Politicians won't admit it yet, but it's time to prepare—physically and psychologically—for a sudden stop to all life outside your home.
[...] Whether you are reading this in your living room in Vancouver, office in London, or on a subway in New York City, you need to think hard, and fast, about two crucial questions: Where, and with whom, do you want to spend the next six to 12 weeks of your life, hunkered down for the epidemic duration? And what can you do to make that place as safe as possible for yourself and those around you?
Your time to answer those questions is very short—a few days, at most. Airports will close, trains will shut down, gasoline supplies may dwindle, and roadblocks may be set up. Nations are closing their borders, and as the numbers of sick rise, towns, suburbs, even entire counties will try to shut the virus out by blocking travel. Wherever you decide to settle down this week is likely to be the place in which you will be stuck for the duration of your epidemic.
To appreciate what lies ahead for the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the United Kingdom, pay heed to Italy, France, and Germany. The United States, for example, is currently tracking exactly where Italy was about 10 days ago. France and Germany, which track two to five days ahead of the United States, are now revving up measures akin to those taken by Italy, including lockdowns on movement and social activity. In a matter of days, the United States will follow suit.
[...] Once tough location decisions have been made, the household must be readied for a long siege. While panic-buying has led to stockpiles of toilet paper and hand sanitizer, getting through eight months of confinement with others will require a great deal more, both physically and psychologically. This is especially true for households that span generations.
Long-term confinement that includes children undergoing remote schooling and adults trying to work requires designated spaces for each individual, a powerful Internet signal and Wi-Fi router, and a great deal of shared patience. Everybody in the household must understand how the coronavirus is spread, and what steps each should follow to eliminate their personal risk of passing infection to others in the home.
The virus is transmitted by droplets and fomites[*]—it isn't like measles, capable of drifting about in the air for hours. It dehydrates quickly if not inside water, mucus, or fomite droplets. The size of the droplets may be far below what the human eye can see, but they are gravity-sensitive, and will fall from an individual's mouth down, eventually, to the nearest lower surface—table, desk, floor. You do not need to clean upward.
However, a newly published study, backed by the National Institutes of Health, found that the virus survives in "aerosols for up to three hours, up to four hours on copper, up to 24 hours on cardboard and up to two to three days on plastic and stainless steel." This means an uncleaned surface can pose a risk to members of the household for a very long time—a doorknob, tabletop, kitchen counter or stainless steel utensil.
[*] Wikipedia entry on fomites:
any inanimate object that, when contaminated with or exposed to infectious agents (such as pathogenic bacteria, viruses or fungi), can transfer disease to a new host.
[...] In addition to objects in hospital settings, other common fomites for humans are cups, spoons, pencils, bath faucet handles, toilet flush levers, door knobs, light switches, handrails, elevator buttons, television remote controls, pens, touch screens, common-use phones, keyboards, and computer mice, coffeepot handles, countertops, and any other items that may be frequently touched by different people and infrequently cleaned.
Researchers have discovered that smooth (non-porous) surfaces like door knobs transmit bacteria and viruses better than porous materials like paper money because porous, especially fibrous, materials absorb and trap the contagion, making it harder to contract through simple touch. Nonetheless, fomites may include soiled clothes, towels, linens, handkerchiefs, and surgical dressings
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 24 2020, @05:05AM (14 children)
I understand they are all panicking, but the really evil side of this is that they will use this to pass sweeping laws that remove some inalienable right(s) people have.
Should we expect checkpoints on our commute now and have to show "papers". How else they going to enforce this?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 24 2020, @05:11AM (1 child)
Be happy it's not worse, yet.
Like taking you out from your bed to disinfect you and your house. You will return inside the pet food cans for those that can afford to pay a bigger rent and keep pets. For a while.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Tuesday March 24 2020, @03:00PM
Soylent-pet-green!
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 24 2020, @06:05AM
E S S E N T I A L
Great word that
(Score: 2) by dry on Tuesday March 24 2020, @03:11PM (5 children)
Those "rights" aren't really inalienable as this shows, they can be taken away.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 24 2020, @04:09PM (3 children)
Look, about every couple of decades America shits its pants and all the precious Freedoms turn out to be worthless paper. The only funny thing is that for the other 19 years, Americans seem so genuinely earnest about Freedom and oblivious to even the most recent Guantanamo or internment event. I salute you sorry bastards.
(Score: 2) by fyngyrz on Tuesday March 24 2020, @07:54PM (1 child)
Do you have a permit for that gesture? No?
Come along then. You'll be spending some quality time in lockup, waiting (perhaps indefinitely) to see a courtroom.
--
Have an urge to follow the masses? Careful:
Sometimes, the "m" is silent.
(Score: 2) by dry on Wednesday March 25 2020, @01:16AM
It's what happens in an emergency. Look at the citizens of Japanese descent during the war, a couple of years might as well be forever, especially when you've lost everything.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 24 2020, @08:46PM
I remember after the US Supreme Court decision in Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier (which decided that school newspapers could be censored by school officials regardless of what the First Amendment supposedly said), one of the students who had sued was being interviewed. She was asked what she thought of the Constitution now that the decision had been announced.
"It's just a piece of paper," she replied.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 24 2020, @07:33PM
we'll see about that. if shit gets bad enough i will get my pound of flesh before i go.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by DimestoreProstitute on Tuesday March 24 2020, @05:06PM
Well having people rely on each other not being assholes via the honor system has obviously failed, I suspect more technological measures will be implemented.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday March 24 2020, @10:20PM
You guys have so many paramilitary forces to choose from, and they pretty much all carry guns. DEA? FBI? CIA? NSA?
I'm sure there are plenty more.
(Score: 2) by legont on Wednesday March 25 2020, @03:10AM (1 child)
In Europe - Spain, I think, but whatever - one has to download and fill in a form each time before going outside. It is checked and the fine sarts with 800 euro. One might ask how to collect the fine with courts closed though.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Wednesday March 25 2020, @09:01AM
It is certainly the case in France - but I don't think the minimum fine is that high, but it is certainly possible for repeat offenders.
I am not interested in knowing who people are or where they live. My interest starts and stops at our servers.
(Score: 2) by DeVilla on Wednesday March 25 2020, @04:02AM
Talked to a fellow tonight who expects to eventually get checked at the state border entering Wisconsin having to explain he works at the hospital just inside Wisconsin. I know another fellow who's employer gave him and told him to keep in his car proof that he is an "essential employee" in the agricultural industry.
There are some measures that were perhaps a little excessive but understandable right after 9/11 that have no business still being on the books today. I saw that coming the moment I heard about the second tower coming down. I hadn't really given it much thought, but I hope this isn't more of the same.