I thought it might lighten the mood in view of the crappy news, LOL.
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our family has one subscription to the newspaper to share. We share everything, Toothbrushes, Combs, tissue paper. We share colds and get through them together with chicken soup and humor. We will survive this, at least those of us who are left will.
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Thereās a lot of ānews,ā but itās all pretty much the same as itās been for the past week, so keep reading your newspapers, watching the news, and checking the CDCās near-daily updates at the site linked at the top of this topic. There are now more than 500 known cases in the USA.
I never thought thereād be any advantage to being a hermit. Iām re-thinking that. I guess we should all be thankful for the internet. At least weāll still be able to play poker. But, we still have to eat and take our medsā¦so, that means seeing others even if only to buy food and meds. And, of course, some foods, milk, for one, go āout of codeā in a short time, so there are practical limits on how long we can go between those shopping tripsā¦ As Arnold said, Iāll be baaaack.
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Good news about milk: You can freeze it right in the containers it comes in.
My introvert husband has adopted this motto: āIāve been preparing my whole life for staying home.ā 
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we get our milk in bags , freeze it all the time 
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How clever you Canadians are! Love this idea.
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6 PM Update, 9 Mar 2020
I went to the grocery store today. They were completely out of stock on hand sanitizer and rubbing alcohol and aloe vera, and glycerin. Iām sure there will be more available soon, and in the meantime, Iāll continue hand washing. If you try to make your own hand sanitizerāthatās why theyāre out of all the ingredients for itābe careful to use the recommended the amounts of each ingredient accurately. If you end up with too much alcohol, it will leave you with dry, cracked skin on your handsābut, if you use too little, it simply wonāt kill the viruses, if any are there.
Below is a link to a very good, but long, article I found on a (gasp) political blog I sometimes read. The original was at the Wall Street Journal, and the whole article is much too long to post here in the Forum. Unfortunately, the original is hiding behind a pay-wall, BUT, it looks like this political blog posted the whole thing. If so, itās well worth reading before they have to take it down.
What are the underlying medical conditions that put people at a greater risk of having serious illness, hospitalization, or death?
The medical conditions that pose a greater risk of serious illness are broad and relatively common: Itās not just people with compromised immune systems, like transplant or cancer patients. The conditions include people with heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and respiratory or lung disease, which includes smokers. Studies from China show that the rate of deaths for those with cardiovascular issues is 10.5% while itās 7.3% for diabetes patients and about 6% for those with hypertension or lung and respiratory disease. In cancer patients, it was reported as 5.6%.
These are the same underlying medical conditions that cause a greater risk of hospitalization and death for influenza patients, experts say. The older a person is with one of these conditions, the greater the risk.
William Schaffner, a professor in the division of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Tennessee, says smoking and potentially air pollution may play a large role in who gets severe infection. āChina has a lot of air pollution,ā he notes. āPeople who are older, having lived in circumstances where they are subject to first- and secondhand smoke, as well as pollution, that sets them up for a more severe infection when they get it,ā he says. Complications for smokers are not as common in influenza patients, he notes.
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SS, thatās an excellent idea. Iāll keep it in mind and many others may find it useful right now. I didnāt know milk was available in bags; Iāll look next time I go to the store. Thanks for the tip.
I bought myself a box of dry milk that can make from 1 cup to 10 quarts, takes up almost no space, stores for years at room temperature, and makes an acceptable cup of whole milk to cook with (they also had non-fat, but I donāt like the taste of it as well).
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Alan,
I treated a lot of burn victims using hand sanitizer when I was in the Navy. Put to much on and donāt take the time to let it dry(the alcohol to evaporate) light a match or around an open flame you are in real trouble.
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Great point, Lildevil. And, true. No flames around alcohol, or crispy skin!
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Hi yāall, Thanks so much for all the helpful info! As this is likely to go on for a while, Iām going to go ahead and close the topic for now. It will still be available, however, if anyone would like to review and keep updated on any information coming from the CDC.
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