Coronavirus

[#1]

So, today this happens.

[#2]

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Julie J wrote:

Yep I'm over here near Seattle, the mayor declared a state of emergancy for the city.  I'm being super careful and brought my 89 year old mom to my house since she lives close to where the outbreak was in the nursing home. 

I'm being very strict about hand washing before you enter the house and hand sanitizer when you are out and about.

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You've got hand sanitiser? You're lucky. It's impossible to buy it here. People here are buying vodka instead. I think they're planning to use it on their hands, but I think it would be better taken internally.

[#3]

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Richard W wrote:

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You've got hand sanitiser? You're lucky. It's impossible to buy it here. People here are buying vodka instead. I think they're planning to use it on their hands, but I think it would be better taken internally.

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I only had a small travel size bottle so I bought 3 8oz size bottles from Amazon at a ridiculous price of about $20 each. Felt stupid doing it but now don't feel too stupid when you can't even get it at any price. I needed one for every member of my household's car and one for my Mom who has none. Locals tell me when they inquired about when the store might have some in stock, they were told all shippments are being diverted to medical facilities.

Ask friends in other places to buy some and ship it to you. I also bought ingredients to make my own if I have to.

Apparently vodka doesn't work as it's 40% alcohol, has to be 60%. Everclear will work if your area sells it.

Saving vodka to drink as well.

[#4]

Everclear could come in handy in several scenarios - LOL.

[#5]

I used to know a lovely poem which I cannot find on Google but the important part was "wipe your rump on any old stump"... Just saying

[#6]

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Mary W wrote:

I used to know a lovely poem which I cannot find on Google but the important part was "wipe your rump on any old stump"... Just saying

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😄 There's a similar one about Moses when he was a little boy and paper not invented, but I won't write it here as it would get zapped ...  

[#7]

Over the last few weeks, I have experienced challenges in communicating with some clients. Given the global situation, I expect this could be a continuing trend, one which may have a negative impact on how our freelancer success scores are calculated. This could be due to a rising number of open projects which become inactive or those which are closed without a review due to non-communication. 

Is anyone else wondering about this? Has Upwork considered temporarily lowering its succes score weighting for closed projects without a review or current projects that have become inactive? Otherwise, success scores could drop platform wide, ultimately having an adverse effect on Upwork's reputation as a whole.

[#8]

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

Projects closed without feedback have no affect on the JSS at all if money was paid and frankly using the Coronavirus outbreak to manipulate JSS is a bit pathetic!

[#9]

Aaron:

I appreciate the fact that coronavirus is much in the news, and many organizations are reacting to it.

I can assure you that Upwork will not be changing its site functionality or JSS score agorithms based on this.

[#10]

The original poster's JSS is currently 100%.

I'm not sure what he is worried about.

In all seriousness... It IS reasonable for some companies and industries to make changes due to coronavirus. Examples: cruise ships; concert promoters in areas affected by the disease; medical supply companies.

On the other hand, there are companies which don't need to change their core processes due to something like this. Example: a company which is literally based - from the ground up - on people NOT coming into physical contact with each other.

[#11]

Hi Aaron,

I'm not aware of any plans to make further changes to JSS calculation. I'd also like to note that contracts with no client feedback, including ones you ended or left open and inactive, do not affect your score unless you have excessive contracts with no feedback.

I would like to note though that Upwork will be cancelling all in-person events in March and you can find more information about it here.

[#12]

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Richard W wrote:

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Julie J wrote:

Yep I'm over here near Seattle, the mayor declared a state of emergancy for the city.  I'm being super careful and brought my 89 year old mom to my house since she lives close to where the outbreak was in the nursing home. 

I'm being very strict about hand washing before you enter the house and hand sanitizer when you are out and about.

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You've got hand sanitiser? You're lucky. It's impossible to buy it here. People here are buying vodka instead. I think they're planning to use it on their hands, but I think it would be better taken internally.

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You can make hand sanitizer if you can get your hands on rubbing alcohol and aloe vera gel. 

[#13]

Oddly*, Germany with its over 1100 confirmed cases, has 0 fatalities and very few (compared to Italy, especially) serious/ critical cases to date.

I expect a sharp increase of new cases in Italy after that ridiculous mass "escape" south after the news of the exclusion zone was leaked...

eta: * I say "oddly" - because whilst Germany has what's amongst the best health systems in the world, I am not sure that completely explains it.

[#14]

I suspect that the reports from various countries are quite different from one another.  Some may be contemporaneous, some a day behind, some a bit untruthful.  I don't pay much attention to any of it except to track my part of the world (which at this moment is virus free - YAY!)

[#15]

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Mary W wrote:

I suspect that the reports from various countries are quite different from one another.  Some may be contemporaneous, some a day behind, some a bit untruthful.  I

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This uses the official reports and appears accurate, but also lags behind. Germany's figures are updated more than once a day, Italy's only in the evening for the previous day.

I expect another sharp increase today, maybe not quite as catastrophic as yesterday's which was nearly 1500 new cases in such a small country.

[#16]

It is odd that, apart from being age-related, it does seem to hit certain groups of people more seriously than others.

[#17]

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Nichola L wrote:

It is odd that, apart from being age-related, it does seem to hit certain groups of people more seriously than others.

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YES! Isn't it just!

I've been trying to find common denominators between harder and less hard hit countries.

The rapid and massive impact in Italy especially has been interesting. 

It's combination of economic, cultural and societal factors.

The (so far) complete absence of deaths (spoke too soon. now 2 deaths in Germany 😞 )  still very low number of serious and critical cases in Germany still puzzles me. Maybe something to do with Germans generally not living in family groups and keeping their distance from others naturally (more than the French for example) may be a contributing factor.

Edited to add:  1,797 new cases and 97 new deaths in Italy in 24 hours.

[#18]

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Petra R wrote:

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Nichola L wrote:

It is odd that, apart from being age-related, it does seem to hit certain groups of people more seriously than others.

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YES! Isn't it just!

I've been trying to find common denominators between harder and less hard hit countries.

The rapid and massive impact in Italy especially has been interesting. 

It's combination of economic, cultural and societal factors.

The (so far) complete absence of deaths (spoke too soon. now 2 deaths in Germany 😞 )  still very low number of serious and critical cases in Germany still puzzles me. Maybe something to do with Germans generally not living in family groups and keeping their distance from others naturally (more than the French for example) may be a contributing factor.

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Do the German shake hands when they meet? Are they good at washing hands? I can tell you that the Fench I have observed (I'm not one of them) are not too good at washing hands and excellent at kissing each othe when they meet - the bisou habit.

[#19]

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Luce N wrote:

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Do the German shake hands when they meet? Are they good at washing hands? I can tell you that the Fench I have observed (I'm not one of them) are not too good at washing hands and excellent at kissing each othe when they meet - the bisou habit.

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The Germans tend to (in most social situations) most either just say hello or shake hands. Not much of the bisu stuff. They also tend to (on average) keep a larger personal space around them. (You know that bubble people like to keep around themselves before instinctively retreating; what's called the "flight initiation distance" in wild animals.)

I think most at risk are cultures where generations are living together or are very close and meet constantly. (As is the case in Italy.) The younger, more social and active ones have the greatest chance of getting infected and they then pass it on to the older people, who are then more likely to get very ill or die.

I'm sure that's why it is spreading so incredibly rapidly and why there is such a high rate of deaths and seriously ill people here. There are also more old people altogether, Italians have a very high life expectancy.

**Edited for Community Guidelines**

[#20]

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Petra R wrote:

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The Germans tend to (in most social situations) most either just say hello or shake hands. Not much of the bisu stuff. They also tend to (on average) keep a larger personal space around them. (You know that bubble people like to keep around themselves before instinctively retreating; what's called the "flight initiation distance" in wild animals.)

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As do Norwegians. It's a natural instinct for us to keep as much of a physical distance to other people as possible. Unless we're drunk. So the only precaution I have to take to stay relatively safe is to stay sober. (I'll still have some wine though. No point surviving if I lose all will to live.)

[#21]

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Eve L wrote:

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So the only precaution I have to take to stay relatively safe is to stay sober. (I'll still have some wine though. No point surviving if I lose all will to live.)

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PERFECT advice! We can have wine together virtually.

Red or white? Usually it's "winter = red" and "summer = white" but this is kind of a "red wine" situation.

[#22]

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Petra R wrote:

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Eve L wrote:

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So the only precaution I have to take to stay relatively safe is to stay sober. (I'll still have some wine though. No point surviving if I lose all will to live.)

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PERFECT advice! We can have wine together virtually.

Red or white? Usually it's "winter = red" and "summer = white" but this is kind of a "red wine" situation.

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It is still winter, so I'm having red. Cheers/Skål/Saluti! 🙂

[#23]

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Petra R wrote:

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The (so far) complete absence of deaths (spoke too soon. now 2 deaths in Germany 😞 )  still very low number of serious and critical cases in Germany

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Considering the quality of the wine that Germany produces, I'm not surprised you guys are hard to kill. I'm not even sure COVID-19 can survive in an organism containing German wine. I don't even understand how people who drink it can survive.

[#24]

For the dog lovers:

[#25]

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Petra R wrote:

Oddly*, Germany with its over 1100 confirmed cases, has 0 fatalities and very few (compared to Italy, especially) serious/ critical cases to date.

I expect a sharp increase of new cases in Italy after that ridiculous mass "escape" south after the news of the exclusion zone was leaked...

eta: * I say "oddly" - because whilst Germany has what's amongst the best health systems in the world, I am not sure that completely explains it.

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You gotta be old, very young, or a smoker for it to kill you.

So, my neighbors went on a cruise even though we kept making fun of them and said they gonna die from beer virus if they go. Now they are saying that people who went on cruises should self-quarantine. Guess who is "working from home" in the house next to me. lmao

We always hang out on Friday nights and I want to hear her stories so badly but I'm kinda wondering if I should tell her to stay away from me for 2 weeks. lmao

[#26]

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Jennifer M wrote:

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Petra R wrote:

Oddly*, Germany with its over 1100 confirmed cases, has 0 fatalities and very few (compared to Italy, especially) serious/ critical cases to date.

You gotta be old, very young, or a smoker for it to kill you.

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Not necessarily. "very young" is actually a good way not to die from it. No infected children under the age of 9 have died so far. The problem with them is that they may infect others who might die.

Old is bad (the huge number of old people in Italy must be in part due to the high death rate)

Smoker is bad (loads of Italians smoke)

Personally, I am not so worried about dying from it. I am worried about 1. getting sick enough to end up in an Italian hospital, which are truly unbelievably horrible, and 2. infecting others.

I am staying put. I am staying away from all humans for the time being.

(Just) under 1000 new cases in Italy yesterday, but a record number of new deaths with 168 in 24 hours.