Coronavirus and Social Isolation

[Tamari]

Forum's been pretty quiet this year, but I thought I'd check in! Hope everyone is staying safe, whatever the status is in your state or country!

I have a weakened immune system and I'm living in a major city AND working in a high school, so I've been pretty concerned. Just learned today that I'll be working remotely until the end of the month. That's a long time to spend alone in a studio apartment with my cat.

Is anyone else in a similar situation? How are you planning on keeping yourself busy and sane? I have a lot of shows to catch up on, games to play, crafts to work on, even fics to write, but this much isolation is still a daunting prospect. I value my alone time, but not when it's by necessity...

[Seek]

For general social isolation measures, we just had the cancellation of all events involving 250+ people (so I guess events of 249 are still good to go?) Government says it'll slap down more if necessary. We'll see, as they're now finna get the elections done smack in the middle of the outbreak, which is really grinding my gears.

I am actually not going to be working remotely just yet - crafts and fics sounds good, as does internet engagement with folks. Maybe a Skype hangout or something with RL friends? - either way, my organisation has prepared us to work remotely but has also hesitated on pulling the trigger just yet, so it's business as usual until it ain't.

Stay safe though, especially given your weakened immune system! I'm still living with my folks (Asian society thing) so I'm being extra careful as I don't want to pass anything to them.

[mageprincess]

The panic buying in Australia has become ridiculous. It's nearly impossible to find toilet paper and there's even a limit on how many packs of baby wipes you can buy at the supermarkets, which is great when you actually have a child to take care of and some idiots are seen grabbing a whole stack of them off the shelves.

[Idleness]

Only a few cases in NZ so far. We're still in the keep it out phase, and the government has just made 14 days self-isolation mandatory for nearly all travellers entering the country. The national carrier has just slashed capacity on international flights by 85%, as visitor numbers have tanked. We're definitely going to go into recession, and it will be a particularly hard one for the tourism and hospitality industries.

I have the ability to work from home, but I haven't yet. Our team has had cause to practice this over the last three years, so I think we'll be fine if we're told to do so. I know other teams, and other agencies, have started practicing their business continuity plans so they know what to expect in the case that they need to enact them for real.

Other than trying to be diligent about good hand washing technique and trying not to touch my face, I'm carrying on like normal. We've replenished supplies in our pantry, but only to what level we would normally replenish them to.

I'm just hoping the bug gets under some level of control by about August, because I have a trip to Europe booked in September and October and I'll be really bummed out if we can't go. I booked in December and though I bought travel insurance immediately, my travel insurance unfortunately has the pandemic exclusion. Rats, haha.

[mistrali]

I count myself lucky that we haven’t been hit too badly, relatively speaking. Here in Australia, I hope we’ll be safe(r) from the worst of it. Fingers crossed, touch wood and the rest.

mageprincess, well said. People are acting as though there’s a war on. We live in a country where there’s clean tap water, no guns, minimal air pollution, the population is spread out and the food is, by and large, clean. None of that is to minimise the economic or other impact, but I think people need to get a bit of perspective and be mindful of hoarding things that they don’t/won’t actually have an immediate need for. Especially medical supplies, which are essential to people who have other/chronic illnesses.

I understand the anxiety, but I feel that being rude and aggressive to, e.g. supermarket staff is beyond the pale.

I’m worried about my parents, since they are ageing, but not for myself - my immune system is quite good & I’ve been stuck at home (back with parents due to unexpected non-COVID-related medical issues) anyway.

[mageprincess]

mistrali I'm not stressing out much either. Me and bubs are pretty much home all the time anyway, we don't go many places. I've started working again three days a week but its just me and my boss, plus she lets me bring bubba with me, which is better than leaving him at a daycare centre.

my husband has pretty bad anxiety, but its not the virus itself that is triggering him at the moment, its the hoarders. He's so worried that we're not going to be able to buy food and essentials. I keep saying that we just have to shop smarter, not harder. avoid the supermarket chains and get as much as we can from alternative places.

[MythicMistress]

I'm honestly going a bit stir-crazy from being cooped up in the house for so long. You would think I would actually be able to get something written... Anyway, I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy.

[Rosie]

Hope you are all managing to keep pretty well! I live in the UK, have one parent over 70, and my brother is a doctor in the critical care department - I’m okay in and of myself, but so worried about everyone, particularly because our provisions for medical staff are so clearly lax (genuinely, medical fetish sites have been donating because hospitals are begging for gowns).

I’m super fortunate in that this fandom has always provided me with great friends who continue to check in on me, so I thought I’d check in here in turn!

[mageprincess]

There's a possibility my mum has been exposed to the virus through someone at her work with a family member that tested positive.

This has made things slightly more complicated for me and my family generally. Worry for my mum of course (she's asthsmatic, but healthy and has it managed), but it also changes my work situation. I have opted to stay home with my little one for at least this week while we try to figure out what's happening with mum. Mum usually looks after small sir on Mondays so that I can work a full day, but as I have seen my parents in the last week, I am unwilling to take the chance that I can potentially pass on this virus to my boss, who is in her late 70's. And given that I usually bring small sir to work on Tuesday's and Wednesdays, neither I nor my boss are willing to put him in the situations where her clients can come in an accidentally transmit it to him. So we decided that its best to stay home this week and re-evaluate next weekend as to whether I go in or not.

If it turns out that mum is fine and hasn't been exposed, she will be able to look after him on Mondays, and my Dad has been working from home and has said that he can look after him Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Even with social distancing, coming between our homes to just pick him up and drop him off shouldn't be dangerous. Better than taking him to work, at least until this is over.

[Idleness]

So my household went into isolation on 20 March when someone at my partner's work who had developed a cough found out that they were a close contact to a confirmed case. That person then also tested positive on the following Monday. My partner is fine, but I've developed a dry cough now (though I'm otherwise feeling fine). Could be unrelated but I might try to go and get tested this week since the testing criteria has been expanded today.

The whole of NZ is in lockdown now anyway. I have to say that PM Jacinda Ardern is a truly excellent crisis communicator, and Director General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield is also a very calm, measured, and comforting figure at daily press conferences. I'm glad our government is proactive on this pandemic.

My team and I have been working from home, so I've been doing lots of meetings over the phone and on Zoom. My team has a standing Zoom meeting every morning that we keep pretty casual, a bit about work things we're doing and a bit of a catch up.

On a personal level I think my plans to travel to Europe this year might be scuppered lol.

[mistrali]

Idleness and mageprincess, sorry to hear you’re at risk. Fingers crossed that you don’t have it, or only have it lightly — and of course that it doesn’t affect your families.

[mageprincess]

mistrali I am fine, turns out mum was not exposed and everything is okay at this moment.

Idleness I hope you are doing okay! ALso, can we borrow Jacinda Ardern for a while? She is an absolute champion and Aussies would welcome her with open arms in lieu of the idiot that we have right now.

[Idleness]

Jacinda can be your PM too when we annex Australia and rename it the West Island. 😂

Though getting back to a serious topic, in my head, Duke Baird now looks an awful lot like Dr Ashley Bloomfield. www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=12321467

I think the whole country has a huge nerd crush on him by now. It must be very bemusing for him and his family lol.

[mistrali]

Apr 1, 2020 17:22:14 GMT 10 Idleness said:

Jacinda can be your PM too when we annex Australia and rename it the West Island. 😂

Though getting back to a serious topic, in my head, Duke Baird now looks an awful lot like Dr Ashley Bloomfield. www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=12321467

I think the whole country has a huge nerd crush on him by now. It must be very bemusing for him and his family lol.

Not before we invade you guys! Although maybe we’ll do it after the coronavirus. Social distancing rules apply, after all 😀

I’m actually quite impressed with how Gladys (Berejiklian, our premier) has been handling this whole situation. If we’d had Bob Carr (former Labor premier who did absolutely zilch for our area in 20 years) I doubt he would’ve been half as efficient.

Besides, at least we have a surplus to draw from; under Labor we would’ve been in the red about six times over.

Gladys in particular seems to be seriously cracking down.

[Rosie]

Obviously it would be hasty to claim the UK government are handling it worst when certain other nations have barely got started, but our PM, his special adviser, the health secretary, and our chief medical officer all have symptoms... and the papers are trying to blame that on the EU's Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier.

[Kypriotha]

Also just adding my bit to say that I hope everyone is staying as safe and well as they can, especislly you Idleness! Even if it's not CV, a dry cough sounds horrible. And of course I hope everyone who has, or has family and friends with, other underlying conditions are all doing okay.

I've been working from home for 2 weeks now. My workplace activated it's (modified influenza) pandemic plan pretty early and we luckily already had good remote working capabilities (which they really impressively ramped up even further very quickly). I feel so lucky that working remotely is fairly easy for me and my workplace and I really feel for everyone who's not in the same privileged position that I am.

That said, the 5 days where my partner and I were self-isolating because we'd been in contact with a potential case were still boring and stressful and we were so excited when we were given the all clear to go outside again. Not that we're going out much - really just shopping and exercising. I've been doing Zoom catch up with friends, although we'll go see my family for Easter (same city).

I'm not worried for me, but I am worried for my elderly grandparents and my partner's family, all of whom live in a different state and so we can't visit them.

[Idleness]

I'm all good, thanks Kypriotha.

Ran into a friend (well, not literally) while out walking the other day. I'm very lucky to live very close to my city's river, and the river bank area is a nice open space for people to spread out while stretching their legs. So we stood well apart on opposite sides of the wide walking path and had a brief chat, and I think she was just thrilled to talk to another human she knew who wasn't also a member of her household bubble.

My brother has been working in an essential service, but he's been told to stay home because he lives with our parents. They're in the risk age group, and on top of that Mum has asthma and Dad has hypertension. Luckily for my brother he will still get paid - and he now has plenty of time to play the Final Fantasy VII remake when that drops on Friday!

[Vala]

Just as a preface, I'd like to say I hope everyone's healthy and safe. Isolation's brought me back to my comfort reads, and all the way back here after a couple of years, and it's good to be back It's been pretty hard seeing how hard things have been for my family members who work in healthcare, and my own helplessness. I'll join some of my fellow Aussies in saying we'll happily take Jacinda Adern, however looks like things have been improving here! Meanwhile, sending best wishes to all of you.

[Kypriotha]

How is everyone going as the lockdowns and isolation and distancing extend into months? I hope everyone has been able to stay safe and well and sane. Fingers crossed that we'll start seeing the curves flatten everywhere and restrictions slowly eased, though I suspect there is still a long way to go before things get back to completely "normal".

[Idleness]

Yeah, still good. Just ordered a more ergonomic chair for working from home.

I have friends and team members who're absolutely dying to be able to touch and hug other people again - as someone who is not at all touchy-feely with others and has a pretty big personal bubble in normal times, I can't say this is something I've experienced! I do miss being in the company of other people though, and I miss office banter.

Hopefully NZ will go down to 'level 2' alert again in a couple of weeks if cases continue to be in low single digits and easily traceable back to known contacts. That would mean me and my team would be able to go back to the office and meet again, though still with physical distancing.

Though also, I've really embraced the ultimate comfort of athleisure and tights as pants. I will be sad to give that up on weekdays.

[MythicMistress]

I've had a bit of relief in terms of socializing- my tabletop gaming group started organizing virtual meetings via Jitsi to play Dungeons and Dragons this week.

The added stress from my dad being home so much is still a problem for me though.

[Rosie]

Starting to get restless, signs are pointing to our lockdown being relaxed at the end of the month - it's up for review on Thursday, so I'll guess we'll find out then. Can't say I approve of it being relaxed, but the government has made numerous poor decisions so it seems in character at least.

May 3, 2020 7:07:26 GMT 10 MythicMistress said:

I've had a bit of relief in terms of socializing- my tabletop gaming group started organizing virtual meetings via Jitsi to play Dungeons and Dragons this week.

The added stress from my dad being home so much is still a problem for me though.

Good news for the former, but sorry to hear about the latter. Hope it's manageable.

[bookworm]

It's been idek how many years since I've been here. I'm rediscovering a lot of old interests during this whole pandemic thing and remembered this place.

My family has been locked down since March 13 and I am slowly going stir crazy. I'm NYC area and I'd guess at least a month until stuff starts reopening again. Thankfully I'm still able to work from home and do school stuff, but it's kinda rough.

[max]

That's rough, hang in there bookworm . It must be a relief to be in a state with a governor who's taking it seriously at least?

I'm genuinely quite concerned for everyone in the states. It. Does not look good :L

We've moved down into level 3 lockdown rules from level 4. It's pretty much the same - stay at home, social distancing, etc - but now you can order takeaways again and expand your bubble a little if necessary. Cabinet will make a call on Monday as to when/whether we move to a lower alert level, which would mean schools and public transport reopens again subject to social distancing measures.

I've already resolved to walk to work if we end up back in the office - it's about 45 minutes on foot. But so much easier to keep a wide bubble than on a bus.

[Kypriotha]

My sympathies to everyone struggling (however small or large) with the various restrictions and lockdowns. I'm definitely feeling more down about things at the moment, but I'm not sure that things opening up more would help, because I'll still be cautious and not rush to do too much at once. One weekend down after our government announced the start of a 3 stage plan to ease restrictions and we already had too many people at the shops not observing proper physical distancing!

But it would be nice to see a few more people face to face...

Anyway, instead of sitting around feeling sorry for myself, I've decided to cheer myself up with Glake and fanfiction! Hopefully I can get a few more plot bunnies for Wishing Tree

[mistrali]

Kypriotha, fanfic is a good strategy Especially Tammy fanfic and books, since I think they’re most people’s comfort reads. I hope you feel a bit less cooped up soon!

I think it’s a wise decision to be cautious about going out too soon after everything starts to open up again. Better safe than sorry, I think.

But then, I can also understand people who just want to be outside.

[Kypriotha]

Yes, I definitely rather would be safe than sorry - my biggest fear is helping spread the virus, not me getting it myself, and I just know I would feel super guilty if I thought I was contributing to community transmission.

And it's not like I'm not going out - I still go out for walks and to see my family and to go shopping, so I know I'm luckier than many people. But I do miss being able to go out without worrying, though it's not all bad to think a bit more about what I do and why.

Also I think I'm just extra mopey at the moment because I'm sick (just a cold, no flu or CV19!).

In terms of novels, I've been reading a lot of Diana Wynne Jones. Tammy books are some of my comfort reads, but they don't feel right to me for this particular time. But I'm finding DWJ very comforting. She's a very clever writer, but keeps things simple, but fits a lot in, while also having this small focus that I'm just finding really reassuring and calming right now. Tammy is almost too big for me right now, but DWJ is easy and every day and just seems to be right for me at this time.

[mageprincess]

Going good here - South Australia has been virus free for about 10 days now I think - no new or active cases. Our restrictions have been eased slightly but our Premier is refusing to bend to calls to reopen things faster, which I definitely think is a good thing.

We've tentatively started catching up with friends again, while still keeping within the guidelines and restrictions. I've been cooped up with a baby for two months, definitely ready for some adult interaction but we're taking it week by week and reassessing how we interact as we go.

[max]

Well we went down to level 2 and the government reviewed funeral guidelines just in time because my nephew died the same day the govt relented and announced up to 50 people would be permitted to attend a funeral/burial (throughout lockdown the restrictions were much tighter - initially no one was permitted to see their deceased loved ones, funeral homes did all of it themselves and I believe cremation was mandatory for a while - then they allowed a maximum of 10 people to attend a burial).

We only had about 20 people but it felt like a lot more just because everyone has been so isolated so it was very strange to have so many people gathered in one place.

I did also manage to get a cold, as careful as I was (super careful. I am extra and paranoid and so I clean doorknobs and lightswitches and cupboard handles all the time, and also my hands, which are permanently raw from handwashing). I think it was from the kids, tbh, because kids are always packing all the germs.

So I'm going to wait an extra couple of weeks to return to the office, because my building is massive and multiple entities use it and it seems like it would be a bad idea to have to require everyone on 16 floors to be tested because I came down with something and used the same set of lifts.

0 cases in my region for about a week though, so fingers crossed.

[Rosie]

Max, I’m really sorry for your loss, but it’s good that some more of your family was able to be there for the funeral.