Moderator notice: Please do not ask for medical advice in this forum!
- If you are interested in Crafting, maybe try ordering a craft kit online (something substantial that would take time would be best, like a Latch hook kit
(and crochet hook if you don’t have one), a potholder loom and cotton loops
, or cross stitch kit), to work on.
- learn something physical, like an instrument, how to sew or knit, etc
- a lot of museums and zoos and the like are doing virtual tours or free online classes
, so keep an eye out for that as well.
- do a giant puzzle
- Join an online bookclub
- Take an online class
While the outbreak started around New Year's Day (12/31), it's picking up steam around the Asia-Pacific region especially since Mainland Chinese people tend to travel a lot.
For reference, the BNO Newsroom twitter has a special feed for any info on the coronavirus:
https://twitter.com/bnodesk?lang=en
The WHO has page about COVID-19 and any other concerns people may have. I suggest peeps go to the Q&A page to check for official details.
https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019
Edited by nombretomado on Jun 3rd 2020 at 3:21:48 AM
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It’s also the date they gave for the Irish Reunification, so busy year, from the looks of things.
Edited by KarkatTheDalek on May 26th 2020 at 9:01:44 AM
Oh God! Natural light!Funnily enough, I've been watching Star Trek again over this lockdown and I've got Stargate lined up next.
I was given Boston Legal for my birthday and I've just started watching it (I've never seen it before). Seeing William Shatner, Rene Auberjonois and James Spader in leading roles put me into Star Trek/Stargate nostalgia mode.
If my post doesn't mention a giant flying sperm whale with oversized teeth and lionfish fins for flippers, it just isn't worth reading.Goodness, I need to stop looking at the trending bar in Indonesian Twitter. Recently, there's been a number of anti-Jokowi hashtags spreading around, and most are propagated by his opposition to stir shit up instead of offering constructive grievances.
I admit that some of their criticism are quite valid in regards to the government's chaotic response, but if you can't offer a solution or explanation behind your criticism then these people need to shut their ignorant asses up.
Scaled seekerSomething from Belarus via AFP:
These Belarusian volunteers have stepped in to rush free supplies of much-needed protective equipment to hospitals as authorities in the ex-Soviet state play down the scale of the coronavirus epidemic.
Belarus has stood out for its lack of official response since the start of the pandemic as President Alexander Lukashenko has repeatedly disputed the seriousness of the virus.
The volunteers for a group called By Covid 19 are taking sacks of protective suits and face masks to a hospital in the small town of Chervyen, about 60 kilometres (40 miles) west of the capital Minsk.
In front of the hospital, white-coated medics unload the sacks and pile them high on a trolley.
"We have enough personal protective equipment at the moment," says the hospital's chief nurse, Natalya Sycheva, as she receives the supplies.
"But who knows what the ongoing situation will be and how long we'll need this for. So we need stocks for at least two weeks."
The country of some 9.5 million has a sizeable coronavirus epidemic. On Tuesday the number of confirmed cases reached 37,144 and 204 have died.
The true scale could be higher, says 33-year-old Andrei Tkachev, one of the coordinators of By Covid 19.
"Unfortunately the statistics from the hospitals are very depressing. And they are different from what is published officially: they are much worse."
Lukashenko has described virus fears as "psychosis", while advocating unproven preventive measures such as drinking vodka and taking steam baths.
He has kept public events running including the football season.
On May 9, he went ahead with an annual military parade to mark the Soviet victory in World War II, including some 5,000 troops and watched by war veterans, some not in masks.
- 'Tears in their eyes' -
Faced with official denial, voluntary groups have seized the initiative, raising funds and buying supplies for hospitals. While the Belarusian authorities often clamp down on NG Os, in this case they have given at least tacit support.
By Covid 19 was set up at the end of March through social media. It receives requests for equipment from medics across the country and tries to fulfil them using online fundraising.
In two months, the group says it has collected the equivalent of more than $250,000 in donations and supplied 150 medical facilities.
The equipment it sends out includes hospital thermometers and ultraviolet disinfection lamps as well as plastic face shields laser-cut for free by staff at a company in Minsk.
"These weren't intended for medical use but now there's such a difficult situation, we want to help our medics somehow, so they can protect themselves," says Anna Dobrovskaya, director of the plastic materials manufacturer Dalisia.
More than 1,500 volunteers work to collate hundreds of requests for help and set up deliveries.
"Some medics have had tears in their eyes because we really did manage to supply them very quickly," says Tkachev.
He criticises the "bureaucratic apparatus" of the Belarusian health ministry, saying volunteers can supply hospitals much quicker.
Nevertheless the group works in coordination with the authorities, the coordinators stress.
- Help from diaspora -
Some of the donations to By Covid 19 come from the country's large diaspora working abroad due to economic difficulties at home.
One of the coordinators, 34-year-old Andrei Strizhak, says that some supplies are brought in via the country's embassies in Poland and Lithuania.
"We collaborate closely with the foreign ministry and the health ministry," he says.
While not seeking to replace official structures, he says the group is plugging urgent gaps in the system.
"If your house is on fire, you don't just sit waiting for the firefighters funded by your taxes. You start chucking water on the fire," he says.
"That's what we're doing at the moment."
Indonesia update: 23.851 confirmed (+686), 1.473 dead (+55), 6.057 recovered/discharged (+180). Testing have ramped up quite a lot and I hope it stays that way - today their testing threshold hit 14k specimens for the first time.
East Java, particularly the Surabaya metropolitan area, have emerged as the new COVID hotspot in the country. President Jokowi and the Minister of Finance also warned that the "new normal" procedures can be retracted to return to large-scale movement restrictions again if a second wave hits the Jakarta area.
Edited by Lazlo74 on May 27th 2020 at 2:01:08 AM
Scaled seekerI posted a Game Theory video on it
a while back, if that's what it mean. Unless the Escapist you mentioned also did one.
For context, both videos describe the Corrupted Blood Incident in World of Warcraft, in which a programming oversight allowed certain players to take a highly damaging and highly contagious status debuff out of the raid it was used in and infect high population and/or low level areas with it.
Edited by sgamer82 on May 27th 2020 at 11:17:27 AM
New Zealand has discharged its last COVID-19 patient from the hospital.
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I meant that someone already post that Zero Punctuation video a while back, but it was on the Escapist, whose video player resembles something coded by someone's little brother in the 90's using a computer with half of the keyboard missing.
They post it on Youtube a week later, that's what I'm reposting here.
So a healthcare worker from New Brunswick (which has largely contained COVID) went to Quebec (the epicenter in Canada) on vacation. Upon return she ignored the mandatory 14 day self isolation requirement imposed by the province, went back to work and infested at least two others. She may be facing criminal charges.
Edited by Rationalinsanity on May 27th 2020 at 7:16:13 AM
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.Yeah. My own workplace is Healthcare related (health insurance to be exact) and before we went full work from home they were clear that if you left the state for any reason, you had to self quarantine. There was even a story of a person whose office was on the Washington/Idaho border, crossed it Ryu get lunch, and was sent home soon as he returned.
with things opening up I expect a second wave. This Is Gonna Suck.
Like they say, to the GOP, A Million Is a Statistic. For all their claims of exceptionalism, it's not so much different with how cheap lives are in third world countries.
Scaled seeker

What I mean is that it doesn't seem as far in the future now. It's the difference between 30 and 3 years, basically.
Hope shines brightest in the darkest times