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

[vitanola]

The person in front of me at BJ's last night spent $2,300 - he had three carts full of Lysol wipes, Kleenex anti-viral tissues, and food staples.

He said he's planning for 4-months of isolation in his own home to escape the virus.

While I think the media is partly to blame for blowing this out of proportion, at some point we have to be responsible for our own ridiculous paranoia.

Good heavens!

There is a big difference between informed concern and full blown panic, apparently.

That said, a number of the large financial firms are virtually shutting down for the next few weeks. The last one that I heard about was Ernst & Young, which has cancelled all travel, brought its travelers home, and asked their staff to work remotely from home whenever possible.

The last recession led to many jobs being lost to automation as companies got leaner. I wonder what the effects of a pandemic might be? Perhaps this is the black swan that will prove the practicality of remote working. If that’s the case, I’ll make sure to not be long on office REITS.

 

[tonyb]

^^^^
I’m suspecting that this episode will give a big boost to online grocery ordering and delivery (and curbside pickup), as is now offered by every major supermarket chain I’m familiar with.

 

[tonyb]

Does letting my dogs lick my fingers count as hand washing?

 

[Nobert]

My latest vintage method of surviving a plague: I've spent years trying to write a book with an opening sentence so perfect that any editor reading it will immediately stand up and say, "Hats off!"

 

[Paisley]

An article in Nature says, "...2019-nCoV is vulnerable to oxidation..." and recommends rinsing with a hydrogen peroxide solution before dental work.

I'm not a chemist, but I'm thinking big doses of vitamin c--an antioxidant--probably aren't a good idea now unless you have scurvy.

 

[TraditionalFrog]

For myself, I am concerned for sure, but not worrying or getting in a panic. I am keeping abreast of the news, and using common sense. Beyond that, just getting on with daily life. Sadly, with the hype and sensationalism of the 24 hour news cycle and "on demand" news, it's making it bigger than it need be and instilling panic. Lizzie is right, it's a win for The Boys™.

I work at a drug store, and my store has been out of hand sanitizer, hand sanitizer wipes, and face masks for a few weeks now. Supposedly we got limited quantity a few days ago from the warehouse. If we did, it was long gone by the time I came on shift that evening. We are also close to being out of bathroom/kitchen wipes, Lysol, and rubbing alcohol. Toilet paper is running low also. It has gotten so bad, Kroger and Target are rationing the amount of sanitizers and other supplies customers can buy of certain items.

People were buying 10 plus bottle/containers of the above at one time. To be honest, I wish management/corporate would follow the lead of Kroger and Target and impose limits. I feel like a broken record... "I'm sorry, we are sold out." Almost every other person coming in the store asks about hand sanitizer.

Addendum: At least one local area school district has stopped all classes until March 20, and some employees from Eli Lilly are being asked to work from home.

 

[Paisley]

One of my nearby coworkers went on a coughing jag. I LEFT. (OK, it was near the end of the day and I didn't have any work.)

 

[LuvMyMan]

An article in Nature says, "...2019-nCoV is vulnerable to oxidation..." and recommends rinsing with a hydrogen peroxide solution before dental work.

I'm not a chemist, but I'm thinking big doses of vitamin c--an antioxidant--probably aren't a good idea now unless you have scurvy.

Vitamin C is fairly safe if you increase doses slowly, it will give you the "runs" when you have had too much.

 

[LuvMyMan]

For myself, I am concerned for sure, but not worrying or getting in a panic. I am keeping abreast of the news, and using common sense. Beyond that, just getting on with daily life. Sadly, with the hype and sensationalism of the 24 hour news cycle and "on demand" news, it's making it bigger than it need be and instilling panic. Lizzie is right, it's a win for The Boys™.

I work at a drug store, and my store has been out of hand sanitizer, hand sanitizer wipes, and face masks for a few weeks now. Supposedly we got limited quantity a few days ago from the warehouse. If we did, it was long gone by the time I came on shift that evening. We are also close to being out of bathroom/kitchen wipes, Lysol, and rubbing alcohol. Toilet paper is running low also. It has gotten so bad, Kroger and Target are rationing the amount of sanitizers and other supplies customers can buy of certain items.

People were buying 10 plus bottle/containers of the above at one time. To be honest, I wish management/corporate would follow the lead of Kroger and Target and impose limits. I feel like a broken record... "I'm sorry, we are sold out." Almost every other person coming in the store asks about hand sanitizer.

Addendum: At least one local area school district has stopped all classes until March 20, and some employees from Eli Lilly are being asked to work from home.

Vinegar works as well as anything to sanitize and kill germs....I stocked up on a few extra gallons and use it in a sprayer mixed with 2/3 vinegar and 1/3 distilled water...cleans everything including food/fruit/veggies and anything else coming in my home.

 

[belfastboy]

Vinegar works as well as anything to sanitize and kill germs....I stocked up on a few extra gallons and use it in a sprayer mixed with 2/3 vinegar and 1/3 distilled water...cleans everything including food/fruit/veggies and anything else coming in my home.

The problem with using vinegar in my house is that I react as Pavlov's dog and immediately start to salivate with the thought of fish and chips. Once I used vinegar to take the odour out of a nice vintage wool jacket. I put on 5 pounds the first week as I couldn't stop eating each time I wore the damn thing. Took the odour away but now I am too big to fit into it.

 

[LizzieMaine]

A half a cup of vinegar in the final rinse water gives excellent results when you hang your washing on the clothesline. White vinegar, not malt. Save the malt for your french fries.

 

[belfastboy]

At breakfast this morning I had a flash of momentary brilliance. I have a patch of earth 10' x 12' ready to lay stones to extend our patio. Instead we shall plant a Victory garden. That was our initial wish but as we travel 2-3 months each spring a garden would just not work. But now that it is looking like we are home for at least the summer a garden now becomes possible. I just checked and Amazon still has seeds for sale so I don't even have to leave home. Basil, tomatoes, green beans here we come.

 

[Edward]

It'll be interesting to see what, if any of the current changes stick after this. I'm considering wearing a mask *more* outswdie when it's all over, as the very significant drop-off in traffic in thispart of London sicne the lockdown has led to a surprisingly but undeniably perceptible improvement in air quality. I'm not hopeful that any of the positive changes we're seeing now in relartion to fighting the virus, less traffic and whatever will make a blind bit of difference once it's all over - at least not in a culture largely focussed on the demands of the individual.

 

[3fingers]

Vinegar works as well as anything to sanitize and kill germs....I stocked up on a few extra gallons and use it in a sprayer mixed with 2/3 vinegar and 1/3 distilled water...cleans everything including food/fruit/veggies and anything else coming in my home.

Vinegar is a good cleaner and general sanitizer but is not effective against this virus. Its envelope appears to be a lipid (fat) so you need to either dissolve or oxidize that envelope to destroy the virus. Soaps, detergents and bleach will do that, vinegar does not.

 

[Amy Jeanne]

The best vintage coping skill I got is putting on some of my favourite old movies and riding on the exercise bike. Currently watching every Jean Harlow movie in order.

 

[belfastboy]

It'll be interesting to see what, if any of the current changes stick after this. I'm considering wearing a mask *more* outswdie when it's all over, as the very significant drop-off in traffic in thispart of London sicne the lockdown has led to a surprisingly but undeniably perceptible improvement in air quality. I'm not hopeful that any of the positive changes we're seeing now in relartion to fighting the virus, less traffic and whatever will make a blind bit of difference once it's all over - at least not in a culture largely focussed on the demands of the individual.

I remember my first visit to London in the late 1960's. After a day out and about I would wipe black crud from my forehead and blow it out my nose. It was still true in the late 1970's. But my last visit there this fall I experienced no such symptoms. …..assumed it was the use of cleaner diesel fuel and the overall improvement in auto exhaust. Whatever the cause it was a welcome respite.

 

[Edward]

I remember my first visit to London in the late 1960's. After a day out and about I would wipe black crud from my forehead and blow it out my nose. It was still true in the late 1970's. But my last visit there this fall I experienced no such symptoms. …..assumed it was the use of cleaner diesel fuel and the overall improvement in auto exhaust. Whatever the cause it was a welcome respite.

Big efforts have been made in the last couple of decades. The Congestion Charge helped a lot when introduced; things did slide back for a few years after 2008 (lots of missed targets), but there's been a renewed focus on it. It's not getting big news attention *yet*, but once we get over the hump on the worst of the Coronovirus, I think we;'re going to see it hit the agenda in a big way, especially as the figures will be indisputable.

 

[GHT]

Data collected by the National Centre for Atmospheric Science shows marked reductions in nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and in particulate matter (PM2.5). "If you look at traffic volumes, they're still going down. And so we probably haven't reached the bottom yet," said Prof Ally Lewis, director of science at the NCAS. "A few days ago, we were talking about journeys by car going down by about a third, and now it's nearly a 50-60% reduction. So, it's possible if transport keeps declining, the signal we detect could get even larger," he told BBC News. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-52113695

There's a horseshoe shape bend in the River Thames the area of which is known as Millwall, London E14. Back in the sixties you could buy a Victorian terraced house for peanuts. The area was so depressed no one wanted to live there, those that did had little choice. The place is known as "The Isle of Dogs," because Henry VIII kennelled his hunting hounds there.

The bend in the river was perfect for construction of docks, so that is where the London Docks were built. You can see them in this turn of the twentieth century map.

By 1980 it was clear that London's docks were unable to accommodate the much larger vessels needed by containerization, and the shipping industry moved to deep-water ports such as Tilbury and Felixstowe. Between 1960 and 1980, all of London's docks were closed, leaving around eight square miles of derelict land in East London.

Canary Wharf, so called because of the produce that came from The Canary Islands that passed through there, part of London Docklands, has now become the financial capital of London. Adding to, rather than replacing the original financial centre in Central London. The Isle of Dogs has gone from run down, rough end of the street to a gentrified, desirable address. In the sixties I could have bought one of those terraced houses for about £1500, that would have been about 50% of my then salary. Today those same houses command a million pounds plus, so by comparison I would need a half a million pound salary to buy one. There's no shortage of takers. It's amazing what steaming cleaning centuries of soot and grime, plus the planting of trees down the sidewalks can do. Most people on The Isle of Dogs walk to work, less car pollution and trees to absorb carbon dioxide has made the place a haven.

 

[belfastboy]

My wife is a great baker especially of breads. We have a decent supply of yeast but it is an item of scarcity in many stores. So yesterday my wife decided it is time to make her own. I will let you know how the bread turns out.

 

[Tiki Tom]

My wife broke out her sewing machine today and sewed us some lovely masks.
I bought some seeds and have planted tomatoes, basil, and peppers in pots on the patio. This was a tradition every spring/summer when the kids were small, but we stopped doing it when they left for university. It’s kind of fun to be doing it again.
Mixing cocktails is also something that we once did and now are rediscovering. Something classic about having an old school mixed drink on the deck as the sun sinks.
Cooking together has always been a joy for us, so now we are trying some new recipes while listening to a forties playlist.
So, yes, I guess some vintage “skills” are making this a tad more bearable.