Yes. Just bought quite a bit of canned food and bottled water today. May pick up a solar-based generator (100-200W).
Ask HN: How are you preparing for COVID-19 disruptions?
231–240 of 566 posts
Re: Ask HN: How are you preparing for COVID-19 disruptions?
#232Wouldn't it be prudent to try and get the virus as soon as possible? Apparently, it's not that dangerous of a disease assuming you have medical care available. So, now is the time to get it... when you have the entire intensive care unit st your disposal. If you hide out in your bunker, wear your mask, and follow the CDC's advice, you'll probably not get it for a few months. But when you do, instead of having a nice…
I had to go to the ER for my son and it was already full of sick people for flu season. So no, you don't probably wouldn't get the care all to yourself. There were also way more masks in use than the last time I had to go.
You sure about that?
I bet if you showed up and tested positive for COVID-19 you'd be given an entire floor to yourself. Definitely your own room.
At least for now...
Re: Ask HN: How are you preparing for COVID-19 disruptions?
#233@dang can we please lock this thread, as it seems to be creating more FUD than there is already. I think I haven't been so stressed out about reading anything on the internet in the last few years as much as this ask hn. Edit: spelling
help!!!! I can’t close the thread. I need a jannie to stop this talking!!!!!! help!!!!!
you’re fucking pathetic. log off you fucking pussy.
Re: Ask HN: How are you preparing for COVID-19 disruptions?
#234Refill your medication(s), that's the biggest one. India produces a lot of drugs and if they get infected, we will see shortage. China also produces a lot of the base chemicals used in medication, so this is worry some. If you have chronic conditions, you really don't want to be without. Soap and sanitizer. Mostly soap. Soap is equally effective as sanitizer in washing hands, etc. Soap is also much cheaper and more a…
Actually last year a few pharmacies in France told us they were short of some pills. Then we learned that only a few brands were manufacturing them .. so almost a single point of failure.
Globalization as made this less likely but most countries will now allow emergency imports if the situation gets critical.
Re: Ask HN: How are you preparing for COVID-19 disruptions?
#235I'm not. There's no meaningful preparations for avoiding what is essentially a really dangerous variant of the common cold at an individual level. Now governments and the medical field should be preparing for it. But most of that is logistical problems (e.g. number of hospital beds, preparing quarantine plans, test kits, etc). You can order a bunch of masks if it makes you feel better, but countries with common mask…
Do not overstock on masks or other supplies. Masks especially should be available to the sick. It's ironic that (I'm sure) someone out there will stock up on 10,000 masks and it will cause them to be in even greater danger because the sick people around them will have fewer masks. The CDC recommends that sick people wear masks to keep droplets in, and that people who directly interact with sick people wear masks whil…
And what use is of mask with a valve for a sick person? They are already sick and valve will let contaminated air straight out? Can healthy people at least buy these?
I think that not recommending masks for everyone is very myopic considering that the virus tends to spread asymptotically.
Re: Ask HN: How are you preparing for COVID-19 disruptions?
#236Earlier quoted context omitted.
It plateaued in China following an incredibly massive quarantine effort. The infection is hitting countries with not nearly the social control measures that China has.
You might be surprised. There are some old laws and powers that are going to be dusted off, and in some other cases it may be the case that governments just claim powers on an emergency basis and essentially nobody other than the absolute political fringes of society is going to complain.
Much of the world isn't actually under control of a government. Here in the developed world, we've basically bought into the nation-state system, with a strong central government controlling a defined territory with border checkpoints. But many parts of central Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and rural areas in other continents aren't like this. The dominant social organization is by tribe, clan, cartel, gang, or warlord; borders are porous or nonexistent; and the government has no authority, not even a monopoly on physical force.
The virus doesn't care whether you believe in governments, and it's just now hitting these regions - Pakistan, Africa, North Korea, etc.
Re: Ask HN: How are you preparing for COVID-19 disruptions?
#237Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wow, that's refreshingly forward thinking! I wish my company took remote work seriously.
Yeah there is nothing special about the internet in the office!
We can watch people and make sure they work - Management
And what happens when the Management goes on Vacation during the holiday break? - Me
* Stunned Management
Re: Ask HN: How are you preparing for COVID-19 disruptions?
#238My wife cancelled a holiday in the Far East. The airline seemed to be overwhelmed by people doing the same thing, so probably the time to short airline stocks.
There is a place for shorts i.e. as price discovery mechanism, and in many cases, as a price correction mechanism to reveal fundamental weaknesses in a company with overpriced stock. Shorting stocks to take advantage of a disaster strikes me as one of the most unethical, immoral things one can do. People still do it, but it doesn't make it right. (apologies for the moralizing -- my sentiments are not directed at OP w…
I mean, it's an airline. While the CEO might lose his bonus, it's unlikely for a bit of short selling to drive the airline out of business (and so for people to lose their jobs), so I don't think this is really a moral issue. Also, this is exactly a price discovery mechanism - the airline isn't going to be as profitable so it isn't as valuable!
Re: Ask HN: How are you preparing for COVID-19 disruptions?
#239Earlier quoted context omitted.
> It doesn't seem to be an airborn virus, but it does survive on surfaces. I just read this last night, and from this I had the impression that it is an airborne virus, and that surface spreading is not the main vector: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/about/transmission...
The "airborne" transmission in that link is what I believe is called "aerosol transmission", not airborne. Because it relies on liquid droplets in the air, and not actually able to transmit on something like dist in the air.
Wearing simple masks and glasses (!!!) would then protect against this vector.
Re: Ask HN: How are you preparing for COVID-19 disruptions?
#240When I saw the last thread about people's guesses about where this is going (the one about the Tokyo Olympics possible cancellation: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22420148), I thought the next one should be:
Ask HN: Do you have COVID-19?
This is much better, less alarmist, but I think we'll need the one above sooner or later. BTW, I'm in the camp thinking it will be inevitable, and last week we stockpiled about 1 month worth of food and supplies. If/when it hits our area, we can just stay home.