How has COVID-19 affected you personally?

I think everyone on my train this morning had a double-seat to themselves. This is unprecedented for a peak-time commuter train into London!

My museum remains open, for now, but is even quieter than it was yesterday. As for other museums, the vast majority are now closed.
 
I hear in Korea that COVID-19 is spreading rapidly in Europe and America. I hope everyone gets through this situation in good health.

And watch out for false rumors. Recently in Seongnam City, Korea, a church named 'Eunhye ui Gang '(which means river of favor) was infected with COVID-19 in large numbers, and this is the believed a cause: That church believed a false rumor that salt water is good to prevent COVID-19, so the church used 'only one sprayer' to spray salt water on the mouths of all worshippers visiting the church.

Once again, be careful of false rumors so that don't go through things like this.
 
Crowthorne said:
I think everyone on my train this morning had a double-seat to themselves. This is unprecedented for a peak-time commuter train into London!

My museum remains open, for now, but is even quieter than it was yesterday. As for other museums, the vast majority are now closed.
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A few colleagues of mine that would normal commute into the office in central London had stopped before this week. Just not worth it if you can work from home.

Checked in on my elderly next door neighbours, they seemed fine but in a few weeks time who knows.

Local shops all out of tinned/long life products.

All a bit mad in the UK at the moment, I walked to the shop as I really needed some fresh veg (if they had it) and seemed bus as usual.
 
Imperator Furiosa said:
I realize I'm far from the only person in my situation but it's scary nonetheless. I'll revisit applying for unemployment again but I can't say I'm hopeful.
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Same here. Wish agencies would be clear on what's going on, wish I could get some help on it but I'm sure the phone lines are way too busy! I work two jobs, they're both closed and I wonder how that's gonna factor in.

I'm seriously considering taking a short term job at the grocery store. I don't want to risk bringing the virus home, but they're hiring overnight shifts and I figure that without the crowds, the risk of catching anything will be very low. Plus the overnight shifts pay more. I wish I knew whether my job is going to stay closed or not! I figure they're waiting to hear if there's a confirmed case in the city but testing for the virus doesn't start here until THURSDAY. So I'm probably not going know about my job situation until Thursday evening at the earliest. I hope there will still be overnight grocery jobs by then.
 
So, today saw swathes of museums close to the public, some for a defined time, others for unspecified period. Was sad seeing the tweets from the Natural History Museum, the staff closing up the empty museum, not knowing when they would see it again. My museum is now closed to visitors, but open to staff, but I'm sure that will change by/over the weekend.
 
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I've thought about looking for temp work but everything around me is shutting down and if I can avoid working in grocery stores I will. I'm not immunocompromised per se but I have a chronic illness that can weaken my immune system and it picked a great time to flare up. Working in a grocery store is probably the worst thing I need to do. Can't get in touch with the unemployment office by phone so I may have to go to a physical office.
 
The governor of California made a statement saying he finds it unlikely few, if any, California schools will reopen before summer break. (Most California schools likely out until the fall, governor says) I really hope this doesn't turn out to be true, I'll go crazy being stuck inside that long. Plus, since this is my senior year, I'd much rather give some of my friends proper goodbyes since I may well never see them again.
 
taun said:
Key question is how their network stands up to so many working remotely...
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My school Outlook account is tied to use of BlackBoard, so usage has gone through the roof. Not only that but everyone is trying so hard to help that I spent almost six hours processing and responding to emails--none of which are even from students yet! I have those coming in to my personal account. I went to IT with a phone that was missing some messages altogether (and had just caused me to miss an email about a conference call I was supposed to be having), and my laptop hasn't shown me any new emails FOR FIVE DAYS. Some of this was a hidden code they found and fixed, but some of it is entirely volume-based.

Meanwhile, things are generally getting pretty bad. I had special permission to be on campus, so I was stunned to see our four office staff huddled in our department office! They were not supposed to be there--only essential personnel--but HR had informed them if they didn't have any work they could do at home, they'd lose their health insurance! In a pandemic! So the very mature and capable women were almost hiding, not wanting to be there, but not able to lose insurance. Fortunately, while I stewed waiting for my call, I started writing to the union rep and our new college president. An hour later, the president came across campus to send our staff home with the promise that she'd make sure they wouldn't lose their insurance. Imagine:. Risk pandemic or lose insurance?
 
Hipporex said:
Plus, since this is my senior year, I'd much rather give some of my friends proper goodbyes since I may well never see them again.
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Better to never see them again because precautions were too stringent, than to never see them again because insufficient precautions were taken!
 
TeaLovingDave said:
Better to never see them again because precautions were too stringent, than to never see them again because insufficient precautions were taken!
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Yeah don't get me wrong, I totally understand why the precautions have been put in place.
 
I got home to a mini-lockdown akin to SF. No businesses open after 8, no restaurant service, Home Depot not letting more than 50 total employees/customers in the vast store at one time. There is a curfew and talk that as of tomorrow, no one would enter or leave our town except emergency personnel. I'm rushing to help my tenant get out on a red-eye to his OR home and my best friend to drive out early tomorrow. With a bunch of National Guard troops trying to contain the outbreak in Westchester County, NY, this is about when conspiracy tbeorists start ranting about it all being a conspiracy to declare martial law so the deep state can take everybody's guns....
 
Hipporex said:
The governor of California made a statement saying he finds it unlikely few, if any, California schools will reopen before summer break. (Most California schools likely out until the fall, governor says) I really hope this doesn't turn out to be true, I'll go crazy being stuck inside that long. Plus, since this is my senior year, I'd much rather give some of my friends proper goodbyes since I may well never see them again.
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Looking true, and there's a variety of reasons behind it so I understand. I do feel for both high school and college seniors, it's rumored that graduations will not be as normal.
Hopefully you are able to get out and about before long, and are able to get back to normal! Admittedly rather glad I'm in a more rural area, as long as we're not on lockdown I can easily get to plenty of quieter nature places.
 
Hipporex said:
The governor of California made a statement saying he finds it unlikely few, if any, California schools will reopen before summer break. (Most California schools likely out until the fall, governor says) I really hope this doesn't turn out to be true, I'll go crazy being stuck inside that long. Plus, since this is my senior year, I'd much rather give some of my friends proper goodbyes since I may well never see them again.
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Don't be too blue. Adverse circumstances like this tend to bring people together with bonds stronger than you could imagine. In 1979, two months before I was going to graduate, the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor had a partial meltdown 40 miles from my home in PA. We were safely to the west, but all of my friends of four years from the Harrisburg Area Debate League schools were evacuated for fear of radiation poisoning. Just like you, it was our final season, final year, with out-of-town friends we didn't know if we'd see again.

Well, we all stayed in such close touch--without cell phones or internet--that we formed a phone chain of 60 kids at 12 schools to check on everybody, found shelter for about 20 families, and the crisis made one young man and I realize how much we meant to one another. Six weeks later, an awful lot about mortality seemed very different, people seemed very valuable, and I was with him at his prom with just the slightest bit of the cooling towers visible from the party venue on the Susquehanna River. All these years later, I'm not in touch with any of my own school classmates, but nothing will ever break the bond we shared over TMI, way before it was forgotten and replaced in text-speak to mean Too Much Information.;)
 
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