How are you dealing with Covid-19 (Novel Coronavirus) ?

[Mmathis]

On mask wearing: agreed with mmathis about seeing many wear them incorrectly. They do no good if they don’t cover nose and mouth with a snug seal all the way around. I see plenty of home made fabric ones that are no better than bandanas, with gaps between nose and cheeks, along the sides, under the chin. It is a risk of creating a false sense of security. And that to me is more of a threat that knowing you may be at risk with no mask but staying 6+ft apart, compared to standing closer with a faulty fitting mask.

Gloves are another false sense of security, for the general public, that is.

 

[addy1]

Gloves are another false sense of security, for the general public, that is.

I am very hand trained from working in the medical field for many years. Gloves no gloves face is never touched. I see people with gloves on rubbing their nose, eyes, holding phone.

I don't take my purse, phone or anything extra into stores, just one cc in the pocket.

 

[reefsr]

How has it affected me? Well, I am still a student so it has quite a lot. I've obtained 6 months of free time (although online schooling did surprisingly take up a bit of time during the weekdays) to just hang out and relax which was very nice. I haven't had this long off of school since before I even went to school.

It does certainly limit the places I go and where I want to go if I want to get things done. However I don't fear for my life at all since I am young and I have no health issues whatsoever. What surprised me is that, although there is no sight for a cure, we are going back to school.

Where I live, in a certain county in Michigan, 1 in every 88 people have a chance of being infected. My school has around 1,500 students. I trust masks and what they will be doing to prevent us from spreading it, but I am really shocked it isn't in stage 3 yet (iirc, that's the mandatory stage in which we do online schooling). Right now, it's an option of going back or having a third party teach you online. I'm going back so I can get the best education I can.

I'm happy with how Michigan's governor handled our situation. Michigan went from the 4th worst state down to the 14th worst state. The cases are rising here and so are the deaths, but they aren't as crazy as others. We get on average 200-600 cases a day and that has not changed since COVID shut us down, showing that our measures do work and it's not as exponential here as it is in other places.

I'm very disappointed in our president throughout this entire pandemic though. Seriously, "stop testing so no more cases appear" how awful is that? The government and the people of the US could be handling it a lot better. The virus is real, stop pretending it isn't. Don't disrespect the hundreds of thousands of people dying worldwide from this incurable and exponentially growing virus.

 

[CometKeith]

Given your attitude towards my posts I suspect this is a disingenuous question. If not, most civics questions are easily Google-able. Clearly you think mask mandates are some sort of executive overreach while I think they're necessary for the portion of society that lacks in empathy. You seem to think we should stay the course while I'm baffled that 146,000 avoidable deaths haven't ground society to a halt.

I think this thread has ruined this forum for me. I've enjoyed seeing everyone's ponds and occasionally getting some tips over the last few years but what should be a place for relaxing discussion has turned into a source of high blood pressure. If a moderator sees this feel free to delete my account.

Hey Andrew. I started this thread so I thought i would throw my two cents in because you sounded pretty upset . I hope you choose to stay on GPF. Without naming anyone... there are some people here that will not let their viewpoint die down no matter how nonsensical it may seem to you and I. I think most the people here are nice people, but this issue has really divided people. I think it doesn't help when there is such a confused national policy and people don't know who to listen to. I have coped with this issue in two ways for this thread. Either I ignore this thread completely even though I started it and let everyone say whatever they want no matter how illogical it sounds to me, or I just simply skip over the repugnant posts when I'm reading comments from other posters. I hope you stay on. There are some really good people here and great info on ponds. Also your viewpoint about being safe and taking proper precautions is shared by most the people here. It's just that we are not repeating it over and over every day as some of the other people that have different viewpoints are doing. Keith

 

[GBBUDD]

Other side of the coin not hiding do what needs to be done .

 

[Mmathis]

@reefsr Our state (Louisiana) sounds like yours. Our governor has taken a proactive stance. At one point, I think we were 3rd, with the New Orleans area being the epicenter. We are now maybe 11th or 12th (?). Still not good, but when you look at states that have a high tourism status, and the fact that Mardi Gras fell at the front end of the epidemic....

I refuse to get into political debates over this (except with my hubby), because this should never have been about politics, but I too, am disappointed by the way our government has reacted and handled this. I am also really pissed at the media!

 

[Phaewryn]

How has it affected me? Well, I am still a student so it has quite a lot. I've obtained 6 months of free time (although online schooling did surprisingly take up a bit of time during the weekdays) to just hang out and relax which was very nice. I haven't had this long off of school since before I even went to school.

The best part for me as a student during this time was that I got to take what would have been a very stressful timed and proctored final exam for me online with no time limit. This is an exam that normally is timed and has to be taken on campus in another city, and proctored. For someone with a disabling anxiety condition, I had put off this final exam for an entire year, even after I'd finished all my courses and had an excellent GPA, simply because the exam's time limit and having to travel on a bus to another city (where if I didn't get my timing exactly right I might have been stranded outside overnight) was overwhelming for my anxiety. I'm so very thankful that COVID made this exam something that wasn't debilitating for me. I passed it on the first attempt, something I am sure would have never happened if it had been done the normal way.

 

[addy1]

Totally understand, my masters exam was 3 phd's professors questioning me until I would finally say I know no more. It went on for about 3 hours. Then my exam for the field I ended up in was three days, written, oral, practical, had to fly to a different state to take it................talk about stress!

 

[ReneeFLL]

Who's against following requests? I'm against governors making mandates and pretending they made laws. Ask me nicely and I'll probably do it. Tell me I have no choice and I'm going to check that out. Our governor recently posted that "it's just like wearing a seatbelt - you have no choice". Um... I'm pretty sure we made a LAW about that old seat belt thing there Mr. Governor. And until it was a law, lots of people debated the merits. If you'd like to handle masks in the same fashion, let's go. The problem is he won't let our legislators back into session - TOO DANGEROUS! How about a Zoom meeting there guys and gals?

@WaterGardener - some 12 million people work in health care in the US. 600 deaths - which again, I realize EVERY ONE OF THOSE is someone who meant something to a lot of people - but statistically you realize that actually proves the point. These are people who are being DIRECTLY EXPOSED to the virus all day, every day with .005% dying. That's actually encouraging.

Why do they have to make it a law before people will follow what the doctors are suggesting is best for them? Do you really want some of these mandates to become permanent laws?

One thing I have yet to see unless I missed it is the horrible complications that some people are having afterwards. For those that say the flu is worse than covid show me where there are all the bad complications people will be dealing with for a long time and some maybe for years. When has the flu caused people to have to attend physical therapy among other things in order to try to recover? I could go on and on, but I know some people are like horses with blinders on so I will let it be.

Edited to say I missed Andrews comment about the after effects of the virus since I hadn't read that far.

 

[ReneeFLL]

WOW no wonder this country is so bad right now. IT WAS

So someone please tell me why a walmart employee a home depot a burger king and bank teller an electrician a garbage man ALL HAVE TO COME OR SERVE YOU WHEN YOU ARE NOT WILLING TO HELP THEM ? why the Dr and the Nurse should serve you when you are not willing to teach there kids. TO HELP THEM. this is beyond sad

Probably because those people choose to and some of the teachers don't want to. Nothing wrong with that.

 

[zeuspaul]

Not much has changed for me. I am retired and don't go out much. I am slightly inconvenienced by wearing a mask. I don't need anyone to mandate it. I listen to the consensus of the scientific community and the health professionals. I am thankful for mandates when they are in place because more people wear masks when told to do so. I stopped going to our local market because I saw others not wearing masks for whatever reason.

I have more time on my hands now because I use Instacart for my shopping. I spend the extra time doing chores mostly in the garden. I leave a generous tip. I make sure they get at least $20 per hour plus whatever small amount Instacart pays them. I figure they work about 2 hours between shopping and delivery. I used to spend about half my grocery bill at Trader Joe's. Now they get zero because they don't have a delivery option.

 

[ReneeFLL]

This virus hasn't been to bad for us. We don't have our usual gatherings, a 28 day cruise was cancelled and no other vacations planned until things get better. We don't want to wear masks, we hate wearing masks, but we ALWAYS wear our masks along with all the other precautions, do more online ordering, haven't been out to eat and haven't ordered takeout. We aren't in the high risk group, but we definitely don't want to catch it. Far to many unknowns so we would rather not risk it. Hubby is a pilot for AA and he hasn't flown since the end of March, but luckily he's still getting paid. I haven't worked in over 10 years by choice so I don't have to worry about that. We are staying at home, getting some things done and enjoying his extra time off. Stay safe everyone.

 

[Lisak1]

there are some people here that will not let their viewpoint die down

I think pretty much everyone has stated their viewpoint and supported their reasoning. And honestly, I don't think either side is "wrong" when it comes to what they believe they should do. How can you fault someone for doing what they feel is best for their own health? That should be our prerogative. I don't think that doing so should make anyone fall into the category of "repugnant". We're all individuals with our own unique circumstances. My concerns don't have to be your concerns and vice versa for us to care about each other. I think we've gone waaaaaaay overboard when we have people verbally assaulting other people for their mask-less face - every bit of research says you have to spend a good deal of time with someone in close proximity in order for them to infect you. If you're sitting next to them on a train, you might want to choose another seat. But if you're passing by them in the store, just keep moving. You'll be fine.

And I don't feel for one minute this should be - nor should it EVER have been - a political discussion. (And if you think both sides aren't responsible for politicizing this, I don't know what to tell you about that.) But I will continue to expect my elected officials to act within the scope of the constitution. Don't make "mandates" and pretend they are laws. We still have three separate branches in our governments. Don't overstep, overreach, or underestimate the will of the people. I will be a nut when it comes to my constitutional rights.

One thing that has been disappointing to me - speaking of our officials - is the sheer lack of advice to do whatever you can to protect your own health. "Wear a mask, wash your hands, stay six feet apart" - great, but how about build up your immune system, research supplements that are known to help fight infections and viruses, lose weight, work to get off all the medications that we Americans are so dependent on, get fresh air, sunshine, exercise... take responsibility for your own health. Is it a guarantee that you won't get Covid - no. But you'll give yourself a much better chance of recovery from this or any other bug that catches up to you if you are as healthy as you humanly can be. We hear over and over again that people with co-morbidities are more likely to die of Covid. While none of us can adjust the age bracket we fall into, we can certainly try to change the things that are within our power to change.

 

[WaterGardener]

The so called building up your immune system is not all it's cracked up to be, and really not desirable if it were even possible. I understand what you are saying, that you want to be as healthy as you can be, but understand that your immune system is what is causing the symptoms and doing most of the damage to the human body. The stronger the immune system the more of a reaction it can create. On the other hand, those with compromised immune systems are more at risk of getting this virus and not being able to fight it off. Pretty contradictory, isn't it.

When there is an infection, the immune system kicks in to create more mucus if you have a respiratory infection. But that mucus can get to be too much and drown your lungs. The immune system is also the reason you have a fever. It's trying to burn out the infection. Some patients are having an over-reaction by their immune systems that is killing them. Having a good immune system can backfire.

There is no immunity to this. You can't necessarily beat it with a good immune system. If you have a healthy lifestyle you probably have a better chance of survival, but there is no guarantee of that either. No ones knows enough about this to know the best approach to curing it.

So it seems the best thing is to avoid getting it, whatever way we can.

Here's an article that can explain this much better than I can:

Can the immune system be boosted?

What are the best ways to boost the immune system and can they give you enhanced protection against infections and diseases? We take a look.

www.medicalnewstoday.com

 

[addy1]

Hubby and I hardly ever get sick, the last time I had anything was over two years ago, my nieces kids shared kid germs with me. We have strong immune systems.

I have noticed when I do catch something I am usually pretty sick. Colds = bronchitis, never had the flu so no clue on that. Since this attacks the lungs, I know I will have a issue with it, based on my bodies reaction to a normal cold. Head, throat then down into the lungs.

So it seems the best thing is to avoid getting it, whatever way we can.

So we are doing the above AVOIDING.