CoronaVirus news and updates (and how it's affecting you)

[turtle1237]

Originally Posted by Leo656

Some people insist the Holocaust never happened and that people in the 1940s just had, like, amazing Photoshop skills, the likes of which wouldn't be seen again until 2010 or so.

You can't reason with crazy people. They're crazy.

Saying the Holocaust never happen to me is like saying Ann Frank was not real. And I just cant accept that. Her dairy ALWAYS has a place on my shelf.

[IndigoErth]

Originally Posted by Leo656

Well, a lot of that stuff is pretty silly, yes.

My favorite was one a friend shared with me for laughs; someone on FB posted that this is all about covering up the global Hollywood/elite pedophile conspiracy, that it's SO widespread and entrenched that they needed to distract everyone with a fictional plague while multiple celebrities and rich people were being arrested and executed in large numbers. Basically, any celebrities who announced they had "contracted COVID-19 and were in quarantine" had actually been arrested on pedophile charges and were being sequestered away so that the government could give them a choice in how they'd be dealt with. Any famous people who died from the virus are "actually" being executed, both as punishment for being pedophiles but also as a way to keep the cover on it so they don't blow the whistle. Basically, "If you cooperate, we'll quietly execute you and tell the world you died from the virus so that you can maintain your dignity and reputation." The shutdown and everything is all part of the smokescreen.

As conspiracy theories go, it was definitely one of the most intricate and thought-out that I'd ever encountered.

EDIT: Aha! Found it! Enjoy.
https://www.facebook.com/linda.m.whi...41135545962756

You gotta admit, that is, like, the Gold Standard of conspiracy theories. I'd genuinely love to know what some people are smoking. Especially since it's 4:20 all month and I'm already running low.

Good grief. Sounds like a much more detailed version of what I recently heard about it being a coverup while "something else bigger is going on."

While we're sharing crazy people... If anyone hasn't seen it, here's a nice article about a train engineer who apparently believed that the hospital ship Mercy is not what it appears and decided to try to attack it...with the train engine.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/tr...-la-2020-04-01

The locomotive crashed through a series of barriers and fences before coming to rest more than 250 yards from the U.S. Navy Hospital Ship Mercy on Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a release.

Nobody was hurt.

Eduardo Moreno, 44, was charged with one count of train wrecking, prosecutors said. It wasn’t immediately known if he has an attorney.

Moreno acknowledged in two separate interviews with law enforcement that he intentionally derailed and crashed the train near the Mercy, according to the criminal complaint.

“You only get this chance once. The whole world is watching. I had to,” Moreno told investigators, according to the complaint.“People don’t know what’s going on here. Now they will.”

Moreno said he was suspicious of the Mercy and believed it had an alternate purpose related to COVID-19 or a government takeover, an affidavit states. Moreno stated that he acted alone and had not pre-planned the attempted attack.

In an interview with FBI agents, Moreno stated that “he did it out of the desire to ‘wake people up,’” according to an affidavit.

“Moreno stated that he thought that the USNS Mercy was suspicious and did not believe ‘the ship is what they say it’s for,’” the complaint said.

“Phillip Sanfield, spokesman for the Port of Los Angeles, said the locomotive never came close to the Mercy.

It would have had to have gone several hundred yards through a parking lot and cross a water channel to reach the ship,” Sanfield said. “ The tracks are nowhere near the Mercy.”

Guess he thought it would get farther. But yikes... someone like this was in charge of a train engine? Nice. Glad no one got hurt.

But it's saddening and frustrating that some of this conspiracy stuff just feeds into these kind of things. It's so random to just decide that a hospital ship there to help people must have some kind of secret motives and needs to be attacked. Did he come up with it on his own or was he inspired by some other source.

[Leo656]

Just wait'll next week, when the nationwide "Stock up on 30 days worth of food because we're closing the grocery stores, too" orders come out. Followed by armed National Guardsmen on patrol keeping people in their homes at gunpoint.

You think we're seeing "crazy" now? We ain't even halfway there.

Originally Posted by IndigoErth

Guess he thought it would get farther. But yikes... someone like this was in charge of a train engine? Nice. Glad no one got hurt.

But it's saddening and frustrating that some of this conspiracy stuff just feeds into these kind of things. It's so random to just decide that a hospital ship there to help people must have some kind of secret motives and needs to be attacked. Did it come up with it on his own or was he inspired by some other source.

Popular music has convinced me that most if not all people who are tasked with "driving that train" are generally, in turn, high on cocaine. They then may or may not find second careers as TMNT characters afterwards. Regardless, it explains a lot.

[IndigoErth]

Originally Posted by Leo656

Just wait'll next week, when the nationwide "Stock up on 30 days worth of food because we're closing the grocery stores, too" orders come out. Followed by armed National Guardsmen on patrol keeping people in their homes at gunpoint.

You think we're seeing "crazy" now? We ain't even halfway there.

Alright, then we'll check back in a week and see if you're right or if I'm right at scoffing at that notion.


In the meantime, please tell your Jersey people to stop coming over here.

[Leo656]

HAH! If anyone listened to me when I told 'em to do sh*t my knuckles wouldn't be all scarred up and worn-down.

Males have to be at least 6' even before they're granted any authority whatsoever. I don't agree with it but I wasn't at the meeting. Knowing me I was either drinking, masturbating, or drunk masturbating. But yeah nobody listens to me. Sorry. They should! I agree with you that they should. But they don't.

In all seriousness, though, several states are discussing "full lockdown" protocols, but obviously not very loudly, because that would cause (more) panic, and we've already seen how Americans handle bad news they can't do anything about. It's ultimately going to depend on whether or not people continue to blatantly disobey the "stay at home" orders.

The President of the Philippines is advocating shooting people in the streets for disobeying the order. "Over there", sure, but what's good for the goose, etc. etc. If people continue to thumb their nose at authority then "authority" is going to to enforce the rules by any means necessary. I don't see what's so farfetched about it. All bets are off at this point.

[Coola Yagami]

On smaller news, GameStop is stubborn as hell. First they tried to stay open despite warnings, claiming to be an 'essential business', until they officially got shut down 2 days later.

Now GameStop has re-opened in which the higher ups found some sort of legal loophole where they continue to claim to be an 'essential business'. They want their employees to fight police, even when this means some of them end up with fees and court dates for breaking the 'stay at home' law.

I thought it was a joke until I got an email with the 'great news' that I can still go to my local GameStop to pick up some games.

Sheesh.

[Andrew NDB]

Does anyone know much about, in terms of Unemployment benefits, the new coronavirus unemployment benefits they approved? Apparently myself and people like myself are going to be getting an extra $600 a week on top of the regular benefits through July?

[CyberCubed]

Whelp, just got told today at the job I can only come in 1 day a week now. So starting next week I can only work on Fridays. That means I’ll only be getting 8 hours of pay a week now.

Looks like it was only a matter of time. They don’t want many people in the office so each person comes in 1 day a week scattered besides the supervisor/managers. And since this lockdown probably won’t end till November or even further, this will be it for the rest of the year most likely. I am not strapped for cash so I’ll be fine but it is kinda odd I’ll only get 1 day of pay a week now.

Ah well. At least I’ll keep busy at home marathoning shows/movies and video games like usual.

[IndigoErth]

That sucks, Cubed, what became of just getting to work from home? Well... at least you'd surely qualify for the unemployment?

Originally Posted by Leo656

The President of the Philippines is advocating shooting people in the streets for disobeying the order. "Over there", sure, but what's good for the goose, etc. etc.

Actually "over there" isn't comforting at all. A lifelong friend's parents are over there, having gone to visit family over the winter and the flight out has been rescheduled twice... Now on the 12th (yay Easter trapped on a plane with god knows what...), so I hope they're allowed to leave, eesh.

Okay, you don't need to wrangle the Jersey people. Our police are supposedly going to start stopping out of state cars (excluding I-95 and two others). That'll learn 'em. I think if I was a cop that might be fun trying to spot any that tried to sneak in, like hunting down runaways from a herd.

Originally Posted by Coola Yagami

On smaller news, GameStop is stubborn as hell. First they tried to stay open despite warnings, claiming to be an 'essential business', until they officially got shut down 2 days later.

Now GameStop has re-opened in which the higher ups found some sort of legal loophole where they continue to claim to be an 'essential business'. They want their employees to fight police, even when this means some of them end up with fees and court dates for breaking the 'stay at home' law.

I thought it was a joke until I got an email with the 'great news' that I can still go to my local GameStop to pick up some games.

Sheesh.

What is wrong with them? And who even owns that company... Sounds like some kind of "can't tell me what to do!" manchild who never outgrew a pissy teen attitude. Should win an award for being one of the companies to care the least about their employees.

Really, don't they do shipped online orders? And on the customer end, are not game sellers (at least to some extent?) like Walmart and Target still open? Amazon?

[Leo656]

In fairness to GameStop, all news about their financial future has been incredibly grim for the past year and by all accounts they're holding on by a thread. Online orders aren't going to sustain them, especially with more and more people being discouraged from ordering anything "non-essential" so as not to overburden warehouse workers and delivery drivers, many of whom are already planning to strike soon if things don't improve.

This ordeal will likely be the KO punch that puts GameStop out of business once and for all. Playing Devil's advocate, while I'm incredibly empathetic to the workers who are ostensibly at-risk - although realistically they're at far less of a risk than the average grocery store cashier is, for example, simply because GameStop stores have about 1/1000th the traffic on any given day - I can also empathize that the owners of the company are not inclined to simply roll over and die without a fight.

I mean, no, they're not "essential", but neither are liquor stores and they're allowed to stay open, mostly based on the fact that they don't get massive amounts of traffic and thus are "low-risk" compared to many other businesses. Like GameStop, it's incredibly rare to ever see more than five people at a time in a liquor store unless it's a festive holiday. And unlike liquor stores, at least GameStop was advised to do roadside delivery so as to cut down on the human traffic inside the stores themselves.

I kinda feel like this "confusion" as to what's "essential" and what isn't is what's making this so muddy for some people. To wit: I can literally go into a liquor store, put my hands all over everything, bring my purchase to the counter, pay cash without gloves on, and leave, and that's no problem for anyone. People are doing it every day. But a video game store agrees to not allow anyone IN the store (which is tiny), the workers (of which no more than two ever work the same shift) cover their faces and hands, disinfect everything to a reasonable degree, and bring your bag to your car, and they still have to shut down? Something isn't adding up, here. One could argue that both of these businesses are "non-essential", yet the one with the lower risk factor and the higher level of precautions being taken is forced to close, because it's "just" video games? I could say that it's "just alcohol" on the other side of it, right? Neither one of them is technically worth risking lives over, and yet there's a double standard at work.

So yeah, given the double standard and the fact that the people who own GameStop realize that this is literally going to put them out of business, I'm not the least bit surprised that they're doing everything they can to try and stay afloat. Last I heard, nobody had proven to have contracted COVID-19 at a video game store. You're infinitely more likely to contract it at a Shop-Rite or a Walmart or even a McDonald's. The "essential" businesses. Because yes, we all need food, but on the flip side, those places are literal zoos/petri dishes, full of swarms and swarms of people, many of whom are definitely carrying the virus and don't know it. Statistically, if given the choice on any given day, and I was only allowed to leave the house for ONE thing, and assuming I had most of the food, etc. I needed, I'd take my chances going to GameStop over going to Shop-Rite. A store the size of a large living room that's super-easy to clean, has a maximum of two employees inside, and never has more than a half dozen people inside unless it's Christmas Eve, is infinitely, infinitely safer than a grocery store if we're being completely objective about it. The rest simply comes down to, "Eh, f*ck those nerds and their video games." Well, some of those nerds would say, "F*ck those slobs and their alcohol," but nobody asked their opinion and they don't get a vote in this.

As a huge gamer who's nonetheless incredibly wary of this entire situation, I empathize. It doesn't affect me TOO dramatically because Lord know I'm in no position to spend a dime on anything that isn't food for... well, probably the rest of my life now, honestly, however long that lasts. I'm used to buying games and action figures every single week, but that's apparently not in the cards for me anytime soon, maybe ever again (I don't foresee being able to find a job once this ordeal is over). People sh*t on GameStop because of their abysmal return and exchange policies, but as someone who simply doesn't get rid of games it's never been a problem for me. In my life, they have been "essential", because without them I never could have amassed such an amazing collection of games, and without games I'd be dead by now, full-stop. Gaming has gotten me through some of the darkest and most miserable times in my life, including now, and over 90% of what I own came from GameStop (or one of the numerous companies they used to be, going all the way back to FuncoLand).

I almost NEVER buy games at Walmart or other stores because the prices are ridiculous and almost never come down on anything anyone would actually want to play, whereas GameStop at least will drop the prices on even "new" (as in months-old, but not used) games after a couple months, meanwhile Walmart will still charge $40 for a two-year old sports game, which is lunacy. I also only buy 99% used games, not because I want to screw over the developers or publishers, but because I'm not f*cking rich and can't drop $50 on a single game and still sleep at night, can't do it. I can take that $50 to GameStop and get ten things for that, sometimes. No different than buying secondhand clothes at a thrift store, in my mind; the developer already got their full cut when the game sold the first time at full-price. Meanwhile, eBay and Amazon generally suck for buying games because people always try and screw you on shipping and you don't always know what you're getting. I've had games come in with no case, or with scratched/dirty discs, and stuff that plain didn't work, even from online sellers with 100% feedback. But I've NEVER had a problem buying from GameStop, I save tons of money and their staff has been infinitely helpful over the years when it comes to recommending stuff I might like to play. I owe that company a lot, no smoke. Other people have their grievances, but they've always treated me just fine.

Bottom line, I don't know what decision I personally would make if I were in their position, but I get why they're fighting to stay alive by any means necessary. And I do have a vested interest because people like me are going to be hugely screwed when they inevitably do close down for good. The argument of which businesses are "essential" is obviously open to interpretation right now, to some degree, and nobody WANTS to lose everything (although some businesses, if not most, are inevitably going to). You can't fault people for not wanting to roll over and die, for not wanting to lose their business, especially when their own version of "putting people at risk" is not even 1/100th of the "risk" other stores run by staying open.

I get it. "It's just video games". And that's fine. Literally every time ONE person goes outside for any reason, we're ALL at risk. I get it! But again, some of this simply is not balanced. Hundreds of people at a time inside a Shop-Rite, every single day, and at least half of the employees don't wear gloves or masks. "Acceptable risk, they're essential." But over here at this game store, a person wearing gloves and a mask will NOT let anyone in the store at all, but will deliver a bag with your purchase in it directly to your car, reducing the actual person-to-person contact to almost zero. "Shut 'em down, not worth the risk."

It doesn't quite add up, and that's why some businesses (including Hobby Lobby, now) are fighting to stay open. What's "essential" and what constitutes "risk" simply isn't universal by any stretch of the imagination, and NOBODY is simply going to roll over and give up their business until it's PROVEN that their own business is infecting or has infected people.

It sucks all around. All I can say is, we'd best pray that some Shop-Rite or Walmart cashier doesn't suddenly catch the sniffles, because you know what comes after THAT, right? Boom, FULL lockdown. Even grocery stores won't be considered "essential" at that point, and you can believe that all these smaller businesses being forced to close "early" in spite of taking greater precautions aren't going to be too happy about it.

[Redeemer]

As a former(recent) Gamestop employee I suggest you guys go over to r/Gamestop the stories you see from employees are crazy.

[IndigoErth]

Originally Posted by Leo656

All I can say is, we'd best pray that some Shop-Rite or Walmart cashier doesn't suddenly catch the sniffles, because you know what comes after THAT, right? Boom, FULL lockdown.

Actually... It already came to public attention just yesterday that an employee (but not sure what they do there) at our nearest Shoprite DID test positive, and my mom and uncle where just there Monday. Nice. But they remain or are back to normal hours, or so said the info.





Came across this interesting piece and thought it worth sharing, esp since this is something some people may already have on hand.

https://www.businessinsider.com/home...-better-2020-4

Using blue shop towels in homemade face masks can filter particles 2x to 3x better than cotton, 3 clothing designers discover after testing dozens of fabrics

Medoff and two friends were appalled by the dozens of mask patterns calling for cotton, a highly breathable, permeable fabric, and became obsessed with finding a fabric better suited for the job. They built a lab that could test particle filtration down to 0.3 microns and tested every fabric they could find, from coffee filters to industrial materials.

They discovered that by adding two blue shop towels and using a design that produces a tighter-fitting mask, they could make a mask that could block up to 95% of the particles they could test, while the cotton masks blocked 20% to 60% of the particles.

These are not meant to replace the N95 masks worn by healthcare workers — they're designed to be an alternative to the cotton masks that many people are making and wearing for quick trips to the grocery store.

"We spent a few days researching and brainstorming any material that could filter: coffee filters, batting, window shades, Swiffer, interfacing, etc., all the way to more technical materials that are available to specialized industrial sectors like aviation, oil refinery, medical fields," Schempf said.

They bought a $1,400 particulate-counter device from Grainger that measures filtration ability down to 0.3 microns and spent another 10 sleepless days testing all the fabrics they could find.

They wanted a material they could buy as easily as cotton but that balanced filtration with breathability — they discovered that HEPA vacuum-cleaner bags, for instance, had great filtration but were too suffocating to wear.

The ideal material turned out to be stretchy blue shop towels made from a polyester hydro knit.

Inserting two of these towels into an ordinary cotton mask brought filtration up to 93% of particles as small as 0.3 microns, the smallest their machine could test. Meanwhile, the cotton masks filtered 60% of particles at best in their tests, Schempf said.

Polyester hydro knit towels are readily available at hardware and automotive stores. The two brands they tested were ToolBox's shop towel and ZEP's industrial blue towel. Interestingly, Scott's pro shop towels, which are also made with a hydro knit fabric, didn't work as well, Schempf said.

The team is continuing to test other brands.

And though he's using the brand that was less recommended...



(Pep Boys currently has some rolls of the Tool Box brand on eBay.)

[Coola Yagami]

I'm just thinking things are so bad at GameStop that if they shut down now they won't be around to re-open once all this blows over.

[CyberCubed]

New York is the most infected state in the U.S.:

https://www.npr.org/sections/coronav...om-coronavirus

562 deaths in the last 24 hours, and total deaths is at 2,935. There's also thousands infected with the virus.

Whelp, and I am right in the middle of it all. Those of you living next to NY too, this is going to get nuts

[80gmrp]

Somehow I'm still able to work at my dayjob. Not to say I'm unaffected, however: for one, I received word that next week I'll need to wear a facemask to work.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by CyberCubed

Whelp, just got told today at the job I can only come in 1 day a week now. So starting next week I can only work on Fridays. That means I’ll only be getting 8 hours of pay a week now.

Looks like it was only a matter of time. They don’t want many people in the office so each person comes in 1 day a week scattered besides the supervisor/managers. And since this lockdown probably won’t end till November or even further, this will be it for the rest of the year most likely. I am not strapped for cash so I’ll be fine but it is kinda odd I’ll only get 1 day of pay a week now.

Ah well. At least I’ll keep busy at home marathoning shows/movies and video games like usual.

That means you can immediately file for unemployment and be eligible for the extra $600 a week on top of it. You should be happy.

[IndigoErth]

Originally Posted by 80gmrp

Somehow I'm still able to work at my dayjob. Not to say I'm unaffected, however: for one, I received word that next week I'll need to wear a facemask to work.

And how do they expect people to find any?



As it is, the general public now isn't even allowed to get anything from Amazon, be it a disposable dust mask or some shop or military style respirator...

Which annoys me a little if I'm honest, because while I understand why, I feel that healthcare workers...and "government officials"...should be able to get them directly from the manufacturers and not have to go through things like Amazon should they even be available and absurd that they should have to...but then on the rare and probably not likely chance Amazon ever did have anything in stock, now it's like the general public has no source at all, even while they're starting to suggest we should be wearing a mask.

[Storm Eagle]

Originally Posted by IndigoErth

And how do they expect people to find any?



As it is, the general public now isn't even allowed to get anything from Amazon, be it a disposable dust mask or some shop or military style respirator...

Which annoys me a little if I'm honest, because while I understand why, I feel that healthcare workers...and "government officials"...should be able to get them directly from the manufacturers and not have to go through things like Amazon should they even be available and absurd that they should have to...but then on the rare and probably not likely chance Amazon ever did have anything in stock, now it's like the general public has no source at all, even while they're starting to suggest we should be wearing a mask.

It's kind of scary now that the CDC is now saying we should wear face masks. I don't have any of those, but I'll have to make one.

One of my friends got on my case about not having any latex gloves.

[IndigoErth]

Yeah, me too. I ordered a couple foreign made ones from someone in FL via eBay that are supposedly RN95/N95...but then was contacted and being refunded for half of it because I'm only allowed to have one per order. God forbid I want to get two... one each for me and my mother, not even a backup for either of us. Guess mom will be getting this one. (Though for all I know they could be knockoffs, but it was actually affordable so...worth the try and better than nothing, I guess.)

After reading that article (that I previously posted) on the blue shop towels that have shown promise I ordered a couple roles of those, so if nothing else then it's something to try to make masks out of that will be better than cotton that everyone is pretending is supposed to help us.

I'm kind of "meh" on the gloves, personally. What is that supposed to do? Save you from having to wash your hands, though you really still should anyway?

In my non-expert opinion, all I see gloves doing is helping spread it around. So the cashier that touches our items at the checkout is wearing them. Okay, great for them. But if the person ahead of me is carrying the virus and got it on their items...can said virus not be transferred from their items to those gloves and then onto my items? Where I can then take the virus into my home?

At best maybe they'll help remind people not to touch their face if they're in the habit of it when out in public.





edit: And at least when looking for certain things, can I just say how much I kind of despise a lot of eBay sellers? I spent so much time yesterday irritated wasting time browsing through listings where the vast majority of them have low ratings (or at least what I consider low -- anything below 98%, esp for older sellers) and the ridiculous amount of Chinese sellers who lie about their location.

While I'm not against ordering things from China on occasion, I was thinking of getting one of those seamless "tube" bandana things to wear out of the house, but Chinese listings (that claim to be in Jersey or Kentucky!) that may well actually be foreign and take a month are not helpful in the least. Grr.

And Amazon is no less irritating because it doesn't state third party seller location at all. Tried searching by what is fulfilled by Amazon to be sure that it's already on U.S. soil, but then that cuts out any legit U.S. sellers... who I can't tell if they're legit or not.

[Vicky82]

I'm not bothering with a mask because i'm not going out much only taking the dog out. Me and my Dad's weekly shopping is delivered and pretty quiet where I live anyway. So there's no point

The NHS and carers need masks a lot more than anyone else.

Also it's pointless wearing a mask if it's not used correctly. Because if you keep putting the mask on and off all the time it won't protect you from the virus.