I'm one of the lucky ones. I'm checking in from Provence in the countryside. I live outside a small village full of people I've become quite fond of, therefore I try to keep my quarantine so I can stay healthy should anyone need help. Carrying my paperwork is a bore and too often I forget, but I'd rather be here during a pandemic than anywhere else.
I'm an epidemiology nerd (which is why I did past episodes on the Black Plague etc), and after I started hearing about the outbreak in January, I filled my Kindle with nothing but books on epidemics. I have...regrets about that now. Currently finishing up Kim Stanley Robinson's "Years of Rice and Salt" (alternate history sci-fi imagining world history if the Black Plague had wiped out Europe) and Laura Spinney's "Pale Rider" about the 1918 flu. The rest of my reading is research on Ravensbruck concentration camp for the next podcast episode. Just a LAUGH FACTORY over here.
You must be the life the (social distancing) party. As to what's happening now, my wife is spending a good deal of the time meeting up on zoom with her knitting/crocheting friends in Paris and Jerusalem. I continue to teach my physics class (another group of people who make parties exciting!) via Zoom.
What are y'all reading? I may have filled my Kindle with pandemic books back in January which is now a choice that I regret!!! Currently finishing up Kim Stanley Robinson's "Years of Rice and Salt" (alternate history sci-fi imagining world history if the Black Plague had wiped out Europe) and Laura Spinney's "Pale Rider" about the 1918 flu. Would LOVE to read something ELSE after I'm done so chime in. On the other hand, I am a huge epidemiology nerd so if you DO want books related to that, I have a list of recs. (Spillover by David Quammen is a great place to start considering *waves hands* all of this - one of our greatest living science writers focuses on diseases which "spill over" from animals into humans. Sound familiar?)
Hello, beloved listeners! I hope you're all relatively safe and sound. Tell me how things are going. What are conditions like where you are? What's your biggest daily struggle? Is your neighborhood doing anything particularly weird or entertaining in response to this?
As for myself, I'm checking in from San Francisco. I've been isolating at home with my partner since March 6th, stepping outside for my daily jog and that's it. SF was really ahead of the curve on this response, which I deeply appreciate right now - it's looking like we are already bending the curve locally (knock on wood!!!) though we'll have a better idea in the next 1-3 weeks. I'm lucky enough to be able to work from home.
One thing which is a little strange or peculiar about living in the Bay Area is that we all have N95 masks because of wildfires! The Bay Area runs out of N95 masks about once a year, so lots of us keep a year round supply in our emergency kits. I just donated all of mine to the nearest hospital. They definitely need them more than I do, but I am worried about what will happen when wildfire season comes back, if there is still a national shortage. (God willing, I hope the worst of the crisis will be over by then.)
I've noticed a lot of people around the country asking why places like Google, Facebook, etc are suddenly donating 700,000 masks and so on. I've seen a bunch of conspiracy theories, but it's just the reality of living in California - state OSHA regulations require businesses to keep a 2 week supply on hand for employees if they live in an area prone to wildfire smoke. Well, that's the entire Bay Area! Technically, while big companies *asked* their employees to work from home a few weeks earlier, California's statewide "shelter in place" didn't kick in until 6 days ago. Once it did, and they could be sure that employees really, truly weren't in the office (and subject to OSHA office regulations) companies were free to donate their employee supplies. Also, "wildfire masks" are often the ones used by construction workers, which weren't approved by the FDA for use in hospitals until a few days ago. Shelter-in-place kicking in + any kind of N95 will do = massive company stashes are now free to donate.
Biggest struggle is not knowing when I can get together with my friends again. Nothing started to shut down until the 13th here in BC, when gatherings of 250 people or more were cancelled and then the trickle started. By the 15th public buildings were started to close and by the next day (the 16th) a lot of businesses were curtailing services.
The biggest stressor is my mom’s parents, who are turning 91 and 95 this year, and hoping their long term care home doesn’t get infected; a lot of seniors facilities in BC have been hit hard, especially in the metro Vancouver area.
Checking in from Sydney Australia. Trying my hardest to be on of the 80% that stays home to flatten the curve so hospitals can manage. Not easy when I live in an apartment. I am reading a biography of Jean Genet and also Journal of Anne Frank. She stayed away for two years. Me only two days. I am loving the Women of War series. Very interesting.
Hello! If you're on Twitter at all, the Australian virologist Ian MacKay has an amazing twitter feed which helped me prepare my home and my family's home before everything went to hell. I feel your pain re: apartments right now, I get SO jealous of everyone with, like, multiple rooms in their house. Imagine! Two rooms! What luxury.
Checking in from BC. I relocated last week to spend my “staying in place” with my parents instead of staying in my apartment on my own for who knows how long. Numbers in BC (and Canada) are much better than in most places but still some people don’t understand social distancing (a lot of people turned up in parks and beaches over this weekend despite being told to stay at home (when nothing is open I guess people go to the park). My place of employment shut down on the 17th and being single and no kids and not employed in an essential service allowance me to do this (my sister and only sibling is a NICU nurse is essential; a colleague of hers came down with it through interaction outside of work, but fortunately my sister wasn’t in contact with the nurse and had to therefore calm down the nurses that had). I’m reading a lot and watching TV and going for one walk a day and my anxiety is through the roof. Trying not to consume too much commentary. And yes people are hoarding in BC as well; one guy cleaned out a meat case a grocery store in northern B.C. and didn’t return any of the meat.
I'm sure it's such a comfort to your parents to have you there. <3 I have to laugh at the weird meat dude - my friend was in line at the grocery store behind a woman pushing an entire cart of milk. MILK. Lady, the milk goes bad??? What are you doing??
Checking in from San Mateo in the Bay Area. My wife and I work at SFO but fortunately we are both able to work from home. The airport is a very strange place these days - it reminds me a lot of the days after 9/11. There are still people flying in and out, but passenger traffic has been reduced to a trickle.
My relatives in France report the same things there as we've seen here - people stockpiling food, toilet paper and cleaning supplies. My cousin in Alsace has a nice potager in her garden so they're set for vegetables ;). They are all also working from home.
I kind of can't believe there are still flights at all! We just spent forever wrangling with United to get a refund on the trip we were going to take next month. I guess repatriation flights are still happening?
I'm so jealous of anyone with garden space! Feeling very much in tune with 1870s Parisians, waiting on that wonderful delivery of fresh fruit and vegetables from the countryside...
Yeah, we had to cancel two trips on United. It wasn't hard, though, as I was able to do it online using my MileagePlus account. Now we have a big travel credit but no desire to travel within the next year...
Aren't we all?! Sigh. How are you doing? How are you keeping yourself busy - hopefully not refreshing Twitter every 15 seconds like some of us (not me, never, no way)
Oh man, thank you for whatever essential work you're doing! I'm still working because I'm in tech and we were half remote to begin with, it wasn't that big of a transition. Otherwise, I spend the rest of my time stress baking (ooh I'll start a separate thread - I want everyone's recipes), playing Red Dead Redemption and feeling guilty about not wanting to work on the next episode of the podcast right now. I want to finish out "Women At War" so we can move on to other subjects, but boy do I not want to think about concentration camps right now and I doubt anyone else does either.
I think I completely agree with that. And let's hope we never have to think about them. I do want to say I do enjoy your podcast. It is a highlight when I go to the gym.
I'm one of the lucky ones. I'm checking in from Provence in the countryside. I live outside a small village full of people I've become quite fond of, therefore I try to keep my quarantine so I can stay healthy should anyone need help. Carrying my paperwork is a bore and too often I forget, but I'd rather be here during a pandemic than anywhere else.
This seems to be an appropriate time. I just began reading « La Peste » (The Plague) by Albert Camus.
I'm an epidemiology nerd (which is why I did past episodes on the Black Plague etc), and after I started hearing about the outbreak in January, I filled my Kindle with nothing but books on epidemics. I have...regrets about that now. Currently finishing up Kim Stanley Robinson's "Years of Rice and Salt" (alternate history sci-fi imagining world history if the Black Plague had wiped out Europe) and Laura Spinney's "Pale Rider" about the 1918 flu. The rest of my reading is research on Ravensbruck concentration camp for the next podcast episode. Just a LAUGH FACTORY over here.
You must be the life the (social distancing) party. As to what's happening now, my wife is spending a good deal of the time meeting up on zoom with her knitting/crocheting friends in Paris and Jerusalem. I continue to teach my physics class (another group of people who make parties exciting!) via Zoom.
What are y'all reading? I may have filled my Kindle with pandemic books back in January which is now a choice that I regret!!! Currently finishing up Kim Stanley Robinson's "Years of Rice and Salt" (alternate history sci-fi imagining world history if the Black Plague had wiped out Europe) and Laura Spinney's "Pale Rider" about the 1918 flu. Would LOVE to read something ELSE after I'm done so chime in. On the other hand, I am a huge epidemiology nerd so if you DO want books related to that, I have a list of recs. (Spillover by David Quammen is a great place to start considering *waves hands* all of this - one of our greatest living science writers focuses on diseases which "spill over" from animals into humans. Sound familiar?)
Reading many but reading Bill Bryson’s book The Body; very fascinating but also gross at times.
Your timing is great - Libby says I JUST got my copy of the eBook today. I love Bill Bryson!
I just started rereading the 44 Scotland Street series by Alexander McCall Smith. It's familiar and fun, something I can use right now...
Hello, beloved listeners! I hope you're all relatively safe and sound. Tell me how things are going. What are conditions like where you are? What's your biggest daily struggle? Is your neighborhood doing anything particularly weird or entertaining in response to this?
As for myself, I'm checking in from San Francisco. I've been isolating at home with my partner since March 6th, stepping outside for my daily jog and that's it. SF was really ahead of the curve on this response, which I deeply appreciate right now - it's looking like we are already bending the curve locally (knock on wood!!!) though we'll have a better idea in the next 1-3 weeks. I'm lucky enough to be able to work from home.
One thing which is a little strange or peculiar about living in the Bay Area is that we all have N95 masks because of wildfires! The Bay Area runs out of N95 masks about once a year, so lots of us keep a year round supply in our emergency kits. I just donated all of mine to the nearest hospital. They definitely need them more than I do, but I am worried about what will happen when wildfire season comes back, if there is still a national shortage. (God willing, I hope the worst of the crisis will be over by then.)
I've noticed a lot of people around the country asking why places like Google, Facebook, etc are suddenly donating 700,000 masks and so on. I've seen a bunch of conspiracy theories, but it's just the reality of living in California - state OSHA regulations require businesses to keep a 2 week supply on hand for employees if they live in an area prone to wildfire smoke. Well, that's the entire Bay Area! Technically, while big companies *asked* their employees to work from home a few weeks earlier, California's statewide "shelter in place" didn't kick in until 6 days ago. Once it did, and they could be sure that employees really, truly weren't in the office (and subject to OSHA office regulations) companies were free to donate their employee supplies. Also, "wildfire masks" are often the ones used by construction workers, which weren't approved by the FDA for use in hospitals until a few days ago. Shelter-in-place kicking in + any kind of N95 will do = massive company stashes are now free to donate.
Biggest struggle is not knowing when I can get together with my friends again. Nothing started to shut down until the 13th here in BC, when gatherings of 250 people or more were cancelled and then the trickle started. By the 15th public buildings were started to close and by the next day (the 16th) a lot of businesses were curtailing services.
The biggest stressor is my mom’s parents, who are turning 91 and 95 this year, and hoping their long term care home doesn’t get infected; a lot of seniors facilities in BC have been hit hard, especially in the metro Vancouver area.
Wishing your grandparents well, my 84 year old grandma is in Ohio and it is really hard not to get stressed out thinking about her. <3
Checking in from Sydney Australia. Trying my hardest to be on of the 80% that stays home to flatten the curve so hospitals can manage. Not easy when I live in an apartment. I am reading a biography of Jean Genet and also Journal of Anne Frank. She stayed away for two years. Me only two days. I am loving the Women of War series. Very interesting.
Hello! If you're on Twitter at all, the Australian virologist Ian MacKay has an amazing twitter feed which helped me prepare my home and my family's home before everything went to hell. I feel your pain re: apartments right now, I get SO jealous of everyone with, like, multiple rooms in their house. Imagine! Two rooms! What luxury.
Checking in from BC. I relocated last week to spend my “staying in place” with my parents instead of staying in my apartment on my own for who knows how long. Numbers in BC (and Canada) are much better than in most places but still some people don’t understand social distancing (a lot of people turned up in parks and beaches over this weekend despite being told to stay at home (when nothing is open I guess people go to the park). My place of employment shut down on the 17th and being single and no kids and not employed in an essential service allowance me to do this (my sister and only sibling is a NICU nurse is essential; a colleague of hers came down with it through interaction outside of work, but fortunately my sister wasn’t in contact with the nurse and had to therefore calm down the nurses that had). I’m reading a lot and watching TV and going for one walk a day and my anxiety is through the roof. Trying not to consume too much commentary. And yes people are hoarding in BC as well; one guy cleaned out a meat case a grocery store in northern B.C. and didn’t return any of the meat.
I'm sure it's such a comfort to your parents to have you there. <3 I have to laugh at the weird meat dude - my friend was in line at the grocery store behind a woman pushing an entire cart of milk. MILK. Lady, the milk goes bad??? What are you doing??
Checking in from San Mateo in the Bay Area. My wife and I work at SFO but fortunately we are both able to work from home. The airport is a very strange place these days - it reminds me a lot of the days after 9/11. There are still people flying in and out, but passenger traffic has been reduced to a trickle.
My relatives in France report the same things there as we've seen here - people stockpiling food, toilet paper and cleaning supplies. My cousin in Alsace has a nice potager in her garden so they're set for vegetables ;). They are all also working from home.
I kind of can't believe there are still flights at all! We just spent forever wrangling with United to get a refund on the trip we were going to take next month. I guess repatriation flights are still happening?
I'm so jealous of anyone with garden space! Feeling very much in tune with 1870s Parisians, waiting on that wonderful delivery of fresh fruit and vegetables from the countryside...
Yeah, we had to cancel two trips on United. It wasn't hard, though, as I was able to do it online using my MileagePlus account. Now we have a big travel credit but no desire to travel within the next year...
This is getting to people. They are overstressed right now.
Aren't we all?! Sigh. How are you doing? How are you keeping yourself busy - hopefully not refreshing Twitter every 15 seconds like some of us (not me, never, no way)
No, I am considered one of the essential workers, so I'm in my office. I listen to people spray Lysol all day. 😀
How are you handling it? I read your post. But what about after your run? There only so much Netflix, after all... 😂
Oh man, thank you for whatever essential work you're doing! I'm still working because I'm in tech and we were half remote to begin with, it wasn't that big of a transition. Otherwise, I spend the rest of my time stress baking (ooh I'll start a separate thread - I want everyone's recipes), playing Red Dead Redemption and feeling guilty about not wanting to work on the next episode of the podcast right now. I want to finish out "Women At War" so we can move on to other subjects, but boy do I not want to think about concentration camps right now and I doubt anyone else does either.
I love your "Woman at War" episodes!
All her episodes are good. I learn something new every time.
I think I completely agree with that. And let's hope we never have to think about them. I do want to say I do enjoy your podcast. It is a highlight when I go to the gym.
Thank you! I appreciate it. :)