Coronavirus and Living at Home (Isolated) General Info and Advice

[Cerez]

A fellow, disabled Tumblr user has put together a useful guide, from their extensive personal experience, on how to find and maintain sanity and balance when you are stuck indoors, isolated from others:

Housebound advice

This information sheet explains coronavirus and how to protect against it and manage it in simple terms:

Information PDF

I will only add that you keep well hydrated (keep drinking water throughout the day, preferably from a bottle with a cap that seals), and keep eating lots of nuts, fruits, and veggies to keep your immune system strong and efficient. Also be sure to do some physical exercise from time to time (at least weekly once).

If your throat gets sore, or you need an immune system boost, try the following recipe for my honey-lemon tea:

1. Boil water and pour into a cup. Let it cool for a bit, to below 70 celsius degrees.

2. Wash and cut a lemon in half.

3. Once the water has cooled (so the cup is not boiling hot anymore, and you can hold it), pour honey into it with a wooden or plastic spoon (never metal!*) into it, as much as you like.

4. Squeeze the half a lemon and pour it into the cup. Stir it up and mix it until the honey melts. Try to balance the sour taste with the sweetness of the honey.

Drink daily once, at least every second or third day. Don't overdo it, as the citric acid can get too much for your stomach. If you experience indigestion, you're having it too often (and too soon) -- spread it out in wider intervals, make the transition (concentration) more gradual, or take a break from it for a while.

*Metal spoons react with honey and destroy its disinfectant, healthy qualities. Never use any metal with lemon or honey!

 

[The Nameless Pirate]

Thank you for shearing this information.

A fellow, disabled Tumblr user has put together a useful guide, from their extensive personal experience, on how to find and maintain sanity and balance when you are stuck indoors, isolated from others:

Housebound advice

3. LIMIT YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA USAGE TO SOCIAL PURPOSES. Infinite scrolling as found on many social media platforms is a hot medium, as per McLuhan. The reason Likes exist is to give that little spike of interactivity. It’s not a conspiracy to say many platforms are designed to keep you on them so they can show you more ads. (See also https://www.theguardian.com/…/has-dopamine-got-us-hooked-on… which explains the brain chemistry angle) However, DM’s and other messaging faculties are supremely useful. Use them to interact with your friends, indulge your fandom theories. Person to person interaction requires and enhances deep-seated neurological and biophysical reflexes. Text your mates. Skype/Facetime or otherwise call them. Use the technology of the 21st century for genuine social ends, deliberately. Catch up with their lives one to one or in groupchats.

I just realized PA! is perfect for this advice!

No ads and social, there are likes but most people at least as I see it, actually have a conversation; instead of just liking.

This information sheet explains coronavirus and how to protect against it and manage it in simple terms:

Information PDF

Every bit of information helps, of course this is said everywhere nowadays, but the file you sheared is the best I have seen.

I will only add that you keep well hydrated (keep drinking water throughout the day, preferably from a bottle with a cap that seals), and keep eating lots of nuts, fruits, and veggies to keep your immune system strong and efficient. Also be sure to do some physical exercise from time to time (at least weekly once).

If your throat gets sore, or you need an immune system boost, try the following recipe for my honey-lemon tea:

1. Boil water and pour into a cup. Let it cool for a bit, to below 70 celsius degrees.

2. Wash and cut a lemon in half.

3. Once the water has cooled (so the cup is not boiling hot anymore, and you can hold it), pour honey into it with a wooden or plastic spoon (never metal!*) into it, as much as you like.

4. Squeeze the half a lemon and pour it into the cup. Stir it up and mix it until the honey melts. Try to balance the sour taste with the sweetness of the honey.

Drink daily once, at least every second or third day. Don't overdo it, as the citric acid can get too much for your stomach. If you experience indigestion, you're having it too often (and too soon) -- spread it out in wider intervals, make the transition (concentration) more gradual, or take a break from it for a while.

*Metal spoons react with honey and destroy its disinfectant, healthy qualities. Never use any metal with lemon or honey!

Thanks for your personal advice, this tea sounds both healthy (if you don't overdo it), and very tasty.
I will definitely try it out if get sick.

 

[Cerez]

Every bit of information helps, of course this is said everywhere nowadays, but the file you sheared is the best I have seen.

Life is too complicated -- I need things said simple, short, and concise.

Ironically, it takes more work to put something like this together than to present loads of raw text/information -- which is why it is so rare to find.

No ads and social, there are likes but most people at least as I see it, actually have a conversation; instead of just liking.

Yep, smaller community forums are like that. ^_^ (Unfortunately, they are a dying breed. :/)

I use "like" to show I agree here, mostly (to avoid adding useless short-posts).

As someone who has professionally worked in coding and designing for the web, I can't stress enough just how bad social media sites are for people's health!

I will definitely try it out if get sick.

Preferably before you get sick. If you feel a sore throat coming on, or just feel wonky and not your full self. (It takes time for it to work, a day or two, for your body to build immunity from the time you start taking in the nutrients.)

I warn you, though, it tastes/feels sometimes really good (for good reason), so it can get addictive. Keep to the motto: everything in moderation.

 

[The Nameless Pirate]

Life is too complicated -- I need things said simple, short, and concise.

Precisely, no need for over complications, especially in such things.

Ironically, it takes more work to put something like this together than to present loads of raw text/information -- which is why it is so rare to find.

Yep, and it's awesome when you find it.
In order to get to the point and make it understood by everyone, you need to put in more effort, and have more language skills than usual.

Yep, smaller community forums are like that. ^_^ (Unfortunately, they are a dying breed. :/)

I use "like" to show I agree here, mostly (to avoid adding useless short-posts).

Yep, here we have quite a niche subject, I showed PotC to some classmates of mine a few years ago.
They weren't too thrilled, bad graphics.
But anyway they lose.

As someone who has professionally worked in coding and designing for the web, I can't stress enough just how bad social media sites are for people's health!

I use PA! and Facebook basically, and in Facebook I mostly use the PMs, with a few exceptions.

Preferably before you get sick. If you feel a sore throat coming on, or just feel wonky and not your full self. (It takes time for it to work, a day or two, for your body to build immunity from the time you start taking in the nutrients.)

I would consider a sore throat the start of getting sick.

Anyway preventing something, is easier and better than fixing something.
So yes better not wait for it to get worse.

I warn you, though, it tastes/feels sometimes really good (for good reason), so it can get addictive. Keep to the motto: everything in moderation.

It's that good?!

I will have to try it out, remembering of course not to overdo it.

 

[Cerez]

It's that good?!

Let's just say it's much better than honey and lemon by themselves.

Sour and sweet are a matching and beloved taste combination, and the water acts as a diluter, so you can play with the balance until you get it just right. Not to mention that you're getting the richest/best natural ingredients for both sweet (honey) and sour (lemon).

You can also play with different kinds of honey and lemon -- as there are different types and they taste (slightly) different.

Compared to regular tea, it's golden nectar! (And one heck of an immunity booster!)

 

[Cerez]

A personal account:

 

[Cerez]

Other good, alternative immunity boosters are apple cider vinegar (drink heavily rationed and diluted, not by itself, it's too strong!) and beetroot with its juice (drink it, don't discard it -- also comprised mostly of apple cider vinegar and water).

Traditional, pickled vegetables, such as gherkins and winter pickles, are also a good source of vitamin C (and other vitamins).

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Oooh; I do like pickles.

 

[The Nameless Pirate]

On the topic of coronavirus and exercise.
I have set a goal, at the end of this quarantine I will come out stronger.

Now that I can exercise a bit almost every day, why not take advantage?

I have two weights, and a horizontal bar at my rooms door.
And there are exercises that don't need equipment.

Also I will continue reading The Witcher, when I have the time though.
Maybe continue some of my modding projects.

And of course study for school.

 

[Cerez]

In terms of exercise for health, all you need is to work up a slight sweat on the fresh air at least twice a week (or more frequently, when you feel like it) -- that will help to keep your immune system strong and efficient. The moment you reach the sweating point, your body is kicked into 'detox/cleaning, recovery, and repair mode', and you immune system is kicked into higher sentry/activity. The fresh air ensures your body gets plenty of oxygen, as well as cold air in the airways and lungs, to help fight viruses and bacteria. (Just make sure you yourself stay warm while outside, and don't do the cold air thing if you have pneumonia!)

 

[Cerez]

(The one thing this video doesn't mention and it really should is that entering and staying in closed rooms/offices where many people breathe the same stale air also increases the risk of contracting the virus dramatically.)

Many months later, I'm still struggling to wrap my head around this so-called critical worldwide health emergency.

Looking at the WHO stats:

15,785,641 confirmed cases
640,016 deaths

10,036,890 people recovered (according to Worldometer)

While this shows that the virus is quick to spread, the actual damage the virus is causing to the human population is hardly any more critical than the damage that seasonal flu does every year.

According to Worldometer:

Quick facts:

• Every year an estimated 290,000 to 650,000 people die in the world due to complications from seasonal influenza (flu) viruses.
• This figure corresponds to 795 to 1,781 deaths per day due to the seasonal flu.

Furthermore, technically the coronavirus doesn't actually kill people. It weakens (and potentially overwhelms) the immune system, which leads to other viruses and bacteria that have been present in or enter the body to cause havoc. Most coronavirus deaths are actually caused by pneumonia -- when a person's immune system collapses. Just to explain, this is actually a common naturally occurring death in both animals and people. When not dying from accumulated stress (heart problems) and unhealthy socio-environmental effects (cancer), most elderly people naturally die of pneumonia in their old age (as well as frail conditioned children in their youth).

And this all is not taking into account that in all this panic, coronavirus is actually being overdiagnosed at the moment -- other viral and bacterial infections are often confused with coronavirus through botched up, inaccurate testing practices. (Provided this virus actually exists as medically shown/claimed.)

The symptoms of the virus themselves are practically impossible to distinguish from the common cold and other infections in the human body.

So, while we do need to take care of ourselves (just as we would with a widespread case of the flu), why does this virus warrant the shutting down and destruction of the worldwide economy, and the plunging of the world into a third world war? I honestly think people looking back in history will say that this virus was used as a scare tactic to further political agendas, and to deliberately cause worldwide economical havoc and war. The statistics will certainly not show that there was that great a danger to humanity to warrant these extreme and radical government actions.

Famine and war will kill a lot more people than this virus ever did.

 

[Cerez]

And here's he BBC talking about the coronavirus as if it was directly responsible for the effects of a whole range of bacterial and viral infections in the human body:

 

[Pieter Boelen]

And here's he BBC talking about the coronavirus as if it was directly responsible for the effects of a whole range of bacterial and viral infections in the human body:

They say patients with the virus can have a whole range of symptoms.
And there's a lot of things we don't know.

I imagine a lot could be non-casual correlation.
People with health issues in those areas prior to that virus might be more susceptible to contracting it.

 

[Cerez]

I imagine a lot could be non-casual correlation.
People with health issues in those areas prior to that virus might be more susceptible to contracting it.

Isn't that kind of the same as saying the patient's existing conditions/illnesses just got worse? I mean what's the difference? If as a chronically ill person I was to get sicker tomorrow, it makes little difference to me whether my waning health is caused by coronavirus or the common cold. The fact is that what remains of my immune system couldn't protect me.

I just feel that government leaders are blowing this whole thing way out of proportion. Yes, we should wear masks, avoid staying in a room with other people breathing in the same stale air, or standing next to and speaking close with people -- if we're chronically ill and/or living with compromised health, be extra careful -- but we shouldn't be stopping people from going on with their lives and destroying countries and economies just because this virus is on the loose. We've never done such a thing in the past, and there have been many deadlier viruses on the loose than this strain of coronavirus -- which while highly infectious, is actually not all that dangerous to most people. Evidence shows that it isn't -- it's nothing like SARS or influenza in terms of its destructive power. In fact, it's more like a viral version of the common cold, like having bronchitis. Yes, it can still kill you if you have a weak immune system, so people should take care while it is going around rampant -- but it's nowhere near the end of the world governments are making it out to be!

It's just really starting to get to me, all this social nonsense.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Isn't that kind of the same as saying the patient's existing conditions/illnesses just got worse? I mean what's the difference? If as a chronically ill person I was to get sicker tomorrow, it makes little difference to me whether my waning health is caused by coronavirus or the common cold. The fact is that what remains of my immune system couldn't protect me.

Yeah...
Pretty much that.

It's just really starting to get to me, all this social nonsense.

Or "LACK of social stuff".
Things do feel quite sucky these days.

And I'm so sorry it is hitting you so hard.

 

[Cerez]

This explains our governments' supposed reasoning with the lockdowns -- though it still doesn't make sense to me. There are other, less drastic ways to 'flatten the curve' that do not have a severe impact on our economies and societies, leading us to economic depression and war.

Also, if I understand this correctly, then the coronavirus is just nature upping the living threshold on us, making the common cold (that was always around) more severe -- which is actually the result of our own doing (with our depletion of forests/trees and natural flora, our air pollution, and our crowded seclusion from nature).

 

[The Nameless Pirate]

Isn't that kind of the same as saying the patient's existing conditions/illnesses just got worse? I mean what's the difference? If as a chronically ill person I was to get sicker tomorrow, it makes little difference to me whether my waning health is caused by coronavirus or the common cold. The fact is that what remains of my immune system couldn't protect me.

True.

Now there is one difference between coronavirus and the common cold.
One has been around for years, while the other is something new; something unknown.
And the little ape in the back of our brains doesn't like the unknown, thus things may get exaggerated a bit.

I just feel that government leaders are blowing this whole thing way out of proportion. Yes, we should wear masks, avoid staying in a room with other people breathing in the same stale air, or standing next to and speaking close with people -- if we're chronically ill and/or living with compromised health, be extra careful -- but we shouldn't be stopping people from going on with their lives and destroying countries and economies just because this virus is on the loose. We've never done such a thing in the past, and there have been many deadlier viruses on the loose than this strain of coronavirus -- which while highly infectious, is actually not all that dangerous to most people. Evidence shows that it isn't -- it's nothing like SARS or influenza in terms of its destructive power. In fact, it's more like a viral version of the common cold, like having bronchitis. Yes, it can still kill you if you have a weak immune system, so people should take care while it is going around rampant -- but it's nowhere near the end of the world governments are making it out to be!

Fear of the unknown again.
And maybe political gain.

It's just really starting to get to me, all this social nonsense.

Or "LACK of social stuff".
Things do feel quite sucky these days.

And I'm so sorry it is hitting you so hard.

I was quite lucky with that, up until a month ago I was studying for exams; so I didn't see much difference.
And things had started to relax by the time I finished, or at least they did in Greece.
Now they are starting to get more serious again.

At least there is the internet, so it is not that bad, for me at least.

If I can help either of you somehow trough the internet, I would be more than happy.

This explains our governments' supposed reasoning with the lockdowns -- though it still doesn't make sense to me. There are other, less drastic ways to 'flatten the curve' that do not have a severe impact on our economies and societies, leading us to economic depression and war.

True, but lockdowns are the easiest I wager.

Also, if I understand this correctly, then the coronavirus is just nature upping the living threshold on us, making the common cold (that was always around) more severe -- which is actually the result of our own doing (with our depletion of forests/trees and natural fauna, our air pollution, and our crowded seclusion from nature).

In a way yes.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Now there is one difference between coronavirus and the common cold.
One has been around for years, while the other is something new; something unknown.
And the little ape in the back of our brains doesn't like the unknown, thus things may get exaggerated a bit.

Yep; very much that one.

Fear of the unknown again.
And maybe political gain.

I find it difficult to believe there's any predictable political gain to be had by anyone.
It seems like just madness and mayhem to me. Nobody knows what to expect; or what to do.
There's a lot o "shooting in the dark" going on; as well as "they do things, so we have to do things too".

And then there's the backlash against it all; making for an even bigger mess.

Is there a real threat? Or is it a mostly imaginary one?
I honestly cannot say. Not sure if anyone can.
But I do know a colleague of mine had it.
He survived without going to hospital, but it wasn't pretty.

So at the very least, I do think attempting to do something is warranted.

 

[The Nameless Pirate]

I find it difficult to believe there's any predictable political gain to be had by anyone.
It seems like just madness and mayhem to me. Nobody knows what to expect; or what to do.
There's a lot o "shooting in the dark" going on; as well as "they do things, so we have to do things too".

And then there's the backlash against it all; making for an even bigger mess.

The way I could see this having a deliberate political impact is this.
Some countries may use this unrest in order to sway the public a bit, or distract us from something.

Of course I don't think that governments started the virus though.

Is there a real threat? Or is it a mostly imaginary one?
I honestly cannot say. Not sure if anyone can.
But I do know a colleague of mine had it.
He survived without going to hospital, but it wasn't pretty.

So at the very least, I do think attempting to do something is warranted.

Yep, something does need to be done; the key is to find the right balance.
Reduce the virus' spread, while affecting peoples live as least as possible.

Maybe lockdown is that, or maybe there is some better way to do this.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

The way I could see this having a deliberate political impact is this.
Some countries may use this unrest in order to sway the public a bit, or distract us from something.

Maybe.
Except it could also be that the politicians themselves are distracted now.