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 Iron_Captain wrote:

 Future War Cultist wrote:
A friend alerted me to a place that’s flogging hand wash for £19.99. There’s calls for a boycott....serves them right too imo.

Aren't there laws against that kind of price gouging?

In the US there are entire industries that work like that...

Here’s the proof:



It’s just such a horribly cynical thing to do.

So TP and hand sanitizers are going to protect everyone from an airborne virus?
Wash your hands, like everyone normally should, and that’s really the best one can do.

Remember folks, breathing spreads the virus. When it’s in the air, avoiding doorknobs won’t help. Staying away from large crowds of people is probably the best defence against contraction.

People do know that antibacterial means nothing against a virus, don't they?

You do know that alcohol-based sanitizer is antiseptic, don't you?

I do, yes. I was just having a chuckle at the signage.

Seattle worker here,

It is unnerving how empty the city and public transportation is but I wont be able to see it much as we were approved to tele-work so Ill be avoiding the ferry commute and such. Have watched ferry ridership drop from a few hundred to maybe 100 in the last week and a half.

What is an impact is that my wife's employer is preparing to potentially temporarily lay off employees beginning April 1st so that will be a huge impact to our income. Fortunately, being a federal employee and the main bread winner for so long, we have prepared a "shutdown" fund so we should be ok for a bit.

Learned about 15 minutes ago that they cancelled my kids school through April 24th but they are both old enough to be independent so no biggie there (other than they wont have much of a summer break). The only challenge will be managing to get a stockpile of food to feed the kiddos since they wont be eating lunch at school. Teenagers consume ridiculous amounts of food...

 NinthMusketeer wrote:

 Iron_Captain wrote:

 Future War Cultist wrote:
A friend alerted me to a place that’s flogging hand wash for £19.99. There’s calls for a boycott....serves them right too imo.

Aren't there laws against that kind of price gouging?

In the US there are entire industries that work like that...

There are laws, but they often only apply to essential services and products. Even then they can take time to get mobilised and take effect and are more geared at the big core industries and suppliers. It would focus more on essentials like breads and milks and the like; so soaps and suchlike might not be covered.

Of course some of them are not fixed laws but guidelines and best practice.

It's a far cry from price control where governments set fixed values for products.

Our government just announced our borders will be closed down due to the corona virus outbreak.

Food and other goods will still be able to pass through the borders, but no people. We're stuck here now.

All of this is super bizarre, like something out of a movie and not real life.

 Redcruisair wrote:
Our government just announced our borders will be closed down due to the corona virus outbreak.

Food and other goods will still be able to pass through the borders, but no people. We're stuck here now.

All of this is super bizarre, like something out of a movie and not real life.

Welcome to a small taste of normal for most of human history, where contagion was an everyday fear (most everyone got smallpox at some point in their lives) and shutting travelers out of border crossings or cities was something that could happen at any time for good and bad reasons.

At least we have the capability for large scale measures to stop and (eventually) treat the disease itself as well as the symptoms.

OH good. I always wanted to live in most of human history.

 Ghool wrote:
So TP and hand sanitizers are going to protect everyone from an airborne virus?
Wash your hands, like everyone normally should, and that’s really the best one can do.

Remember folks, breathing spreads the virus. When it’s in the air, avoiding doorknobs won’t help. Staying away from large crowds of people is probably the best defence against contraction.

I didn't think it was airborne other than those moments whilst it's being sneezed?

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
OH good. I always wanted to live in most of human history.

Epidemics happen- and this is a very small taste of that reality (apparently I didn't emphasize that enough).

Be glad of the stupid number of advantages we have in comparison, especially in terms of medicine and care (even compared to a century ago, just past the practical edge of living memory), plus all the tech crap that lets us function remotely or even stupid self-checkout lines in stores where close contact with other people isn't required, or online stores where it doesn't happen at all.

I've lived through the Hong Kong flu in the 1960s, HIV/AIDS, Green Monkey disease, two lots of Ebola, Swine Flu, Bird Flu, Foot and Mouth (twice), SARS, MERS...

I don't remember anything like this.

It's unique, particularly because it's so widespread. But obviously, it is nothing like Ebola, which has trouble spreading because it is so deadly and not a respiratory disease / not airborne.

nfe wrote:

 Ghool wrote:
So TP and hand sanitizers are going to protect everyone from an airborne virus?
Wash your hands, like everyone normally should, and that’s really the best one can do.

Remember folks, breathing spreads the virus. When it’s in the air, avoiding doorknobs won’t help. Staying away from large crowds of people is probably the best defence against contraction.

I didn't think it was airborne other than those moments whilst it's being sneezed?

From what I understand, the virus largely comes from droplets (sneezing, coughing in front of someone) and is not airborne to the point in which breathing infects a room. To add to Ghool’s advice regarding crowds, it may also be a good idea to wash your hands after going somewhere frequented by multiple people (eg. workplace, movie theatre, etc.) I’m sure everyone’s heard this before, but never hurts to get it out there.

Ebola is ,much easier to contain its main reason for spreading so fast was cultural and educational aspects in the countries it rose up in. After that there were mostly medical and support staff and volunteers who got infected. It required very direct contact of bodily fluids to transfer.

Corna is not only very easily spread but its got that week long incubation time when you can still be infectious. Which means you can spread it through a population very fast and a week later it only starts to rear its head in a few cases. With modern populations being so heavily mobile and heavily reliant on being mobile its very hard to fully lock down a population.

Heck we consider up to 1 hour being acceptable for commuting time. Which in the urban landscape might involve going through undergrounds, busses and more. Even a simple trip to the shops might have us encounter people from anywhere up to an hour from that store in a huge circle around it.

A simple cough into your hand which you then use to open a door and suddenly everyone who touches that same spot could potentially become infected and spread the virus. Even if you cough into a cloth you might still get enough on your skin to pass it on.



Curtailing the movement of livestock is one thing; curtailing the movement of 7 billion people is quite another.

And switzerland declared lock down.

Less then 50 people Max in restuarants, over 100 people organised Events are banned, schools closed Kantons have to provide babysitting Solutions, higher schools are closed aswell or now happening virtually.

we were at the grocery today and I completely forgot to see if there was any TP on that lane. I can't really recall anything being out of stock but there were many things on sale price and coupon ect. Mostly those shelves were empty. The store was very full of customers and it seemed like a lot of people which for where we live was a little unusual. I did see one person wearing one of those masks but paid him no mind. I'm such a bone head, I meant to remember to see how much or little TP was still in the store. Oh well, at least I remembered onions.
funny enough though I did touch the cart and a few items I felt no urge to touch my face. For as crowded as it was it did seem like people were giving each other a lot of room. I found that I was very tired while I was there but it is likely just a little bit of stress in the back of my mind, and the back pain, which can be exhausting.
It's times like these I really miss original formula ripped fuel, accept no substitutes.

So my work has cancelled.
Im likel legit scared of this man. I have never see anything like it before.

Assuming you're under 60, you shouldn't be scared for yourself hotsauceman - but you should Definitely take all precautions to keep it from spreading, to keep others safe, particularly the elderly.

Buy a travel bidet. You still blot with whatever, but you don't rely on TP and it's "better for your health", so to speak.
https://www.amazon.com/Brondell-GS-70-Portable-Convenient-Capacity/dp/B008CSDKSQ/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=travel+bidet&qid=1584140598&sr=8-2

Here's how USA botched up. I also blame citizens who aren't taking this epidemic seriously. : https://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-coronavirus-testing-us-disaster-223738915.html

Meanwhile, Taiwan has contained the epidemic. I'm sure part of it is their distrust of anything China and therefore WHO says. : https://www.reddit.com/r/Coronavirus/comments/fhe9ix/jama_taiwan_has_tested_every_resident_with/

Weeks ago, Singapore said they have to move from a containment strategy to a mitigation one. Mitigation means we can't contain a disease, so live with it, like influenza or mumps. This "flattening of the curve" movement suggests mitigation. The idea is that, with social isolation, we slow down the spread and burden hospitals less, obviously accpting that people will be hospitalized, just at a slower rate.

Well, practice common sense, which seems to be all too rare these days. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area in California, which means not only do we have the highest number of infected, but also that we're in an earthquake zone and it's still the worse influenza season in a decade. That means all the preparation my elderly family has been taking prepares us against an earthquake (which too many Californians are not prepared for) and influenza (which is only serious when you have it). Yet our local government has been dragging its feet on school closures, and locals on forums only last week not taking this virus seriously. And, yes, passengers are still boarding cruise ships because their tickets are non-refundable. YOYO.

The worker I have to help me around and his mom are freaking out about it. I honestly think a lot of this is paranoia. I found myself more annoyed and pissed than scared. There have supposedly been 12 cases found in Michigan and everybody is panic buying everything in the stores. All the toilet paper was gone, probably all paper towels, noodles and similar things and people were buying it all right away. Thank god for the grocery store limiting how much people could buy per person but I imagine that's just gonna resort to multiple people per family buying each thing so they can buy it in bulk. There's always somebody somewhere that tries to bend the rules to their liking. I wish people weren't this paranoid about things. This has a 2% fatality rate overall and its worse if you're old. I imagine healthy or even average health citizens have nothing to worry about. It's thanks to everybody's stupid paranoia that I won't be able to wipe my ass for a while. So glad I come back from a vacation to everybody taking everything of value from the grocery stores.

Don't be scared, don't watch the news because they are only there to make you scared, so more people will tune in to make their advertisers happy. Just be cautious and clean. Hang out at home for a while, play some games, paint some stuff, listen to some metal.

 Necros wrote:
Don't be scared, don't watch the news because they are only there to make you scared, so more people will tune in to make their advertisers happy. Just be cautious and clean. Hang out at home for a while, play some games, paint some stuff, listen to some metal.

I'm not scared it's just sadly i'm at the mercy of people who are scared and panic buy all the crap I want preventing me from getting a good stock of toilet paper when I run out. I feel like people are panicking each other honestly.

Also the worker I have that's supposed to take me to the GW every weekend probably won't because he's scared of corona virus. I'd still go but I think the older members of the gaming community should be worried.

It's a self fuelling overhyped panic. It's on the news every day, which is fair enough as obviously it needs covering, but the way these people talk about it is unnecessary, and only going to result in a mass panic.

People need to calm down.


My grocery shop had manuka honey, so I'm happy. If I get the virus I'll just nuke it with honey and whisky toddies for 2 weeks.

 queen_annes_revenge wrote:


My grocery shop had manuka honey, so I'm happy. If I get the virus I'll just nuke it with honey and whisky toddies for 2 weeks.

Ditto on the honey and whisky plan. I am also ready to go full chemical war with Korean Ramyun and Kimchi. That stuff works wonders.

I’m stocking up on spicy food. Even if it’s only a placebo effect, they always make me feel better.

IronWarLeg wrote:
Seattle worker here,

It is unnerving how empty the city and public transportation is but I wont be able to see it much as we were approved to tele-work so Ill be avoiding the ferry commute and such. Have watched ferry ridership drop from a few hundred to maybe 100 in the last week and a half.

What is an impact is that my wife's employer is preparing to potentially temporarily lay off employees beginning April 1st so that will be a huge impact to our income. Fortunately, being a federal employee and the main bread winner for so long, we have prepared a "shutdown" fund so we should be ok for a bit.

Learned about 15 minutes ago that they cancelled my kids school through April 24th but they are both old enough to be independent so no biggie there (other than they wont have much of a summer break). The only challenge will be managing to get a stockpile of food to feed the kiddos since they wont be eating lunch at school. Teenagers consume ridiculous amounts of food...

You will make it through this.

Crisis is opportunity. I've been buying put options, made a significant amount of money this week betting that US energy companies will underperform.

Might be a good time to acquaint yourself with the stock market.

People may be panicking, but this is very serious. Follow the money. Look at what’s being cancelled and how much money is being lost. Consider how much business leaders would resist doing that. And think about the resources they have regarding medical guidance. It’s waaaaaaay beyond a PR move or something they did due to peer pressure.

Stay safe folks. That means taking care of yourself and making sure you don’t spread it to others, especially the elderly. Social distancing can work, so do it.