Corona (COVID-19)- is it affecting you?

Back at work next week. Having a look at the plan for the week, quite a few are taking up the chance to work from home. I was thinking about it but the idea of having technical issues outside the office can do one.

It's the little things that are going to wind me up. Like, I usually get something out of the office when on my lunch break. Now my options are slim to none. Bringing something from home is going to be a hard habit to get into.

Anyone else losing track of days? Since I haven't worked, there are a handful of times a day, if I think about it anyways, where I go 'wait, what day is it?' The only thing I go outside into the public, for now, is to walk my dog. Also... People, just because we're stuck inside, please still clean yourselves, haha.

Edit - Dang, looking at my last post, it seems that I've been off from working for nearly a month.

I'm back in my school office, but only with teachers. We're doing online classes in South Korea right now, and that has been...an interesting experience so far. I'm still a little wary of even having teachers in the office, despite how positive things have been looking for Korea, but on the flip side it is nice to not be stuck at home lesson planning and actually have people to talk to that aren't my wife.

I'm still kind of terrified on a daily basis about my family in the states, but they're all thankfully being very diligent about wearing masks, social distancing, not touching their faces, etc...so it has eased some of the tension.

Doctors say that COVID19 will become a seasonal disease.

And a pandemic will end only when more than 50% of the representatives of society will have immunity. Or through a disease or through vaccination.

Different countries will go to this in different ways. But the faster immunity is formed in most citizens, the earlier the economy will be restored.

The US goes this way, hoping to minimize losses. By autumn, the formation of the immune layer will be completed.

The country has a resource for this.

China will go the other way - they will start the industry now, but they will introduce total control of the incidence before the invention of the vaccine.

They have a resource for this.

Europe will be tormented slowly and for a long time. And the industry will not be launched, and the immune layer will form for a very long time.

https://julienlubrique.com

I haven't had to worry as much as other people about getting sick due to already being an agoraphobic germaphobe, but my mental health is being affected in ways I did not foresee. My entire family are anti-vaccine, anti-medicine, anti-science, anti-history, anti-media, flat-earthers. Yeah, quite a resumé. I've been dealing with not just constant, forceful conversations about COVID-19 being an, "illuminati ploy to kill off half the population," but I've had to deal with them openly laughing at and mocking people who are vulnerable and scared. I've had to listen to them tell people to destroy all of their anti-bacterial handwashes because that's, "part of the NWO plan to make us get rid of our body's natural immunities." I've had to listen to them tell people, "Don't worry, you can't catch viruses."

They've already started calling it CONVID-19 -- con, get it? aren't they clever? They're smarter than all of us, guys. It's driving me insane. They just won't shut the fuck up.

@brunothethird: Stay stronger duder, sounds like a really bad and toxic environment but you can console by remembering that, whatever they say, doesn't meanthey are in the right or that you have to accept what they say.

@froghourt: Thanks mate, that helps. You're obviously correct, but I'm probably gonna be blasting music in my ears to drown them out for the next however many months, ha.

@brunothethird: Are they literally flat-earthers? I never know if people genuinely believe the earth is flat or if they are trying to get a rise out of people.

@wollywoo: I won't turn this into a conspiracy thread, but quickly: they believe it is a 3D disc encased in a glass dome that doesn't spin, but not just Earth--all moons and planets, because of the term 'plane' being close to 'planet', like a flat plane.

@brunothethird: God damn I love flat earthers in a vacuum. It's a shame that it also intersects so heavily with way more horrible crowds.

@brunothethird: That's... very strange. I know you don't want to derail the thread but I'm really curious to learn more. Where do they get these ideas? Are they religious? My family is very conservative and Christian, believe in speaking in tongues and young-earth creationism, and their house has photos of Trump on the wall, so I *sort of* understand. They aren't into conspiracy theories, though. I'm sorry you have to go through all this. It's rough.

@wollywoo: They aren't religious at all, but definitely deists. I don't know what their sources of info are, but I saw some stuff one family member left open when I had to fix their laptop. One was a a live podcast with some bearded guy talking about allll this shit, but he always managed to blame it on lizard people at the end of each tirade, which impressed me, I must say.

The other was a website with lots of flat-earth drawings and videos, including something about the sun being a spotlight or something. There was also a folder with thousands of photos of famous women, with notes and hand-drawn anatomical 'corrections' applied, trying to prove they were all secretly men. They're fans of Jordan Peterson, so I'm not so surprised their views on gender are skewed a certain way, but that was a bit extreme.

I actually don't care about that stuff, but telling people not to use anti-bacterial soap during a virus outbreak was the last straw for me. That is potentially deadly advice.

We've been having to go into work since the beginning since testing airplane engines is still considered 'essential' despite everything. The fun thing is that somehow our workload increased at the start of the month, and that coupled with management getting to work from home has left the lab in a sorry state. It's depressing to have to go into work. Everyone I see looks and feels defeated, and I swear just about every conversation I've had with someone has included some variation of "I feel like we're being sacrificed but what else can we do?" has come up. We've had people leave or refuse to come in due to anxiety attacks, and yet the direction from corporate is basically "wash your hands and try to socially distance".

To make matters worse, one guy got sick a week or so ago and when he tried to get tested he was told he doesn't qualify unless he requires emergency care. So he showed up to work again since our company's special sick leave policies only recognize cases where an employee has tested positive or is actively waiting for a test. Then he mentioned to someone that he still had a fever, and I guess the GM happened to be there and got pissed at him for 'trying to start something', which prompted a bunch of guys to walk out.

It sucks. But hey, they've finally started recommending people wear face masks, so...

It's such a weird thing to see some companies work so quickly and others so resistant to change. You really, really see what management is made of in something like this.

@mindbullet: I know you don't need me to say this but the management at your company is wildly irresponsible and the fact that they are forcing a employee who maybe showing symptoms to shut up and come in would be is just plain ridiculous . Having a bunch of people walked out should have been the expected outcome for such a bad management decision.

No one outside of a medical facility would willingly work with a carrier and now everything he touched moving forward will be now need to be sterilize especially since depending on where you live, your status of being Covid positive or negative is ambiguous since testing kits seems to be one of the many things that are in short supply.

@brunothethird: That sounds wild but I’m sure it’s not nearly as amusing when you’re there and have to endure it daily in person. I’m working remotely and management for whatever reason decided to arrange these absolutely pointless daily call-in meetings where very often this one guy will try to convince everyone that this is all blown out of proportions and it’s not really a big deal at all. Listening to that every other day on a call is annoying enough, I can’t imagine why it would be like to live among people who are about 100 steps further down that rabbit hole.

@humanity: Although it's a different situation, those call-in meetings sound equally annoying to me, even if the lunacy is less frequent.

It doesn't bug me if people believe in bizarre superstitions or the most cryptic conspiracy ever, but with something like a global virus I have to think of it this way: if they are right--that it's being blown out of proportion--then there is no danger from people taking extra precautions. If they are wrong, then there is huge danger in not taking those precautions. I'd rather be wrong and safe than wrong and dead.

We on quarantine, stayin' in doors. We ain't got shit to do.

Lay back.

I don't like 2020. 2020 I don't like.

@brunothethird: The meetings are only bad because as you yourself have said, it seems irresponsible to spread the narrative that everything is just fine. People who think this is just a regular flu and loudly talk down anyone that is worried seem to be divorced from world news and quite frankly reality.

The pandemic hasn't affected me a lot per say.

Pros: I get more free time. I have more time to go outside, cept I don't really spend my time doing that. No one's got time fo that!

Cons:

1. I'm not making any money

2. I'm omitting the other con because I'm not particularly comfortable sharing it, but that's about it.

I'm waiting on some kit to allow me to work from home. Work itself has been heavily reduced with us only able to proceed with telephone consultations. Some claimants reject it rightly on the basis that seeing someone in person can be vital to how they're assessed. Others are just happy to get something moving.

I was hoping work would make the day move quicker but the social distancing means the atmosphere in the office is almost gone. On the plus side, not going to Greggs every day for lunch is saving me £10 a week.

I'm putting on weight like nobodies business, and I'm bouncing off the walls in boredom.

There's only so much gaming you can do

Starting to really miss going out for drinks or meals. Still at home for the foreseeable, got a lot of stuff to do but I just can't muster up enthusiasm any more... I need a break... God knows when pubs/restaurants will open again...

On the plus side, I've been paid 80% of my wages for my time at home, so money's not an issue at least.

I work in grocery so I've been working since this thing started and the major difference there aside from heightened anxiety is that I have to wear a mask now. One thing affecting me now is that my drivers license expired this month and because DMVs have been closed since March I can't buy booze or weed for the foreseeable future. It's not a huge deal since I'm not a big drinker and could probably stand to quit cannabis but boy is it irksome as something that is completely out of my control. Also because Playstation support has been getting slammed I don't know when I'll be able to unsuspend my account. So even though I'm still gainfully employed I'm losing more and more means of keeping my sanity in a time of mass uncertainty. Anyway hope people are keeping safe out there.

I encourage people to try to get outdoors some. If you aren't working and can afford a drive, go somewhere for a hike or something for your sanity.

I do live in the suburbs but near a small city. I do recognize my privilege with that because I've lived in big apartments with elevators. When I hear people saying they haven't left their apartment in multiple days at all though that's worrying to me. Can't say what I would do if I was say in NYC though so know I'm not trying to hate on people there or somewhere so big.

For me, being someone who has gone out for a walk basically every day as I've been furloughed really early in the mornings, I find some things odd. For an example, I see people out walking a dog or something with a mask on the whole time. Again, not being some virus skeptic guy but I really don't see the point in that at all. You can stay away from people enough by stepping into the street to avoid getting near anyone for sure but again the mask is always on.

I've seen other places where no one has a mask on and pictures of Florida a while ago with crowded beaches, so I know I only speak for my own experience. I feel like some people are a little too spooked and should go out of their way to do something different right now in response.

Side note, also think it's a little weird people who treat the masks like a fashion accessory and have their twitter pictures wearing them and stuff too.

@mezmero: appreciate your work man, must be a crazy time. I work as a manager at a coffee shop and was furloughed. I can't say I would be happy to go into work in your situation, hopefully you're getting paid.

Problems like you're dealing with, plus a good source, is why I have yet to really go to the store for weed myself.

Had to drop this here because it amused the crap out of me.

Are you a ridiculously wealthy Dutch DJ who can't do live shows right now because of COVID-19? Well, I've got a solution! Just do a live set from the top of a skyscraper with helicopter crews filming you.

I mean, that's one way to do social distancing, I guess?

Thankfully I've been one of the people least affected by the pandemic, since I already worked from home and none of my friends or family have gotten sick (yet... knock on wood).

Working from home now. The first shift was a slog but I don't think my productivity's going to take a hit. Our boss has been moaning about that which is a little tone deaf. Workloads are down and we clear it by the close of business. The only surprising thing is how decent my setup is for working at home. The dual monitor office setup is now replaced by a 32" TV and there's a nice spot in front of it for the desktop.

It's a fairly easy transition and the only work I'll miss are the phone calls. That and the office chatter. I intend to come back to the office when this is all over. It's got me thinking about those on long-term sickness, though. This is their big chance to get back to work.

Month Three check-in:

Obviously, life is basically fundamentally different now. I travelled to Seattle in mid-February, just as COVID-19 was making its transition from ghostly rumor to full-fledged stateside reality. Even then, it felt like things could be contained or mitigated. I think I was still hitting coffeeshops and movie theaters as late as March 1.

Now, here we are. It's almost Memorial Day. It feels like the first half of the year is some transient fugue state that never really existed at all. My metropolitan area has north of 3000 cases at the time of this writing and is closing in on a hundred deaths. My workplace went through a brief lockdown. Non-essential staff were asked to work from home for a six-week period. Confirmed instances of COVID have cropped up on our corporate campus. All of it has struck very close to home in a way I guess I never expected it to.

Talking specifically about my situation, I feel like I'm in a bizarro world right now where forces are pulling the community in opposite directions. Medical professionals are projecting our city hasn't quite hit the peak of the infection curve, and yet local and state governments are leaning hard into easing restrictions on businesses of public assembly. Bars, restaurants, movie theaters. Local casinos. People seem to be ready to foist a sense of normality onto the unpredictable circumstances that seem to define and redefine every day. Like a coat of paint over rust.

I'm moderately uncomfortable in any non-home situation. Buying groceries at a supermarket, for instance, is an exercise in practicing meticulous caution. I actually can't envision a time in which I'll be ready to be near strangers in public for any meaningful amount of time—in coffeeshops, where I do most of my writing, or going to concerts or sports events or movies.

Even work is a strange, contradictory experience. Alongside the eased restrictions for restaurants, the non-essential employees have since been asked to return to the office. (I am, for the record, not in the food service industry—I write for the marketing team of a major corporate organization). We participate in daily symptom checks and all of us wear masks, always. As teammates fall ill and seek out treatment or isolation, we're told repeatedly, fervently, that things are great and only getting greater, that the office is, more or less, the safest place to be besides the confines of one's own home.

Slowly, I'm coming to grips with the realization that nothing about this will return to our standardized expectations of normalcy in short order. This isn't a tornado or an earthquake. There aren't blaring sirens and, likewise, no universal "all-clear" signal. "When this thing is over" is a phrase those in my circle bandy about, as if in two or four months someone somewhere will have flipped a lever and rendered the virus inert. Things will get better, surely, but it's going to take a long process of tapering restrictions and continued vigilance.

Sometimes, it's exhausting to think about.

Working from home is so boring. Convenience is nice but it's so dull.

I'm tempting fate by saying this but my personal situation isn't particularly bad. I work for the county I live in and it's mostly shut down. They're reopening in "phases" and the first one starts next week - that phase is "people can start coming back to work but we're not opening to the public". My boss's boss at work wants as many people as possible to work from home as often as possible. He also ensured that we have hand sanitizer, face masks, and cleaning supplies in the office, all of which can help but aren't guarantees. He's been pretty reasonable during this whole thing, which is great! I was in the office this week handling some things that really should have been handled a while ago, but for most of tomorrow and next week I'll be working at home again. Otherwise, I was working from home for the last bit of March, ALL of April, and by the end of May I will have been working from home for all of it.

The office was weirdly empty. There were four people in the IT area today, out of what is usually thirty. On some level, it's nice to be able to do pretty much anything I need to without people being in the way, but on the other, it sure is weird to walk around a normally busy building in the middle of the day and see few, if any, people milling about.

They've set up temperature sensors at the office so when you walk in, you have to have your temperature checked, whether you're personnel or the public.

When I'm working from home, I'm mostly answering phone calls, working on whatever I can find, and letting Youtube play in the background. It's also a great time to do some petty chores - laundry, load the dishwasher and let it run, sweep and vacuum something, pick up after myself, etc. Hey, look, the boss told us not to sit down literally all day, just be ready when your phone goes off, so that's what I'm doing. Anything to fight off the boredom.

Going to the grocery store is, as people have pointed out, an exercise in anxiety and stress. And I hate saying that, but the entire time I'm thinking "you know, anybody with Covid could have touched this thing and now I've got it" or "shit, I better not walk too close to that guy or I might be dead in two weeks". That part sucks. I order as many groceries as I can from online services but every single time I do so, there are a few items missing and I wind up having to go back out and get them, which isn't ideal. I also don't really like letting other people pick out my fruits, vegetables, and meat.

Having Spring allergies is also stressful. Every time I get a slightly scratchy throat or a sneezing fit - things that happen regularly in the Spring to me - I get scared for a little while.

I haven't been anywhere else, really, There were at least two weeks in a row where my only contact with another human being was the pizza delivery person, and these days they just leave your pizza at the door, ring the doorbell, and step away from the porch.

To anyone worrying about getting sick themselves: Unless youre overweight or have other serious health issues you are litterally more likely to get cancer than you are of getting anything serious from this xD....now that said IF you do get anything serious from this you ARE pretty screwed while with cancer it could just be cut away with luck and be over with it so I absolutely agree its good to keep distance etc etc etc. But like yeah Ive probably spoken to more people in the past few months that had to deal with cancer than covid and I work for old and handicapped people, I visit multiple a day. Havent heard a single thing of anyone even knowing anyone affected by corona and I live where its supposedly the worst of the country...even speaking to random employees at the supermarket, havent been able to find anyone. Edit:OH wait I did hear of someones uncle (around 80 years old) who had a heartattack and when he went to the hospital he got tested and it turned out he had it but that was it, that kinda counts I guess then right xD

Dont get me wrong the intensive cares are full.......but have also been hugely downsized in the past years because it seemed like they never got used anymore....but nah that cant have anything to do with how bad it seems right.....and its not like were riling each other up on social media all day..... I dunno, I think its good were keeping distance, doing what we can to save the most people etc but im also not sure if we're maybe not overreacting to this whole situation.(and not even neccesarilly when it comes to measures, I agree something had to happen. Im talking more psycologically people letting themselves get ...hm in dutch we'd say "made crazy", I bet you guys'd understand what id mean by that) But then again if we wouldnt be over reacting im pretty sure most people wouldnt be prepared to adjust the way they are now so maybe its a neccesary evil to scare everyone into protecting each other xD

Im curious though if our government is lying to us a ton about the deathtoll/amount of sick people. our measures seem so so so minor compared to most other places. I work for a "nursing company" to nurse people at home and I am in the household helping team(cleaning house, doing groceries,keeping company). We are advised by whatever the national sickness thing is here in the netherlands. And since this covid stuff started I have yet to stop working or even wear gloves or masks.Only thing I gotta do is keep 1.5m distance. We get daily updates on the corona stuff through mail and are asked to get tested through the company at the slightest symtomps but thats it. I even heard of a customer of mine who went to the hospital last week and he said the docter wasnt even wearing a mask or gloves when he touched him. The guy asked to the doctor "arent you scared of getting sick" and he said" nah not gonna happen".....

PS: I do stay inside besides doing groceries or work but I honestly didnt do much more outside anyways :p And I dont order groceries, I already gotta go to the supermarket at least 3-5 times a week for my work for other people so that one extra time for myself wont be that much extra risk xD

So long story short, is it affecting me? Besides some people becoming nightmares to deal with because they let themselves get driven crazy by this whole thing? No not at all. I use nitrile gloves to build modelkits and it kinda sucks those are super hard to find now but thats it. I honestly also think its super relaxing videogames/movies/whatever the fuck have all pretty much been put on hold :') There has been more interesting media made in humanities history than Ill ever have the time to get through so it feels like I can finally get caught up a bit now (I wont unless this lasts an eternity xD)

One of the biggest differences I've found, as it relates to Giant Bomb intake at least, is that working from home every day, combined with a general fear of job loss due to economic decline has pushed me into spending many more hours per day working and those that I do spend not working, doing practical home improvement tasks. I'm not watching Giant Bomb streams or listening to podcasts (no commute). I miss the pre-pandemic life structure I had... one that had 'dead time' to be filled by passive entertainment.

I've been off work for the past two and a half months. That first month was great. I jumped back into After Effects and Cinema 4D, which I haven't done in years. But after getting up every day and doing the same routine I found it hard after that first month and started getting distracted by other things. I'm due to go back to work soon but I may end up being off for longer still. On the plus side, I'm staying in and safer than if I were out working.

My productivity's up but some of that is down to not fielding phone calls. I literally have one task at the moment that I can rattle through. I'm still trying to keep to the ingrained schedule, though. I'm whacking my ipod on half way through the morning / afternoon, taking breaks at the same time, etc. I don't put clothes on until 15 minutes before my shift starts which feels kinda wrong.

Luckily I've had some jobs around the house to get me away from the desk, too. My blinds broke, I clogged a sink up and today I finally got my smoke alarm to shut up.

Both my mother and I lost our jobs, I wasn't able to qualify for unemployment. It really sucks, but at least I got some GB to help me forget my troubles.

The trick is not to look at it. They won't chirp if you are looking at them. They know.

Nope. Cleaning out last night, it was fine for 8 hours and now it's non-stop.

@extintor: Couldn't agree more, though I've been laid off, I very much felt this way beforehand. Still sort of feel that way. There's probably always something better to be doing than watching a stream. Nothing against GB.

I was told last week to expect to remain working from home until 2021. I don't like working from home at all but I've little choice as if they don't deem me essential to being on campus they won't even let me in the building. My keycard access has been temporarily revoked.

I have a good four day weekend coming up soon that I'm going to try and make the most of because after so many weeks of working from home I'm feeling exhausted by it.

Really sorry to hear that and best of luck to you. Agree it isn't anything against GB at all. We are all just trying to make it through this.

Just found out this week that the non-profit I work for is closing permanently. We have a tiny staff. My boss and I are the only full-time ones there, with two part-timers. It feels pretty surreal. Very scary to suddenly not have health insurance during a global pandemic. I was diagnosed with GAD about a year ago and right now every moment I'm awake is a moment of tension. Absolutely miserable.

For everyone else suffering, you have my sympathy and solidarity. Hopefully we all make it through this.

@jesus_phish: Yah there are some advantages of working at home but generally I prefer to keep the two very separate since my job isn't really my passion or anything like that. Also owning a pet and working can be tiring at times. After 3 months of working from home my cat has finally settled into a rhythm where she isn't demanding my attention constantly or jumping up on the desk nonstop, but the first month and a half it was hard to work and keep her satisfied. Now I'm kind of worried how she will react when I have to start leaving her alone for 9 hours a day.

I'm in the odd situation where I finish Friday's shift on Sunday evening. FLEXIBILITY.

It affected me a lot since I have to close down my auto shop but now that the states started reopening, I can now open again and resume my projects.

I'll admit it again. I'm wicked depressed.

(I'm fucking blesses. Nobody has died from COVID-19 in my family, and protest in my area have been peaceful by protesters and the authority).

Yet, I'm here alone in my apartment. There was a scare at work with a possible infection, it probably not COVID-19, but I do have to be more isolated for a few days to be sure -it is protocol. Yet, that means I cannot get out to shop for necessities. Its been stressful at work too, of course. I wonder if my boss has her full faculties lately (do I have my ful faculties?) - she has made many rushed and poor choices (not medially unsafe), but the management is teetering on the edge. So talking to my boss, my colleagues, and what amounts to "my friends" is difficult and fraught with arguments/stress. Moreover I can't talk to my parents about how I'm feeling they are in their 80s and they are trying to cope - it would break my mother heart to hear I have sunk into my depression again. I can't call my sister, she works in an urban hospital in CT. She has a rough job at such a big urban hospital, two older teens, and underlying medial issues of her own on top of all that - I would just add to her worries. It wudl be stressful for me to stress them -illogical- but it is how I feel.

I spent some fo the morning responding here to various threads. I'm trying to encouraged people doing good; I had hoped that would boost my outlook. Yet, honestly, I and still drained and sad.

@monkeyking1969: Stay strong, friend. And maybe give your sister a call! Who knows, just a simple "I'm just calling to chat" might boost both your spirits. Even if it's just to keep the fire going, you know?