5 ms·

I've been WFH for 4 years now and thoroughly enjoy it. I enjoy isolation, I love the intensity of coding that I can get done. I'm generally more introverted.

I've been WFH for 4 years now and thoroughly enjoy it. I enjoy isolation, I love the intensity of coding that I can get done. I'm generally more introverted. That doesn't make the pandemic fun and rainbows. It's still been psychologically the most difficult time for me because I live in NYC. Walking the dog twice a day on ghost streets empty of any pedestrians, devoid of the hum of traffic and hearing nothing but the wails of every ambulance in the area for the better part of a month was deeply disturbing in a way I still haven't come to terms with. Rubbing down the door knob with bleach. Double masking and surgical gloving when going to the bodega on the block for fruit. A real and valid fear of death and maiming for multiple months isn't something you just bounce back from. So yes: It's a subjective statement. However it's not like just being an introvert made the pandemic a walk in the park. Don't mistake your experience as speaking for all introverts.

DrBazza 5y ago
> Rubbing down the door knob with bleach. This article [1] implies the chance of catching COVID-19 from contact surfaces is 1 in 10,000 *at best* under lab conditions, and negligible at best. You're more likely to be struck by lightning or hit by a car. [1] https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/more/science-and-research/surface-transmission.html https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/more/science-and-r...
- lotsofpulp 5y ago
  The funny thing is bleach is what you need to stop noro and rota viruses, and those are actually very transmissible via surfaces, yet the protocol at my kids’ daycare (national chain) does not involve bleaching door knobs on the regular. The same daycare that 2 weeks ago had an outbreak of noro or rotavirus which caused entire classes of toddlers to be infected and go home and vomit for a day and was spread to siblings and parents at home. But they are still sanitizing pens. People’s risk profiles are crazy, and there is an insane amount of cover your ass for PR purposes.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
- bin_bash 5y ago
  And those odds for being hit by lightning are over a lifetime.
- NationalPark 5y ago
  Right, but NYC was hit hard relatively early on, and at the time there was a great deal of fear and uncertainty, especially because of the perception that the administration at the time had indicated it’s general hostility toward people in “blue” cities. People didn’t have the time or perhaps the perspective to step back and read whatever pre prints may have been available.
  - crowbahr 5y ago
    I appreciate your empathy here. This advisory wasn't even available in March or April of 2020: there was nothing. The URL has only existed since April of 2021.
    - lotsofpulp 5y ago
      It says updated Apr 2021. I certainly recall reading that COVID transmission via surfaces was minimal sometime in 2020, earlier rather than later.
      - crowbahr 5y ago
        During the major outbreak in NYC from March - May we were actively told to wipe down surfaces.
- crowbahr 5y ago
  I'm doing my absolute best to stay civil according to HN guidelines. Your article was not posted in March of 2020. Or in April. Nor in May. It was posted this year. It's especially insulting your insinuation that I, someone at the center of the worst outbreak in the US, would somehow not be aware of the actual risks of Covid-19. You're making an entirely pointless comment, belittling my experiences with meaningless trivia that would've been helpful to know at the time but does absolutely fuck all at a remove of a year. Yet for some unknowable reason you decided it was a good idea to open your mouth nice and wide and prove yourself an idiot in front of everyone. I can only hope you're a 16 year old who doesn't really understand the world yet making a fool of himself rather than a 35 year old who is so hopelessly clueless as to be effortlessly offensive in some misguided attempt to know more than everyone else.
- aweiland 5y ago
  Early on in the pandemic not a lot was known, so many of us took every precaution we could.

DrBazza 5y ago

> Rubbing down the door knob with bleach. This article [1] implies the chance of catching COVID-19 from contact surfaces is 1 in 10,000 *at best* under lab conditions, and negligible at best. You're more likely to be struck by lightning or hit by a car. [1] https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/more/science-and-research/surface-transmission.html https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/more/science-and-r...

lotsofpulp 5y ago
The funny thing is bleach is what you need to stop noro and rota viruses, and those are actually very transmissible via surfaces, yet the protocol at my kids’ daycare (national chain) does not involve bleaching door knobs on the regular. The same daycare that 2 weeks ago had an outbreak of noro or rotavirus which caused entire classes of toddlers to be infected and go home and vomit for a day and was spread to siblings and parents at home. But they are still sanitizing pens. People’s risk profiles are crazy, and there is an insane amount of cover your ass for PR purposes.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
bin_bash 5y ago
And those odds for being hit by lightning are over a lifetime.
NationalPark 5y ago
Right, but NYC was hit hard relatively early on, and at the time there was a great deal of fear and uncertainty, especially because of the perception that the administration at the time had indicated it’s general hostility toward people in “blue” cities. People didn’t have the time or perhaps the perspective to step back and read whatever pre prints may have been available.
- crowbahr 5y ago
  I appreciate your empathy here. This advisory wasn't even available in March or April of 2020: there was nothing. The URL has only existed since April of 2021.
  - lotsofpulp 5y ago
    It says updated Apr 2021. I certainly recall reading that COVID transmission via surfaces was minimal sometime in 2020, earlier rather than later.
    - crowbahr 5y ago
      During the major outbreak in NYC from March - May we were actively told to wipe down surfaces.
crowbahr 5y ago
I'm doing my absolute best to stay civil according to HN guidelines. Your article was not posted in March of 2020. Or in April. Nor in May. It was posted this year. It's especially insulting your insinuation that I, someone at the center of the worst outbreak in the US, would somehow not be aware of the actual risks of Covid-19. You're making an entirely pointless comment, belittling my experiences with meaningless trivia that would've been helpful to know at the time but does absolutely fuck all at a remove of a year. Yet for some unknowable reason you decided it was a good idea to open your mouth nice and wide and prove yourself an idiot in front of everyone. I can only hope you're a 16 year old who doesn't really understand the world yet making a fool of himself rather than a 35 year old who is so hopelessly clueless as to be effortlessly offensive in some misguided attempt to know more than everyone else.
aweiland 5y ago
Early on in the pandemic not a lot was known, so many of us took every precaution we could.