Lostin76

I for one am glad the liquor stores are still open. I appreciate that they are staying open. I just came across this piece to remind us all of the people who are working with the public during this scary time. It's just one block in NYC, but it serves as a reminder of how much risk the people on the other side of the cash register are taking to deal with the public. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/28/opinion/sunday/covid-workers-nyc.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage

Have been watching IN death rate too. It is high at 2.5%. Did not expect that. I also never thought that this is something I would see: "New York City EMS received 6,406 medical 911 calls yesterday. It was the highest volume ever recorded in the city, surpassing the record that had been set on Sept. 11, 2001." https://twitter.com/jameshohmann/status/1243353649570603008?s=20

I like that! A lot of the places around here are posting signs when they close that say "We love you. We miss you. See you on the other side."

That's Meme's! Thank you, Mile we are hunkering down. Just started cocktail hour and have a jazz trio album on the turntable.

Our favorite neighborhood restaurant (Meme's Diner) has been selling off all their bottles of wine at cost. My wife and I were hesitant at first, b/c it felt exploitative to purchase, but then we quickly realized they are selling off their inventory out of necessity to keep paying their skeleton crew of employees. We just picked up another big order of three bags of coffee beans, some more wine, orange juice, and an order of their famous stuffed french toast. You have to order online and then when you go there, they have a dry erase board with order numbers on it. You hold up your phone through the window and then they go get your order and leave it on a table just inside the closed door for you. It's a good system for social distancing, but it's heartbreaking knowing they are having to sell off their inventory. We know they most likely won't be back. And most others are already closed. I'm almost sick to my stomach checking the numbers each day. Over 6,000 new cases in NY State since yesterday and now over 52,000 total cases - 29,000 of those here in NYC and over 8,000 of them here in Brooklyn. Bus drivers are starting to test positive as are MTA workers. It won't be long before the cases/deaths start piling up for front line workers - and not just health workers - grocery store checkout clerks, bodega clerks, delivery people, etc. My boss is working on one of our 7 COVID-19 wards in our hospital and my other MD faculty are being called in to staff wards in the coming weeks. It feels like all around us illness and death is everywhere, and yet my wife and I are incredibly lucky so far. I've got a huge order of annuals and veggies arriving soon, so I can do some gardening on our fourth floor terrace. I've got an unlimited supply of records to listen to and books to read, and Netflix just released another season of Ozark. Which is great, b/c we just finished The Tiger King and need something else to watch. We are both being very careful and washing our hands like maniacs. My wife has a history of lung collapses - three of them - so I am of course most worried about her catching this. We are both healthy though, especially her, as she's a runner/marathoner. It just feels so weird to be relatively untouched as the numbers keep piling up. I almost feel guilty.

He's back!! Can't keep a Smellermaker hater down for long. 🤣

I also hope that we can get back to normal in two weeks, but honestly I just can't see it. NYC is still ramping up (over 5,600 new cases sine yesterday), other states are starting to emerge as potentially really bad cases and it's just getting stated in most states. I don't think our leadership is really understanding how things really are on the ground. Unemployment, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, suicide are all potential threats when something horrible like this happens, but we have to consider the very real threats that are actually happening right now as we type. People are dying right now. Good for you for looking out for him. Getting outside and moving definitely helps. We all have to look out for each other.

I'm in Brooklyn and it's a ghost town here compared to normal. You can tell people are starting to freak out a little bit. When we walk the dog, and come across another person, we nod and give each other a very wide berth. Lots of people wearing masks. Car traffic is quiet and the only bikers are delivery guys. Every place is different, but at one time we also had zero confirmed cases. And I agree, the lockdowns are hard and may seem like an overreaction, but if they keep you guys (hopefully) at zero cases, then they worked. Not ignoring your wife being unable to work though, that's a real issue with real consequences. But all it takes is one customer that's sick.

It's damn serious. I say that from a city with 22,000 active cases and almost 300 deaths. And we are clocking 4,500 new cases EVERY day. Here is just one recent article that shows just how bad it is at one of our hospitals. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/25/nyregion/nyc-coronavirus-hospitals.html The thing about all of these efforts (social distancing, closures, etc) is that if they work then people might say, "Well, they overreacted. There weren't as many deaths as we thought." But on the flipside, if we don't do anything and let the virus run rampant, then how many deaths would be looking at. Would NYC be looking at 12,000-15,000 new cases every day? The economic fallout is massive, no doubt. All around us, neighborhood bars and restaurants are closed. People we care about suddenly don't have paychecks or the ability to pay their rent. It will get worse. Much worse. But I don't for a second wonder, "Hmm, maybe we are going too far."

This is exactly the thing that I am most afraid of during this whole thing. Sure the sickness is bad, but good people and families losing jobs and means of support are going to really start piling up. Especially in areas that are already struggling. I am so sorry this is happening to you and your family. This is what I hope the politicians can agree on fixing. Get money to people who are losing their paychecks. Let's try to help the little guys one time and see how that works out. Sorry, that may be out of line as politics, but people's livelihoods are on the line.

Thank you, despite the scary numbers all is well here. I've been watching the IN numbers too and they are definitely ticking up quite a bit. 106 new cases since yesterday is very concerning. I have a lot of older relatives still in Indiana and they seem to think this is all just a hoax and blown out of proportion to the real threat. I've tried to talk to them, but you can't force someone to do something they don't want to do.

As of Tuesday morning, New York State had 25,665 cases, with at least 157 deaths. The state now accounts for nearly 7 percent of global cases. NYC has topped 15,000 cases and is doubling every three days.

Physician practices should remain open, but hopefully with much less foot traffic. You could not pay me to visit a doctor's office right now. A lot of offices are trying telemedicine for the first time and they are starting to loosen the payment restrictions on telemedicine, but I think it's a long process.

Any owner/leader who said or says we had nothing to worry about is not a leader. This is going to be a slog. My people know that I am taking them and their health seriously and most importantly that I don't have all the answers. I had a programmer ask me about wearing masks in late January. I told him that I didn't think it was necessary then, but that we should start tracking numbers. People kind of made fun of him and now he's looking like the smartest person in the room.

There was a call for volunteer medical providers in New York and Cuomo announced today that: That's another silver lining.

Ha, me too. I've been training to shelter in place my whole life! 😛

We did see nail salons and hair salons open on Sat - with people actually in them! But as of Sunday 8pm, Cuomo shut all of those places down. Grocery stores, some restaurants, hardware stores, and liquor stores are all still open here.

Essential places will still be open, it really shouldn't be any different than what we have already been doing if we were smart. Hopefully the businesses adapt and limit the number of people in the store at one time or impose other guidelines.

Or you were just a day in the future. I almost said that last night, but didn't want to be morbid. NY now has 20,850 cases - over 5,000 new cases since last night. Most of them here in NYC obviously. Have been worried about this as well:

Our perennials are really starting to fill out a bit and I have a big order in shipping cart for White Flower Farm for annuals. Not sure about our local gardening center being open, so am going to place this big order for delivery. I can get common annuals from Home Depot or Lowes. Need to figure out my tomato situation for this year. Last year I planted Giant Syrian heirloom slicers (my wife said they were the best tomatoes she's ever had) and Matt's Wild Cherry cherry tomatoes. Think this year, I'll do Super Sweet 100s for cherry tomatoes and some kind of Brandywine hybrid for larger tomatoes. Am pretty picky about slicing tomatoes and bummed I can't find Giant Syrians at my usual places.

8,115 confirmed cases and 60 deaths just in NYC as of this morning. We have almost 2,500 cases here in Brooklyn. Was following a Twitter thread of a friend of a friend, who is a young-ish, healthy male. Late 30s, ran two marathons, non-smoker. He was tweeting from his hospital bed daily saying stuff like, "Guys, this is no joke. Totally kicking my ass." Then nothing for a couple of days. Yesterday, someone posted that his family said he had been intubated and put on a ventilator. Was really sobering.

First of all, thank you to @Reacher for starting this thread. As far as peppers and tomatoes in containers, in my experience they do really well. We have a pretty large south-facing fourth floor terrace and I grow tomatoes and peppers, with tons of herbs and flowers. The one thing to keep in mind with growing tomatoes in containers is they need a LOT more water than tomatoes growing in the ground. During the height of summer, if it wasn't raining I would water each tomato plant every morning. You can stick your finger in the soil and see if it's dry, but they almost are always ready for more water each morning. For peppers, I put 2-3 in a big pot. Tomatoes start out small, but I would advise only one plant per pot - even if it's a large container. They get huge! Also, put up tomato cages when you plant, rather than trying to do it when they start to need it. We harvested tons of tomatoes and peppers form containers last year. I was giving them away to neighbors and bringing sacks full into work.

I would imagine they will stay open. At least I hope so. I'll need some potting soil. @Seeking6 I would be down with a gardening thread, b/c I think it will keep us sane!

Thank you, and yeah we're taking it seriously but no one is really freaking out about anything other than bed and protective gear shortages. Also, there are MANY parts of NYC that are definitely"not for me." I get that. My wife has to drag me to Midtown/Times Square area kicking and screaming. It's literally one of my least favorite places in the world. So many people crowded together shopping at crappy stores. It's definitely cheaper to live up in Wash. Heights, but I can see why they want to move further south on west side. I have had two international staff go back to their countries (India and Netherlands) since this started. Our Netherlands person just got here on a paid summer internship two weeks before this all blew up. It had been her lifelong dream to live and work in NYC for a summer. She was here for 8 days, before her university recalled her. Told her it was too dangerous in the US. We are up over 5,100 cases now in NYC. Watching the positive results come in has been pretty discouraging, but everyone knows this is a long slog with many people recovering. Another positive, much more time hanging out with the dogs. They don't seem to mind having us home all the time! I'm also about to place a huge order of annuals for our terrace. We'll be spending a lot of time out there this Spring/Summer. Normally, my wife tries to limit me to 50 pots/containers for flowers and veggies. This year, she said "Go crazy, let's make it into a jungle since we'll be out here all the time." Challenge accepted! One last bit of positive news, liquor stores have been deemed "essential stores" that may remain open during shelter in place. And here's an article about bars adapting to the new reality of to go drinks: https://gothamist.com/food/heres-how-nyc-bars-are-adapting-new-alcohol-go-rule

Yep, we just got back from a walk around. Stopped at a wine shop, only two customers allowed in at a time. Very orderly and everyone was maintaining good distance between each other. Cuomo has been reluctant to shut down the state, but I don't think he had any choice. The numbers of positive cases are increasing at a dizzying speed, especially here in NYC. The new rule allows us to go out to buy food, medicine and other basic needs. They said we can also go outside and exercise as long as they practice social distancing. We live close to Prospect Park and have been going out for runs, but keeping well clear of people when we pass them. Our hospital already has 100 positive cases with another 80-100 probable. They are begging for volunteers and are estimating about two weeks before protective gear runs out.