Do you need to vent about things COVID-19?

[Seicher Rae]

Consider this a "pet peeve" thread for the pandemic. I have noticed that so many threads have been getting coronavirus comments, whether they are on topic or not. People are freaked out; that's rather a Captain Obvious statement. Can't get groceries delivered until 2021? Have the neighbors jammed up the sewer system by using creative alternatives to the nonexistent toilet paper (bog roll for those of you across The Pond)? Are you watching kids congregate en masse at the beach? Are your political leaders botching the leadership thing? Is the news confusing or frustrating or scaring you? Did you see some idiot name themselves COVID-19 in SL and watch them scream "you're infected"? (It happened.) Do you want to let off some steam? Well, I propose this thread. Maybe this will keep the politics out of those other threads where they don't really belong?

I usually follow threads that I start, but in the interest of protecting my own mental health I probably won't this time. Just sayin'. Also, if you'd like to be able to vent in this thread then I'd suggest keeping the infighting to a minimum. That may be wishful thinking but that's me, ever the optimist. [sarcasm font] Otherwise a Linden will lock it down. Your choices, etc. I did try to keep the topic as broad as broad can be.

I'll start us out: The AP put out a report recently that the federal government didn't start purchasing masks and gowns for health-care workers until the middle of March (a few weeks ago)! If that isn't bad enough, POTUS has been reacting to this and similar news by: blaming governors of states, specifically blue states. If that fails then blame the media and Biden. Tweet tweet tweet. Sigh. We can't go back and fix the mistakes made, but do we have to double down on them? (rhetorical question)

Let this be a grumpier version of the How Are You Feeling thread. Venting is therapeutic.

Edited April 7, 2020 by Seicher Rae
queen of comma splicing correction

[Rhonda Huntress]

*****ing *****ed up mother *****ers are *****ing the whole *****ing *****ed up ****sucking *****head *****s.

And then some.

Edited April 6, 2020 by Rhonda Huntress
I found a word that was not bleeped!

[Seicher Rae]

7 minutes ago, Rhonda Huntress said:

*****ing *****ed up mother *****ers are *****ing the whole *****ing *****ed up ****sucking *****head *****s.

And then some.

No one said venting can't be funny.

And yeah, pretty much this.

 

[FairreLilette]

It's scary in that I don't want to get sick and I don't want to get others sick.  If someone died because of me I would feel responsible for that the rest of my life.

It's different living in a building with approx. 110 other people who have been somewhat sequestered than living with perhaps one other or a few family members.  

I am frustrated in that I need to see a doctor for a 4-month condition that needs help because the treatment my general doctor chose is not working and my general doctor wants me to see a specialist and have a test he cannot provide.

So, I am in pain waiting in like a triage situation wondering when and if I will ever have relief from the pain.  A neighbor of mine in the same building twisted her ankle just before we were sequestered in here too and she couldn't even go to the emergency room for an x-ray and is still awaiting approval for that and she has been limping the whole time.

We still don't have masks here although I did sew my own.  I have a mask now and hand sanitize.  

GOOD NEWS FOR SOON:  A doctor will be visiting us here this coming Friday at our building.  

I feel terrible for women giving birth during this pandemic.  

Those of us who have needed medical attention it's been terrible waiting in a triage mode.  My nerves are shattered because of this.  I hope the visiting doctor has some help for us as we need it too.  

[Rhonda Huntress]

If I let myself be serious, I die inside.  Recent studies say 50-75% of those infected are asymptomatic.  We are all waiting on a vaccine that has been given an aggressive timeline of 18 months away.  This is life now.  There is not going to be a fix any time soon. We are olny prolonging the inevitable.

[kali Wylder]

18 minutes ago, Rhonda Huntress said:

If I let myself be serious, I die inside.  Recent studies say 50-75% of those infected are asymptomatic.  We are all waiting on a vaccine that has been given an aggressive timeline of 18 months away.  This is life now.  There is not going to be a fix any time soon. We are olny prolonging the inevitable.

But consider this, you might be one of the asymptomatic 50-75%; your odds are 1 in 4 to 1 in 2 chances you will not get very sick. And if you stay socially distant you will be helping everyone.....

Sorry.  I got mixed up about what this thread was for, GodXXXinh DXXXxit to HXXX!!!! I can't effing do any GD thing right.

[Jordan Whitt]

This getting up to do the grocery shopping at 8:30am is killing me...mainly cos I'm a horrendous insomniac and typically don't get to sleep till after 5am.

Cyclists who now think they own the roads cos not many people are driving at the moment are peeving me too!

 

[Lyssa Greymoon]

Social distancing and limiting the number of customers in the store has turned Wal-Mart into a pretty nice place to shop if I have to go. So there is an upside. Too bad I'm not leaving the house very much to enjoy it.

On the other hand, I drove past Lowe's Saturday, and that place was packed. I can understand going if you need something for an emergency home repair or something, but to get that Spring Black Friday deal on mulch? What the hell is wrong with people? There have only been a few cases around here, but there had to be some asymptomatic induhviduals there, and by next weekend, I expect the number of infections to skyrocket, and they're all going to be traced back there.

Attention Lowe's shoppers:

[Pixie Kobichenko]

My vent is kind a self-centered but also I’m trying to be altruistic.

I had my gallbladder removed on March 13 under emergency surgery. Since then my pre-existing epigastric hernia has at least doubled  in size and I’m in constant pain from it now.  I noticed last night in the mirror that I have a very visible shadow from the bulge that wasn’t there a month ago.  

 I am avoiding all solid food and only drinking and shakes and powdered soup because anything solid makes the discomfort way worse.

I am unsure of what to do.
I don’t want to go to the emergency room and potentially expose myself and via that route also my family to the virus.  We also care for 3 houses around us of elderly folks who can’t drive.  I really don’t want to expose them.

& also I don’t want to take up a hospital bed from someone who needs it because they’re actually dying.

but I’m also unsure as to whether I’m in a serious Situation, because I have a high tolerance for pain- So I’m never really sure exactly how bad things are for me.  Previously I had to have emergency surgery for sepsis and to remove all of my internal lady bits. I’ve had to have surgery on my shoulder to piece it back together after falling in the shower.  On both of those occasions I had no idea how bad things were.

so that’s my complaint.

 

[Marigold Devin]

1 minute ago, Pixie Kobichenko said:

My vent is kind a self-centered but also I’m trying to be altruistic.

I had my gallbladder removed on March 13 under emergency surgery. Since then my pre-existing epigastric hernia has at least doubled  in size and I’m in constant pain from it now.  I noticed last night in the mirror that I have a very visible shadow from the bulge that wasn’t there a month ago.  

 I am avoiding all solid food and only drinking and shakes and powdered soup because anything solid makes the discomfort way worse.

I am unsure of what to do.
I don’t want to go to the emergency room and potentially expose myself and via that route also my family to the virus.  We also care for 3 houses around us of elderly folks who can’t drive.  I really don’t want to expose them.

& also I don’t want to take up a hospital bed from someone who needs it because they’re actually dying.

but I’m also unsure as to whether I’m in a serious Situation, because I have a high tolerance for pain- So I’m never really sure exactly how bad things are for me.  Previously I had to have emergency surgery for sepsis and to remove all of my internal lady bits. I’ve had to have surgery on my shoulder to piece it back together after falling in the shower.  On both of those occasions I had no idea how bad things were.

so that’s my complaint.

 

I'm no doctor, but with the size increase and the pain, I think really you needed to go to the ER yesterday.  You need the hospital bed as much (if not more) than the next person by the sound of it.

[Pixie Kobichenko]

6 minutes ago, Marigold Devin said:

I'm no doctor, but with the size increase and the pain, I think really you needed to go to the ER yesterday.  You need the hospital bed as much (if not more) than the next person by the sound of it.

thats probably how  this will wind up playing out Marigold.  
I’m one of those ones that will just try to wait it out, hoping that it goes away.  

Sometimes that works.  Not always tho.  
was just me griping about it.  
 

[Luna Bliss]

3 hours ago, Seicher Rae said:

I'll start us out: The AP put out a report recently that the federal government didn't start purchasing masks and gowns for health-care workers until the middle of March (a few weeks ago)! If that isn't bad enough, POTUS has been reacting to this and similar news by: blaming governors of states, specifically blue states. If that fails then blame the media and Biden.

He doesn't want to admit to the failure of unregulated capitalism....especially the for-profit medical system we have...so yeah...he's looking for someone to blame!

I watched them do nothing for nearly 2 months. It's crazytown in the US.

*The primary goal of a for-profit health system is efficiency in order to maximize profit. The supply chain runs on an 'as needed' basis and sees excess stores of goods as wasteful. Future safety for the community doesn't figure into the profit calculation. To further complicate the process, many of the needed supplies are in other countries due to offshoring as a way for corporations to maximize profit with cheap labor.
Neoliberalism at its best.

Edited April 7, 2020 by Luna Bliss

[Luna Bliss]

On a lighter note...

I’m the Virus You Named COVID-19. Glad to Meet You

https://thetyee.ca/Analysis/2020/03/31/Virus-Behind-COVID-19-Explained/

[Marigold Devin]

Dominic Minghella, British television producer and screenwriter, appeared on news programme today, talking about his first hand experience as a patient admitted to hospital with COVID-19.  This has been the most insightful reporting I have seen so far, from the human aspect. He writes highlights/lowlights in his blog. 

https://www.minghella.com/from-the-dark-end-of-the-street/?fbclid=IwAR0ETM3tH6-7cLXascVArqEOQsVYydN4CgJdECkipd2LxdK_APIcWr1dX7U

[Dream Pop]

Located in heart of NYC here. I'll probably end up with PTSD or OCD after this. Panic attacks every night since the lock down in March. I wake up to sirens, I go to bed with sirens. My medication is being held in a fking national stock pile. God forbid my immune system decides to attack me and I end up in an ER exposed to the Rona.. sh*ts insta death for us. On top of that i gig work so totally left in the dark as of help for now. I left the house 11 days ago... someone at the supermarket bumped into me and I was about to square up. My corner store is In quarantine.. I was there before they closed it, may have been exposed. My friendly old neighbor who is a maintenance man is sick(praying for him)... There is no personal space in this city. My two close friends have panic attacks at work... people are packing the parks to smell the flowers. The post office is behind on the mail, I feel robberies/burglaries sooner or later will pick up.. they slowly have been. The nice thing at 7pm we cheer for our local essential workers. Bless them!

Edited April 7, 2020 by pippi Jinx

[Maitimo]

I think I need to stay far, far away from this thread. It's too depressing.

[Jordan Whitt]

6 hours ago, Marigold Devin said:

Effing cyclists thinking they own the pavements/sidewalks are peeving me.

They cycle down the middle of car lanes here, no longer keeping to the left and it's a pain in the hiney!!  Not to mention the pedestrians that walk on the road and the electric scooterers!!!  I get that there is no longer than many cars on the road and that people are out walking a lot more these days as it's about the only thing we are allowed to do here still...but some of us are essential workers who need to get to work and road rules still apply!!!

*End of this rant*

[Seicher Rae]

55 minutes ago, Matty Luminos said:

I think I need to stay far, far away from this thread. It's too depressing.

I kind of agree, but the reason I started it was because it is obvious by reading other threads that people are wanting to vent. People are wanting to gripe about politics, politicians, apparently cyclists, and gawd knows what else. Speaking for just me, I'd rather have one place where people can do that and be on topic instead of venting in threads where maybe it isn't such a good idea. Dunno. Just my odd little effort to make things more harmonious overall even if it means more grumbling in one. Again, dunno.

Edited April 7, 2020 by Seicher Rae

[Paul Hexem]

On my way to work today (essential employee, not by choice) I stopped to get some food and drink for lunch. Watching people out buying lottery tickets, alcohol, donuts, Starbucks, etc. No masks, no distancing, crowding in lines...

Nobody taking it seriously at all. They're treating being out of work like a vacation. And here I just found out a coworker may have been exposed, so while all these people are running around like it's a big party that I wish would catch it and die and help my commute to work, instead, the few of us being forced to keep going out for our jobs are the ones that are going to catch it.

[Amina Sopwith]

You should hear what my NHS worker friends say. They are furious.

I'm angry that it took something like this to get a certain type of high earner to understand who the real key workers are in this country (or do they?), and what years of austerity have done to the NHS. I'm relieved for the economic assistance but I'm angry that it seems there is a magic money tree after all when the crisis strikes rich people too. 

It seems to be going away now, but the overriding narrative at the start of this s***show about this not being a cause for concern because the only people who were dying were elderly or ill made me spit blood. As if those lives don't matter. What is the point of a society if we don't care for the most vulnerable? 

And as a side point, all those people who were and still are complaining about "millennials" having house parties and all that  - please look up how old the millennials actually are. You're thinking of Gen Z. It seems my generation is doomed to be castigated as the feckless, irresponsible, irredeemable youth of today even though we are mostly in our late 20s and 30s and generally married with kids, mortgages and lumbago. Leave us alone already. 

And I really hope Johnson recovers. I didn't vote for him, I don't like him, but that's awful. 

 

[Rhonda Huntress]

While I am venting/whining ... here's the cheery thought that has me up after 3 hours of sleep (again!)

In the "Are you afraid" thread I said I was more afraid of people doing something stupid than of the actual virus.  So just how much longer until desperation and depression make those stupid choices seem viable?  I'm not just talking about stabbings in the store type of choices.  I'm afraid martial law will be a relief when it comes. 

 

 

 

[Ceka Cianci]

9 hours ago, Rhonda Huntress said:

If I let myself be serious, I die inside.  Recent studies say 50-75% of those infected are asymptomatic.  We are all waiting on a vaccine that has been given an aggressive timeline of 18 months away.  This is life now.  There is not going to be a fix any time soon. We are olny prolonging the inevitable.

At the moment we are really waiting on the antivirals and antiretrovirals which they have been testing that have worked in the strains family in the past..

They just need to test to see how this virus reacts to them..

I was researching pretty hard last month trying to find any reliable sources that I could just to keep me out of ear shot from the media and to keep me busy and sain..I was following epidemiologists and virologists interviews and anything I could find that they had written..

Many of them were saying, The vaccine won't be what gets us through this.. It has to be the medication, the antivirals that can inhibit the virus from leaving an already infected cell or the antiretrovirals that will go after it to kill it..

Those will get us through until we can reach the vaccine which will control it..They have been testing them and last month said if all goes well,we could have them in 2 to 3 months from then.. So it could be next month or the month after when they have those ready..

Once we have a vaccine,they can handle the evolution of the strain and have another vaccine ready for future seasons of this virus..

Right now, since the vaccine is so far away,we really need the antivirals and antiretrovirals which are much much closer in reach.. Then we can start to fight back and whoop the crap out of this thing..

 

[Rhonda Huntress]

Thanks, Ceka.  That helps a lot.

How about a flash of good news?  In the two counties that make up my little part of the world, there have been no new cases in the past two days.

[Ceka Cianci]

33 minutes ago, Rhonda Huntress said:

Thanks, Ceka.  That helps a lot.

How about a flash of good news?  In the two counties that make up my little part of the world, there have been no new cases in the past two days.

I  was hoping it would,because i could totally relate to how you are feeling..

We also got some good news about cases in Tennessee yesterday.. they have been seeing a drop in the amount of cases per day in our state..So our social distancing is starting to really help out..

I guess Tennessee was one of the first of five states to start testing and one of the top testing states in the nation..

I also found out that a lot of companies in our state have volunteered to make resources and have been shipping them out to other states ,like New Jersey and New York and others really getting hit hard..

I just love to see states working together and setting all that other junk aside..

 

I know it's really hard to keep upbeat in times like this..But any good news that I would normally just take for granted,just feels so helpful these days..

I don't know if this is a saying or not ,but it's something I keep repeating to myself to keep me looking for the positive things through all this..in people and in countries and anywhere I see it.. because these are the times when we really see what we are made of..not the good times but the hard..

In the darkest dark,The dullest light shines bright..

Edited April 7, 2020 by Ceka Cianci

[Prokofy Neva]

Generally, I don't find it useful to complain about this very dire situation with strangers because of wildly different levels of education, experience and knowledge not to mention geographical location. But since you used the word "vent," short for "ventilator," AKA "respirator", today is the day Gov. Cuomo said the respirators are likely to run out in New York City.

Millennials *are* stupid but possibly no more stupid than other groups -- I know old grannies and grandpas who should know better who are making multiple runs daily to the Costcos and Walmarts and not even wearing masks and thinking they are the lone salvation of civilization even as they infect their family. But I do see millenials outside still congregating in groups like idiots. They are walking a dog and this ends up being occasion to socialize with 4-6 other people not keeping the distance -- which is something of a fiction anyway.

My daughter's boyfriend's sister tested positive for the virus and is quite sick. She is 27. She had shortness of breath, went to a hospital, and because she did not have a fever, she was sent home while she waited for the test. Some people with those characteristics have died waiting for the test; she apparently is getting better.  For weeks her brother has been yelling at her to stop going out at night and partying. It's hardly the case that people of this age are married with kids already. They're not. But of course the next generation down is even worse. These idiot bmx bikers doing "hood swarms" are in their teens and early 20s. Do they think by riding a bike fast through an empty street you won't catch a virus?

Many people casting around for blame can't see the larger issues. If you are ranting and raging about people who eat bats and now force you to stay inside or who killed your mother, you seem to have forgotten that one solace is that you have your cheap cell phone from those very people (most of whom don't eat bats) because of globalization -- and you never complained about that all these decades nor did you care what kind of working conditions the people who make your gadgets had to work in.

Many people ranting and raging about Trump seem not to grasp that health, education and welfare are the responsibility of states -- and for good reason. This is the "states' rights" that Eurocrats at the UN and third-world Soviet A pupils get so exercised about and rage that the US is the only country that hasn't signed the childrens' rights' convention besides Somalia. But that's because federal standards can't be imposed such as to enable the US to comply with some of the features of a convention like that. If Obama were telling you he had to protect federal reserves for the core of government that must survive a national disaster so that a core group of top elected and appointed leaders can keep the country running, you might respect that because you liked Obama. It's especially galling when Trump's un-elected son-in-law uses the phrase "that's for us" about these reserves as if he means "our family" -- and he probably does. Even while you can't respect Trump and he's a monster, there are a number of people who keep the lights on who deserve to have reserves for themselves -- and again, it is indeed states' responsibility to ensure the welfare and health of their people.

Today I see masses of people raging about Trump supposedly making money off this "wonder drug" and that supposedly is the reason why he is touting it. It's the kind of knee-jerk socialism and idiocy you see all the time on Twitter. The Times, which breathlessly reported this, can't seem to tell  us the *value* of this investment -- which was made by a company hired by Trump's three trust funds in the drug company involved. That this attenuated relationship means that Trump -- who is generally out of it on most things -- is unlikely to be aware of how much his investment is and what it is in (such as to wish to chose this drug to make cash) -- simply escapes most people. Most trust funds invest in pharmaceuticals. Many of you could have college funds or pension funds that are invested in the exact same drug company and you have no idea. The amount is not likely to be significant. It is hardly the motivation for Trump's idiocy on this question. This idiotic take on things -- that Trump does X or Y because it makes his business money -- actually prevents you from seeing the far worse problem here, that Trump touts a medicine merely because some underqualified loon has told him so, and he is merely grasping at straws to try to provide hope to people to keep his ratings up.

It's not true that "people died" following Trump's touting of this medicine -- because the one man who died ate fish tank cleaner clearly marked as a deadly poison because it had the same ingredient. That's different even than the hordes making a run on pharmacies asking for it -- but they can't get it without a prescription. Yes the drug has helped some small number of people in tightly defined situations that are beyond Trump and most social media users to grasp. This drug is relied on by lupus sufferers and now there is apparently a shortage but even that is mainly about *fear* of a shortage due to the popularity and panic than actual cases of anyone dying because of this. There is a worse reality people are not grasping -- that 80% of the people who wind up on a respirator because of this disease when their lungs becoming completely ravaged are not going to live, miracle drug or no. They are not going to make it.

So that's why it be good to know how many vents are left in NYC. And while Trump can be helpful in cracking lose respirators, Rhode Island or Maryland could do this as well -- and yet they won't. It's also hard for the socialist DeBlasio to go to any companies now and ask for help when he's been trashing them his whole life.

Edited April 7, 2020 by Prokofy Neva