Coronavirus

Coded Games

Member
There has been plenty of talk about coronavirus in profile posts but I think that there is enough to talk about now that it is worth making a topic about it.

How is everyone doing? Where are you at? How is the virus there? Are you doing anything to avoid getting sick (self quarantine)? Are you the one buying all the toilet paper?

I'm in Washington US, not Seattle but still close enough that my family and I are avoiding going out. College classes have been cancelled and I have been able to work at home. Right now it's been 8 days since I have actually gone out into public.

Ultimately nothing has really changed, all the stores are sold out of distilled water so I bought a distiller off Amazon.

It's pretty scary though, we are about 75% sure my neighbor has the virus (cough for a while and a fever) and has not been able to get tested.

Overall I'm getting closer to packing up to go live alone in the forest for a couple months. Besides that, I think now is a good time to work on my game and chip away at the backlog of games I've been wanting to play before the immense boredom and anxiety sets in.
 
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DarthTenebris

Guest
I'm from Indonesia. It's been quite a saga, seeing the countries around me reporting infections, having the virus cross all the way from China to Australia, Australia getting infected, but somehow Indonesia being between China and Australia doesn't get infected. Neighbor countries such as Singapore got infected. People around the world are commenting, maybe the Indonesian government lacks the equipment to reliably detect the virus. It's only recently I heard of people in Indonesia get infected, and only recently schools start shutting down and preparing "study from home" programs. Previously, it was only the people who happened to be abroad that are reported to have gotten infected.

Personally, I live my life as normal, though I am just a senior high school student (national exam in a few weeks time, graduation in a few months time, but recently heard it might be delayed due to the virus) with less worries than a working class adult (probably). Toilet paper supplies seem to be fine here. The things that isn't fine though, are facial masks and hand sanitizers. Prices have skyrocketed, mostly due to people's panic about the virus I would guess. Distributors are dumping those, causing prices to skyrocket. Police have caught the actors, but apparently there's a loophole in the law and so all the police could do is confiscate the goods, though they did return them to the distributors if they promised to sell them at reasonable prices.

My neighborhood seems alright, but then again I don't go out much in the first place. The obvious "go to the hospital if you think you're infected" word has been spread. I really wish I am ready for a post-apocalyptic event life, but that's just my dreams. My life has proven to me I'm no good against even a roach. I'm very much despise sports at school (or anywhere, really, I basically hate sweating and being tired), and so my body is in no shape to do anything (including simply walking my way up the stairs from first to third floor), and so if I had to make a run for it and live in the forest, I won't be alive for very long. I'm very much a big city person (I would like to tell my story during a school activity which forced me to live in a traditional village for a week, where people farm crops and animals, but I've done enough storytelling in this post).

Overall life for me and plenty of others around me hasn't changed much, despite living in one of the cities with confirmed infections. The infected have been quarantined in hospitals, of course. And I am sure as hell I won't be alive if the city collapses, apocalypse movie style. Would love to chill all day making games, but exams :(

Phew what a ride it has been writing this.
 
In New Hampshire, USA. Here it seems the paranoia spreads way faster and people who are nuts are a lot more dangerous than those who are sick. Never mind that they don’t tend to actually be as hygienic as they ought to, but it’s just this “me first” mindset that seems to make them push and shove and fight people whether it’s in a store or on the road. Absolutely bonkers.

Thankfully have 4 days off work in a row, no explanation or anything about it but my work schedule has been inconsistent for the past 6 years despite requests that I get some kind of routine I can expect. Whatever, I’ll take it. But I’m really not looking forward to going in on Monday to see what kind of craziness awaits...was kind of hoping there would be more actual cases here so my job would shut down but with my luck I’ll probably get it from having to interact with so many customers and clean up after them.

I’m usually a bit of a loner anyway so it hasn’t effected me much. Live with family so still kind of hard to not be social to an extent. Have an idea for a game in mind just mostly been working on my art, one in particular a comic idea based on this stuff, titled “BioCurse”.

But even then, I’ve kind of given myself a bit of a break and got some movies. The remake of Ghost in the Shell was a lot more enjoyable than the credit it’s been given, and I plan to watch Scarface and 3 from Hell both today and tomorrow.
 
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Deleted member 45063

Guest
Personally I have the viewpoints of two places (Portugal because of my family and friends and Berlin because it's where I live).

In Portugal the government seems to be reluctant to take effective measures while the number of identified cases is starting the exponential growth (true cases are probably much, much higher by now). While some measures are being taken like closing schools, nightlife locations and such, these will only be effective from Monday on. So yesterday night people in Lisbon were acting as if nothing was happening (the nightlife was as active or more active than normal). So I expect a stupidly high amount of cases to be discovered over the course of the following weeks due to this. Another thing is that when some schools and universities closed people treated it like vacation and just went to the beach, again completely disregarding safety concerns. Yet another thing is that apparently in some regions a "Corona Party" was held, with people going to a club and wearing masks either wrong or ironically, messing with each others' masks and whatnot. So yeah, the state in Portugal is likely to become quite dire over the course of the next days and unfortunately there is no capacity at all to deal with the pandemic on a medium to high scale.

In Berlin it's somewhat similar. There are a lot of people disregarding the pandemic at all (I even saw a video of a random guy walking up to a news reporter and shouting "Corona" while purposely coughing towards the reporter). Nonetheless there are also people panicking so supermarkets are quite devoid of some supplies (the most hilarious one being the infamous toilet paper). As far as I know there are also plans to close nightclubs and whatnot here, but only effective Tuesday. It also seems like companies are still trying to focus on work, mostly remote but some with clauses like "you must go to the office if asked by a manager" or "no team can work 100% remote". So yeah, I also expect situation here to become a bit worse than people are actually taking it.

Personally I must admit I also haven't been the most careful person until a few days ago, when I got some more information from some nurse and doctor friends. So while I still haven't shown any symptoms I do believe it to be quite possible that I might have already been exposed to the virus. Mostly due to: Going to work normally, taking some public transportation on occasion, living in a building with 100 other apartments which means there are a lot of common areas including a common laundry, supermarkets, etc. But nonetheless yesterday I started working remotely and, despite some last runs for supplies up until today morning, I have stayed at home. And beginning today I am under a strict "do not leave the apartment" rule, in the off-chance of not being already infected.

So yeah, just seeing what the developments are and how things will proceed from here on out.

EDIT: Apparently clubs and bars are already closing tonight in Berlin.
 
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I recently developed panic disorder with agoraphobia stemming from a fear of suffocation. This pandemic couldn't have come at a worse time for me. One of the most difficult parts of this crisis, which could continue on for months, will be controlling anxiety. I'm interested in seeing what kinds of new traditions or customs might arise out of the world's efforts to mentally cope with this.

Anyway, let's get real for a moment. The danger from this virus is real and serious. We've all got to do our part to slow its spread. Failure to do so could result in a catastrophic overwhelming of our medical systems. That is already happening in certain parts of the world, and the consequences are pretty grim. Wash your hands, don't touch your face, and try to avoid unnecessary close contact with people outside of your home.
 

ceaselessly

Member
I'm in NYC, and the city has been reasonably proactive about this ever since it became world news. The subways have never been cleaner, which makes me wonder why we couldn't have clean subways all the time before this. ;)

I work from home, so that has not changed, thankfully. I have a lot of friends who are restaurant workers or freelancers who have suddenly found themselves with reduced or eliminated work for the next 4-6 weeks. That's scary. The city is attempting to help people financially by staying evictions, utility shutoffs, and the waiting period for unemployment insurance claims. But it's sure interesting to see how a global pandemic really highlights all the underlying problems of the American healthcare and economic systems. I won't say anymore, in fear of violating the forum's prohibition on politics. :)

That aside, I'm lucky. Young, healthy, no immune system complications. My friends and family are mostly the same. My parents are on the older side, so I'm a bit concerned for them, but they don't go out much. I'm choosing to self-quarantine to minimize the risk of being a carrier that infects people more vulnerable than I am.

There's a grocery store nearby that is still reasonably well-stocked. If anyone wants to come over for some black bean soup I'm making later, let me know.

Stay safe everyone!
 
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Homunculus

Guest
I live in southern Switzerland, near the Italian border. Being near Italy, my region is the most affected of the whole country, and I've been avoiding social interactions since monday. There has been an escalation of cases during the week that resulted in increasingly harsh restrictions from the government, and as of today, it's basically total lockdown more or less on par with Italy. Too late if you ask me, but we'll see. Meanwhile, in northern Switzerland people are acting as nothing is happening, which is madness.

The real problem here is that for political reasons in recent years we have overrelied on italian workforce who commutes every day to the region, to the point that we simply can't close the border without any kind of plan, since this includes people on key positions in companies and, most importantly, in the healthcare system. It's 70'000 workers every day. It's obviously not their fault, we are all on the same boat, but it's a lot more difficult to control the spread of the disease in this scenario.

Supplies are ok as of now, people are really trying to stock up on supplies causing some minor problems, but there's no sign of shortages coming any time soon.

Needless to say I'm starting to get really worried, if the trend of infections doesn't slow down in the next few days, we will reach the limit of the healthcare system, which means someone will have to chose who gets treated and who doesn't. Hopefully, since it looks like the spread is not homogenous across the whole country, patients could in theory be transferred to other less affected regions.
 
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tenderfluff

Guest
I'm from the California, USA. It's hella stressful bc the US health care system/social safety nets suck. All non-emergency services are shut down. The grocery stores are packed with folks and sell out. The only person who can drive in my household is immunocompromised so we just can't go to the grocery store fdhadjsjka. I usually have medical/mental health appointments two to three times a week plus at home meetings with a case worker who helps me with ADLs. I'm down to one phone appointment a week with a case worker to double check that I'm still alive and don't need to be hospitalized. I've lost 14 lbs since the last week of February from eating disorder 💩💩💩💩 and can't get any services till I'm at death's door pretty much.

Also I can't get my Ritalin delivered (going to a hospital pharmacy is out of the question bc I live with someone who is immunocompromised), so I've been finding myself loosing time way more often and being unable to read and watch Netflix. When I'm bored I toy with the idea of stopping my medication and getting myself hospitalized so I can have my weight and eating monitored and having access to food I can eat.

It's wild seeing the COVID-19 memes my friends who aren't chronically ill post after having a phone appointment where my doctor told me she couldn't do anything to help me unless my body was beginning to shut down from malnutrition. Also all the folks trying to reassure others on social media by saying that only elderly folks, chronically ill, and immunocompromised folks die from COVID-19 and I'm like......Y'all...know that.....elderly and chronically ill people can read? Right????

It's funny how the pandemic made it clear that a lot of institutions could have done 💩💩💩💩 to not make disabled people suffer. My partner was finally able to get a remote appointment with our college's disability student program, because all the counseling services were required to hold appointments remotely. It's wild how quick institutions scramble and what they will pay to keep their abled employees and students working.

Ughh it's been a lot.
 

kburkhart84

Firehammer Games
I live in Dallas, TX, USA. Like much of this country(and others) the kids are on an extended Spring Break..they are happy of course. My life style haven't been affected much. I'm an IT Field Tech for a company that owns a bunch of fast food restaurants. Those restaurants still have tech issues so I still have a steady job, and I'm on a salary so they aren't changing anything about my situation as far as having a job or losing hours. I can say that my work has slowed down recently. I'm guessing it is because the upper management is less visiting stores so they don't report all the issues, which also worries me if I'm right because once the situation gets back to normal there is likely to be a backlog and sudden influx of issues that get reported. But I consider myself lucky that I don't have to worry about losing hours or my job so there is that of course!

I for one don't understand why people are stockpiling some thing....like toilet paper for instance. I could understand in some countries where the infrastructure and supply chain isn't very good, but here, things get restocked really well if people just buy normal amounts. It would take something much more extreme, like total anarchy, or a zombie apocalypse, to really interrupt our supply chain that bad...and by that point there isn't much point in stockpiling anything once it is that extreme. Yet people buy years worth of Costco/SamsClub boxes of butt napkins...which by the way have nothing to do with the symptoms of Coronavirus anyway!
 

Mercerenies

Member
It would take something much more extreme ... to really interrupt our supply chain that bad...
Or, ya know, an entire population suddenly stockpiling it. That would interrupt our supply chain. It's a positive feedback loop: toilet paper is hard to find because people are stockpiling it, so people stockpile toilet paper since it's hard to find. It began due to paranoia about COVID19, but it no longer has anything to do with the disease.
 

kburkhart84

Firehammer Games
Or, ya know, an entire population suddenly stockpiling it. That would interrupt our supply chain. It's a positive feedback loop: toilet paper is hard to find because people are stockpiling it, so people stockpile toilet paper since it's hard to find. It began due to paranoia about COVID19, but it no longer has anything to do with the disease.
That's my point...i agree the stockpiling is causing the issue at this time...but the virus and repercussions have not caused a lack of toilet paper. There was no point in stockpiling because there is no danger of us not being able to buy more when we need to(assuming people didn't stockpile I mean). And I also mean that a disaster that is big enough to actually cause a lack of toilet paper would have to be so big that toilet paper would be the least of our worries.
 
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Homunculus

Guest
I don't get toilet paper thing. I really don't. If I was worried about shortages, I'd stockpile long lasting food, why toilet paper specifically?
While on the subject, a useless info to lighten the mood: ancient romans didn't have toilet paper, they used a sponge on a stick called xylospongium. The best thing about the xylospongium is that after usage it washed a bit with water (if you were lucky), and passed to the next in line. Maybe people are scared about reverting back to this tool.
 
I live in China, Guizhou Province. From what I can tell, the main problem countries are facing is if too many people get sick at once, health systems get over whelmed and then people die as they cant get the proper care. So it's crazy when I see reports of some people having "corona parties" and still going to things like spring break. Sure, younger people seem to have less risk from it, but they could still spread it.

Although I was young once and remember thinking I was invincible too :)

Been staying at home since around Jan 25th. Only went out for groceries. Most public facilities were closed for around 6 weeks like cinemas/shopping malls/restaurants. Just pharmacies and supermarkets and some govt offices were open.

Temperature checks were done and are still being done at all public locations - supermarkets, returning home, and we all have an app on our phone that gets scanned as well. Everyone wearing masks to go out. I also wore plastic gloves as well, and carry alcohol based sanitizer. We live in a gated residential area, and for a few weeks, only residents were allowed in and out, but as of last week that restriction has been lifted.

Last two weeks a lot of businesses have started re-opening. Things are returning to normal, but still there are a lot less people out and about.

Schools still closed. Students are all taking online classes from home.

Didn't notice anyone stockpiling, our local supermarkets were well stocked, no problem getting supplies.

At the start, the only items that were hard to get/sold out quickly were masks and bottles of 75% alcohol for santizing stuff.

So yeah, basically spent the last 8 weeks at home with wife and 2 daughters. One good thing is that most people followed the lockdown rules and stayed at home as well. Felt like a community effort which is one good thing I see happening here compared to what I see happening in my home country of New Zealand. The govt seems to be delaying full on prevention measures, some people don't seem to care, don't want to have their freedom restricted, even if its for the good of the more vulnerable.

The worst thing (from what I gather) is I think is people can have the virus but not show any symptoms, or not show symptoms for days or weeks. So it can spread silently. For every detected case, I would guess there are at least 10 more that go undetected.

So stay safe people. Wish everyone and their families stay well.
 

Rob

Member
I went around starting a craze, filming myself licking a toilet seat hoping to get Corona, because that's cool, and goading other people to do it too.

No wait, that wasn't me sorry.
 

TheouAegis

Member
I work in grocery, so I still go to work every day in spite of everything. It's business as usual after the panic died down. By "the panic", I mean people fearing the governor mandating a lockdown. Any time there was an announcement that the governor was going to speak, people flooded the store. Then when he said, "we'll just keep on doing what we're doing right now for the time being," everything drastically slowed down. It's quieter outside, since there is much less work traffic. Roughly 10% of my customers wear face masks, but that's still a lot better than the usual. But this thing needs to blow over before the concert I bought tickets for comes around. If they cancel or postpone it because of coronavirus, I'll be pissed.

It ain't killin' off the heroin junkies and shoplifters, so it can't be that big of a threat.
 

Coded Games

Member
Well now that we are much deeper into this whole thing I feel like it's getting better. Even though in the US it's still getting worse Washington appears to have done a very good job at managing things. We used to have the most cases in the US but with early action we have really kept our growth rate much lower than other states.

With this in mind, my anxiety really has not been that bad. There were a couple nights were I had a cough and was pretty worried but overall I'm pretty alright now. Still staying home and have accepted I will be here for a few months at least.

Also Half Life Alyx, Persona 5 Royale, and working on my own game has really keep me happy and looking forward to things. F for the Last of Us Part II.
 

K12gamer

Member
Corona has caused SWITCH shortages / madness.
SWITCH sold out almost every where...selling on Ebay for $500+ dollars...

Corona also caused Chromebook madness...as School districts are buying them
for tens of thousands of students so students can work at home.
 
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amyacker

Guest
Or, ya know, an entire population suddenly stockpiling it. That would interrupt our supply chain. It's a positive feedback loop: toilet paper is hard to find because people are stockpiling it, so people stockpile toilet paper since it's hard to find. It began due to paranoia about COVID19, but it no longer has anything to do with the disease. if you are much scared to go to the hospital, use telemedicine.
We've had good luck at bjs. I'm struggling to find lysol spray and clorox wipes.
 
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Sam (Deleted User)

Guest
What is ya'lls view on businesses being enforced by government to not allow anyone in their buildings without a mask?

I hate to bring politics into this but being conservative, my mom and other far right conservatives are really against the government forcing masks. I find the whole idea of letting out sex offenders and replacing them with people not wearing a mask a big no-no. But I think if they enforced this by some means other than by filling jail cells there would be less people complaining about the masks.

My only gripe is people going to jail over it. But other than that, I don't really care. I can wear a mask if the government wants me to. It's no skin off my back ffs. Also, if I get corona, I won't know it at first, because it takes time for the symptoms to take effect, in the meantime my breathing could infect other people, it's for a good cause and very thoughtful to wear a mask, even if you don't feel like you are infected.

Similar goes for people not following the social distancing guidelines, I think jail is a bit harsh, and I think a huge fine based on someone's income would be a much better approach.

Edit:

For clarity's sake, no, I am not a Trump fan.

 
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kburkhart84

Firehammer Games
I think until proven otherwise, that wearing masks is best for safety. I'm won't say that the whole pandemic isn't simply a power play by someone up above or in China and that the story of how it came to be is or isn't fake, and I won't bet against it being man-made either(there are simply too many unanswered questions). However, I feel that the threat is real regardless, and that there are too many people who can get sick and die from it, for us to be going out without masks, possibly spreading it, making things worse. I think this is one of those few things that it is fair for the government to step in and enforce in some way....but I agree that filling jail cells isn't really it either. I don't know if fines are the best solutions, or what it is. I think businesses are 100% in the right though to not allow people in without masks. They own their businesses and have the right to disallow entrance or service to somebody with any good cause(of course not based on race, gender, religion, etc.....). A business owner is completely allowed to choose not to serve somebody if they don't have a mask on, there is no discrimination at all there, it is an issue of public safety.
 

TheouAegis

Member
People stopped making a fuss about the Rona after George Floyd's death, at least until they realized people noticed that they stopped making a fuss, then they started making a fuss again. Over 19,000 new cases reported in the US! OMG! Couldn't possibly have anything to do with the fact that people were too busy worrying about riots to actually report the results of all the tests that have been done over the last couple weeks, could it? People fled at the beaches, next day spike in cases! Three days of riots, nothing to report. I'm still waiting for the people around me to start dying. We are like, what, three months in? Still see the same junkies and thieves in my store every day.

Also, people have pointed out that when the covid-19 scare started up, they released prisoners. Now we have criminals defaming BLM protestors. Related? Who knows...
 
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