# Off Topic > The Water Cooler >  >  So how is everyone handling the Outbreak?

## scottiex

Hope you are all doing well,

Partly due to nature of our work I hope those of us that work are able to work from home in places where we are locked down and able to maintain a social distance in those countries where we are not.

And hopefully while presumably we are entering a world wide recession, our companies can ride this one out so we can still at least sort out those mortgages.

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## MarvinP

Hey Scott,

I live about 5 miles from the Kirkland "Life Care Home" that had multiple deaths very early in the USA outbreak.  I'm in the boomer age group and knew I was in trouble if I caught this virus.  Then a good golf buddy died on March 13th.  He moved into an upscale retirement village a few years ago so he didn't have to take care of his big house on the golf course.  I guess living close to others has its advantages and disadvantages.  Death being the disadvantage.  Kirkland is east of Seattle about 15 miles but is in my mind the Wuhan of the USA.  Now that big cities are getting the virus all we here is New York, San Francisco and other big cities in the news.  We still haven't got enough virus tests available to see if we are suspect.  Even if we test positive, there is nothing to cure this thing.  Best to just stay home and bank up good karma by helping others with Excel help questions.  

I hope people take this virus serious so it doesn't kill too many people and we find a cure soon. ..  Wash your hands!!  :EEK!:  :Smilie:

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## AliGW

We've been in lock-down and self-isolation as a family here in the UK for nearly two weeks now. The school term ended for me last Friday, but I spent the last week of it teaching from home via MS Teams, which went better than expected. Yesterday I was in a three-hour long meeting via the same platform with a colleague working on an improvised new timetable for the summer term that aims to give our pupils a different, but really worthwhile curriculum now public exams have been cancelled, and this will make the very best use of the remote learning platform and what we have learned collectively over the first week of using it. In short, we are adapting, as it seems pretty certain that our schools will remain closed until September. My daughter, in her last year at school, is distance learning from her bedroom whilst I teach and prepare from our home office. My other half is retired.

In a time of uncertainty and fear there is always hope and ingenuity, necessity being invention's mother. The best thing we can all do is follow the instruction to stay at home and hope that the majority of us will survive this pandemic. Over here several new hospitals have been created from existing venues (conference centres, etc.) ready to treat those who fall ill as the epidemic rises to its peak here. I do hope that POTUS will get a grip over the pond and start taking this seriously instead of self-congratulating: I think our government acted just about in the nick of time.

Stay safe - stay at home - protect key workers, such as our NHS staff.

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## Logit

.
Same as everyone else : self-isolation, purchase groceries once every two weeks, most all businesses in area either closed completely or only doing "curbside sales", all restaurants take out only/curbside sales, all schools closed.
My son lives in Atlanta. The large box stores are allowing maybe 6 to 12 people inside at a time. As one person leaves, another allowed entry. Line of customers extends around the building and out into the parking lots.

I am disheartened that so many people around the world are not taking this seriously. Witnessed by crowds in NYC gathering shoulder to shoulder to watch the Naval Hospital ship enter NY Harbor and plenty of other group gatherings
around the country. 40 - 50 people attending a party at a private residence and having to be arrested for violating the restrictions.

It feels like we are all living through a SciFi movie in real life. The truly scary thing about all of this ?  The lack of self discipline and resilience displayed by so many people. This is a serious pandemic but ... I am saddened for
humanity if something truly apocalyptic were to occur. Humanity's continued existence would be truly threatened.

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## alansidman

Here in the mountains of Colorado, (170 Miles from Denver), life is quiet.  Stores are closed, mountain closed for skiing early.  Tourists have left town.  Restaurants are doing curbside pickup.  We are out on isolated trails walking daily.  Keeping our Social Distance.  Very quiet and eerie in what is usually a very active resort area.  The daily walks/hikes (away from others) really help to keep one's sanity.  Very strange to see lots of snow on the mountain and no one skiing or boarding.

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## scottiex

We are in lock down - it is fairly strict, just supermarkets and chemists open for the most part. We just did a big shop with he hope of not having to do another for 2 weeks. Supermarkets limit you to 2 of each item so that forces you to buy variety. Lines outside the super market are all spaced out for appropriate social distance.

We have a park nearby which we go for a walk in, when people come in the other direction we need to go hard up against the boundary fence (or the cliff on the other side!) to maintain the distance and our schools are now on holiday as they changes the holiday days to make this easier.

I get the impression most people here are taking it seriously although there are always some idiots. possibly some of this is that our government has taken it seriously from the start - maybe still not seriously enough, but there was always a message coming out that an abundance of caution is better than the opposite. 

I think we have a decent change to beat it here and then being surrounded by a lot of sea may act to our advantage in regard to our ability to not have new cases turn up. But we will see.

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## ChemistB

"Stay at home" in New Jersey.  Not quite as bad as "Shelter in place" but people are pretty much self-quarantined.  Family and friends are healthy so far.  NJ is second behind New York in number of cases in USA.  We are one of the smallest states but most densely populated.  Restaurants are all takeout only. Non-essential businesses are closed.  Governor of NJ closed gun shops but kept liquor stores open.  I didn't know alcohol was an essential.  Then the President of USA declared that gun stores were essential businesses so NJ had to open up the gun shops.  Yes, the world has gone crazy.

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## alansidman

Its very clear that when under stress Guns and Alcohol are the answer.   :Smilie:  Not!

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## ChemistB

Yes, as soon as the outbreak hit USA, there was a huge surge in gun and ammo purchasing.  People are watching too many zombie apocalypse movies.

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## Pepe Le Mokko

Don't know what happens at your place, except for the gruesome statistics and the articles of The Guardian I read each day)

Here in Belgium we try to thank and encourage medical staff the best we can.
Every evening, at 8 o'clock sharp, all over the country ( not everybody of course), people open their windows and applaud for a couple of minutes even when they are kilometres away from the nearest hospital.
Police will switch their sirens on also
It's relayed by the TV every day from a different city. ( I watch the French speaking version, but it's the same on the Flemish speaking side)
Restaurants are closed of course, but restaurateurs cook meals for free for the medical staff of nearby hospitals ( probably more appetizing than the sandwiches they prepare in a hurry before a long long day of work and sadness when they lose a patient). Ingredients are provided for free by greengrocers.
People also send videos to the TV of which the best are selected and broadcasted after the 0730 pm news.

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## Logit

> Yes, as soon as the outbreak hit USA, there was a huge surge in gun and ammo purchasing.  People are watching too many zombie apocalypse movies.



I am surprised you don't have zombies in NJ.  They are everywhere in NC. 

Excellent reason to *NOT* 'bug out' to NC thinking you are getting away from the problems.

 :Smilie:

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## ChemistB

There is a large zombie festival in Asbury Park every year but aside from that, we are relatively free of zombies.  I will stay clear of NC until the virus is under control.  Thanks for the tip.   :Smilie:

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## xladept

My last day of work was March 14th.  I go out to the grocery store every 7 or 8 days.  A case of Beer lasts me about 8 days.  I'll soon run out of cigarettes.  My temperature today was 97.6 F.   I'm getting bored :Smilie:

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## Olly

We're fortunate we can both work from home. My home office is well set up - and I have a little helper!  :Cool: 

OMM_wfh_202003.jpg

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## FlameRetired

> My last day of work was March 14th.  I go out to the grocery store every 7 or 8 days.  A case of Beer lasts me about 8 days.  I'll soon run out of cigarettes.  My temperature today was 97.6 F.   *I'm getting bored*



See if this helps.  :Smilie: 
Attachment 670990

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## xladept

Hi Dave,

It said "invalid attachment" - are you in a situation such as I?

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## FlameRetired

I don't know. I'll try again.

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## FlameRetired

See if this attempt does it.
Attachment 670991

or this

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## xladept

@Flame retired - Yes that helps :Smilie:

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## MarvinP

This made me LOL!!   :Smilie:

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## FlameRetired

@ Marvin. Glad it did.

@ scottiex.  Seriously though there is very little change for me at my end because my life style has always leaned heavily toward 'social distancing'. Still I find I am growing impatient just knowing I "can't" do "this" or do "that".  :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic): 

It helps if I skip a day or 3 of "news" and the world-wide rumor/speculation mills, and then touch _lightly_ on them when I do return.

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## scottiex

Olly,

looks like you can put your feet up and relax then  :Smilie: 

very cute indeed.

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## scottiex

FlameRetired,

Yes, all this training we did our whole lives is finally paying off !

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## Stovasaurus

My life hasn't changed as much as others, but I do casual teaching work and that's been moved to Zoom, which took some getting used to. Other than the decreased socialising though, my general life hasn't changed all that much.

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## AliGW

We've been using Teams - teaching from thee garden has been fun!  :Smilie:

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## ChemistB

Here in the USA, C-19 has somehow become a ravine between the two major political parties.  Science has pretty much been thrown out the window and therefore new cases continue to rise in over half of the 50 states.  I will say that New Jersey has been dropping steadily because most people take the restrictions and social distancing very seriously.  Now the US is a breeding ground for the virus and other nations are considering (if they haven't done so already) banning US travelers.  

Other than that, everything is fine.   :Confused:

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## ChemistB

I've read a number of news articles lately that says that businesses are noticing a decrease in productivity with WFH.  Our company announced yesterday that they do want to return to an "Office" environment in the spring.

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## Glenn Kennedy

When I was working F/T I did occasionally WFH, to get away from casual callers, the phone, etc.  Doing that 2-3 days a month, was HUGELY productive.  However, I could easily understand that, with the passage of time, productivity would fall away.  Now, I'm in the happy position of having a small www-based business of my own.  It'll reach the end of its natural life in a few years.  Until then, I can work from a beach anywhere in Asia, Europe, Central America, etc, etc.  In short, from anywhere with a reliable www.  GREAT, until along came Covid...

Currently locked down in cold, wet, dark, miserable Belfast.

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## mrg321

> We're fortunate we can both work from home. My home office is well set up - and I have a little helper! 
> 
> Attachment 670447



I like how you place the left screen, very practical, is it difficult to configure with Win10?

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## AliGW

Welcome to the forum.  :Smilie: 

Do you have a query, or are you just trying to increase your post count? If so, why? We see this as suspicious behaviour, so Ill be keeping an eye in you.  :Smilie:

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## Pete_UK

Water Cooler posts don't contribute to post count.

I haven't seen this thread before now, so it was interesting to see what people thought in the early days of the Pandemic. I was busy gardening in those days, so I didn't log on very much. Fortunately, my large garden has enabled me to social-distance quite easily, and I had my first vaccination on Thursday - roll on early May, when I get the second one (and have a family holiday booked shortly afterwards)!

Pete

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## alansidman

Way to go Pete.  Second shot this Thursday.  I feel  like I won the lotttery!!

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## MarvinP

Hey Alan,

I got my second Pfizer shot today.  I need to crawl back into my cave for another 2 weeks to feel better about meeting anyone for lunch.  Outdoor restaurant implied.

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## xladept

Hi guys, my second Pfizer shot is this Friday.  That's just three weeks between shots.

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## bebo021999

Finally, we have few survivors (mod and guru) to maintain this forum.

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## Glenn Kennedy

Ahhh.  That'll be the microchip booting up!!!  You'll know it's communicating fully with Soros:Gates Central Command when you think BloJo is a good PM.

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## FDibbins

I personally think it's all been blown way out of proportion, and has developed into a political scapegoat.  Yes, those with compromised immune systems or those in poor help are susceptible, but that applies to any virile infection.

A few months ago, my wife tested positive, but her symptoms were loss of taste and smell, and a bit of a scratchy throat.  She is working from home, does curbside grocery pickup and is totally neurotic about wiping down everything before it comes into the house (hmmm seems that worked real well huh?)  So the probability of picking the virus up from outside was pretty slim.

That leave me as the probably culprit.  Working at Home Deport - arguably the worlds largest home improvement store- I am on the front lines and in constant contact with many who refuse to wear a mask (ee's have to).  So, I probably picked up the virus from work, but I had zero symptoms, despite being in the so-called high-risk category...had a massive heart attack, had pneumonia twice (the last 1 almost killed me too), plus being over 60.

Anyway, thats my 2 cents worth on covid, if it gets me, it gets me, but I am just way too stubborn, cantankerous and pig-headed to let a bug get me down lol

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## Glenn Kennedy

Mmmm.  In a typical year, about 40,000 US citizens die from flu.  

https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmc...h=39c774e613ea

The current Covid death toll is around, what, half  a million...

The strain on our health services is absolutely dreadful.  I know (personally) of two hospital doctors who have committed suicide in the last two months, of two Covid fatalities and one more covid-related non-medical suicide.

It will take  a while for the "excess deaths" figures to become available for the first year of the pandemic (it is currently estimated that "only" about 90% of deaths attributed to Covid are primarily caused by it) ...  but the excess deaths figure will be FAR in excess of the worst death toll caused by seasonal flu.

On Pfizer vaccine shot so far... my next one is booked already.

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## AliGW

I'm sorry - I cannot subscribe to the 'storm in a teacup' notion. It is certainly true that the vaccine roll-out, once complete, will manage the COVID virus going forward, and from that point, it will probably be no worse as a killer than seasonal flu, but without the development of the vaccine and the lock-downs that we have had to have, the death toll would have been far, far higher.

It has been a salutatory lesson and one that will make things very different in future if we have another new and global viral threat to deal with.

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## 6StringJazzer

> I personally think it's all been blown way out of proportion, and has developed into a political scapegoat.  Yes, those with compromised immune systems or those in poor help are susceptible, but that applies to any virile infection.



You could have made that argument a year ago but the death counts say different. People tend to look around and say, "Well, I'm OK. My family's OK. So I guess everybody's OK." The political aspects are deciding who gets the blame, and refusing to wear a mask because the government says we should wear a mask. (I swear there are people who would stop bathing if the government said you should bathe regularly.) But the results are not in question. The danger of this virus is that people with no symptoms can readily infect other people.

And, I'm just compelled to say in the friendliest way possible that I think you meant "virulent."  :Smilie: 

covid.JPG

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## Glenn Kennedy

... or viral...

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## scottiex

> It has been a salutatory lesson and one that will make things very different in future if we have another new and global viral threat to deal with.



This is how I view it. 
Globally we have failed quite badly to control a virus which could of course have been worse. Even if one was to feel it isn't worth it this time, we need to have systems and, people being people, we will ignore it if we don't set things up now when millions of people are dying (2.5 million globally plus the other excess deaths).

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## xladept

On the lighter side, when I got my first shot they asked me if I was asymptomatic. :Smilie:  :Smilie:  :Smilie:

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## AliGW

Brilliant!!! LOL!

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## FDibbins

> ... or viral...



yup, that 1 lol

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## FDibbins

I guess I will just keep my head stuck in the sand lol

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## AliGW

My other half had his first jab last Saturday, and I am getting mine next Wednesday, having received my invitation in a text message yesterday. They really are getting through the vaccination programme well now where we are, after a bit of a slow start. I shall be relieved to have some protection finally, especially as I'm back in school from Monday. Hopefully ongoing lateral flow testing of staff and pupils will help to keep everything under control.

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## 6StringJazzer

I'm getting mine in an hour. I don't meet the age requirements for this group but I do have coronary artery disease so lose/win.

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## MarvinP

I got my second shot on 2/21 and am almost ready to have my son visit again.  It's been about a year where we haven't had dinner here together.  

On another note, last month I got an AFib diagnosis.  I'm doing a Cardioversion on Monday to hopefully correct my rhythm.  If not I get a dub, lub, dub, dub,..,dub, lub for life and newer kinds of meds.

If I survive the Covid virus, I'll start thinking about fixing the cataract that was discovered a year ago.   

I guess we need to solve our medical problems one at a time, just like these Excel problems. It is like a real-life game of whack-a-mole, each new problem pops up and we take care of it. The older we get the more and faster the moles get.  :EEK!:

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## alansidman

@Marvin
Cataract procedure is quick and painless.  I had both eyes done 2 years ago.  The Prep takes longer than the actual operation.  The actual procedure is 10 minutes.  Prep time is one hour.  Makes a big difference.  Getting old has it issues, but it does beat the alternative.

Alan

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