Coronavirus Weekly Check-In Thread - March 21

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Coronavirus Weekly Check-In Thread - March 21

Post by Lavaine »

Happy Weekend Forum Inmates.
I am posting this thread after consulting with Kip, and with his permission.

I think that all of the forum regulars consider each other to be… friends? acquaintances? that guy from the internet? Whatever term you want to use, we have developed these relationships over the course of many threads, conversations and disagreements, and I think that, in these difficult times, we all are concerned over how everyone is doing.

I am going to post a new thread every weekend, as a place for everyone to check in with each other. Let us know how you are doing. What are things like where you are? How are you coping with isolation and social distancing? Do you have toilet paper? What hints can you share with others. I’ll also post a tip of my own each week to help deal with this global emergency.

Please keep this thread on track. Personal check-ins and survival tips only. No political talk please, and for other Coronavirus discussion, please post in the existing thread.

As a reminder, here are the 4 steps to stay healthy that I posted on the Coronavirus thread:
1) Hands - Practice good hand hygiene
2) Elbows - Cough into your elbows, not your hands
3) Face - Stop touching it
4) Feet - Maintain 6 feet of distance from other people whenever possible

My tip of the week to survive our self-isolation:

Learn something new. After years of saying I should do yoga, this week I started doing yoga daily, following instructors on YouTube (Yoga With Adriene for anyone who wants to give it a try).
Learn to knit. Teach yourself to code and create the next killer WIS app. Pick up that guitar you bought years ago and never played. Start learning a new language. Try and make your forced alone time a positive.

Stay safe, stay home if you can, and let us all know how you are doing.

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Re: Coronavirus Weekly Check-In Thread - March 21

Post by Amor Vincit Omnia »

Great idea, Chris.

Work (school) is now closed, but quite a few of us are going in for two days (staggered) this week to help look after children of essential workers.
Work is being set via the Virtual Learning Environment and we are quite fortunate that all our older students have a school issued iPad.
My favourite retreat, the gym, also closed on Friday so yesterday I went out for a long walk in the sunshine. Very enjoyable.
Plenty of essential foodstuffs in our local shops.

Bottom line, I’m OK right now.
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Re: Coronavirus Weekly Check-In Thread - March 21

Post by Kip »

Thank you Chris for starting this.

All good here so far. New Hampshire is on the lower end of the curve, but since we are bordering Massachusetts which has a far heavier concentration of the virus, we are being very diligent.

We have taken to cleaning out closets and attic areas with great success to date.
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Re: Coronavirus Weekly Check-In Thread - March 21

Post by Martin »

This is my fourth day indoors. Today, for the first time in over 62 years, I am relishing the prospect of cleaning the house. Expect an entry in ‘what are you drinking now’ later this evening.
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Re: Coronavirus Weekly Check-In Thread - March 21

Post by Mikkei4 »

I had given up going to the Gym some weeks ago – staying away from enclosed air-con’d places where people were breathing heavily and sweating onto equipment (sorry about that) and possibly not being considerate enough to spray and clean after use.

So I’m way off my usual fitness level but starting to walk more and that’ll turn into running, short timed distances initially then gradually reducing the times and increasing distance.

The recent change to better weather has allowed me to salvage some broken fence panels, re-stain others and also yesterday give my convertible a thorough clean so I could make the first application of sealant to the fabric roof as this had not stood up to the persistent rain over the previous couple of months.

Great idea about people starting yoga as it is a superb regime to follow, just a few words of warning if you’ve not done it before though – it is not a competition sport so take care with the movements and positions and what level or style of yoga you are following and ease yourself into it. Don’t go madly trying to perform 3rd Level Ashtanga yoga for example!

Take care everybody.
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Re: Coronavirus Weekly Check-In Thread - March 21

Post by jmarchitect »

Great idea Chris.

We had a spring clean and stock check of our food cupboards yesterday, followed by a trip to the shops to grab some essentials. My partner is an English teacher and is on a rota to go in to school for one day a week, starting next week. I’ll drive her there and pick her up rather than expect her to brave the reduced service train journey. We’ve cancelled the regular visit to the mountain bike trail so we don’t risk putting pressure on a stretched NHS if one of us has a nasty off. I’m still going into the studio but I’m on my own in there as everyone else is working from home. The home work-outs have taken on a different feel of late. Staying fit and healthy in the face of worrying times never felt more important. This months letters to my children will be used to try to help them build resilience as I have no doubt they are worried. Setting words to paper is incredibly cathartic.

Stay safe and happy everyone.
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Re: Coronavirus Weekly Check-In Thread - March 21

Post by scooter »

We're fine here.

I'm getting out into the countryside on two wheels as often as I can.

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Re: Coronavirus Weekly Check-In Thread - March 21

Post by nbg »

We haven’t had to change our routine by much, as neither of us work. Eating out and wandering around the shops stopped, holidays and visits to the children and grandchildren on hold, but overall not really an inconvenience to us in the grand scheme of things.

Our yoga teacher had already decided ahead of last week’s announcements to suspend face to face classes. We will be doing them via Zoom. Will be interesting to see how it works out.

As long ago as the 6 March my old firm had introduced rules on gatherings of more than 25 people, which meant that our regular wine tastings had already been postponed.

Spent a couple of hours on hold on the phone yesterday morning, rearranging an April holiday in the highlands to next year. Yes it is in the back of beyond, but I wasn’t comfortable being 650 miles from home if anything happened, or adding to their more limited resources, particularly as we were going with our 7 month pregnant daughter.

Mrs nbg has decided we will be doing some redecoration of a few rooms at home. Paint and other supplies already secured.

We have good neighbours, as a group of 8 houses we have all known each other for over 25 years. Two of the couples are self isolating for age/medical reasons, but we all know that we are there to help each other out. WhatsApp group set up way before any of this kicked off.

We are fortunate to have open fields within a minutes walk of the house. Never that busy at any time and easy enough to give everyone a very wide berth, when passing them.

Some shortages in the supermarkets of the items being panic purchased, but haven’t noticed any large queues, however I haven’t been anywhere near a supermarket at opening time.

On the topic of hand hygiene it’s a given when we get back to the safety of our own houses, that the first thing to do is wash your hands. However don’t forget to ensure that you avoid touching surfaces in the home before you wash your hands. Much easier if you leave internal doors open. Fairly obvious, but easy to forget. Also don’t forget if you have used your phone or tablet at a time hands may not be clean, you need to clean that too.

One family member involved with testing for Covid-19, one making stuff for test kits and another who is a nurse.

Over the past year or so I have often thought of giving food to a local food bank. However, like many others with good intentions, I did nothing about it. For those of us that can, now would be a good time to start.

Off out now for a walk in the fields, where we will put in play our social distancing of don’t go within 10ft of anyone, unless you can’t possibly avoid it.

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Re: Coronavirus Weekly Check-In Thread - March 21

Post by downer »

scooter wrote: Sun Mar 22, 2020 11:21 am
I'm getting out into the countryside on two wheels as often as I can.
Me too, scooter. I have heard a few dissenting voices but I'm convinced that getting out on the bikes is good for my mental well-being so I'll continue as long as I'm allowed.

As for the rest of it, like Neil, we haven't needed to change our routine too much as we don't work.

I am continuing to do one 12 hour shift per week on the blood bike and judging by the activity levels, the service is providing a much-needed support to the NHS - even if it's a small help in the scheme of things. On top of that, procedures have been changed to ensure all contact is absolutely minimal, and not in the public or ward areas of the hospitals.

My biggest anxiety is for my mum, who is mid 80's and living alone - in a retirement housing scheme. Sadly she is living with Parkinson's disease which has also begun to lead to dementia. Her drug therapies are quite complex and reliant on a machine that needs to be refilled frequently - in order to provide the multitude of tablets at 5 preset times each day. We have implemented a system whereby I (and my wife) visit her once per week and another relative also visits once per week. This allows us to keep the place clean and ensure washing etc is done, as well as topping the machine up. This is far less frequent than previously, but I guess it's the best compromise for the moment. Before all this started, we were just starting to investigate moving mum into a care home, but that is currently on hold until a few of the risks are reduced.
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Re: Coronavirus Weekly Check-In Thread - March 21

Post by nbg »

^^^^ Sorry to hear about your mum Richard. My dad had Parkinson’s, so I know how difficult it is to manage.

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Re: Coronavirus Weekly Check-In Thread - March 21

Post by scooter »

Good to hear that your mum is being well looked after although obviously a worrying time for your family.

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Re: Coronavirus Weekly Check-In Thread - March 21

Post by welshlad »

Good idea for a thread, Chris.

I started working from home last Wednesday. Unfortunately, for the next week or so we are trying to protect VPN capacity during the day, so I kind of now need to work a night shift from 6pm. However, people also expect me to answer emails on my iPad during the day, so the end of last week was like 9am-2am shifts each day, which was knackering. Plus my job (actuary) involves having to track and predict the course of the virus and work out how we should be responding to it, so it is mentally quite challenging at the moment too. But this has been my life for the past 2+ months, so I'm kind of used to it. Hopefully we will allow daytime VPN access soon too, which will make logistics much easier.

We have my 87-year-old mother-in-law living with us, so we are having to be very careful about not bringing the virus into the house. So we are not going out very much at all. Since Tuesday I've only been out to post a Mother's Day card for a few minutes. However, trying to keep my 17-year-old son in the house has proven to be the biggest challenge so far. Teenage boys want to see their mates and Facetime etc doesn't cut it apparently. But he does seem to be accepting it a bit more now.

My parents are in a vulnerable position, but are 250 miles away in South Wales. My mum has just come home from a bowel operation and needs a nurse to come in every day to change dressings and give her an injection, so that is a bit of a risk, but one that we have to accept. And my dad has fairly advanced dementia and can't remember what happened the day before or even earlier in the day. However, he watches the TV a lot and reads the newspaper every day, which means that every day he effectively learns about the virus for the first time and each time it's worse and seemingly out of the blue compared to the previous time. Each day he wonders how this has suddenly come out of the blue and he hasn't heard about it before, which he finds quite unsettling. But at least he stays inside most of the time, which will keep him physically safe.

So, interesting times. Keep safe and well, everyone.
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Re: Coronavirus Weekly Check-In Thread - March 21

Post by Viognier »

Thanks for setting this thread up Chris. As Chris and I share a province I won’t duplicate his comments.

Our household is focused on doing what we can to flatten the curve, we’re voluntarily self isolating but head outdoors with daily walks. Ironically Mrs V is a yoga instructor and proactively elected to shut down her business but is being hounded by clients to create an online option. That’s today’s project. As an aside, those new to yoga may elect to follow Iyengar style yoga which focuses on proper alignment and use of props as aids so you do not hurt yourself.

I work in the grocery business (vendor) so working from home and spend my days lately working with our production planning and logistics folks to ensure continuous supply to our customers who then supply Canadians with groceries. Our plant team has been beyond resilient as they are full out!

I am extremely lucky to have a fantastic provincial Chief Medical Officer who gives a daily CV-19 updates in a calm, factual manner with detailed explanation of why we are taking the necessary steps we are in addition to great coaching on how to stay safe.

My concern is the impact of the shutdowns ( to slow and eventually halt the virus) and how long it will take our respective economies to recover.

Watch and fly fishing forums as well as websites for the same are my go to for relaxation. I am doing a bit more fly tying and anxious for Spring to kick in so I can chase some trout on the river.

Finally it’s a great way to connect with family and close friends. Check in on our parents daily and had three brilliant lengthy FaceTime calls with dear friends yesterday.

Please consider helping small businesses important to you, many are trying to stay afloat with curbside or delivery models. If your finances permit consider ordering takeaway/take-out from your favourite local establishments to lend a helping hand.

Stay healthy everyone at CW and let’s all dig in to do our part to flatten the COVID Curve and bring a slow down and eventual end to this virus that is impacting us globally !!
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Re: Coronavirus Weekly Check-In Thread - March 21

Post by jtc »

welshlad wrote: Sun Mar 22, 2020 3:44 pm my job (actuary) involves having to track and predict the course of the virus and work out how we should be responding to it
This alone would make an interesting thread!

I'm feeling guilty for cancelling on mothers day with my 75yr old Mum, but needs must. Apart from that, I've never eaten so consciously of volume and, actually, much healthier than usual! Turns out the panic buying hordes don't really want fruit/veg...
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Re: Coronavirus Weekly Check-In Thread - March 21

Post by atnits »

Viognier wrote: Sun Mar 22, 2020 4:17 pm
Watch and fly fishing forums as well as websites for the same are my go to for relaxation. I am doing a bit more fly tying and anxious for Spring to kick in so I can chase some trout on the river.
I forgot I had my tying equipment upstairs. I'll have to brush up my skills!

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Edit: I'm fine. Just worried.
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