Not exactly.

- It’s not entirely a respiratory illness although the deaths almost all seem to be from respiratory failure. But recently there’s some attention being paid to the gastrointestinal component (including diarrhea).

- The expelled droplets that people breathe or cough out are heavy enough that they only travel 3 - 6 ft and then settle on surfaces where you can pick them up on hands. But they are saying if you stay 6 feet from other people you aren’t going to breathe it in.

I think it stays on surfaces for awhile, so if you touch something and then unknowingly touch your face out of habit as literally everyone does, then you can get it.

So how long does the disease "live" in the droplets once it lands on a surface? Michael Osterholm (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Osterholm) said that the whole "wash your hands!" thing was basically to quell anxiety, and give people a sense of control.

Clearly, wash your hands, but does it really do anything to protect against corona specifically?

I'm debating going to the gym this evening. On the one hand, seems to be tempting fate. On the other, not that hard to stay 3-6 feet away from people at the gym and to wash my hands before I touch my face.

Rumor is we are shutting down production tomorrow. Will see. Def. getting real.

production of what?

As if people never washed their hands regularly before? I'm sure some of you have seen this meme floating around?
https://scontent-fml1-1.xx.fbcdn.net...2c&oe=5EA65D80

I've already accepted the fact that I may eventually be exposed to COVID-19; if worse came to worse, I live in California, I could always apply for state disability insurance, if I had to miss work.

Toilet paper lasts until the cockroaches eat it. I've been a hoarder forever because I have an irrational fear of discovering I'm out in the middle of acute need. So I am currently using TP I bought 2 years ago (it's stacked in the garage, not a closet). I wouldn't worry about what's being hoarded eventually getting used.

I was thinking about buying Kimberly-Clark until I realized however great their sales may be now (TP, Kleenex), it's just pulling forward demand. When the crisis is over, demand will collapse because whatever the hoarders buy they can use the rest of their lives. It won't go bad.

edit double post

TV show. We would have shut down around April 1 otherwise. Rumors all over Hollywood of shows shutting down.

Looks like Broadway in NYC is shutting down imminently.

Your problem comes if you aren't exposed, just laid off because your employer shuts or has no business. Under current rules to get unemployment, which is hardly sufficient anyway, you have to be looking for work. Not only is nobody likely to be hiring but we don't want people out looking for work right now. That needs to be fixed.

https://www.livescience.com/how-long...-surfaces.html

People touch their faces without realizing it. One video went viral of some "expert" telling people not to touch their faces WHILE REPEATEDLY TOUCHING HER FACE.

Interesting sidebar re gym. I was watching some financial show and one participant suggested people can all go out and buy Peleton machines so the don't need to go to the gym. Another person on the show remarked, "Well, people in OUR demographic can do that anyway." Another reminder the rich have more money than the rest of us (or used to).

Unfortunately yea. How often do you use public restrooms? The amount of men (assume women too, but can't speak on it) that don't wash their hands with soap is insane. I have to imagine that if you don't wash your hands in the bathroom, you aren't randomly washing your hands for good hygiene other times throughout the day.

My sisters extended family in Italy was so excited by this "new method" to prevent the spread of coronavirus: sneezing/coughing into your elbow. There its uncommon to keep hand soap anywhere but the bathroom since it's uncommon to wash your hands before/after cooking/eating. Its surprising but not shocking at how it has spread there...

Good thing I'm washing my hands frequently!

You have to be looking for work, yes, but if your company does not dispute that you were laid off or not terminated for cause, then you qualify for unemployment. That's how the California EDD works, anyway (I work in HR).

To be denied unemployment benefits, basically a person has to be terminated for gross negligence or willful misconduct. For example, a person can be terminated if the employer feels they weren't "up to speed," but that doesn't constitute gross negligence or willful misconduct, and wouldn't disqualify them from getting unemployment.

So since we have an expert, I'm worried about my friend. He works for a major hotel chain at a San Francisco location. With all the conventions cancelled and tourism from Asia and now Europe shut off, hotels in the city are empty. So he was not given any "hours". Not fired, not formally laid off. Just no "hours" so he isn't working. He told me he was applying for unemployment. But how does that work since I guess he's still technically employed?

Disturbing images, scene from an Italian hospital - and these are the 'lucky' ones who got access to ventilation machines, while hundreds are dying because of lack of

https://media.apnarm.net.au/media/im...yyt2_t1880.jpg
https://news.sky.com/video/inside-th...ients-11954241

I'm no expert, but anyway, yes, he can apply for unemployment. If you are a full-time employee and your hours were reduced, and you weren't officially made a "part-time" employee, and if you are not being scheduled to work because "things have slowed down," you can apply and be approved for unemployment benefits.

If you are a seasonal worker, a contract worker, or officially signed up for a temporary job with a company where you know the date of when your job will end, you can't apply for unemployment. Well, you can apply, but you'll be denied.

That video looks straight out of Soderbergh's Contagion. Terrifying.

Funny you should say that:

Contagion’s Screenwriter on Watching His Movie Go Viral: Scott Z. Burns on why the coronavirus pandemic is better—and worse—than the one he imagined.

My friend has been working for them for 12 years. He gets (or has gotten) full benefits (which are excellent) so I assume he's officially full time (when I once was a part-time employee I got no benefits so I think that's a "tell" but it's all I know about it).

The scariest thing about that photo is the patients lying on their stomachs. That's a desparation move:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19903918

In other words, they are trying it because there's nothing else they can do for these people but it probably won't work.