Coronavirus, Covid 19 Discussion and How It Has Affected Your Daily Life Chat Thread

[BDutch]

Could you just imagine living now with no cell phone, no smart phone, no computer or Internet, no Skype, texting no emails, surely someone can add to that list!

I can. I did when I was a kid.
This was the time that we didnt have much international traffic. Very few airplane travel. China had almost no contact with the rest of the world.
When this Corona happened 40 years ago it wouldn’t have travelled around the world as fast as it did now.

Did anyone else have big plans that got cancelled because of this virus?

We have a huge family vacation planned in August... Not sure it's happening

I didn’t make any big travel plans. But I friend planned a big trip to Japan. Saved 3 years for it. It was cancelled a week before take off. They didnt get their money back, but got a voucher for the same amount to book another trip before 2022.

I had planned a small vacation. Yesterday I cancelled the holiday rental in Belgium because if I didn’t cancel I had to pay the full amount. They give vouchers too if the trip is not possible because of this Corona. So far I only paid the reservation costs for the house I booked the end of may. I don’t want to pay for a voucher and I assume its not possible we can travel until a medicine is available.

Grocery store and TP
Yesterday I went to a nearby GS for shopping. The TP shelves where empty and had notes on it. Only one pack of TP for each customer. No need to stock. In the alley stood unpacked TP. I took out one package of TP. It was a package with 24 rolls (instead of the normal 4 or 8).
To the cashier I said. Sorry I didn't plan to stock. There where no smaller packages.

The only other thing that was missing with a similar note on the shelves was hand soap. But I have plenty of that. And I can make my own if needed. Quit easy to make 10 liter handsoap from one bar of handsoap.

More important they have a discount on special beers :

 

[Kabootar]

How is that? Not understanding the connection.

There are not enough tests, the government is trying to play Hindu Muslim card. We are all locked down in our villages and towns and cities. All trains, busses and flights are suspended. The media is corrupt. Migrant workers are walking for hundreds of kilometres from Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata, God knows what they are bringing.

 

[Kabootar]

Wow! Are those yaks? I love yaks.

There is a story that our grandmother says when I was little. Yaks and buffaloes were (both girls) friends and they were both hairy. They used to graze together in the fields and jungles. Once they were not able to find salt.

The yak said "let me go to the Himalayas, I hear that there is salt mines on the mountains."

The buffalo said "but I hear, it's very cold in Himalayas."

The yak replied "give me your coat, when I will come back I will return your coat."

The buffalo agreed and she gave her friend her fine coat. Sadly the yak has yet not returned from the Himalayas. That's why the buffalo often looks up, to see if the yak is returning and the yak looks down to see if her friend is still waiting.

Both pics are from internet.

 

[Kabootar]

Those are different from American bison, which we call buffalo, like the ones in Yellowstone park.

Yes, the American Bison, is more closely related with cows, but please don't try to milk them.

 

[Kabootar]

true! But I didn’t realize the hair was so short haha they looked bald! Though admittedly I was thinking of the American kind of buffalo/bison

Are these water buffalo?

It’s okay, I liked seeing the pictures!!

Yes I believe I was I guess I got a bit confused since USA was mentioned.

You can't pet those "American buffaloes", because they are not true buffaloes.

 

[BDutch]

Covid news from Europe.
Some countries are succeeding in flattening the curve. There are less new positively tested. And the intakes in hospitals seem to slow down in the Netherlands and Belgium.

In my country the need of hospital beds, ICU beds and death are still rising because of the 2-3 weeks delay between infection and severe problems with about 5-10% of the infected. And because a lot of the severe patients take many weeks to recover.

They are upscaling test facilities now. From next week they are going to test a lot more.

This is possible because pharma industrie Roche in Switzerland gave the formula for the liquid needed for testing. Roche didn’t want to give it away, but had to under pressure. They where accused for murdering people. Roche is market leader in Europe and 80% of the testing equipment in the Netherlands is from Roche.

Less cars and planes, less pollution
Its quiet outside. The air is much cleaner because there are less cars and airplanes.

Our flower industrie collapsed. We don't need tulips and other flowers in times of crisis. The export by plane stopped almost completely. This is good for the environment in many ways. Less CO2 and NOx pollution in the air. Less poison on the ground. Flower industrie uses very much herbicides and pesticides to grow tulips, roses, lillys etc. The people who live around these fields often get Parkinson disease at young age. And there is a proven connection.

The government postponed opening a new airport because of Corona (no need for it now). And because there is proof an admission report was build on fake numbers. They scrambled the outcome of air pollution and noise hinder in an official report to be able to start flying.

Our government is a bunch of traders (familiar?). They primarily do what is good for trade. They even put researchers under pressure to alter outcomes of reports. What is good for the health of people and the environment comes second. But luckily there are still honest people with backbones and those who inform journalists if things go nasty.

 

[Beer can]

More important they have a discount on special beers :

Hey if you get bored, mail me a bunch of six packs of Leeuw Valkenburg Wit.
Has my last name on it
My family immigrated here from Valkenburg in 1644.

 

[Shadrach]

But there are impartial people in the USA who know what they are doing. I love listening to Dr Fauci and Dr Brix. They are so knowledgeable, yet so kind.

That is an opinion that I have yet to see any evidence of.
India has different problems compared to the USA, but has no shortage of expertise.
When the hysteria has died down and the media has found somethinng else that is sensational that sells news some people will look at the evidence rather that the various opinions and I believe we will see a rather different picture. It probably wont change very much but at least the evidence will be there for those who care to look.
Here is an example of what less panic and more though and study produces.
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-51979654

 

[Shadrach]

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6913e2.htm?s_cid=mm6913e2_e&deliveryName=USCDC_921-DM24524

 

[BDutch]

Technical University Delft did research on re-use face masks and Corona viruses. Its safe to re-use them after 15 minutes on a temp of 121*C. re-use no more than 5 times.

In Dutch :https://www.tudelft.nl/buren/herbru...elft-werkt-samen-met-reinier-de-graaf-en-vsm/

English:
https://repository.tudelft.nl/islandora/object/uuid:f048c853-7e1d-4715-b73d-3b506b274a30