messaging really wasn’t helpful. Hopefully as the seriousness sinks in people will adapt.

  216. Here’s a useful visual DIY for creating your own ad-hoc mask if you feel you need to wear one and cannot obtain a conventional manufactured one.

    https://publish.twitter.com/?query=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FMaxBlumenthal%2Fstatus%2F1239029993654472704&widget=Tweet

    It’s in a foreign language and I cannot tell what kind of wipe is being used. It would be important to not use a sanitizing wipe that emits potentially harmful vapors, such as a bleach-containing wipe (perhaps these could be thoroughly leached before use?)

  217. Samuel Conner: Testing is an important part of contract-tracing and quarantine for the sake of containment.

    Agreed. Testing guides diagnosis and treatment. Resources are scarce. If doctors treat people without diagnosing them, the wrong people will get medication and ventilators. Doctors won’t learn which treatments work.

    There was no covid-19 in West Virginia, until they started testing for it. So it spread. Now they suddenly have drive-up testing. https://www.theintelligencer.net/news/top-headlines/2020/03/coronavirus-drive-thru-testing-site-opens-at-wheeling-park/

  218. Samuel Conner: IMO a useful pandemic reading list (and a quite a bit by them can be found online), but do that in the evenings. During the daylight, dig those gardens!

    Yes! And I should add Aidan Kimel’s “Eclectic Orthodoxy” blog to that list. Now I’m off to pull some weeds and do some praying.

  219. Oldster: Yes! And I should add Aidan Kimel’s “Eclectic Orthodoxy” blog to that list. Now I’m off to pull some weeds and do some praying.

    A belated welcome from me too, Oldster, and thanks for the reading recommendation! The title looks promising, certainly.

    I too am off to do some garden work (albeit to prepare the base for the shed that’s arriving on Sunday) and praying…

  220. Here’s a little text out of context that fits:

    “So when you spread out your hands in prayer, pleading for My help” … “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean” (Isaiah 1:15-16)

  221. Friend: There was no covid-19 in West Virginia, until they started testing for it. So it spread.

    I have a feeling we are all going to be shocked at the number of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. when testing picks up steam. To paraphrase what someone said once “In the absence of data, we are just making up stories.”

  222. Lea: SamuelConner: We were not able to aggressively test asymptomatic contacts of known cases.
    We weren’t even testing *likely* cases, who wanted to be tested, unless they met overly restrictive criteria.

    Rich people, Powerful people, and CELEBRITIES exempt as always.
    Now THAT’s causing a blowback.

  223. Samuel Conner: This is what we were late out of the gate doing due to the lack of testing capacity. We were not able to aggressively test asymptomatic contacts of known cases. Hopefully this situation will be corrected soon.

    And when the numbers shoot up from this increased testing, expect a second round of PANIC.

  224. Max: I have a feeling we are all going to be shocked at the number of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. when testing picks up steam.

    It would be great if there was a test to show who already had it.that would likely be a huge shocker. I’m sure such a test would help with understanding impacts and tracing how it has been spreading. I would not be surprised it I had it early last month. Many people around here had a bad virus that had all the right symptoms. But I won’t know.

  225. K.D.: My daughter in law is Chinese. It has gotten so bad here in Texas, she went and took her handgun carry license this past Saturday.

    My writing partner mentioned last night that guns & ammo sales are up. Not panic-spike up but just up.
    Another source said these sales are largely Asians fearing revenge attacks for being blamed for the coronavirus.
    And secondarily “new owners” – Gun Control Advocates seeing SHTF civil unrest in their future.

  226. Ken F (aka Tweed): I would not be surprised it I had it early last month. Many people around here had a bad virus that had all the right symptoms.

    Both here and in Meatspace a lot of people are mentioning they or someone they knew had a “bug” that fit that description around the beginning of February. Moderate fever for three-four days and a bronchitis cough that lingers on for 3-6 weeks. At the time I figured it was a mild type of flu, as (unlike my colds) it seemed to start in the chest instead of the throat and head. (i.e. It broke the established pattern for a cold.)

  227. ishy: I am working from home some, but my job is very people-oriented, so there’s just not much to do. I do have a mild cough and am self-isolating, but I suspect the cough is because pollen season ramped up and not from the virus. Been taking my temp every day to make sure.

    Working from the office, as I can’t work from home. We have only six people here, well spaced out. And washing hands like the legend about Pontius Pilate’s OCD.

    Had a scare yesterday. I take my temp three-four times a day; normally it runs a degree F low. Well, noon yesterday it was 99 F, one degree F above what it usually is. I freaked but tried again half an hour later. Normal for me. I know body temperature can vary (usually lowest around sunrise and highest around sunset) and a one-degree fluctuation is common, but still…

    What if I DID start with the fever and symptoms? I can’t go home and risk infecting my high-risk roomie; I can’t stay at work; do I just drive out into the desert, park my car in the middle of nowhere, and sit for two weeks?

  228. Headless Unicorn Guy: Working from the office, as I can’t work from home.

    I am on mandatory telework. But it turns out that I am really getting home schooled (mostly, but exclusively, by the cat).

  229. Samuel Conner,

    “Brick Wall” and “Zero Surge”

    Thanks for the link. My electronics back ground give me pause about using these universally. Especially with an inductive choke on the hot side. I can see working in some situations but not all or maybe none where I want to use have a surge protection.

    But I’d want to have someone who kept up their electronics knowledge and specialized in power factor phasing to be sure.

  230. Headless Unicorn Guy: Moderate fever for three-four days and a bronchitis cough that lingers on for 3-6 weeks. At the time I figured it was a mild type of flu,

    Pretty much describes what I had, and I think I live about 2500 miles from you. I tested negative for flu once I could finally get to the Dr. Since the fever broke she told me to go back to work, but coughing lingered for a few weeks. I have no idea if I had COVID-19 or just a bad cold compounded by allergies.

  231. Lea: https://www.denverpost.com/2020/03/18/newest-coronavirus-case-in-boulder-county-connected-to-st-patricks-day-parties/

    They didn’t cancel! Ugh. We had most of our cases traced to the original case who i believe attended mardigras.

    Reckon they continued to hold such events in South Korea while they were bringing the outbreak under control there? Americans can be foolish sometimes – we’ve got a bad case of “It’s all about me” in some corners of our society.

  232. Ken F (aka Tweed),

    Love it! I am also teleworking (teaching remotely), but my cat is also giving me a run for my money. Since she has me all day, she expects lappies every time I sit down. She also meows to go to bed early so she can get comfortable on my knees. She is 17 years, seven months old, so she usually gets what she wants.

  233. Everything changed over the weekend. For the first time in many years I have nothing on my calendar until Holy Week (and who knows what will happen between now and then). Our church has stopped services and is doing on-line prayers and sermon. The schools here (central Georgia) closed as of Monday. The after-school program that I run has stopped for the duration. I visited the homes of each of my kids yesterday and dropped off a bag of books for them to read while they are home. It isn’t much but it’s the best I can do.

    My husband started sounding the alarm back in mid-February. We keep a pretty good stock of supplies and food in our house all the time, but about a month ago I started buying extra just in case. As long as the electricity and water stay on we are good for a month or more. My husband is still going to work but if the near-by Air Force base closes down that may change. We were both sick in late October/early November. We are wondering if we had it then.

    The people that I feel for are the working poor who can’t afford not to work and can’t afford long-term care for their kids who are no longer in school. People like the kids in my after-school program and their parents. What if they are out of school until next fall?

  234. Christine: The people that I feel for are the working poor who can’t afford not to work and can’t afford long-term care for their kids who are no longer in school. People like the kids in my after-school program and their parents. What if they are out of school until next fall?

    This is one of the reasons the UK government delayed closing the schools; doing so creates huge issues of childcare that would inevitably affect health workers among others.

  235. NickBulbeck: doing so creates huge issues of childcare that would inevitably affect health workers among others.

    Yes, have a family member trying to sort this out at the moment. Doesn’t mean it wasn’t necessary but its a huge challenge.

  236. Christine: My husband started sounding the alarm back in mid-February. We keep a pretty good stock of supplies and food in our house all the time, but about a month ago I started buying extra just in case.

    Living in earthquake country, I always keep some just-in-case reserves. As this unfolded, I TRIED to buy extra, but all through February my roomie was racked up in the hospital and I was working 60-hour weeks without letup plus hospital visits. When both of those ended, the panic-buying had already started to empty the shelves.
    “Too Late Now. Tsk. Tsk.” — the Preppers

  237. Lea,

    Lesley and I don’t have childcare issues (well, we care about our children, but they’re old enough to be self-propelled). So it’s a lot easier for us than it is for many.

  238. Friend:
    Headless Unicorn Guy,

    Get the organizer’s contact info and all details. Call the local TV news station and newspaper. Call the parks department, the sheriff/police non-emergency number, the county official whose territory includes that park, the local office of the state representative. Call any public building inside that park or next to that park. Somebody should be very interested.

    People need to change their behavior today. Examples are powerful.

    Final update: I think the organizers took it down.

    I was starting to call around (and running into impenetrable robo-menus) when I checked the meetup site again and found this meetup had completely disappeared from the “upcoming events” list.

    Maybe somebody got a clue.

  239. Christine: We were both sick in late October/early November. We are wondering if we had it then.

    My wife and I were both sick with an upper respiratory situation in December-February … it would just not go away. Our doctor said a tough bug “had been going around” and to just ride it out … I ended up having a secondary sinus infection. Getting old is not for sissies.

  240. Headless Unicorn Guy: What if I DID start with the fever and symptoms? I can’t go home and risk infecting my high-risk roomie; I can’t stay at work; do I just drive out into the desert, park my car in the middle of nowhere, and sit for two weeks?

    HUG, tough call, but you would need your own home for self-care! If you have separate bedrooms and bathrooms, you should be able to isolate enough to prevent passing to your roomie, having him put food by the bedroom door (or better yet just have food supplies in your own room).
    Or does he have another contact or friend where he could stay while you are ill?
    If someone in our household gets sick, I hope to open the window of their bedroom and keep a fan blowing towards the outside; maybe no scientific proof, but I figure it’s got to disperse some of the infected respiratory droplets.

  241. Headless Unicorn Guy: My writing partner mentioned last night that guns & ammo sales are up. Not panic-spike up but just up.

    The day after that, he emailed me that where he is, there was a run on ammo; it’s now as scarce as toilet paper and surgical masks.

  242. Allie: But I have started unfollowing people in Twitter who are spouting Christianese platitudes: “Instead of washing your hands, fold them in prayer.” Oh, puhleeze!

    A lot of Christians seem hell-bent determined to get on the WRONG side of this.
    Not just COVID_19, but in general.

  243. Got into work this morning, found it empty. Receptionist opened up around an hour later; discovered on office email that we’re sort-of shut down and “Do Not Return to the office until given permission to do so”. Said email was sent out an hour after I left yesterday. Still in limbo.

    Was going to take advantage of opening time at the Smart & Final on the way, discovered their hours had changed (from 6 to 8 Ayem), and now it’s too late. Wasted one disinfectant wipe and two latex gloves in the process.

    Thing is, when “you were supposed to be stocking up (too late now tsk tsk)”, I was working 60-hour weeks with my roomie in the hospital plus juggling home insurance and contractor for emergency home repairs. Now I’m “staring at empty shelves with all the other sheeple”, Tsk Tsk.

  244. HeadlessUnicornGuy: Thing is, when “you were supposed to be stocking up (too late now tsk tsk)”

    I managed to grab a pack of toilet paper before the rush and nothing else is likely to be urgent and unavailable. Have plenty of food and stuff.

  245. Situation update: I don’t think I’m in danger at work. There are only three of us left in the office, well spaced out across the building. Everyone else is working from home.

  246. Muff Potter: Wouldn’t be great if landlords and financial institutions could follow suit in these dire straits?

    I know landlords who would be in default themselves if they did such. They might own the house being rented but are not sitting on a pile of cash.

  247. Samuel Conner: coming soon, I thimk

    This would be incredibly helpful to the whole effort. Not that current testing is bad, but it is so limited in that there is a small window of time when it can be performed on a person, and a negative test today does nothing for tomorrow. It might also help explain why some people seem to get it again. It would be nice to know if people can become immune.

  248. Ken F (aka Tweed): This would be incredibly helpful to the whole effort.

    I heard about this on the radio last night, and dug a little to find the link — and was surprised to see the date of late February.

    The radio discussion was framed in terms of “what is the true Case Fatality Rate?”, and the premise what that there could be a significant number of people who contract the disease but recover without developing symptoms serious enough to warrant medical intervention. The thought was at the CFR, currently thought to be around 1% when adequate supportive care is available, might be considerably lower if there are large numbers of asymptomatic recoveries.

    I was hoping for this a month ago but I’m skeptical now. China has been doing extensive contact tracing with testing, which is how they have controlled their epidemic. Outside of Hubei province, the fatality rate among patients with known outcomes is ~0.9%, and I suspect that their reported cases (again, assuming one can trust the reported numbers) include the asymptomatic cases since their contact tracing regimen should identify those.

    I suspect that the serology studies are going to ex post facto give similar results.

    As you say, it would be useful to know who has been exposed and recovered, especially if that is protective.

  249. SamuelConner,

    At the moment, this falls in the ‘would be nice to know but people are sort of focused on getting tests for people who are sick NOW, and PPE, and supply chains, and personnel, beds, etc’.

    A year or two down the way we will know a lot more and I’m sure it will be very interesting. But doctors are reusing masks, pharmacists are making hand sanitizer and everybody is trying to get tests for people who are sick now.

  250. Lea: At the moment, this falls in the ‘would be nice to know but people are sort of focused on getting tests for people who are sick NOW, and PPE, and supply chains, and personnel, beds, etc’.

    For all the medical professionals, first responders, and manufacturers of medical supplies who are in quarantine because of exposure to the virus, it would make a HUGE difference if they could be released from quarantine and get back to work if it can be shown they have immunity. This is not just a theoretical issue.

  251. KenF: This is not just a theoretical issue.

    Neither is the other stuff and hey, if they could test them now they wouldn’t be in quarantine?

    People are in quarantine because they might *have* the virus, so i’m not sure what you’re even thinking. If they have it they aren’t immune. If they don’t have it, they are good to go.

    The stuff your proposing is still nice to have but not urgent ATM. Seriously. But think what you like.

  252. Lea: At the moment, this falls in the ‘would be nice to know but people are sort of focused on getting tests for people who are sick NOW, and PPE, and supply chains, and personnel, beds, etc’.

    For all the medical professionals, first responders, and manufacturers of medical supplies who are in quarantine because of exposure to the virus, it would make a HUGE difference if they could be released from quarantine and get back to work if it can be shown they have immunity. This is not just a theoretical issue.

    Lea: The stuff your proposing is still nice to have but not urgent ATM.

    Seriously? You think it’s a good idea for essential people to be in quarantine when they could be taking care of people? If medical capacity is the problem, it seems like we need to do everything possible to increase the availability of these people. Keeping them in isolation while waiting for them to potentially show symptoms is a waste of their critical skills.

    You seem to assume that the medical community cannot walk and chew gum at the same time.

  253. Headless Unicorn Guy,
    They’re shutting down the office and having us all “work from home” – something I have never done before. I cannot print anything at home, so even with the work laptop, all hardcopy will have to be copied longhand. I have NO home office, our entire legacy system maintenance routes through me, and the URGENT URGENT URGENT work orders keep pouring in nonstop. It’s like bailing the Titanic with only a teaspoon while everyone else is going “Try Harder! Bail Faster! FASTER! FASTER!”

  254. KenF;: Seriously? You think it’s a good idea for essential people to be in quarantine when they could be taking care of people? … Keeping them in isolation while waiting for them to potentially show symptoms is a waste of their critical skills.

    They are in isolation because we do not know if they have the virus.

    If we test them for the virus, find they do not have it, they could be out of isolation.

    Testing them to see if they previously had the virus does not help if they have it now, again, (which there is some evidence that that might be possible.)

    What are you not understanding here? Prioritizing current testing is what we need to do. Figuring out if KenF had the virus 2 months ago is not a priority atm.

  255. Lea: What are you not understanding here?

    We just see things differently. We’ll know a lot more as time passes. I am hoping the medical community continues to look for creative solutions while at the same time properly managing the active cases.

  256. KenF: You seem to assume that the medical community cannot walk and chew gum at the same time.

    I am (unlike you i’m guessing) in the ‘medical community’ and have a pretty good sense of what the issues are for them right now, believe it or not.

  257. Lea: I am (unlike you i’m guessing) in the ‘medical community’ and have a pretty good sense of what the issues are for them right now, believe it or not.

    I am not completely uninformed because my daughter is an ICU nurse and my sister is a MD. I am not at all disagreeing with the type of testing you describe. Of course it needs to be done. But testing for the active virus has lots of limitations. It would be incredibly useful if there could be a way to test for immunity as a way to augment (not replace) other forms of testing. It might not be possible, but why not try?

  258. Lea: They are in isolation because we do not know if they have the virus.
    If we test them for the virus, find they do not have it, they could be out of isolation.

    Ken F (aka Tweed),

    A significant issue, I think, is also that identifying the subset [of contacts with confirmed cases] who are themselves infected allows one to more readily pursue the transmission chain into “contacts of contacts (and so on)”

    I am four or five handshakes away from a confirmed case in another country (and quite possibly fewer handshakes away from un-identified cases in my own county). At least in China, but presumably also here, aggressive testing early in the epidemic can facilitate contact tracing for the sake of containment. To my surprise, it is reported that China continued aggressive contact tracing (with testing) even in Hubei province, where the disease became so widespread that one might have regarded containment to be impossible. They did not give up on containment (as US may have done), but continued to aggressively trace contacts — something that was greatly aided by the ability to determine which contacts had become infected. They appear to have contained it and might conceivably eradicate it from their country. At the moment, it seems they are more likely to get new cases from visitors from out of country than from transmission within country (assuming that the reported data is accurate).

    I think that serology is highly useful, but testing for proliferation of virus in the patient is, I would think, likely to give an earlier indication of infection. I think it’s “both/and”, but I really really wish that we had been prepared for aggressive testing months ago.

  259. GuyBehindtheCurtain: I know landlords who would be in default themselves if they did such. They might own the house being rented but are not sitting on a pile of cash.

    Again computer guy, it’s probably best we nix this topic too, cuz’ it could easily stray into politics…

  260. I work I healthcare (non-clinical). I will be working from home 4x/week & going to the office 1x/week. No visitors(including families of patients) are allowed in my job site and all employees have to have temperature taken & answer questions about coughing, sore throat, etc. We have had no COVAD-19 case so far.
    Church wise, church went online which was good IMO choice by the leadership. I watch online.
    The grocery stores in my area are limiting how many people can come in the store at a time and how much they can buy. It has made shopping easier and sane, although I’ve not seen anything violent or wacky yet.
    Ive heard COSTO and others are not accepting returns. Which is probably good from a safety standpoint b/c the virus can live on plastic and cardboard for a time.

  261. Donna D.,

    All common sense things that should be implemented across the nation. If the country is to control this bug, access to its host (us) must be contained. There are too many folks in my area who just aren’t taking this thing seriously enough. I expect the Governor here to issue a “Stay Home” order soon. One city has already shut down gatherings of 10 or more, including all church services … but a suburb of that city with a different government system allowed churches to remain open and a case was just confirmed at a mega-church there, so they are scrambling to see how many folks came into contact with them. You would think church leaders would exercise more wisdom, but they didn’t in that situation.

  262. Max: You would think church leaders would exercise more wisdom

    It is presumptuous to test God, to handle this snake and drink this poison. The people of God tested God in the wilderness and the earth swallowed a bunch of them.

  263. Max: You would think church leaders would exercise more wisdom…

    No, that I would not, generically speaking. There are, as always, honourable exceptions.

  264. How did I get ready? I ran out to our local music store and rented a nice electric guitar — so nice I want to keep it!

    I used to play, but I was going deaf and did t know it, so nothing sounded right (lots of hearing loss on the high end). Now I have hearing aids, music sounds like music again!

    Beyond that, well we had an adventure. My wife’s mother was dying, and my wife took off on an 800 kilometer trip to see Mom. Mom passed on Wednesday, no funeral, but there will be a grave side service. I’ll be standing well back, I have three of the known risk factors. I suspect that arthritis may be another one.

    One thing that I noticed missing from the stores were thermometers. So to the Great Toilet Paper Hunt of 2020, you can add the Great Thermometer Hunt of 2020!

  265. Max,

    If this tweet is accurate, there were large Christian assemblies today in South Korea.

    https://twitter.com/josungkim/status/1241324953191895040

    It might not be just the aberrant groups that are doing this.

    I have read that the AD70 siege of Jerusalem began before Passover, and the besieging armies let the pilgrims into the city, intending to keep them there in order to accelerate the depletion of the food supplies and shorten the siege. It worked (aided by one of the factions in the city that burned some of the food stocks).

    They’re “encouraging one another” to get sick

    Sometimes it is a lot better to stay away.

  266. So, I’m having an interesting week.

    Remember how at first I thought it was my thyroid then perimenopause/late reproductive stage that was giving me mental illness symptoms? Well, after much advocating myself and seeing so many doctors and being blown off repeatedly, I finally found a doctor who would do an MRI on my brain. I just got the test results back yesterday, and I have a pituitary adenoma. So, that explains the hyperthyroidism symptoms and mental illness. Fun! Now, this is an easy fix with a gamma knife surgery, but…I can’t get in with the neurosurgeon until June. Thanks. To. COVID. And maybe June is an optimistic time-frame. By golly, I’ve had symptoms that go back to 2017. I want this evil thing gone. GAAAAAA!!!!

    In the meantime, Zoloft is keeping me from playing in traffic, but I’m so darn sleepy and it doesn’t even keep my mood totally stable. Better than before, but, ugh. At least now I have a name for my enemy that is destroying my mental health.

    Please pray for a magic robot to swing by my home and gamma knife my brain. Thanks! I hope everyone else is doing well here. God bless you all!

  267. Max: On the flip side, I feel bad for small business owners.This will do some of them in.

    Not to mention some of the smaller congregations…