News Worldwide impact of the novel coronavirus (covid-19)

[Friday]

Whilst wars are often used as a distraction for problems at home?

A) Wars are expensive.
B) We’re already in one. (Operation Enduring Clusterf*ck isn’t technically accurate, anymore, but rebranding the same war with a new name is just retarded, IMO, bordering on brain damaged.)
C) The one we’re in has so little support we skirted around the part in the Constitution that bans the use or hiring of mercenaries, by renaming them “private contractors” & “security companies” :rolleyes: FFS... when Americans don’t have the attention span to get 1 war done? 2 is unlikely. Especially when it’s on a completely different front, wih completely different tactics, and gear, and training, required. For reals, the part of China we have gear for? No one lives in. It would be like attacking Aus by way of the Never Never. Or Canada by way of Saskatchewan. In a war with China? We’re all set for Outer Mongolia! But a tropical war? We don’t have the right shoes for. (We’re very accessory conscious. ;))

Spoiler: I’m not being flippant. Well. Not exactly.

Seriously, you need new “everything” for different climates if you don’t want helicopters falling out of the sky (because the wires we use to twist the bolts in tight every time they fly snaps in the cold, or stretches in the heat, or corrodes in the damp); ground transport renamed Motor sTuck, and your army’s feet rotting off. We have small units with wet weather computers, or badass rain gear, or engines that can handle being repeatedly submerged, etc. Because we ARE in conflicts all over the globe. But it’s the difference between having a dinner party and feeding a stadium of 50,000 sports fans. Wildly different logistics involved.

That’s not to say we won’t be all “I’m bored” and jump in with both feet if someone else starts a big flashy attraction

Hey Guys! Whaddid I Miss???
(About 1,000 years of history)
LETS DO THIS!!!... Wait a sec, I’ll be right back.

But I wouldn’t waste my worry on the US starting shit. The people who like to bravado and bluster? Don’t hold the purse strings. Or the ability to declare. And getting the American people all moving in the same direction is like herding cats. It takes a sudden hard shock to get us all moving in the same direction... and we get distracted by shiny things.

Right now IMO catastrophizing is just distracting people from being scared of getting sick. An enemy you can see isn’t as scary as one you can’t. And safely tucked away in imagination land? Everyone is Rambo -or Jane Wayne- with a fighting chance.

 

[Mach123]

I went out yesterday to the bank and stopped at the grocery store. I finally know someone who knows someone who was sick supposedly. Half way across the country not here. Here nothing has changed and no one is sick. Not that we know about.

The people in the grocery stores were being a little cautious, leaning away from each other sorta. Only a small percentage though? Only a very few masks. Mostly people were behaving normally. The very smallest percentage were having a hard time you could see.

I was checking out at the second grocer and I felt a sneeze ComING on I almost panicked! The door was right there waI s going to run for it. I didn't. I would have sneezed into my coat, like I always do.

We couldn't go walking due to the weather being really windy and rainy. Supposed to clear up this afternoon. Last couple days they were sounding like loosening things up but I'm not listening, I can wait and see .

I have been Calling contractor handyman guys because we have a small project we need done. They are Working and busy, there is no talk about not doing the work or prices going down . Gas was below 2 bucks yesterday I noticed.

 

[lostforgottensoul]

This afternoon our governor ordered anyone who goes outside to wear a mask. ?

Are they giving masks out? Cause I cant find one. Dispite everyone in my pain dr waiting room wearing one, but me.

Im thankfully gonna be going out less often, now working from home but when I do. I know the info given about masks but I also am thinking, if I get sick or am an asymptmatic carrier (so wouldn't know) that I can protect others from getting it and hopefully protect myself, just a little?

I would never hoard masks and I keep hearing to save them for the medical professionals. And I agree, if we are still that low. But then some States are ordering everyone to wear a mask? I'm confused.

 

[scout86]

I keep hearing to save them for the medical professionals.

They are. There's a bunch of stuff online, I guess, about how to make your own. The idea here is what you might think of as a low grade mask. It's not to keep YOU from getting sick, it's to keep you from getting other people sick. Basically, it won't keep germs out, but it will keep your own droplets IN. They say even a bandana will work. (I guess this can't hurt, right? I'm not totally sure it will help, but I can see where it might help some. It's an evolving situation.)

 

[somerandomguy]

It was an *order*? Wow.

Yeah, but it's entirely uninforceable. I don't expect to see anyone out there with a mask for days, if at all.

Actually I was wrong, he ordered people to cover their faces, which is easier but still uninforceable.

We just happen to have some head covers here that we can repurpose into face coverings.

Are they giving masks out?

Hahaha, of course not. There aren't any to be found, not even in the local hospitals. We aren't getting any of the federal stockpile, either, for political reasons.

What a clusterf*ck.

 

[blackemerald1]

Will there be a panic buy on scarves & bandanas? What if you cannot make your own?

 

[Ronin]

What's the problem here, practically?

Excuse me being cranky but you can literally make masks out of tearing clothes, blankets, any sort of things like that.

So maybe instead of No masks, omg. - spinning, look around you, find what will make for tightest & most fitting & not suffocating you airways protection, stay at home & avoid contact / keep the recommended distances, and be happy how able to improvise you are when things are low supply. :cool:

 

[somerandomguy]

Will there be a panic buy on scarves & bandanas?

I'm not sure anywhere you might find those things is still open. Amazon, I guess.

Uninforceable. Considering people just barely follow the social distancing rules, I think face coverings will be a complete wash.

 

[Mee]

They are. There's a bunch of stuff online, I guess, about how to make your own. The idea here is what you might think of as a low grade mask. It's not to keep YOU from getting sick, it's to keep you from getting other people sick. Basically, it won't keep germs out, but it will keep your own droplets IN. They say even a bandana will work. (I guess this can't hurt, right? I'm not totally sure it will help, but I can see where it might help some. It's an evolving situation.)

There has been stuff buzzing in the news about face covering potentially becoming mandated across the US . I was waiting for someone to raise it here.



When people have never put their hands to their face to cover sneezes / coughs- expecting these people to make the transition to elbow perfectly is — shortsighted. Some people cannot get their mouths to their elbow and I have read things where instead of making what seems like a common sense alternative to me ( lower arm near elbow?) they seem confused and agressive or are coughing in the air near their elbows. Home made masks to catch droplets for people who Refuse to follow the the rules are better than nothing. Masks to protect others from us is the approach of mask wearing often.

 

[Mee]

I'm not sure anywhere you might find those things is still open. Amazon, I guess.

Uninforceable. Considering people just barely follow the social distancing rules, I think face coverings will be a complete wash.

Far easier to enforce. With social distancing you cannot be sure before approach if thd people are of the same household or not. With face covering you can see if they are covered or not.

 

[somerandomguy]

To be fair, I don't think coughing/sneezing into your elbow has been taught here for longer than a generation. I was taught to sneeze and cough into my hand, always. It's been a very difficult transition for me.

 

[Mee]

To be fair, I don't think coughing/sneezing into your elbow has been taught here for longer than a generation. I was taught to sneeze and cough into my hand, always. It's been a very difficult transition for me.

Yes, me too. I’m not managing it always - I’m handwashing a lot. I have a chronic cough ( when I laugh. Very hard for example). I am keeping tissues rather than a handkerchief to cough into though . On high stiffness days I have no hope of reaching my elbow - I haven’t done any yoga for three weeks now ?