So What Is Everyone Doing To Pass Time

[Eric Sedletzky]

I don’t get the toilet paper frenzy. The stores are still stripped. Hey hoarders: please stop, there’s no reason to take everything. How much do you plan to sh_t? You’re screwing it up for the rest of us.
Water? I have a Brita and tap water. Eggs? WTF! I saw a one carton minimum in the store today. When I got up to the register the bagger asked me if I needed toilet paper and I said yes please. She brought me one from a stash they had up front. Apparently people got so angry about a one pack limit that someone grabbed an arm load and ran out the door.
I saw a similar panic when PGE shut off our power during the hot winds.
Gas station lines were around the block and there wasn’t a generator to be had at any price for hundreds of miles around.
Bottled water was all gone along with all canned foods etc. but this is worse because there’s nowhere better to go to get away from it.

 

[dmaziuk]

- On several trips to Costco last autumn we kept forgetting we bought TP the last time, and bought another 5x6-pack. There's still enough here to last us till autumn.
- A year ago my BH was catching a flu on every plane trip, so we ended buying a pack of face masks on amazon. Of course, you could buy a 10-pack for $5 or a 100-pack for $6, so we now have more than a half of the 100-pack left.

Weird.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I don't get the mask thing as well. Unless a person is infected of caring for someone who is, they serve no purpose.
Face masks: WHO stands by recommendation to not wear them if you are not sick or not caring for someone who is sick - CNN

 

[dmaziuk]

I don't get the mask thing as well. Unless a person is infected of caring for someone who is, they serve no purpose.

That may well be true but since the countries that stopped the exponential infection rate are also the countries where everyone wears them, I'll take one. Let its placebo effect work its magic on me.

 

[stuartv]

I don't get the mask thing as well. Unless a person is infected of caring for someone who is, they serve no purpose.
Face masks: WHO stands by recommendation to not wear them if you are not sick or not caring for someone who is sick - CNN

It is starting to seem like it is just possible that the CDC recommendation to not wear masks MAY have really been motivated by a desire to stop people from buying them and thus even further reducing the supply that is available to health care professionals.

Should We All Be Wearing Masks In Public? Health Experts Revisit The Question

I mean, on the face of it, when they have been saying for weeks that it CAN be transmitted via droplets that result from a sneeze, AND that people can be contagious yet asymptomatic for up to 2 weeks before developing symptoms, wearing a mask seems like an intuitively obvious measure to prevent the virus being spread by people who are contagious and don't know it - and to avoid getting it because you inadvertently inhaled virus-containing droplets that are in the air from someone who sneezed in that grocery aisle 10 seconds before you walked around the corner.

EDIT: Note that masks have a dual purpose. They potentially block airborne droplets that contain the virus. And they also serve as a barrier and deterrent to keep people from touching their face - thus, possibly avoiding infecting oneself by picking up the virus on your hands, where it won't do anything, and moving it to the vicinity of your eyes/nose/mouth, where it CAN infect you.

 

[stuartv]

I don’t get the toilet paper frenzy. The stores are still stripped. Hey hoarders: please stop, there’s no reason to take everything. How much do you plan to sh_t? You’re screwing it up for the rest of us.
Water? I have a Brita and tap water. Eggs? WTF! I saw a one carton minimum in the store today. When I got up to the register the bagger asked me if I needed toilet paper and I said yes please. She brought me one from a stash they had up front. Apparently people got so angry about a one pack limit that someone grabbed an arm load and ran out the door.
I saw a similar panic when PGE shut off our power during the hot winds.
Gas station lines were around the block and there wasn’t a generator to be had at any price for hundreds of miles around.
Bottled water was all gone along with all canned foods etc. but this is worse because there’s nowhere better to go to get away from it.

I have not seen a roll of toilet paper or paper towels on a grocery store shelf in a month. I went to 5 different stores just yesterday, just to try and get some TP and some PT. Nada.

The TP situation really sucks, too. You can get by without paper towels for almost everything. But, short of buying a bidet, I don't know of a good alternative to having actual toilet paper. Keywood: Good. I know there are alternatives that CAN be employed.

Sadly, I have a feeling it's almost completely down to people like one friend of mine that I'll use as an example. She lives alone. She buys TP at Costco where she said it comes in a 60 roll pack. She had a pretty much new Costco pack at home when all this crap (LOL) started. She went to Costco for other groceries. She saw that there was literally one package of TP left in the store (a 60-pack). Because it was the last one there, she grabbed it. "To be safe." ARRRGGHHH!!! When she told me that, I yelled her (over the phone) for a good 30 seconds. She, and people like her, are the reason the rest of can't get any.

They don't think about anyone else. They don't really think at all. At least, not beyond "there's only one left and I heard there is a shortage. I better buy it before I can't get any at all." And that's as far as the thought train goes. It never occurs to them that they actually have a 4 month supply at home and have no need whatsoever to buy more right now - whereas other people might actually be in need. It's pure herd mentality and fear. "Everybody is buying it. There's only one left. I better buy it!"

ARRGGHH.

[/rant]

 

[scubadada]

I would suggest searching on aerosol vs. droplet transmission. Coronavirus is thought to be predominantly droplet transmission.

 

[Manatee Diver]

I don't get the mask thing as well. Unless a person is infected of caring for someone who is, they serve no purpose.
Face masks: WHO stands by recommendation to not wear them if you are not sick or not caring for someone who is sick - CNN

Except they can stand by it all they want, but countries with widespread mask usage show significantly lower infection rates than western countries. Taiwan has 13 cases per 1 million people. Other Asian countries/cities have similar lower levels.

 

[BRT]

I would suggest searching on aerosol vs. droplet transmission. Coronavirus is thought to be predominantly droplet transmission.

https://komonews.com/news/coronavir...-choir-killing-2-members-and-infecting-others
Dr. Howard Liebrand is a friend I have known since college. I have 2 HP80's I bought from him last fall.

 

[macado]

I have been trying go solo diving off the radar and stay away from other people. I didn't make it out last weekend but these photos are from March 22nd. I might try to sneak out this Sunday if the weather holds. The water is warming up and it's now 41f (5c). The nudibranchs are still plentiful.



I also finally started getting more progress done on my dive shed including installation R10 foamboard insulation, mounting a plywood panel for my secondary filter stack, fill station/manifold and nitrox stick. Of course..I probably should have installed this insulation before the winter, not right before the spring/summer but I did find it helped cut down on the noise when the compressor is running if I close the door to the shed.



I also built a dive bench for outside my shed for gear preparation. I'm pretty sure I failed woodshop in school so this is a learning process for me but I am happy with the results. I need to wait a few months for the pressure treated wood to dry out so that I can stain it.


Unfortunately COVID-19 has been really bad for me saving money. I must have ordered from FilterTechs, McMaster-Carr and Amazon a half dozen times last week. We have also been ordering takeout non-stop to support the local restaurants since they're only doing delivery/takeout.

Thankfully I didn't have to leave my house for any of the lumber or insulation as I had bought that all several months ago at Home Depot and it's been sitting my garage. We're also well stocked on toilet paper and paper towels as an unintended consequence of my wife having it on Amazon Subscribe and Save and it getting it automatically delivered every 2 months when I keep telling her to cancel the order.