Preparing for Coronavirus?

[spork]

I now have two pounds of yeast.

Wow!  Where do you get it?

Local equivalent of Costco.

3M N95 respirators are still totally unobtainable.

[kaysixteen]

If one is supposed to quarantine for 14 days under these circumstances in Australia, who enforces this, what are the consequences for disobedience, and how strictly is it enforced?   Also, how does the govt know if you fall into one of the mandatory quarantine categories?

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

I thought this was interesting. Unfortunately, I have neither an instant pot/electric cooker nor an N95 mask.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200806164654.htm

[dismalist]

3M N95 respirators are still totally unobtainable.

Another contrived shortage.

[science.expat]

If one is supposed to quarantine for 14 days under these circumstances in Australia, who enforces this, what are the consequences for disobedience, and how strictly is it enforced?   Also, how does the govt know if you fall into one of the mandatory quarantine categories?

You have to sign in to enter a restaurant or pub. I just scan the posted QR code and enter my details - name, phone number, and email. You can also text a provided number or staff can enter the info for you. Of course you can lie but wouldn't you want to know if you've potentially been exposed? I wouldn't want to infect my friends or colleagues.

When someone tests positive they ask them in detail about prior movements over the days they were potentially infectious. So if Covid positive Charlie visited two restaurants and a pub for an hour or more during that period the media publicise that anyone who overlapped with him for at least an hour must immediately get tested and self isolate for 14 days from the day they were at the venue. They then use the sign in information to track and contact everyone who potentially overlapped and confirm the times they were there. Again, people could lie.

Once you're a confirmed close contact, you're contacted daily by phone or sms to confirm that you're self isolating and to ask if you need any assistance or have any symptoms. Police can also knock your door though this was more common in Victoria during their second wave than has been where I live. Failure to self isolate results in a fine which varies by state but is roughly $1000 for a first offence and $5000 for a second one. I suspect a third offence would lead to a jail term.

[kaysixteen]

I see why they are doing this, and of course I would personally want to know if I had had extended contact with a covid+ person.  That said, I am not at all sure that any American state could get away with this sort of policy, as, well, Americans, ah....

[jimbogumbo]

3M N95 respirators are still totally unobtainable.

Another contrived shortage.

Could you explain a little?

BTW, your Pogo quote is not quite the way I recall it.

[dismalist]

3M N95 respirators are still totally unobtainable.

Another contrived shortage.

Could you explain a little?

BTW, your Pogo quote is not quite the way I recall it.

Yeah: US States have anti-gouging laws which strictly limit price increases during emergencies. In addition, the DoJ has threatened anti-trust investigations of firms raising prices. Hence, the stimulus to supply and the dampening of demand [including for hoards] are reduced.

[spork]

According to the WSJ, retailers are stockpiling inventory:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/grocers-stockpile-build-pandemic-pallets-ahead-of-winter-11601199000.

[spork]

Most N95-labeled masks imported from China do not have 95% filtration efficiency:

https://assets.ecri.org/PDF/COVID-19-Resource-Center/COVID-N95-Mask-Testing-Alert.pdf.

[apl68]

Most N95-labeled masks imported from China do not have 95% filtration efficiency:

https://assets.ecri.org/PDF/COVID-19-Resource-Center/COVID-N95-Mask-Testing-Alert.pdf.

Goods from China that turn out to be shoddy?  What next?

[apl68]

Lysol and other aerosol cleaning sprays remain nearly impossible to find.  Reportedly most of what arrives in local stores never even makes it out to the consumer--it gets monopolized and hoarded by those with inside knowledge.  I ordered some last week from our regular regional cleaning supplier and received a case of an entirely different, non-aerosol cleaner that we didn't want.  We're still on the waiting list for what we do need.

Why is aerosol cleaner in such chronic short supply even after production of other cleaning items has caught up with demand?  My suspicion is that demand keeps outstripping supply because so many people are using it as the cleaning equivalent of a placebo.  I know several whose response to any and all contact from other people is to release a cloud of Lysol spray.  Putting that much aerosol junk in the air doesn't seem healthy.

[clean]

Putting that much aerosol junk in the air doesn't seem healthy.

That is not what I heard!  The Great Pumpkin said that we should be looking for ways to inject that stuff to wipe out the Covid!  This way it gets directly to the lungs, where it can act on the virus directly!

[spork]

I bought 150 pounds of rice today.

[apl68]

I bought 150 pounds of rice today.

Congratulations on being able to get stocked back up!

Still waiting for that aerosol cleaner we ordered last week.  If our long-term regional cleaning supplies wholesaler is having this kind of trouble fulfilling orders, I'm not inclined to take a chance on some fly-by-night supplier on Amazon, as some of the staff members have suggested.