Coronavirus: What Vintage Skills Can Help Prepare for a Potential Pandemic?

[Frunobulax]

One of my writing clients is based in China, and she got out of there extremely quick once this all flared up. She wasn't anywhere near the nexus of the outbreak, but also didn't want to take any chances. So far, though, all indications are that the work I do for her will proceed without interruption. IP doesn't really have supply-chain issues, unless *I* get sick.

Probably a good move on her part. I don't blame her.

 

[Héctor Fernández]

I guess I should be fair and state that my opinion on this is based on 29 years of military and Federal law enforcement experience. I dealt with many emergency and national security situations in my career, and with a Top Secret Security clearance, which I had for my whole 29 years of service, I had access to information a regular citizen didn't.

I still have many friends in the national security community, and my opinion and reaction to this is based on my own communications and information.

At the end of the day, you have to do what's best for you and your family, and use the information available as you wish.

With that I'm checking out of this thread. Be safe friends!

 

[tonyb]

An old classmate now lives and works in Hong Kong. She posted photos yesterday showing an all-but-empty light-rail car (just one other person aboard); people wearing face masks and improvised protective (it is hoped) attire (think large plastic bags); plastic wrap over elevator buttons, which is said to be easier to disinfect than the buttons left uncovered; et cetera. She tells that the movie theaters are leaving entire rows empty, every other one, so as to limit close contact.

I couldn’t speak to the effectiveness of any of that.

 

[Paisley]

Hydrocortisone cream. Safe Uses of Cortisol describes several clinical studies going back to the 1930s of cortisone increasing antibodies, and studies of patients quickly improving from uncomplicated influenza on physiological doses of cortisol. It also describes doctors' observations of their patients on cortisol having fewer colds than their family members.

In my case, I had bronchitis for three months last year. After two courses of antibiotics, it finally went away after putting on a pea-sized amount of hydrocortisone cream (1%) four times a day. Every time I go off my adrenal medicine (cortisol is an adrenal hormone), I start getting a cold. (All evidence points to my having lifelong adrenal problems.) I doubt anyone knows whether hydrocortisone cream would be effective against coronavirus. Too high doses, though, are known to dampen immunity to illness.

To try this at home if you get sick: apply a pea-sized amount of 1% hydrocortisone cream to your skin, anywhere but your face, three or four times a day. If you get a "moon face" the next day, you're using too much.

 

[Paisley]

To those who think this won't affect you, even if you never get sick, have you checked your 401k, etc? There's a lot to consider!

Time to buy.

 

[scottyrocks]

I will handle this latest news event the way I have handled the possibility of getting sick for the last 40 years. I will live my life as I always have, maybe washing my hands a little more frequently, and being a little more aware of coughers and sneezers.

Afaic, this is just the seasonal bug du jour. I've gotten the flu a couple of times in my life, and actually got sicker than that the one time I took a flu shot, so I never did it again.

I have read that genetics and age have much to do with a person getting sick.

The issue has definitely been politicized. Why do I bring that up? Because I don't believe that people have to panic about it. Do what you would do (or not do) during any cold and flu season, and if you're genetically programmed to be resistant to such things, I believe you will be okay. And if get you sick easily, again, do what you would normally do to avoid getting sick.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

This is just a pratice run for when the big one comes & wipes out half of humanity.
A big thumbs up for the airline companies though, they have done a first class job of spreading this CORVID-19 around the world. It couldn't have been done without their help.

 

[LizzieMaine]

We had a Metropolitan Opera screening yesterday, and if I had suggested even as a "what if" that we should delete every other row for safety's sake, I'd have been beaten to death on the spot by outraged 85-year-old women with their canes and walkers. I shudder to think of what would happen with this bunch if we actually had to close for any length of time -- the virus is just going to have to wait until the opera season is over.

Which brings up a good point. The Chinese population is used to living in a society where they accept authority and do what they're told. A great many Americans tend to take any attempt to tell them what to do for their own good as a personal insult and get very hostile if you try to press the point. I run into this all the time -- when I tell people they can't sit in the handicapped section because it's reserved for people with wheelchairs, they get aggressive and mouthy. When I tell people to put their phones away because they're bothering their neighbors, I get dirty looks, backtalk, and occasionally even actual threats. When I tell people that the doors open at 6:30, not 5:45, and I can't let them in until then, I get accused of being some kind of fascist. So exactly how well do we think hypothetical epidemic-related restrictions on the Sacred American Personal Freedom To Do Whatever The Hell I Want are going to go over with the public? Suppose an order goes out from your mayor or your governor shuttering all public gathering places including churches? How long till that mayor or governor is sued for violating religious freedom? Suppose a vaccine is developed and people are ordered to report to their local city hall to receive it? How many will be insisting that their personal right not to be vaccinated trumps society's right to protect itself?

There's a lot of cans of worms waiting to be opened up here, but epidemics don't care the least bit about Constitutions. I always think about my favorite post-apocalyptic novel, "Earth Abides," in situations like this -- in which the main point is that man and all his works exist solely at the pleasure of nature -- and that everything humanity does, thinks, and believes in is of no consequence whatsoever when faced with nature's complete indifference to it all.

 

[PrettySquareGal]

The stock market isn't something I pay much attention to -- I already don't have any money, so the ups and downs of the market have comparatively little effect on me. But I do see panic-buying going on in the stores -- I never use hand sanitizer myself because I can't abide the smell of it, so I've never noticed whether it's around in the stores or not, but I did look when I went to the store just now and the stock was rather drastically depleted.

I've never been a germophobe -- I grew up in a dirty house, in a dirty neighborhood, in constant proximity to other dirty runny-nosed kids, and when I got sick I got sick and then I got over it. I think part of the hand-sanitizer panic grows out of the current OMG GERMZ/ultra anti-bacterial culture that's grown up over the past twenty years ago. It's the first thing people think to do when there's any bug going around, and because of all the hype about this one, of course they're going to buy the stuff. The Boys themselves couldn't have come up with a better marketing plan.

The surgical mask thing is more worrisome. They won't work, they don't work for the purpose people are buying them for and they're taking them away from people who actually need and use them in their work. So I wish people would lay off with that.

At this point, most of what I'm seeing is the same kind of OMG SNOW BUY BATTERIES MILK AND DUCT TAPE kind of panic you see among newly-arrived outastaters when the first flake of snow falls. But hopefully, once the initial media panic has settled down to something more realistic all that will settle down.

Actually, if I was going to buy anything to prepare for an emergency I'd buy a pallet of tuna fish. Me and my cat could both live on that for a while until it all blows over.

I was born a proud germophobe and have never left home without some sort of sanitizing wipe or slather. I had long-lasting bronchitis last year and it took me many months to fully recover. Days before this I had tried to relax my (some would say) OCD approach to cleanliness. Big mistake! I don't suffer germs lightly.

I'm heading to the grocery store this morning and will be taking special interest in what's being stockpiled. It's an interesting study in human behavior, at least.

 

[PrettySquareGal]

I think, at least on this side of the pond, the effects will mostly be economic. While everyone is currently focusing on stocks, the impact of this in reality is going to lag.

Supply chains are currently being interrupted, and manufacturing in China is reportedly down quite a bit. We'll feel these effects over the next few weeks and months, depending on severity.

As far as vintage methods for dealing with this? As previously mentioned, common sense, good hygiene, and careful contact are always good ideas. However, in this case, vintage is not the way to go. Give me all the technology and medical advances in a case like this. I want to avail myself of things they didn't have in 1918.

This is bringing to light how much of what we buy here in the US is sourced from China. I didn't realize until now that most wedding dresses, for example are from there.

 

[PrettySquareGal]

I wasn’t suggesting you were “asking for fortune telling.” And I believe I understand the spirit of your initial post, and I find nothing objectionable in it. Historical perspectives are certainly worth considering.

Conversations tend to meander around here. My riffing on the theme is in no way intended as a diss on you or anyone else. I regret that you took it that way.

Thank you, Tony. I appreciate your clarification.

 

[PrettySquareGal]

And now I see an ad here for a face mask called an N95 filter.

This is funny and maybe will give the Lounge a nice boost in revenue!

 

[PrettySquareGal]

Unfortunately, on a topic like this the injection of government is inevitable because, also unfortunately, people depends too much on government for their own well being.

Having said that, I don't think the thread should be shut. My opinion of course.

I understand what you're saying and it's tempting to not bring in politics. I'm glad this thread is still open!

 

[LizzieMaine]

I get bronchitis every January just like clockwork, every year since I was ten years old -- I think whatever caused it back then just moved in and took up permanent residence like some mooching relative. It sucks for about two weeks, and then it goes away. I cover myself in Vapo-Rub and eat a lot of chicken soup and don't think about it again till next January. I think I'm just allergic to winter.

Meanwhile, the boss showed up yesterday with three cans of Lysol, and I've assigned our resident germophobe, the guy who wears surgical gloves whenever he has to handle money, to be in charge of deploying it. I'm not good at that kind of stuff.

 

[Paisley]

If people start dropping like flies from coronavirus (unlikely), people won't need to be told to stay away from public places.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I'm not so sure about that. We had our entire downtown area evacuated and cordoned off by police because of a bomb scare once, and when I got back to the theatre there was an angry old lady standing in front of the box office demanding to know why we weren't there to sell her ballet tickets. There's always going to be someone who insists on having it their own way no matter what the consequences.

 

[Paisley]

Right--there's always going to be somebody acting like an idiot. But the vast majority of people have an instinct for self-preservation, along with a tendency to follow the herd. Someone who doesn't wonder why downtown is roped off and deserted, and sense something is wrong, probably isn't mentally all there.

I can't help but wonder if you're dealing with people with some dementia rather than strident libertarians.

 

[tonyb]

^^^^^
How can you tell the difference?

 

[LizzieMaine]

With the people I deal with it's mostly an attitude of absolute personal entitlement. "I'm an old white woman. Nobody questions me." And if you do venture to question her, she lets you have it. A few here and there, I could buy the dementia excuse. But an extended pattern of behavior that's been consistent for the past fifteen years, exhibited by a large number of similar individuals, says to me that it's something cultural. Not political, not philosophical, but cultural. They don't have a problem with rules -- they just think the rules don't apply to people like them.

And those are the kind of people you're going to have trouble with in any kind of an attempt to enforce rules during a mass panic. If there really is a pandemic, what are you going to do with millions of people "demanding to speak to the manager" about being "inconvenienced?"

Americans have never really had to deal with a true mass crisis. We haven't really had to deal with invasions, or martial law, or mass disruptions of our food and water supply on a nationwide basis. We're a nation of people who pitch a fit when the cable TV goes out and call off school when there's half an inch of snow on the ground. And on top of that half the country absolutely hates the other half. So how can we expect a true mass medical crisis to be dealt with in any kind of a rational way? It's a frightening thing to really stop and think about. It's like setting fire to a room full of kindergarteners and then expecting them to rally together to put it out.

 

[Frunobulax]

^^^^^
How can you tell the difference?

As a recovering Libertarian, I resemble that statement!