The Covid-19 Pandemic (When posting new information, please cite sources)

@lovendures

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@shawn

Your description of your grocery store trip was similar to mine last week.  The main difference was that I was the only one with a mask and I felt like I was snorkeling or scuba diving and felt I really stood out compared to no one else wearing one.  Very anxiety producing.  I am out of lettuce now and a few other things.  I am not going to go again until I NEED to go. 

I we haven't had any restaurant food ( including to go) for 13 days.  I am glad I can cook, but I will tell you that there are a lot of things that sound really good right now.  

 I am glad you mom is with you now. Hopefully she is able to smoke away from the house.

May you all stay healthy and safe.

@lovendures thank you! I never dreamed that a quick run to the store would send my heart racing & stomach churning! You are so right all those restaurant commercials have me longing for steak & lobster ? Take care of yourself & your loved ones too ❤️ We are all in this together- kindness counts ❤️❤️❤️

@shawn

I am cracking myself up...

I just wanted to stress too everyone reading this that while I might have "felt" like I was scuba diving or snorkeling, I was NOT wearing a scuba or snorkel mask.  Lest I confuse anyone.  I would REALLY have stood out, can you imagine?  Oh, the visual that would have been.

? ?  

Bahaha. 

Food wise, it is Instapot beans and baked spaghetti squash with pasta sauce tonight for dinner.

Last night, or rather early this morning, I was feeling the fear and grief of the collective, as others have mentioned here too. Some of it was mine too, but it's been too big and heavy to just be mine.

So as I laid there I prayed. Sometimes prayer to me is a conversation and talking with the Universe about my experience, then asking for guidance, wisdom and sometimes help. 

My conversation started with talking to my dad who died in 1999. Basically I was like, dad, you would not BELIEVE what's going on down here right now! 

So, on the the guidance and wisdom part. I asked what I need to know about this situation, and what I can do to help and be part of the solution and help this world become an even better place. 

The feelings, images and thoughts that came a few minutes later were interesting and felt true and profound.

First was a strong feeling, as if being spoken to by a mother who was done with the children fooling around. It was made clear to me that I have no control in this situation, it is out of my hands and she is taking care of things. It wasn't an unkind voice or feeling. But it - She - was clearly in charge. 

Next came an image that means a lot to me, but may or may not make sense to others.

Have you seen the movie Contact? There's a scene in the movie where the captain's chair they built in the ship starts shaking violently and it's very distressing to Jodie Foster's character and she's deeply concerned for her safety. Against the advice of those who built it, she unhooks herself from the chair. Moments later the chair breaks apart and is sucked out of the ship.

Once the clambering chair is gone there is absolute serenity and peace in the ship.

If she'd stayed in the chair she likely would have died. 

The clincher is that the captain's chair was never in the original design. But the people who had the blueprints didn't trust the design because they didn't understand how it could work without a seat for the person in the ship. So they added it. 

The point of this - and the takeaway from the message I received - is that it is the human made constructs that are breaking up right now. It's the designs that we have put in place because we do not trust nature's design. If we stick with the constructs that we have added but are not part of the design, then we too will be shaken, hard, and possibly blown apart (in a figurative sense).

It is the resistance, the fear (and the resistance to the fear or any other feelings) and trying to hold on to the old structures that could destroy us.

Let those go, trust, and don't resist and the plan will be allowed to unfold.

It felt profound. It's something of course I've heard from others and read, but in that fleeting time before falling asleep I FELT it's true-ness and wisdom. 

@kateinpdx

How profound and beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing your conversation with us tonight.  It brought peace to me as I read it.  We all can use a little more peace so thank you for that gift.  

Thank you for restating that we are not in control.  That is such a  difficult lesson isn't it?

@lovendures

I'm so glad that brought you some peace. 

You and this community have contributed so much to me, I'm glad I could return even a small fraction of the favor. ? 

Scientists discovered that losing smell is also a symptom of having the Covid-19 virus.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/health/2020-03-25/coronavirus-loss-of-smell-covid-19-symptom/12087948

Also Prince Charles is being tested as positive. His wife was tested as well, but there's no sign of the virus. They are isolating themselves in their own home in Scotland. Don't have a dedicated link.

Andrew Yang tweeted about this website. 

It is an interactive model which shows when each state might get their peak of infections based on how they go about implementing action plans.

Here is my state of Arizona. Go to the link below to find yours.

.

The only thing that matters right now is the speed of your response

This model is intended to help make fast decisions, not predict the future

  https://covidactnow.org

@kateinpdx

Thank you!  I can't imagine going through this time without everyone here.

Two Boston hospitals each reported that more than 40 employees have tested positive for the new coronavirus Wednesday.

Another hospital said that 15 of its employees have contracted the deadly virus, which has already prompted the area's medical centers to hunker down in anticipation of a massive surge of cases -- Massachusetts has reported more than 1,800 cases and the coronavirus can take days to present in infected people or worsen enough to send them to the hospital.

Brigham and Women's Hospital said it has 45 employees who have tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, as of Wednesday afternoon.

At Massachusetts General Hospital, 41 hospital employees have contracted the coronavirus, though the institution noted in a statement that "it is believed that the vast majority of these individuals did not contract the virus at work."

At Boston Medical Center, 15 employees have tested positive, the hospital said.

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/live-blog/coronavirus-updates-senate-passes-2-trillion-stimulus-plan-u-s-n1168156/ncrd1169101#liveBlogHeader

I just received an email from a doctor friend of mine.  Inside her message about doing telemedicine, she included this interesting tidbit I thought I should share with you.

The coronavirus is very contagious and thus, it is important for people to stay indoors. Many people who are infected do not have symptoms or have minor symptoms. You can spread this virus 5 days before even having symptoms. If you have the coronavirus you can be contagious for 37 days. In order to stop the spread, it is best to stay indoors. The sooner we stop the spread the sooner we can all go back to a normal life.  

Five days before was a little bit surprising but up to 37 days  being contagious??  

Wow.

About a week ago, a long time customer of mine and I had a debate about the seriousness of this. He insisted that it was just the flu, media hyped, etc-all the GOP talking points. He assured me that I was wrong and even wanted to put his money up and bet me who was right. 

Today he text me saying "Cuomo needs to find a way to get the asshole in Washington to do his job and fast!" The man's grandfather is in the hospital and cant get a needed ventilator. He was told to prepare for the worst. 

It was horrible to hear this man realize that not only was a loved one dying, but his entire belief system, and world, came crumbling down around him as well. My heart hurt for him and the many others who will have this happen to them in the coming weeks. 

Hello,

I am a regular reader of this forum, but this is my first post.

I awoke this week with some interesting family history memories that I thought might be good to share. I will apologize in advance, as it isn't a pretty story.

My great grandmother, Delphina Austin, was a palm reader in San Francisco during and leading up to the Spanish flu.
She had seven children to four different husbands. She was brilliant, born in rural Nevada in 1969. Her mother was from Durango, Mexico. Her father was a silver miner from Pennsylvania. Family lore is that she earned a degree in geology in San Francisco, one of the first women to do so.
She was devastated by the loss of her eldest child in late 1918, from Spanish flu.
My grandmother told me, when I was a child, that Delphina also died of the Spanish flu.
As the family historian, I had been in correspondence with an elderly cousin. He wrote me a very long letter before he passed away, detailing how Delphina had actually committed suicide by drowning herself in the San Francisco bay after her eldest daughter passed away.
Long story short, after years of family history digging, I finally found Delphina's death certificate. She died in a sanatorium in Napa Valley in February 1919.
The police pulled her from the San Francisco bay, her second eldest daughter checked her into the sanatorium in Napa straightaway, and Delphina hung herself nine days later.
She was buried in a mass grave in Napa and I think only a few select members of our family ever even knew about it.
One of the saddest moments of my life was reading that death certificate for the first time. It is barely filled out. Dripping of tragedy.

I am telling you this horrible story because I think (know) she felt an incredible collective voice in pain.
When I take a step back from this - this was a woman who gracefully weathered the San Francisco earthquake with a newborn, her 7th child!

I have read a few things in this forum about hearing the voice of the collective.
It is locally fearful now and confused, but very soon, I am afraid it will be just full of pain and loss.
I guess this is just a long-winded way of saying -> brace yourself emotionally. Buckle up. Take care.

I just talked to my daughter in NJ and one of her good friend’s wife is a nurse in a local  hospital. He called my daughter distraught because his wife came home and told him 3 nurses quit and walked out of the hospital. Then she went upstairs took a shower and went into the bedroom. But before she went upstairs she told him to not come into the bedroom and keep the kids away from her. My heart hurts for our health care workers.

@rts

Welcome to the forum.  You make an excellent point about the collective and what we are all about to experience.  Thank you for warning us.

Being your family historian must be rather fascinating.  I am sure you were  surprised to read about your great- grandmother and what actually happened.  What a very sad last period of time in her life.  We don't often hear stories about the Spanish Flu but it was no less tragic than the pandemic of today  So many young people died back then. 

Glad you decided to join us.

@lenor

Oh no!

Heartbreaking to read this news, I am sure it is being repeated hundreds of times throughout the harder hit areas of our country right now.  It has only just begun.  We really have no idea what is coming do we?

@lovendures

So... research over the last few years has determined that for all viruses that infect humans, you are contagious until the last drop of secretion of any kind. You are contagious til the last time you have to wipe your nose, the last cough, the last tear, the last poop. Until ALL symptoms are completely gone, you are contagious. This thing of "well if you haven't had a fever in 48 hours you're not contagious" is outdated info.  The goal of all viruses is to propagate, and they are good at it.

What I'm wondering now is what precautions will be taken while disposing of the bodies of the deceased?  There's not enough PPE for healthcare workers, so unlikely there's any for morticians and gravediggers.

@lovendures

No we don’t know how bad it is going to get. But I just want to crying over these poor people who are so sick and these wonderful healthcare workers who are taking such risks to help others. It’s so heartbreaking. 

@laura-f

The times we are living in are just mind-boggling.