COVID-19

Dang!

txcoastal1 wrote: »

verb wrote: »

Dang!

Unless you’re into super kink...wouldn’t ask her for her number

Why not?

I'll bet she's a blast at parties!

Then again, under all that pleather.... could be a dude.

I have several relatives, friends and colleagues who are physicians - pediatricians, ER doctors, orthopedic surgeons, pain management and oncology just to name a few of their specialities. I have been speaking to them regularly about this. I started in the camp of “this is just a flu” and “it’s not THAT bad”......but universally, they all have asked (even begged) their loved ones and people they connect to please stay out of public gatherings and altering their “normal” lives to limit contact with others as much as possible. This isn’t to give into the fear, violate our civil liberties or be otherwise frightened by a cold.

They are asking because that’s the only way to stop the spread, especially to vulnerable populations that can die from this. Two ER docs told me that when there are otherwise healthy 30-40 year olds on ventilators clinging to life, there is something about this that’s different. I have a very close family friend who is a hospital administrator in Philadelphia - it’s a 500 bed hospital. She said that their hospital only has the equipment, if necessary, to treat 3 to 4 critically ill patients with the virus at a time. Those are REAL. Not some propagandist BS that people spew to sound smart and act like they know everything (not directed at anyone here).

I have other friends who haven’t altered a thing - they went to bars, go to dinner, planned trips, etc with little regard for others or respect for the situation.

I will leave you with something my brother (a pediatrician with 25 years experience and a generally reasonable fellow who has never been an alarmist). He asked me to please stay home unless it is absolutely necessary, to limit my exposure to others and limit exposing them to myself, and to wait this out for awhile to see how this all plays out. The issue is that with so many people walking around with the potential to be positive but show no symptoms, it will lull us into a sense of security and potentially be exposed to expose others and pass along - sometimes to vulnerable populations. My wife has a 97 year old grandmother that loves with her 76 year old father and 74 year old mother who live 2 miles from us. My parents are 78 and 70 and live 10 miles away. I won’t be seeing them except when I drop off their groceries on the front porch....not because we are terrified, paranoid, or being ridiculous. It’s because it’s the right thing to do in the short term to hopefully alleviate a long term protraction of this pandemic.

Again not related to here specifically, but I have never seen or heard so many uneducated people try to counter educated people who work in these fields every day. I amNLT saying that there are not political agendas that are being furthered or differing points of view that shouldn’t be considered. I am saying that I choose to listen to the ones I trust the most in my life and will be staying home. The facts are that once we can get widespread testing done to the population, we may see that it doesn’t not have a death rate much different than other illnesses of our lifetime. But we will likely have an illness that is passed to a significantly larger portion of the population both in numbers and diversity of population (baby, infant, young, middle aged and old) than anything we have seen to date.

I am considered an essential employee at my job but told to exclusively telework. I have been able to do so for the last week. I am the type of person that thrives with face to face interaction- its what I love about my job. But,I worry that my staff of 22 may be furloughed at some point if this lasts too long. I worry that the fallout of this have the potential to cripple our healthcare system and tank our economy, even f temporary.

So out of respect for them, out of respect for my neighbors and out of respect for my family I choose to stay home unless it is necessary to go out. I use zoom, GoToMeeting, and FaceTime to interact. I will go for walks with my dog on the miles of trails behind my house and might see three people along the way - and keep our distance. I use Netflix to pass the time, I have enrolled in an online continuing education program that allows me to stay sharp and learn new things, and I do my job virtually with the people that I serve. Technology has always intimidated me but I am learning as I go and it is making me better for it.

We l have to adapt and adjust or the EXPERTS are predicting this could last up to a year with waves if we don’t take it seriously. Problem is that it has to be a collective and conscious effort and our society has shown an inability to do so. We talk about the kids being so entitled these days and adults are out pretending nothing is different and being reckless and careless by not listening to the people who have no motive except to contain this virus.

Perspective is a lot in life - a couple weeks ago I minimized this and thought it would pass with no effect to me. I have since gained that perspective and choose to listen to the loved ones, educated professionals and people who I know close to me. I only hoe it doesn’t take all of us to gain perspective by having someone we know who Is tragically affected by this - and in some cases by doing everything that they could possibly do but being in contact with someone who did not.....

What's not great news, is the fact that many are calling it racist when the virus is referred to as the China virus or Wuhan Virus. The race card is never far behind any news.

They call the NY times, the NY times because....they are from NY.
Do they call the Washington Post because they are in Washington, or L.A. ?
Are the L.A. Lakers from Miami ?

We call it the Wuhan virus because that's where it started. It's not the Italian virus. Nobody had a problem with that either when this all began. Now, as usual, those wishing to make political hay about every frickin' thing pull the race card again.

This was China's baby from the onset, to attempt to alleviate them of that responsibility is doing a disservice to everyone who has fallen from it.

What's in your wallet ??

Texas bakery with a sense of humor, love it.