On Lockdown

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ChrisR
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Post by ChrisR »

Chris R

kaleun96
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Re: Lockdown

Post by kaleun96 »

Olympusman wrote:In perspective, this panic and paranoia is getting out of hand. We live out in the country, so our exposure is very low. We invited my brother-in-law who lives in New York City to visit with us but he is afaid he won't be able to get back in. Every year about 14,00 people die of influenza in the United States, yet schools, restaurants and entertainment is not shut down. Also, in the United States more people die every year of bullets than are ever likely to die of coronavirus and mass shootings here very often occur in schools, churches, bars and restaurants.
Mike
Couple of things worth keeping in mind here though:

1. This is a novel virus. We have both vaccines and antiviral medication to target Influenza, we currently have neither for Corona (efficacy of certain antiviral medication is still being explored).

2. Given that many more people can be infected by this disease than annual influenza, it stands that we expect the spread to be greater than influenza, particularly to at-risk groups such as the immunocomprised, over 60, or those with pre-existing medical conditions.

3. The mortality rate is expected to be about 10x higher than influenza, potentially higher.

4. A recent model from the Imperial College London put estimated deaths in the US at 2.2 million, or 1.1 million with some measures in place (social distancing, lockdowns, etc). That's potentially 20x higher than how many die in the US due to influenza and firearms, combined, each year.

5. Due to the sheer number of infections, when hospitals are at their capacity they will not only suffer in their ability to treat Coronavirus patients but also patients with other severe injuries or complications.


I can already see the people lining up to say all of these measures were a waste of time and a drain on the economy when 4 months from now the death toll is far lower than we've come to expect. But that will be because governments took action, not because they underestimated the virus.
- Cam

ChrisR
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Post by ChrisR »

If you haven't had enough, here's a 53 minute lecture given in 2018 by the current Chief Medical Officer, Prof Chris Whitty.

One message we can take is that we're getting what we should have expected..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rn55z95L1h8
Chris R

rjlittlefield
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Post by rjlittlefield »

ChrisR wrote:If you haven't had enough, here's a 53 minute lecture given in 2018 by the current Chief Medical Officer, Prof Chris Whitty.
Very interesting talk, well worth my time. I did speed it up a bit, easily listened at 1.25X.

--Rik

Olympusman
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Social distancing

Post by Olympusman »

I was at the grocery today and found that people were very consideringly dropping their rubber gloves in the parking lot after loading their cars.
Let's bring back Alfred E. Neuman from MAD Magazine -- "What? Me Worry?
Any time I go out I mask and when I return to my car I use hand sanitizer. I make my own since there is none on the shelves - 70% rubbing alcohol and 30% glycerin. When I run out of glycerin, I'll substitute Mucinex to give the sanitizer some viscosity.

Mike
Michael Reese Much FRMS EMS Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA

Lou Jost
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Post by Lou Jost »

I went to the local supermarket this morning for the first time since our lockdown began. (We are only allowed out of our houses from 5am to 2pm). After reading about the shortages in grocery stores of the US, I expected worse here, but the store was well-stocked, and the toilet paper aisle looked even better stocked than normal. Only 30 people at a time were allowed in. Everyone was civil.

The bank, too, was a pleasant surprise. Only two clients inside at any one time. The rest formed a line outside the building, spaced 2 meters apart. I was impressed.

ray_parkhurst
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Post by ray_parkhurst »

Lou Jost wrote:I went to the local supermarket this morning for the first time since our lockdown began. (We are only allowed out of our houses from 5am to 2pm). After reading about the shortages in grocery stores of the US, I expected worse here, but the store was well-stocked, and the toilet paper aisle looked even better stocked than normal. Only 30 people at a time were allowed in. Everyone was civil.

The bank, too, was a pleasant surprise. Only two clients inside at any one time. The rest formed a line outside the building, spaced 2 meters apart. I was impressed.
In Santa Clara, the shopping was crazy out of control for just a day or two before the shutdown order. So many people at all the stores, with long lines and everything being sold out. The shelves were still pretty bare until the end of the first week, but then things were gradually restocked. I have gone shopping for something almost every day, and today was the first day when the shelves were back to normal at the stores I go to. At least almost normal, since there was still no toilet paper or paper towels, rubbing alcohol, etc that are the hallmarks of the pandemic hoarding response. Interestingly there were eggs and milk, and my favorite brand of Yogurt was available, and with very few people shopping there were no lines or crowded parking lots.

Things have changed of course, in interesting ways. The meat and fish service counters are mostly closed, but you can buy fresh-packaged items. I found a sandwich bar open, but my beloved Fish Market is closed. Only drive-thru Starbucks are open, and initially they were allowing walk-in/take-out, but now only accept mobile app orders (as well as regular drive-thru). I waited in a drive-thru line with 20 cars to get my Grande Americano. Folks are adapting fairly quickly and seem to be getting their basic needs met, as well as some vices.

Edited to add: there is also a surprising lack of police presence. I'm not sure if that will last but it is encouraging to see.

ray_parkhurst
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Re: Social distancing

Post by ray_parkhurst »

Olympusman wrote:I was at the grocery today and found that people were very consideringly dropping their rubber gloves in the parking lot after loading their cars.
Let's bring back Alfred E. Neuman from MAD Magazine -- "What? Me Worry?
Any time I go out I mask and when I return to my car I use hand sanitizer. I make my own since there is none on the shelves - 70% rubbing alcohol and 30% glycerin. When I run out of glycerin, I'll substitute Mucinex to give the sanitizer some viscosity.

Mike
I make my own sanitizer as well...alcohol (91%) and a bit of 5% hydrogen peroxide, with fresh lemon peels. The lemon peels give off a nice lemon oil smell and slippery quality. I considered adding some povidone iodine but I was not sure how much iodine residue I wanted to leave around. In reality it is likely a good surface protection, but not sure about unintended consequences. Alcohol and H2O2 evaporate but stabilized iodine hangs around for a while.

ray_parkhurst
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Post by ray_parkhurst »

One thing I forgot to add to this discussion...of all the things that have been shut down, I think the thing I miss the most is the local Electronic Swap Meet. It shuts down from October through February, and starts again (normally) in early March, but they had to cancel it due to the crowd size restrictions and social distancing requirements. Next one is supposed to be April 11, but chances of it happening are zero. After that it's May 9 (maybe?), then June 13 (good chance?). I am figuring that once the Electronic Swap is back, the crisis will be officially over.

ray_parkhurst
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Post by ray_parkhurst »

Well, so much for April 11. That's two missed electronic swaps. Hoping for May 9 now.

Miljenko
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Post by Miljenko »

Lockdown started on April 19th in Croatia and as if that was not shocking enough, we had strong earthquake three days later, third strongest since 1880.
Hundreds of historical buildings downtown are seriously damaged, many people left homeless. Yours truly lives in modern earthquake resistent building so no damage experienced (except for couple of broken vases and flower pots). But the experience was horrifying.

Image

Early lockdown returns good epidemical statistics: only 0.04% of total population is infected, only 31 people died so far. We are not allowed to leave the city we live in, but can go to supermarkets and farmacy (wearing masks and gloves, waiting in long, stretched ques), other shops and services are closed as well as restorants and cofee shops.
Most of us are working from home. The good side of lockdown for me is opportunity to finish many projects started a year or even many years ago. I have just finished twin studio continuous lighting with two 2'x3' soft boxes producing 8800 lumens total. This enables me shooting products I normaly shoot at work without a need to transfer company's gear to my home.
Other projects you might be interested more is no less than 5 different macro lights using ring COB leds. I believe I'll find a time to present those in PM forum!
Take care guys and stay at home.
Best,
Miljenko
All things are number - Pythagoras

ray_parkhurst
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Post by ray_parkhurst »

I've been worried we would have an earthquake here for months, but so far we have been lucky. There have been earthquakes north and south of us (none doing the damage you saw AFAIK) but so far the local faults have been relatively quiet. Knock on wood, cross my fingers.

I'm looking forward to seeing your COB ringlight projects. I also took the time to build a couple BD illuminators with the smaller ringlights from the flashlights I bought, and they are working very well. I even made one for the RMS thread BDs from B&L, and discovered that the 8x objective is very good, even better than the 10x. The B&L RMS BD's are less consistent in lighting angles than the Nikons (and I assume Mitty's, but have not tested). The 8x gives a very nice (high) angle.

microcollector
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Post by microcollector »

We have been holed up at home for a couple of weeks before Washington went into lockdown. My wife and I are in our 70's and she worked as a virologist. Her work experience was at CDC, a Navy biowarfare lab and California State Health Department. She had a good idea where this was headed so we took our precautions earlier than most.

Her work at the Navy lab involved finding countermeasures for potential biowarfare agents.

The upside of this is having time to work on the mineral collection. I have quite a bit of material to sort through. Also photographing as much of the micro collection as is worth photographing. I also started making a setup for photographing larger specimens. That has been stymied as I cannot get out to purchase a piece of non glare glass.
micro minerals - the the unseen beauty of the mineral kingdom
Canon T5i with Canon 70 - 200 mm f4L zoom as tube lens set at 200mm, StacK Shot rail, and Mitutoyo 5X or 10X M plan apo objectives.

My Mindat Mineral Photos
http://www.mindat.org/user-362.html#2

ChrisR
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Post by ChrisR »

Should be an interesting lecture:
https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and- ... 667ed09c02

Pls say if it's blocked wherever you are.
Chris R

ray_parkhurst
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Post by ray_parkhurst »

I wore my "vintage prisoner" halloween costume out to get coffee today to protest my Governor's and County's extension of the shutdown order. No pics, sorry. Several Starbucks near me have either temporarily or permanently closed, so I've recently been going to the small bakery shops which of course also serve coffee. I may never go back to Starbucks as these shops stayed open during the tough times, and that's to be supported.

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