Specchums and the coronavirus.

[PeterJ]

Lockdown is becoming less strict here but the general impression is still this one...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZ2oXzrnti4

Good choice of tune sir!

[Alessandro]

Good choice of tune sir!

Thanks! I know it's actually a social criticism of the era but I believe that it strangely (and eerily) applies to ours as well...

[R-Tape]

Would anyone else care to admit they're doing fine under lockdown? It's not really affected me, and I'm enjoying not having to commute. I feel rather guilty mentioning it though, given the enormous amount of misery and suffering almost everyone else is enduring.

I'm also among the 'can't complain' group. Like many here, the main stress is getting supermarket slots for elderly relatives, and that's just about do-able now. I'm not furloughing because there are things I can do, including occasionally popping out to the field station (feels like a little holiday!). It'll be fine for a few more weeks, but after that I'm going to really need to get back into the lab. Hoping for some kind of phased restart around then.

I have friends working in the hospital, and of course they've had a much more stressful month. Things have gone pretty quiet for now though, so there's a lot of unused capacity set aside for covid, and people not getting regular problems treated.

What amazing things will tomorrow's weekly visit to the apocalyptic supermarket bring...? I can hardly wait!

How cheap are Easter eggs now?! Maybe I got lucky and picked a quiet time, but the big supermarket near me was a surprisingly pleasant experience.

[R-Tape]

Is anyone wearing a mask when out? In case it becomes recommended advice, I got some made up by the local fabric shop. The elastic's a bit tight, so it gives me goblin ears. It makes my specs steam up as well, but there are ways to ameliorate that.

This'll put the staff at Sainsburies at ease...



I wish I thought of this at the time...

[Alessandro]

Is anyone wearing a mask when out?

You cannot enter public places - shops, supermarkets, offices etc. - without masks and gloves here, so yes, although not all of the time, for example not when I am driving.

[PeterJ]

I'm sure I've seen you on https://crimestoppers-uk.org/give-infor ... ost-wanted [mention]R-Tape[/mention]

[dfzx]

This'll put the staff at Sainsburies at ease...

2 months ago, if you'd walked into a supermarket looking like that they'd have called the police. Now they're more likely to call the police if you don't look like that. Strange days.

[Juan F. Ramirez]

[Juan F. Ramirez]

Here the goverment has just announce a partial lockdown from next saturday.

It's a bit confusing as there are three 'time sections' depending on the age.If I remember correctly, middle age people can do sport from 6:00 to 10:00. Elderly people can go out for a walk from 10:00 to 12:00 and children up to 14 from 12:00 to I don't remember when, so I'm afraid next saturday will be a chaos!

[1bvl109]

Lockdown is becoming less strict here but the general impression is still this one...

If it wouldn't sound cynically, I'd say, thanks for having been our test area. Data from Italy suggests that not getting infected is a real lifesaver. https://wellcomeopenresearch.org/articles/5-75 i.e. the hypothesis, that only those die who are so old and sick, that they would have died soon anyway does not seem to be entirely correct.

[R-Tape]

[mention]Juan F. Ramirez[/mention], when we're looking back on this thread, posts like this (the fred mask) will be terrifying!

Is anyone wearing a mask when out?

You cannot enter public places - shops, supermarkets, offices etc. - without masks and gloves here, so yes, although not all of the time, for example not when I am driving.

Gloves too? I didn't realise. Any kind of glove? Was there any debate over whether masks were useful or not? In the UK we're procrastinating on this, to say the least.

[Firefox]

Would anyone else care to admit they're doing fine under lockdown? It's not really affected me, and I'm enjoying not having to commute. I feel rather guilty mentioning it though, given the enormous amount of misery and suffering almost everyone else is enduring.

I finished my last contract just before Xmas, and I usually have several months off between jobs anyway until the next tempting one comes up... But now I'm wondering if I'm going to find work this year.

Oh well, it's a bit lonely, but I try to concentrate on having lots of time to tinker with my own projects, read, and do box-set marathons.

How cheap are Easter eggs now?! Maybe I got lucky and picked a quiet time, but the big supermarket near me was a surprisingly pleasant experience.

Not many Easter eggs left, but I liberated a couple of posh chocolate bunnies.

At first the supermarket own-brand bunnies seemed a good deal, but when I picked one up I realised that they were the same volume but less than half the weight, and probably not as nice chocolate.

I experimented with going to the apocalyptic supermarket about 7pm this week rather than early afternoon. There were only a few minutes' queuing to get in, but everyone inside seemed more tense somehow. *shrug*

Is anyone wearing a mask when out? In case it becomes recommended advice, I got some made up by the local fabric shop. The elastic's a bit tight, so it gives me goblin ears. It makes my specs steam up as well, but there are ways to ameliorate that.

This'll put the staff at Sainsburies at ease...

I would like one, but I've no idea where to get one from.

I might just do this next week.

[R-Tape]

I would like one, but I've no idea where to get one from.

Aah you'll be able to find one: every city, town and village in the UK has these crochet fiends. Under normal circumstances they're making bloody cute tea coseys or whatever. Time for them to stand up and be counted!

I might just do this next week.

"Hi, I'd like to join Ninja School."

"What are your skills?"

"I can decapitate a man from 100m with a throwing star, and flying kick an alsatian."

Yes, yes, but how deeply can you furrow your brow?

[Alessandro]

Gloves too? I didn't realise. Any kind of glove? Was there any debate over whether masks were useful or not?

Plastic disposable gloves of course. However they are really mandatory in supermarkets and shops only; today I went out to buy some bread, and at the bakery there was no need to wear them - moreover, I did not feel like wasting a pair of gloves just for that.

Masks, on the other hand, are pretty much ubiquitous. You will be refused entry almost everywhere if you do not wear one. Local administrations are distributing them to families that include elderly and ill people, in difficult social conditions etc. You can also find them at pharmacies now, although for the first weeks of lockdown they were either impossible to find, or sold at highly inflated prices.

[+3code]

Gloves too? I didn't realise. Any kind of glove? Was there any debate over whether masks were useful or not?

Plastic disposable gloves of course. However they are really mandatory in supermarkets and shops only; today I went out to buy some bread, and at the bakery there was no need to wear them - moreover, I did not feel like wasting a pair of gloves just for that.

Here the plastic disposable gloves are mandatory in the supermarket, they give you a couple (free) every time you enter, and there are hand-sanitizer dispensers at the entrance that you must use before entering. Masks at the moment are not mandatory, there has been much debate about that, although most people use them, it seems the typical photo of Japanese tourists.

[R-Tape]

Plastic disposable gloves of course. However they are really mandatory in supermarkets and shops only; today I went out to buy some bread, and at the bakery there was no need to wear them - moreover, I did not feel like wasting a pair of gloves just for that.

Not "of course" at all! You might be surprised how distant the UK is away from your mode of thinking, whether we should be or not. You may still get a curious glance if you're wearing a mask (Fred or no Fred).

What are the mask rules/not rules in countries other than Italy?

Masks, on the other hand, are pretty much ubiquitous. You will be refused entry almost everywhere if you do not wear one. Local administrations are distributing them to families that include elderly and ill people, in difficult social conditions etc. You can also find them at pharmacies now, although for the first weeks of lockdown they were either impossible to find, or sold at highly inflated prices.

The UK government has been pushing the idea that "the science isn't clear" on masks. I can understand it, because we're stubborn buggers and it might be culturally perturbing, and there were concerns that it would make it harder for key-workers to get them if everyone bought them. However, I think when we start to reduce the restrictions, they'll have to find a way to backtrack and say that many of us should wear masks. And they'll be fighting a rearguard battle too, as various parts of the media start shouting from their lofty positions of hindsight.

[R-Tape]

Here the plastic disposable gloves are mandatory in the supermarket, they give you a couple (free) every time you enter, and there are hand-sanitizer dispensers at the entrance that you must use before entering. Masks at the moment are not mandatory, there has been much debate about that, although most people use them, it seems the typical photo of Japanese tourists.

Interesting. In the UK we haven't even started talking about gloves yet, but it sounds like we're in a similar position to Spain over masks. It is common to see hand-sanitiser though.

[R-Tape]

When I was in our local supermarket on Tuesday evening, at one point there were three men (including me) trying to find items in the same aisle that were unfamiliar to each of us.... l was looking for filo pastry for my mum.

This was a really nice snapshot into the world of someone having to 'properly' work at the moment. That doesn't include me, but I was particularly tickled by the quote above. When this all kicked off, I somehow managed to wrestle a delivery slot out of Tesco for my Ma, and right at the top of her list was suet for feeding the bleeding birds! She must have the best fed starlings in the world!

[1024MAK]

The UK government has been pushing the idea that "the science isn't clear" on masks. I can understand it, because we're stubborn buggers and it might be culturally perturbing, and there were concerns that it would make it harder for key-workers to get them if everyone bought them. However, I think when we start to reduce the restrictions, they'll have to find a way to backtrack and say that many of us should wear masks. And they'll be fighting a rearguard battle too, as various parts of the media start shouting from their lofty positions of hindsight.

The trouble with masks is that you really should have to define which category is being debated over. Simple cloth masks, and simple breathable fabric masks are not effective at preventing the wearer from breathing in virus particles. These virus particles are extremely tiny. They are far too small to be caught by such masks. However, they may reduce the amount of water droplets (which may contain virus particles) that a human produces from their mouth and nose. Or reduce the velocity of the water droplets (and hence the distance traveled).

Only the full professional medical grade masks (with full face mask) are going to help to reduce a wearers chance of breathing in the virus.

From a personal point of view, as someone who suffers from hey fever during May, June and early July, I am not looking forward to having to wear any kind of mask.

Mark

[1bvl109]

I might just do this next week.

The real ninja here is of course the "Christmas tree".

[dfzx]

Interesting. In the UK we haven't even started talking about gloves yet

People don't seem to quite get the gloves thing. My postman has been wearing blue gloves for a couple of weeks now. He gets in his van, drives to my neighbour, takes them their post, gets back in the van, rubs his eyes, drives to me, finds my post, drops it in my postbox, scratches his ear, gets back in his van...

I'm not sure what he thinks the gloves are achieving.

[dfzx]

The trouble with masks is that you really should have to define which category is being debated over.

There's also the psychological message, saying to people you recognise there's an issue and you're making an effort to help keep people safe. This point was mentioned in one of the Downing Street briefings this week.

[PeterJ]

Interesting. In the UK we haven't even started talking about gloves yet

People don't seem to quite get the gloves thing. My postman has been wearing blue gloves for a couple of weeks now. He gets in his van, drives to my neighbour, takes them their post, gets back in the van, rubs his eyes, drives to me, finds my post, drops it in my postbox, scratches his ear, gets back in his van...

I'm not sure what he thinks the gloves are achieving.

You get the same thing in takeaways. They wear gloves to handle the food, then the same person takes your money whilst still wearing the gloves.

[1bvl109]

The trouble with masks is that you really should have to define which category is being debated over.

There's also the psychological message, saying to people you recognise there's an issue and you're making an effort to help keep people safe.

That's right, but if you wear a mask, what is the point in restricting yourself to one which doesn't increase your protection? See https://multimedia.3m.com/mws/media/179 ... ses-tb.pdf

Of course there can be valid reason, e.g.

• You don't have access to a high efficiency mask e.g. you can't afford it

• You have some medical condition, which makes it impossible to use them, e.g. it might be to hard, to breath through them

Now reason one should not be a real reason at all in any developed country in my opinion.

[Ast A. Moore]

Simple cloth masks, and simple breathable fabric masks are not effective at preventing the wearer from breathing in virus particles.

Moreover, a beard—especially a full beard—reduces the effectiveness of such a mask to almost zero.

I ain’t shaving mine off.