Coronavirus Response in SL Communities

[Bree Giffen]

In response to the Coronavirus pandemic many communities in Second Life have begun to make changes.

In BDSM communities, rubber gloves are recommended, and rubber pants, rubber corsets, rubber masks....

The Tiny community is actually welcoming new tiny "virus" avatars and having lots of fun.

Gorean slave girls must now have N95 rated silks. (N95 blocks 95% of 0.3 micron or larger particles)

Members of the Furry community are debating if the virus even affects non-human species.

"Residents going to shopping events are now required to be inspected", says the guy who normally cams up skirts all the time.

The Cyber Goths have been told to prep.. no.. wait.. they're all wearing black facemasks already.

[Alwin Alcott]

I'm in the middle of the outbreak in the Netherlands, working in elderly care, people die .. for me not really a subject to make fun about.

[MayaSmit]

☹️

Edited March 12, 2020 by MayaSmit

[So Whimsy]

I'm in germany, where the virus is also spreading and killing people. While I get the humor its really really black all things considered.

On a humorous note: People here are hoarding noodles and toilet paper. Apparently that's all we germans need in face of a health crisis.

[Garnet Psaltery]

1 minute ago, Syn Anatine said:

I'm in germany, where the virus is also spreading and killing people. While I get the humor its really really black all things considered.

On a humorous note: People here are hoarding noodles and toilet paper. Apparently that's all we germans need in face of a health crisis.

In England it's toilet paper and tuna.  Want to share?

[Conifer Dada]

12 minutes ago, Alwin Alcott said:

I'm in the middle of the outbreak in the Netherlands, working in elderly care, people die .. for me not really a subject to make fun about.

I agree.  Not funny.

Edited March 12, 2020 by Conifer Dada

[Fritigern Gothly]

Not funny, Bree. Not in the least.

[Pussycat Catnap]

People got mad when it came up in one group I'm in yesterday... Trumpites basically getting upset that it was noted that the US has been making reports classified... Started calling it "talking about politics" to be discussing the pandemic...

/fail

 

[Syo Emerald]

I've developed a deep frustration with all the virus panic people. I was hopeing this topic would stay out of at least this forum.

[Kimmi Zehetbauer]

52 minutes ago, Conifer Dada said:

I agree.  Not funny.

And some of us with RL business are feeling the affects --- like our RL bar. We set up many gel stations and cut back the hours as only the regulars still come.

[So Whimsy]

Just heard the news, germany is closing its border to the czech republic tomorrow evening.

[Amina Sopwith]

1 hour ago, Garnet Psaltery said:

In England it's toilet paper and tuna.  Want to share?

And pasta, painkillers and pump dispenser handwash, though plenty of soap in all its other forms. 

I really hope that people who run out of toilet paper and can't get more don't use kitchen roll instead. Then we'll have blocked drains to add to this disaster.

 

[Chic Aeon]

1 hour ago, Bree Giffen said:

In response to the Coronavirus pandemic many communities in Second Life have begun to make changes.

In BDSM communities, rubber gloves are recommended, and rubber pants, rubber corsets, rubber masks....

The Tiny community is actually welcoming new tiny "virus" avatars and having lots of fun.

Gorean slave girls must now have N95 rated silks. (N95 blocks 95% of 0.3 micron or larger particles)

Members of the Furry community are debating if the virus even affects non-human species.

"Residents going to shopping events are now required to be inspected", says the guy who normally cams up skirts all the time.

The Cyber Goths have been told to prep.. no.. wait.. they're all wearing black facemasks already.

 

Perhaps when the the virus is on YOUR doorstep and your friends, family and neighbors are dying or feeling so sick that they welcome death, you will see how insulting this is to the people who actually DO CARE ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE.   

[Pamela Galli]

I think Bree was just trying to inject a little SL levity into the grimness of RL right now. 
 

Let’s be forgiving of any well meaning posts, even if they miss their target.

Edited March 12, 2020 by Pamela Galli

[Beth Macbain]

I'm of two minds on this sort of topic. Gallows humor is a valid coping mechanism, but I also think that you need to know your audience is feeling the same before engaging in the gallows humor. 

What's happening right now is scary, and it's real. I sincerely hope that no one is taking it lightly. I've been home since Tuesday because I was running a very, very low fever. I had to make a choice to either be the first person at work to self-isolate at the risk of people thinking I was either being paranoid, or just looking to get some days off, or being the first person to potentially infect coworkers (and the immuno-compromised children we work with). I chose to stay home. 

Things have changed quite a bit since Tuesday in my community. They've canceled church AND basketball - the two things Kentuckians live for - and now I'm not allowed to come back to work until I've been completely fever-free for 24 hours without medication. 

But I do think it's possible to both take this all very seriously in our actions and behaviors, and also crack a joke or two in order to ease the tension a little bit. I don't really think Bree's intention was to make light of this pandemic. I hope she wasn't, anyway. 

[Garnet Psaltery]

24 minutes ago, Amina Sopwith said:

And pasta, painkillers and pump dispenser handwash, though plenty of soap in all its other forms. 

I really hope that people who run out of toilet paper and can't get more don't use kitchen roll instead. Then we'll have blocked drains to add to this disaster.

 

The grocery delivery man who came today told me that as soon as a shelf was filled with handwash dispensers one man came along and swept every bottle into his trolley - and the shop let him buy them.  I call that irresponsible on both sides.

[Coffee Pancake]

1 hour ago, Alwin Alcott said:

I'm in the middle of the outbreak in the Netherlands, working in elderly care, people die .. for me not really a subject to make fun about.

Worked in Elderly care ... it's impossible to keep even a simple norovirus virus under control while taking full precautions. This one is literally terrifying which brings all it's own problems into the mix.

[Marigold Devin]

I might not be laughing, but I get the joke when applied to our various Second Life communities, and I get that Bree is trying to lighten all the gloom and scaremongering of our world leaders. 

Personally, I find it very hard to take anything seriously from men who can't even control their own hair!

[Lindal Kidd]

I am in a couple of the "at higher risk" groups, and identified cases are getting closer to my neighborhood.  I consider the NCV (novel coronavirus) pandemic a real and serious threat.

Nonetheless, I got a good chuckle out of Bree's post.  Sometimes, it does help to lighten up.

[Da5id Weatherwax]

If you want really really dark humor, hang out in a hospital pathology lab. Histopathology and cytopathology for the best examples.

The same is true of emergency responders of every kind.

 

When did humanity's best weapon against despair become something insulting? As a folk musician I sing about death on an almost daily basis - wars, shipwrecks, plagues, murders, industrial accidents, they are all in there, as are the songs about the old guy with the scythe himself, many of which are upbeat and almost dance tunes. This is so for the same reason you drink and make merry at a traditional Irish wake - it's not for the dead, it's for the living, to stick a finger firmly in the eye socket of that grinning skull and say "Hell with you, you bony old bastard, we're not dead yet!"

[Bree Giffen]

Ok. I get it. Not only is this "too soon", it's "while it's happening". I actually wrote those jokes on the subway surrounded by masked people. I guess I truly am an SL immersionist who keeps my RL and SL separate. To all, my apologies. I didn't realize how badly it is going around the country and around the world. I hope you and all you love get through this and feel better.

[ItHadToComeToThis]

59 minutes ago, Syo Emerald said:

I've developed a deep frustration with all the virus panic people. I was hopeing this topic would stay out of at least this forum.

Me too. My heart sank when I saw the thread title. I was really really hoping this could be the one corner of the internet I didn’t have to read the words Corona Virus. I really am not that worried about the virus if I am honest.

[ItHadToComeToThis]

[Alwin Alcott]

Because i was the first to reply to @Bree Giffen i'd like  to give a little clarification, i'm not mad, or hurt by OP 's post,  it's more because of the impossible  being able to serious dó something against it, a government that whole morning only published about helping companies with tax delayment and billions of support... fgs people's parents are in danger .. .. our MP; wash your hands ... and avoid contacts [put not suitable expression here] 
A bit later today some more actions announced, perfect, but it means we failed in stage 1 (limit spreading).
Somehow i don't understand why the Governmental Institutes for this kind of outbreaks don't know what "we" on the workfloor know.. virusses are not following protocols.

[Selene Gregoire]

2 hours ago, Alwin Alcott said:

I'm in the middle of the outbreak in the Netherlands, working in elderly care, people die .. for me not really a subject to make fun about.

As someone who is at risk because of age and compromised immune system and would likely die from Covid-19, I agree.