bigjoey

I am in your boat and doing much of the same things to keep from getting the virus. However, the sad fact is, unless there is a vaccine, we will need to keep doing this. The virus will stay around in one form or another for the foreseeable future. Unless, there is constant testing life will not return to “normal.” In theory, we could go out and be with recovered victims who now have antibodies but what of other people like ourselves who have never been sick and do not have self-immunity? Unless continually tested, one of us could be asymptotic and carrying the virus and unknowingly be spreading it to others without the antibodies. Will we be tested before boarding an airplane or entering a theater? Will there be temperature monitors at entrances to buildings? We are still learning about this virus and the cases in South Korea where people who have recovered and tested negative only to later test positive are frightening. Can the virus be dormant and reactivate? Maybe. We do not yet know. I had chickenpox when I was a child and the virus reactivated six decades later as shingles. Some viruses do not have a vaccine after decades of research like HIV/AIDS. Hopefully, this virus will have a vaccine. My fear is all the things both you and I are doing will need to continue for a very long time.

[quote="Keith30309, There is a microwave procedure that is now being used as well. I know a nurse in NYC who is doing that and had a face book post showing how it should be done.

Just back from the store. They had almost everything like toilet paper, bleach and paper towels. What they did not have were paper napkins (plenty of paper plates). They did not have the “pop-up” wipes out of a can. People were well behaved and about 80% were wearing masks. Store was not crowded. Plenty of flowers (including lilies for Easter) and Easter candy. Full staff and registers had only a single person wait and no long lines. I expect a bigger crowd on Saturday buying for a special Easter dinner on Sunday.

The beauty of capitalism is that the market can usually adjust to new circumstances where a central command and control economy often fails. Here is a great example of a local Kansas City company adjusting: https://fox4kc.com/news/olathe-distillery-hires-laid-off-workers-stops-liquor-production-to-make-disinfectant/ (Note: they are donating product to local hospitals)

I posted this in another thread: https://nypost.com/2020/04/07/51-recovered-coronavirus-patients-test-positive-again-in-south-korea/ Bottom line: there is much we do not know.

Bad news: https://nypost.com/2020/04/07/51-recovered-coronavirus-patients-test-positive-again-in-south-korea/ Bottom line: we are still learning. There is much we do not know. There are two things we need- 1-effective therapies for those who are sick. To lessen the damage done by the virus and speed recovery. 2-a vaccine If a person has been infected and healed but can be infected again, the current playbook goes out the window. Remember there are some viruses that after decades of work there are still no vaccines. Think:HIV/AIDS.

No

Best Passover video ever:

Bill Gates is spending billions to fight this pandemic. https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-gates-factories-7-different-vaccines-to-fight-coronavirus-2020-4?amp The figures in your post are wrong.

Yes, but Orange County without the beach?.

I think the difference has to do with our national “stories.” Until the recent waves of immigrants, no one had to ask a British citizen what does it mean to be British, they instinctively knew and felt it (Japan is still that way as they have allowed almost no immigration). In the United States, in 1776, we had no single national story. In our early years, there were so many different threads that our founders created our story with power coming from the people. A revolutionary idea as at that time, the kings were either gods or god’s appointed representative and ruled in god’s name. Even in our time, the Emperor of Japan was considered a god. We need a different “story” than places like Japan or Britain or Denmark because our society has a different base and origin. Even now, our “story” keeps changing; in the ‘50’s I was taught about us being a melting pot where we were all headed to blend into a single new identity. Now I hear about instead of a melting pot, being a stew where each addition retains some of its original characteristics while still part of a common whole. Currently, a queen fits the British culture, an emperor fits Japan’s culture and we have what we have. I would not belittle another culture for things that fit with their “story”. What works for one culture may not work for another. As you note, to be honest, I do not think things are working out so well for us at the moment; we should not be throwing stones from our glass house.

More frightening is our society’s worship of the famous. Think: Hollywood “Stars” like the Kardashians ?

All societies have customs that seem strange to outsiders. These customs become the glue that holds a civilization together. For example, on meeting someone in some Asian societies you bow while in our society you shake hands. If we were to meet and you held out your hand and instead of extending my hand I gave a short bow, you would think me strange. Pretty much universally, people honor their country’s flag. Think about it: honoring a piece of cloth? Yet, almost everyone does it. It is not just a king or queen that some societies honor. In communist countries it can be a founder (think:Lenin’s body in Moscow) or a founder’s family (think:Kim family in Korea). In China, remember the wife of Mao Tse-Tung:

The key to regaining at least some functionality is the quality of the therapy and the personal there. That is much more important that a beautiful building and furnishings. The SNF facility should have a “discharge plan” for your father with a path of therapy to follow to improve his functioning of daily living skills. His condition, determination and skill of the personal will determine if and how soon he can leave (if ever). Your mother’s capabilities at home will make a big difference, too. If your father is returned to partial functionality, she will bear the burden of picking up the rest. If she can not assist him at all, going home will not happen. I suggest a continuum of care facility. That is a facility that can handle the needs of seniors from completely independent living to skilled nursing (and “memory care”). Where I volunteer there are assisted living units that one spouse can need care and the other one be independent; they have physical therapy and all the support needed for someone like your father. They have staff that can help your father with as much care as he needs (bathing, dressing, toileting, etc). For your mother, help in housekeeping or meals. There are social activities, too. If your father does not respond well to therapy, such a continuum of care facility can have him in the SNF and your mother in the independent living part and she can be with him every day. I would look for an assisted living facility with good support staff for your father if helping him is beyond your mother’s capabilities.

I did read another reason for Louisiana having so many deaths besides Mardi Gras. Almost 85-90% of the cases have a co-factor in addition to the virus. Louisiana ranks #4 for obesity rate. With obesity comes high blood pressure, diabetes, etc. What I have read is that the presence of these co-factors plus the Mardi Gras crowds are the cause of the high Louisiana death rates.

In foreign countries, I have seen shoppers bringing in mesh bags that are easily carried in a pocket or purse. Much more practical for smaller, everyday purchases.

The “Law of Unintended Consequences” at work: 1-trains are too crowded, tell people not to use the trains 2-fewer people use the trains and revenue falls 3-cut service due to lower revenue 4-fewer trains means more people crowded onto trains ?

Full circle is interesting in that the first huge enclosed malls were built because of weather. Here in Kansas City, a man I knew had an uncle in Phoenix. On a Winter visit to him in the early 1960’s, he saw am enclosed mall there so people could have the “Main Street” experience during their brutality hot Summers. The man owned a big piece of land at 95th and Metcalf in Overland Park, KS and in about 1966 built our city’s first enclosed mall so people here could have the “Main Street” experience in our brutality cold Winters and humid Summers. The enclosed mall was a novelty at the time but a huge hit with the public. Up to that point, the malls or shopping districts were open air. Some like the Prairie Village Mall still exist in its 1950’s open air form and the Ward Parkway Mall which originally was open air still exists in modified enclosed form. Fun fact: the Ward Parkway Mall was where the multiplex movie theater was born.?. Stanley Durwood who founded the AMC movie chain was a local man (the chain is still headquartered here). Durwood invented the arm rest drink holder as well.?

I think this will be the case. One friend who owns a high tech computer company has told me as much. I think that it will impact all areas of real estate. For example, as more people get use to shopping on line, expect retail stores to keep shrinking in number and size. Big shopping centers were struggling before the pandemic and this will push many over the edge. I think this will affect college real estate as well both in classrooms and housing as more courses will move online. Why settle for a lecture from an average college professor when you can stream a great University of Pennsylvania professor.?. Why have a big campus and live away from home when it can all be done over the internet? (This week I participated in two interactive classes on ZOOM with 20 people in one class and about 30 in the other. I also “attended” a live lecture in NYC with about 800 people). Instead of spending months on campus, students may come for a few weeks at a time in person and spend the rest of the time online. Housing patterns may change as well. If jobs are not tied to a physical location, people may chose less dense housing than big city high rises. As telemedicine develops, some physical hospital functions may shrink just as outpatient surgery reduced the need for hospital beds. We are still in the early stages of what can be a huge change in real estate.

The real mysteries are: 1-asymptotic people who are contagious but not tested and their number is unknown and only a guess 2-deaths that are attributed to other causes like flu or pneumonia 3-people tested with false negatives

An amazing post. You and the medical personal are doing an amazing job and stories like your about a single patient are more real than the statistics that flood our news. Your post made the pandemic personal and moved me to tears. Thank you for all you are doing. God bless you and others like you.

NPR just had a story from the BBC that in hard hit Italy with medical personal putting their lives at risk (because of lack of gloves, masks and other protective devices), a call went out for medical personnel volunteers for the Lombardy region and 17,000 doctors and nurses volunteered. The personal stories of heroism are amazing. The story talked how Italian medical personal are getting sick but still stay on the job??

I was in China when one of the major flu outbreaks happened (forget which, SARS?). Airports and some office buildings has devices that looked like metal detectors that you walked through but they were really measuring a person’s temperature.

Many people will not take cruises again for fear of being “stuck” at sea: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/31/coronavirus-nine-cruise-ships-stranded-at-sea-while-ports-deny-entry.html

People stepping up to help: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/31/california-health-corps-site-scored-25000-sign-ups-in-its-first-day.html