Charlie

Here at our "active adult" community, there is a small gym in the community center, and there are rarely more than one or two people in it at any one time. I went to it last Friday, and there were eight people! I'm sure they were trying to avoid the dangers of the commercial gyms they usually go to, but there was less social distancing here than at World Gym. My spouse usually uses the treadmill and stationary bike at the gym here, but now it feels so crowded that he is going to stay away and just take long walks instead.

I think trip insurance is a moneymaker, because very few people actually do cancel their trips. However, in a situation like this, with enormous numbers of people having to cancel, I wonder if companies like Allianz will be in financial trouble.

My friend was referring to a lockdown for residents.

For those who might care: the PS City Manager has just ordered all cannabis lounges in the city to close.

A close friend of mine who lives across the road from the opera house told me today that the gov't has said there will be a lockdown, but they still haven't announced details.

Another major difference between AIDS and COVID-19 is that from the beginning, it was clear that only certain kinds of people who engaged in certain kinds of disreputable behaviors were affected by AIDS. It was easy for Reagan and his administration to avoid dealing aggressively with the disease, or even mentioning its existence, because those kinds of people and those behaviors weren't associated in the public mind with the people who supported him. COVID-19 doesn't discriminate on the basis of political ideology, religious identification, or sexual orientation: anyone can get it, by engaging in the most common activities of daily life. There wasn't much panic over AIDS among the general public once it was clear that most of them weren't at risk; they had to be persuaded into feeling sympathy for the initial victims. It wasn't until heterosexual women, men who didn't use drugs, and babies were affected that compassion for those with AIDS became generally respectable. Many people like to ignore that uncomfortable fact now, but I ran an AIDS Hotline as a volunteer from 1986 to 1989, and I know who was calling with concern and who wasn't.

The primary difference to me is that in the early years of AIDS, we didn't know what was causing it or how it was transmitted. I had acquaintances who died of unusual illnesses which at first didn't even seem clearly related to one another. One of them was a gay doctor who got bizarre symptoms for which he tried to treat himself; he died in 1980, and it wasn't until a couple of years later that we began to connect the dots. By the time another acquaintance died early in 1982, there were rumors going around about a "gay cancer." It wasn't until 1985 that we had a definitive answer about what was really going on.

What a nice hood ornament!

Maybe Traviata?

The hardest part will be at Dulles, where the absolute minimum amount of time to clear customs and immigration seems to be thirty minutes after you de-plane. Try to get as much sleep as possible on the flight from Narita to prepare yourself. Good luck!!

Palm Springs City Manager has used emergency authority to close all bars. Restaurants can stay open, but seated patrons have to be distanced. Group gatherings of more than ten people are discouraged. Governor has asked all Californians over 65 to isolate themselves at home, except for necessary trips to grocery store, pharmacy, or medical appointments; sex with young men seriously frowned upon (OK, that's my interpretation).

If restaurants are closed, how are people who don't have kitchens or pantries supposed to feed themselves? What about workers who can't bring food to work?

I stopped at a local Von's supermarket this morning to buy fresh produce--you can't stockpile lettuce, tomatoes, mushrooms or bananas--and it was the most crowded I have ever seen it on a Sunday morning, my normal time there. The checker told me that when she arrived for work at 5:30am, there was a line of people waiting to get in. They got a fresh stock of tp overnight, and it was all sold out by 7am. It is strange to walk down an aisle and see the shelves normally stocked, then turn a corner into another aisle and see them stripped bare.

I believe Hargitay, in his muscle-builder prime, was also in a show with Mae West.

The OP (tedbear) hasn't been seen on this site in almost four years.

A friend who was at local Costco yesterday said that an employee was stationed at toilet paper area and was handing out no more than two packages per customer. I am beginning to think I may eventually have to dip into my earthquake preparedness supplies. BTW, if everyone is supposed to stay home and self-isolate, who is going to manufacture and transport all the stuff to re-stock the stores?

If you have the time, I would certainly drive rather than fly, plus you will have your own transportation with you while you are here. If you have never done it, I can suggest some routes you might enjoy.

The annual White Party, which was scheduled April 26-29 in Palm Springs, will not be held this year. It may be rescheduled for late October, if circumstances permit.

Are you going to disinfect everything as soon as it is delivered?

One of the reporters for our local paper just happens to be on a vacation cruise in the Pacific right now. She sent an article to the paper about changes to the cruise routine during the past couple of days, one of which is that the ship has stopped letting the passengers use the buffet. All food has to be served to the passengers at their tables by a staff member wearing gloves.

Right now we are dealing with all sorts of incomplete statistics: 1) we don't know how many people are currently infected but have no symptoms; 2) we don't know how many people are ill, but haven't been tested to confirm a diagnosis; 3) we don't know how many people were ill but have already recovered; 3) we don't know how many people became infected but did not become ill; 5) we don't know how many people became infected and died, but the cause of death was attributed to something else; 6) we don't know how many people who have been tested and diagnosed will actually die in the near future; 7) we don't know if there are long term effects of infection, which may contribute to death in the more distant future. In other words, it is much too soon to make firm conclusions on the death rate of COVID-19 vs. influenza, a disease on which we have many years of reliable information. The one certainty is that both diseases are potentially lethal to a significant number of people who are exposed to them.

A good friend of mine told me this morning that she and her husband, who take a couple of cruises each year, still intend to take the cruise in the Mediterranean that they booked a year ago; it leaves April 1st, and ends in Italy. They are both in their 70s, and he has underlying health issues. I told her she is crazy.

I miss Will, who started this thread almost two decades ago, even more than I miss Reece.

It has just been announced that the entire two week Indian Wells tennis tournament, which was supposed to start tomorrow morning, has been cancelled because of the COVID-19 threat. It is one of the biggest tennis events in the world, and the most important event in this area after Coachella, which may also be cancelled. The tourist economy here is going to take a huge economic hit.

Today we learned that we have the first case here in the Coachella Valley. The patient is at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage.