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QotW: What are your concerns about the coronovirus impact on your health and your livelihood and passion?


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Okay, how can I ignore it. As much as a big part of me wants to overlook or stay away from this question, it is historic just from the amount of media exposure on it. I realize that within the last century or two there have been far worse diseases out there, and a much higher death/survival rate than we have now. . . but the world has become a smaller place. So I will ask as the QotW: What are your concerns about the coronovirus impact on your health and your livelihood and passion? 

My daughter has been harking at my wife and myself to stay at home, and not go out. Protect ourselves as we are older, 70 & 72. We have been going out to lunch or dinner, at less traveled time granted. We go to grocery stores and have stocked up. I have continued my bowling and may continue if not canceled this week. Until Wed. I was ready to go to NCECA. Have I changed anything? I haven't visited my father, who is 93, and having health problems, even though I really want to... . he lives 2hrs away. We don't tarry anywhere, and try to stay away from malls, and larger groups, but we try not to let it put us in quarantine. I do have health concerns as I am mildly diabetic. . .meaning that I control my diabetes with no use of medication, my wife is mildly asthmatic and hypertensive. In the long run we will adjust as we can, watching the news and often checking virus maps for recent cases. So far we have not had any cases in the 4 county area we live in.

I have communion set orders that will need filling at the end of the month, but that is always by mail. Wondering if they will readjust the dates for the awards also as the colleges are closed.

So I ask once again QotW: What are your concerns about the coronovirus impact on your health and your livelihood and passion? 

 

best,

Pres

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My biggest concern is the health of my family. None of us is in a high risk category, but that's no guarantee. I also really worry about how one person in our house getting sick could theoretically snowball into someone dealing with 8 weeks of isolation if it takes 2 weeks for each person to show symptoms. It would not be fun for me, but my business expenses are pretty low and I don't have any employees to worry about. I could get through being closed for 2 months if I had to. For my wife's veterinary clinic it would be a different story. She's got two full time employees, and much higher costs to cover. Plus her clinic is only 8 months old, so she's still building clientele. Losing 8 weeks of business would be expensive and slow down growth. So at this point we're being as as safe as we can. We're stocked up on food, and the kids are home, my studio is empty, my wife is taking extra precautions to minimize contact at the clinic, and we've got our fingers crossed. So far there are only a couple of cases in our county, but there's also a sever lack of testing being done nationwide, so I'm sure the numbers are a lot worse than what's being reported.

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Everything is hosed right now.  We just got the news today that essentially the only stores allowed to be open are grocery and drug stores.  

I'm in the dental lab business and so far the 3 largest labs in the state have closed voluntarily and we are having so many dentist's call and cancel cases now too.  So I predict we will be temporarily laid off for a few weeks coming up.

Other than that. It's nice and sunny here and I have enough clay to last me a few months.  I went to Seattle pottery supply on Saturday for more slip ingredients and apparently that was their last day, they're closed for the upcoming week at least.

 

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My first concern is my health and safety, and the health and safety of my parents (ages 78 and 85) who live in a retirement community, and I can’t visit them right now. (I am technically still allowed to visit, but I’d rather be cautious.) Then there are my siblings, who live is zones where the outbreak is much worse than here, 

Staying home is not that different than my normal lifestyle, since my workplace is in the basement. I got a load of clay maybe two weeks ago, so I plan to keep making pots. 

The Washington Post is behind a soft paywall, you can read up to 5 (I think) articles for free per month. Here’s a great little demonstration of why social distancing is important right now. Stay in one place! Avoid other people!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/world/corona-simulator/

Edited by GEP
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We pay for the post and read it daily-been pretty happy with it. Always solid reporting

Working at home is what I do so staying at home is no big deal-We have chest freezer of frozen fish and cased of canned tuna (by product of my fishing  hobby) so food is of a less of an issue-Also have a power back up if that goes out.

I'm in the age risk factor(over 65) but am in very good health-except my planter fasciitis on heel

I'm in a shelter at home mode-my wife who is younger is going out just  little like food shopping in early am when store is empty.

Since we are in a simi rural are staying isolated is easy. Becuase of lack of testing (feds dropped the ball badly) we have no known cases so far in this county(had one but was cleared) but thats means nothing as testing is so low here now.

I am like GEP in terms of trying to avoid people -The mail comes out on the street daily and so does UPS but I have no contact with them.Its best to be isolated now and I will do just that.

I have a few  potterty drop offs in the next month and My wife says she can do that but I may let it go depending on whats going on in our already isolated county -we always say its behind the Redwood curtain and we mean it.Pottery sales will slow way down and I;m fine with that.

 

Edited by Mark C.
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i live like a hermit anyway but i am upset that the library is closing early and the huge walmart and its two grocery walmarts have empty shelves and freezers.   it took 3 trips to get 32 bottles of water.  i only got it because i arrived just as a huge pallet of my brand water was delivered to the area of the store where the shelves were totally empty.

no frozen food, few fresh vegetables and fruit, no cereal in that aisle.   about the only things left were the odd brands and strange kinds of foods.  the other supermarkets have the same problem.  fortunately, i do not need much but my dog is going to miss his treats.   and i am out of ICE CREAM!

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Since I am a hobby business, with the economic  weight on the hobby side of things, this will not affect that. I am a bit of an isolationist anyway and very fussy about picking & choosing  where I go & who I see, so not much change will be happening on the face-to-face social front either-just less than "not much socializing" in the first place. I don't worry about my health--whatever comes down the pike, I have lived way longer than I ever "should" have and have no fear of death-that got eradicated via various survival scenarios. I have concerns about my daughter & her hubby-they are in WA state, and my sister is in VA. Mostly I am concerned about my "X", who is homeless & living in his van  in LA, and has serious heath conditions.  He resists programs/systems and is not speaking to me or our daughter at the moment. It's an exercise in "letting go".  My dad was a Scout troop leader and let me tag along. He taught me how to survive in the woods & I keep a small "prepper" stash in my vehicle for all kinds of weather, and about a months worth of "everything" including free-standing heat sources, in my house.--so I'm good. Stocked up on coffee and stuck a cheesecake int he freezer, so I'm more than good, actually! I wear nitrile gloves if I am out & about and all the fools handling everything and each other give me the stink eye and move away. It's hilarious.

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like everyone I was just blindsided with this so health for ourselves, friends and family is a huge concern. Luckily finances are in good shape so not worried about livelihood too much. I work from home as do my immediate coworkers so we should be good for a while. Only been out of work a couple of times over the years not by choice and job hunting sucks but that just part of life. It always works out. Like everyone I an anxious about if and how long it sill take for the market to make back everything we lost over the past two weeks. That has been huge. I feel so bad for folks that arent 8,9 years out from retirement, hopefully it will be a fast recovery.

Passion, no problems there. As others have said this is a time to get way up on making. Been working in the studio even more right now but was already putting in a lot of hours around my job so passion for the pottery business has been high for a while.

I wish everyone luck in navigating this. In my 59 years I have seen many worldwide events and the sun always comes up everyday and we all just have to do the best we can with our situations and remember for the vast majority of us, this too will pass. 

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It is fairly easy for my husband and I to isolate.  We live in a rural area, 10 acres, and because of the nature of our weather and our remote area , we have always had food and non perishables on hand.  We both have interests that keep us busy, so we are fine.  I do however, worry about my mom who is 86 and lives 3 hours away. our kids who live away from us, and I even worry about the small businesses in our area who are now shut down for an indefinite time.  Our town is already facing some tough struggles, this will certainly exacerbate that problem.  

Yesterday we celebrated our wedding anniversary by grilling steaks and opening a nice bottle of red.  Grateful that we were able to do that!

But I will keep making pots and see what each day will bring.  

Roberta

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Like Roberta: my wife and I live on acreage- surrounded by more timber and farmland. Very thankful we do not live in a dense urban area. I retired from home building almost 2 years ago, I still do high end finish work for high end contractor friends. I work alone mostly, rarely deal with people face to face: and have work for several more months. I am fully aware of my fortunate situation: so my concerns are for others who will be hurt by the uncertainty of these times. My mother is 87; my brother has her for a month, then my sister for a month: then me. She will stay with one of us until this storm passes. On the bright side: many potters have masks or respirators if those needs arise. 

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1 hour ago, Smokey2 said:

Because Covid-19 is transmitted via droplets, N95 or N100 particle respirators aren't effective.

For healthcare professionals from the CDC on Personal Protective Equipment in regards to Covid19

What is an N95 filtering facepiece respirator (FFR)?

  • An N95 FFR is a type of respirator which removes particles from the air that are breathed through it. These respirators filter out at least 95% of very small (0.3 micron) particles. N95 FFRs are capable of filtering out all types of particles, including bacteria and viruses.
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TY Min.  A couple of Doctors in the States have said they do not work. However, States, Counties, and hospitals have been asking the public to bring these masks in if they have them. To my knowledge, the mask worn in hospitals are N95, unless they are using the full level 4 bio suits. Certainly some mixed messages State side.

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On 3/19/2020 at 8:32 AM, Smokey2 said:

There are N95 face masks and there are Surgical N95 face masks. Its surprising how often, and by who, the two are confused

I think part of the problem is you see throngs of people wearing surgical masks so some people assume these are okay for use as a respirator. Bottom line is to have the Niosh labelling on the box or respirator of N95.  https://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/prevention/ppe/surgical_mask.html

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1 hour ago, Smokey2 said:

Sorry Min, with due respect you shouldn't assume what I see

This video below is from  The World Health Organization

https://youtu.be/Ded_AxFfJoQ

That's a surgical mask, which is a lot different than an n95 mask.

I have to use both types at work, and neither work on me because I have a beard.  Technically my beard is an OSHA violation, so sad.

Edited by liambesaw
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The mayor of Chicago just announced that schools will stay closed until April 21. The governor had previously ordered all schools in the state closed until April 1, so I imagine he'll increase that to match Chicago any day now. It'll be interesting to see what they do about trying to make that up, if anything. They can't require e-learning because not all students have access to that. Will schools just have to ignore the days missed and catch up on the subject matter next year? Or will they shorten summer and make it up in June/July (assuming it's safe to go back to school then)? Or start early in the Fall to make it up? Lots of unknowns there.

Today my 5th grade son had an online meeting with his homeroom teacher and about half of his classmates, just to touch base and chat.

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2 minutes ago, neilestrick said:

The mayor of Chicago just announced that schools will stay closed until April 21. The governor had previously ordered all schools in the state closed until April 1. It'll be interesting to see what they do about trying to make that up, if anything. They can't require e-learning because not all students have access to that. Will schools just have to ignore the days missed and catch up on the subject matter next year? Or will they shorten summer and make it up in June/July (assuming it's safe to go back to school then)? Or start early in the Fall to make it up? Lots of unknowns there.

Today my 5th grade son had an online meeting with his homeroom teacher and about half of his classmates, just to touch base and chat.

Here in Washington they predict schools to stay closed through fall, and that they'll likely switch to a competency model for grade placement next school year.  I guess that means teach only the basics by distance learning or place back in the grade you left off in?  No real details yet for us.  But the state school super said that there is no way to extend school into the summer as the teachers have a strong union agreement with the state.

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20 hours ago, Smokey2 said:

Sorry Min, with due respect you shouldn't assume what I see

This video below is from  The World Health Organization

https://youtu.be/Ded_AxFfJoQ

When I said "you see throngs of people wearing masks"  I wasn't referring to you specifically but to what is being broadcast on tv news shows about people wearing masks. 

 

19 hours ago, liambesaw said:

That's a surgical mask, which is a lot different than an n95 mask.

Yup, agreed.

Edit: I think we are all on the same page, it's just a difference in semantics. N95respirator or N95surgical mask versus the non rated surgical or procedure mask.

Edited by Min
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My sister is a nurse who works at the Cross Cancer Clinic in Edmonton. Because her patients are all immunocompromised, she thankfully will not be near the front lines of this. But her colleagues are all bracing. It is not the number of people who will die that make me worried, although that will be very cold comfort for those who do and already have. It is the capacity of the healthcare system to manage the sick people who will need ventilators and critical care to recover. If this virus makes you very sick, you need help to breathe. My mom’s bestie has it (and quarantined ASAP). It is one hell of a chest infection. Many otherwise healthy people will come around, but not without hospitalization, and the recovery is long. When too many people need ICUs and hospital beds at the same time, that’s when serious problems happen, like people who get sick or injured doing other, regular things needing hospital beds too. 
 

Medical system capacities are based on typical need, and assumes that a certain percentage of the population is in need of care at a given time. It’s not meant to handle the atypically large influxes of hospitalizations that this disease is causing. It is more important that you don’t spread it than it is for you not to get sick. Not that I want anyone sick. That’s why everyone is saying stay home.


My province has declared a state of health emergency that has closed down ALL schools (k through university), daycares, certified child care programs, pubs, bars, private gyms (the municipalities have closed the public ones), and cancelled all gatherings over 50 people, including conventions, shows, sales, sporting events or practices, in person worship services, weddings and funerals. Oddly, malls are still open, but many large retailers have shuttered temporarily. Most are either paying their employees or laying them off so they can collect EI. Most restaurants are closed except for drive through or takeout. The city shut down all Rec centres and library branches and people riding transit are asked to enter via the back of the bus unless disabled, to not pay cash fares and rip their own tickets. The borders are now closed to everyone but truckers and Canadians and permanent residents coming home. They are only allowed to land at 1 of 4 airports in the country if coming by air so they can be screened.

 

All of this has come down in increasing levels of severity over the last 7 days. Our Chief Provincial  Health Officer, Dr Deena Hinshaw is becoming quite the internet favourite.

They’ve started announcing the various relief programs on Federal and Provincial levels this week, but I’ve already gone on too long. Suffice it to say there is lots of very relieving, good news in there for ordinary people. We will be ok. 

   Stores here are picked over, although I found everything I needed today. There were folks in the grocery store, but no kids. The toilet paper aisle of Superstore was empty. It echoed. It was weird. It was my first time leaving the house in a week, and I’m not going anywhere for the foreseeable future. I lucked out and stocked up on clay supplies last week before most of the above got put into effect.

 

Don’t be selfish. Don’t spread this thing.  Stay home and make pots. Do something funny and weird on instagram. Do a soothing throwing video. Support an artist friend. Call your friends and talk to them that way. The sooner we flatten the curve, the sooner we get our lives back. 

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We are doubling confirmed cases every 5 days here in Seattle!  However, one nice bit of news is that out of 16,000 tests of symptomatic adults, only 1000 have come back positive.  We have a ton of normal flu and also spring allergy related sinus/upper respiratory infections which all have the same symptoms.  

Anyway its not all doom and gloom.  Our state still hasn't shut down non-essential business or quarantined us, which is really strange to me seeing as how we are the epicenter of the virus in North America.

Our busses and trains are still running a normal schedule like nothing is happening and they're all empty.  Ghost busses everywhere, it's really quite insane. 

Edited by liambesaw
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