Maggie Turner: Page by Page

Although I have been self-isolating since the beginning of March, Attila has had to go to work, and out to buy groceries. When he ventured out for food he wore clothes that were removed and washed immediately, wore gloves, and a face mask. But at work, these precautions were not possible. Working cheek by jowl at the plant where he worked felt dangerous. It was dangerous. When a cold/flu (everyone thought it was a cold/flu) spread quickly through the plant, Attila caught it. That was early in March, he was off one day without pay, to sleep and recuperate. One of his work mates eneded up in hospital. So we knew that if the virus arrived at the plant, the chances of getting it were very high. Then two managers returned from out-of-country flights, and came to work. Horrifying and negligent in my opinion. All of these things have made the month of March a time of extreme worry, and desperate strategizing. Then, the week before last, they laid people with less seniority (younger people) off. They did not accept the requests of those more senior employees that wanted to be chosen for layoff, so that they could self-isolate and … Continue reading →

We have been disappointed with Netflix for some time now. Most of the new programming is too violent, full of intrique, or melodramatic for us. They do have some good programming, but we haven’t been able to find anything we like for months now. AND now that so many people are self-isolating, we couldn’t get it to work at all. Today I closed our Netflix account. We shall see if we miss it. I doubt we will. It feels good to begin cutting our expenses, because our financial future doesn’t look good. We aren’t young enough to have time to recover, to start again, so eliminating an expense makes me feel better. Since Attila is using his vacation time this week, we are enjoying our iso-cation time to the fullest. Attila is working slowly on the wiring. He can only do a small amount of it in a day, because he has to work overhead, and it hurts his neck. It is more complicated now because the quarantined groceries are in the way, and won’t be moved into the kitchen until next week. There are significant challenges when living in a space this small, and they become more pronounced when … Continue reading →

Well here I am. I began self-isolation at the beginning March, three weeks ago. So far so good. Where Attila works they laid off 600 people on Friday. They decided to do it by seniority, rather than ask people if they were willing to be laid off. That meant that the high-risk-for-complications older segment of the work force has to keep working, while the younger, much lower-risk-for-complications segment of their workforce are out of a job. It make no sense. There were older workers who wanted to self-isolate, but cannot, and younger workers who wanted to keep working, but could not. Attila was very upset by it, he would have volunteered to self-isolate, with a much lower standard of living with some support from the government. But he can’t do it, he has to go in there, and risk our lives. My opinion of the company is that they are evil. So much for protecting the vulnerable, and the disabled in our country, there are far too many systemic holes to fall through. What a bunch of heartless jerks. So for now Attila has to go to work, in a place where people are almost shoulder to shoulder as they … Continue reading →

“SARS-Co “…detectable in aerosols for up to three hours, up to four hours on copper, up to 24 hours on cardboard and up to two to three days on plastic and stainless steel.” Tuesday, March 17, 2020 New coronavirus stable for hours on surfaces SARS-CoV-2 stability similar to original SARS virus. This scanning electron microscope image shows SARS-CoV-2 (yellow)—also known as 2019-nCoV, the virus that causes COVID-19—isolated from a patient in the U.S., emerging from the surface of cells (blue/pink) cultured in the lab.NIAID-RML What The virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is stable for several hours to days in aerosols and on surfaces, according to a new study from National Institutes of Health, CDC, UCLA and Princeton University scientists in The New England Journal of Medicine. The scientists found that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was detectable in aerosols for up to three hours, up to four hours on copper, up to 24 hours on cardboard and up to two to three days on plastic and stainless steel. The results provide key information about the stability of SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19 disease, and suggests that people may acquire the virus through the air and after touching contaminated … Continue reading →