COVID-19/corona virus mega thread/prepping thread

[WLJ]

Adding razor blades to my list.

[makattak]

Adding razor blades to my list.

Look, man, I doubt it'll come to that. Most people survive the disease. No need for drastic measures if you get infected.

[WLJ]

Look, man, I doubt it'll come to that. Most people survive the disease. No need for drastic measures if you get infected.

Well apparently I suck at shooting myself   

[K Frame]

Well apparently I suck at shooting myself   

Always use a revolver or the slide may break your teeth.

[K Frame]

Oh shitballs...

California is monitoring over 8,000 people for Corona virus due to the community transmission...

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/27/california-is-monitoring-8400-people-for-the-coronavirus.html

[TommyGunn]

Are we panicking yet?       I wanna know!  I don't want to miss anything!       (No one ever tells me anything .... )

[WLJ]

[TechMan]

I'm running Firefox set to strict sec with Adblocker Ultimate running. Wonder if that's jamming the paywall popup?

That is probably why.  Adblocker Ultimate probably has a script blocker in it as well.

[Ben]

Man, with all you guys running to Costco, I'd better buy some more stock!

I was actually just there yesterday, but realized I'm pretty stocked up food-wise already. The only thing I bought was some frozen stuff like chimichangas that would make Jamis cringe    mostly because  I usually keep a couple of Costco sized packs of that stuff in the freezer for when I'm too lazy to do anything else.

I did buy a couple of extra sacks of water softener salt, as that was one of those things I didn't think about that I might need but not want to expose myself to get. There's probably more stuff like that I could use that I'm not thinking about right now - the aforementioned dog food being one of them.  I was complaining to myself about extra long lines there, but neglected to see if it was the first day of a new sale or if people were buying bulk food items and the like.

Tangentially, I realized today that I'm starting to get a little paranoid, in that yesterday, the guy who checks of your stuff at the exit at Costco was coughing into his elbow a bunch right when I got to him, then today, I just got back from grabbing a bite at a brewpub in downtown Boise, and the bartender (I was sitting at the bar) was coughing left and right and not even covering her mouth.  

Normally I wouldn't make a big deal about it, but I guess the beer virus has me a little hyper-aware, and I'm now thinking I should already minimize my interactions with crowded places, because WTF good does it do for me to live at remote Festung Ben if I drive to crowded places and potentially expose myself?

[Ben]

Oh, on the masks, a couple of things:

I have continued to look at mask availability and cost. I noticed that Home Depot has none available via the Internet, but all my local HDs listed N95 masks in stock or at the very least, limited quantities (maybe trying to stop black marketeers?). I wonder if that's because people here just don't seem worked up about the virus at this point, so maybe no one is bothering to get masks or anything else? I'd be curious to see how that looks in other regions that have HDs.

Also,  I saw today that masks are becoming fashion statements with the city/wealthy/celebrity crowd, and that idiot Gwynyth Paltrow was talking up how she's wearing masks on airplanes now, and of course showed herself with one of those fashion-y runners/outdoors masks that have been the rage on Amazon. Totally worthless for virus protection of course. If nothing else maybe the virus will spread like wildfire and Darwin can have his way with these morons.

[WLJ]

Oh, on the masks, a couple of things:

I have continued to look at mask availability and cost. I noticed that Home Depot has none available via the Internet, but all my local HDs listed N95 masks in stock or at the very least, limited quantities (maybe trying to stop black marketeers?). I wonder if that's because people here just don't seem worked up about the virus at this point, so maybe no one is bothering to get masks or anything else? I'd be curious to see how that looks in other regions that have HDs.

Also,  I saw today that masks are becoming fashion statements with the city/wealthy/celebrity crowd, and that idiot Gwynyth Paltrow was talking up how she's wearing masks on airplanes now, and of course showed herself with one of those fashion-y runners/outdoors masks that have been the rage on Amazon. Totally worthless for virus protection of course. If nothing else maybe the virus will spread like wildfire and Darwin can have his way with these morons.

She's an expert on water so that must mean she's also an expert on viruses

Gwyneth Paltrow thinks you can hurt water's feelings by yelling at it
https://www.vox.com/2014/6/3/5773924/gwyneth-paltrow-thinks-you-can-hurt-waters-feelings-by-yelling-at-it

[Jamisjockey]

When I was at walmart today, I picked up more rice, beans, oatmeal, peanut butter, and chicken noodle soup.  I might hit up the store again tomorrow and shoot for a month's worth of meat for the freezer and more canned goods.

[charby]

added this to my prep list

[Jim147]

I had to go pick up my meds today. I went to the huge town down the road, about 1,300 people. Even though I have enough food I grabbed some rice and beans since we are under normal levels. I didn't have much cash but I have plenty of food here. I have deer in the driveway cows just over the fence and fish in my millions of gallons of water.

I wish I could have got more fu l but not a nought money. Why is gas going up so much? Oil is in free fall and global demand is down. We should be under $2 a gallon but it went up to $2.30.

[Ben]

I wish I could have got more fu l but not a nought money. Why is gas going up so much? Oil is in free fall and global demand is down. We should be under $2 a gallon but it went up to $2.30.

I've been hearing gas is going up at the pumps, but we're still at $2.40-$2.50 here, where we've been for weeks if not a few months already.

[Cliffh]

Went out today to fill the gas cans & top off the truck.  Now have ~65 gal in storage, the genset will run over 8 hrs on a couple of gallons.  If I don't need it for the genset, we'll use it mowing the yard this summer.

Price per gallon actually went down a penny since yesterday, from $2.13 to $2.12 for 85 octane E10.

Local Walmart's been out of masks since last Sunday.  It's the biggest store within ~40 miles in any direction.

I've got to be at Walmart this weekend - not good timing, but don't have much choice.  The local town has a huge flea market on the first Monday of every month, people start showing up as early as Weds before.  Traffic, both auto & foot, at least triples every month, regardless of weather or whatever.

I did pick up a bottle of hand sanitizer for both the car & truck.

[Jim147]

I picked up a gallon of whiskey to  sanitize from the inside out.

[Jim147]

I also got my meds changed from 30 day to 90 day supply.

[K Frame]

People are putting too much stock in masks.

A mask isn't going to do much for a well person looking not to get sick. A mask on a sick person does a lot to prevent the spread of the disease.


What the well person can do to really boost the odds of not getting sick?

Frequent hand washing and hand sanitizer, especially if you're going somewhere that you're going to be touching a lot of stuff that other people have touched, like the grocery store.

And keep your hands away from your mouth and eyes. That's the most dangerous transmission vector.

[Ben]

Snippet heard on the news this morning. Some US official has said that the chances of the virus becoming a pandemic have doubled since yesterday to 40%.

While, thanks to the evil dictator Trump closing borders and other non-diverse stuff, we continue to have a low amount of reported cases, the "pandemic doubling" and continued talk of shortages and other panic rhetoric (Hello, Nancy & Chuck!) will only increase the chances of getting to the panic tipping point where every Joe Blow makes a run for the store.

[Jamisjockey]

Snippet heard on the news this morning. Some US official has said that the chances of the virus becoming a pandemic have doubled since yesterday to 40%.

While, thanks to the evil dictator Trump closing borders and other non-diverse stuff, we continue to have a low amount of reported cases, the "pandemic doubling" and continued talk of shortages and other panic rhetoric (Hello, Nancy & Chuck!) will only increase the chances of getting to the panic tipping point where every Joe Blow makes a run for the store.

I think considering the number of missteps being reported that the administration and other officials have made so far...it's likely going to spike cases this week or next in the US exponentially.  California is going to see a *expletive deleted*it ton of cases soon, mark my words.
Panic only helps the democrats running against Trump.  The markets are back down to levels they were when Obama was in office.  Unless Trump finds a way to come out on top of this, he's gonna sink.
IMHO, his first step should be removing all regulatory barriers to producing the test kits. 

[makattak]

I think considering the number of missteps being reported that the administration and other officials have made so far...it's likely going to spike cases this week or next in the US exponentially.  California is going to see a *expletive deleted*it ton of cases soon, mark my words.
Panic only helps the democrats running against Trump.  The markets are back down to levels they were when Obama was in office.  Unless Trump finds a way to come out on top of this, he's gonna sink.
IMHO, his first step should be removing all regulatory barriers to producing the test kits. 

Are people blaming Trump for the market being down?

I know the Democrats will try to, but I'm not seeing people attacking Trump for the issue.

It would be like blaming President Bush for the market drops after 9/11. This is more likely to cause people to rally to Trump, than against him, I would think.

[WLJ]

Meanwhile the headline over at CNN

    Trump hopes for 'miracle' to make virus disappear

[Jamisjockey]

Are people blaming Trump for the market being down?

I know the Democrats will try to, but I'm not seeing people attacking Trump for the issue.

It would be like blaming President Bush for the market drops after 9/11. This is more likely to cause people to rally to Trump, than against him, I would think.

Of course they will. But it was also one of the things Trump was able to hang his hat on.  Even government sector types (normally D voters) should have been taking long hard looks at their TSP gains and considering how Trump was affecting their bottom line in the long run.  Those gains are gone, some even more so.

The administration and the CDC not being on the same page is not a good sign.  For the CDC to go off script...the administration doesn't look good in this.

[Ben]

I think considering the number of missteps being reported that the administration and other officials have made so far...

I haven't seen much reporting of "missteps" outside of dubious sources like Mr Potatohead on CNN, and I'm not even sure how those reports are missteps? Screening at the borders seems prudent to me.  I would expect if there are missteps, they are mostly going to come at the state/local level (just like with Hurricane Katrina), where I would agree with you that places like CA could blow up, because they're more concerned with a PC response versus a response.

I also agree that regulatory barriers should, with expert medical consultation, be tossed. A vaccine would normally take like a year to be approved, and I was already wondering if the Trump admin might order the normal procedures to be tossed. I seem to recall him already signing something like a year ago regarding people having the right to bypass the FDA and try experimental drugs if they have some serious/terminal illness, so he would seem predisposed to circumventing the normal process.