It's just been announced that actor Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson have tested positive for COVID-19. When we can see actual faces we recognize, it starts to enter the realm of a new kind of real.
The MP for Mid-Beds Nadine Dorries, (the next constituency over and where I have close family) has tested positive. Despite feeling ill last week, she still held a political surgery in one of the largest and most central towns in her constituency, Flitwick, which is populated by a combination of the retired and elderly, and highly mobile London commuters. Ironically, she is also the Health Minister, and probably should have known better. The local news says the Club building where she held the surgery has been deep cleaned, and the specific room closed off till further notice. Stable doors and bolting horses come to mind...
I'm quite worried about COVID-19, not for myself personally, but my 93 year old grandmother has contracted pneumonia over the past week and owing to the nature of the virus it's got us a bit on edge. Currently there has only been a handful of confirmed cases in Birmingham, but the timing could be better (obviously my nan not having pneumonia would be ideal but...). They've actually discharged her this morning, so hopefully the chance of her contracting it will be minimised. Despite this, I will still mock people on Facebook for stockpiling pasta, loo roll, soap, and sanitiser. I will also continue to take the piss out of people who are making a big show of washing their hands. Not being funny but I was washing my hands before it was popular, without showing off!
The COVID-19 has also affected me. No, not the virus itself fortunately. But I had to cancel my family vacation in Florida from April 7th to April 24th, because all flights from Europe (= MAINLAND Europe = efta states) to the US are no longer allowed from friday on. Thanks to that great leader with its orange (fake) hairs, who decided this in his unbelievable wisdom, completely ignoring, that the virus already hit its country, will not stop spreading just because SOME (why not UK, there are also cases with COVID-19) oversea connections for travellers are interrupted, and that US health autorities have used their own system full of failures (instead the proven one with international standard) to spot/list affected/infected people. So instead to travel to a beautiful country/state, with very nice people (besides the one I mentioned above) and visiting the wonderful zoos in the region, I have to stay at home and have to beg that I will get the refund of 4200 USD somehow I already paid for the flights and the rental car.
Corollary effects include another alarming drop in US stock markets. Losses "tripped" a circuit that immediately suspends trading, so the Stock Exchange is closed at the moment. Dow plummets again as sell-off over the coronavirus deepens
You are talking to people with a rational fear that we are ourselves more susceptible to this disease, and that have the basic self-awareness and empathy to realise that there are other, even more vulnerable people than ourselves. Some of whom we happen to know and love and fear losing. Reflect on your behaviour, please, before your cavalier attitude literally kills someone.
Due to the special circumstances I could get a full refund on all Airbnb reservations and I could change my flight to another date at no extra cost (flying with KLM / Delta), I assume your airline and car rental could have similar policies in place?
New York City is shutting down: Broadway theaters must cancel performances, Metropolitan Museum of Art (including its affiliate sites) closed indefinitely, Some schools closed, Metropolitan Opera closed, many houses of worship of all faiths closed, Public transit unaffected. I feel sorry for the tens of thousands of low-paid employees of restaurants and the like. They will soon be unemployed . WCS has said nothing about the zoos or aquarium
I am very surprised to have not yet heard anything from Bronx Zoo or the affiliated facilities regarding this, most other zoos in particularly affected states have at least issued what they are doing and monitoring.
While in good old UK, the government are advising those with a continuous cough or high temperature to stay at home for 7 days. The question is, what is a continuous cough? I cannot seem to find anything on it from government websites? And google search did seem to help.
Yeah nah mate all good. Obviously you guys are the rational ones reacting to my post about unproportional(?) media coverage being a bigger factor than the virus itself with sensible answers like ""OMG you're denying the existence of the virus!11!!1", "OMG you can't feel compassion/empathy and are unable to consider needs other than your own!!1!1"* and "OMG you're potentially gonna kill someone!!1!!!1!", peppered with a couple insults and some other nonsensical bla bla that has nothing to do with what I wrote (horseback postman, only old people and weak people will be likely to die, so that's alright, etc). *(this one is especially ironic considering you guyses hysteria is mainly based on the fact that you think yourself potentially affected)
I am fortunate to not have yet been personally affected by COVID-19. I have however been slightly inconvenienced in that a) a family trip to Disneyland was canceled, b) my zoo volunteer shifts were canceled, and c) an orientation-type event at my future college, which I was going to attend, was canceled. Although I completely admit that these minor inconveniences, while a tad frustrating for me, are not significant when compared to how this virus is affecting others. I wish everyone, especially those with pre-existing respiratory issues and that are older, good health and hope you all stay safe and can continue on with your day-to-day lives as much as possible.
You quite literally said that the only reason people are worried is because the media is making them hysterical and that they are easily led. And then listed a variety of things you think are more worthwhile worrying about.... tell me, how many people have died this year due to foot-and-mouth disease? I've had the misfortune of having someone say that to my face, as a matter of fact. And it was indeed relevant to your post, given I said this was an attitude I disliked as much as your "it's only media hysteria" attitude. And again you dismiss our concerns as mere hysteria.
So we have established that you are, in fact, simply indifferent to the suffering of others. I guess there’s one in every community.
To be more specific, the WCS has had a lot to say about the virus, it's just nothing has been said specifically about what the zoos/aquarium are doing. I do find it surprising, and I do wonder just how many people are still visiting Bronx during all of this. ~Thylo
Personal update: The private school I tutor at is still in session despite the fact that several faculty members live in Westchester County (the region of New York with the highest number of cases) and the classes are mostly all online to begin with so it'd be extremely easy to just close the campus down for at least a few weeks. ~Thylo
Now it's personal: one of the school districts I work at will be closed next week, I'm sure the other one will follow suit. Haven't heard anything from the Census about my upcoming temporary job but I'm sure that's gonna get delayed. Guess I'll be asking my mom for money... I really need a salaried job, there are just no protections for people working hourly. At the very least, I should get one of those side hustles for when hours are low. Side note, regarding people who are saying this is no big deal... A lot of them use past "overblown" crises as proof that there's nothing to worry about. And sure, some of those were legit overblown, but there's also a tendency for disasters to get averted and people say "Oh, everyone freaked out over nothing! Nothing bad happened!", but the only reason nothing bad happened was BECAUSE people were proactive.
As environmentalists/conservationists/overall animal nerds, we should all be all too familiar with this form of argumentation... ~Thylo
