Just a general COVID19 thread - dont open if you not interrested in RL issues

[Ralzar]

Me and the wife both sit in the livingroom and just keep quiet whenever the other has phone or video call. Confedentiality etc goes out the window at this time and we both have work where information should not be shared outside the business. So we do anyway and have an understanding of love and mutual destruction
In addition we have two cats that keep insisting on being part of the video chats.

So for us, this is working out great so far. I can work much better from my gaming-station at home and we can spend time together all day. Not to mention that if I run out of work, I can actually relax and do non-work stuff without worrying about who's looking over my shoulder.

At this point my dream is that the company just sells its offices and switches to working like this full time. We need some server-admin people to physically be present, everyone else works equally well from home.

[BadLuckBurt]

I'm staying with my parents for the time being. They can use the help and I would've been on my own otherwise which isn't good at a time like this. We still get out as often as we can and we've 'borrowed' my sister's dog so she can focus on her kids. We never had that much contact with other people so not much has changed in that regard.

My mom was the most worried about the whole situation and tried to follow the government's directive of not seeing your grandchildren but that went out the window a few weeks ago and we're still alive We also had a bigger family gathering last weekend where we did keep our distance but still chilled together and all of us are still breathing.

[Interkarma]

Me and the wife both sit in the livingroom and just keep quiet whenever the other has phone or video call. Confedentiality etc goes out the window at this time and we both have work where information should not be shared outside the business. So we do anyway and have an understanding of love and mutual destruction

We normally hang out together in the home office and nobody minds if I'm the background of a VC. This was just one of those cases where she had to dress and present strongly for a client, and my scruffy head wouldn't be a good look. And she has to leave the room sometimes as well if we're both on the phone because her phone voice is really loooud compared to mine haha. But we're making it work and love spending more time together. Our two jobs have a bit of crossover, so we can bitch to each other about stuff and get what the other is going through.

Like you and your wife, we're wondering if her work will adopt more work from home in future. So far it's had no impact on productivity. In fact, the 3 hours total she previously had to spend each day on trains (seriously, her commute sucks) is now used actually working. Getting more done, less travel stress, still making meetings and customer facing stuff. It seems to be a win for the business. Will be interesting to see what happens when it's over.

The hard part is keeping up with family and friends while under lockdown. I'm missing really simple things like going to a bar or restaurant with friends. It's too easy just to work every moment now and not make time to step away from it all. So we have cooking adventures together and I'm doing a lot more baking. Made some sourdough doughnuts the other day that were pretty badass. Hopefully I don't end up putting on like a thousand kegs. But we're also walking more and I'm riding more, so it all seems to offset at the end of the day. All I can really do is keep focused on the positive stuff and do everything I can to keep myself and my loved ones safe. It's hard to imagine things being quite exactly the same at the end of it all.

[Ommamar]

I am currently getting ready to resume a seasonal job I had started before "lock down" occurred, on Monday that was put on hiatus. I liked the way it was setup initially as there was literally no contact between me and other people. Apparently that has changed as due to personnel issues a 5 person crew will be meeting up and traveling to the work site, which will actually mean more human contact which I am not to keen on. To do what I want I am willing to risk the contact to be able to work, unfortunately as the job is planting trees in different locations there is no feasible work at home option.

I do see an expansion of remote workers occurring in the very near future that will likely remain a popular choice. The good point of how much time people spend on traveling just to get to a work location was brought up as it is definitely a motivation killer to spend 1-3 hours stuck traveling. For me this will be good as I am positioning myself to be a certain type of homeless, this means I will have a home base but only plan to be there about 10% of the time with the rest of the time being on the road setting my own schedule. My hope is that by September low altitude satellite networks will be setup enough to cover the majority of where I want to be. Which will further boost my ability to work remote from different locations as well as allowing me to entertain myself in a lot of the ways I am accustomed to now.

As for the virus and its development I think it or something similar to it will be occurring until I pass from this plane. I keep hearing all these politicians and experts talking about how they will have a handle on things with in 12-18 months. I don't have faith in that these same experts who talk about a vaccine also make statements like COVID-19 has shifted its aspect at least 3 times since it entered our awareness. So what point in time of this viruses existence are you developing a vaccine for? I do have faith that treatments for COVID-19 will be developed that will maintain the recovery rate we are currently seeing but I doubt that we will ever be able to control the spread of the virus. The traditional advice of hygiene and boosting your immune system that has been around is still valid but it will still be spread. What probably worries me the most is the future waves that are going to occur, we are already seeing a push to try and get back to normalcy. I think this is necessary but I am not sure enough has been done to strengthen the medical system to handle the potential for infection-reinfection that is likely to occur.

[Baler]

Are we going to stay on lockdown until a solution is found

[King of Worms]

Are we going to stay on lockdown until a solution is found

Nice posts

I think the lockdown depends on a country and the infestation rate. In my country it seems to be contained somehow, we have like 6k cases and the testing is exponentialy rising, so it seems not that many ppl are ill. But during the easter ppl gathered more and the morale went down, so I hope in 14 days we will not get a spike. If not, Id say its possible to live along the virus quite normally.

On the gov level its like this, if the situation will be good, there will be slow opening of the economy (its already happening in very limited way) while the numbers of ill will be closely monitored. Fingers crossed it will all work and the epidemy will not rise again. That would be perfect. If it does rise tho, it means another economy restrictions and a vision of near future big issues without a vaccine/medicaments.

Basically its all big about what will happen, lets hope for the best... I think it will not be a total disaster tho, we will make it thru and end up stronger .)

Im glad to hear ppl are doing well in their home offices!! Thanks for update guys

[Ommamar]

Here is an interesting video :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzRbq9XJ7mA what he is saying is unproven but definitely something to ponder. Hopefully further investigation of this thought path occurs by independent people who will produce well thought out presentations based on science.

To reply to Baler's question I have personally made the choice to not stay in a lock down situation. There is a couple of things that are unique about my situation. I currently live alone so if I do happen to be exposed I won't be bringing any potential threat into anyone's life. I also don't have any friends or relatives that I have contact with that are elderly or in a immune deficient situation. I think this is going to come down to a personal choice that is going to be based on a persons situation and their acceptance of risk as much is still unknown. This is likely by design as a fearful population is much easier to control then one that can control their fear and apply logic to the situation. Even those that are on the peripheral or not involved in the design are going to take advantage to push an agenda designed to benefit them.

As for projection of what I see happening in the next year: Governments will announce that the situation is under control using possible treatments and untested vaccines as their proof along with testing that might not be the most accurate. They will then begin to allow business to reopen with a throttle system most likely occurring as they evaluate that situation throughout the summer. When fall arrives and the weather begins to slide toward winter there will be a resurgence of cases both of people who where not infected and those who already where having re occurrence of the virus. We might be slightly more prepared or a we beat it attitude might occur making people complacent causing the world to enter the same situation that is occurring now.

[Interkarma]

Here is an interesting video.

This is categorically misinformation. It's exactly the kind of thing I said would get this topic locked.

Please also avoid fringe conspiracy theories and quack medical advice, or I will close this.

I don't know how else to put this. Stop getting science information from weird fringe YouTube videos. Instead, listen to authority and scientific consensus. Authority means actual experts in their field. Scientific consensus means the information has passed muster against a jury of peer review. It's an imperfect system, but real science is the best tool humanity has against the darkness. Things that sound like science, but aren't, only drag us back into that darkness.

For an excellent read that helps build up the ability to spot medical nonsense when you see it, I can strongly recommend Bad Science by Ben Goldacre.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bad_Sci ... acre_book)

This pandemic is serious. People's lives are at stake. Humanity has been through this dozens of times in the history of civilisation, but this is the first time it has happened in the era of social media and misinformation. Bad information could directly result in someone behaving in a way that costs them their life, or the life of another. For that reason, I cannot in good conscience allow blatant misinformation to be credibly discussed in a forum I'm responsible for moderating. On this subject, I must have zero tolerance for misinformation.

We have a responsibility to protect each other. At this particular point in time, that means social distancing and isolation. If you aren't taking this seriously by now, it's time to start. It's not about individuals, it's about us all acting responsibility at a critical time in history. If not for yourself then for others.

I was hoping this topic could serve as a snapshot of our experiences during this extraordinary time. But it seems like the gravity well is too strong to escape. Sadly, I have to close this topic for now.