Upside Down – Retiring in a Corona Virus World

I'll keep my contrarian views on this to myself but being a severe optimist and a life-long germophobe will hope that those who rarely washed they hands before this will develop a hand-washing habit that will continue after this passes. In the meantime, here's a link with info on where you can stream Broadway shows if you need something to watch :)
https://www.playbill.com/article/15-broadway-plays-and-musicals-you-can-watch-on-stage-from-home?fbclid=IwAR2wyWo3SvSI9isNjGxkEivk7zITqgMwnhBDARo9K3rNe8zcKdyhiKTeuOc

To Jean: I applaud your comment about hand washing. As a nurse I keep hand sanitizer with me at all times. Washing my hands is just like breathing to me.

Thank God a few weeks ago I planned ahead and did all my shopping online or by delivery services. I hear many friends scrambling trying to find food to buy or just scared to order online. I'm just glad that we're no longer working and we started social distancing a few weeks ago. At the end of this hopefully we will learn how to be more careful and mindfall to others. My best wishes to all....stay safe and healthy.

Already I am seeing some sticky problems come up. The city closed the park with the tennis courts, but people are saying tennis is healthy and if we keep our distances we are safe. The contrary is we all have to be super careful. In our condo association the issue is the pool. The CDC says pools and hot tubs are safe if properly maintained. But with the city closing parks and beaches, what should we do? We could lock all the chairs and tables up since the staff can't disinfect them, or post a sign that they are not disinfected and use at your own risk. Tough questions.

I went out yesterday to pick up a prescription at a nearby pharmacy (which is encouraging patrons to use delivery instead). It was a ghost town. I drove by a mall, and could count the cars on one hand. Even the large grocery store only had a handful of cars. Our county has 60+ diagnosed cases so far, and the numbers are quickly climbing. Yesterday a TSA officer working at our regional airport (Cleveland OH) was diagnosed. Hundreds of people have doctors orders to be tested, and the drive-through testing sites were overwhelmed by cars & had to shut down early yesterday. My cleaning lady said their company is receiving countless calls asking for disinfection services, but they aren't accepting any new clients. My kids in health care have reminded me that 80% of cases will be asymptomatic, or have common cold/flu symptoms. The goal is to keep that 20% from overwhelming health care resources like in Italy. Since Covid-19 is allegedly 30% more contagious than the common flu, the risks from that 20% requiring medical resources at the same time is genuine. After all, hospitals have limited numbers of ventilators, etc. As an introvert, being stuck in the house with my kindle is not a huge hardship right now.

I'm obviously worried about my kids who work in a hospital -- and worry about my neighbors, who are seniors that have health issues. One has a spouse in a nursing home (nursing homes are now closed to visitors). By the way -- our suburb's Facebook page and sites like Nextdoor.com have people who are offering to run errands for seniors, so they can remain quarantined & safe. It might be helpful to check if you have similar resources available.

Kathy, Prior to a career change to technology and then pharm, I was also a nurse (in the 70s), worked for about 8 years for a large county nursing home (300+beds) that was in a building that had been an isolation hospital. It was like working in a museum. All the doors had huge hooks (no knobs and no push plates) to open and close with elbows and all of the sinks had a stirrup-like lever for knee control )right for cold, left for warm and center to turn off). There were old autoclaves in what we used for break rooms and a number of "iron lungs were stored in the sub basement. Several staff members had worked there when it was an isolation hospital, besides TB and polio they'd get measles, and other contagion. That building still stands but has been empty for years. It was used in the movie A Beautiful Mind, the scenes supposed to be at MIT were filmed there.

Waiting for the food supply chain to break down. Grocers, deliver companies, meat packers, dairy, prepared food manufacturers and packagers. Restaurants and bars and all schools shutdown at least until end of month here. Suddenly shots rang out... A wet washcloth can always substitute for TP.

But gas will be cheap; Canadian crude $9/bbl today...

We don't really consider ourselves as "elderly" and are just over 60 but apparently still "at risk" for all of this Covid19! We are retired and moved here two years ago. We were delighted to have two kids (middle school?), from down the street, knock on our door the other day, and step back. They had taped a paper on the outside of the glass that offers to take our lists and do any shopping we need - should we be sick or too scared to go to the grocery store - all for FREE - delivered to our door! I'm pretty sure they did this around the block. Take heart - there are some amazing kids in New England!!

....To cope, I have a nice supply of bourbon....a nice comfortable rocking chair....178 channels to pick from...did I say a nice supply of bourbon ?

Some VERY good news from the front lines! In the study reported a combo of 2 existing drugs, chloroquine and Azithromycin (Zithromax) cleared the virus from all patients treated. It was a small study but the results are very positive.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/186Bel9RqfsmEx55FDum4xY_IlWSHnGbj/view?fbclid=IwAR1XfPYPaCU5wO2HshSnKhyVQfXCfcp8oBV-e-zivW0H7jN6GKnSEoamYTc

Editor's note: This does sound promising, although the Dr. Fauci and others says there is no proof yet, and there are serious risks associated with those drugs. The combo test was among 20 patients - encouraging certainly but a tiny group. See https://www.forbes.com/sites/marybethpfeiffer/2020/03/18/science-works-to-use-old-cheap-drugs-to-attack-coronavirus--it-might-just-work/

My retirement job is working in a school as a Special Ed teacher. These are very stressful times. I am 68 and a cancer patient. Before the closed the schools, I was very anxious about this virus. I follow news carefully and saw this coming, but nobody was speaking about it. Now, I am totally isolated at home and we are meeting online to get remote learning up and running. The students are very anxious and depressed and the parents are now in the position of trying to homeschool their children, or have to leave them at home alone while they work. These are very difficult times for families and for me. I pray, keep busy figuring these lessons out. My investment savings have been decimated. I have a grown child living alone in a very large city and she cannot come home because I am at such high risk and she has been riding the subway daily. God, help us all.

Maimi, you have the perfect platform to start a program of youth and their at-home parents helping older members of the community by delivering groceries, etc. They keep saying you feel stronger and more optimistic by helping others, what a great time to impart life lessons to a new generation. While we might need a come-to-Jesus moment for some of the self-absorbed brats spring-breaking, bar-hopping, and “influencers” bloviating online, you can still educate the younger ones about everyone’s responsibility to each other in a society. I’m seeing heartwarming stories on TV and online everyday. One of my favorites was the group karaoke uniting friends and strangers online in a bit of levity. This is your chance to inspire and enlighten.

Looking for something to watch while hunkered down? Here's a great vid on "what is a virus"? This is just on lecture from a full virology course, if you find it interesting there ae additional lectures from the same course listed with it on youtube :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svlKm4S1M3Y&fbclid=IwAR1D825MaEP2eMaA9_ogANgeHF2LMsPNt21q9fFbY68VRQClpGowSROn84s

Daryl, my students would warm your heart. They call concerned about me. They are all so sweet, but are extremely anxious and sad that they can’t be at school. I am impressed by these younger folks, and that includes the Millennials. I have a 28 year old daughter in NYC , and she and her friends are the hardest working, most caring people I have ever met. I went to HS in the 60’s and I have to say we were obnoxious. These HS kids are nothing like that and I can’t say enough about them.

One of the things that has apparent during this coronavirus nightmare is how important good healthcare is. Living in a rural community or small town with a far away or limited hospital can be a real problem in times like these, where the facility can easily be overwhelmed. I think we will stick with places where you can count on the healthcare, somewhere in the Sunbelt.

Let us not forget to check in on our neighbors and friends who might need support. Maybe they need some groceries or something at the pharmacy. Maybe all they might need (and it would be good for us too) is a little human contact. This event is bigger than all of us, and we can all work together.

Although we mentioned this before, be extremely careful about the huge amount of misinformation that is coming out about COVID. Rely only on trusted sources like the CDC, NIH, your state's directives, and the respected news outlets who have real journalists instead of opinion and conspiracy bloggers. Avoid fringe websites. Don't pass stories along to your friends unless you have checked multiple sources to make sure the story is really true. You can download the CDC mobile app onto your phone.

...I ruled out any ideas of a Florida retirement. This stuff is for real. People can’t make intelligent decisions themselves. They have to be told under threats of big fines or jail. Good luck to all.

Billy, I agree with you. ....

When visiting Florida last year at this time, I camethisclose to buying a lovely home in an over 55 golf community in Ocala (and I don't even play golf). Something told me to wait ...

And as Billy wrote, I am so glad that I returned to my native NH and my seasonal park model home in a southern Maine coastal community! While both states are dealing with this nightmare pandemic, we shall hopefully fare better, due to intelligent governors and caring citizens who wisely recognize the virus dangers and practice safe social distancing.