Coronavirus Coronavirus: In-Iowa General Discussion (Not Limited)

[Al_4_State]

I wonder if some of you realize that you can leave your home and not come in social contact with people.

We needed some house supplies yesterday, so we took the scenic route to Wal Mart in Decorah. We stopped at some county and state land on the way and went for a little hike, and tooled around gravel roads following the Upper Iowa. It was a sunny day, and that area is beautiful this time of year, when the foliage is gone from the hills.

She quickly got what we needed in Wal Mart while I stayed in the truck, and self-checked out. Stayed out of the 6' radius of anyone. Ordered carry out lunch from a local restaurant and went home.

I don't see how you can increase the risk of spread when you aren't coming in contact with people. You can get out of your house without seeing people or entering the 6' radius.

 

[wxman1]

Had a virtual church small group meeting. One family of five thinks they may have it but can't get tested.

The other thing that isn't being discussed enough IMO is the mental impacts of this. Not just from a freaking out but we all have **** going on and no matter how much we like to play the big tough guy on here to some extent we are all going through some mental distress with this. Several people in our group are really struggling with this for various reasons. Long story short. Reach out and be sincere with your communication.

 

[wxman1]

I wonder if some of you realize that you can leave your home and not come in social contact with people.

We needed some house supplies yesterday, so we took the scenic route to Wal Mart in Decorah. We stopped at some county and state land on the way and went for a little hike, and tooled around gravel roads following the Upper Iowa. It was a sunny day, and that area is beautiful this time of year, when the foliage is gone from the hills.

She quickly got what we needed in Wal Mart while I stayed in the truck, and self-checked out. Stayed out of the 6' radius of anyone. Ordered carry out lunch from a local restaurant and went home.

I don't see how you can increase the risk of spread when you aren't coming in contact with people. You can get out of your house without seeing people or entering the 6' radius.

I agree. One day last week we went to a county park after work to let the kids and dog run off some energy. Would like to do that more if the weather allows.

 

[3TrueFans]

I wonder if some of you realize that you can leave your home and not come in social contact with people.

We needed some house supplies yesterday, so we took the scenic route to Wal Mart in Decorah. We stopped at some county and state land on the way and went for a little hike, and tooled around gravel roads following the Upper Iowa. It was a sunny day, and that area is beautiful this time of year, when the foliage is gone from the hills.

She quickly got what we needed in Wal Mart while I stayed in the truck, and self-checked out. Stayed out of the 6' radius of anyone. Ordered carry out lunch from a local restaurant and went home.

I don't see how you can increase the risk of spread when you aren't coming in contact with people. You can get out of your house without seeing people or entering the 6' radius.

This is true, just remember that it can live in the air for a brief time and on surfaces for 1-3 days depending on the material. So if you're poking at the self check screen, or the keypad on the card reader, or touching items others have picked up you will probably want to wash your hands or use hand sanitizer.

https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/new-coronavirus-stable-hours-surfaces

 

[madguy30]

This is true, just remember that it can live in the air for a brief time and on surfaces for 1-3 days depending on the material. So if you're poking at the self check screen, or the keypad on the card reader, or touching items others have picked up you will probably want to wash your hands or use hand sanitizer.

https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/new-coronavirus-stable-hours-surfaces

I've worn latex gloves and lysoled them prior and after entering the store a couple of times.

 

[cycloneworld]

How long should we isolate everyone though? Every medical expert that says we need to shut everything down gives no timeline for how long that needs to go on. They have a one track mind where they are focused on one thing, the virus. If things stay shut down for too long, we could be looking at a full blown economic depression. That has to be taken into account when making decisions about how many businesses to shut down, and for how long.

I get your point and its a valid one. But what would be 10x worse is if we did this shut down, didn't do it for long enough, and the virus came back because we didn't quarantine long enough in this initial phase. THAT would be devastating.

There is no good answer or solution here. But I think we are doing the best we can with the information we have.

 

[cycloneworld]

Anyone else surprised by the % of negative tests in Iowa. As of last night 93% of the tests were negative. I really thought that number would be a lot closer to 50% by now. Hopefully it stays that way. Sorry if this has already been discussed.

I believe the national average is 6-8% for positive tests - so Iowa is right in that range.

 

[Al_4_State]

This is true, just remember that it can live in the air for a brief time and on surfaces for 1-3 days depending on the material. So if you're poking at the self check screen, or the keypad on the card reader, or touching items others have picked up you will probably want to wash your hands or use hand sanitizer.

https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/new-coronavirus-stable-hours-surfaces

We've been traveling with purse sized hand sanitizer and using it regularly.

I know others doing the same.

My point is that I wouldn't assume that just because you see a lot of traffic that those people are initiating significant social gatherings and what not. You can do a lot of safe socially distant activities outside of your home, and it's probably healthy to do so.

 

[MeanDean]

Not Iowa but they just closed one of the smaller local county beaches here. It should NOT have had to have happened if people were just smart and kept their distance, but too many people are clumping together and it was not good. So one of the few options available for people to get out of their confinement is gone.

Not only that but there were dozens of people in the condo pool yesterday. No way all those people were keeping 6' apart the whole time.

 

[nfrine]

Not Iowa but they just closed one of the smaller local county beaches here. It should NOT have had to have happened if people were just smart and kept their distance, but too many people are clumping together and it was not good. So one of the few options available for people to get out of their confinement is gone.

Not only that but there were dozens of people in the condo pool yesterday. No way all those people were keeping 6' apart the whole time.

Damn Boomers! (I am one too)

 

[awd4cy]

I wonder if some of you realize that you can leave your home and not come in social contact with people.

We needed some house supplies yesterday, so we took the scenic route to Wal Mart in Decorah. We stopped at some county and state land on the way and went for a little hike, and tooled around gravel roads following the Upper Iowa. It was a sunny day, and that area is beautiful this time of year, when the foliage is gone from the hills.

She quickly got what we needed in Wal Mart while I stayed in the truck, and self-checked out. Stayed out of the 6' radius of anyone. Ordered carry out lunch from a local restaurant and went home.

I don't see how you can increase the risk of spread when you aren't coming in contact with people. You can get out of your house without seeing people or entering the 6' radius.

The way people all over social media complain about others being out on the road, probably not. They probably don’t realize it. I drove 50 min to my dads on Sunday and saw almost nobody out on Hwy 30. Even then I don’t judge people who are out. As far as I know they could be driving to somewhere to go for a walk or just driving for the sake of driving to get out of the house. That’s doing no harm.

 

[jmb]

I've worn latex gloves and lysoled them prior and after entering the store a couple of times.

Be very careful doing that. Most latex gloves are not very stable from a chemistry perspective.

 

[RoseClone]

My wife and I took a drive to the Neil Smith National Wildlife Refuge near Prairie City. Never left the car as you can drive through the preserve and see the Bison and Elk (harder to find) from the road. Looked like a lot of families did the same as the road was busy. Get the kids out of the house with no exposure to anybody else. Bonus was the Bison were right next to the road going through the preserve and you could park and take pictures and observe.

https://www.fws.gov/refuge/neal_smith/

 

[MeanDean]

Damn Boomers! (I am one too)

All ages. Old (boomers) and their families that are here from the north. Some have left early to migrate back up. I saw an SUV from VA packing up today, for one.

As far as non-isolaters (physical). I swear it's mostly NYers. But then reading the posts on here of irresponsible Iowans it's hard to be too regionally specific. Dumb comes in all ages and locations, obviously.

 

[CycloneVet]

I wonder if some of you realize that you can leave your home and not come in social contact with people.

We needed some house supplies yesterday, so we took the scenic route to Wal Mart in Decorah. We stopped at some county and state land on the way and went for a little hike, and tooled around gravel roads following the Upper Iowa. It was a sunny day, and that area is beautiful this time of year, when the foliage is gone from the hills.

She quickly got what we needed in Wal Mart while I stayed in the truck, and self-checked out. Stayed out of the 6' radius of anyone. Ordered carry out lunch from a local restaurant and went home.

I don't see how you can increase the risk of spread when you aren't coming in contact with people. You can get out of your house without seeing people or entering the 6' radius.

Some of these people don’t realize a lot of things

 

[Halincandenza]

I have a guy in my office who is almost 80 who comes in every day and doesn't practice social distancing. He was going to the gym and out to eat every day until they shut those facilities down.

 

[madguy30]

Be very careful doing that. Most latex gloves are not very stable from a chemistry perspective.

Thanks...I throw them away...and they're not technically latex I guess; nitrile.

 

[BillBrasky4Cy]

Yeah I see some comments about well ia is rural so we'll have fewer cases. True, but you wont be able to funnel up sick patients to dsm or IC if those hospital beds are already full. And how many county hospitals have vents and rt on staff?

I can tell you the that county hospital near where I grew up has TWO ventilators. Just think about that!

 

[3TrueFans]

The way people all over social media complain about others being out on the road, probably not. They probably don’t realize it. I drove 50 min to my dads on Sunday and saw almost nobody out on Hwy 30. Even then I don’t judge people who are out. As far as I know they could be driving to somewhere to go for a walk or just driving for the sake of driving to get out of the house. That’s doing no harm.

I mean people still need to get to work depending on what they do, people need to get to the store, etc. The streets are definitely a lot less busy around Ames, I think a lot of people are doing a good job.

I do think some people are doing a bad job though and some would be downright awful if places like gyms, bars, restaurants, etc. weren't shut down.

 

[BillBrasky4Cy]

I wonder if some of you realize that you can leave your home and not come in social contact with people.

We needed some house supplies yesterday, so we took the scenic route to Wal Mart in Decorah. We stopped at some county and state land on the way and went for a little hike, and tooled around gravel roads following the Upper Iowa. It was a sunny day, and that area is beautiful this time of year, when the foliage is gone from the hills.

She quickly got what we needed in Wal Mart while I stayed in the truck, and self-checked out. Stayed out of the 6' radius of anyone. Ordered carry out lunch from a local restaurant and went home.

I don't see how you can increase the risk of spread when you aren't coming in contact with people. You can get out of your house without seeing people or entering the 6' radius.

Saturday we threw the kids in the old Brasky family truckster and just drove around Jester Park for a bit. There were a lot of people doing the same thing.