How is Covid19 affecting you?

[TerryMcK]

In the UK all the bars, theatres, cinemas, gyms, music venues, restaurants, schools, colleges and universities amongst many other establishments have been told to close. The government is supporting people by paying up to 80% of lost earnings, salaries etc which is good, for those people unable to work due to their businesses being forced to close.

We are practicing what is called “ social distancing” a phrase that was unknown to us until last week. Essentially keeping a distance of 6 to 8 feet away from others when passing them in the street. My parents are self isolating as they are in their 80s and in a high risk group.

Airports are scaling back and our local airport at Manchester has closed 2 of its three terminals due to vast reduction in air travel. My wife and I are ok but she has had lots of her activities curtailed, art class cancelled, amateur theatre cancelled, singing group cancelled, bookclub cancelled, swimming cancelled,

People are panic buying and supermarkets are struggling keeping up stocking the shelves despite there being plenty of food in the system. From speaking to colleagues who work in other countries it appears to be also happening there too.

I have a dodgy knee and two dodgy hips so am struggling to do any woodworking but am finishing off a coffee table piece for my friends 60th birthday. I also work from home and have done for years so am still able to buy lumber and tools  .

The selfish attitude of a few younger people in this country seems to be “it doesn’t affect my age group and I am invulnerable”. How wrong that is as everybody can get it and become a carrier to infect older people (like their grandparents) who are more likely to succumb to the virus.

Stay safe everybody in these unusual and unprecedented times.

[curlyoak]

• Terry, you could use all you wrote and say it was the US. Exactly the same. I have just started a three piece walnut bathroom. My client is a pilot. He wanted to pay for the work so far and call it off. I will be delivering the uncompleted work soon. He wants me to complete the project when he goes back to work. This has never happened to me. For any reason. I think most humans of the planet earth are being affected by this virus. one way or another. These times are the most challenging and historic for us humans. I am making an effort to keep my sense of humor. My daily goal is to make someone laugh...at least smile...

[RichardA]

At 77 years old, I may be dense.  But I kinda think this is being overplayed a little.  Even here in rural Tennessee, some shelves are empty. Toilet paper, eggs, butter some meats and cheeses.  It's just weird as hell how some people react.  I heard someone say in the supermarket the other day, that he thought Martial law was the next step.  There will be an uprising here if that comes about.

[Bmac]

1 hour ago, RichardA said:

At 77 years old, I may be dense.  But I kinda think this is being overplayed a little.  Even here in rural Tennessee, some shelves are empty. Toilet paper, eggs, butter some meats and cheeses.  It's just weird as hell how some people react.  I heard someone say in the supermarket the other day, that he thought Martial law was the next step.  There will be an uprising here if that comes about.

I agree with you that it's funny how people react, and my issue is how the lock downs are affecting people away from the big cities. The big cities seem to be the hot spots, not rural areas like rural Tennessee.

Being forced to close my dental office is a mixed blessing. Living in the more populated Northeast and working basically in someone's mouth, I did feel their was a definite risk. So I understand closing for me, but it is so incredibly hard on my staff, 6 women who rely on their checks. I'm definitely taking a huge hit but I at least have some resources, many of them do not. Also, we have no idea when we'll be back to work. Recommendations first came out to be off until March 27, a day later those were extended to April 6th. I could easily see that getting extended again.

To me the positives are being off work. I have a 10 acre property and a lot of things I'd like to get done. Told my wife that this is a dry run for retirement (in my 50s now), but it will extend my timeline before I can retirement.

[Cliff]

 My impact is I'm working at home. So far. There is a pretty good chance I'm going to lose my yearly bonus and not get the promotion and 6-10% raise due to a now uncertain economy. I'm ok with that if it means I still have a job. The recession impact will not be fully understood for some time I think. 

The stripping of grocery store shelves is pretty ridiculous. Severe overreaction. Then on the other hand we have spring break college kids acting like life is normal - will go home and kill their parents with what they picked up. So I'm a little confused on how our country can be so completely opposite. To me it's a fairly logical equation. We have this thing, we know it transmits quite easily, we know the age groups and conditions that can make it kill with a fairly high percentage. The result is "lets stay in." And - as a person with underlying medical issues I'm extra cautious. Even though I'm 41, I'm still diabetic and our immune systems tend to suck. 

Temp here today is 38, and somehow that keeps me out of my heated shop. I don't know why that is. Regardless, had a couple of warm days last week, started my new desk and am finally finishing cutting boards from 2 years ago. 

[Mark J]

[Mark J]

Honestly, I find myself fighting off a bit of depression.  The Illinois Governor issued a Stay at Home order taking effect today.  It actually doesn't change things for me and my wife, we were already staying at home, but let's just say it's the thought that counts.  

I would like to say that I'm getting more shop time, but being retired I was already in the shop as much as I wanted to be.  I am working on a project that is taking shape, so there's that.  I have plenty of wood for the next idea, too.  

The wife has gotten somewhat creative, last night she made me eat a pea omelette.  It wasn't actually all that bad, but still.  And she's decided that we should deep clean the entire house, one room each day.  And I checked, she does not consider the workshop one of the "rooms in the house".  

[TerryMcK]

21 minutes ago, Mark J said:

The wife has gotten somewhat creative, last night she made me eat a pea omelette.  It wasn't actually all that bad, but still.  And she's decided that we should deep clean the entire house, one room each day.  And I checked, she does not consider the workshop one of the "rooms in the house".  

I've had an omelette like that too Mark. It would take me a year to deep clean my shop.

[JohnG]

My wife works in the emergency department, so our exposure to CV is only a matter of when, not if. Some of her coworkers have already been quarantined, so now there’s talk of longer shifts. We’ve been staying in otherwise, to limit exposure for others. I’ve lost our childcare help for our two kids, so the days are long. After a long day with the kids, I still have to do my work. Luckily it’s a slower time of year for my work. Shop time is on hold. We are planning to move in July and start new jobs in August, but who knows how this will affect that. We had planned a big vacation in July but that’s up in the air at this point. 

[RichardA]

25 minutes ago, TerryMcK said:

 It would take me a year to deep clean my shop.

That would be my bench area, the rest would be til I'm 80 and then I'd have the bench to do over again...... Endless cycle, so I'll just ignore it. maybe it'll go away, or I will.   I bet it wins.

[Chet]

We have the shelter in place order but we can go out to exercise which I do.  I walk about 5 miles a day for exercise and probably about another mile and a half with my dog for his. His is a slow pace because there are things that need sniffing by him.

We have been outside getting the vegetable garden going and other spring projects in the yard.  And I have some small shop projects going on.  When went to the grocery store Thursday and marveled at the fact that things like TP and pasta and can goods were low or gone but remedies that may be useful if you were to come down with the virus or flu were fully stocked and untouched.   We only showed for what we needed and got all but to items.  People really need to get their heads out of their bums.

Also stores are posting that there will be no refunds for hoarded items like TP and soaps and sanitizers and bottled water.

We are supposed to be at the top of the animal kingdom but it doesn't take much for people to fall into the heard mentality.

[pkinneb]

I work from home and don't leave much to begin with but like others feeling a bit depressed by all of this. My wife is a substitute so she is off as long as schools are closed. Biggest concern outside of everyone's health and well being is our youngest's wedding scheduled for May 30th and if that weren't bad enough their honeymoon  is in scheduled for Italy. I feel really bad for her and my future son in law they spent so much time and money (most not refundable) planning for the special day only to have this mess. I keep telling her they will have plenty of time to celebrate over the years but its still not easy. 

Having said all of that i'd say we are pretty dang lucky compared to many so trying to focus on that...oh and my bar cabinets

[pkinneb]

53 minutes ago, JohnG said:

My wife works in the emergency department...

Thank her for us folks like her are the real hero's right now.

[Mark J]

+1

[Tom King]

We decided to do out part, with isolation, before it was publicly suggested.  We're giving our helpers paid leave.  I was mostly working on our place here before, so that hasn't changed.  It's just more, and slower work to get anything done by myself.  I have found that there is not as much clock watching, and yesterday, it was 6:15 before I decided to check to see what time it was, and stopped working for the day.

I have always been a social distancer, and only reluctantly been a hand shaker, so those parts are not really new for me, and I hope one result of this is that it's okay, from henceforward, not to be expected to shake hands.   We have a fairly large spread, with no close neighbors, and plenty of animals, so I guess that helps a lot.

We have a pretty large investment in a lake house we were expecting to start renting this season, but now we're not expecting to do much, if any, of that this year.   We won't go hungry though.

My 103 year old Mother is living in Assisted Living.   We were after them, for a couple of weeks before it was mandatory, to stop allowing visitors into the facility.  They finally did that this past week.  We went, and visited though the window on her first floor room, and put up some bird feeders.   She's seen many changes in her life, and is taking it all just fine, like she always has.   We are lucky that we are in an unaffected, so far, area.

[Tpt life]

We are all schooling from home. (Two teachers and three students.) We had to report to school Monday. Only one confirmed case in county last night. Not stressed, but in that wait two weeks to see if any of us were exposed. 

[Chet]

1 hour ago, pkinneb said:

(most not refundable)

Even under these circumstances ???  That would seem a bit tight and not the best CS.

[JohnG]

35 minutes ago, pkinneb said:

Thank her for us folks like her are the real hero's right now.

Really appreciate it, doctors often get thrown under the bus in situations like this.

The first local case was a couple that had traveled. They went to the hospital and the docs wanted to test them for the virus, but the department of health for that city said they couldn’t, so the docs had to send them home. Later, the couple went to another hospital (nearby, but in the jurisdiction of a different department of health) and they got tested right away. News articles blamed the first doctors for not testing them on their first visit.

If not already, there will be articles slamming doctors for getting the virus and then exposing more people to the virus, but it’s a complex and unknown situation, especially for ED nurses, docs, and techs.

[pkinneb]

2 hours ago, Chet said:

Even under these circumstances ???  That would seem a bit tight and not the best CS.

Yes we shall see but at this point only a few hundred is refundable. I'm not to concerned about ours but for a young couple starting out its still a big chunk of change. At this point they are still trying to figure out what's next. If they can't have it they told us they were going to do a small destination wedding at a later date. Again in the scheme of things these are first world problems but tough to see your kids go through it none the less.

[wtnhighlander]

9 hours ago, JohnG said:

.... especially for ED nurses, docs, and techs.

Man, I really hope you ment to type ER. If not, maybe I'm confused about how this virus is transmitted?? 

Thanks to all medical personnel for their dedication, in either case!

[gee-dub]

I’ve realized my lifestyle has a name; self quarantine.

[RichardA]

5 hours ago, gee-dub said:

I’ve realized my lifestyle has a name; self quarantine.

+1

[JohnG]

7 hours ago, wtnhighlander said:

Man, I really hope you ment to type ER. If not, maybe I'm confused about how this virus is transmitted?? 

    Emergency Department. 

[RichardA]

1 hour ago, JohnG said:

    Emergency Department. 

Whew!

[Chestnut]

I started working from home Wed, Megan may have been exposed at work Monday or Tuesday so we decided to do the self quarantine thing. It's not drastically different from our normal schedule but i don't know that I'm going to like working from home... We both ended up getting a bad cold Wed as well so I've been getting little shop time and have just been relaxing. We don't think it was the virus as neither of us had a fever and Megan only had an occasional cough.

Job wise i think this is going to end up making me a lot busier on the 1-2 year horizon. Oil is cheap which is going to make construction cheaper and a lot of municipalities have fat budgets from 11 years of development and a lot more fiscally responsible decisions. Housing is still drastically under built there are still 5 buyers for every house in our market at least, with low mortgage rates i expect prices to hold if not increase. If I'm wrong and things contract a bit It might be a good thing, we had so many unfilled positions that might either get filled or my not be needed. I'm sick of 50 hours weeks so a break from that will be nice.

On 3/21/2020 at 6:28 AM, Bmac said:

Being forced to close my dental office is a mixed blessing. 

Megan's best friend is a new dentist just graduated a year ago and now can't work but still has a lot in loans. It's being really tough on her.

21 hours ago, pkinneb said:

I work from home and don't leave much to begin with but like others feeling a bit depressed by all of this. My wife is a substitute so she is off as long as schools are closed. Biggest concern outside of everyone's health and well being is our youngest's wedding scheduled for May 30th and if that weren't bad enough their honeymoon  is in scheduled for Italy. I feel really bad for her and my future son in law they spent so much time and money (most not refundable) planning for the special day only to have this mess. I keep telling her they will have plenty of time to celebrate over the years but its still not easy. 

Having said all of that i'd say we are pretty dang lucky compared to many so trying to focus on that...oh and my bar cabinets

They should still be good that late in May, Italy may be another thing. Though if they do go they'll probably get smaller crowds and good deals on things as i bet this is really going to impact their tourism. Could be a diamond in the rough. I have a feeling things will be working towrds getting back to normal by them but maybe not?