Pandemic preparation? ?

[Guest]

Don't Look Now But The People Responsible For The World's Food Supply Are Starting To Get Sick

 

Sanderson Farms, a large poultry manufacturer and Smithfield Foods, the world's largest pork producer, have both reported their first couple of positive cases of coronavirus. This raises the obvious question: what happens when people critical to the world's food supply start to fall ill?

 

https://www.zerohedge.com/health/dont-look-now-people-responsible-worlds-food-supply-are-starting-get-sick

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

Some had the foresight to become billionaires and buy yachts.

I hope he runs out of toilet paper.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 29, 2020 by Benjamin_Nicholas

[+ tassojunior]

[MEDIA=twitter]1244074000763875328[/MEDIA]

 

and don't overuse hand sanitizers

 

Edited March 29, 2020 by tassojunior

[+ tassojunior]

My 28 yr old cousin posted his experience today:

 

I received my positive test results this morning after over 2 weeks of dealing with the virus and being in self-isolation. At first, I didn't have any symptoms. But then I started to develop an intermittent fever (which means my temp would spike sometimes as high as 102, but would then go back down to normal) and fatigue. Overall, it wasn't that bad of an experience. Almost like a really bad cold, but I never developed a cough. After about a week, the fever and fatigue started to subside and the shortness of breath started to set in.

 

I was tested last Tuesday, the next day I was STRUGGLING to breathe and I could barely move. I was on the verge of going to the ER (looking back now, I should have). Two days after I was tested, I was diagnosed with pneumonia and started to take antibiotics and decongestants. Over the weekend, my breathing did not improve so I was instructed to get an O2 monitor. My oxygen levels hovered between 90 to 95 for days before it finally got above 95.

 

I'm 28 years old and this virus put me down for 2 WEEKS, worse than any flu I've ever had. The virus itself wasn't that bad for me, but the resulting pneumonia is and was extremely terrifying. Most people probably won't experience severe symptoms. But people who have compromised immune systems and/or underlying health conditions, this virus could put them in LIFE OR DEATH SITUATIONS!

Edited April 1, 2020 by tassojunior

[Epigonos]

My 28 yr old cousin posted his experience:

 

 

 

I received my positive test results this morning after over 2 weeks of dealing with the virus and being in self-isolation. At first, I didn't have any symptoms. But then I started to develop an intermittent fever (which means my temp would spike sometimes as high as 102, but would then go back down to normal) and fatigue. Overall, it wasn't that bad of an experience. Almost like a really bad cold, but I never developed a cough. After about a week, the fever and fatigue started to subside and the shortness of breath started to set in.

 

I was tested last Tuesday, the next day I was STRUGGLING to breathe and I could barely move. I was on the verge of going to the ER (looking back now, I should have). Two days after I was tested, I was diagnosed with pneumonia and started to take antibiotics and decongestants. Over the weekend, my breathing did not improve so I was instructed to get an O2 monitor. My oxygen levels hovered between 90 to 95 for days before it finally got above 95.

 

I'm 28 years old and this virus put me down for 2 WEEKS, worse than any flu I've ever had. The virus itself wasn't that bad for me, but the resulting pneumonia is and was extremely terrifying.

 

For most people, they probably won't experience severe symptoms. But people who have compromised immune systems and/or underlying health conditions, this virus could put them in LIFE OR DEATH SITUATIONS!

[Epigonos]

Glad to hear you are on the mend.

My very best.

Epigonos

Edited April 1, 2020 by Epigonos

[+ FrankR]

every mask we see on the street, supermarket, etc. wore by a civilian is a mask that could have been used by a Doctor, nurse, police officer, military personnel, etc.

Agree with you, mostly. I do have a few N95 masks that I have been using over the past few years as part of a home renovation. Hope you wont judge me too harshly if I wear them out on the street... ?

[marylander1940]

Agree with you, mostly. I do have a few N95 masks that I have been using over the past few years as part of a home renovation. Hope you wont judge me too harshly if I wear them out on the street... ?

 

I wouldn't judge you for that.

 

Btw you just reminded me to go find the masks from my previous home renovation.

 

[handiacefailure]

One thing that I am hoping comes from this is that Hiring managers will appreciate how it's the "older" workers that seem to be coming to work. I'm in my 50's and out of all the people coming to work the youngest. I work in property management and we have a lot of retired people doing security and janitorial work for part time supplmental incomes and everyone of them is coming in still. It's the people in their 20's and 30's that won't come in at all. I was chatting with a friend that works for a competitor and said he noticed the same thing with his staff. And people over 50 are the ones that shouldn't be out.

 

One thing is going to be a pain in the ass is the bank we deal with. They were allowing tenants in my building access to the lobby if you just knocked on the door and only allowing one customer in at a time since we don't have a drive through at their branch in my building. Was told today they are no longer allowing business in the lobby and we have to go to the drive thru a few blocks away. Going to be interesting to see if they let me go through it on foot or my bike since I am trying to walk or bike to the office for exercise. I'm fortunate enough to have a parking spot in the attached garage to my building but it's going to be a real pain for downtown businesses whose workers have to park a few blocks away or take the bus. Going to be a real pain if they do it in cities like Chicago and NYC where a lot of people don't have cars and their branches are all lobby only. Our banking can't be done with an ATM for work due to all the accounts we have. And even if it could I think touching an atm keypad is screen spreads it more than being in a lobby.

[+ Charlie]

After telling us for more than a month that only those who are ill should wear a mask, the county authorities suddenly switched gears yesterday and recommended that everyone wear a mask in public. Our HOA president emailed everyone this morning that one of the women in our community has been making homemade masks and donating them to the hospital, but she has a supply that she will sell to residents for $5 each. I called her immediately, and this morning my spouse went to her house (he said there were about 20 people outside!) and bought a mask for each of us. They are very pretty; mine would make a nice cover fabric for a Victorian sofa.

[handiacefailure]

A girl in my office is making masks. But are the cloth ones very effective?

[+ PapaTony]

Just had lunch at an very upscale steak house in my area and the place was full. According to the manager business is as good as ever, however, they are taking some additional cleaning precautions.

I'm just waiting for the idiots in Sacramento to close down all restaurants and airports. Nearly all of our state legislators are in a state of total irrational panic and are being led brilliantly by our dump shit governor.

Your post above is dated 3/12 but I’m just reading it today, 4/1

I’d say we’re lucky to have our dumb shit governor Newsom because California is flattening the curve with new infection rates dropping. Thank heavens for responsible leadership.

 

it’s fun to go back and read older threads to see if or how they hold up to review

[MrMattBig]

A girl in my office is making masks. But are the cloth ones very effective?

Think about it this way:

It's the same as covering your mouth when you cough or sneeze.

In past wildfire seasons in Northern California, people wore masks everywhere as the smoke enveloped San Francisco. While I am sure cloth masks stopped many from breathing in smoke directly, they still had to be inhaling a fair amount while outside. There is also the potential consequence of unnecessary touching your face more as a result.

[+ Charlie]

I wore my new mask to the supermarket today, and it worked well. My only problem was finding a suitable color ball cap to wear with it.

[LivingnLA]

A girl in my office is making masks. But are the cloth ones very effective?

 

What do you mean by effective? N95 masks don't technically protect against dry particle airborne virus transmission or even very small aerosol virus transmission. But, they're a large improvement compared to nothing. They should be reserved for healthcare workers because the environment they're working in has much greater probability of infection-level concentrations of virus particles in respiratory droplets and aerosol because of all the respiratory therapy and support required for patients infected with COVID-19.

 

Masks in public are about a physical and visible reminder not to touch your face, maintain physical distance, and also provide improved community protection when the infected or suspected infected wear them since they dampen the velocity of the output from every cough, sneeze, and exhale while also providing some physical material to catch some of the infectious particles thereby reducing range and concentration in hotzones like grocery stores. For healthy people, it's much more about the masks being on sick people. The issue is that perhaps one third of infected people may be asymptomatic and they do appear to shed. The only way to get them covered up and reduce their shedding, is to make masks a thing for everyone in public spaces too. This article explains the rationale and provides supporting links for more details:

 

https://medium.com/@Cancerwarrior/covid-19-why-we-should-all-wear-masks-there-is-new-scientific-rationale-280e08ceee71

Edited April 2, 2020 by LivingnLA

[handiacefailure]

What do you mean by effective? N95 masks don't technically protect against dry particle airborne virus transmission or even very small aerosol virus transmission. But, they're a large improvement compared to nothing. They should be reserved for healthcare workers because the environment they're working in has much greater probability of infection-level concentrations of virus particles in respiratory droplets and aerosol because of all the respiratory therapy and support required for patients infected with COVID-19.

 

Masks in public are about a physical and visible reminder not to touch your face, maintain physical distance, and also provide improved community protection when the infected or suspected infected wear them since they dampen the velocity of the output from every cough, sneeze, and exhale while also providing some physical material to catch some of the infectious particles thereby reducing range and concentration in hotzones like grocery stores. For healthy people, it's much more about the masks being on sick people. The issue is that perhaps one third of infected people may be asymptomatic and they do appear to shed. The only way to get them covered up and reduce their shedding, is to make masks a thing in public spaces too. This article explains the rationale and provides supporting links for more details:

 

https://medium.com/@Cancerwarrior/covid-19-why-we-should-all-wear-masks-there-is-new-scientific-rationale-280e08ceee71

 

THanks! I've been hearing conflicting info about how effective a homemade cloth mask is against this. I have access to some dust masks our painters use and think I'm going to try to using those. I live alone and have to go to the office sometimes and keep my office door shut at all times now while I'm there but my main fear of exposure is going to place like the grocery store. I stay at least six feet away from people but not everyone else extends that courtesy. Like the idiot at Kroger on Monday who decides to bring her three kids with them (and the one was old enough he could have stayed home and watched the other two) and lets them run all over the store or when picking up an item off the shelf and have someone in a hurry that just comes over next to your and grabs something. Rumor has it that our governor is going to put restrictions in place as to how many people can be in a store later this week. If that happens I hope there are orders that everyone has to stand six feet apart while waiting outside. I'm told that at costco the people waiting to get in the store just form a long line with no six feet space between them.

[+ azdr0710]

just read Costco will be limiting members to just one other person coming in with the member......no kids - yay!!......

[+ E.T.Bass]

THanks! I've been hearing conflicting info about how effective a homemade cloth mask is against this. I have access to some dust masks our painters use and think I'm going to try to using those. I live alone and have to go to the office sometimes and keep my office door shut at all times now while I'm there but my main fear of exposure is going to place like the grocery store. I stay at least six feet away from people but not everyone else extends that courtesy. Like the idiot at Kroger on Monday who decides to bring her three kids with them (and the one was old enough he could have stayed home and watched the other two) and lets them run all over the store or when picking up an item off the shelf and have someone in a hurry that just comes over next to your and grabs something. Rumor has it that our governor is going to put restrictions in place as to how many people can be in a store later this week. If that happens I hope there are orders that everyone has to stand six feet apart while waiting outside. I'm told that at costco the people waiting to get in the store just form a long line with no six feet space between them.

I've received conflicting information about masks from within my own primary care medical group, and also about whether I should get tested. It pays to do one's own due diligence and not assume what some authority tells is best for you.

 

In places like Hong Kong, masks are a common choice to mitigate risk. They have a lot of experience using them to combat epidemics.

 

A homemade mask sounds worthy of investigation.

[BSR]

While stuck at a light, I noticed a billboard saying that Palace Station (a locals casino/hotel just west of the Las Vegas Strip) was hosting a food bank, even though the casino & hotel is currently shut down. Then I noticed the line of cars waiting, which wound all through their rather large parking lot & down the block. I thought that was a lot of cars, but that was just the start! The queue stretched out for 2.5 more miles.

 

Wow, if that many people were queued up for a food bank, then the economic situation has to be awfully bad already. And it will probably get worse.

[BSR]

On a lighter note ...

 

[MEDIA=twitter]1245880011455967235[/MEDIA]

[LivingnLA]

While stuck at a light, I noticed a billboard saying that Palace Station (a locals casino/hotel just west of the Las Vegas Strip) was hosting a food bank, even though the casino & hotel is currently shut down. Then I noticed the line of cars waiting, which wound all through their rather large parking lot & down the block. I thought that was a lot of cars, but that was just the start! The queue stretched out for 2.5 more miles.

 

Wow, if that many people were queued up for a food bank, then the economic situation has to be awfully bad already. And it will probably get worse.

 

At least 40% of Americans can't pay a $400 emergency. Consumers drive 70% of economic activity, but 40-60% of them live on a knife's edge and this has pushed them over the edge. All of us in the top 10% or higher have ignored how distorted and dysfunctional our country is and it may get ugly when unemployment hits 20-30%.

[+ stevenkesslar]

On a lighter note ...

 

Amazon Worker: "Dildos Are Not Essential Items."

 

[MEDIA=twitter]1245880011455967235[/MEDIA]

 

I saw that on TV and my first thought was, That guy's obviously not Gay!

[BSR]

At least 40% of Americans can't pay a $400 emergency. Consumers drive 70% of economic activity, but 40-60% of them live on a knife's edge and this has pushed them over the edge. All of us in the top 10% or higher have ignored how distorted and dysfunctional our country is and it may get ugly when unemployment hits 20-30%.

 

Palace Station's electronic billboard said, "We are closed but our hearts are open. Food bank in our parking lot Thursday from 11 am until food runs out." When I first saw the line, I cynically thought that anybody & everybody was lining up because after all it's free & I doubt they were checking income or bank balances in the parking lot. But when I saw how long the queue was (I drove past aeound 11:30 am), I realized that only people who really needed help would wait in line for so long. 2.5 miles is a lot of cars, and the line looked like it was barely moving.

 

If people are this desperate now, what happens when unemployment reaches 20-30%? What happens if unemployment stays that high for 6 months or a year or longer?

[+ azdr0710]

found this posted over at the other site......3.1 million views in a week

 

[+ tassojunior]

The N95 masks are uncomfortable as hell, especially the ones without a plastic exhale valve. Little air comes through to breathe or exhale. The cloth masks or plain surgical masks of all types are probably a lot more comfortable to use even if not as effective against airborne virus, which is a thing. They would certainly stop you exhaling droplets in a cough or sneeze so they are a courtesy to others. Even if they were to only filter out half of airborne virus, that's a big deal and you're more likely to wear them.

 

Also bicycle masks are sort of Max Maxy looking and are charcoal filtered.

Edited April 3, 2020 by tassojunior