Coronavirus Pandemic 2020

[fgdj2000]

Hey guy,

I just wanted to wish you the best in light of the current crisis and maybe offer a little place to share some of our experiences, be it tragic, ridiculous, maybe even funny.

So far, there are close to 20,000 people infected im my country (Germany), but we still have very few casualties and got a lot more lucky than Italy, Spain and even France. Currently there is no curfew in most of our "Bundesländer" (roughly counties), but pretty much all the shops and restaurants have been closed. As I said before, I teach at a school, and we've been closed for a week now, which means I have to provide tasks for my students online. Since I don't go out much anyway, I actually kind of enjoy this kind of lockdown, since I can catch up on a lot of stuff I really didn't have time for, such as films, series, games and books. And I am still outside with our horses once a day, who are in a remote village, so no human contact, really.

It is very eerie though, since no one really knows what's going to happen or how hard Corona may yet come down on us. There is this quiet dreadful anticipation in the air.
In any case, I do have stores of toilet paper xD

Anyhow, stay healthy, be safe.

Yours sincerely...

[A.G.]

Germany has the lowest death rate among the heavier infected countries. That’s good news! Stay safe, my friend!

I’m in Arizona, one of the lower infected states. I work for a movie theatre company and we closed last week. Working from home. So far things are fairly normal here. Though LA and New York are a mess! I’m a home body anyway, so staying at home is nothing new. Started Last of Us yesterday. Been about 3 years since I played it last. Have to admit, feels strange playing it given how everything is now.

This thing is unreal! Right out of a movie! And the damage this will do to the economy is frightening! Heard different theories on this, but I do hope the warmer summer weather will help. We got extreme dry heat here. Curious how this thing survives in the Arizona heat!

[Cerberus_0408]

Well I'm in the land down under (xD), and we have stepped up precautions so ONLY essential services are open. I'm in the healthcare sector, but luckily we haven't had any viral cases so far. Everybody is being told to stay home, unless absolutely necessary to shop for ingredients.

As an example, here are some measures that the authorities have implemented.

Food courts will be restricted to takeaway like cafes and restaurants

• Beauty therapy, tanning, waxing, nail salons, tattoo parlours, spas and massage parlours will close

• Community and recreation centres, health clubs, fitness centres, yoga, barre, spin facilities, saunas, wellness centres and swimming pools will shut

• Hairdressers and barbers will remain open but be restricted to 30-minute appointments

• Auctions and open house inspections will be cancelled

• Galleries, museums, national institutions, historic sites, libraries, community centres, non-essential facilities, community facilities such as halls will be closed.

• Boot camps and personal training sessions are limited to a maximum of 10 people

• Weddings will be limited to five people and funerals limited to 10

• Australians will also be banned from travelling overseas

• Social events like barbecues, birthdays and house parties must be kept to a “minimum” with a “very small number of guests”

• Non-urgent elective surgeries will be stopped from tonight

[fgdj2000]

Mar 22, 2020 22:52:13 GMT -5 A.G. said:

Germany has the lowest death rate among the heavier infected countries. That’s good news! Stay safe, my friend!

I’m in Arizona, one of the lower infected states. I work for a movie theatre company and we closed last week. Working from home. So far things are fairly normal here. Though LA and New York are a mess! I’m a home body anyway, so staying at home is nothing new. Started Last of Us yesterday. Been about 3 years since I played it last. Have to admit, feels strange playing it given how everything is now.

This thing is unreal! Right out of a movie! And the damage this will do to the economy is frightening! Heard different theories on this, but I do hope the warmer summer weather will help. We got extreme dry heat here. Curious how this thing survives in the Arizona heat!

Absolutely! I this were a movie, the virus would mutate and everyone would turn into a Zombie. 

It's really hard to say as of yet, what the long term effects will be and how long the current state will keep going. I bet my arm that schools won't open after our Easter holiday, at least not fully. Students who were about to write their final exams are left hanging and there is a lot of discussion what should be done about them. I'm creating learning content from home for my various classes and Germany is finally forced to go digital with their schools - something where we have a lot of deficits. 

Anyway, I've really been wondering why we have so relatively few casualties (our mortality rate is 0.4%!). So far, this is because we have an excellent health care system compared to our neighbors (25.000 intensive care beds vs. 3.000 in the UK or 4.000 in France I believe), part of it is, that a vast majority of people who have contracted the desease in our country belong to a fairly young demographic with few risk factors, whereas in Italy a majority o the people infected were part of a very old demographic. Also, many cases aren't even diagnosed in Italy until they take a bad turn, so there are probably a lot more inected than the official numbers say, which means the actual mortality rate isn't close to 10%. Personally, as for Germany, I believe within the next two weeks we may reach the breaking point of our healthcare system (more people are very sick than can be treated), and then we will have a better idea on how bad things might turn up here. Although I do hope for the best.


As for living in shutdown: I've actually got some reading done. I read through The Hobbit in a week and have begun re-reading The Lord of the Rings, which I've never actually finished. I have also started The Witcher on Netflix (which is pretty decent, though not great) and also Disney Plus has finally launched here, so I got to see the first episode of The Mandalorian (which was pretty awesome)! Yay.

Since my fiancé and I don't go out too often, other than spending time with our horses (who are basically nowhere and with her family, who haven't contracted the disease and were only positively tested on influenza), I don't think there is much risk for us right now, other than when we need to get gas or something from the supermarket. And since our schools have been closed for almost two weeks, I also think it's unlikely we've contracted something there. So, finger's crossed.

Anyway, you stay safe, too, A.G. Keep enjoying the time you have for TLOU and also with your wife (?) or otherwise loved ones. 

Take care

[fgdj2000]

Mar 25, 2020 19:37:58 GMT -5 Cerberus_0408 said:

Well I'm in the land down under (xD), and we have stepped up precautions so ONLY essential services are open. I'm in the healthcare sector, but luckily we haven't had any viral cases so far. Everybody is being told to stay home, unless absolutely necessary to shop for ingredients.

As an example, here are some measures that the authorities have implemented.

Food courts will be restricted to takeaway like cafes and restaurants

• Beauty therapy, tanning, waxing, nail salons, tattoo parlours, spas and massage parlours will close

• Community and recreation centres, health clubs, fitness centres, yoga, barre, spin facilities, saunas, wellness centres and swimming pools will shut

• Hairdressers and barbers will remain open but be restricted to 30-minute appointments

• Auctions and open house inspections will be cancelled

• Galleries, museums, national institutions, historic sites, libraries, community centres, non-essential facilities, community facilities such as halls will be closed.

• Boot camps and personal training sessions are limited to a maximum of 10 people

• Weddings will be limited to five people and funerals limited to 10

• Australians will also be banned from travelling overseas

• Social events like barbecues, birthdays and house parties must be kept to a “minimum” with a “very small number of guests”

• Non-urgent elective surgeries will be stopped from tonight

Sounds pretty tough. I hope you don't have to go through something remotely like Italy or Spain and everything remains fairly quiet down there. 

In Germany, all shops have closed other than gas stations and supermarket or other food stores (there's even a chocolate parlor which is still open! I guess chocolate is important to survive ^^). 

There's is also a restriction on crowds. No more than two people can see each other unless they are part of the same household (e.g. families). Our neighbor has to stay at her boyfriend's place (who is our neighbor) and can't go back to her apartment, because her roommate is quarantined after visiting a high risk area. 

Our county's prime minister said, he wants to avoid a curfew and wants that people can still go outside. In our cities, a lot of people have "Schrebergärten" (= little gardens in a separate are) and he still wants them to spend time their, because the are apart enough, so no one can infect each other and being outside is good for your health. However, if the federal government makes a decision about a curfew, he has little say in it. However, so far, I think a complete curfew is unlikely, of matters don't get worse, at least.

So, are you working in a hospital? Or do you have to work from home? How's shutdown life for you? Got time to catch up on some games/ films/ etc. or do you miss going out a whole lot?

Stay safe, stay healthy, best wishes.

[Cerberus_0408]

Mar 26, 2020 9:45:54 GMT -5 fgdj2000 said:

So, are you working in a hospital? Or do you have to work from home? How's shutdown life for you? Got time to catch up on some games/ films/ etc. or do you miss going out a whole lot?

Stay safe, stay healthy, best wishes.

yeah i have to go to the workplace. But it's not that bad. But it's the boredom that gets to me. As for what I've been doing, it's more documentaries on the TV. Also our government is handing out a cash stimulus to individuals and businesses, since many people here are on social welfare and depend on taxpayers money.

As for Germany i didn't even know there WERE 25 thousand ICU wards! We only have 8 patients in that unit and ours is a private hospital. No doubt other hospitals have more but ours is a branch of a larger division. There's even a public hospital opposite where i work. haha.

[A.G.]

Well, USA always strives to be number 1. Now it just moved passed Italy and China in number of infections.

[Cerberus_0408]

that's the worrisome thing. I guessed Hilary would have been a better leader than Trump.

[fgdj2000]

Mar 26, 2020 22:11:25 GMT -5 Cerberus_0408 said:

that's the worrisome thing. I guessed Hilary would have been a better leader than Trump.

I'm not sure, what she'd have done differently to prevent the virus from spreading... not that I disagree

[fgdj2000]

We are catching up! Over 1000 people sadly passed because of COVID-19 in our country. So far we're holding up. Stay safe everyone.

[A.G.]

It’s crazy out there! Makes me think of FoxDie...

We are staying inside. So far both my wife and I are lucky to have our jobs working from home. Not sure how how long that will last though. Hoping this thing peaks by mid April and then starts going down.

[Cerberus_0408]

Apr 5, 2020 17:53:42 GMT -5 A.G. said:

It’s crazy out there! Makes me think of FoxDie...

We are staying inside. So far both my wife and I are lucky to have our jobs working from home. Not sure how how long that will last though. Hoping this thing peaks by mid April and then starts going down.

Haha, so many video games have used a virus as such a weapon. XD

[A.G.]

Just kicked off my April playthrough of MGS2. Some of that Tanker action goodness! In a few weeks, early May, it will be 20 years since that legendary 10 minute MGS2 trailer debuted at E3 2000! Remember downloading it all night over dial up internet!

[fgdj2000]

Right. I remember just how amazing it looked then... and how well it holds up even now.
We didn't have internet back ten, so I bought a gaming magazine which did have this trailer and a few other PS2 trailers.... on VHS!!! xD

I've recently booted up Spider-Man (2018), which I got on a sale last summer. Didn't think I would, but I love it.

Lockdown will start loosening up come end of April. So, maybe by the end of May some degree of normality will come back in our lives.

(though we admittedly are enjoying the additional time with have for each other, all things considered...)