Work in solid waste, other than some minor PPE changes and a few weeks of split shifts, we are back to working full time. So really no change, garbage has to be picked up which means the trucks have to run 5 days a week, extremely thankful I don’t work in a dealership anymore, all the guys I know that still do are standing around not getting paid. My brother lives out in the northwest and just had a new baby, would love to be able to go out to see them but flying in June doesn’t seem like a great option given that they have both had COVID.
I work in construction. My experience and Oden’s are virtually identical. The only thing that’s changed is that when I call a subtrade and they don’t answer, I’m unsure if it’s because they’re busy or because they’re shut down.
Id be interested in hearing how people have had positive changes under quarantine/stay-at-home. For me, the weather has been shit about 2/3 of the time in the northeast throughout all this. When it is nice, Ive been getting back into mountain biking. My bike was in my parent's barn collecting dust. On a whim, I had my dad dig it out, I brought it to a nearby bike shop and had them tune it up, replace the tubes, new brake cables, etc. Ive been riding in trails near my house and just outside Boston a couple days a week. Besides hiking, its really the only cardio activity I enjoy and its been a great way to see a friend of mine who had a similar experience, whom I wouldn't otherwise be seeing until this is over.
I work at an animal shelter and apartment maintenance. The animal shelter has been awesome, dogs and cats that have been here longer than I have are getting adopted. Some have been here over a year. I just hope they don't get brought back when people have to start working again, that will piss me off. The apartment maintenance job has just been emergencies. A couple of HVAC repairs, a sink leak... Oh, and an idiot flooded two units, the ceiling is cut out of the lower and the upper has all the carpet and flooring ripped out.
So apparently mask shaming is a thing now? A coworker of mine went to the coast this weekend to fish. Said he got so much crap for wearing a mask, had one local explain to him that “it just strengthens our immune system.” His daughter told him that mask-shaming is becoming an actual trend that people agree with. kinda goes along with what I’ve seen. Just came from a Total Wine in the city because wine is essential for my wife. Everyone was wearing a mask without exception, keeping as far apart as humanly possible. I felt extremely safe. Exact opposite in small towns, where the healthcare infrastructure is worse or non-existent.
The obvious positives are spending a lot less money, especially on gas, and not having to sit in traffic every day to and from work. I can’t say there has been any overwhelming positive changes. One thing I have noticed is that my wife and daughter are actually getting along better after 2 months stuck at home - the opposite of what I expected. We’ve all been spending much more time together, of course, and it’s been fun. My daughter is a teenager, so I kind of expected her to get sick of us, but quite the opposite.
I'm averaging a lb lost every three days. If we plot this linear trend into the far future, it strongly suggests that if the stay-at-home orders are extended into 2021, I will in fact waste away.
I’m buying one of those face mask balaclava fishers use not to get sunburnt because they pass as face mask. We had to start wearing mask at work and by chance my aunt just sent me one I’m using I’d have just used a bandanna like I was robbing the place.
You've mentioned excess death a couple times. Is there any reason to suspect that excess death isn't just mostly undiagnosed COVID deaths?
One of the reports guys in my division just passed away from alcohol poisoning last night. It's an odd blessing it wasn't labelled suicide. He was a good man, and it sucks. It's hard not to think the depression of living alone for so many weeks didn't contribute to this. Yes, excess death is going to be a number of different things, and it'll be really difficult to untangle exactly what that looks like. For example, we have an uptick in death, but some of the primary causes of death (traffic accidents, suicide, overdoses) should be in decline. So, if you are laid off, lose your insurance and forego your diabetes medicine (or whatever) and pass away, that can be attributed as excess mortality, without it being COVID-19 related.
Yes, but it only makes sense to say we shouldn't have shut down if the excess deaths from shutdown measures exceeds deaths from COVID (or rather if COVID deaths - shutdown deaths < some threshold value for economic pain vs death balance). I don't know how we can even speculate that's the case when it seems likely that the majority of the excess deaths alone are COVID, never mind when you add in the diagnosed COVID deaths.
"A decrease in payments will "incentivize" people..." from the guy living rent free while waiting to be replaced for stealing from his own party donations to send his kids to private school.
Sounds like your conservatives are the same as ours in that they hate the poor and think people just don't want to work.
The White House is considering winding down the coronavirus task force in the weeks to come. CNN further reported that the wind down is expected "around Memorial Day" according to a senior White House official