I was at home Depot this morning picking up some supplies for demolition work and there wasn't a dust mask on the shelf.
Corona Tracker
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jmcd
Professional
Yes!! You would certainly need them in your line of work. I can't even find one to do some insulation work up in my attic.
Annihilator
Emissary
Agree 100%.....
BET7
Ronin
Some interesting articles on the wearing of masks, I came across.
www.livescience.com
time.com
Can wearing a face mask protect you from the new coronavirus?
If you're sick with COVID-19 or caring for someone who is, you should wear a face mask.
Public Health Experts Keep Changing Their Guidance on Whether or Not to Wear Face Masks for Coronavirus
The government and most health experts keep telling the public not to wear face masks for coronavirus. So why are they doing it anyway?
BET7
Ronin
It appears that the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is making rulings that put American citizens health at risk especially where it concerns illegal immigration and the Coronavirus. But that shouldn't be surprising at all where the 9th Circuit Court is involved.
www.foxnews.com
Brandon Judd: To combat coronavirus we must reduce illegal immigration – Supreme Court help is vital
As the coronavirus spreads around the world, all nations have an obligation to do their best to secure their borders and stop as many people as possible who are carrying the virus from entering and infecting others.
BangBang
Professional
Reported... Fake news
BET7
Ronin
Looks like there's so many cases in China that quarantine hotels are collapsing from the amount of quarantined patients housed there (unless it's a cleaver way of the Chinese government reducing its population).
www.foxnews.com
Coronavirus quarantine hotel collapses in China, trapping 70 people
A hotel in China that had been converted into a coronavirus quarantine site collapsed Saturday evening, trapping 70 people.
Annihilator
Emissary
Saw that earlier on tv, something funny is going on over there, it was said on Fox News last night, that China makes all our antibiotics, so, if they did have a “mishap” at a lab, (bio-weapon), they could actually control everybody by with holding production on any antibiotic medication or just not ship it out.......gets scary if you stop and think on it.
The hotel was suspiciously filled with Hong Kong protestors.Looks like there's so many cases in China that quarantine hotels are collapsing from the amount of quarantined patients housed there (unless it's a cleaver way of the Chinese government reducing its population).
Coronavirus quarantine hotel collapses in China, trapping 70 people
A hotel in China that had been converted into a coronavirus quarantine site collapsed Saturday evening, trapping 70 people.
Correct, thanks for pointing it out. I went back and fixed it. I’m typing on my iPad & it autocorrects sometimes incorrectly
Autocorrect pwns us all!
Wow - never thought I'd get to use the word "pwns" again!
-----
Most US experts agree that the time for containment has passed - and that we either are or should now be on mitigation (read: control) protocols.
My personal feeling, as that of many in the scientific community, Stateside, is that the feds did a good job with enacting containment protocols when they did, but that they should have switched to mitigation protocols sooner.
Great observation/question! And those two sources you cited in your later post, BET7 (https://www.thearmorylife.com/forum/threads/corona-tracker.897/page-3#post-17995), are excellent, and both describe the issues concerning "masking up" correctly.
To summarize for folks reading here:
Masks - currently - need to be separated into two types:
Nuisance - or "dust" - masks versus respirators.
The masks that you're used to seeing on TV or at your local hospitals (before COVID-19) on doctors and nursing staff are of the former. It's main use is as a barrier against larger and/or non-toxic particles. Normally, it's used by folks who may have allergies to guard against animal dander or plant pollen. In the healthcare setting, these types of masks are used typically contain aerosolized particles to the person wearing it: this is why you'll see during even the normal flu-season in many doctors' offices a request for those who come in with cold/flu symptoms to mask-up and sit apart from those who are otherwise well. With COVID-19, the idea is to have symptomatic individuals wear these masks so that when they cough or sneeze, what they expel is contained within.
The latter - what you've been hearing a lot about recently as "N95" - is meant more to filter and protect the wearer. In order to accomplish this task, it needs to fit well to the wearer's face.
And here's where the troubles mainly lie, especially with "expired" masks.
^ SMSgtRod, I don't know if what you have are N95s - and if they are, they may be bordering on the line of "expiration" (given that you bought them 4 years ago, and the likelihood of them having sat on the shelves at your retail source).
The nose piece/bridge and straps may both be damaged and/or degrade faster than the mask filtration material itself, and should either of these issues occur, the critical fit/seal will be breached, rendering the mask less effective.
The other issue is as alluded to above - damage to the filter material.
These factors can all be mitigated through correct storage, but still, degradation can occur due to father time alone. A good visual inspection and common-sense should tell the end-user if the masks is operable or not.
A "user seal check" should be performed whether using masks in or out of their expiration dates, and it should be performed EVERY time you don a mask (don't mistake this for a true "Fit Test," however; the user seal check is just a field-expedient method to see if you have a reasonably proper fit, but is no guaranty of such) ----->
^ Note that this is a general-purpose video. The packaging of your chosen mask should provide proper donning procedures as well as its specific user seal check procedures.
Here's a couple of good references on this concern:
FAQ About Use of Stockpiled N95 Filtering Facepiece Respirators for Protection from COVID-19
^ Which references: Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) (which in-turn references the above user seal check.
And 3M's little write-up is a good one for the "tl:dnr" crowd ---->
Why Do Disposable Respirators Have a Defined Shelf Life? |
So, the next logical question would be why would a mask that's still in its original, sealed, packaging "expire?"
My suspicion is that a lot of this is workplace related: workplace storage measures, while it may still allow for individually sealed packages to remain "sterile," may expose the units to other factors which could degrade various aspects of its physical structure.
Temperature swings can be drastic in a warehouse setting if not climate controlled. Similarly, an opened "dispenser box" (think point-of-sale equivalent for retail) can potentially be exposed to sunlight/UV. Vibration may also be a concern (settling of materials over time - while this last one is pure speculation on my part, we do see an equivalent in this with long-term stored "car gun" ammo).
For those of us who prep, if we've folded what was supposed to be a flat-packaged mask for long periods (say, to allow for storage in a "go/bug-out/get-home bag"), things can happen to that material, too.
As for why Asians "mask up," @BET7 , I think this requires a bit of perspective.
A member on XDTalk wrote the following:
Nacho Man on XDTalk said:
I replied as-follows:
I think you'll find it both somewhat ironic as well as perhaps a relief to know that the mask this person was wearing actually better helps protect you than him, if he indeed was sick (forget COVID-19, let's talk about the more immediate threats of influenza and just whatever upper-respiratory bug is going around in your area
Unless that person was wearing an N95, that mask is offering less protection to them than it is helping keep their spittle and nasal discharge contained within (i.e. to them). This is why you'll find signage at doctors' offices, clinics, and hospitals instructing those with flu-like symptoms to don a "surgical"/nuisance mask - it's to protect the other patients as well as healthcare workers from them.
Also, I think it will be helpful for me - as someone who is a first-generation immigrant from Taiwan - to explain a bit why there's been such a crazy run on various "masks" in Asia (as well as various heavily Asian-populated areas in the US, such as where my father lives in Atlanta, GA).
This is because these types of "surgical"/nuisance masks have always been very much a part of daily life in a lot of Asian countries. A part of this is because of the poor air-quality in these rapidly industrializing countries (and no, we're not talking about smog in the way LA has smog - we're talking full-on even healthy adults have a hard time breathing soup-air: New Delhi pollution: India's capital chokes on smog as crop burning continues - CNN). The other part is because germophobic folks see this type of mask as a basic need, kinda like how you'll find those knit white cotton gloves being worn by nearly every service-industry person in those same communities, even though in many instances it offers absolutely no health/sanitation advantage to either the wearer or those whom they are serving.
It's just folk-belief. Kinda like other Asian beliefs like sleeping with the window open or with a fan blowing on you will cause you to die (the wind will snatch away your breath), or that drinking anything other than warm water will cause you anything from gastrointestinal distress to "blood upset" (I have yet to figure out what that one is, despite - or maybe in spit of? - western medical schooling)
So, just how prevalent was masking-up in the days before COVID-19?
Many banks and other sensitive structures in Asian countries have embossed plaques adjacent to entry points that remind patrons to please remove their masks and/or helmets (mopeds, bikes, and motorcycles are popular and cheap means of transportation).
Yes, it's like that!
Unfortunately - and this bothers me because I am a first-generation immigrant - a lot of "Fresh off the Boat" (FOB) immigrants/tourists and even first-generation folks fail to realize just how scary this can look to westerners: many of whom until the outbreak of coronavirus probably have seen plenty of Asian folks masked-up, but who may not have registered it as anything other than perhaps "oh, that person must be sick/immunocompromised." And doubly so because of what's happening in the world today.
A bit more on masks........
Yes, this is indeed the case.
In so much as anything else, sometimes just a physical reminder may help folks to not touch their face as often.
Currently, the best guess scientists have is that the novel coronavirus that's at the root of COVID-19 is spread in the same fashion as seasonal flu: as aerosolized particles or droplets. These droplets will then have to come into direct contact with your mucous membranes while the virus is still viable (anyone's guess, currently - the range is currently from 2 to 28 days, no-one really knows for-sure, but the best-guess is 2 to 3 for certain, and up to 14) in order for person-to-person transmission to occur.
Having that mask on may be akin to wearing a "reminder bracelet" for a loved one. The same goes for wearing gloves.
There's even recently a television personality who prominently wrote "NO" on the back of his hands to remind himself to touch his face less. Is that funny? Yes, it certainly is! But hey, if it works!
But remember, if you wear a mask yet still itch your eyes or reach underneath it to itch your nose/mouth, that mask them becomes zero-sum.
Similarly, without sufficient eye protection, wearing a mask really isn't all that much protection, either.
Yes, this is indeed the case.
In so much as anything else, sometimes just a physical reminder may help folks to not touch their face as often.
Currently, the best guess scientists have is that the novel coronavirus that's at the root of COVID-19 is spread in the same fashion as seasonal flu: as aerosolized particles or droplets. These droplets will then have to come into direct contact with your mucous membranes while the virus is still viable (anyone's guess, currently - the range is currently from 2 to 28 days, no-one really knows for-sure, but the best-guess is 2 to 3 for certain, and up to 14) in order for person-to-person transmission to occur.
Having that mask on may be akin to wearing a "reminder bracelet" for a loved one. The same goes for wearing gloves.
There's even recently a television personality who prominently wrote "NO" on the back of his hands to remind himself to touch his face less. Is that funny? Yes, it certainly is! But hey, if it works!
But remember, if you wear a mask yet still itch your eyes or reach underneath it to itch your nose/mouth, that mask them becomes zero-sum.
Similarly, without sufficient eye protection, wearing a mask really isn't all that much protection, either.
BET7
Ronin
Great write up TSiWRX. Good research.Great observation/question! And those two sources you cited in your later post, BET7 (https://www.thearmorylife.com/forum/threads/corona-tracker.897/page-3#post-17995), are excellent, and both describe the issues concerning "masking up" correctly.
To summarize for folks reading here:
Masks - currently - need to be separated into two types:
Nuisance - or "dust" - masks versus respirators.
The masks that you're used to seeing on TV or at your local hospitals (before COVID-19) on doctors and nursing staff are of the former. It's main use is as a barrier against larger and/or non-toxic particles. Normally, it's used by folks who may have allergies to guard against animal dander or plant pollen. In the healthcare setting, these types of masks are used typically contain aerosolized particles to the person wearing it: this is why you'll see during even the normal flu-season in many doctors' offices a request for those who come in with cold/flu symptoms to mask-up and sit apart from those who are otherwise well. With COVID-19, the idea is to have symptomatic individuals wear these masks so that when they cough or sneeze, what they expel is contained within.
The latter - what you've been hearing a lot about recently as "N95" - is meant more to filter and protect the wearer. In order to accomplish this task, it needs to fit well to the wearer's face.
And here's where the troubles mainly lie, especially with "expired" masks.
^ SMSgtRod, I don't know if what you have are N95s - and if they are, they may be bordering on the line of "expiration" (given that you bought them 4 years ago, and the likelihood of them having sat on the shelves at your retail source).
The nose piece/bridge and straps may both be damaged and/or degrade faster than the mask filtration material itself, and should either of these issues occur, the critical fit/seal will be breached, rendering the mask less effective.
The other issue is as alluded to above - damage to the filter material.
These factors can all be mitigated through correct storage, but still, degradation can occur due to father time alone. A good visual inspection and common-sense should tell the end-user if the masks is operable or not.
A "user seal check" should be performed whether using masks in or out of their expiration dates, and it should be performed EVERY time you don a mask (don't mistake this for a true "Fit Test," however; the user seal check is just a field-expedient method to see if you have a reasonably proper fit, but is no guaranty of such) ----->
^ Note that this is a general-purpose video. The packaging of your chosen mask should provide proper donning procedures as well as its specific user seal check procedures.
Here's a couple of good references on this concern:
FAQ About Use of Stockpiled N95 Filtering Facepiece Respirators for Protection from COVID-19
^ Which references: Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) (which in-turn references the above user seal check.
And 3M's little write-up is a good one for the "tl:dnr" crowd ---->
Why Do Disposable Respirators Have a Defined Shelf Life? |
So, the next logical question would be why would a mask that's still in its original, sealed, packaging "expire?"
My suspicion is that a lot of this is workplace related: workplace storage measures, while it may still allow for individually sealed packages to remain "sterile," may expose the units to other factors which could degrade various aspects of its physical structure.
Temperature swings can be drastic in a warehouse setting if not climate controlled. Similarly, an opened "dispenser box" (think point-of-sale equivalent for retail) can potentially be exposed to sunlight/UV. Vibration may also be a concern (settling of materials over time - while this last one is pure speculation on my part, we do see an equivalent in this with long-term stored "car gun" ammo).
For those of us who prep, if we've folded what was supposed to be a flat-packaged mask for long periods (say, to allow for storage in a "go/bug-out/get-home bag"), things can happen to that material, too.
As for why Asians "mask up," @BET7 , I think this requires a bit of perspective.
A member on XDTalk wrote the following:
I replied as-follows:
I think you'll find it both somewhat ironic as well as perhaps a relief to know that the mask this person was wearing actually better helps protect you than him, if he indeed was sick (forget COVID-19, let's talk about the more immediate threats of influenza and just whatever upper-respiratory bug is going around in your area). That mask serves to catch whatever that person sneezes or coughs out. (And this is why those of us who prep should still purchase these types of masks: so that the ill in our household can mask-up and limit exposure to their loved ones.)
Unless that person was wearing an N95, that mask is offering less protection to them than it is helping keep their spittle and nasal discharge contained within (i.e. to them). This is why you'll find signage at doctors' offices, clinics, and hospitals instructing those with flu-like symptoms to don a "surgical"/nuisance mask - it's to protect the other patients as well as healthcare workers from them.
Also, I think it will be helpful for me - as someone who is a first-generation immigrant from Taiwan - to explain a bit why there's been such a crazy run on various "masks" in Asia (as well as various heavily Asian-populated areas in the US, such as where my father lives in Atlanta, GA).
This is because these types of "surgical"/nuisance masks have always been very much a part of daily life in a lot of Asian countries. A part of this is because of the poor air-quality in these rapidly industrializing countries (and no, we're not talking about smog in the way LA has smog - we're talking full-on even healthy adults have a hard time breathing soup-air: New Delhi pollution: India's capital chokes on smog as crop burning continues - CNN). The other part is because germophobic folks see this type of mask as a basic need, kinda like how you'll find those knit white cotton gloves being worn by nearly every service-industry person in those same communities, even though in many instances it offers absolutely no health/sanitation advantage to either the wearer or those whom they are serving.
It's just folk-belief. Kinda like other Asian beliefs like sleeping with the window open or with a fan blowing on you will cause you to die (the wind will snatch away your breath), or that drinking anything other than warm water will cause you anything from gastrointestinal distress to "blood upset" (I have yet to figure out what that one is, despite - or maybe in spit of? - western medical schooling)
So, just how prevalent was masking-up in the days before COVID-19?
Many banks and other sensitive structures in Asian countries have embossed plaques adjacent to entry points that remind patrons to please remove their masks and/or helmets (mopeds, bikes, and motorcycles are popular and cheap means of transportation).
Yes, it's like that!
Unfortunately - and this bothers me because I am a first-generation immigrant - a lot of "Fresh off the Boat" (FOB) immigrants/tourists and even first-generation folks fail to realize just how scary this can look to westerners: many of whom until the outbreak of coronavirus probably have seen plenty of Asian folks masked-up, but who may not have registered it as anything other than perhaps "oh, that person must be sick/immunocompromised." And doubly so because of what's happening in the world today.
A little while above, I wrote a short post lamenting the lag between containment and mitigation - https://www.thearmorylife.com/forum/threads/corona-tracker.897/page-3#post-18197
And that leads us to the following:
Localized shortages are starting to pop up.
I can't speak for what's happening on-the-ground in areas which are already under higher alert (and I don't mean states like Illinois, where the declaration of a "State of Emergency" occurred after only two cases of confirmed COVID-19 was made so that certain political and regulatory avenues would be opened - rather, I'm talking about places like the Puget Sound region in Washington state) - but what is seen local to me is I believe, based on posts here and in other online communities I belong to, pretty routine.
I'd recommend that those of you who are seeing localized outages of supplies to shop in stores other than the one you're used to going to. You may find that what's completely sold-out in one store to actually be readily available - and perhaps even on-sale! - at another.
Even as of two weeks' ago, here in NE-Ohio (Cleveland metro), big-box stores have been hit hard for both bottled water (weird, because it's unlikely that public works/utilities will fail: actually, in order to keep the home-based quarantines working, our state and local governments will need to insure that power and water continue to flow into residential areas - look at China and the other industrialized countries) as well as things like bleach (weird, too, as just regular soap kills this bug).
Ironically, grocery stores are still fully stocked, though. My local Heinen's (family operated chain) was even having their usual seasonal sale on their own brand of bottled water - which I did purchase...but only because we're literally out and it's time for our seasonal (pre-summer family trips and my training classes) stock-up - of which the shelves were still packed full.
-----
While it is hard to not think that there's something nefarious about this sad event, we need to realize that building inspections and construction quality is often shoddy in these industrialized-but-still-industrializing countries in the Far East.
Extremely prosperous countries like Japan, South Korea, and even Taiwan and localized areas such as Hong Kong may be exceptions, but in a lot of these areas where growth has taken off at staggering rates, there's a lot of back-room dealings and shortcuts being taken while vast sums of monies have exchanged hands to the benefit of a select few "connected" individuals (what the Chinese call "guanxi," which literally translates to "connections" - https://www.forbes.com/sites/michae...-improve-your-business-in-china/#677f55dc5d85).
Architectural safety codes have routinely been abridged, and we've seen several big cases of this in just the past few years, let alone decade:
www.scmp.com
www.scmp.com
www.aljazeera.com
Shoddy materials. Shoddy workmanship. And add that to natural phenomenon (typhoons and earthquakes) and very likely a distinct lack (or corrupt) inspections...it's actually not at all surprising that there's yet another building collapse.
And that leads us to the following:
Localized shortages are starting to pop up.
I can't speak for what's happening on-the-ground in areas which are already under higher alert (and I don't mean states like Illinois, where the declaration of a "State of Emergency" occurred after only two cases of confirmed COVID-19 was made so that certain political and regulatory avenues would be opened - rather, I'm talking about places like the Puget Sound region in Washington state) - but what is seen local to me is I believe, based on posts here and in other online communities I belong to, pretty routine.
I'd recommend that those of you who are seeing localized outages of supplies to shop in stores other than the one you're used to going to. You may find that what's completely sold-out in one store to actually be readily available - and perhaps even on-sale!
- at another. Even as of two weeks' ago, here in NE-Ohio (Cleveland metro), big-box stores have been hit hard for both bottled water (weird, because it's unlikely that public works/utilities will fail: actually, in order to keep the home-based quarantines working, our state and local governments will need to insure that power and water continue to flow into residential areas - look at China and the other industrialized countries) as well as things like bleach (weird, too, as just regular soap kills this bug).
Ironically, grocery stores are still fully stocked, though. My local Heinen's (family operated chain) was even having their usual seasonal sale on their own brand of bottled water - which I did purchase...but only because we're literally out and it's time for our seasonal (pre-summer family trips and my training classes) stock-up - of which the shelves were still packed full.
-----
Looks like there's so many cases in China that quarantine hotels are collapsing from the amount of quarantined patients housed there (unless it's a cleaver way of the Chinese government reducing its population).
Coronavirus quarantine hotel collapses in China, trapping 70 people
A hotel in China that had been converted into a coronavirus quarantine site collapsed Saturday evening, trapping 70 people.
While it is hard to not think that there's something nefarious about this sad event, we need to realize that building inspections and construction quality is often shoddy in these industrialized-but-still-industrializing countries in the Far East.
Extremely prosperous countries like Japan, South Korea, and even Taiwan and localized areas such as Hong Kong may be exceptions, but in a lot of these areas where growth has taken off at staggering rates, there's a lot of back-room dealings and shortcuts being taken while vast sums of monies have exchanged hands to the benefit of a select few "connected" individuals (what the Chinese call "guanxi," which literally translates to "connections" - https://www.forbes.com/sites/michae...-improve-your-business-in-china/#677f55dc5d85).
Architectural safety codes have routinely been abridged, and we've seen several big cases of this in just the past few years, let alone decade:
10 killed after Shanghai building collapses
A further 15 people were being treated in hospital after they were pulled out by rescuers.
www.scmp.com
Shenzhen homeowners use building collapse to make quick profit
Homeowners in Heping Xinqu residential estate raise prices by 20 per cent within a day of the building collapse in anticipation of the Shenzhen government redeveloping the 29-year-old estate.
www.scmp.com
Multiple building collapses in China kill at least 8
Cause of the structural failure is unclear and it isn’t known exactly how many people may be buried in the debris.
Shoddy materials. Shoddy workmanship. And add that to natural phenomenon (typhoons and earthquakes) and very likely a distinct lack (or corrupt) inspections...it's actually not at all surprising that there's yet another building collapse.
They don't even really have to have nefarious motives.
The current COVID-19 is serving to teach us all that the "Just-In-Time" way of doing things in the modern interconnected world has absolute limitations.
The Jaguar/Land Rover group, for example, literally packed a bunch of keys in suitcases and keistered them in, since they were experiencing significant delays with their Chinese factory shipments - Jaguar Land Rover 'shipping parts in suitcases'
My father retired several years ago after decades of being the warehouse manager for an office-supplies distributor that sourced the majority of their goods from China (interestingly, their business model changed about 10 years ago: prior to that, what distinguished their items from their competitors had been that they were primarily Made in the USA, which was actually how the company struck it big-time post-9/11). Talking to my father last weekend, he said that his friend who is still with the company told him that they're now down to less than one months' worth of stock in their warehouses....that if things don't start looking better in China - and soon - they were going to be in trouble.
Even mundane things like paper clips and sheet protectors are going to be affected, soon......
HanzKrickstein
Elite
Geez some people have a lot of time on their hands.
Here life is going on even though the virus is here. I don’t support China by shopping at trash stores like Walmart or Costco so I would never see that idiocy anyway.
Here life is going on even though the virus is here. I don’t support China by shopping at trash stores like Walmart or Costco so I would never see that idiocy anyway.
Maybe the Corona virus was released to stimulate China's economy! People are rushing to buy all the made in China mask's and other protection items.
.^ I think that's funny, too.
But more seriously....you know, I really don't know how that works......
Over the course of the last month, I've heard interview after interview on the BBC with various UK, European, and American business-owners who've suffered production (as well as other) problems due to the coronavirus-induced shut-downs all over China. In many cases, factories are *still* not yet back to their usual output (as based on the typical seasonal lull after the Lunar New Year holiday).
All I've seen/heard have been about our stock markets.
I think I should be paying more attention to what this implies for not only China's economy, but other countries' as well......
And not only in terms of production - remember how I wrote in another thread in these Forums that the "Crazy Rich Asians" Chinese are consuming luxury goods at an incredible rate? With those goods being produced overseas, what effect has a slow-down in the Chinese economy had, there?
--------
Nah, just that the wifey's job is actually in the field - and also that as an academic biological scientist, I feel somewhat of a professional obligation to try to counter the fake news and hysteria that's out there. Same goes for being of Chinese descent.
The problem isn't you - or any of us - "carrying on daily life as-normal."
The problem is that by the estimates of virtually every person I respect (and I don't mean talking heads on TV, here: I mean people I know from real-life) in the medical/scientific community, this bug is more than likely going to cause system-wide disruptions before it plays out.
This means -OUR- ability to get things that's as trivial as personal-hygiene products to items as important as crucial prescription medications (it's not necessarily about products that are "Made In," but rather, just how much China is tied into the international supply-chain: and what's also to remember is that as we're seeing other countries now also enacting increasing measures of mitigation, manufacturing and shipping impacts will likely grow). This means that -OUR- children or grandchildren or nieces or nephews or friends' kids may face school-closures, and that this will translate to our ability to attend work. This means that -OUR- stores may see long lines which could cause, at the minimum, inconvenience.
It's like driving in bad weather.
You can very well be the most careful and prudent driver on the road: but there's still all those other drivers to deal with.....
Unless you - and I don't mean just you by this, @Robotaz , as you, like any of us here, may well be - are truly self-sustaining and without the need to interact with the general populace in any way, there will likely be impacts to that "daily life as-normal."
On another Forum that I participate in, there seems to be an opposition between those who are "going about life as-normal" versus those who want to be more prepared.
I think neither of these ways of going about daily life are unreasonable, nor should they be mutually exclusive or oppositional.
In so far as the current situation is concerned, for most healthy adults, daily life should mostly continue as-normal. And part of that normal - EVERYDAY NORMAL - should (and should have all along) be(en) proper hygiene.
That said, for those whose local authorities have advised or warned against larger gatherings, if they are able to avoid such situations through telecommuting or even visiting stores during off-peak hours, these are measures worth pursuing.
And of-course, for those with chronic health issues that make them more vulnerable to viral illnesses, certainly, modifying daily routines to avoid riskier situations should be a part of the new - hopefully temporary - norms.
^ Where are you located?
I'm always interested in first-person reports that are outside of the usual media chain.
But more seriously....you know, I really don't know how that works......
Over the course of the last month, I've heard interview after interview on the BBC with various UK, European, and American business-owners who've suffered production (as well as other) problems due to the coronavirus-induced shut-downs all over China. In many cases, factories are *still* not yet back to their usual output (as based on the typical seasonal lull after the Lunar New Year holiday).
All I've seen/heard have been about our stock markets.
I think I should be paying more attention to what this implies for not only China's economy, but other countries' as well......
And not only in terms of production - remember how I wrote in another thread in these Forums that the "Crazy Rich Asians" Chinese are consuming luxury goods at an incredible rate? With those goods being produced overseas, what effect has a slow-down in the Chinese economy had, there?
--------
Nah, just that the wifey's job is actually in the field - and also that as an academic biological scientist, I feel somewhat of a professional obligation to try to counter the fake news and hysteria that's out there.
Same goes for being of Chinese descent.The problem isn't you - or any of us - "carrying on daily life as-normal."
The problem is that by the estimates of virtually every person I respect (and I don't mean talking heads on TV, here: I mean people I know from real-life) in the medical/scientific community, this bug is more than likely going to cause system-wide disruptions before it plays out.
This means -OUR- ability to get things that's as trivial as personal-hygiene products to items as important as crucial prescription medications (it's not necessarily about products that are "Made In," but rather, just how much China is tied into the international supply-chain: and what's also to remember is that as we're seeing other countries now also enacting increasing measures of mitigation, manufacturing and shipping impacts will likely grow). This means that -OUR- children or grandchildren or nieces or nephews or friends' kids may face school-closures, and that this will translate to our ability to attend work. This means that -OUR- stores may see long lines which could cause, at the minimum, inconvenience.
It's like driving in bad weather.
You can very well be the most careful and prudent driver on the road: but there's still all those other drivers to deal with.....
Unless you - and I don't mean just you by this, @Robotaz , as you, like any of us here, may well be - are truly self-sustaining and without the need to interact with the general populace in any way, there will likely be impacts to that "daily life as-normal."
On another Forum that I participate in, there seems to be an opposition between those who are "going about life as-normal" versus those who want to be more prepared.
I think neither of these ways of going about daily life are unreasonable, nor should they be mutually exclusive or oppositional.
In so far as the current situation is concerned, for most healthy adults, daily life should mostly continue as-normal. And part of that normal - EVERYDAY NORMAL - should (and should have all along) be(en) proper hygiene.
That said, for those whose local authorities have advised or warned against larger gatherings, if they are able to avoid such situations through telecommuting or even visiting stores during off-peak hours, these are measures worth pursuing.
And of-course, for those with chronic health issues that make them more vulnerable to viral illnesses, certainly, modifying daily routines to avoid riskier situations should be a part of the new - hopefully temporary - norms.
^ Where are you located?
I'm always interested in first-person reports that are outside of the usual media chain.
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HanzKrickstein
Elite
Lexington, KY. It appears nothing has changed here. The city was rocking on an early spring day today.
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