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I hope they come up with a solution soon. I was in the grocery store line yesterday. A lady in her late 50s behind me said “how long is this going to take?”

by tmaly 6y ago

I hope they come up with a solution soon. I was in the grocery store line yesterday. A lady in her late 50s behind me said “how long is this going to take?” I thought she was asking about the line, so I said “maybe 2 minutes” She responded “No, I meant the virus” I told her “I have no idea, I hope it goes away soon” The social distancing is having a negative effect on people psychology in my opinion. Something good that can come out of this is a better way to develop vaccines and testing technology.

tmountain 6y ago
If the article is correct, there are a variety of great to not so great scenarios: Another possibility is that immunity to SARS-CoV-2 is permanent. In that case, even without a vaccine, it is possible that after a world-sweeping outbreak, the virus could burn itself out and disappear by 2021. However, if immunity is moderate, lasting about two years, then it might seem as if the virus has disappeared, but it could surge back as late as 2024, the Harvard team found.
luckylion 6y ago
Maybe it's just my peer group and family, but most have adapted very well. Obviously everybody would prefer it if they didn't have to wear a mask to go grocery shopping etc, but the level of constraints we currently have in Germany seems to be very doable for most. Anyone with school-age children is obviously a bit more annoyed, but even that's somewhat stable here. I'm always amazed when I need to go into the city by how few people there are on the train. There's a significant decrease, my personal impression is something like -50%. I can't tell whether it's people being afraid and avoiding public transport, most of the entertainment venues being closed or limited so there's nothing to do downtown, or some other reason, but it feels like there has been a lot of really-not-necessary traffic and it's highlighted now.
yread 6y ago
Lots of good things: much lower rates of influenza and other respiratory infections; families staying close together; work from home becoming the norm helping the environment; less money and resources wasted on organized sports and other entertainment; me not having to have in-person meetings with my annoying project manager; lots of motivation for learning new stuff about biology/immune systems/virology. Of course most of these also have downsides. But the upsides are there.
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 6y ago
  > work from home becoming the norm It isn't though. It might seem that way to people in cushy software development positions in the valley, but I don't believe that is happening very many other places.
  - yread 6y ago
    From my experience it is. Here in the Netherlands, just in the last few weeks I spoke with accountants, auditors, lawyers, scientists, sales people, even doctors (pathologists) and they all worked from home. I'm not saying that everyone works from home but that it became more prevalent, it's very hard to argue the opposite
- zxspectrum1982 6y ago
  How is "work from home becoming the norm" an upside? It might be an upside for some people but it is definitely a downside for others. PS: I've worked from home for more than 10 years, for several companies.
war1025 6y ago
> The social distancing is having a negative effect on people psychology in my opinion. I know that I personally have been a lot snippier with people as this has gone on and on. Honestly at this point the only thought I really give to Coronavirus is that I wear a mask at the grocery store as a courtesy to others. We avoided all our friends from March - July. The past two months we've started just seeing them as normal. It's been beneficial for all of us. But at the same time, we used to go to a coffee shop as a family every day for lunch. Haven't done that in six months. Don't know if it's a habit we'll pick back up or not when someday things go back to normal. On the one hand, we spend a lot less money. On the other hand, we miss out on a lot of spontaneous interaction with our community. On the same note, we used to be pretty involved in our church. We went weekly, had our kids in Sunday School, went on Wednesdays during Lent and Advent. Now? Haven't been in six months. Thought about going back, but they (fairly) care more about avoiding any possibility of risk than getting bodies back in pews. I have no desire to make three preschools try to sit through a church service wearing masks and not interacting with anyone. My prediction is that the lockdowns will be absolutely devastating to religious observance in the US. At the very least, I expect it will drive a lot of already financially-precarious churches to permanently close their doors.

by tmaly 6y ago

tmountain 6y ago

If the article is correct, there are a variety of great to not so great scenarios: Another possibility is that immunity to SARS-CoV-2 is permanent. In that case, even without a vaccine, it is possible that after a world-sweeping outbreak, the virus could burn itself out and disappear by 2021. However, if immunity is moderate, lasting about two years, then it might seem as if the virus has disappeared, but it could surge back as late as 2024, the Harvard team found.

luckylion 6y ago

Maybe it's just my peer group and family, but most have adapted very well. Obviously everybody would prefer it if they didn't have to wear a mask to go grocery shopping etc, but the level of constraints we currently have in Germany seems to be very doable for most. Anyone with school-age children is obviously a bit more annoyed, but even that's somewhat stable here. I'm always amazed when I need to go into the city by how few people there are on the train. There's a significant decrease, my personal impression is something like -50%. I can't tell whether it's people being afraid and avoiding public transport, most of the entertainment venues being closed or limited so there's nothing to do downtown, or some other reason, but it feels like there has been a lot of really-not-necessary traffic and it's highlighted now.

yread 6y ago

Lots of good things: much lower rates of influenza and other respiratory infections; families staying close together; work from home becoming the norm helping the environment; less money and resources wasted on organized sports and other entertainment; me not having to have in-person meetings with my annoying project manager; lots of motivation for learning new stuff about biology/immune systems/virology. Of course most of these also have downsides. But the upsides are there.

AnIdiotOnTheNet 6y ago
> work from home becoming the norm It isn't though. It might seem that way to people in cushy software development positions in the valley, but I don't believe that is happening very many other places.
- yread 6y ago
  From my experience it is. Here in the Netherlands, just in the last few weeks I spoke with accountants, auditors, lawyers, scientists, sales people, even doctors (pathologists) and they all worked from home. I'm not saying that everyone works from home but that it became more prevalent, it's very hard to argue the opposite
zxspectrum1982 6y ago
How is "work from home becoming the norm" an upside? It might be an upside for some people but it is definitely a downside for others. PS: I've worked from home for more than 10 years, for several companies.

war1025 6y ago

> The social distancing is having a negative effect on people psychology in my opinion. I know that I personally have been a lot snippier with people as this has gone on and on. Honestly at this point the only thought I really give to Coronavirus is that I wear a mask at the grocery store as a courtesy to others. We avoided all our friends from March - July. The past two months we've started just seeing them as normal. It's been beneficial for all of us. But at the same time, we used to go to a coffee shop as a family every day for lunch. Haven't done that in six months. Don't know if it's a habit we'll pick back up or not when someday things go back to normal. On the one hand, we spend a lot less money. On the other hand, we miss out on a lot of spontaneous interaction with our community. On the same note, we used to be pretty involved in our church. We went weekly, had our kids in Sunday School, went on Wednesdays during Lent and Advent. Now? Haven't been in six months. Thought about going back, but they (fairly) care more about avoiding any possibility of risk than getting bodies back in pews. I have no desire to make three preschools try to sit through a church service wearing masks and not interacting with anyone. My prediction is that the lockdowns will be absolutely devastating to religious observance in the US. At the very least, I expect it will drive a lot of already financially-precarious churches to permanently close their doors.