Update from Italy! The restrictions are extended to the whole country.

An advice for you dear SErs: keep your elderly loved ones as isolated as possible, starting from now. Sorry to sound so apocalyptic, but this thing is serious.

My Dad just died from complications related to influenza last month. My Mom had both influenza and pneumonia, but survived (she's tough). I'm really hoping I can keep her safe from the Coronavirus. All my best to you, and please stay safe!

Jason Van Schoor on Twitter: "From a well respected friend and intensivist/A&E consultant who is currently in northern Italy: 1/ ‘I feel the pressure to give you a quick personal update about what is happening in Italy, and also give some quick direct advice about what you should do." / Twitter

This thread about match up with what you're hearing over there?

Yes. Sadly, I confirm. My uncle and his husband are both physicians, and their reports are similar to this one.

Well that's terrifying. Any idea what ED is that they mention?

...Emergency Department, I suppose.

Meanwhile, in Italy we're running out of masks and protective material.
"Running out" as in "no more masks for the operators, and our foreign suppliers blocked their export".

https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/03/14/coronavirus-eu-abandoning-italy-china-aid/?fbclid=IwAR2kYeHaLRKq0q3dErs9S5-V54S_yDttAcKU798OZ68jNnYWrHijar90Suc

Stay safe! Here in Florida we've had one or two cases so the old folks home I stay at to take care of my grandfather has begun screening people entering the campus. Oh, boy.

I have had a cold for two weeks, or possibly two colds end-to-end

GF: Maybe you have Coronavirus
Me: I don't have Coronavirus
GF: You might have
Me: I don't have Coronavirus
GF: You don't know you don't have Coronavirus
Me: I don't have Coronavirus
GF: How do you know?
Me: If had Coronavirus, it would be much worse than this
GF: Coronavirus doesn't get really bad until two weeks
Me: I don't have Coronavirus

Who needs a girlfriend when I can just read your interactions with yours?

GF: I'm depressed
ME: Why are you depressed?
GF: The fucking Qing dynasty
ME: You're depressed about the Qing dynasty.
GF: They poison each other!

Not anymore, they don't.

GF: It's brave of me to sleep with you, without even wearing a face mask.

You doing alright?

Yes, dear steele, thanks.
I finished yesterday my fifteen days shift with the kid, and now I'm working my ass off (trying to, at least: my ability to focus these days is quite low).
Here in Milan the situation is still very bad; but now we are in such a good company, I can't complain.
How about you?

Glad to hear you're okay.

Things are weird right now. My grandfather finally passed away thursday (non-covid related) after a while in hospice and now I've gotta sort all his affairs and start my life over while the Earth is seemingly closed. It's making things a bit difficult... My original plans of taking an actual vacation to decompress after being a caregiver to my grandparents for a number of years or getting back on the road travelling/camping have all been indefinitely suspended. Can't donate his belongings because all the charity shops are closed, and now I'm pretty much trying to decide which friend or family member (some with plans to quarantine me for 2 weeks) to shack up with for who knows how long.

It's all very surreal.

Condolences! You want to establish a daily morning update of your Camus time?

Hm, maybe daily updates just fuel the sense of panic.

Thbbft!

:)

BTW: Do you work from home / care for your family – or do you need … ahem … free game keys?

I quit gaming long ago, thanks :*


Anyway: I'm a separated dad, of a 6 years old kid (he stays one week with me, one with his mother).
We are essentially confined at home; grandfathers are, sadly — and for obvious reasons —, banned.

It isn't easy. But it's way too soon to complain. We are just at the beginning of this ominous shit.

...Sounds quite strange, uhu? It feels unreal even to me (hence the category of the post was, originally, "virtual reality").

(hence the category of the post was, originally, "virtual reality").

Yeah, I fixed that. Please don't do that, as the categories are supposed to make it easier to find things.

...I know, I'm a pirlone. It won't happen again.

Nope, being 2 borders away planning similar moves is not that far-fetched.

But the radio just said you can still go shopping – so no food stashing, right?

Not yet. The real problem is that every level of institutions works (and speaks) for itself: two hours ago the governor of Lombardy — our region — declared that means of transportation and shops could shut down (long story short: our local public healthcare system, one of the best in Europe, has been shrunk during the last 20 years in order to advantage the private one; now he fears to be the scapegoat of a hard awakening); you can figure out the effect on people of such a worrying and vague declaration.

Possibly the opportunity for the greatest heist Milan has ever seen ...?

Not my first thought, sincerely.
On the other hand, we already had some mass hysteria waves in the supermakets. So Romero. And a massive prison riot, with three victims, just a few hours ago.
Anyway: the situation is quite bad. COVID-19 mortality raises violently — even between people under 50 and 40 years old — when the healthcare capacity reaches the saturation. That's almost the case already, here in Lombardy (an area which represents the health system excellence in Italy: the rest of the country is in worse shape); and we are just at the beginning of an exponential growth. The rumors from the hospitals are frightening.

Best wishes to you and to your family ( and country). I'm sorry you have to go through this and grateful that you and your country have the will and the good will to do what not only protects yourselves as individuals, but all of us in other places as well.

I wouldn't bee too optimistic; actually, we are doing too little and too late. The only approach strong enough for this situation would be the Chinese one: a little bit too totalitarian, for our western habits.
However, thanks. A lot. :)


[en passant: apparently, I can't mod some comments from the SEr fellows: is it a precocious symptom of the virus, or a technical issue? steele!]

Mod then reply?

The old Golden Rule!
Sorry, I'm a little rusty, I forgot it.

No worries. I think you can actually mod and reply at the same time.

It won't quite kill a third of the population, but COVID-19 will end up being the Black Death of the 21st century.

"The"?
One of them, more likely (you'll excuse my from-the-quarantine mood).

Some friends of mine took off on a trip to Europe and Italy was closed by the time they landed. Their itinerary has now moved to Plan B(erlin)

They shall take care as well – a bunch of cases have been contracted in clubs:

Berlin Parties On, Despite the Coronavirus

Some of the German capital’s renowned clubs were said to be caught between bankruptcy and virus prevention, and there are plenty of people who are determined to keep dancing.

Personal update. Some mild symptoms and fever: enough, with the current protocols, to keep myself contained at home. I'll have to wait to see my kid.

...Two things: this isn't a stupid experiment in fiction, and, above all, I'm in no hurry to meet our dear Trigorin (nor JOECAM — as far as we know).

Damn. Take care, get plenty of rest. Maybe fly to DC and go on a whitehouse tour... just brainstorming.

[I'd type you a heart, but it messes with our html]

This is SE. Type a cock.

I'm typing this with my quarantined cock; I hope that's fine too.

That's the SE way.

W.H.O.: it's officially pandemic.

Milan by night.
Empty.

https://www.facebook.com/rubenholiva/videos/10222065929863492/

Just read this:

Milan announces ambitious scheme to reduce car use after lockdown

It would be nice. But "ambitious" is the point.
...Anyway, Milan is still going bad, at present worse than the rest of Lombardy.

Oh man, that is one heavy time. Here measures are loosened and people seem less careful since Easter. Next weeks will show how this'll play out.
Numbers are still going down, but they closed some hospitals due to spreading too many cases.