How has the coronavirus affected your personal life?

[Ulu]

It is easy to fool frightened people, and our sensationalist media has been running a non-stop covid horror show.
Fear is wide and pervasive. There is backlash to this. Some folks refuse to be frightened, & thus become unconcerned & even violent.

Just wait until we start vaccinating folks widely. You'll hear a wail from coast to coast from the afraid, and the kneee-jerk contrarians.

Doctors and hospitals are not widely trusted by folks outside the medical Biz, left, right or centrist.
It's not because of any one doctor or hospital. It's because of the great forces we see fighting for money.

It's because of the insurance industry, that insures to themselves that we must all buy their products, and insures to doctors, that their hands will be tied by contractual agreements. It's because of the pharmaceutical companies who are providing what they can sell for greatest profits. It's because of an insurance system that reduces payouts because they know everyone is cheating.

There is no good competition for business under the current biz climate, & some can dominate their sector through influence over merit. Things will never balance out. An unbalanced market for care cause the poor to be priced out of care and everyone else gets ripped off, but takes it because of no alternative.

Once the government starts running health care, all competition vanishes. Government workers don't really compete much here. Competition is virtually discouraged by the system. Improvements made are mainly improvements made to cement position rather that to advance efficacy.

 

[krichardson]

I'm a Doctor and Here's How to Not Catch COVID

Hello; Just read thru the above link. One of the better bits of advice.

Hey Jeff,in somewhat related news my book arrived today.Good timing perhaps considering the tyrants have imposed another lockdown for our area.The gym is now off limits and there is never anything good on tv worth my attention span.

 

[Hendre]

I'd prefer we don't get too deep into the political aspects of covid, thanks.

 

[jjohnwm]

Pretty tough not to get into the political end of it when that seems to be influencing most people's lives more than the disease itself. My wife has CNN on just about all day long and I am so sick of hearing the talking heads that I just spend most of my days off in the basement with my fish...so there is a plus side to the whole global killer pandemic after all!

I'm semi-retired but work several months each year on remote construction projects, usually in the far north. My current jobsite has finally been hit with Covid and things are in a daily state of flux as information and misinformation spreads throughout the camp and jobsite. This place can be looked upon as a small, isolated town; it's roughly a 12-hour drive from the provincial capital of Winnipeg, and much of this trip is on rough gravel roads with almost no other traffic. Usual access by most workers is by air (company charters) and everyone is currently being tested for Covid and then kept isolated until negative results are proven. Once at camp, masks are mandatory everywhere except in individual dorm rooms. All amenities...gym, theaters, lounge, public areas, etc...are closed. The dining hall is also closed, meals must be taken back to be eaten in individual dorm rooms.

Morale is, as might be imagined, terrible. Nowhere to go...nothing to do...the problem is magnified on days when we do not work, as we are forced to essentially sit isolated in our rooms. Thank goodness for Netflix and E-readers.

I'm currently home, waiting for word on my next work rotation. Regular flight was cancelled, may be flying up in a week, maybe not. The entire camp was tested at least twice now for Covid, with several positive results (immediately flown back to civilization). Contact tracing then points to possible close contacts of the positive cases, who are then placed into isolation dorms and monitored. All workers self-monitor their temperature twice daily...but this system presupposes that everyone can be trusted. There are still numerous free-thinkers (non-thinkers?) who will work despite illness and fudge their monitoring results, thus putting everyone at risk.

The entire site was shut down last spring for several months; another shut-down may be in the offing, but nothing definitive has been stated yet. I may work another wrap before Xmas...I may be out until January...or I may be out of work entirely. Impossible to say, and becoming difficult to really care anymore. I work mainly to earn extra money to cover the cost of travelling, hunting and fishing trips, vacations with my wife, etc. Since I can't realistically plan such trips anymore, working is difficult for me to justify. I truly feel sorry for the younger folks burdened with mortgages, growing families, high debt loads, etc.

I heard the old Louis Armstrong rendition of "Wonderful World" the other day; came surprisingly close to grabbing the radio and heaving it out into the snow.

 

[esoxlucius]

Pretty tough not to get into the political end of it when that seems to be influencing most people's lives more than the disease itself. My wife has CNN on just about all day long and I am so sick of hearing the talking heads that I just spend most of my days off in the basement with my fish...so there is a plus side to the whole global killer pandemic after all!

I'm semi-retired but work several months each year on remote construction projects, usually in the far north. My current jobsite has finally been hit with Covid and things are in a daily state of flux as information and misinformation spreads throughout the camp and jobsite. This place can be looked upon as a small, isolated town; it's roughly a 12-hour drive from the provincial capital of Winnipeg, and much of this trip is on rough gravel roads with almost no other traffic. Usual access by most workers is by air (company charters) and everyone is currently being tested for Covid and then kept isolated until negative results are proven. Once at camp, masks are mandatory everywhere except in individual dorm rooms. All amenities...gym, theaters, lounge, public areas, etc...are closed. The dining hall is also closed, meals must be taken back to be eaten in individual dorm rooms.

Morale is, as might be imagined, terrible. Nowhere to go...nothing to do...the problem is magnified on days when we do not work, as we are forced to essentially sit isolated in our rooms. Thank goodness for Netflix and E-readers.

I'm currently home, waiting for word on my next work rotation. Regular flight was cancelled, may be flying up in a week, maybe not. The entire camp was tested at least twice now for Covid, with several positive results (immediately flown back to civilization). Contact tracing then points to possible close contacts of the positive cases, who are then placed into isolation dorms and monitored. All workers self-monitor their temperature twice daily...but this system presupposes that everyone can be trusted. There are still numerous free-thinkers (non-thinkers?) who will work despite illness and fudge their monitoring results, thus putting everyone at risk.

The entire site was shut down last spring for several months; another shut-down may be in the offing, but nothing definitive has been stated yet. I may work another wrap before Xmas...I may be out until January...or I may be out of work entirely. Impossible to say, and becoming difficult to really care anymore. I work mainly to earn extra money to cover the cost of travelling, hunting and fishing trips, vacations with my wife, etc. Since I can't realistically plan such trips anymore, working is difficult for me to justify. I truly feel sorry for the younger folks burdened with mortgages, growing families, high debt loads, etc.

I heard the old Louis Armstrong rendition of "Wonderful World" the other day; came surprisingly close to grabbing the radio and heaving it out into the snow.

Every morning when I switch the TV on it's same old depressing crap. You can't get away from it. In fact, if my tele hadn't been so damn expensive I think it would very well be on a similar trajectory to your radio!

 

[Hendre]

Social media has become rather depressing lately (if it wasn't depressing enough already) so the survival strategy is simply following nature pages and sticking to the forums.

Covid closed my Uni since late March. So after spending about a whole 2 months on campus we went home, and today I finished my first year of studies online. Hopefully next year we get actual classes, it is rather isolated as my friends live all over the country or in neighbouring Namibia. Imagine paying all that money to look at powerpoints! Granted, it is MUCH cheaper than in the states.

 

[skjl47]

Pretty tough not to get into the political end of it when that seems to be influencing most people's lives more than the disease itself.

My wife has CNN on just about all day long and I am so sick of hearing the talking heads that I just spend most of my days off in the basement with my fish

Every morning when I switch the TV on it's same old depressing crap. You can't get away from it.

Hello; I have been watching old movies and college football games lately. That is if the games have not been canceled because someone tested positive. I admit up front I am not a virologist but I did keep up with stuff to a degree when I was teaching AP Biology in high school to the students planning to go into medicine. Of course my last class was in 2004 so the understanding ought to have progressed. That said so much of the stuff said about the lockdowns and the virus itself just does not make sense to me.
I have for the last few decades gone to a friends home for Thanksgiving dinner. Have not gotten an invitation this year and do not expect one. We are all over seventy with my friends mother being in her 90's.

 

[Ulu]

I'd prefer we don't get too deep into the political aspects of covid, thanks.

Sorry, bud.
We would all prefer it wasn't the biggest social and political issue of all time.
Especially we senior citizens on the bad side of the risk curve.
People are scared chitless.

Never in my life has undue media sensationalism promoted such chaos, causing death and destruction, to increase profitable news.
They know the law cannot and will not prevent it!
Our media drum up riots. People die. The media blackmail politicians openly with their mass slander, and succeed.

Hendre, this is a watershed time in human history.
It's about the fear-mongering tyranny of rich media companies.
It's not about us Sundowners.
You young folks will determine how the world will live.

You will decide who to censor and who to promote.

Logical decisions will insure a possibility of success.
Emotional decisions will insure chaos and decline.

 

[Hendre]

Covid-19 is a mess on all accounts, but, as stated many times, we will not be engaging in political content no matter the context of it. Allowing one thing and censoring another is hypocritical of us, and that's why we keep it all off the platform. This forum has nothing to do with the media, or any political affiliation.

It's not about what you prefer, or what I prefer, it is about keeping the forum true to fishkeeping and having a good time. I honestly don't understand the point of your post. The nature of the thread is to discuss how covid has impacted your lives, let's please keep it that way. Thanks.

 

[Chicxulub]

Covid is not something that should have ever been politicized, but for reasons absolutely incomprehensible it has been. As such, if discussing the political aspects of the virus becomes a problem on MFK as we head into the winter bubble that's building in the US, I'll ban the discussion of this topic as it is then a violation of the Terms of Service.

If we can discuss the ramifications of the virus upon our personal lives without overtly veering into the political aspects of everything happening in the world right now, this thread can remain.

In the interest of fairness, I'm going to close this thread for 1 hour to make sure everybody participating in this discussion gets a chance to read my decision on this subject.