I am so sorry for your loss of your mom. My sincerest condolences to you and your family.
China is also a lot more authoritarian, and, once the national government realized there was a real problem, despite delays likely caused by being an authoritarian environment, a top-down policy committed to containing the virus was followed by provincial and local governments and private companies/organizations.
In contrast, that level of authoritarianism is probably too far for most people in the US (even those with more authoritarian leanings), and various parts of the US national government, state governments, local governments, and private companies/organizations do their own things based on what they believe they and their associated people need, often without much coordination with others (although there may be herd-following).
It’s probably not a bad idea to go the restaurant now with not many people being out. The restaurant business is hurting so bad, my friend owns a Thai restaurant and she had to tell half of the employees not to come in. Bit she is determined to open, said she can’t pay rent otherwise. It’s in a downtown area where the rent is over 10k per month
Is it age by itself that is a big risk factor, or is much of the increased risk at higher age based on the fact that older people are more likely to have pre-existing medical conditions that are associated with higher risk?
@momofsenior1 — sorry about your mom’s death. May she live on in you and all the lives she touched.
You are a good egg! I know many many teachers and all of them were relieved with the school closure, none has the capacity to be missing their and almost crying. Take care of you, you.
I went to a restaurant a few days ago in the evening. There was no one there except the employees. Between then and when I was done eating there, only about six customers came in, a far lower volume than usual.
Order take out at your favorite restaurants?
So I have a dilemma. Berkeley now moves to online for the rest of the semester. They give you option to stay in the dorm, or move out and get some reimbursement (probs around $2500, if we move out by certain date). Kiddo is already home but she didn’t pack up everything. So we could either fly there and move her stuff out and get the money back, or just forego the reimbursement but still have to go there in May to get her stuff out anyway. H thought it’s not worth it considering we shouldn’t fly anywhere. I am always happy to visit CA but I guess he is right. Ok I just convince myself not to go.
Received closing announcements from H’s gym (on a college campus), rink where he plays hockey and church. Big rain is in forecast, so no golf or hiking. And no NBA/NCAA/NHL/MLB/MLS or PGA on tv for him to watch.
Shoot. Me. Now.
Thank you. I truly love my students and love my job. I worry about them missing so much in person instruction. There are a lot of students at our school who have all sorts of struggles in life and school is a place where things are stable, predictable, and where they feel safe. I will be safer this way, without being close to so many people physically each day, but it will feel sad and empty to me.
This Monday will be very interesting to see how the network can handle so many people working/studying from home. Most local schools start this Monday. And pretty much everyone who can work from home, will. We have strong WiFi with multiple access points at the house. But it’s not just us, it’s the entire town/city accessing the network.
@momofsenior1 - I am so terribly sorry for you loss.
This is true. Another thing I think that stands out to me as a big difference is when people who are private citizens of Wuhan made youtube videos, the ones I saw all said they want to stay home so they don’t get other people sick. I think thinking about not getting others sick is something that seemed a lot more on the minds of people than people I hear talk about this here. Yes, American also don’t want to get other people sick, and I could be very wrong. It just seems that personal freedom and rights are a bigger part of many people’s thinking here and that thinking about society as a whole and feeling responsibility to others is bigger there.
Actually, i could be very wrong on that. I think of how many, many posters in this thread have talked about their concerns for others. most people here are saying things that show they are very concerned with the welfare of others.
Do any of you feel as though trying to keep our elders in check is not unlike trying to enforce a curfew on a teen?? Sheesh! My 81-year-old mother-in-law just does not seem to be getting it! Thankfully, she is in good health, but her age alone is concerning to me. She is so into her “routine,” and is extremely social - bridge a couple of times a week, weekly Bible study, church, weekly volunteering, retired teacher organizations. Thankfully, most things she does have been canceled. She is hoping her athletic club doesn’t close. I texted that she could choose not to attend her water aerobics class even if they don’t close the athletic club. Her reply? “But I 
water aerobics!” I suppose with the chlorine and required spacing apart it is safer than some other activities.
My friend’s mom (85) HAD to attend a lecture at her church last night. She said, “I promise this is the last time I’ll go to anything at church, but I really want to hear the speaker!”
My college roommate was so thankful her mom’s nursing home ceased all visits as her 90-year-old dad wanted to go for a visit.
I know it is hard on elders to miss out on their social outings, but they sure don’t like being told, “no,” and (like putting a stinging antiseptic on a cut) they just aren’t grasping it is in their best interests to STAY HOME!!!
Or… they’re viewing this differently because they’re at a different stage in their life.
@Nhatrang Ohhh, good point. Local school has e-learning 3 days next week, then off 2 weeks, at this point anyway. Will be interesting to see how that taxes the network, although it may be even worse when there is no school and everyone is streaming.
I don’t know anyone locally working from home due to the virus, but I imagine that may change quickly as childcare is needed, or as cases get closer.
My parents didn’t take this seriously at all for a long time. I finally got them to take it seriously and the way they responded was by going out way more to all the stores to stock up and see all the people in the stores. (bonks forehead).
@Nhatrang. T-mobile is offering free unlimited data plus like 20 g because of the crisis. Think it’s for 60 days or something like that for customers… FYI… You can Hotspot etc if needed. Going to be some serious streaming… Err…mean studying going on. ?
I don’t know this. But I saw charts that show that each age bracket goes up in serious cases, so saying ‘over 60’ gives this false idea that things just skyrocket at 60 years of age when it is an increase in each age bracket that goes up.