Coronavirus

A sort of Nature Notes thread, perhaps?
What have you spotted in your community?

- one of the vets at our practice in Andover is in self-isolation following a visit to parents in
N. Italy.
- Also students at granddaughter's school, following holiday trips.
- assistants in local chemist wearing masks today, and people looking nervously at each other and trying to spread out in the queue, instead of chatting away as normal.
- I got out more cash than usual - I seldom use cash nowadays but if the supply chain dries up and the computers go down maybe cash is a better bet than cards.
- and I filled up the tank in the car, same reason.

So this is a mild dose of flu for most people, and so far has killed a far lower percentage of people than normal seasonal flu, and as with normal flu mainly those who are vulnerable anyway for health and age reasons. Is it sensible to be worried, except about the consequences of mass panic causing social breakdown?

I'm not worried -yet! No reported cases in Scotland. Of course we're so isolated here we wouldn't know if there were any locally. Only place with any numbers of people is Stornoway, and we only go about once a week.

I feel really sorry for the people who are on holiday and forced into "quarantine" with others who are possibly infected. A British man who was on the Diamond Princess has died in Japan. Media reports about the cruise ship mentioned passengers in inside cabins who didn't have a window, so presumably their air supply was from an air conditioning unit. How can you be quarantined from airborne infection when you're breathing recycled air?
I worked in a "sick building" in the 1970s where a lot of us had mild chronic sore throats Monday to Friday.

Both the cruise liner and the hotel in Teneriffe have echoes of the Black Death plague villages - I'll take my chance in the UK thanks.

I find it difficult to imagine how or why anyone chooses to go on a 'holiday' on a boat with over 1,000 strangers in cramped conditions and no windows, with no escape from the endless 'entertainment', and at risk of various illnesses including tummy bugs and viruses. No doubt one day it will be made into a film - sort of Agatha Christie plot, like the one that used to be called '10 Little N....... Boys' in less enlightened times. The hotel sounds hardly any more appealing.
Having worked in Butlins, Skegness as a waitress when I was a student many years ago, my sympathies are with the staff on the ship. Apparently they shared cabins in very close quarters, and of course they had to mingle to work together to feed and tend to the passengers. But nobody told us how many of them got sick, it all seemed to be about the passengers.
At least in Eyam it was the villagers' selfless choice to isolate themselves.

Eyam, an amazing village, and a wonderful place to visit and read about the selfless souls.
Cruise,our idea of hell also.
People behaving stupidly around here, bulk buying especially toilet rolls, hand sanitiser, and Pot Noodles !!! Wanting bus drivers to spray money with disinfectant before handing it over as change

Two South African crew members have tested positive ...

I agree that I can't think of anything worse than a cruise and I'm not desperately keen on hotels either for a long (more than 3 nights) stay.
If you've ever watched an episode of "The Cruise" (I get reduced to watching that on catch-up sometimes!) you can see how cramped the crews and entertainers are - not the officers of course as they seem to have single cabins.

Many years ago, my husband was asked to do a series of meetings on a cruise to the Bahamas! We lived in the US at the time, and we sailed from Miami to the Bahamas, and back. Four days. I really didn't enjoy it. There seemed to be a constant supply of food available. Breakfast. Mid morning buffet. Full lunch. Afternoon tea buffet. Dinner. Night buffet. But what I really didn't feel comfortable was how sort of servile the crew were! I'm not at all used to or comfortable with, my every wish being anticipated, and being waited on hand and foot. Like, if you took a notion and went to your cabin mid morning and took a shower, by lunchtime, your used towels had been replaced with fresh ones. The tour leader explained that crew on cruise ships were very poorly paid, because they were expected to make up their income with tips. We got chatting to some of the waiters, who were so lovely to children in the group, giving them little treats, and spending time teaching them things, like napkin folding (not in "classes" or anything. Just at the table). They were all men with families, who spent nine months of every year at sea, and one said he hadn't been home at Christmas for several years. He had two children. And he was sending as much money as he could back to his family in South America.

As to the Corona virus, in the chemist this week, they had boxes of masks on the counter. I was laughing, and asked the girl "Are you selling many?" She said "Are you kidding? We can't keep them in stock! We have to contact people who are waiting when we get new stock in!" And I told daughter this, laughing about it.
But she didn't laugh. She said "If you are in again, will you get me some?" She's worried because of having a young baby. So, I got her some.

I see that both Lidl and Ocado are reporting increased sales as folk are preparing to face periods of self imposed quarantine. I have to admit to buying a stack of tinned foodstuffs recently. Apart from baked beans and tinned tomatoes I don’t normally eat tinned stuff but needs must.
Slice of Fray Bentos Chicken Pie anyone? (out of a tin of course).

Steady stream today of young women going to get their eyelashes dyed, gel nails done in case they have to be quarantined. People have been emptying the shelves in Poundland of rice packets.
What else have you been up to Hen-Gen, as I see Typhoons have been scrambled to Shetland due to mysterious objects flying over the island. How big are your hens

Hen-Gen said:

I sSlice of Fray Bentos Chicken Pie anyone? (out of a tin of course).

Click to expand...

I think I'd rather have Corvid-19 than a tinned meat pie thanks...

Having lived through various epidemics and had (& survived) swine flu, I'm encouraged by something that I read online yesterday. It said that most people who've had Corvid-19 so far haven't needed to seek medical assistance. Only people who've been badly affected have seen a doctor, which is why a relatively "high" percentage (less than 2%) have died.

If we knew the real number of people who've had the virus, it sounds as though the true mortality rate would be far lower.

Marigold, your posts do make me smile. Could not agree more about going on a cruise...

Here in North Notts, I have not noticed any changes in people's behaviour, although to be fair, I don't go out often, except on my woodland walks with OH. I am probably being blase about it, basing my opinion on the fact that more people die of flu. Having said that, I have decided not to go abroad until all the hysteria dies down. I won't be stocking up on food, well perhaps chicken food for the girls, can't have them starving.

Tweetypie said:

I won't be stocking up on food, well perhaps chicken food for the girls, can't have them starving.

Click to expand...

Well that’s the nub of it! I have no great concern about the disease itself but I do recognise the human capacity for stupidity. BYM’s bus stories illustrate that. Like you I’ll be ordering in hen food and sheep food this week. Already well stocked up with hay. If I see any flying pigs, bym, I’ll shoot them and put them in my freezer.
We had a gale yesterday which took the power out for 12 hours. It reminded me of the fragility of human existence. On March 21st I set my incubators going. Luckily no bought in eggs this year so if I lose a batch from power outages I can always start again.
But in reality bym we did have a Russian bomber coming rather close. Fortunately it stayed away so a “diplomatic incident” was avoided.
On the question of death rate the circa 2% is an average. Much higher for us crusties.

Probably got more chance round here of being mowed down by a phone tweeting zombie, or mad cyclist, or the pot noodle stampede than catching the virus.
Glad you are getting supplies in Hen-Gen, but have you done your nails yet ?
Talking of stupid one of our drivers has decided not to use any water out of the kettle at work, but is emptying it out and filling it with bottled water for his tea, not sure what the difference is between tap water and the bottled stuff once boiling has happened.
On a more scary note, when we were in Cornwall last week in a restaurant, a child left his table and sat at the next table which was laid and reserved He proceeded to sit there picking up and licking the cutlery. His parents told him it was time to go and they picked the cutlery up and replaced it neatly on the table and left. 19 19
OH informed the waitress who shuddered, and removed it.

Tbh, every Winter, I keep a decent store cupboard, like a good supply of flour, yeast, porridge oats, several tins of Baxters soup (it doesn't have anything in it that you wouldn't put in yourself), barley, dried beans/peas, and a container of dried milk. And of course, I have loads of jars of bottled plums, pears and apples. It might seem ott, but during "The Beast from the East" a couple of years ago, I couldn't get out my gate for over a week. During that storm, dau lived in a nearby small town. They love snow, and went for a walk in it, because of course, in town, the roads had been ploughed, so they could get around. She said that the queue in the nearest mini market was so long, people were waiting for an hour to get in to the shop. Now, she lives out of town, and up a road that, although it's lined with hosues, is very narrow. I have warned her that if we ever get snow like that again, they will not be able to get out, because the road won't be ploughed or gritted. Now, with the fear being generated by this virus, she told me that she is going to make a store cupboard with much the same stuff as I keep.

Dammit bym. I completely forgot to have my nails done or have a back, sack and crack procedure. But I do have a set of hair trimmers and a lot of cotton buds so I’ll still make “a beautiful corpse”.
So done the hens, fed the sheep and so now it’s into the kitchen. Had whole prawns yesterday. What’s the point. My hands and half my face covered in chilli, garlic and butter for a mouthful of scaley bits and a teaspoonful of flesh. Even freebies are sometimes not worth the effort.

OK, so the run is clean and I'm all ready for new pullets. However, I'm wondering if it would be best to wait a bit and see how things develop locally. At nearly 80, with COPD, not yet recovered from long-running chest infection and with immune system lowered by 2 lots of recent antibiotics, I will obviously be a prime target, and OH will be similar. It might simplify things if I didn't have any hens to look after, the dog would be enough to worry about. On the other hand, a small local business needs continued support, and if we do come through OK, I would have have been looking at an empty run for weeks, with quite a bad case of Morehens Disease. What do you advise?

Tricky one Marigold. I would say that there’s only one deciding factor and that is are you well enough to look after them? If so, go for it. Living for future possible scenarios can paralyse you because new potential pitfalls will always present themselves. Live for today.

It is tricky, but like Hen-Gen I would say go for it if you feel you can cope with them. Animals are a wonderful distraction from ailments and a pick me up in general. If you have enough supplies in for all of you, you could hopefully keep away from the potentially infectious masses.
Hope you are soon over the chest infection.

Well, that was a bit of a dud weekend. Saturday morning, I woke up with a sore throat and swollen tonsils. However, once I was out of bed and moving around a while, it went away, and I was fine all day, until Saturday evening, when it suddenly flared up again quite badly. Tonsils so swollen and painful, I could hardly swallow, and felt like death. I bombarded it with Olive Leaf Extract (drops) which are utterly vile, Vit C/zinc, and Night Nurse, and went to bed. Woke yesterday morning quite late but feeling much better. More Olive Leaf, Vit C and Sambucol (black elderberry syrup) and this morning there's just a very slight soreness there on one side when I swallow.

WEll over 20 years ago, my late husband was trying to introduce Olive Leaf Extract to Health Food stores here. He believed it had anti viral and anti microbial properties. He couldn't get anyone interested. He was just ahead of his time. Because now, it's widely stocked in Health shops. It's part of my "medicine cabinet", kept on hand just in case.

We're wondering how long it could actually have been circulating in the population. In Whitchurch at the end of last year there was definitely a highly contagious virus going round which caused pneumonia-like symptoms in lots of people even if vaccinated against ordinary flu, and we both had it ourselves. When I had it it wasn't the usual type of chest infection with blocked sinuses and runny nose I expected, but just painfully affected the lungs and breathing, which is characteristic of coronavirus. I've still not properly recovered, nor have several healthy younger friends of ours who were also infected. News that a region of Italy appears to have had a different strain of Corvid-19 on the go for months does makes one wonder.
Anyway since presumably we're both vulnerable on grounds of age and infirmities we've decided to restrict unnecessary contact as much as we can. Being retired this is possible for us, unlike others. We've both cancelled club meetings next week, and will arrange for online grocery deliveries to be left outside. Today the hospital cancelled a cardiothoracic appointment I had next week for a CTC chest scan and other tests and postponed it until the end of April. I expect they think they're going to be a bit busy! And no new chickens for a while - if I do catch it, I wouldn't want the newbies to be neglected.