of course that means rent prices will go up. John

Checking in from Miami. Things are strained and we are hearing about so many fatalities in the US. I am hoping that we are placed on a national lockdown as is recommended by health officials.
Not sure what else to say, I am healthy and sober, my family is healthy and friends are as well.
Please say a prayer for my best friend's dad, who is in ICU due to this virus. In addition to praying for the world.

I am sorry that we are all going through this but I leave it to God and I hope that humanity comes out better after this.

Take care.
Nic.

Sending you so much love dear less. :hug: s xx ❤️

Sending prayers for your best friend's dad dear NicLin. :hug: s xx ❤️❤️





...............most days I'm strong. I have been mostly able to be productive and proactive....and helpful to others. But this morning.....I can't stop crying.

Has anyone else read the (Sky News Aus) story about how this actually started a lot earlier than they said it did (in China). I feel so angry. I stopped reading. Anyway....sorry.....I am a puddle right now.

:grouphug:

I get it, venus. This is so difficult.

Of course China has and continues to lie.

No way a country with 1.36 BILLION people only had 89,000 cases that only began in December.

Doesn't really matter, but I'm just saying.

They "say" they've controlled it, too. I think that's all about trade.

No way this thing is "controllable" over the long term in a country like the U.S. China may have locked down a whole region by force, but that's not going to work here. We're going to pretty much have to let it run its course and pray for vaccines and effective treatment once the government gets the infrastructure built to handle the massive numbers. The horse left the barn a long time ago.

There is a lot going on that we don't know about.

I also try not to read opinion articles about this, every time I do I get more upset. Every expert has a different take on all of it.

I know you know this, and it's nearly impossible not to get sucked in. I read something yesterday about how this particular virus works and it frightened me, but I was just trying to find a good instructional video for homemade masks. I have now a bunch of links for masks, but at a cost of having read too much.

Again.

:hug:

Yeah.....no opinion articles for me either. Sky News is how I get most of my Australian news, and they are not sensationalist. But I stopped reading. Pretty fast. I can't be any more upset right now....my stomach hurts.

So......something a bit funny?

I looked at the video Dee posted from our surgeon general re the mask....fantastically easy. Only one problem. I have small ears. The rubber bands would fall right off.

:lmao:

I would have to make ties of some kind. :)

I have links...and yeah, ties are better.

I've been watching people with masks...the ones with loops over the ears don't seem to stay in place. It defeats the purpose if I keep adjusting it!

...and Harvard was the one who scared me yesterday...

Yes please dear bim. :) :hug: s ❤️

I get it too.

Recall waking up to a news report in early January about a novel corona virus in China....I was puzzled, not because I don't get the global connections we have, but it seemed odd to report it here (I'm in the UK) We're a long way away, but we learn months on how these things travel....it makes me think, not that it matters know, that the powers that be did know, and were keeping a watching brief, and hoping perhaps it was contained....but the fact that this is so contagious put paid to that hope

Normally on a public forum I would not say this, mainly because I cannot really know, but I'm pretty sure I've already had COVID19. Being a very long-term but now ex-smoker, I had a hard time, but fortunately not a fatal one. When I discussed with close friends during, and more distant ones after, we started to recognise that some had been ill around Christmas with what would now be clearly termed Covid19, and ill in the early months of 2020.. I also recall colleagues at work from February onwards being off with a viral type illness that knocked them sideways. Some returned to work with hacking coughs that lasted a few weeks.

Maybe this speculation does not help. Maybe it doesn't matter either. But what does matter is telling the truth. Truth is hard to come by, and often it depends whose truth it is. Perhaps we know it when we hear it, and maybe an event like this will understandably leave us with very little patience for anything other than being straightforward. Not only is this about people losing their lives, it is about social and economic justice, about how we live, maybe (we can hope, well at least I would) even about the spiritual dimension of life being at least part of the conversation about how we live, what we do next...we're not yet in the place of what we do next perhaps, but maybe the conversation is worth initiating.....

Heard this today....

In the rush to return to normal, use this time to consider which parts of normal are worth rushing back to......

Be well, stay safe, hang in there everyone.

:lol: Venus, I have a bookmarks folder for COVID, and a subfolder for Masks, and when I just looked at it I had 17 links. There are probably a hundred different Youtube videos!

This one from Johns Hopkins is with ties, and has dimensions (a pattern) :

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/coro...ructions-1.pdf


Honestly, I've kind of lost track there are so many. This has over the head straps, and it isn't pleated, I liked the video and the completed project but it needs elastic, I would make my own straps because I don't want to go out to buy anything. I bet elastic is hard to find right now. YouTube complete How To video, it looks really easy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6d3twpHwis

Here's one with "the best material to use"

https://smartairfilters.com/en/blog/...ce-mask-virus/

:e082: :tyou

:grouphug:

So, I am not one to get antagonistic or throw words like "liar" around too easily, as is happening here on a national and state level about plenty of leaders.

But to this central point, my husband looked it up and it was Jan 29 when this virus had come to the public school system (a large one in GA) that he works for to the level that he tweeted about it. At that point, none of us had any idea and plenty of 'funny' memes about Corona with lime were flying around. I recall being startled when British Airways began grounding flights.

I agree with the possibility that trade talks and politics are involved to some degree. But who knows, and essentially "today" it doesn't matter for me as I know what I know to make the safe choices recommended now. I'm not afraid of catching it (that will be or not) but I have made a carefully constructed world since I got sober, as far as what I can control, so erring on the side of truly staying at home, etc, and setting expectations that yes, it did begin before we knew particularly with the asymptomatic transmission issues, and more importantly that we will not be "done" with this as soon as each "deadline" keeps saying.

On a lighter note, a couple friends and I were talking yesterday about whether or not we got dressed and put on makeup each day, even if we weren't "doing anything." I have to say that one or two days I've lingered in pjs or such til about dinner time but it does make a girl feel better to at least pull back hair and put on makeup and jeans!

Our excitement just now is that the pet store - one of them- has its groomer open. Limitations on number of dogs etc- and ours are simply filthy. They just left to go get everything including teeth done. So I am grateful that my husband isn't going to use the YouTube video we watched to attempt such ;)

Wishing everyone a safe and even keeled day.

Hello dear August. :hug: s xx ❤️

Re protecting ourselves out in the world, just putting this out there....but isn't adding glasses.....either eyeglasses or sunglasses surely an extra protection?

^I do know people who are wearing glasses and a mask. One who remarked that the trouble with that is that it fogged up her glasses and fumbling with produce was especially fun! Ha. Gotta laugh, right?

I was also going to add that it makes me feel better about what I could transmit to others to wear a mask. We saw a demonstration on the news the other night about the distance and spread that both coughs and sneezes put out. It's way more than one would think.

Yes to the second part big time. xx

And :lmao:

The visual illustration of the cough and sneeze spread was pretty gross, if informative ;)