Social Distancing and Unintended Consequences

a reply to: PaddyInf

So when my own parents who are in a similar boat need groceries which are essential and face similar circumstances: lines and health conditions that prevent them from being able to stand in long lines to reach those essential items.

Went then?

I guess I'll just have to drive 3 hours out, stand in those lines for them, drop their groceries off and drive three hours back and then hope the Kansas Gestappo consider that essential travel, right?

Or they can just bite the bullet and starve because we all have to make sacrifices in these times to avoid infecting ourselves. Their sacrifice can be not eating.

I am generally OK, except for one thing: My legs will only work for so long before they literally stop working from exhaustion.

a reply to: TheRedneck

You might want get that checked . Had the same thing , walk 150 metres tops and legs would not work .Turns out it was a narrowed in my left leg and just below my heart . The right leg had a number of clots . Did the 5 hour or so op only to find out i had the gg8nings of arthritis sadly . But i did gain 400 metres .lol . And i didnt lose my legs .

a reply to: ketsuko

did you actuall read what he wrote ??????????????

a reply to: ketsuko


Why do we list so few people as recovered in the United States? We have been doing this for weeks now and they don’t list people that are recovered to scare people. We have had the antibodies test for a while and will not let people take it to prove they have recovered and to give plasma to help others and you still can’t get a test unless you are sick enough to go to the hospital and they will not let people take the malaria drug - zpac combination.

This is a terror mission perpetuated on the masses.

The grocery store I go to has had lines for about 10 days outside. People wait not distanced in a line for about 45 minutes to enter the store. They stand in the rain (careful you don’t want to catch a cold!). Shelves have NO meat, paper or water goods. Pasta and bread get restocked pretty quickly but sell out just as fast.

I’ve been enjoying rice and beans, making soups etc, can’t get a lot of the normal foods you’d expect. Prices also have increased. Normally water 3 packs for 10$, now 1 pack 10.99.



a reply to: TheRedneck

a reply to: Rob808

I don't know where you are at, but they aren't making anyone wait in line or practice social distancing yet in our groceries although they do have some markers and reminders up in the stores.

Husband was able to get most everything he needed. All the soy sauce was still sold out except for La Choy, and we had to buy a tray of 18 medium, free range organic eggs in order to have eggs, but we still got everything ... oh, no, check that. Sunflower seeds in the shell have been wiped out these last two weeks. They're one of my favorite go-to weight loss munchies.

a reply to: ignorant_ape

Yes.

He's saying we all have to make sacrifices, and he doesn't see what Redneck is upset about as something worthy of complaining over.

I am pointing out that my parents have the same sorts of issues. My dad has cardiac trouble (congestive heart failure) so mom goes out, but she has arthritis (two replaced knees and fused lower lumbar) that makes it impossible for her to stand for long amounts of time. So they're in the same boat, and they're having to reply on Walmart for a lot of their fresh groceries being rural.

Groceries are essential, but you cannot order fresh stuff for curbside pickup. They tried. So they have to find a way to cope with the lines. There is one Walmart convenient to them, and it serves not only the rural area, but a moderate sized small city *and* the local military base. LONG LINES.

So what should they do?

S&F Mr. Redneck.

As awful as this virus is, as much damage it has inflicted, not only in terms of loss of life but economically, there will be fallout from this event that is net positive.

My firm has offices around the globe. All offices have been effectively shuttered. The only locations operating under some semblance of normalcy are the firm's data centers. However, they are locked down. Ordinarily, if an employee was in the vicinity of one of our DC's, they'd be free to pop in, utilize some of the attached office space to work remotely, or get a guided tour of the DC. Now, only folks that work full-time in the DC may enter the facility. Even as an engineer, I can't gain entry into a DC at the moment (since it's not my "home" work location).

With effectively every office location save the data centers closed, the firm has transitioned to fully remote operation. The unintended consequences?

* Within the first week of global office closure, network capacity limits that were previously estimated, or had never been fully tested, became painfully evident, particularly when video and teleconference sessions began overwhelming our networks. Additional data lines into and connecting the DCs, along with higher bandwidth links intra-DC, were put in place to accommodate the load, which is now considered the "worst case scenario" of what our networks must support.

* Decade old network equipment began to fail under the weight of the massive spike in traffic, some due to just plain age, others due to lack of processing resources to handle the increased traffic. We were compelled to replace older routers and switches comprising the network backbone of the company .

* Most importantly IMO, TPTB in our firm are having to make due with video conferences, emial and IM to interact with colleagues, just like everyone else, and I believe it has made them more receptive to the idea of working remotely. For employees that live a further away from office locations, working remotely was a frequent occurrence, even before CV. My feeling is that moving forward, upper management will change their stance from disapproval/skepticism of working remotely, to a more relaxed view on the matter. This will be a big benefit for employees that face long commutes to their respective office locations, and post-CV, the hope is that the firm will be open to more frequent "telecommuting".

TL;DR

COVID and mandatory telecommuting has revealed critical deficiencies in our network infrastructure and forced us to deal with them right now instead of kicking the can down the road.

Also, upper management will hopefully get with the 21st century when this is over, and realize that it is possible to work efficiently and effectively outside an office setting.

a reply to: PaddyInf

My main take away from the OP is that you [...] decided to go to a potentially busy hardware store when the advice is to stay in your home except for essential reasons.

And my main takeaway from your post is that you are completely clueless.

I have a circle saw. If I don't need to use my circle saw, I can sit it somewhere and forget it for a while. It doesn't care. It has few needs except maybe to stay dry. If there is an electrical storm, I can unplug it ("quarantine" it) without any problem. But people are not circle saws. People are not machines. You, I would venture to say, have things you want to do. You, I would venture to say, are incapable of stopping everything you do for any length of time. That is extremely unhealthy for anyone.

I know; it would be nice if I would just unplug myself from the world and stay where I am told like a good little catatonic sheep. But, my good sir, I am not a "good little sheep" and I do not perform the function you wish the way you wish I would perform it, when you wish I would perform it, how you wish I would perform it. I am a human, not a machine.

As for the queues outside shops - This has been addressed in other places by marking the floor outside with lines 6' apart for people to stand behind. It's not that hard.

How far away from the store do these lines you want drawn extend? 100 feet? 500 feet? A half mile? A mile? And what happens when too many people show up at once? Should we all make appointments now to stop by all stores to pick up supplies?

Damn those pesky humans and their desires to do things you don't want them to do!

People staying at home for 14 days if diagnosed- Is there no community help, local government assistance, neighbours/family to help, local store delivery services etc?

No.

I see you live on that little island where there are apparently no actual rural areas. I live in a truly rural area. My nearest neighbor is a half mile away, and not only do they work, but almost everyone is terrified of getting within 6 feet of anyone else. So that leaves, by my count, one person... one... to handle anything that comes up: me. And I have to stay in my designated spot. Yeah, and you don't see a problem with that?

The problem I see with this whole thing is that, like the idiots in our government, you cannot see beyond your own little existence. Perhaps you should actually, should this panic ever blow over, go to somewhere different for a scenic vacation? You might be amazed to learn that there are places that do not work the way your little corner of existence works.

Straw man arguments like 'I'll get charged for going out if my house is burning' helps no one.

A "straw man" is a type of argument that is so ludicrous it is based on a lack of information. I linked the actual order. That's what it says. Maybe if you had pressed the button on your mouse before typing furiously on your keyboard, you would have discovered that.

The things you cite are not unintentional consequences. They are basic challenges that are easily recognised and solvable. It worries me that these are considered to be surprising.

So they are intended consequences? Placing people in closer proximity for a longer period of time was intentional? Scaring people into not getting tested was the intent of the order?

They are only solvable if one believes that a person should contain an off switch so they can just be turned off and on at societal will. They are surprising only when based on the assumption that our politicians are not lying to us about the intended results of the order.

TheRedneck

a reply to: hutch622

I'm pretty sure that's exactly what's going on... in my case, not just with my legs, but concentrated in them. I mean, come on, my triglyceride count the first trip to the hospital was over 500! It jammed their test! they couldn't read anything else. I was literally pumping jelly. That will screw any arteries up. At least it's down to readable levels now and still dropping.

Nothing that can be done now, thought... it's considered "elective."

TheRedneck

I would love to reply to everyone else, but right now I have to go do some more "nonessential" things to keep my wife and I alive and healthy.

I shall return.

TheRedneck

a reply to: TheRedneck

Lucky for you, Home Depot has special secret shopping hours known as the ass crack of dawn.

a reply to: TheRedneck

Wow, you really believe you are excused from helping the rest of the country stay safe because you're 'not a sheep'. What that really means is that you are selfish and don't give half a horse apple about the risk you impose on others or the impact of your decisions when you become ill.

If people only go out to get essentials rather than because they are bored then there won't be queues that are hundreds of feet long. Other places make this work - Why not your area?

Are you really saying that you don't have anyone who can drop a bag of groceries off for you? Are you really that unpopular? Hard to believe, what with the amazing public spirit you possess.

Your use of hyperbole is ridiculous. You are blatantly making excuses because you feel that your rights outweigh your responsibility. No one is asking anyone to switch off their life. They are asking for people to do their bit to help the country deal with a difficult situation. Yes it is going to be difficult for a while, but it is stubborn, self centred people like you who will make it stretch out.

The only person who can't see beyond their own existence is you. I can see that the big picture and that the actions of individuals contribute to the good of the country. You see how the situation affects your own little bubble.

a reply to: PaddyInf

In other words, yes, I should be driving 6 hours and risking the Kansas Gestappo to make sure my parents have groceries because of lines at Walmart.

originally posted by: continuousThunder
man all this high strung hyperbole makes you look so damn bad.
all these gotchas are just so contrary and contrived!
burn down with your house? do you really, honestly think that's the intention?
do you genuinely think there's no way to work out individual accomodations for people's needs?

these orders are generalities designed to minimise spread, in an ad hoc setting where none of us have done this before.
but no, of course, MUH FREEDUM is so much more important than any sort of group effort, heaven forfend that the way of life you've led these past decades should be put out one iota. constitution.

Just shut up.

No, seriously...just shut up.

It is takes like this that are continuously feeding the beast of fear.

So, for the love of all that is good and holy, knock it off.

So what I am getting from this is that some people don't like to be reminded that the current setup is problematic for some people not because they're being selfish but because they genuinely do have life circumstances and infirmities through no fault of their own that make social distancing lines and "new normal" store capacity quotas difficult to impossible for them to negotiate.

Not everyone likes being made dependent on others, and not everyone has others they can be dependent on, not easily.

I'm sorry that some of you are scared out of your gourds that you might get sick or even die, but the reality of life is that none of us make it out alive. We're doomed from our very first breath.

originally posted by: skybandit
Up here in Canada, particularly Ontario where I am. We have been practicing social distancing for the past 3 weeks. Just within the last 3/4 days there has been laws passed to enforce social distancing,
Response by government.
www.ontario.ca...

I experience line ups outside grocery stores, pharmacies, Beer Stores, pretty much any public establishments that are open, because they limit the amount of people inside. All non essential businesses are closed, so the malls have been closed for weeks because you are not going shopping for clothes. All parks, gyms..closed. Anything that you can imagine that it not essential is...closed.
I am not afraid to say I`m scared at home with my kids and wife, not able to visit family or friends, Schools have been shut down for weeks now. Things are getting edgy here as everyone is getting on each others nerves.
I had a neighbor call the cops on us today because my old lady was arguing with my 8 yr. old.
Just think of the potential of this. We are not designed to be confined.
Anger is going to spill into the streets if this goes on too long.
Mark my words!

Speaking as one Ontario resident to another, Hello! On point though, this is only going to get worse until we find some way, any way, to fix stupid. And I'm not sure that's possible.

Constantly we have people flooding into our small town, trying to escape the virus in the city. Not realizing they could be bringing it with them, even if they feel fine. But they dont care. They see it as a paid vacation... paid for by our tax dollars mind you. Never mind they are coming to a small retirement town, that just happens to also be a tourist town.

I work at a lumber yard / hardware store, and we see dozens or people every day coming by the store or calling in for mindless little things. Usually because they came all the way up here and discovered that "whoa, nothings open", so what better time to do a mindless project, am I right?

As i said, we need to figure out a way to fix stupid, because damn there are a lot of stupid people. Smh

a reply to: looneylupinsrevenge

The Florida Keys has volunteers manning roadblocks to keep that from happening.

Thing is that no matter how minor it seems, hardware is essential. You never know what might break around someone's house that needs to be repaired, and you never when you don't have that one small screw or small latch or whatever else that you can only get at the hardware store.

Living with a broken toilet sucks. Living with a drain that's always backing up sucks.

But I guess if you want the stupid to accelerate ... you'll force people to live in broken down homes because screws aren't essential.

a reply to: looneylupinsrevenge

Ill level with you..

As someone who has essentially been homebound for years, those "mindless" projects might be the single most important thing for mental health.

Just as importantly, what appears minor.. may actually be for something very critical for that person. Not in some philosophical sense either. That one missing screw may be needed to fix something genuinely important.. That lumber may be needed to fix something genuinely important. For example, I have family that lives in an RV powered by solar. Their system was damaged by weather and the parts needed for repair (for their home electricity, since they removed their generator) might have been perceived as silly little bits and pieces. And yes, they could be for the silliest project you can imagine too, but refer to the mental health statement.

I think this is really important to understand.