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[STEMO]

This is not going to sound like me at all, but here goes:
The wife is having to go into school to look after key workers children, probably for the duration of the emergency. Yesterday, after watching news reports from Italy and Spain, we decided that most people, including us, were not taking the situation seriously enough, so we thought we'd put some rules in place.
The reasoning behind this, for us, is because we are an interdependent family of three, the loss or incapacity of any one would make life seriously bad for the other two. A bit dramatic, maybe, but why take unnecessary risks?
I'm picking up my son from Sheffield uni tomorrow afternoon and he will get a stern talking to. 20 year olds don't really take this kind of thing seriously but, after I've told him how shit his life would be without me to ferry him around, feed him, wash and iron his clothes, etc., I'm sure he will take notice.
We will be doing the obvious things like washing hands whenever we come into the house (I'll be an absolute pain enforcing that), and general good personal hygiene. After every use of cutlery/ crockery, the person using it will put it in the dishwasher, ready for the hot treatment. Other things around the house, but you get the picture.
Whilst I'm still allowed, I'll be walking doggie away from my usual busy country park, around the fields at the end of the road. When I go out at the moment, the world and his mate are stroking and feeding her.
I'm going to try to use Iceland and other small supermarkets instead of the daily scrum at Asda. Dog walks and shopping will be my only reasons to go out.

You'll all have your own opinions about this, ranging from 'Wussie bastid' to 'Seems quite obvious/sensible', but each to their own.

Any tips/advice/tales of your particular adventure would be very welcome. Despite my abrasive tone from time to time, I think the world of you all. Please stay safe. 

[Kevin Wood]

Sounds to me like your wife needs to develop a dry cough and a temperature to get her excused from babysitting detail.

[STEMO]

Sounds to me like your wife needs to develop a dry cough and a temperature to get her excused from babysitting detail.

Don't think we haven't thought about that, Kevin, but, if teachers start doing that, then it's taking nurses and doctors out of the system.

[STEMO]

Another one: Wife just came in clutching the electric toothbrush and said "I've had this in my mouth with slobbery toothpaste running down over......".
Stop! I'll buy another pack of plastic ones today for me. Yuk. 

[Mr.OmegaMan]

Far too many are still not taking this seriously enough sadly. 

Take a look at this for example (video should play even without an account). Just yesterday and no doubt today as well. Heaving with “tourists” looking for a good time without a care for anyone else.

https://www.facebook.com/94064362075/posts/10157187772387076/?vh=e&d=n

(If you watch it to near the end you’ll notice someone putting parking tickets on the cars  )

https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/crowds-gather-snowdon-mountain-rescuers-17959085

[Kevin Wood]

Sounds to me like your wife needs to develop a dry cough and a temperature to get her excused from babysitting detail.

Don't think we haven't thought about that, Kevin, but, if teachers start doing that, then it's taking nurses and doctors out of the system.

True, but is it sensible that that task falls to teachers with an "elderly relative" at home?

[Andy B]

My wife works in ASDA so is in direct contact with the public (and the minority that live local have a reputation for not being the cleanest   )
And daughter works in an ICU as a nurse so as no option of who she's in contact with either.

[YZ250]

We are in a very awkward situation ourselves. Both of my elderly parents are disabled, my Dad (90) can just about get around on a frame but my Mum (84) is chair bound after suffering a stroke over two years ago. We have to take them ready meals for the week, sanitize the house and generally tidy up/scrub everything clean. This was our routine way before the corona virus, but we are still doing it now as usual. Our problem is that my parents have two carers coming in four times a day. This puts my parents at risk, us at risk, and ultimately my children and grandchildren at risk. I'm washing my hands thoroughly after every time I touch something in their house (you'd be surprised at how often you do touch something) but I can't just not visit as they wouldn't survive without us. Carers will put a meal in the microwave but the food needs to be there in the first place. My biggest fear is picking something up over their house and passing it on to my children/grandchildren, for which I could never forgive myself.

[Rangie]

This is not going to sound like me at all, but here goes:
The wife is having to go into school to look after key workers children, probably for the duration of the emergency. Yesterday, after watching news reports from Italy and Spain, we decided that most people, including us, were not taking the situation seriously enough, so we thought we'd put some rules in place.
The reasoning behind this, for us, is because we are an interdependent family of three, the loss or incapacity of any one would make life seriously bad for the other two. A bit dramatic, maybe, but why take unnecessary risks?
I'm picking up my son from Sheffield uni tomorrow afternoon and he will get a stern talking to. 20 year olds don't really take this kind of thing seriously but, after I've told him how shit his life would be without me to ferry him around, feed him, wash and iron his clothes, etc., I'm sure he will take notice.
We will be doing the obvious things like washing hands whenever we come into the house (I'll be an absolute pain enforcing that), and general good personal hygiene. After every use of cutlery/ crockery, the person using it will put it in the dishwasher, ready for the hot treatment. Other things around the house, but you get the picture.
Whilst I'm still allowed, I'll be walking doggie away from my usual busy country park, around the fields at the end of the road. When I go out at the moment, the world and his mate are stroking and feeding her.
I'm going to try to use Iceland and other small supermarkets instead of the daily scrum at Asda. Dog walks and shopping will be my only reasons to go out.

You'll all have your own opinions about this, ranging from 'Wussie bastid' to 'Seems quite obvious/sensible', but each to their own.

Any tips/advice/tales of your particular adventure would be very welcome. Despite my abrasive tone from time to time, I think the world of you all. Please stay safe. 

     


Stemo we are virtually identical here apart from a 20 year old to ferry about, my other half once worked as a microbiologist and has said repeatedly that a lot of folk do not seem to realise the gravity of the situation we are now in.
Hope you & all of your family stay safe.

[dave the builder]

A difficult time for most people who are taking this seriously 

will the lad be under house arrest ? worth considering and show him the footage of Italy etc
downside is teenagers do use up your toilet roll stash 

most disinfectant contains Benzalkonium Chloride (the active ingredient in non alcohol foaming hand sanitizer)
mixed in a garden sprayer ,or re-used household trigger spray bottle etc ....
you can quickly blast door handles,letter box,wheely bin ,dust bins etc etc
(you may have seen news footage of workers spraying everything)
you can also have a cloth,soaked in this disinfectant solution in a zip bag in your pocket
(to wipe car door handle,steering wheel,knob  shopping trolley handle,hand rail etc etc )
you could add disinfectant to babywipes to do the same job , but that is not very green 
if you do come in contact with the great unwashed, wash your clothes .
covering your mouth with a scalf ,mask won't filter out what you breathe in ,but will reduce how much spit/germs you put out if talking.
stick a "no cold callers " type note on your door
avoid people if at all possible 

[Migv6 le Frog Fan]

Mine has just been put on a course of strong steroids, which will knock out her immune system, which makes her a very high risk of catching Covid.
From yesterday she is confined to the house, but before she went into lockdown she wanted to go to Sainsburys when they opened at 6am on Friday, as she cant trust me to do the shopping for the next couple of months.
We got there just before they opened and there was at least 100 people already in the queue. When it opened there were no toilet rolls (of course), no pasta, almost none of the basic essentials, and all beer was gone apart from SOL, so I had to have a case of that.
On the way home we went to a couple of small local independent shops were we managed to get some longlife milk and some other bits & pieces.
I went to Tesco Witham on the way to work yesterday morning and managed to get a few more items on her list. I noticed that all the pet food shelves were empty in there, so presumably people in Witham really love their pets.
The only risk swmbo will have now is me bringing it into the house will be from me.
My workplace have sent home approx. Half the workforce, with brand new laptops so they can work from home. I arrive at work as the others are leaving for home, so I can avoid close contact with anyone I hope.
Work have also bought £15000 worth of alcohol wipes, tubs of which are placed all around the building and are being used to clean anything and everything, so hopefully we will be ok.
Im a bit concerned about our daughter. Although she is now working from home, she lives in central London and is a severe asthmatic.
She is going around shops, wearing gloves and a facemask, trying to get a bit of a stock of food, but with little success so far.
She normally either eats out, uses Deliveroo, or buys her food on a daily basis, so never has much food in her flat at any given time.
When you see that the UK  trajectory for fatalities is actually on a slightly more upward curve than Italy was a few weeks ago, its pretty worrying.
Daughter has ordered herself a nebuliser for home use, but I don't know if that would help if she caught it, and I doubt Ventilators are a realistic or even available option for individuals to use.
One concern we don't have is Loo rolls. At the end of last year swmbo spotted her favourite brand online at a much lower price than she normally pays so she ordered a huge amount (250 - 300 iirc) of them in one hit. I was pissed off at the time, due to the amount of space they take up. Im not pissed off now though.

[dave the builder]

another tip ,as i have said previously , think of everything outside your safe areas as having WET PAINT on,
don't touch your own things until you get the paint off your hands with sanitizer etc

[Migv6 le Frog Fan]

No use to me Dave. Im forever touching wet paint. Even though it was me who did the painting five minutes ago.

[Varche]

My plan has been in operation since the 3 rd March but isnt going well. Avoiding other people, not touching door handles plus a host of other sensible measures.

The first two weeks were spent visiting my dad twice a day in hospital and my brother p.m. All with social distancing.  Plus dejunking dads house and stocking cupboards up with stuff for Boris’s over 70s isolate for up to four months. Fortunately I was ahead of the curve there. Didn't need toilet rolls , the cupboard already had enough. This last week has been first week of proper isolation,

During the second week he developed a cough with gallons of catarrh. Eight days ago I caught it . Bloody thing is a grim beast . Head ache, shivers, hot, .no runny nose but some episodes of spitting out or blowing industrial quantities of snot. My left eye has.   exploded red. Back home I would already have had a visit to my GP. I am going to a chemist today for hopefully some antibiotic drops or similar. Wish me luck there. Got to do something in case it is something serious.

Rest of the family and neighbours have stopped coming to visit except from outside the window. SIL works on customer service at a large local supermarket. Yesterday was 7.30 till 2 with 30 minute break. She might well have been in contact with an infected person by now.

One upcoming problem is I have organised for dad’s bathroom to be wet roomed. CV19 has helped. The council just postponed all his jobs with them. He can do it in two weeks - about ten days of supreme disruption. That will be a trial but hopefully let him live here for more years assuming he avoids falling......( my big hope is there won’t be a lockdown to stop him. Fairly sure there will be though)

I am having fresh food delivered by a previously set up acct with a supermarket. I also took out an Amazon prime ( free for30 days) Have used it to buy a ton of needed stuff like dossette box. I am still stunned at stuff ordered in the evening arrive the next morning including my firestick. Set that up last night and started watching stuff.

[dave the builder]

No use to me Dave. Im forever touching wet paint. Even though it was me who did the painting five minutes ago.

OK, think of the wet paint as a KILLER VIRUS that will wipe out humanity