ISOLATION - Your Experience

[Tronhard]

When this is over I think at least some things will change. I expect some businesses will go under but I also think, and in fact hope that we will do some things differently.

For example the development of systems that many businesses have invested in for their staff to work remotely will hopefully prove themselves and encourage employers to continue that to at least some degree - that would have great benefits all round - businesses with remote staff could reduce their city footprint and thus expenses, employees will commute less - offering less fatigue and more flexibility, road and transit infrastructures will have less pressure on them and that could reduce pollution. We are already seeing a major drop in pollution levels in most cities, maybe that will encourage governments to move on their environmental commitments with this breathing space we are having.

The double-whammy of over-production of oil and a reduction in consumption is putting pressure on the oil and coal industries and again governments depending on them too much for revenue (hello Canada!) will encourage diversification of their economies and work forces to sustainable industries, especially in the energy field.

Now we have been handed a lesson: without doubt the immediate improvement in our environment as we reduce economic activity should put paid to the arguments that we are not a major factor in our environmental problems. It's up to governments, industries and society to do something about it while the lessons are still fresh.

[Tringa]

Agree and I really hope you are correct, Trev, but I think there might be a bounce back to the old ways, unfortunately.

Dave

[rpcrowe]

Friday night earthquake Watching CNN right at suppertime, we suddenly heard a loud noise and felt a significant bounce,

I thought, oh hell! We don't need an earthquake!

But that is what we got! It was 5.9 on the Richter scale and severe enough that we, about a hundred miles from the epicenter, felt it. Luckily, the epicenter was a sparsely inhabited and built up area and little damage was experienced.

However, it reminded me that amidst the COVID-19 outbreak, natural disasters and illness will continue to happen.

[Manfred M]

My daughter and grandson returned to Hong Kong after spending just over 2 months in Japan. She can only stay in Japan for a maximum of 90 days, even though she is married to a Japanese citizen, unless he is with her. She was also concerned about travel restrictions become more restrictive, so heading home was a priority with flights being cancelled on an almost daily basis. That is what happened to three of the four flights she had booked, so fortunately, there is one Japan Airlines flight a day that is still operating,

Upon arrival in Hong Kong she was given a choice of either having a COVID-19 test done at a site quite close to the airport or to take a test kit home and have it dropped off at a testing centre within a couple of days. This protocol was carried out on all passengers arriving by air.

She was then fitted with a self-isolation bracelet, shown in this image:



Once she got home, she had to load up an app on her cell phone and scan the QR code on the device. The app then instructed her to walk around their apartment slowly for about a minute so that the gps in the phone could establish a geofence around where she was staying. If she leaves the apartment, the phone notifies her of her transgression as well as notifying the authorities. Her almost 4 year old son did not get a device. She is also required to take her temperature and her son's temperature daily.

She and my grandson are restricted to staying in her apartment for the next two weeks. If the COVID-19 test she and her son took comes back positive, she will be notified of the result, with further instructions within the next 3 days. No news is good news and after midnight on April 18th, she is free to break isolation and cut off the isolation bracelet (which can be thrown away).

[rpcrowe]

Wow! What an intelligent solution...

I have always suspected that telling people to self isolate on their own, with no monitoring, is a very leaky situation...

BTW: It appears that President Dump is getting his "pandumic" advice from Sean Hannidy of Fox news. It appears like whatever Hannidy states is echoed by the Dumster...

[Cantab]

Wow! What an intelligent solution...

I have always suspected that telling people to self isolate on their own, with no monitoring, is a very leaky situation...

I unfortunately have to agree. Our provincial health officer in her daily update yesterday suggested as much (in a very polite reference to how the federal government is dealing with people as they enter the country).

And on the earthquake front, I'm glad it was not a big issue for you. There's been some black humour here that having an earthquake right now would not be a good time.

[Manfred M]

Wow! What an intelligent solution...

I have always suspected that telling people to self isolate on their own, with no monitoring, is a very leaky situation...

BTW: It appears that President Dump is getting his "pandumic" advice from Sean Hannidy of Fox news. It appears like whatever Hannidy states is echoed by the Dumster...

I find the situation very strange as in Canada we frequently hear of reports where people complain of non-elected American officials making decisions that impact American's lives.

Why is it that no one seems to care if non-elected network personalities do exactly the same thing? It almost seems like the USA has a fourth branch of government; the network commentators.

[DanK]

I find the situation very strange as in Canada we frequently hear of reports where people complain of non-elected American officials making decisions that impact American's lives.

Why is it that no one seems to care if non-elected network personalities do exactly the same thing? It almost seems like the USA has a fourth branch of government; the network commentators.

We care a great deal. Many of us consider it absolutely appalling. it's not a feature of the US government; it's a feature of this particular president. He has no tolerance for expertise, has a pathological lack of an attention span, is governed by his needs for both obeisance and flattery, and erratically responds to daily news cycles rather than putting in place long-term plans. Fox news plays to this: they flatter him and then tell him things that his base wants to hear. Early on people in the White House leaked that the time Obama spent receiving a daily intelligence briefing--and a good deal more than that--was replaced by watching Fox and Friends. He watches for hours. His staff try to make this less appalling by calling it "executive time."

It's important to realize that this has nothing to do with his actual policies. People who watched closely, including many Republicans in Washington who support many of his policies, have realized since the outset that he is incapable of handling a serious crisis. If you follow this closely, you would see a steady stream of Republicans and former staffers saying this, not just his political opponents. Those who supported him anyway gambled that we could make it through his term without a crisis that would require a capable president. They lost, which of course means that we all have lost.

[rpcrowe]

If I were an artist, I would do a cartoon of Humpty Trumpty sat on a wall, Humptry Trumpty had a great fall... All Sean Hannidy's and Rush Limbaugh's couldn't put Humpty Trumpty together again...

[Tronhard]

Thrill of the day!

This morning, on full lock-down, we were startled by the sounds of several police cars, sirens blaring, racing along the streets very close to our home. Soon the police Eagle helicopter was flying a circular pattern, virtually centred on our home. I nipped in and grabbed the first camera I had to hand - in this case the Canon EOS 80D with the EF 70-300 f4-5.6 USM MkII attached. I took a bunch of shots and enclose the the result of cropping and processing. It was probably 150m up and about 100m at its closest point, so the image was not huge.

To me it is a tribute to this lens that I could crop so much and still get some good results. Not only can one see the hi-res/infra-red camera tracking the centre of its circuit, but if you look carefully at the front cockpit door you can see the arm badge of the officer inside.

[Cantab]

Trev, a great shot! Do you know why the police were circling your home?

[Tronhard]

Trev, a great shot! Do you know why the police were circling your home?

Hi Bruce!

Across a gully from us is a partially completed subdivision on which all work has stopped since the lock-down began.



I think someone may have been attempting to steal stuff from the site. It would be logical that anyone discovered would head down into the bush directly below it, and our neighbourhood is on the other side of the bush and stream. The bush is extremely dense with only a couple of paths, so I suspect they found the culprits fairly quickly. In any case the chopper headed off after about 5 minutes of circling.

[LovelyAnguris]

When i imagine about Isolation my heart beats fast, i don't want to put my body in isolation. So stay at home is better.