Corona Virus

[Wandering Daisy]

https://medium.com/@tomaspueyo/coronavi ... d3d9cd99ca

My daughter and her husband are doctors at a relatively small rural hospital. They are the ones most vulnerable. Their hospital only has 5 ventilators and all are now in use. She sent me this link, in efforts to convince me of the seriousness. This is a REALLY geeky, scientific, epimedicalogical work, but I do believe we have a few on this forum who would be able to wade through it. I skimmed it, looked at the graphs, and got the main gist of it.

Everything now is to avoid a large peak of cases as not to overload the capabilities of the medical system. I do think things will get less restrictive by summer backpack season. There should be plenty of places without permits, quotas, etc., that will be open to those who want to "social distance" by backpacking, even if the National Parks keep people out. In the mean time, this is not all that hard for us retired people or those who can work from home; devastating on low income workers and very difficult for those who have children in school.

[bobby49]

We should take notes from the government in the United Kingdom. They needed to get their industries cranked up to produce more products in support of the virus outbreak. Of course, Rolls Royce is one such company. Maybe some day they will have ventilators with chrome bumpers and a leather interior.

[c9h13no3]

My daughter and her husband are doctors at a relatively small rural hospital. They are the ones most vulnerable.

Can someone explain to me why a place like Inyo county, with their 0 confirmed cases of Covid-19, is the most vulnerable? We have 325 cases in the Bay Area as of Tuesday afternoon, and that number is poised to explode. This is a disease that is transmitted by being around people, and sparsely populated areas of the world are much less hard hit than Europe, China, Japan, and the US.

I don't care how you do it, stop seeing/touching/being around other people.

[maverick]

We have 325 cases in the Bay Area as of Tuesday afternoon, and that number is poised to explode.

That's only the confirmed cases, the numbers are probably much, much higher, with some people not being able to get tested yet, and those who are already doing self imposed quarantining.

[c9h13no3]

We have 325 cases in the Bay Area as of Tuesday afternoon, and that number is poised to explode.

That's only the confirmed cases, the numbers are probably much, much higher, with some people not being able to get tested yet, and those who are already doing self imposed quarantining.

Indeed, but confirmed cases is the only number you can compare in an apples to apples sort of way. I think everyone knows the real number is probably 10x the confirmed case #. Most people understand the statistical concept of sampling :P

[creekfeet]

It seems like a full national park closure is inevitable, however, I don't think they should be made off limits entirely. Really they should just temporarily honor Ed Abbey's vision of what parks should be. Close the visitor centers and campgrounds. Block all car travel on roads, but allow people to hike or bike in. Basically just apply Wilderness Area guidelines to the parks. The biggest potential drawback is the parks getting trashed like they did during the last government shutdown, but I believe getting rid of vehicle access would largely weed out the riff-raff.

[maverick]

I don't think they should be made off limits entirely.

That would be great, but it won't happen because of liability issues.

[TurboHike]

This seems like the best thread for posting this:

https://americanalpineclub.org/news/202 ... oronavirus

[Wandering Daisy]

C9- When I said my daughter is vulnerable (she is in Colorado, which does have over 100 cases now), I was referring to the fact that she is a doctor. And yes, rural areas often have very limited medical services. A friend lives in a small town in Wyoming of about 10,000 and 12 of the 15 cases in Wyoming is in her town. All it took was ONE older fellow in an assisted living home to get it. He did not go out at all; they suspect it came in with one of the employees. Rural and small town does not necessarily mean less cases per capita. All it takes is one person to start it. Given there was a period where people expose spread out across the country, there is no place absent the virus. My friend says that the run on groceries has impacted her more- only one store in town and shelves empty. Supplies come in via I-80, which has been closed a lot this winter (they had a 100-vehicle pile up last week killing 3 people and closing the road); blizzard forecast for the rest of this week which will likely stop supply trucks.

I just got back from the store, and EVERY paper product- TP, paper towels, napkins, baby wipes, dog wipes-- ALL GONE. Canned goods low stock. Plenty of vegetables, meat, milk, eggs. I wonder if all the closures on I-80 here up at Donner Pass has caused delivery delays. My husband went to an different store, and the same thing- not a hygiene or paper product in sight. Pretty crazy. I will just keep to my weekly shopping, but go to one store instead of four, and take a shower when I get home. Lots of people in my neighborhood out walking dogs, kids riding bikes, mothers pushing strollers, but everyone doing a good job staying their distance. Getting outdoors, if you can do it and stay the distance, is in my opinion, an "essential" activity to keep one's sanity and reduce stress!

[SSSdave]

People are working on this, getting it together. I'll be at one of these stores 6:45am tomorrow, a couple are a mile away, mercurynews dot com. Curious as to how people will work this. Me blue Nitrile gloves, hand sanitizer, tissues. Would be nice to see some isopropyl alcohol. Will take my ELPH190.

“We are going to allow our seniors 65 and older, and those at risk, to shop during those hours,” Safeway Northern California Division President Brad Street said.

Here’s how the store hours would work. Safeway stores now typically open at 6 a.m. or 7 a.m., so the dedicated hours would run from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, or 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. on those days if it’s a store that typically opens later.
For the time being, during the virus crisis, Safeway isn’t keeping any Bay Area stores open 24 hours a day for retail sales. That way, store workers who would otherwise be at checkout stands to handle purchases could instead work on stocking shelves and doing a nightly “deep clean” of the stores, Safeway said.
“We get shipments overnight,” Street said. “In the morning is our best in-stock position.”

Therefore, Safeway is betting the hours right after a Bay Area store has opened for the day could offer the best opportunity for seniors and others at-risk to shop.\
The supermarket chain will encourage people to adhere to social distancing during special hours for seniors and to use familiar objects to gauge the distance.
“One way to think about this is two shopping carts is about the six-foot mark,” Street said.