Coronavirus COVID-19 - Global Health Pandemic #48

[Inthedetails]

So I always have advertisement pop-ups while scrolling Websleuths... and this popped up today and I think it looks like a great kitchen project right now, as well as being medicinally valuable too!!!

Sauerkraut is incredibly nutritious and healthy. It provides probiotics and vitamin K2, which are known for their health benefits, and many other nutrients. Eating sauerkraut may help you strengthen your immune system, improve your digestion, reduce your risk of certain diseases, and even lose weight.Mar 12, 2020
How to Make Soured Cabbage Heads (Croatian Kiseli Kupus)

Yes! I'm big into fermenting. Very healthy way to preserve food....and soooo tasty.

jmo

 

[Yesiamapirate]

Hello, can I join you? I am in England. The south west. Luckily I still have my job. Essential worker status but WFH.
I was a nurse for 35 years but changed careers.

I was sent home to work because of asthma.

I used to be a regular here but life got in the way

Welcome!!!

 

[NuttMegg]

Stranded abroad by coronavirus, they have to pay their own way home — and at a higher cost — Miami Herald

“Blair purchased a one-way ticket to Guayaquil in October 2019. He could have flown back to the United States on a commercial flight in March, but he thought the coronavirus restrictions would ease off in early April, so he didn’t feel the urgency to go home until last week.”

“Emergency relief for citizens stranded abroad should be covered,” said Blair, who has been traveling and working on a book in South America since the end of October 2019. “I don’t trust Peruvian healthcare in case I get sick. I would feel more comfortable back home in the United States.”

Travel insurance policies with emergency evacuation provisions would have covered the cost. Blair did not buy one prior to his trip. “
———-
Complaining about the cost of the ticket - had opportunity in March but didn’t feel the urgency until LAST WEEK.

He did not have a return ticket and was going to be there indefinitely- in a place he didn’t trust healthcare if he got sick.

No sympathy for the complainer, except for being caught in a situation he did not cause. The analogy of FEMA helping save people (in the USA) from natural disasters like hurricanes is absurd, ie that taxpayer funds should bail out US travelers in other countries. Flying one way from Lima to the USA is a bargain, at 1k to 2,400k, in these times. Even in normal times last minute tickets are very high cost. This guy made his decision to forego travel/expat medical insurance, knowing that he didn't trust Peruvian health care.
In this case, the US State Department should be congratulated for getting reasonably inexpensive flights to these people who intentionally went off on vacay. I consider them very lucky. Getting an airline to fly emergency flights to areas of the world those airlines don't normally go, to help relocate American travelers, those kids/people are getting a very good deal. But I've seen it all, so am seldom surprised at the entitlement some travelers assume while in foreign countries.
I've been all over this hemisphere and occasionally found myself in dangerous situations when younger. But my automatic inner response was usually guilt for my own decisions, this time I've gone too far, planned poorly, dressed or acted wrongly, shouldn't have taken that cheap taxi all alone, and my time is up. But never in those situations did I claim the US government should get me an emergency flight, free, out of there.

 

[CeeCeeCat]

I read that article earlier today and I cannot believe the Executives risked people's lives. It is scary. I just want to hibernate.

First time in my life that being an introvert has been good. I love the quiet , don't get bored and I am fine staying home. Now that I have been home for 5 weeks and I cannot stand clutter, my house is staying clean and I am still working 40 hours/wk.

Me too. For sure.

Me three. On Tuesday, it’ll be six weeks since I last went anywhere. I was used to working from home anyway, but even so - I love the peace, I love being snoodled up at home with the cats. There’s always something to do...and when there isn’t, I’m quite content to superglue my patootie to the sofa and just daydream.

 

[SeattleStew]

I think back yard pools will be big sellers this year. We gave ours to our son and his family to set up at the new house. If a family has room for it and can afford it, I think it's a wise choice for this summer. My grandkids live in the pool.

From your lips, @Tillicum to my fingers signing into my big box store account. Mr. Stew and I had been considering a pool for years, and now that we have missed about six weeks of our twice weekly water aerobics class at the local muni pool, we went ahead and purchased an above-ground pool, 18 feet x 48" online this morning.

If others are considering it, I would do my homework and not wait too long. The inventory is very very low already. We were finally able to purchase a freezer last week, after searching for almost a month. We were able to get one when I realized I had to check the online inventory every morning for our local big appliance/hardware stores, and when on Wednesday morning one showed up in inventory, I grabbed my keys and drove over there to buy it. It made me think of old Soviet type stories of consumers not having any choice in what type of appliance they could buy, just the one that was available.

Reminds me of the last time I was in a grocery store, before Easter. I thought I would make a nice beef roast, and when I looked in the meat case, there was exactly one roast left! It was a large prime rib with bones, so when I brought it home and DH pulled it out of the bag he couldn't understand why I bought such a big roast, and I had to tell him I bought the only roast!

Stay Home, stay safe, friends!

PS I rather like thinking of a WS cruise, maybe without the actual ship?

 

[MimosaMornings]

I know people who purchased return flights and still have not got back yet due to flight cancellations. A return ticket is no guarantee you can get back at all.

I hope all of them are able to get home safely.

 

[anneg]

it is a horrible thing. I , too, have a couple of friends who had to put down their pets, one a dog, one a cat. The lonliness is so magnified. I keep checking in on one, but he is so reticent that I know he is hurting so much.

We had two cats, littermates, that died a few years ago about a year apart. It was hard to let them go, but we did not adopt another cat (or two) because we were getting older and I was worried about being able to take care of them. Schlepping heavy boxes of cat litter and keeping food stocked up was getting harder. But if I were alone, I would definitely be fostering an older cat or two right now. The love and companionship would mean a lot!

Of course, our two cats mentioned above started out as foster cats... probably some of you know how that goes ...

 

[nhmemorymaker]

I hope the state epidemiologist is in the beach parking lot taking down license plate numbers for the eventual COVID-19 outbreak investigation

That does bring up a difficult thought/discussion. There is discussion of training volunteer cores to do "tracking". I think it is a good idea, that South Korea and Singapore did so well. But will much of that tracking have to be following "bad behavior". Maybe we will see those research studies down the road.

 

[deugirtni]

Stranded abroad by coronavirus, they have to pay their own way home — and at a higher cost — Miami Herald

“Blair purchased a one-way ticket to Guayaquil in October 2019. He could have flown back to the United States on a commercial flight in March, but he thought the coronavirus restrictions would ease off in early April, so he didn’t feel the urgency to go home until last week.”

“Emergency relief for citizens stranded abroad should be covered,” said Blair, who has been traveling and working on a book in South America since the end of October 2019. “I don’t trust Peruvian healthcare in case I get sick. I would feel more comfortable back home in the United States.”

Travel insurance policies with emergency evacuation provisions would have covered the cost. Blair did not buy one prior to his trip. “
———-
Complaining about the cost of the ticket - had opportunity in March but didn’t feel the urgency until LAST WEEK.

He did not have a return ticket and was going to be there indefinitely- in a place he didn’t trust healthcare if he got sick.

This stuff (article above) really bugs me. Have our governments ever issued something like this before (see notice March 20th)? No. (Not that I'm aware of at least?) But yet they don't listen and think they're special and can return whenever they want, regardless. They thought they knew better than their government. Now they complain when they're stuck in a place with inferior healthcare and maybe can't get home. Such entitlement.

US tells citizens to return home

March 20, 2020

The US has issued a new alert, urging its citizens not to travel abroad under any circumstances and to return home if they are already abroad unless they plan to remain overseas.
US tells citizens to return home

 

[nhmemorymaker]

Ladies if u must pee in a bush this summer have a looky loo first. I was camping as a teen and did so in the dead of night. End result was there was barely a spot on my body that didn't have poison ivy. I was one day away from being hospitalized as the Dr. feared it going into my eyes. It didn't but it was awful. Had a bunch of shots, pills and creams. Sooo that's my public service announcement lol

Same happened to my daughter when she was young, and it did get to her eyes... it was a horrible time...she too, was almost hospitalized. I had to ward every school outing or camp of her allergy to poison ivy... we think she did outgrow it thankfully, but it was my lesson too, for never peeing in strange places. Public service announcement dittoed.

 

[Sundog]

Has anyone seen any information posted about closed communities, like the Amish? I am wondering about COVID-19 among the Amish. I assume they have closed their markets, but maybe keeping them open just for members of their communities?

 

[SeattleStew]

That does bring up a difficult thought/discussion. There is discussion of training volunteer cores to do "tracking". I think it is a good idea, that South Korea and Singapore did so well. But will much of that tracking have to be following "bad behavior". Maybe we will see those research studies down the road.

There's a group of online sleuthers I "know" that would be fabulous at this!

 

[nhmemorymaker]

Some interesting differences between Canada and US.

More women are acquiring CoVid in Canada than in the US (as far as I can tell - 55% of Canadian cases are women). Perhaps it's differential testing. Also, so many more people have recovered in Canada. So many more tests done per capita, as well. Good job.

With 1726 new cases in Canada yesterday, Canada should hold steady on its course. They're on the plateau and can get this cycle under management if everyone just stays home for another couple weeks and then Canada can have a common sense opening of some sort.

Again, i would suggest viewing the youtube videos with Dr. John
Campbell. He often shows the statistical differences by gender. His statistical graphs often show the much higher number of male cases in all groups but the oldest people. Saying that since women live longer than men anyway, the number of cases in women in the oldest age bracket show more women, because there simply ARE more women in that group. The cases in Canada may be including much more of these older women.

 

[bluedivergirl]

Snipped

I wonder if this virus is like how I remember the chicken pox (for those of us who experienced that). Some kids got a bad case, others a mild case and didn't feel sick. It seemed like kids were generally better off than adults who got the chicken pox.

When it spread in my neighborhood, it didn't seem like I caught it and my mom assumed I just had a mild case as how could I miss it when all my friends had it.

I caught it later, in my teens, from the kids I babysat. I had a HORRIBLE case of it - very sick. I missed a couple of weeks of school.

Viruses are weird.

I was repeatedly exposed to mumps, through the mom network of Your cousin is sick, we're all going over habit of the times. Never caught the mumps, until I was 14 years old. I was sick as a dog. I lost days laying in bed.

 

[SeattleStew]

Has anyone seen any information posted about closed communities, like the Amish? I am wondering about COVID-19 among the Amish. I assume they have closed their markets, but maybe keeping them open just for members of their communities?

Not about the markets specifically, but an interesting article about the Amish helping with the manufacturing of masks:

In Ohio, the Amish Take On the Coronavirus

 

[Sundog]

This stuff (article above) really bugs me. Have our governments ever issued something like this before (see notice March 20th)? No. (Not that I'm aware of at least?) But yet they don't listen and think they're special and can return whenever they want, regardless. They thought they knew better than their government. Now they complain when they're stuck in a place with inferior healthcare and maybe can't get home. Such entitlement.

US tells citizens to return home

March 20, 2020

The US has issued a new alert, urging its citizens not to travel abroad under any circumstances and to return home if they are already abroad unless they plan to remain overseas.
US tells citizens to return home

At our university, we had to bring home all students who were on study abroad this semester, we did that weeks ago, and were successful with getting all students to return except two. Both of them had developed relationships with someone they met abroad, and neither would return. They had to sign a waiver with the university that they wouldn't hold the university responsible for their decisions to stay abroad. One in Spain and one in Italy.

 

[nhmemorymaker]

Has anyone seen any information posted about closed communities, like the Amish? I am wondering about COVID-19 among the Amish. I assume they have closed their markets, but maybe keeping them open just for members of their communities?

Interesting question. So found this one, just real quickly. But basically it does say "they really follow the right rules"

Amish, Mennonites heeding restrictions on COVID-19

 

[nhmemorymaker]

I NEVER go in the water. I just like to look at it, sip a cocktail and daydream. I have to be able to see where I am walking and what I am stepping on. I guess I will settle for a kiddie pool and use my imagination.

I know this is rather insignificant, but the "imagination" statement makes me mention it. I am working outside a lot, and am so grateful to HAVE a real outside. I have a couple of decks..and am in the process of restaining, cleaning them up real nice! Probably never would have done it this year. But, I have also rearranged the furniture on the deck a few times. As little a task as it is.... I get a "whole new view" and imagination when sitting or working in slightly different locations. Laying on the lounge chair with a book in a new location ..well, just adds a nice change.

 

[NuttMegg]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/inve...7d3824-7139-11ea-aa80-c2470c6b2034_story.html

Contamination at CDC lab delayed rollout of coronavirus tests
"The failure by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to quickly produce a test kit for detecting the novel coronavirus was triggered by a glaring scientific breakdown at the CDC’s central laboratory complex in Atlanta, according to scientists with knowledge of the matter and a determination by federal regulators.

The CDC facilities that assembled the kits violated sound manufacturing practices, resulting in contamination of one of the three test components used in the highly sensitive detection process, the scientists said.

The cross contamination most likely occurred because chemical mixtures were assembled into the kits within a lab space that was also handling synthetic coronavirus material. The scientists also said the proximity deviated from accepted procedures and jeopardized testing for the virus."
------------------------------------------
"The CDC’s delay in changing course after the test problems has hindered efforts to contain the novel coronavirus, which emerged in China in late 2019. It grew to a regional outbreak and, ultimately, a pandemic that has wrought widespread death and an unprecedented shuttering of the U.S. economy. As of April 17, the virus has infected at least 695,369 Americans and killed at least 32,454.

The failure with testing kept the public health labs from performing disease surveillance intended to predict and minimize harm before the virus became widely established in the United States. The impact has been magnified by the nation’s inability to rapidly expand the availability of testing.

There remains no proven cure or vaccine to prevent the onset of the virus, which scientists suspect jumped from an animal species to humans in Wuhan, China. Until effective medical countermeasures emerge, diagnostic testing is crucial to assessing the spread of the virus and containing it."

 

[Trino]

Has anyone seen any information posted about closed communities, like the Amish? I am wondering about COVID-19 among the Amish. I assume they have closed their markets, but maybe keeping them open just for members of their communities?

A nice Amish story...
In Ohio, the Amish Take On the Coronavirus