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Kilgore

(1,733 posts)
Tue Mar 10, 2020, 10:21 AM Mar 2020

Virus response - a tale of two homes

I live in western Washington, my spouse and I are in our early 60's. We live in a small town with homes on large lots. Our neighbors are in their late 50's, we are both retired, have similar homes, we both are college educated. We lead similar lives, enjoy a cocktail together at times and all are in good shape with no health issues. Although we really dont discuss politics much, we do know they are democrats. However, our response to the corona virus could not more different.

Our neighbors went into full lockdown mode. We watched them unload a whole bunch of supplies multiple times into their garage. They will not answer their door. We have not seen them come outside for over a week now. Their front gate is closed with a chain and padlock. The lawns have not been mowed and are ankle high. By all outward signs, they are seriously sheltering in place. We do know they are alive judging by the lights and movement by the windows. I finally called them to see what's up. Bottom line is that they intend to be among the living when this is all over.

We on the other hand have continued our normal routine. Grocery store once a week, walks in the park, seeing friends, golf and gardening. We are taking some precautions like regularly washing our hands but thats about it. We are doing nothing beyond our regular flu season precautions.

I suspect they look at us and think we are not taking it seriously, we look at them and think they went off the deep end.

33 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Virus response - a tale of two homes (Original Post) Kilgore Mar 2020 OP
I am with them. jrthin Mar 2020 #1
Same. snort Mar 2020 #10
Me three jpak Mar 2020 #12
+1, 10% of the human race is under some kind of quarantine uponit7771 Mar 2020 #25
I had a root canal in Portland on Feb 27 jmbar2 Mar 2020 #27
I'm with them because of comorbidity factors OhNo-Really Mar 2020 #28
Just be aware BlueJac Mar 2020 #2
Of what? Kilgore Mar 2020 #4
If someone doesn't have underlying health issues SCantiGOP Mar 2020 #3
Makes sense Kilgore Mar 2020 #5
half the folk concerned about coronoavirus never even bothered getting a flu shot Skittles Mar 2020 #30
Saw a tweet saying: "If you are stockpiling toilet paper... dawg day Mar 2020 #6
I wonder why your neighbors think mowing the lawn might expose them, LOL. dawg day Mar 2020 #7
I was thinking that to as that marlakay Mar 2020 #14
Right? shanti Mar 2020 #22
That's so sweet. I worry about my Jax. He is tethered to my ankles OhNo-Really Mar 2020 #29
Maybe there's a reason? gldstwmn Mar 2020 #8
Looking forward to our first conversation Kilgore Mar 2020 #20
One of them might be immuno compromised. gldstwmn Mar 2020 #21
I'm closer to their response. Turin_C3PO Mar 2020 #9
You stay inside! Seriously. I'm glad you are closer to their response. Squinch Mar 2020 #26
Unless you have been cold-free (or flu-free without a vaccine), Ms. Toad Mar 2020 #11
You have defined our normal yearly flu response Kilgore Mar 2020 #19
If it's kept you cold-free, then great! Ms. Toad Mar 2020 #23
That's an interesting reaction. Baitball Blogger Mar 2020 #13
That may be Kilgore Mar 2020 #17
That's really weird. There's no reason not to go out in the yard. Mariana Mar 2020 #15
That's what I call..... Kilgore Mar 2020 #18
I'm not bunkering and padlocking yet, but I think it's highly appropriate to be fully prepared. Cognitive_Resonance Mar 2020 #16
Maybe a family member is immunocompromised. Claritie Pixie Mar 2020 #24
I think they could safely mow their lawn. nt tblue37 Mar 2020 #31
Washington state is a hotspot. I would isolate there. We haven't had an identified case in KS tblue37 Mar 2020 #32
I'd take a path between the two examples you provided. Kaleva Mar 2020 #33

snort

(2,334 posts)
10. Same.
Tue Mar 10, 2020, 10:52 AM
Mar 2020

We isolated on the first of the month. My physician doesn't think its an over reaction and was happy to fill a prescription for an entire years supply at once. We don't want to be a part of the problem.

jmbar2

(4,908 posts)
27. I had a root canal in Portland on Feb 27
Tue Mar 10, 2020, 06:44 PM
Mar 2020

Overheard some folks talking about what would happen if the virus hits the homeless population. Scared the bejeebers out of me. I hit Costco on the way home, and made a couple of other store runs the next day. Stocked up to be able to avoid shops for at least a month.

Just ventured out today to a store for replenishments. I cut up disinfectant wipes into small squares and put in a baggy for opening doors, etc. Also set up a little handwashing station at the back of my vehicle which I used before and after each store visit.

Most of my neighbors are isolating as I am. But one is a former homeless guy who does small-time drug dealing on a corner several times a week to other homeless types. I think he sells his meds.

My calculation is that he's the biggest risk to this apartment building. Just one guy.

I'm taking no chances with human contact. However, spring is here, so walking outside is still a pleasure.

OhNo-Really

(3,985 posts)
28. I'm with them because of comorbidity factors
Tue Mar 10, 2020, 06:47 PM
Mar 2020

I think I’d mow the lawn though. Y’all wet grass is heavy!

I quickly scoot into & out of the produce department once a week because my health requires fresh veggies.

And who is that head bobbing woman always behind Mike Pence

And Azar is a pompous lying ass on Ari Melber right now

My Doctor acquaintance has used the SAME mask for four days because of Hospital shortages

We are not prepared for large numbers of seriously ill coronavirus patients

SCantiGOP

(13,874 posts)
3. If someone doesn't have underlying health issues
Tue Mar 10, 2020, 10:42 AM
Mar 2020

And is not over 75, I wouldn’t take any more precautions than I do about the annual flu.

dawg day

(7,947 posts)
6. Saw a tweet saying: "If you are stockpiling toilet paper...
Tue Mar 10, 2020, 10:46 AM
Mar 2020

.. and buying cases of hand sanitizer, and..."

going through a dozen prep tactics like those of your neighbors...

and it ended...
"Don't ever ask why migrants flee war and famine."

dawg day

(7,947 posts)
7. I wonder why your neighbors think mowing the lawn might expose them, LOL.
Tue Mar 10, 2020, 10:49 AM
Mar 2020

In my town, a neighbor would be calling the health dept if we let our grass grow so long. (I guess it's a vermin problem?)

shanti

(21,675 posts)
22. Right?
Tue Mar 10, 2020, 01:18 PM
Mar 2020

Self-isolation means staying in your home, but IMO doesn't mean that you can't go into your yard, do yardwork. I'm self-isolating too, but in a small suburban city with close neighbors. If I need to go to the store (I don't as of now), I will go, but in the mornings when the customers are light. No more browsing, window shopping, etc. though. I rarely did that anyway, but that's out for now. I'm 64 with a couple of mild underlying health conditions. My biggest worry, living alone, is my two elderly cats.

Turin_C3PO

(14,077 posts)
9. I'm closer to their response.
Tue Mar 10, 2020, 10:51 AM
Mar 2020

I have cystic fibrosis with half lung function, so this virus will likely kill me if I contract it.

Ms. Toad

(34,102 posts)
11. Unless you have been cold-free (or flu-free without a vaccine),
Tue Mar 10, 2020, 10:56 AM
Mar 2020

for several years I would encourage you to step it up a bit. (The without a vaccine isn't encouragement to avoid vaccines - but if you are getting the flu vaccine being cold-free is a better measure of how effective your precautions are.)

Even if you believe that you are safe from serious consequences, based on your demographics - slowing the spread of COVID 19 is likely to be critical to ensuring that there are enough health care resources to protect those who are not safe from serious consequences beacase no one is immune and the more people who have it, the less likely it is that the vulnerable will be able to avoid it - no matter how perfect their own precautions are.

Stepping it up would include inceasing washing frequency (every time you move from one location to another, for example), avoiding touching door handles, maintaining social distance (no handshakes, hugs, standing farther away than is comfortable based on what you are used to), and minimizing time in crowds.

It doens't have to mean locking yourself in your house, but perhaps something between what you are doing now and what your neighbors are doing would be helpful.

Here's a perspective I find useful:

Forget all that. Preparing for the almost inevitable global spread of this virus, now dubbed COVID-19, is one of the most pro-social, altruistic things you can do in response to potential disruptions of this kind.
. . .

What does “flattening the curve” mean for the current COVID-19 threat facing us: the emerging pandemic of this human coronavirus? Epidemiologists often talk about two important numbers: R0 or how infectious a disease might be, expressed as the number of people that are infected by each person who’s been infected; and the case fatality ratio (CFR): the number of people who die as a result of being infected. For example, an R0 of two means each infected person infects two people on average, while a number less than one means the disease is likely dying out in the population. Some diseases are deadlier than others: the average case fatality ratio for Ebola has been around 50 percent, for example, while the common cold is rarely deadly for otherwise healthy individuals.

But here’s the thing. Such epidemiological numbers are not fixed or immutable. They are not constants that exist independent of our actions. Where they land depends on the characteristics of the pathogen but also our response. By preparing now, we can alter both of those key numbers and save many lives.

The infectiousness of a virus, for example, depends on how much we encounter one another; how well we quarantine individuals who are ill; how often we wash our hands; whether those treating the ill have proper protective equipment; how healthy we are to begin with—and such factors are all under our control. After active measures were implemented, the R0 for the 2003 SARS epidemic, for example, went from around three, meaning each person infected three others, to 0.04. It was our response to SARS in 2003 that made sure the disease died out from earth, with less than a thousand victims globally.

Similarly, how many people die of seasonal influenza (or COVID-19) depends on the kind of health care they receive. In China, death rates are much higher in the overwhelmed Hubei province than the rest of the country exactly because of the quality of the care. Hospitals only have so many beds, especially in their intensive care units, and those who have a severe case of COVID-19 often need mechanical ventilation and other intensive care procedures. When they are out of beds, people end up languishing at home and suffering and dying in much larger numbers.

All this means that if we can slow the transmission of the disease—flatten its curve—there will be many lives saved even if the same number of people eventually get sick, because everyone won’t show up at the hospital all at once. Plus, if we can flatten that curve, there is more time to develop a vaccine or find antivirals that help.


https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/preparing-for-coronavirus-to-strike-the-u-s/



Ms. Toad

(34,102 posts)
23. If it's kept you cold-free, then great!
Tue Mar 10, 2020, 06:22 PM
Mar 2020

Mine has kept me flu-free 90% of the last decade, and cold-free about 50% of the years. So I'm stepping mu my game a bit. More social distancing, doubling my washing, adding sanitizer between washings.

Baitball Blogger

(46,758 posts)
13. That's an interesting reaction.
Tue Mar 10, 2020, 11:09 AM
Mar 2020

I think they might have a predisposition that concerns them. Maybe something that they haven't shared with you.

Mariana

(14,861 posts)
15. That's really weird. There's no reason not to go out in the yard.
Tue Mar 10, 2020, 11:24 AM
Mar 2020

If it turns out we have to stay home for a while, and we aren't sick, the garden will benefit greatly from the extra time I'll have to spend with it.

Cognitive_Resonance

(1,546 posts)
16. I'm not bunkering and padlocking yet, but I think it's highly appropriate to be fully prepared.
Tue Mar 10, 2020, 11:28 AM
Mar 2020

Here's a link to the National Strategy for Pandemic Influenz, adoc prepared during W's second term that provides the strategy framework for responding to a pandemic:

https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/pdf/pandemic-influenza-implementation.pdf

This is how it's supposed to work.

tblue37

(65,490 posts)
32. Washington state is a hotspot. I would isolate there. We haven't had an identified case in KS
Tue Mar 10, 2020, 07:57 PM
Mar 2020

yet, but when that starts happening, I will probably stop tutoring for awhile, since public school and college kids are disease vectors.

I am just glad I retired from teaching college a year ago.

Other than teaching and tutoring, I have always been a bit reclusive anyway.

At 69, and with relevant comorbities, I would be very much at risk.

Kaleva

(36,354 posts)
33. I'd take a path between the two examples you provided.
Tue Mar 10, 2020, 08:07 PM
Mar 2020

I wouldn't go into total lock down within my own home but I'd go out and about off the property only if absolutely necessary.

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