Well, I'm now an official stay-at-home.

[Girard442]

I worked yesterday. My company here in NY makes infection control products, so we've been tagged as an essential business. Yesterday, we got word that one of the employees died of coronavirus and that some workers in every shift have tested positive. The company wasn't quite a ghost town yesterday, but it was definitely trending that way. My boss had already told be that I should feel OK with bailing out if I felt I had to.

I was tempted to soldier on. Sitting home reading the news on the Internet and brooding might actually kill me, even if the virus doesn't. Still, in these times, it's thrown into stark relief that no one's decisions affect only themselves. (Seriously, this was always true -- it's just more obvious now.) I live with my GF and she's been working at home for more than a week. I'd be the source of any new infection and I can't do that to her. I can't do that to her family either.

Keep calm and carry on all, and in the words of Samuel L. Jackson:

Stay the fuck home!

[In_The_Wind]

1. Best wishes, Girard. Hopefully you'll be one of the lucky ones.

[barbtries]

2. where did you go?

do you have an opportunity to be tested?

a co-worker in a different state has been fighting it for almost 3 weeks. he's older, but at least he's on the mend. he says it is incredibly debilitating, which should have been a good object lesson for my other co-worker, whose been channeling trump and fox at me and insisting it's just the flu.

[Girard442]

4. I haven't researched the status of testing for healthy people here in NY, but I will.

I don't think they're doing it right now, but I'm looking into it. As far as I know, the people at work who tested positive got the test because they had symptoms.

My sibs are Trumpers. It's like they're boarding the boat to Guyana. I don't know how to get through to them.

[barbtries]

6. i was afraid of that.

We're never going to catch up on proper testing.

The US now has over 100,000 cases than the next hardest hit country. Italy is of course much smaller than the US. But China sure as hell isn't. These are only confirmed cases of course. we've missed our chance to avoid being a repeat of 1918. it's so sad.

How are you keeping distance from your girlfriend? My son works in a grocery store and we live together. We expect to catch it and hope we have mild cases, but I am in a vulnerable population. We still interact. I haven't hugged him in a long time, and I miss it. But at least we're together and not all alone.

Hoping you stay well.

[Girard442]

7. We're in a 2 bedroom, 1 1/2 bath apartment.

We don't share a bathroom or a bedroom right now. The kitchen has always been her territory, but I stay out more these days. I moved my snacks and an electrical doohickey for heating water into my room so I can make my hot chocolate.

I'm feeling optimistic for no obvious good reason, but I like it. I remember the tale told by Earnest K. Gann about the advice given to him by the DC-3 pilot who trained him. He said that if you ever fly into a bad thunderstorm (really, there's no other kind) crank your seat down as low as possible, so you're basically hiding behind the instrument panel, and turn up the cockpit lighting as bright as it will go.

Gann asked, "How does that help?"

The senior pilot replied, "It will make you feel better and at a moment like that, you will take anything you can get."

[barbtries]

8. yes, it is what we need.

i'm up here in my bedroom hand feeding my puppy. i only go out to walk the dogs. my son does all the shopping now. we have separate bathrooms which is great. i go around with disinfectant wipes and wipe down common areas, but i'm still not too optimistic that we will escape this virus with him working where he does.

optimism doesn't hurt. i'm working on it.

[Girard442]

9. Of course, it was really nice when radar was invented the planes could then avoid the thunderstorms.

But back then we didn't have people saying, "It's just rain. What's the big deal?"

[barbtries]

10. right?

donald trump and the republicans have created the perfect storm. it could have been a hard rain, but too late for that now.

[zackymilly]

3. Being essential personnel sucks.

I'm here at work, with allergies, leaving my area and hiding whenever I feel the need to cough because some people are freaking out when they hear you cough. I'm popping cough drops like they're candy. Could possibly say I wasn't feeling well and stay home, but then when I came back to work, it would take me at least a week to straighten out the mess that others created while I was gone. I was training an assistant, but they were ex-military and decided to re-enlist. Plus, no one wants to be considered "Patient Zero" at their workplace. I had to burn up some vacation time last week, and I was getting calls at home that rumors were I had the virus, so when I came back I sent out an email to everyone letting them know that I WAS ON VACATION.

[BootinUp]

5. Patient Zero...lol.

[IronLionZion]

11. When you cough or sneeze, let people know it's allergies

since you don't have a fever, chills, or shortness of breath.

[zackymilly]

12. I do! I yell, "It's allergies! Not a dry cough!" LOL n/t