Life! (corona virus, non informative, non hysterical post)

[HeliMark]

Several days ago, I was on the road for about 10 hours driving home. I was listening to "doctor radio" on SiriusXM for part of the drive. There were a number of calls (a lot of health providers) about not having face masks, every infectious disease doctor was saying that unless the person is coughing or sneezing, you are safe to be close to them. The 6' rule is because of the unknown, like if they person coughed/sneezed and the virus drops were on there arm or cloths and you were unaware of that. Of course proper hygiene in washing your hands is important also.

I am going for a ride today, and not worried about other traffic, or stopping next to someone. Gassing up, afterwards, I have Clorox wipes that I will clean my hands with if I don't keep my gloves on. The virus is only supposed to live for at the most several hours on a surface, so not worried about washing my gloves afterwards.

I do say kudos to my local grocery store. Went to it yesterday, and they have an employee dedicated to wiping down the grocery carts prior to giving it to you.

 

[ballisticexchris]

The President?!? That idiot pumpkin head you have running the show?

Remarks by President Trump After Tour of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention | Atlanta, GA | The White House

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Atlanta, Georgia March 6, 2020 4:43 P.M EST THE PRESIDENT: I said, "I'd like to walk the press down the hall to

www.whitehouse.gov

Please just listen to your health officials.

Our presidents advice is from the health officials. It is not his own. In our country we have health officials that are guiding our president. Please let's not make this into a political thread.

 

[AVGeek]

Any attempt at politicizing this thread will get nuked. Let's keep this to facts, figures, and anecdotal experiences.

I do know that the BLM El Centro office is not closing off the Imperial Sand Dunes, even with the Governor's shelter in place order in effect. So I would imagine that very little, if any of the California desert is inaccessible at this time. However, the ranger stations and the field offices are closed to the public, and the possibility of getting injured and needing medical care should certainly be taken into account.

 

[ballisticexchris]

Any attempt at politicizing this thread will get nuked. Let's keep this to facts, figures, and anecdotal experiences.

I do know that the BLM El Centro office is not closing off the Imperial Sand Dunes, even with the Governor's shelter in place order in effect. So I would imagine that very little, if any of the California desert is inaccessible at this time. However, the ranger stations and the field offices are closed to the public, and the possibility of getting injured and needing medical care should certainly be taken into account.

Galmis and Lucerne would be near impossible to close off. Riding parks such as Gorman are a bit easier to close but there are still ways to get in and ride. As you say getting injured would really suck right now.

BTW, How is it in Boulder City? Is there access to the lake? At least you can ride out near the power station.

 

[Sierra1]

Sunshine, UV radiation, limits the viability of all viruses. (one of the reasons that I've always used the shopping carts that have been sitting outside in our Texas sun) So, staying outside is the best place to be. Of course, y'all poor folks in the UK may have trouble finding sunshine.

 

[Checkswrecks]

Well, the first thing you should do is remove that post by OX-34. That is if you mean what you say. It is very uncalled for. Thank you

I'll agree with AvGeek and others to NOT MAKE POLITICAL COMMENTS. At the same time, what OX-34 wrote was minor enough that I think we have thick enough skin to keep moving on.

As part of working with human remains, we had annual training about respirator and PPE use, plus about contagious disease. The short version is that the viruses (HIV, Hep, and presumably COVID) will have a life in hours if they can dry out on a hard metal surface, but last for days if allowed to stay moist. (Picking up fragments of people in our jobs.) They also die quickly with Lysol, alcohol, and most other cleaners.

As far as the 6 ft rule, you can visualize why it exists by thinking of smokers or breathing when it's cold out. How far can you smell a person smoking? The virus is being carried by the moisture in an exhaled breath, so it can transmit by reaching your eyes, nose, or any other moist areas.

 

[Don T]

The virus is only supposed to live for at the most several hours on a surface, so not worried about washing my gloves afterwards.

Covid-19 can live for up to 72 hours on some surfaces - for example metal and hard plastic.

The best way to behave when among other people (including friends and family) is to assume that everyone is infected. It can be very difficult to do, but it is the only way to slow down the spreading.

At the moment I work 24 hour shifts every 3rd day. As a paramedic I interact with a lot of people while at work. We are told to assume that every patient we treat are infected and should behave accordingly. It makes my job a lot more cumbersome!

When not at work, I avoid other people (besides my spouse) as much as possible. We don't visit friends and family at all. It's tough as we normally have a very active social life, but at the moment it's the right thing to do - not least because I'm at high risk of getting infected because of my job.

 

[holligl]

Evidence over hysteria — COVID-19

Read the full story and don’t panic.

medium.com

good read.

They have taken this link down...

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

 

[tallpaul]

Sunshine, UV radiation, limits the viability of all viruses. (one of the reasons that I've always used the shopping carts that have been sitting outside in our Texas sun) So, staying outside is the best place to be. Of course, y'all poor folks in the UK may have trouble finding sunshine.

hey, it was lovely and sunny here today (for once!). I even took the bike out to stretch its legs. Felt bloody wonderful to be out and riding again, I can tell you!

 

[EricV]

They have taken this link down...

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

Some of it was quite good, but the ending conclusions/comments had some flaws and oversights that were not supported well by the facts.

 

[Don T]

 

[Madhatter]

Aussies spend their whole life walking upside down.....

 

[Madhatter]

as for Texas as of last Friday there was 194 cases and 5 deaths ..... probably get a new report tomorrow. nationally the count was 15219 with 201 deaths. for those who do not know me I am an elected office holder so the state of Texas sends out reports to office holders . I guess they think we should know what's going on . now tonight I'm hearing on media the count is higher , we will see what's going on at the next update I receive. I guess .

 

[Madhatter]

and in my county there are 6 cases to date.

 

[Madhatter]

I rode bike to gas station and filled the tank .... wet and foggy all day.

 

[Madhatter]

I have not received an official up date this morning , but going by what the media is saying there will be an increase across the board . Dallas county has issued a lock down order and I think its a matter of days before the whole state joins that .

 

[ballisticexchris]

Fenneling, Can you give your dog canned chicken breast? The stores have it in the same isle as the tuna.

 

[AVGeek]

Galmis and Lucerne would be near impossible to close off. Riding parks such as Gorman are a bit easier to close but there are still ways to get in and ride. As you say getting injured would really suck right now.

BTW, How is it in Boulder City? Is there access to the lake? At least you can ride out near the power station.

We talked about how to close off Glamis on a conference call the other day, and it would boil down to CHP restricting access along 78. Given the current needs elsewhere in the state, I don't see that happening.

BLM did close off the Red Rock loop here in Vegas for an unspecified period of time. Lake Mead itself is still open, but the rangers are not collecting admission fees. I'm not sure how much patrolling is still going on there. There was a massive crowd of people hiking the old railroad trail that goes up behind the Hoover Dam Casino.

Boulder City did declare a state of emergency to open up access to resources. Alberstosn's is trying to catch up with the restocking efforts, but TP is still not available. The land around the city still seems to be open, although we had a pretty good rain storm pass through this morning, so the dry lake won't be so dry at the moment. I'm not riding anywhere right now, as I need to repair or replace the carb on my quad, and with my income down to $0, its an extremely low priority to do so.

 

[Don in Lodi]

I saw images from our bigger cities and their local trails yesterday, social distancing isn't working very well. "Let's go to the Park/Trailhead, it will be safe..." D'oh.

 

[Sierra1]

You're right. Dallas has a popular walking/biking trail. They showed video of it, and I couldn't believe how crowded it was. We have the chance to slow/stop the spread, why are we not doing so?