It's not the vaccine everyone wants, but this should help with testing. Basically, it's a portable device the FDA approved today that delivers results within a few minutes by isolating samples of the virus genome from patient swabs. I don't know if there's much information yet on whether this will perform as advertised. The amount of tests Abbott labs is 'boasting' about being able to conduct in the coming weeks doesn't seem very ambitious based on the description of the product. They're saying 50,000/day, but demand is way higher than that at the moment, and of course not just domestically. Could be a manufacturing issue, or the "5 minutes results" is really just one part of process. In any case it's still good news. Hopefully it lives up to the billing.
Sounds great- hopefully they are able to scale. There is a massive shortage of reagents and testing materials right now, let alone kits.
Does anyone else just sit there and stare off in the distance contemplating how much our lives have changed in the past couple of weeks? This is like nothing any of us have ever experienced before. Not just our own personal lives, but the whole world has fundamentally changed. The fear of the unknown is the worst part. This will play out somehow, but God only knows what that outcome will be.
I'm in a very weird position because about only six weeks before all this went down, I took a job after depression had kept me out of work for 18 months. I spent much of those 18 months, isolated, in my apartment, seeing nobody and chatting online only when people got home after work. So the difference between Corona-life and pre-Corona-life? I make a shitload more money during Corona-life and more people are online during the day. Which is the exact opposite of what most everyone else is experiencing. They're all making less money and having fewer social contacts.
Believe me, if someone told me two weeks ago I'd be sitting in a motel room back home in Idaho right now I'd of laughed in their face. And yet here I am. It's kind of hard for the brain to process how much life has changed so quickly. And the fact that the life that was so familiar and comfortable just two weeks ago may never exist again. That's just plain disturbing.
Honestly, with me working from home for almost 20 years, give or take, with the occasional stint at a client site or office, from a work perspective it's no different, except for watching everyone I work with try to adjust. The home life is a bit strained... I live with my elderly mother, and she used to have some social gatherings she went to, but no more. It's just me, and I feel much more obligated to try and spend more time with her during these changes. She's becoming more and more afraid of things as it unfolds, and with me working stupid hours for the past couple of weeks that hasn't helped. Shopping is also something to try and get used to... I tried to go out today but the lineups were too long (totally restricted the number of people allowed in), so I'll go Monday during work and hopefully they'll be a bit more manageable. Had a security guy grill me at the front door of the liquor store today, typical "have you travelled, been with anyone who has or been in contact with, etc", and I laughed and said "just you". He didn't seem to realize that him, by dealing with EVERY person who entered the store, has now come in contact with more people than I ever would, or anyone inside the store would, and yet here I am having to interact with him. Guaranteed that he has been face to face with someone who's infected. He didn't like that bit of reasoning... but still let me in.
I've now upped the content of the aloe for it to be more gelled, and the stuff works wonders. Traded some with my sister today for some freshly baked cookies. Who would have thought that the new currency in the Apocalypse would be hand sanitizer.
Oh... and it's been long enough now that tomorrow might be the day that I cut my mom's hair for the first time ever. Fucking hell.
nettbarber does have a nice ring to it. I'd suggest keeping her away from sharp objects and mirrors away for several weeks though. And lock your bedroom door
Flowbee must be selling like crazy on eBay right now. Wait. Do they still make Flowbee new? ETA: they do! https://www.flowbee.com/
Soooo... My wife has had a low grade fever since Wednesday. Perhaps some other mild symptoms that could be associated with this virus, mild cough and aches. Also nothing that couldn't be explained by some other diagnosis. However, they aren't interested in testing her because she can't verify contact with a known positive case. Her PCP isn't seeing patients in-person, just video appointments, so they didn't test her for anything. Yep, not testing for the highly infectious virus everyone is worried about or anything else because of the highly infectious virus everyone is worried about. Just told her to stay home for 2 weeks. If this is the virus, it isn't too severe on the wife and apparently doesn't affect our son and I at all. But we'll never know. Knowing would be nice.
Unless we get to 160,000 cases today, we are revising the model down. That's the best news I've had all week. The death rate we expect to continue to increase, but at least it looks like the quarantine measures we currently have been in for 2 weeks have some effect.
Japan's infection rates are continuing to climb. Surprising no one, once the olympics delay was announced, the rates started to get more pronounced. I reckon that traffic to most restaurants and bars is down by about 50%, but there are still quite a few people out and about in groups. Abe basically gave the strongest "order" he could without doing some really funky shit by strongly suggesting everyone stay at home for the weekend.
That is good news, but I still wish we were doing more. I read in the news this morning that a nearby county just closed their beaches this morning. In the article the county officials were bitching about the people who kept coming because so many were closed. Well yeah, but why the hell did you wait this long? The county I work in has a full lock down minus things like grocery shopping. It really needs to be statewide. There are so many businesses and activities still going on that shouldn't be.
This coming Tuesday was supposed to be the end of the two week break at our job (me and my wife), but we expected it to be extended, which it is. Now it is an official 30 day furlough - I didn’t expect them to give us full pay for much longer. I might have some very limited hours, but I doubt it since I just started in November. I won’t know until tomorrow. Gonna either learn about the fun of registering for unemployment, or fall back on the tried and true “ask dad for money” play. The silver lining is that we’re caught up on bills, so we can make our last checks before furlough stretch. If it goes past 30 days, we’ll deal with that if or when we must.
and just imagine how many other people are out there like this, and what the numbers could look like if we had good testing hope your wife feels better