Just don't lick the stamps from Wuhan. Seriously, the cold that mail is subject to in the hold of an aeroplane and the time delay is probably enough to destroy the virus.
Looks like in South Korea the problem was a church congregation. More concerning are the cases that are showing up on the West Coast of USA where no known link has been found (also one in UK).

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This from BBC website.

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I just mailed a stamp to South Korea. I hope it isn't returned.

 
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Skip the rumors and stick to the basics, wash your hands. Time to get into the stock market, buy low. Looking forward to the rally after the masses figure out they were lied to again by the fake news.
There will probably be some postal history to collect in the future after postal administrations start taking measures to disinfect the mail.

Vince

 
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I'm kind of concerned about this one. I heard that there were 5 deaths from that one quarantined cruise ship alone. Sounds like this one is actually killing people.

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'
The 1918 influenza epidemic did not put Coney Island or Cunard Line out of business.

DIS (Disney) stock has taken a hit. Even if more of the theme parks go offline, they'll be back.

CCL (Carnival) stock has taken a hit. Short of liquidation, it is a safe bet that the customers who prefer cruises to air travel will be back.

My unsolicited, unqualified advice is to buy some now and, if they go down, buy some more.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey (who also suggests a peek at Costco & Shopify)

 
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Sorry Charlie,
You made my point about fake news. If you don't agree with someone just tell lies and keep telling them until you and others believe your own BS.

Vinnie says it is just a hoax with made up stories about dead people.so why worry.?

Never said it, never implied it. please don't make up lies about what I said. It's OK to disagree with me but stop lying.

Vince

 
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All - The discussion can stay civil if people avoid divisive political lingo. It does not help to the discussion.

 
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I just read this :-
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT - CORONAVIRUS
Last evening dining out with friends, one of their uncles, who's graduated with a master's degree and who worked in Shenzhen Hospital (Guangdong Province, China) sent him the following notes on Coronavirus for guidance:
1. If you have a runny nose and sputum, you have a common cold
2. Coronavirus pneumonia is a dry cough with no runny nose.
3. This new virus is not heat-resistant and will be killed by a temperature of just 26/27 degrees. It hates the Sun.
4. If someone sneezes with it, it takes about 10 feet before it drops to the ground and is no longer airborne.
5. If it drops on a metal surface it will live for at least 12 hours - so if you come into contact with any metal surface - wash your hands as soon as you can with a bacterial soap.
6. On fabric it can survive for 6-12 hours. normal laundry detergent will kill it.
7. Drinking warm water is effective for all viruses. Try not to drink liquids with ice.
8. Wash your hands frequently as the virus can only live on your hands for 5-10 minutes, but - a lot can happen during that time - you can rub your eyes, pick your nose unwittingly and so on.
9. You should also gargle as a prevention. A simple solution of salt in warm water will suffice.
10. Can't emphasise enough - drink plenty of water!
THE SYMPTOMS
1. It will first infect the throat, so you'll have a sore throat lasting 3/4 days
2. The virus then blends into a nasal fluid that enters the trachea and then the lungs, causing pneumonia. This takes about 5/6 days further.
3. With the pneumonia comes high fever and difficulty in breathing.
4. The nasal congestion is not like the normal kind. You feel like you're drowning. It's imperative you then seek immediate attention.

 
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d1stamper,
That is good information if true. I am not saying it is false but where did this information come from. I ask because you stated
I just read this :-
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT - CORONAVIRUS
This is all common sense procedures (what you should do normaly) that is not on Main Stream Media where many folks trust for correct information but can't find it there. Way too much false information out there and a lot of scare tactics. I stand by my original post"wash your hands."

Vince

 
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Here in Bangkok there isn't any real panic yet. About half of travelers on the mass transit lines are wearing facemasks, but I'm not sure that's up much more than when we have our yearly peak flu epidemic. A lot of malls and shops are putting hand cleaning gel dispensers at the doors. At the Makro cash and carry today as well as the hand gel a staff member was offering to take customer's temperature with an airport type digital thermometer. I'm OK for that anyway. If it does become a full on pandemic then we should be careful calling it a hoax as the mortality rates look fairly bad.

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It's because it is unknown that creates the problem - the flu is known.

"It's fear of the unknown. The unknown is what it is. And to be frightened of it is what sends everybody scurrying around in circles chasing dreams, illusions, wars, peace, love, hate, all that - it's all illusion. Unknown is what it is. "

John Lennon

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I stopped watching TV news years ago, as well as paying attention to most print and online Main-Stream-Media (MSM). Just too many agendas and misinformation on all sorts of topics. Came to this conclusion many years ago when I was in my teens, now I am in my 60s. Guess I might have been more analytical than most and ended up putting that trait to good use in my career as a chemist in the energy service industry.

I have found several good sites on YouTube about this topic. The videos that I have been watching have been authored by medical doctors or people with a good medical background. They have been referencing the information put out by the CDC, the WHO and the many papers that are being published in the medical journals with the most up-to-date information and have been posting links to that online information.

The links to these sites are as follows, the first being from the US and the second from Great Britain:

https://www.youtube.com/user/ChrisMartensondotcom/videos

https://www.youtube.com/user/Campbellteaching/videos

Both have been giving good tips on how to handle the situation and what to watch out for. Both have been very critical of how their national governments have been handling the situation, with their belief that most governments appear to be more worried about their economies than the health of their citizens. Two countries that they have praised for their responses are Singapore and South Korea.

I personally have ignored past plague scares, with those scares generally fizzling out (SARS, MERS, Swine Flu, etc.) although affecting some areas of the world rather severely. But when the information on this virus started coming out it looked much more similar to the Spanish Flu from 100 years ago (much more virulent). That was bad; my grandmother had a younger brother that perished from that flu.

Now that I am over 60 years of age I am starting to take the flu and similar viral infections much more seriously. I have had my yearly flu shot and have taken both available pneumonia vaccinations in the past several years. I got a case of bacterial pneumonia after getting the flu about 15 years ago, which then resulted in a case of shingles. I don't want to go through that again.

I have stocked up on the essentials that will tide me over for a couple of months if necessary. Just look at how this is being handled in China at the moment and ask yourself if the Chinese government would be taking such drastic measures if this isn't a big deal.

 
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???*****!!!!!!

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@Brechinite, Ian thought we all still did that, saves filling up the landfill with all the tissues that we made from the trees we cut down to make them. I always found that using tissues made my nose itch, probably the fibres that come off the paper.
I also hate when I find that she who commands has left a tissue in her cardi pocket when I empty the washtub.
Now where is my Sunlight laundry soap and washboard.

 
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Ikey,
So in your opinion editorials do not influence people? Or that saying things like "So, our Coronavirus Czar is going to be … Mike Pence. Feeling more secure?" is not fear mongering?

Sorry, I do not buy into your 'its just an editorial' defense. This kind of crap has no place in any media publication right now, we do not need divisive stuff like this. We need to be pulling together and leave politics out of it.

If after all of this is over, people are not dying, and the public is more at ease she can play her political card. But this is exactly the kind of thing that has US public opinion on the media at such a low level. Ms. Collins should be ashamed of herself.
Don

 
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ikey,
I certainly did not say that op-ed should be suspended for the duration of the crisis. But having the right to speech does not mean it is always right to say something. What value is there is being divisive right now? (For the public, I assume the value for her the NY Times was more money in their pockets.)

And speaking of divisive you said in your post, “And you object to misinformation !”. You could have simply said ‘I do not agree with you’ without this kind of acrimonious personal attack.
Don

 
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I just heard from my brother that a complete department in the office building next to where he works was shut down because a woman who works there may have the virus. First test was positive, now waiting for the second one to confirm it.
With that in mind, it is no longer something that happens far, far away.

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Unfortunately, some infected & shedding virus carriers can be asymptomatic. So get used to elbow bumps and washing with soap for 1 round of “Happy Birthday”. This is going to be a difficult period ahead of us, what with the fear of death and losing everything.

And then there’s the Covid-19 virus…

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The following link from Johns Hopkins shows where infections from the virus have been reported around the world.

https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6

It is a very interactive map that allows one to blow up or reduce the map image to get a better picture of where infections have been reported. Click on one of the red dots to get more detailed information for that location.

I have been watching updates of this map over several weeks. It has been amazing how quickly it has spread across the globe. Just today Argentina, Chile, Tunisia, and even Liechtenstein reported cases (Andorra, Monaco and San Marino have previously reported cases, with San Marino even reporting a death).

Where individual countries have been very good at testing for the virus and openly reporting cases, the numbers for that country have been exploding. South Korea is a good example. Almost everywhere where a case has been reported, several days later another case or two is reported, with the numbers then just starting to explode. From what I can see with the spread of cases across the United States and with number of cases starting to grow fast in a few locations in the United States, we are just starting to begin a very fast increase in total infection numbers.

For most (over 80%) an infection with this virus appears to be no worse than a cold or flu. But for about 15% of cases hospitalization may be required with up to 5% requiring intensive care. It does not appear to be a problem at all for the very young, but for those of us 60 years old and above it can be much more severe (death tolls of at least 3% increasing to over 15% for those above 80 years of age. The overall death rate appears to be in the 1-2% range, which is still 10 to 20 times that of the flu. And this is with the assumption that good medical care is available.

The big problem will be a potential shortage of available hospital care for those needing it. There is no immunity to this virus as it is a new virus. So everyone can potentially get it. There is no vaccine and none will be available for months, it at all. This virus is extremely contagious, able to survive for days on hard surfaces under the right conditions and being passed by both droplets (sneezing or coughing) and aerosol (much smaller droplets that stay suspended for long periods of time). It is much more infectious than the flu.

The high hospitalization rate and especially the very high intensive care rate will be the big problem. There will not be a sufficient number of hospital or intensive care beds to go around for all that will need them. This is where governments then clamp down with the quarantines in an effort to stop the spread. This is what happened in China with most of that country going into a complete stoppage.

And one does not get over this illness quickly. It can linger for weeks. For those more severely affected, it results in pneumonia, with one having the feeling of continuously drowning going on for many days in a row.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I have seen similar potential epidemics come and go over the decades, being hyped up by the press and then fizzling out without causing too much of a fuss. My gut feeling is that this one is going to be different, it is going to be similar to the Spanish Flu in its effects on the world. Some countries (China, Iran, South Korea, Italy, potentially Japan) have already been hit very hard. China's economy is being hit extremely hard, and with over 25% of all manufactured goods in the world being produced in China, the whole world is going to feel the effects. We no longer produce any vaccines and hardly any prescription medications in country, they are all produced in China. No medical masks are produced in the United States, they are all produced in China. When China decides that they need to retain these products in their own country because of their now great need for these products themselves, what are we going to do?

I am taking this very seriously. The daily pictures out of China with their great cities completely shut down with absolutely no traffic reminds me of some of the scenes from disaster movies. Would China being doing this if it was no big deal? I have seen video clips where a person is walking or standing and they then just collapse. In one case a person was standing on a sidewalk and then they just fell forward; they made no effort to cushion the fall with their arms, they just fell face-first into the pavement. Such images are common out of China, Korea and Iran.

The Spanish Flu circled the globe several times over a period of couple of years 100 years ago. In the process, it killed anywhere from 50 million to 100 million people. Many have been warning for the potential for a new illness to crop up and cause just as much damage. Is this it?

 
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On reflection, inflammatory comment deleted.
Charlie

 
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" .... One co-worker just took a long planned vacation to Egypt and Jordan! ...."

Have you ever read "An Appointment in Samara" by W. Somerset Maugham ?
This fellow becomes fearful when he sees the hooded figure of Death roaming around in the local marketplace so he leaves Damascus to flee to a relative's home in Samara. That night when death visits the fellows employer, death comments about the missing servant and says that his absence is curious as It (death)has an appointment with him tomorrow in ....Samara.
It would be a classic good read, except I gave away the finish.
I wonder what would make someone consider Egypt or Jordan safer ?

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Al,
Count your blessings that you work for a good company.

Right now I am sitting in dialysis among 30 other patients all of whom are elderly, in frail health, majority are in wheelchairs and are living at extended care homes or hospices. Two of the healthcare providers who are currently on the floor are sick. One nurse is so sick she mostly has been sitting at a desk with her head down for the last 2 hours. It is standard procedure for dialysis healthcare worked to show up to work when they are ill.

To their credit, they are wearing masks and washing their hands often but it unnerving to have sick healthcare providers coming in physical contact with us when we represent one most vulnerable population of people.

And while there is a grievance procedure, no one dares to use it because the dialysis provider will punish you (i.e. move you to a facility 45 minutes away). And there are no alternative dialysis providers in the vast majority of locations across the USA.

In the US, ESRD (End-Stage Renal Disease) is socialized medicine, Medicare covers it no matter what your age. The two dialysis providers in the US, Fresenius Medical Care and DaVita, have incredibly strong political action groups and lobbyists. They have successfully paid off the politicians and gotten them to changes the laws and regulations for dialysis centers. So instead of the standard medical industry nurse to patient ratio of 1:2 through 1:4 at dialysis facilities they are allowed a 1:12 ratio. Additionally, they are allowed to have a dialysis tech, who has zero formal medical education and are paid minimum wage, to administer IV drugs to patients.

Mark my words, dialysis centers, extended care homes, and hospices will be decimated by this virus.
Don

 
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Spigots...bad memories come flooding back. When my wife was in her final few months of cancer "treatment" she had three different hoses coming out of various parts of the body. I changed, and drained, everything every day. The joys of getting old, I just hope I never end up in that state!!!

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Oh dear! They even canceled ComicCom in Seattle and the Boy Scouts of America local council has suspended winter camp and group meetings through the end of March. Not to mention a local church where my wife works is cancelling Sunday services after a vote by the elders! Plus Amazon, Microsoft, and Google are recommending employees work from home rather than come to the office and the University of Washington is going to attempt to do all classes online rather than in classroom settings through the end of March. Whitworth University in Spokane, WA is recommending that students from Western Washington not go home over spring break.

This is being taken VERY seriously locally.

 
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I do not think it is all political. There are a lot of media outlets (political and non-political) that have to fill 24 hrs a day with something. The political ones retreat to their base audience corners and feed that itch. This happens no matter what - spin, counter spin. We see a lot of political hypocrisy these days.

When we have a snow event now unlike in years back, the local stations suspend network programming and just spend hours talking about traffic and road conditions, closings, local stories related to snow, how to drive in the snow, reminding people to not drive, etc. The technology allows remote reporting.

What supports this are stations secondary digital stations so the move network coverage to the sub channel to interrupt the main station. You have to manufacture something to keep those audience ratings which is more important than ever in this consolidated media company age. How many public service like stories on how to protect yourself from getting the flu do you need?

 
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If someone has already stated this, I apologize but I'm just wondering why it takes something like this to get folks to wash their hands!

 
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At the risk of opening a can of worms here,

I think it is suffice to say

'common sense' is our new "contradiction in terms" phrase;

It isn't common any more.

 
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This worth a read. A journal from a Brit in Wuhan who was an early victim.

First hand journal:
First-British-victim-25-describes-coronavirus

Roy

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I guess the media always needs a story, but we shouldn't play down the danger of this coronavirus until we are sure of our facts. So far the mainstream media and most governments have been pretty good at supplying facts. It seems the two things we should be looking at is how contagious it is and what is the morality rate. In the worse case it would be highly contagious with a high mortality rate. I will hold off making any decisions until I know these.

 
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This may apply to other people: now is not a good time to order anything that is to be shipped from outside the US. I've been tracking a shipment through DHL from Germany, it has been sitting in Germany since 2-28. I assume it'd be worse for Italy.

It's from Schaubek in Leipzig, Germany so far has not been highly affected but I suspect flights have been reduced so cargo space is more scarce.

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ikey,
Great article,
I learned quite a bit of new information. I'm sticking with the basics,
Panic and hysteria are not appropriate.
Wash your hands.
If you are sick with cold or flu symptoms call your doctor and get tested if he/she advises.

Vince

 
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OK this from a site called Stackexchange,
I've checked the FactCheck.org article on the incident:

All COVID-19 tests in the US are conducted by two agencies: The New York State Department of Public Health, and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Neither organization charges for the test.

You (and/or your insurance) will have to pay for emergency room services if you go to the ER, but you (or your insurance) won't be billed for the COVID-19 test itself.

EDIT, even this seems to be contradicted, here is a further response on the same site.

"All COVID-19 tests in the US are conducted by two agencies: The New York State Department of Public Health, and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention." — This is no longer the case. A number of state health department labs perform tests now (see, for instance Nebraska, which reports the number of tests they have performed) and commercial labs Quest and LabCorp are beginning testing as well. – Zach Lipton yesterday

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The article covered a lot of aspects besides washing hands. It was a quick proactive response and not reactive approach. Like any event, some play it safe and others do not and often risk others.

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I do not know how the situation is today, but a few days ago, the US government announced that 1.5 million tests were available. That may sound a lot, but that means only 750,000 people can be tested, which is less than 1% of the population. Apart from that, most states do not have the capacity to do mass tests. They must scale up considerably in order to be able to deal with the challenges ahead.

Most countries have similar problems. Noone is really prepared.

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'
This what transparency and an emphasis on public health looks like:

- the Israel Ministry of Health builds a timeline for each person who tests positive for exposure to the coronavirus, and

- the Israel Ministry of Health publishes that patient's timeline on their website, so that

- any person can quickly determine if they crossed paths with that infected person (oy!) or did not (phew!).

the Israel Ministry of Health timeline for Patient #29

Q/ Did you notice the granularity of that data ?

Yes, government is more 'distributed' in the USA - Texas has 254 counties, for example - but a motivated federal agency (or suitable NGO) could put together a template for this data so that agencies doing contract tracing could upload their data, enabling people to self-report their exposure to an infectee ... or self-relax.

{...}

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey (who has removed an absolutely apolitical comparison of the relative efforts of the American v Israeli governments (available by PM) which - unlike some people - did not use words like "fake", "lies", or "hoax")

 
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51Studebaker...I agree wholehearterly... Any political posts should be deleted immediately. Regarding the virus, the two opposing political parties will attack each other regardless of the other sides actions or inactions. We signed off on over 8 billion to combat the virus and have been moving heaven and earth to do what ever can be done.

As I type this, I am in ground zero of the hot zone. I am in the subway tube headed out of downtown San Francisco jam packed against other people.

Your government is doing everything it possibly can. Follow the directions of the apolitical, nonpartisan scientific experts. Wash your hands and dont touch your face.

 
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No. I'm listening to Fauci not Trump.

 
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People assessing a government's response is an opinion (political or otherwise) as they are not expert to judge the response and even "experts" disagree.

 
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nR0lOtdvqyg

 
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Now we need one with Frazer as well

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What a waste of time this thread has become. Long diatribes that highlight the most negative and questionable information that can be found and others presenting "information" regarding the U.S. test kits without understanding the distinctions between the public and private aspects of the situation. Elsewhere, others talk about the phase three (human) testing of new vaccine candidates as though they understand the process and why it can take 12-18 months. Spoiler alert: the drug companies are repeatedly sued when their approved products are blamed for causing alleged unexpected side effects, etc. The litigious nature of Americans has as much to do with the time it takes to approve new drugs as anything.

I'm probably as concerned as anyone here regarding the Wuhan virus. My wife has won the lottery when it comes to having ALL of the major pre-existing conditions that are likely to cause a severe reaction to the virus. Ironically, she has been involved in patient management in drug studies and has been responsible for setting up phase three studies for new cancer compounds. So we're aware of the importance of the studies and the extraordinary costs incurred in developing those compounds. Then there is the time it takes to get multiple sites set up with patient enrollment to do the studies and then navigate the FDA requirements and coordinate with the physicians and their administrators and legal staff as well as all the groups (including legal) within the pharmaceutical companies themselves that play a role in getting new drug compounds approved. No one in that process wants to take shortcuts or make mistakes. Lives depend on everyone doing their jobs to the best of their ability. Too many politicians and too many posters to this thread (and elsewhere online) don't understand the situation well enough to be commenting on it! As Fauci and Azar have pointed out, we're dealing with the equivalent of the "fog of war." Everyone needs to step back, take a deep breath and take personal responsibility by following the general precautions for avoiding infections. We've learned to live with the various strains of the flu that infect millions and kill thousands each and every year. We'll learn to live with this new virus if it too becomes yet another in the long list of health issues we all must deal with. Be responsible and be safe!

 
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"negative aspects ?"

That sort of implies that there are countervailing reasonably positive aspects. About the only one I can imagine is the possibility the growing world population may pause a bit. Otherwise perhaps we should close our eyes, put a paper bag over our heads and hope for the best. Now that I think about it, noting that rubbing one's eyes appears to be a common entry point for the virus, using a paper bag might just help. preferably one with the name of some upscale store emblazoned in fashionably bright colors, of course.

Maybe having this house alone out on the Texas Tundra might not be such a bad idea either. If I do not run out of hinges, I have enough stamps to stay secluded and busy for a year or more.

 
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As the OP on this... Please don't pull this thread. It may be a tall order but we're all adults and ought to be able to discuss this without political jabs. I think there have been an equal number of them on here from both sides of the divide.

As Cougar said, the intent was to have a forum to discuss how this impacts collecting.

 
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I live near Halifax in Nova Scotia and in the Summer and Fall our area depends on getting tourist money from the many cruise ships that stop here. They are discussing now about cancelling that for the Summer, or whether people will actually even take cruises. I imagine most coastal cities around the world are discussing the same things. It should make for a very interesting tourist season everywhere. They've already cancelled all international school trips. How about large sporting events around the world?

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My husband and I spent a few hours in the emergency room at a large, well respected hospital here. A few observations

Maybe 5 to 10 percent of the nurses wore masks.I did not see even 1 doctor with a mask on. Our doctor introduced himself, shook hands and discussed what they were going to look for and the procedurec used.

Almost all doctors and nurses used scrub sinks rather than the wall mounted hand sanitizers. I asked why and was told that soap and water is MUCH better at getting rid of germs than hand sanitizer.

In other words, no real changes yet.

 
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Well I guess anyone in the States waiting on letters/packages from Europe will, with the latest news, have another month before they arrive.

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The biggest threat to everyone today is the mobility of the human race. 90+% of the world's population could hop on a plane tomorrow and go anywhere. Keeping track of who they meet and what they touch is impossible.

I watched Liverpool lose to Atletico Madrid today. No handshakes, but elbow bumps between players and officials.

Self-isolation (ie: becoming a hermit) is the most logical response at this time

 
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Harvey, you can remember 1919?!?
Wow, philately really is a hobby for old-timers!

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While lying low at home, I should start trading my extra rolls of toilet paper for the stamps of Basel, Geneva, and Zürich.

 
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I got an email from my Doctor's office that informed anyone with a cold or flu to call first. Do not go to the office.

The widespread impacts are unprecedented in recent history.

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A little idea of mine - replace your bathroom hand towel with a pile of washcloths. Everyone who washes their hands gets a clean mini towel. White is best as you can bleach the dirty towels.

Also - I am spraying and wiping down doorknobs and other frequently touched surfaces with diluted bleach water. Anything touched by multiple hands should be disinfected.

Anyone else have little tips to share?

 
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We took our own plastic gloves to the shops today only to find that every place had both gloves and hand sanitizer and wipes on a table at the entrance !! I thought that was pretty organized !
The Grandson was due to come over and stay tonight but developed a cough so didn't come. Now we may cancel the Shabat dinner for tomorrow.

On a more grand scale, I have had to cancel my visit to 'London 2020' International Stamp Exhibition (If it still goes ahead, nor certain) because of current restrictions here in Israel. Massive disappointment which may be tempered if they plan not to go ahead with it at this time.
The world is in an odd place is it not !!

Londonbus1

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Just saw on CNN: The NCAA is cancelling March Madness this year. I will not be surprised to hear that the NHL cancels the rest of their season. I'd bet MLB will at the least postpone the season opening, with possibly playing a shortened season starting later.

Earlier there was a rumor making the rounds that a dealer at a major Midwest Stamp show had come own with it but that proved not to be. I fully expect to start seeing shows cancelled as local communities clamp down on this stuff.

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Just watching the European Union President giving a speech on what member states should do. The EU will set up a committee of experts to advise them. They promise that that they will do everything required.

However every country must remain unified and stick to the European Rules that are current or what the EU decides during this crises.

The question remains "Are you telling me that the billions of Euro's that they have had over the years that NOTHING was done to prepare for any type of pandemic?"

Leaders? I wouldn't trust them to run a bath.

Keep Safe.

 
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".... The world is in an odd place is it not !!...."

Just for you Mike.

Curious Planet

Hurricanes, Tornadoes, Earthquakes,
Floods, Fires and Drought,
Pestilence, Pogroms and Wars,
What a curious planet we dwell upon,
Providing the wonders of birth,
The cornucopia of health and wealth,
Yet, apparently hell bent,
On destroying it all,
In a constant series of disasters,
That never cease, their Conga line,
Endlessly arriving, suddenly,
And wreaking their horrors,
Departing in an unfathomable way,
Renewing the very life,
They set out to eliminate.
What a curious planet, indeed.

©Charlie Jensen 2018

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I am a bit astounded that it is news that we should have good hygiene and wash our hands. The fact that we are now seeing news stories about airlines actually cleaning the planes, which should be standard procedure on every day of the week, is a sad commentary.

As a person who has been immunocompromised for the last 6 years, I have had to take extraordinary precautions over this time. I have 5 sets of ‘medical clothes’ that I wear exclusively at all medical appointments. When I come home the 4 times a week that I have medical procedures, I strip off my clothes and shoes in the garage before entering the house. I carry a backpack full of masks, gloves, and sanitizer wipes everywhere I go.

Studies show that we touch our face an average of 23 times per hour. No matter how hard I tried I could not seem to change this behavior for myself. So instead I decided to approach this issue by keeping my hands as clean as I could. Over the last 6 year, my hands have been perpetually dried out due to the 30-40 times a day that I use hand sanitizers. (By the way if you ever need to start your fireplace or a bush pile, hand sanitizer makes a great fire starter. There is that much alcohol in it!) These behaviors might sound a bit extreme, but I managed to stay alive and not get any secondary infections that those around me succumbed to.
Don

 
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" ....These behaviors might sound a bit extreme, but I managed to stay alive and not get any secondary infections that those around me succumbed to....."

No Don, in your situation the behavior is far from extreme. Keep it up as long as you can.

Normally, I believe that people wash their hands when they have done something that obviously involves them possibly having been soiled, and our bodies develop healthy defense mechanisms for the normal bacteria they live with.
I read a study years ago that seemed to indicate that those who are overly worried about such things (germs) and try to totally avoid contact, become more susceptible to harm from otherwise symbiotic bacteria that actually protects somewhat from strains foreign (to them) bacterial infestation. At least that was the theory.
An example was given of parents who are obsessive about protecting their children from every and any germ imaginable. As a child grows and fights off biological infections it often naturally develops immunities from further infections. The child who does not get the opportunity to do so naturally can be subject to further biological attacks as they never were allowed to develop those immunities.
Such immunities are exactly what is meant when someone with Don's health problems is said to have compromised immunity systems.

So right now when the nation is being attacked by a new and vicious viral bacteria, wash frequently and regularly. Yesterday when I went to the Amarillo VAMC to see the regular PCP for the annual check-up, I wore "rubber" gloves and interestingly was asked by more than one person why, or, if I had a cold or something. "No, (silly, I thought.) hospitals are full of sick people !" and for the duration I would do the same thing. No need to bring home any new strange exotic pets.

Sorry, but I just had to return and edit some of the typos and defeat the "Spellcheck app" which apparently insisted replacing "immunities" with "immensities."

 
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Moved to Off Topic since devoid of any philatelic content.

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Local stamp show scheduled for today cancelled, as was another upcoming one

for the 28th and 29th of this month.


Very bummed to also report the cancellation of the Reba concert that was coming

to Grand Rapids in May! My awesome wife gifted me with tickets for the show

at Christmas. I just told her last night to apply for a refund today.



May seems quite a ways away from now....seems odd to me to cancel that far out,

but I'm no expert....I don't think ANYone is, really, in situations like this.


My daughter works for Meijer Corporate;

They have been sent home for the next 3 weeks to work from home.

Local schools have closed for 3 weeks and are discussing the possibility of remaining closed for the remaining school year!

Panic sure makes people do unusual things.......

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This may have been referenced earlier but the APS has a cancellation page for shows cancelled or postponed due to this:

https://stamps.org/news/c/news/cat/news/post/cancelled-shows-march-2020-update

I went to my local supermarket yesterday and it was bedlam. All the toilet tissue was sold out and it looks like there is a run on some canned goods as well. I wore gloves and no one else I saw was doing so and in fact I got a few odd looks from store staff.


(Modified by Moderator on 2020-03-14 16:10:13)

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About an hour ago our doorbell rang. It was a lady down our street asking us we are all OK and if anybody needed anything. Apparently our neighborhood association is going to be doing this on an ongoing basis awhile. she left a number with us to call if we needed anything. I'm sometimes a bit of a cynic -I'm sure no one on here disagrees but I was a bit moved by the effort. She had a clipboard and we're now in a chain of residents to be looked out for.

Maybe there's hope for society after all.

 
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All schools, college, libraries, city facilities and activities, churches that I know of, amusement facilities are shut here. The markets are all devoid of meat, dairy, canned goods, rice, pasta, freezer meals, dry goods, flour, sugar, of course toilet paper, sanitizer, and water, household cleaning products, soap, rubbing alcohol, Tylenol / Advil / etc., water filters.

There are no active cases in our city yet. The nearest is 25 miles away.
I live in Southern California, “earthquake country”, so we are in the habit of keeping emergency stores of water, non-perishable foods, and first aid on hand. But now I’m concerned that we’re going to have to go into our emergency supplies just because we can’t get day-to-day groceries. I guess that situation in itself will constitute our emergency.

I think it’s good that all non-essential facilities are shut, because I think a tremendous amount of spread could have been prevented if other countries would have shut everything down sooner. If our situation is the worst we have to deal with, I’ll be thankful.

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DITTO!!!

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I assume “MSM” means “main stream media” and not something out of “50 shades of Gray”? If yes, why would referring to main stream media’s over hyping of this issue be banned here? There are a few reactionary groups that use that term in a derogatory way to mean only some sources but technically it means all large audience media.

In any case, my statement applies to ALL forms of media no matter where they tend to fall on the political spectrum.

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Oh my - read my edited post above. I DID NOT mention specific media sources, my statement referred to ALL sources no matter their political leanings. But by using the terms “fake news” and so on, you are making a statement that is fiercely political and those are banned from Stamporama.

Innocent statements being vilified as political and heated politically charged responses are why that Stamporama rule was created. These don’t bring anything positive to the site so please stop assuming that my apolitical statements are supporting any political position.

Now I remember WHY I left Stamporama during the last election. This type of attacking attitude STINKS. Knock it off!

 
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It is tough to discuss this when you edit posts after I respond. You are now trying to change what I am responding to. That is not being truthful. Trying to change the narrative and make my response not make sense. Shame on you. I remember when you left in a huff because I called you on changing your posts and deleting them after I responded to them.
I never mentioned any specific news outlet.
Vince

 
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I deleted my posts in the past to get the trolls to quit beating up on me. The conversations had shifted from discussions to personal attacks as this one has done. Whatever happened to polite discourse? You frame your responses in terms of “You think this ... “ and then attack me for thinking that way. Simply phrase your opinion and eliminate the YOU aspect. Argue the IDEA not the person expressing it.

 
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Now for something Philatelic.
List of stamp shows that are cancelled.

https://stamps.org/news/c/news/cat/news/post/cancelled-shows-march-2020-update

Vince

 
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Sheepshanks - enjoyed that bit very much. You planning your garden yet?

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I predict that approximately nine months from now there will be

a large influx of new babies born into this world;



I also predict that by 2041 or so they will be referred to as the

"Pandemic Generation".


Let's just hope that we don't start seeing names like "Corona' for girls

and 'Covid' for boys.....

 
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Hi Vince,

In my opinion the media, all the media, is nothing like it was 30-40 years ago. As someone who has been negatively affected by the mask/sanitizer/wipes panic that the media has caused with their agendas, I really wish folks would reject the media's behavior.

Last summer Matt Taibbi wrote an introspective article named "The Media’s 10 Rules of Hate" which outlined how the media primarily now sells division. In it he said, "To make money, we’ve had to train audiences to consume news in a certain way. We need you anxious, pre-pissed, addicted to conflict...We’ve discovered we can sell hate, and the more vituperative the rhetoric, the better. This also serves larger political purposes." He goes on to list the '10 Rules of Hate' that his industry uses to make money.

Full article is here if you are interested https://washingtonspectator.org/taibbi-10rulesofhate/

In my opinion the Hatred he outlines has already been assimilated by much of the public; people now consume news to be affirmed, not to be informed.
Don

 
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The radio station I volunteer at is a community radio station. We list events going on in the community in between music. We had to pull most of them due to all the closures in the area. The music will go on.
WRDV.org
Tomorrow night I will continue with my Blues program 10-1.

Vince

 
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Don,
Thanks for that link.

Vince

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Saw a video on YouTube yesterday posted by a YouTube regular that I follow. I believe it was of a store opening in Australia with the camera trained down the aisle where the toilet paper was stocked. As the front door opened, the crowd poured down the aisle containing the toilet paper, with everyone grabbing as much as they could.

The person that posted the video rightly commented that this was one of the most stupid things he as ever seen. Here we have a highly contagious virus that everyone is supposedly afraid of and what do they do, they rush elbow-to-elbow together in a packed crowd down an aisle to fight over something that they can't eat. He commented that if that was him, he would be looking for the canned beans.

 
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Hey Theresa.. I see you talking about trolls and why you left SoR... I hated to see you go.. as we head into November, just one question. Wanna go double or nothing?

 
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Q/ So how come there are no reports of panic-buying at Michael's, as parents stock-up on arts'n'crafts kits to keep their kids busy during the shutdown?

Meanwhile, up-bubbles a memory of Larry (Room 201) and I (Room 204) quickly tiring of dorm life and, together with Ken (I forget) renting that premier status symbol, an Off-Campus Apartment.

It being the Spring of 1971 - everyone was busy groping their way back to the land - about one day into this adventure I find that Larry and Meg (his girlfriend) have bought a pillow-sized (?ten ?twenty pound) sack of flour and a commensurately enormous sack of sugar so that they can "save money" by baking their own bread.

I (thoughtfully, as always) explained that bread was the last & dumbest place to try & save money, as the stuff cost next to nothing at the grocery store, and nobody eats much of it, anyway.

They put their hurt noses in the air and said, basically: "Well, then, no bread for you."

I don't remember how long it took but, one weekend, Larry gifted the baking supplies on his mother (he lived less than fifty miles away) and that was that.

I am only sorry that her reaction has been lost to history.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

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Moreland Hall at SUNY Oswego. It's the dorm closest to town...and the bars. That would be the fall of 1991.

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I just got a message from Norfrim that some may find of interest:

'
Dear customer,

We are monitoring the development of the Corona virus closely here at Nordfrim.

Our greatest priority in this situation is the health of our customers and co-workers and we are following the guidelines provided by Government and taking all necessary precautions.

We are doing our best to keep our business running as usual in this extraordinary situation and you can still visit and purchase from our web-site and contact us by phone, email and post.

As the situation is right now we are still able to deliver to customers worldwide with the exception of Italy and potentially with smaller delays in some countries.

We hope that by joint effort we will get through this challenging situation in a good way and we look forward to hearing from you again.

Best regards,'

This is the first admission I've seen from a philatelic dealer that things are messed up. FWIW, I did get the shipment from Schaubek I referred to, came today. DHL tracking was not working.

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My sincere feelings about what is going on worldwide:
Thoughts about what's happening, from people I talk to: Not much, except for; whats going on?????
What I see in the news: Don't panic, just wash your hands and be sensible....BUT LOOK WHAT'S HAPPENING HERE!!!...AND HERE!!!!...AND HERE!!!!
What I see with my own eyes: Grandiose absurdities.
What I see in financial merkets: QUICK, PANIC NOW!!!! HE WHO PANICS FIRST, PANICS BEST!!! !!SELL,SELL,SELL!!!!!

And what will come of all the BS? Opportunity for those who instil and provoke panic. (Large banks are very, very good at this game...IMO)

Most of us here are old enough to remember all the panics of the past. How did our investments do during those panics? Were we worried about them when our very lives, our existence was at risk? Well, no, after all, what's a few bucks (our retirements!!!), when people are gonna die all around us???

My advice: Be sensible, and keep your powder dry. Opportunities will soon abound, if not there already.

 
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A few ramblings from me...

We need to make sure the hundreds of medical school students graduate on time. They have spent almost 8 years in college, and they are almost finished. Give them their white coats and assign them across the country without delay. Us older folk, and the country, are going to need these young people on the front lines of this virus.

Keep eating your bacon and eggs for breakfast. There will be no shortage. Iowa has millions of chickens and millions of pigs. Farmers are producing more food every single day across North America. The workers who collect the eggs dress like ER nurses, and you cannot enter turkey or hog production facilites without protective gear. It has been this way for years. No days off for the farmer, as spring planting is coming up soon.

Got my worm bedding ready, the rains will come.
The worms will come out and "the early bird catches the worm." That's me.
The fish will start biting, and I know where to catch the walleyes, crappies, blue gills, and catfish. My fillet knife is sharp.
The asparagus and rhubarb will come up, and I know where the morel mushrooms can be found in the woods. The potatoes and onions will be planted, the raspberries will come on.

And so it goes...a country boy can survive.

Linus

 
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Phil, I challenged my wife to see how long we could go before we had to go to the grocery store. She said "when the milk runs out." She drinks milk, I do not. I told her I would get her a gallon at the gas station when I fill up the gas containers for the lawn mower, as the grass is just starting to green up here.

We have the greatest food production and distribution system in the world. Fuel shortage is not a problem. Stores will have temporary shortages, but they will be restocked, just have a little patience.

And if you truly have a need, I quote Mr. Fred Rogers:

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”

You might have to ask for the help, but Mr. Rogers spoke the truth.

Linus

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Insurance...Man's Insurmountable Burden.

Just learned that ALL insurance companies will not pay out on their Business Interuption Disease clause. Why? Covid-19 is a new disease and not on their list!! So much for their "All Risks" policies.

I heap a plague of locusts upon them!!

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I heard that if 1 person sneezes, 100 people will crap themselves.

I went shopping yesterday, to stock up on essentials, and saw piles of T-Paper on sale, with the regular shelves fully stocked, as usual. Actually, I didn't notice anything different in the supermarket, or on the streets. Traffic only slightly down from normal. Only 1 person wearing a mask.
I'm in Mexico, by the way. People don't seem to panic here, over every little thing. Let's see how it all develops, as time goes by.

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Around here the toilet paper and paper towel shelves are empty but also the egg shelves. I don't have a clue what people are doing with all of the eggs. My brother works at Walmart. He said when the truck comes in they have to block the aisle so they can restock because people are trying to open the cases to get the toilet paper.

I guess some people dance to a different drummer.

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I go to the supermarket in Forfar every Thursday at the same time of day. I normally buy the same things. Yes I am a creature of habit.

I spend around £35 every week there.

Today I spent £3.60!!

ie 1 loaf of bread and 2 Bottles of diluting juice.

No milk, no beans, no butter, no eggs, no Coke, etc etc etc.

I came back to Brechin, went to the supermarket there and couldn't get the car parked as the car park was full. Drove home then walked to the supermarket and only able to buy 1 pint of milk and a bottle of coke.

The "locusts" had cleaned out the store of everything I wanted.

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Coronavirus Poem ... Coronaverse ?

 
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My local WalMart had just opened a drive-up in February. When I had ordered some canned diced tomatoes through Amazon last week, the order was canceled the next day because they were out of stock (or so they said). So I figured I would try my local WalMart - by using drive-up, I wouldn't need to walk through the virus soup inside. So I ordered my canned diced tomatoes (limited to two cans) and a few other things on Tuesday for pick-up on Wednesday. When Wednesday came around, I got an email from WalMart informing me that some of the items on my list were no longer available, with one item being canned diced tomatoes.

What is it with the canned diced tomatoes!

So I tried Amazon again, but now what had been selling for less than $1 a can is priced for at least $2 a can if not more (some were offering one can for as much as $30!).

So I went back to the online WalMart option. They had about a dozen different options available, with different brands, different sizes, some with peppers included, etc. So I ordered one or two of each, whatever I was allowed to do. I will see tomorrow if I end up with a year's supply of canned diced tomatoes or nothing at all.

Guess the convenience of having whatever we want at our fingertips at a moments notice is no longer an option, at least for a short while.

By the way, I noticed that I am now at a greater risk from this virus for another reason on top of my four previous risk factors. (1) I am over 60 years of age, (2) I am overweight, (3) I have high blood pressure (controlled with medication), (4) I have Type II diabetes (again controlled with medication), and now (5) I have Type B blood. Apparently people with Type B blood have a higher risk of developing a severe illness from the virus and also to die from this illness. I figured the WalMart drive-up would give me the best chance to maintain social distancing.

I also ordered some eggs and a five pound bag of potatoes. It will be interesting to see what will still be available tomorrow.

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The reason people are stockpiling canned tomatoes is to make sauces for the pasta they stockpiled earlier

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Bad news. I'm furloughed for a minimum of 30 days. Couldnt have come at a worse time.

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I'm on lockdown so I work with my stamps and visit StampoRama to see what's happening and ...

Wait a minute, nothing has changed.

Some days it's GOOD to be an introvert!

 
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If you're sheltering in place and want to do some stamping, don't plan on placing orders from Mystic; they've shut down, per this email:

'Due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, Mystic is unable to ship orders until further notice. You can still add items to your shopping cart and you can place orders. Mystic will charge your credit card when you place an order, and ship it as soon as possible. Thank you for your understanding in these difficult times. Stay safe and enjoy your collections.'

Apparently it's proven to be a real crisis and not hysteria by the media..

We're also on lock down. Local media keeps telling people to 'have essential goods delivered'. How?? The big food chains here no longer will do this. I tried shopping this week, I felt I risked my life to do so. The public seems not to be getting the message about social distancing.

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Hope i am not complaining,we are two senior citizens with no pre existing conditions...we still have the stamps and the internet..but all of a sudden to not have my gym,my favorite Chinese buffet..what happens to 30 or so Chinese waiters and food staff in the Hudson Valley when the owner shuts the door ? We will not hoard.. a couple of trips to the grocery store a week will do for us...we not the ones with the huge rolls of paper towels and toliet paper. The kids are reluctant to come around and possibly infect us. Sorry to hear about Ernie being laid off.

 
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I think this was discussed on here but I'm worried about incoming mail having this stuff. I read the virus can live on paper or cardboard for anywhere from 1-3 days, and that doesn't count infection from a sick mail carrier. I went on a buying spree last week to have stuff to work on now I have a pile of unopened orders sitting on my bookcase.

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Just in case anyone has not had their fill of statistics this site has plenty.
https://virusncov.com/

 
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Jackie, my daughter and her boyfriend are both social services supervisors with Dutchess County, N.Y. He had 50 hours overtime last week (on call 24 hours).

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Thanks for doing it anyway! I appreciate your efforts very much.

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He got ya there, Ikey....

 
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Jings!...Crivvens!...Help Ma Boab!

The Scottish Government has shut down all shops other than food and medical.

The result is "she who must be obeyed" will now be at home.

There goes the wild parties, the drinking sessions and my stamp time will be reduced. No doubt she will find more chores for me to do.

I dread it when she says "I have been thinking" 'cos it means work for me.

Woe! Woe! and thrice Woe!

 
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Ian,
You're gonna get the full brunt of what's up. Take it like a man. I recieved word that I'll be working from home. I hit the trunk release, they toss a computer and soft phone in my car. Problem solved.

What saddens me more than anything else is that Florida State graduation had been cancelled. Not postponed, but cancelled. As in not gonna happen. That's sad. My daughter Grace kicked ass there in science and math. Oh well.

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In the meantime in the USA…
40,000 people die each year in auto accidents
88,000 people die each year in alcohol-related deaths
260,000 people die each year due to medical mistakes
480,000 people die each year due to cigarette smoking (includes 41,000+ deaths resulting from secondhand smoke exposure)

Not too many headlines or folks freaking out over these people dying around us every day.

I guess I am just used to living with the grim reaper looking over my shoulder. After living through 5 long years of doctor after doctor tell me that I had a 5% chance of living longer than 6 months I learned how to cope. I still live day-to-day and have many more gray sky days than blue sky days.

But…so what? Everything eventually falls apart. The computer you are using to read this right now will fall apart. The chair you are sitting in will fall apart. The house you are in will fall apart. The earth itself will eventually fall apart. And most certainly we will all fall apart. I see little value in focusing on falling apart. Turn off the news, they are sowing division and hatred. Live each day to the fullest; try to laugh, cry, and learn something new every day.
Don

 
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Ian,

I can commiserate with you on the Scotland closures as Washington state's governor, Jay Inslee, just announced a mandatory stay at home for non-essential workers as well starting in 46.5 hours from now. I can already see the wheels turning in my wife's head about all the cleaning and garage emptying that should be going on during this home based stay. Unfortunately for me, my company will probably decide that I can do all of my work remotely which is more difficult to do in many respects and MUCH more stressful to do.

For most clients my highest priority tasks for the last two and a half weeks has involved setting up remote access or expanding its capacity so their employees can work remotely or resolving issues with their remote connectivity. I have also been upgrading client home computers from Windows 7 to Windows 10 due to security concerns as well.

Jerrel

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