COVID-19 updates

[LesPalenik]

Man, you know when it is appropriate to joke and hair-split.

I simply want a thermometer that doesn't show dramatically different results within seconds of each measurement. Especially when that discrepancy is between no fever and light fever. I doubt it is the body temperature that jumps up and down within seconds.

I observed also that my digital mouth thermometer shows slightly different results for subsequent measurements.
I would attribute these variances more to the inexactness of the measuring device than to the rapid fluctuations in the body temperature.

[JoeKitchen]

I observed also that my digital mouth thermometer shows slightly different results for subsequent measurements.
I would attribute these variances more to the inexactness of the measuring device than to the rapid fluctuations in the body temperature.

I can tell you it is nearly impossible to get an accurate and precise hygrometer without spending a couple hundred.  I would not be surprised if the same thing is true for a medical thermometer. 

[Alan Goldhammer]

I can tell you it is nearly impossible to get an accurate and precise hygrometer without spending a couple hundred.  I would not be surprised if the same thing is true for a medical thermometer.

The old mercury based thermometers were very accurate and reliable as long as you didn't drop it. 

[LesPalenik]

Interestingly, I have also an ancient mercury-based thermometer which shows more consistent results.

Mercury thermometer are extremely repeatable and accurate over many years. You could put a working mercury thermometer in a time capsule and bury it for 10,000 years and it would still be working accurately. As long as the glass has not been cracked it will continue to function accurately.

[chez]

How do you know?

Try both ends and see what you get.

[RSL]

Then there's this!

[LesPalenik]

Try both ends and see what you get.

Some may find it a pleasurable experience.

[faberryman]

I observed also that my digital mouth thermometer shows slightly different results for subsequent measurements.
I would attribute these variances more to the inexactness of the measuring device than to the rapid fluctuations in the body temperature.

I don't intend to turn this into an analog vs. digital debate, but why would you get a digital thermometer over a mercury thermometer? If you get sick, the last thing you would feel up for is running out to the store for batteries.

[BJL]

Literally what this thread's title says: https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/situation-reports/

[chez]

Some may find it a pleasurable experience.

Just make sure to get the order right.

[Rob C]

I assume you guys undecided about where to put the thermometer know that before using your instrument you are supposed to shake it violently by wrist movements in order to bring the mercury back down the tube and to room temperature (shake the therm. is what I mean)? Alternatively, or in parallel, you can flick it with the back of your finger. Take care not to break it, though.

I used to have a science department/laboratory thermometer when I was working; it was quite a long thing and far better than those short photography darkroom efforts with blue stuff (coloured alcohol?) moving up and down the pipe. I may have it somewhere, but haven't seen it it years. Last use it had was out on the terrace on very hot days just to discover how wild the day was.

Rob

[faberryman]

The stock market was down 3000 points today. We are now within 300 points of where we were on the day Trump was inaugurated.

[faberryman]

I went out today to pick up a prescription and thought I would stop by the grocery store to pick up a few things.  It looked like a swarm of locusts had just gone through. I'll go back when they open at 6:00 am. Hopefully they will have restocked. People are not listening to Trump when he said we don't need to hoard.

[LesPalenik]

I don't intend to turn this into an analog vs. digital debate, but why would you get a digital thermometer over a mercury thermometer? If you get sick, the last thing you would feel up for is running out to the store for batteries.

Digital is quicker. On my thermometer the battery (for a very infrequent usage) lasted over 10 years.

[Rob C]

I’m 67, and diabetic, my wife 66 and mostly healthy and my 90 yo mother lives with us. She is a cancer survivor.  We have been stockpiling for a few weeks And are good for a month or two.  Given my compromise and my mothers age, we closed our doors to the world on Friday. 

We are fortunate that we have the money to survive this, others will be hard hit.  My wife father, 90 lives alone having lost his wife a year ago.  He’s not in the best position mentally since the loss but is in good health.  He refuses to join us her for the short term. My wife has been visiting him daily when possible since her mother’s death, but is very conflicted, as am I about her continuing that practice now.  I’m advocating FaceTime, but there is resistance.

We have no mandatory lockdown yet.  Some business is still open but, based on reports, food stores are near empty.  No word on resupply.   As of today my county has no reported cases.   But cases are present in the state and nearby counties.

We had just stared an 11 unit RV project and I have photographed three as of Friday.  The next prototype is not due until the end of the month and as of today the plant was still open.  I have no idea if they will continue to work and I’ll consider the situation as we get closer to the end of the month.  But I’m fully committed to saying no to the work should it be required. 

We have long considered retiring and have funds ( dwindling quickly as the markets drop today) and availabe Social Security.  I’m reluctant to stop working because I still enjoy it and in physically capable...plus the money is very good for a few months work.  Maybe now might be the time.

But...and this is the kicker...none of us knows what the world looks like in a few month.  Let’s hope it’s still a world we can still recognize.

Here is hoping everyone here survives this mess.  To those of you who are ill, prayers for your swift recovery.  Try and stay safe.  Despite our many differences we are all still here for a common reason and I hope the best for all of you.

Retiring, if you took up pro photography for the love of it, can come back and bite very hard, and getting back into it pretty damned near impossible. Doing amateur photography is anything but the same buzz; for starters, you lose the satisfaction of being asked to do the gig, a big part of the ego-trip kick.

Quite a balancing act: risk with rewards; glad I didn't have to make the choice for the same reason as troubles you today, though!

Good luck.

[Rob C]

I went out today to pick up a prescription and thought I would stop by the grocery store to pick up a few things.  It looked like a swarm of locusts had just gone through. I'll go back when they open at 6:00 am. Hopefully they will have restocked. People are not listening to Trump when he said we don't need to hoard.

Are people listening him anymore, period?

I bet they are listening to the NRA, though.

[JoeKitchen]

You know it's getting interesting when the vegan products start flying off of the shelves!

Just got back from the store and I did not see any rice, beans, chicken, paper products, etc.  Not even a loaf of bread to be had, oddly enough though, plenty of flour and yeast.  Even with all of this sudden free time on people's hands, the still say screw this baking bread shit. 

I mean really, who wants to figure out how proof yeast, knead dough, rise, punch down, shape, re-rise, score and bake.  You'd have to be a mad man.  Much better to complain about a lack of bread then make it. 

I was planning on starting a new wheel of Gouda but felt walking out of the store with 6 gallons of milk would be frowned upon.  So I bought 3 gallons and will get the other 3 gallons tomorrow.   

Boy oh boy.  For a disease where the vast majority not only survive but experience mild symptoms, we sure are going into overdrive. 

[Rob C]

I went out today to pick up a prescription and thought I would stop by the grocery store to pick up a few things.  It looked like a swarm of locusts had just gone through. I'll go back when they open at 6:00 am. Hopefully they will have restocked. People are not listening to Trump when he said we don't need to hoard.

I was at the shops this morning and again after lunch. Still no paper kitchen rolls, and the Kellogs cornflakes were down to two packets: one, perfect, which I took, and another beaten up and split, which I left sitting where it was. I should be stocked for a few days, now, with the making of four servings of thick soup the programme for tomorrow morning after reading the mail etc. Glad the freezer is roomy.

The Internet is proving a godsend in feeling connected to the world at this moment of crisis.

Rob

[Manoli]

Imperial College London advising UKGOV, just issued reserch note:
“ mitigation won’t work, suppression might “

https://www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperial-college/medicine/sph/ide/gida-fellowships/Imperial-College-COVID19-NPI-modelling-16-03-2020.pdf

[MattBurt]

The town I live in (Gunnison, Colorado) has been the center of a few international media stories for how the Spanish Flu was repelled in 1918.
Well, sadly for us the connected world we live in has made Colorado ski country and specifically my home county one of the early hotbeds of infection this time around.

People who live here like to travel and travelers from elsewhere like to visit.

People are getting sick and the towns are more or less in lockdown. A couple three doors down thinks they have it after visiting New Orleans for Mardi Gras but they can't get tested to be sure. We are bracing for a rough time here for a while.