Corona Concern
Look, there’s some shit going down. And for once, it’s the same shit across the entire world. Some of you are in places that have locked down everything they can. Some of you are in countries that can’t decide to do. And unfortunately, some of you are in Britain, which means that 2% of your are certain to die, and I am so so sorry for that. If I could do something about it I would, but all I can do is ask you to stay indoors as much as you can. Boris Johnson is a fucking idiot.
This is going to be a stressful time for all of us, especially us hourly workers in high-traffic industries. We’re going to struggle with bills, we’re going to struggle with money, and we’re going to struggle with necessities. Infinitely more-so if you’re immuno-compromised.
We will survive this though. So here’s some things I think might be relevant to helping everyone keep going. Some of this is stuff I’ve pulled from official sources (symptoms, what support structures are in place where, etc), and some of this is entertainment/stress relief related.
Symptoms of Covid-19 range from Common to Rare, according to the CDC, WHO, and the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology. Common symptoms include: Fever, Dry Cough, and Shortness of Breath. Uncommon symptoms include: Headaches, Aches and Pains, Sore Throat, and Fatigue. Rare symptoms include Diarrhea and Runny Nose. A lot of these coincide with the Common Cold, Flu, and Allergies. If you’re showing any of these symptoms, go to a hospital and get checked out. It could be any of the above, but it’s better to know as much as you can as soon as you can.
If you’re in the US, the information is a little confused. From what I understand (Presidential and Congressional Announcements), all Americans can get tested and treated for free, regardless of insurance situation. However, take that with a grain of salt since our government is hilariously inefficient. Other than that, the CDC recommends staying home if you’re sick, avoiding public areas except to seek medical attention. Stay away from others and limit contact with animals (as far as we know most animals can’t contract the illness, but it’s possible they could be carriers) if you can. Unfortunately, financial assistance isn’t going to be forthcoming for most of us. The recent bill that was passed for Emergency Paid Medical Leave only affects people in businesses with less than 150 employees and more than 50 employees; which is to say, basically no one. Hourly workers, this is gonna be a tough one for us. If you have some savings stored up, now’s the time to dip into them. And of course, make sure you have food stocked up.
I don’t know much about other countries unfortunately. Finding that information is difficult for me at the moment, but I can share what little I’ve gotten through hearsay: Italy and China are on lockdown for the most part. While many in China can’t leave their homes, their government is offering the most immediate support from what I can tell. Police can deliver food to support the quarantined areas, there are automated announcements for when it is safe for certain areas to leave their homes, etc. I can’t get much information about the specifics for Italy though. They seem to be quarantined for the most part, with many staying in their homes and most businesses closed or operating on limited hours. The UK has opted to basically ignore the disease, as I alluded to in the beginning. I can’t stress enough how sorry I am for you.
As for if you’re quarantined, you probably know plenty of ways to kill time already. Reading, video games, movies, etc. But Cabin Fever is going to be a serious concern. You can mitigate this a lot of ways through the internet, with voice and video chat, youtube, online RPG games, and social media. You’re going to be tempted to play more than a few phone games if you aren’t usually equipped to play Console or PC games, so make sure you limit your spending. A lot of games let you turn off paid transactions, but they are easy to turn on and off and designed to tempt you with more and more purchases. Just remember that as soon as you spend money on a game, you’re more likely to spend more money on it, which is why micro-transactions are so abusive. Just keep yourself prepared if you’re going that route. Here are a handful of recommendations in every category listed above;
Reading: Catching up on the classics is always fun. I would recommend the works of Poe, but some of that is a bit on the nose, so consider the works of Jules Verne or Tolkein. Adventure stories are a good distraction, as far as I’m concerned.
Video Games: MMOs are great for situations like this. Black Desert Online is free, has a pretty fun and fluid gameplay, and is available on most consoles. Warframe is also good for this, as it is even on the Switch. Puzzle games are also great, with Tetris 99 available on the Switch for free, and most Mobile games just being flashier and flashier puzzles. As for Mobile Games, I’ve been playing a lot of Raid: Shadow Legends, but it’s got ads for itself plastered EVERYWHERE, and bombards you each time you turn it on with 4 adverts for its sales and bundles.
Movies: This is the perfect time to binge watch Lord of the Rings, the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe, or the Harry Potter movies. LotR should be on Netflix, the MCU is on Disney’s hideously monolithic Disney+, but I’m not really sure where you could watch HP. This is also a good time to catch up on some of the absurdly long Anime out there. You might even make it a quarter of the way through One Piece, depending on how long the quarantine lasts.
Video/Voice Chat: Discord has a lot of fun groups you can find to chat in about nearly any topic, and can be run on nearly any device, including phones. And of course your phone IS a phone, so call up those loved ones you haven’t heard from in awhile.
Youtube: There are a lot of cool things you can watch on Youtube, as I’m sure everyone is aware. I personally recommend the Unraveled series on Polygon (Brian David Gilbert is hilarious) and PhilosophyTube (Olly Thorn makes some impressive and amusingly educational Philosophy videos).
Online Tabletop: These can be RPGs, or even board games if you’re willing to jump through some hoops. For RPGs, you can pretty quickly find whatever you like by asking around on Twitter (#TTRPG is a good tag for this), and a lot of them will use the website Roll20. For board games, Tabletop Simulator is available on Steam, and you can play a surprising amount of games on it due to the stuff people have input manually.
Podcasts also get a quick shoutout here. Basically anything can be found here, but I recommend Adventure Zone, Fun City, and the China History Podcast (which I think might have changed it’s name but I haven’t checked in awhile) are all wonderful, and can be found online or on spotify with a quick search.
There are a lot of things to be worried about, but hopefully some of this helps take your mind off of it while reminding you just enough that it should be something to be concerned about.
