What made you sad today?

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Deskisamess

Carts in stores are filthy. I've tried for years to break my husband of sitting items in the baby seat part of the cart. I guess it would take a stinky diaper to be there in plain sight for him to get it.

So is paper money, all those touch screens for payment, the conveyor belts where you sit your stuff, etc. While I don't go crazy, I do wipe off the handle of the cart if there are wipes available. At the very least, I wash my hands as soon as I get home.

Bugs are everywhere. If you want to sanitize everything you ever touch in public or other people have touched, you'll go insane in no time. Germophobia (pathological fear of contamination and germs) is a real disorder and many people suffer from it. Actually you do yourself a disservice by excessive disinfecting, because the less used you are to various germs, the more susceptible you'll be to various infections. That doesn't mean that you must live dirty, of course. But ordinary washing with soap (not antibacterial soap) should be sufficient for people with normal immune systems. That goes for the elderly too, if they're reasonably healthy for their age. My 82-year-old mother is not overly fussy about such things and she very rarely catches anything (she goes shopping with me, uses public transport etc, so she doesn't live an isolated life).

[OtinG]

Shelved items get coughed on, sneezed on, handled etc., and that is just me, who knows what other people do with them! I rarely use or even carry cash any more. Everything gets paid via CC/debit card. But as you say, those screens are pretty icky with germs. For the past several months I’ve mostly ordered my groceries online with Walmart then go pick them up. I pay online too, but I have to finger sign for them on the shopper's phone screen. Having Walmart do the shopping limits exposure to only one person, but the items probably have been exposed to hundreds of people. I rarely go inside B&M stores any more. Not because I’m germaphobic, but because I don’t get around very well these days. However, it pays to be a germaphobe when an outbreak like this occurs. I would rather be overly cautious and wake up on the sunny side of the grass rather than the alternative...

[OtinG]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Bugs are everywhere. If you want to sanitize everything you ever touch in public or other people have touched, you'll go insane in no time. Germophobia (pathological fear of contamination and germs) is a real disorder and many people suffer from it. Actually you do yourself a disservice by excessive disinfecting, because the less used you are to various germs, the more susceptible you'll be to various infections. That doesn't mean that you must live dirty, of course. But ordinary washing with soap (not antibacterial soap) should be sufficient for people with normal immune systems. That goes for the elderly too, if they're reasonably healthy for their age. My 82-year-old mother is not overly fussy about such things and she very rarely catches anything (she goes shopping with me, uses public transport etc, so she doesn't live an isolated life).

Wow, I bet you would have been the life of every party had you lived in the mid 14th century. Actually had you lived in the mid 14th century you would likely have been one of the first casualties if you were as nonchalant about pestilence then as you are now.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by OtinG

However, it pays to be a germaphobe when an outbreak like this occurs. I would rather be overly cautious and wake up on the sunny side of the grass rather than the alternative...

Well, I think exactly the opposite. I refuse to limit how I live my life because of COVID-19. If I get it, so be it. It's not the plague or smallpox, where fatality rates are over 50%. Chances are I'll heal, if I ever get it. And if I don't heal, well, I might die in a hundred other ways too, today or tomorrow. A drug addict might attack me, a car might run over me, I might even fall from a chair in my own home or something. I don't want to sit on my sofa cowering in fear, because I'll die someday.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by OtinG

Wow, I bet you would have been the life of every party had you lived in the mid 14th century. Actually had you lived in the mid 14th century you would likely have been one of the first casualties if you were as nonchalant about pestilence then as you are now.

Yes. So? At least I got to live my life as I wished. For me the quality is more important than the length. And no, I'm not a young person anymore.

[Deskisamess]

I'm no germaphobe...my comments were just supporting the need to wash your hands after grocery shopping.

I'm not worried about getting this virus. I'm getting my info about it from the CDC, and not believing much of what is showing up in the interwebs and social media.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Deskisamess

I'm no germaphobe...my comments were just supporting the need to wash your hands after grocery shopping.

I'm not worried about getting this virus. I'm getting my info about it from the CDC, and not believing much of what is showing up in the interwebs and social media.

Yes, of course. I didn't mean to imply that you are. Apologies if my post gave you that impression. It was meant as a general comment.

[OtinG]

To each their own. I’m getting my information from the CDC as well as people I know within the health industry. Problem is, in the USA the government is dropping the ball and the CDC really doesn’t know enough about COVID-19 to adequately inform us. I’m over sixty and already have health issues, so I’m going to take this seriously even though a I suspect it will never reach pandemic proportions. If it does become really bad, hopefully those who don’t give a bleep about themselves won’t become “Typhoid Marys” and wind up spreading it due to their stubbornness or ignorance.

[BetterRed]

I wouldn't take everything the CDC says at face value. Remember they knowingly and wittingly suppressed the existence of AIDS. X-check with similar organisations elsewhere.

BR

[AnotherCat]

Originally Posted by Deskisamess

Carts in stores are filthy. I've tried for years to break my husband of sitting items in the baby seat part of the cart. I guess it would take a stinky diaper to be there in plain sight for him to get it...

We normally buy our potatoes in 10kg (22lb about) bags and would often sit those on the baby seat as the bags were well sealed and would just be stored on the garage floor. Then a couple of years ago I (I am the husband) grabbed a trolley and started on my way with it and the baby seat unfolded and it had diaper leakage of the smelly brown type over it.

I abandoned it in a big hurry and have never put anything at all on the seats again - in fact if we were still back in the baby years I wouldn't even put a baby on them.

Since then our local supermarkets have been going for ones without seats as well but they are a bit smaller and I use them unless I can't squeeze everything in, in which case it is a bigger one with a baby seat and a very, very close inspection before I start rollin'.

[meeera]

Originally Posted by OtinG

Although I did not open the door to talk with the delivery guy, there could still be traces of bad stuff on the packaging and even on the product containers. So probably a good idea to sanitize the items and ourselves when we get them delivered.

Just leave them a few days before opening.

Originally Posted by OtinG

I guess fresh produce that will be cooked will get sanitized during cooking, by things that are eaten uncooked might be an issue--not sure about that. Thankfully I don’t buy much fresh produce any more as I rarely cook.

You don't already wash your fruit/veg?

[meeera]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Bugs are everywhere. If you want to sanitize everything you ever touch in public or other people have touched, you'll go insane in no time. Germophobia (pathological fear of contamination and germs) is a real disorder and many people suffer from it. Actually you do yourself a disservice by excessive disinfecting, because the less used you are to various germs, the more susceptible you'll be to various infections.

I'd happily eat a handful of dirt over other people's virus-infected mucus. Sensible epidemic precautions don't mean living in a sterile environment.

The goal with social distancing and hygiene techniques is to flatten the curve so that healthcare systems don't get overwhelmed by enormous numbers being infected at once. Your individual chance of needing a ventilated bed might be low, but if you're the patient zero for your community because you failed to wash your hands and cover your coughs (or you went out and shook a thousand hands in a row), you may well be responsible for others needing them.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by meeera

I'd happily eat a handful of dirt over other people's virus-infected mucus. Sensible epidemic precautions don't mean living in a sterile environment.

The goal with social distancing and hygiene techniques is to flatten the curve so that healthcare systems don't get overwhelmed by enormous numbers being infected at once. Your individual chance of needing a ventilated bed might be low, but if you're the patient zero for your community because you failed to wash your hands and cover your coughs (or you went out and shook a thousand hands in a row), you may well be responsible for others needing them.

Where did I say that you shouldn't wash your hands or cover your coughs, or that you should go out and shake a thousand hands? Social distancing and hygiene techniques don't mean that you should barricade yourself in your house or spray everything you touch with disinfectant. If you think those are sensible precautions, of course you're free to do as you wish, nobody's stopping you.

[Roos]

Here in Holland we as a people shrug at the Corona thing, not that it ain't bad, but not much worse than the usual flu-waves passing each year. So we carry on, and yes we do wash our hand more. Strange is the disconnect the Media in our country seem to have for a big part to how we as a nation view these type of things, screaming 'No Panic, NO PANIC' like madman, while the ordinary folk watch and boggle over their whipping up a storm in the proverbial tee-cup.
If the flu was this well covered we would all live in a constant state of fear.

Back on Topic:

What makes me sad at the moment, seeing Niño our oldest cat (15) fade away, he lost 3kg (40% of his body mass) over the last two and a half years. We have been to the vet with him, (again) who did a full blood-work, all is well, no kidney, liver, or other failure, so it must be just old age,
He eats, drinks and does all other usual stuff (mostly sleeping, but that's his thing for the last 10 years).
All that clearly is less, is his movement (just like me) it is clearly less fluid as it used to be, less steady, even a touch uncertain (I surely can recognize that part). He also gets lots of grey hears peeking through his furcoat on his face.
I get weak in the knees when i think about how close his goodbye must be, as he is one of my favorites, and our most cuddly cat of the bunch.

I feel at a loss over how to help him, we have started placing stuff around so he can get more easily on and off furniture, as jumping seems to be hard and painfull.
We could give him stuff for his joint problems, but we lost a cat doing this, her kidneys collapsed (a risk with those meds), so yes, i am sad.

[meeera]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Where did I say that you shouldn't wash your hands or cover your coughs, or that you should go out and shake a thousand hands? Social distancing and hygiene techniques don't mean that you should barricade yourself in your house or spray everything you touch with disinfectant. If you think those are sensible precautions, of course you're free to do as you wish, nobody's stopping you.

I'm immunosuppressed, with other risk factors also. Your chance of dying from this when you get it might be 2% (which is still a lot - how many people do you know?), but mine isn't. So yes, right now I'm using alcohol (not disinfectant, which usually refers to antibacterial products) on my hands (and phone and wheelchair joystick) when I'm out and have touched surfaces a bunch of other people have touched; I'm making anyone who enters my house wash their hands as they arrive; and I'm watching carefully, without panic, to consider a period of self-isolation near/at the peak.

This isn't a mental illness, or germaphobia, or panic, and nor am I using statements in the news media as my information source. It's sensible precautions.

There are public figures out there right now trying to prove a point that they're "not scared" by shaking zillions of hands, because they pigheadedly refuse to change their actions to fit the circumstances. That's just irresponsible.