Tell us about your COVID-19 experience

[QuoterGal]

... because we're all going through it

[QuoterGal]

Alrighty, I'll go first with a few things... just personal things. The public/worldwide negatives are a given.

NEGATIVES

1) Our two Javista cafés: one had to close, however temporarily, because it's in a school lobby (L.A''s Musician's Institute) & the school is closed for now. The other is still open - essential business - but that means A. & our partner & employees (those not filing for unemployment) are exposed daily to the public. Also: our income. #eeeek

2) A. can't visit his mom, who is unwell. (Unrelated to the virus, a cascade of elder conditions.)

3) I can't plan my very-necessary carpal tunnel surgery, nor visit my other doctors or dental peeps.

4) We had a London visit scheduled for my 65th birthday at the end of May, which we just cancelled.

POSITIVES

1. My big sister & her husband visited from NJ a few weeks ago, which was delightful, albeit during the middle of all this.

2. We have a full-time live-in caregiver for A's mom. She's amazing.

3. We have two new-ish kitty rescues: Raja, an 11-12 years(ish) diabetic orange kitty, and Petunia, an 10-ish *months*-old tux baby. They've only been together a few weeks, but they're doing fine with each other. Raj came to us last August.

4. So far everyone I know is okay & has avoided COVID-19. *knock on wood*

5. Gonerses. #StillHereAfterAllTheseYears

[QuoterGal]

Somehow I couldn't attach these pics to my previous post. (I prolly have to learn all over again how to Gonerses-post from my phone...)

[cabr1729]

Since I work at the hospital I still go to work every day so I’m not isolated much. Nobody I know is sick, and hopefully it stays that way!

[Gorramsister]

Hi Goners! Arooo rooo!

i’m working from home for two weeks which now doesn’t feel nearly long enough. I anticipate being called back and sent home multiple times. I saw in the news that a 43 year old person with no health issues died from Covid-19. :-( i really wish I had more faith in our federal government.

[Gorramsister]

oh great. I bought a spray bottle from the hardware store so i could put a solution of water and bleach in it to disinfect surfaces. You would think spray bottles are pretty standard plastic and all that. I was just looking at the measurements listed on the side and there is a note stating "Not intended for use with bleach or products containing bleach." Seriously. It's states it is an ALL PURPOSE sprayer -who would think they would need to look for a disclaimer of ANY kind. AAAARRGGHHH

****Doesn't matter, I found out I have the wrong kind of bleach. Good times.

[cabr1729]

What’s the right kind of bleach? I would’ve thought just the standard plain jug...

[Lioness]

I had a major trip planned. Vienna to Prague to 2 days travelling by train across Europe ending in England, then 2 weeks travelling there and attending a few events/conferences. I was going to stay with friends in an AirBnB in Vienna for 5 days, then a hotel in Prague for 5 days, then visit my nephew in Luxembourg, then planned meetings with friends throughout England. I thought for a long time I would go anyway, then Vienna & Prague shut down. I didn't recognize that England was just in denial, so I was as well, and rebooked my flight to fly into London.
I have lost much of the money I had spent, with a few unexpected refunds. But I would much rather be here in Canada than in the UK at the moment, even if people there keep tweeting pictures of streams bubbling along a green bank as they go out for their one allowed walk.

[NYPinTA]

For me, I kind of knew this was coming, more so than most of my coworkers, because I'm online more than them. So weeks before any of the shutdowns started I had gone out and started my stock up shopping, following the advice of those sites that said to have two weeks of supplies in case you had to "self isolate" because you were sick. So I have more chicken noodle soup and microwavable rice than usual right now. haha. But then they closed Italy down and that's when everyone freaked out and started stocking up on TP (of all things...) But work itself was super busy. Which was weird. You'd think getting a brand new BMW would fall to the bottom of the list of things with a pending pandemic but guess not. But then the Governor put us on PAUSE and all of those people that bought a car in the past week aren't going to get their registrations for quite a while... (so at least I have work to come back to. But for how long, who knows, to be honest.)

I see-saw between taking this in stride, because really, what can you do? And absolute rage, because there was enough warning that at the very least the US should have been way better prepared. As soon as this hit our shores we should have had a plan up and running and locked it down.

As of now, other than being stuck at home, my life hasn't been affected yet. (Other than my 401k taking a nosedive.) I did have one trip to NYC planned for May that was canceled, but that was a day trip. I have another planned for April that probably won't happen. I'm just puttering in my apartment, doing some deep cleaning that I've been meaning to get too but haven't had time. (Not as much as I wanted though. I need to rent a rug shampooer and not sure if I want to spend that money now...)

I am really looking forward though to sitting in a restaurant when this is over.

I do wonder what is going to happen to all of those people who are now working from home and are just as able to do their jobs remotely as they do in the office if companies will finally let people work from home or insist they all come back. If I had a scanner and access to our system at home (which is possible), I could actually do about 80% of what I do at the dealership at home. It's the other 20% that's spread out through the day that I need to be on-site for. :/

[Lioness]

I saw a funny comment online about a husband and wife both working from home and taking turns having the bookshelf behind them when doing conference calls. I gather it was the nicest background they had in their home.

[NYPinTA]

Someone who is I guess famous did a quick video tutorial about how to do interviews via ones laptop, including having a background that is neutral, like a bookcase.

[lilbird]

One of my brothers has a home office set up now, but when this started he was attending conference calls from his car. It would be interesting to see some of the more creative backgrounds people are using now.

[lilbird]

Yesterday a friend sent an email with a quote from C. S. Lewis. He suggested, for a different perspective, we insert “coronavirus” in place of “atomic bomb”… I thought I'd share it here.

In one way we think a great deal too much of the atomic bomb. “How are we to live in an atomic age?” I am tempted to reply: “Why, as you would have lived in the sixteenth century when the plague visited London almost every year, or as you would have lived in a Viking age when raiders from Scandinavia might land and cut your throat any night; or indeed, as you are already living in an age of cancer, an age of syphilis, an age of paralysis, an age of air raids, an age of railway accidents, an age of motor accidents.”

In other words, do not let us begin by exaggerating the novelty of our situation. Believe me, dear sir or madam, you and all whom you love were already sentenced to death before the atomic bomb was invented: and quite a high percentage of us were going to die in unpleasant ways. We had, indeed, one very great advantage over our ancestors—anesthetics; but we have that still. It is perfectly ridiculous to go about whimpering and drawing long faces because the scientists have added one more chance of painful and premature death to a world which already bristled with such chances and in which death itself was not a chance at all, but a certainty.

This is the first point to be made: and the first action to be taken is to pull ourselves together. If we are all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb when it comes find us doing sensible and human things—praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts—not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs. They may break our bodies (a microbe can do that) but they need not dominate our minds.

— C.S. Lewis “On Living in an Atomic Age” (1948) in Present Concerns: Journalistic Essays

We can be smart and be safe, but not let it dominate our minds.

[Paradiso]

My office transitioned to partial work from home. I'm in the office 2 days a week and home 3. We use Google Hangouts to communicate with each other when we're all in the office, so it wasn't much of a transition to work from home. Whoever is in the office each day becomes the go-fer for the ones at home.

We were in the middle of a remodel, so everyone was temporarily relocated into offices and conference rooms. All that remains of my old cubicle is the worn spot on the carpet where my chair used to be. Work was stopped in March but we expect to resume in a couple weeks. I told my boss I want to stay in my office until either I catch COVID19 and recover or get vaccinated. She seemed okay with that.

We wear masks when we're moving around the building but don't need to wear them when we're in our own offices with the doors closed. I've been ordering different types and sizes of masks on Etsy trying to find one that's comfortable and doesn't fog up my glasses. So far, no luck. My family is happy to take my rejects, though.

No one I know has gotten sick. I got rather lucky in that I had a busy early March: eye doctor, dentist, allergist and haircut. So I didn't have anything important cancelled. I could really use another eyebrow wax, though.

With the exception of a couple grocery store runs and an emergency trip to a repair shop when my phone battery swelled up and threatened to explode, I haven't gone anywhere other than work. I miss my non-work friends. I miss going to the movies. I miss going to the store when I need something. I miss sitting on my best friend's couch and laughing as we annoy her cats. I miss being in the same room as my family.

One of my brothers has a home office set up now, but when this started he was attending conference calls from his car. It would be interesting to see some of the more creative backgrounds people are using now.

My mom uses the fridge as her Google Meet background. It's white and she uses the freezer door as a whiteboard while she teaches.

[Lioness]

That is very clever of your Mom, Diso! I do know people who are sick or have been sick,. One friend in the UK is one of those really unfortunate people who got it in March and still hasn't shaken it off.
I have been trying to support local businesses but keep striking some off my list when I don't think they are taking enough precautions. Our numbers are still going up....