How is Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) affecting your community?

[19and41]

Interesting coincidence.  I had applied for self quarantine as I repair portable radios for Metro Atlanta Rapid Transit and I'm aged as well.  I was just notified not to present myself for work and begin quarantine today.  I just hope I'm not already infected.

[TelePlay]

. . . but if we try to do so too soon it may cause a spike in infection cases, . . .

Isn't that the point of what was done? To reduce the out of control rate of new infections by social distancing and proper personal hygiene so as not to overwhelm the medical system that was initially unable, unprepared to deal with Covid patients and mitigate their novel symptoms? To give the medical community a month or so to learn, to come up with practices, procedures and therapeutic drugs that help mitigate symptoms, prevent deaths in those without underlying co-morbidity issues.

And with that accomplished in a month or so, the curve flattened, wasn't it always then the planned case to reopen the economy knowing the virus would continue to show up in new cases but to spread in a slower, controllable way. To let the economy come back to life before its total collapse knowing more people would be infected but at a rate similar to or less than the annual common flu and capable of being managed by the pre-mathematical-model-driven-panic hospital bed census.

Hasn't it always been the fact that the stay at home orders were temporary, one to two months at the most, and the virus would always be out there there, new cases would increase to some level, people would die from it and the cycle repeated each flu season until a natural herd immunity was developed or a 100% effective vaccine and/or cure was found.

Most of the US economy is made up of small business that has now been shut down completely, many have gone out of business and will never re-open. Isn't it time to get back to living our lives as we wish and want to, now fully knowing the risks, costs and benefits in doing so before we lose it all?

[19and41]

I hope that the reopening of the economy will not be hampered by interests that are not germane to the efficient and effective prosecution of the emergency.  That is the most benign way I can state my concerns at this time. 

[TelePlay]

The Wisconsin governor has just extended his stay at home keep businesses shut down from April 24th to May 26th, the day after Memorial Day.

[countryman]

Isn't it time to get back to living our lives as we wish and want to, ...

Shure it would be great if that worked. I'm afraid it won't, especially not for those who no longer will be with us then. The toll in the hotspot areas already has been immense, unheard of in any "seasonal flu". We have to bring those numbers down before starting over. Re-opening will have to be done in small steps, every time checking what the numbers will do.
It's a hard time world wide, life will go on after it, we have to be patient.

Shutdown has been extended until May, 3 here (Germany). The people stand behind it so far. Food and hardware stores are open, as well as farm supply and farms, construction sites, auto repair shops, craftsman's business and the like.

[twocvbloke]

Well, apparently here in the UK, Lockdown has been extended for another three weeks, as there are still rising infections & deaths from the virus, mostly due to people not listening to the rules of what "essential activities" and "social distancing" are, I'm amazed they've not turned it into a hard lockdown so far given there has been talk of it due to the ignorance of people flouting the rules...

[Jim Stettler]

I am back to work next week for a 40 hour week.
I have some pre-approved  tasks to take care of.
The electricians in the shop are back for a pre-approved  outdoor lighting project.

We are required to wear mask, gloves and follow social distance guidelines  when inside any of  the buildings.
When working outside the mask is required when  you can't meet the distance guidelines.

It is undecided  if we are working the following week.

Jim

They expect Colorado to peak in the first week of May

[19and41]

went to get tested for the covid today.  Iwas guided through a driving range with periodic appearances from folks in space suits up to a portico with a white tent.  They put a swab up my nose and it felt like they were trying to poke my eye out from the back.  Now I am in quarantine.  I'll next replace the EGR valve in my truck so I can grub about for foodstuffs.

[Key2871]

Do you have symptoms of it?
Well I'm hoping you don't have it, keep us up please.

[19and41]

I have had mild recurring symptoms Since the first week all this started.  Incidentally, my supervisor called me this evening and said I left at the right moment.  The first person in our shop came down with it today.

[TelePlay]

Did you see where it was Santa Clara CA, I think, that has a state university do wide spread testing and found that the population having it or had it and now have the anti-body was some 80% higher than thought? That increases the denominator and lowers the mortality rate by about half.

Bad news is that I think it spread to a lot more people than we think and many of those are asymptomatic or had a mild reaction and now have the anti-bodies.

Good news is the herd immunity may be larger than thought, and spring is just around the corner if it ever stops snowing up here (every day for the past week).

I was sick for 10 days with some of the symptoms but it started to clear up last Friday and Sunday morning I was back to normal, well, as some on this form will correct me to say, I'm back to abnormal . . .

[twocvbloke]

That's one of the things about the virus, the fact in a lot of people, it can go unnoticed, being known as asymptomatic, so it's possible that a lot more people have had the virus but not even realised, and, worst of all, were spreading it unknowingly, hence the need for lockdown and isolating, as those vulnerable to the virus wouldn't fare so well...

Of course, having no symptoms or effects is ironically the ideal situation for the virus, as it is more beneficial for the virus to not kill the host in order to propagate, evolve and spread, after all, if it killed the host before it could move its' offspring onto a new host, it too would die, but that said, everybody is different, and those differences result in various outcomes...

[TelePlay]

Latest Wuhan virus tragedy, you can no longer buy cotton cloth by the yard in Walmart, it's all sold out . . .

Toilet paper is back in stock, shelves are full, but that won't work for making a mask.

[Key2871]

I had to go pick up a script at the hospital yesterday and they gave me a re usable mask that goes behind the ears and it works great.
I had to wear one or they wouldn't let me in.
That was the doctors section, so hey I've seen people making masks out of paper towel on YouTube.
Won't last too long, but it's not toilet paper.
And yes I've been seeing that as well, people who were not infected are now getting the virus. So either chins wonderful responce is backfiring or they aren't keeping up on it anymore

[countryman]

Everyone has an old shirt or something else to sacrifice, but how about elastic tape?
If I looked really hard I might find the handkerchiefs that were given to me for my confirmation, they were obsolete even back then but might be useful now.

To report the outcome of my brewer's yeast for baking experiment:
I set half a drinking glass of flour, mixed with beer and a teaspoon of sugar for fermentation for 4 days. (The recipe I mentioned before used mashed potatoes, but flour was also recommended by another source.)
It definately fermented, and had the distinctive yeast smell. After 4 days I made a pizza dough with it and planned double the normal raising time. It raised, but by far not as much as usual. I cheated a little and added baking soda as a preventive measure 
Pizza turned out good, now I'm not sure wether it was the yeast experiment or the baking powder.