Be careful, be ready!

[Greeny]

Hello!

And stay safe.

[kenny mac]

My God,,   stay safe Alfredo, and everyone.

[Groundy]

Thanks Alfredo and everyone for your input. Stay safe guys... Alex

[Boognish]

Boognish checking in from Norman, Oklahoma!

Hope everyone is doing well and please please please be safe and let's get this thing figured out.

My wife, 2-year-old boy and I are doing fine.

 My wife is an oncology nurse here and her hospital just had the county's first covid positive patient Saturday. There are now around 20 confirmed cases in Oklahoma.
Unfortunately, I know there are many more that are not getting tested. This city has already shown community transmission, but we've had little restriction of movement. We have done a good job, in my opinion, of staying at home, but literally almost no restriction in this state thus far. I'm afraid we are behind in that regard. Restaurants etc will go to take-home only starting tomorrow night, March 18.
I work in food service, so I'm still working (for now) driving my pickup truck to grocery stores. I'm a bit worried that my wife and I are at high risk of contact, but we're just doing everything we can to stay safe and keep our parents safe.

But our numbers in the US will explode in the next few days as we are finally rolling out testing, and Dear Orangeman Leader Trump is finally on the right side of this thing, we hope.
(As I'm writing this, I look and New York now has 1700 cases of infection).
This country will get hit hard because we are so damn stubborn, and people here will not like staying at home for long. It would help if we had better direction from the top, obviously, because at this point there is STILL not anything mandatory from or federal govt, and the states are not all doing the same things. One state shuts down bars, so people cross state lines to drink and transmit covid-19 smh. The political divisions here leave states at the mercy of their elected officials' decisions. Oklahoma is a red state (Republican) so our governor will do what he thinks Trump wants. Well until Saturday, Trump said it was a hoax, it will go away, go ahead and work, etc. and these red states did little to prepare. Over the weekend, our state governor posted pics of himself and family, kids, eating out at a restaurant, hugging locals and taking pictures like its nothing to worry about. Florida didn't close their beaches and Spring Break is this week. Thousands of idiots mingling on the beaches, drinking, transmitting this virus and they'll head home untested in the next few days. ridiculous.
 Half the states in the US are red (republican) like mine, and half are blue (democrat) states like California, Washington, Colorado, New York... In New York Governor Cuomo has been working hard to curb this but without a unified voice we are still where we are, and now we're in for a long summer.

I hope everyone is well and takes precautions, and take this opportunity to make some music!

AB

[Greeny]

Stay safe, Boognish. And good to see you around.

I've been in isolation since Saturday and am already climbing the walls. Working from home in a room with six guitars in it isn't easy, so yes... lots of music will be made. There's a lot of us on here who are at risk, so we just have to help each other stay sane and get through it.

Like Trump, our imbecilic oaf of a prime minister is both clueless, unprepared and contradicting himself on a daily basis. So everyone is just making their own decisions to keep their families safe. Sadly that means panic buying and grocery shortages - so staying in won't be an option if there is no food deliveries or food to deliver.

[alfstone]

Like Trump, our imbecilic oaf of a prime minister is both clueless, unprepared and contradicting himself on a daily basis. So everyone is just making their own decisions to keep their families safe. Sadly that means panic buying and grocery shortages - so staying in won't be an option if there is no food deliveries or food to deliver.

Both Trump and Johnson are changing their mind since there are official medical previews talking about 2200000 (more than 2 millions!) deaths in the US and 500000 in UK IF their original decisions were mantained.

As far as possible, stay at home.

Alfredo

[chapperz66]

My mother's care home has been closed to visitors for several days now - not before time in my opinion.  The manager called me 3 days ago to tell me that mum has a cough, although as an asthmatic (like me) she has coughed most days for the last 90 years so I'm hopeful that it is nothing more sinister.

I have visited her most days since she has been in the old folks home but fortunately I got her a simple-ish mobile phone so I can still speak to her.  She is no worse and is convinced that she has "just a bit wheeze" - as she puts it.  She is no worse and doesn't think she has a temperature.  "I'm alright - they do make a fuss!"  Yes mum, just stay in your room and watch the telly.

[Boognish]

Well my wife is at work today. We are screwed.
USA must be the dumbest place on Earth

[The Gobi Desert Canoe Club]

Hi all, Mrs Willie and myself are self isolating but are very lucky to have very kind neighbours who have offered to get anything we need. Our thoughts are with anyone that has to work such as nurses, police and anyone in the public sector. May you all stay safe.     Willie

[Mike_S]

Alfredo, your advice on other countries to lock down as soon as possible seems spot on. Ireland has implemented pretty serious measures so let's see how we get on. I guess the next challenge for people will be how long they can keep self isolating before they become complacent, as it looks like these measures will be needed for a long time with no vaccine available for a very long time.