Blair Babylon's Blog: Blair Blathers, page 16
July 17, 2020
Goodreads Giveaway
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Goodreads Book Giveaway
One Night in Monaco
by Blair Babylon
Giveaway ends August 14, 2020.
See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.
Enter Giveaway
July 10, 2020
99c Pre-Sale! 75% off!
Goes up to $3.99 soon!One Night in Monaco, the exciting prequel to the Maxence series!
One night in Monaco, my best friend, Maxence, disappeared.
I have no idea what Maxence was doing in Monaco that night. Yeah, he loves the Monte Carlo casino—the venue of British spy movies, billionaires, Russian mafia, and roulette.
But too many people in Monaco think he might be a danger to them.
He never should have been there.
But he was.
So was Simone. She's trouble from our past at boarding school. Her husband is a good friend of some of the people who would be happier if Maxence wasn’t around anymore.
They tell me Maxence was here in the casino, and then a few minutes later, he was gone.
Like he dropped off the face of the Earth.
Or like he was dropped off a cliff and into the blue Mediterranean Sea, which was just a few feet from where he was standing.
Arthur and I are here to find Maxence, no matter what it takes.
But we might end up finding his body.
May 20, 2020
FREE BOOKZ!
Every now and then, some author buddies and myself (led by the inestimable Zoe York) get together and offer our free ebooks to each other. I have two ebooks up there for free. Do you have those two?
Stuff your e-reader with FREE romance novels!
They're all links to the usual ebook websites like Amazon and Apple Books, not newsletter sign-ups.
Go to the website, find your ereader type (Kindle, Nook, Kobo Reader, etc.) and download as many as you want. All free.
I hope and pray that you and your loved ones are safe and well.
I'll have another newsletter in a few days with news of my coming books. Did you know I have a pre-order for my next book up? Did you know that my French translations are being published this week? Have you listened to all 3 of my recent audiobooks? Because Joe Arden and John Lane really made them dirty. Working Stiff. Stiff Drink. Hard Liquor. And I have Rae #4 in German coming out soon!
I'll also have my thoughts in these times we live in and best practices for staying safe.
In the meantime, FREE BOOKS. Knock yourself out.
April 11, 2020
Blair Speaks about Covid-19 #3
Blog Post #1 Here if you didn't read the first one.
So, yeah, I used to be a real-live microbiologist who pipetted live virus stocks into cell culture in a hood and worked with radioactive isotopes and everything. More info at the Blog Post #1, link right above there. Pretty. –>
None of the following is specific medical advice. Consult your own doctor, especially if you have any specific other medical issues.
Okay, so let's talk about Covid-19, this piece of crap virus that's hitting the whole world in a pandemic right now.
1. MOST IMPORTANT: Stay home, wash your hands and disinfect surfaces, and stay away from other people as much as possible. This cute and quick video shows why.
2. If you have to go out and be around other people, wear a mask, any mask. If you or someone you know can sew a mask for you, do it. They are better than nothing. If you're near or downwind from someone who is just breathing who has it, a homemade mask will probably cut your chances of getting it by around 50%. That's a lot.
If you can sew and have a fabric stash, make masks for others. I'm in a mask-sewing group on Facebook for just my state that is taking orders for non-Covid-patient health centers, like cancer chemo centers, dialysis centers, hospices, and pain clinics, because they can't get any masks at all. We've made and donated over 4000 washable masks, plus headbands, covers for N-95s, and gowns. We use TWO LAYERS of tightly woven 100% cotton on the outside (good quilting fabric or high-quality bed sheets), and tee shirt material for the lining (3 layers, total).
Mask pattern we've been using.
Rolling Stone article on masks.
Basic, Without Filter Pocket
Written: bit.ly/2V5T6f9
Video: https://youtu.be/4FB–BOyTiU
Printable Pattern: bit.ly/2XeqEui
With Filter Pocket
Written: bit.ly/2ViBGfF
Video: https://youtu.be/S9RWII2-5_4
N95 Cover Mask Pattern:
Written: bit.ly/34dYC3r
Video: https://youtu.be/KBR98YKAr7w
How to Sew Pocket for Nose Wire:
Pleated Masks: bit.ly/nosewirepocketpleated
N95 Masks: bit.ly/2Vma20X
3. Best remedy for sore threat: a half-and-half mix of Gaviscon liquid and Children's Liquid Benadryl. Gargle with it as long as you can, then swallow it slowly. It's magic. Pro-Tip: Get both liquids in cherry, not different flavors.
4. Use Tylenol / Paracetamol / Acetaminophen for fever and aches. If your fever is too high, you can add Advil / Ibuprofen every 8 hours, too. There was one French report that Advil increases your chance of complications. Eh, meh, I don't know, but use Tylenol unless your fever is really high. If it gets too high, save your brain first by getting that fever down.
If you get sick, hydrate, a lot. Drink a lot of liquid. Many Covid-19 hospital admissions are actually for dehydration.Drink water, Gatorade, Pedialyte, or whatever you've got.
5. If you were sick before March 20 in the US and probably – before April 10, it probably was NOT Covid-19, and you aren't immune. Don't think you are.
Caveat: If you live up in Seattle, went to the Boston Biogen conference, live in northern Italy or Wuhan China, maybe NYC, or another very early hotspot, then maybe. But maybe not even then.
Before March 20, there are at least 3 nasty viruses that were circulating, plus the flu. This was a bad year for illnesses even before Covid-19. If you think you had it and survived with just a bad flu-like disease, you probably didn't. It probably was one of those other viruses.
Especially if you were sick for less than 3 weeks of sheer Hell.
Here's the way you tell: If 20% of the people around you were ending up in the hospital and up to 5% were dying, then it might have been Covid-19. If not, then it wasn't.
Don't assume you're immune unless you had a positive test or have a robust response on an antibody test. You can get it and spread it to people you love. Continue to stay home and social distance.
6. OH MY GOD MY CAT MIGHT INFECT ME.
Cats may be susceptible to the virus. Keep your cat in the house with you. Don't let your cat out.
There has not been a known case of cat-to-human transmission, nor any known cases of cats dying from it. Your cat is much-much-much more likely to get it from you than for them to somehow get it outside and bring it home. You are more dangerous to your cat then they are to you. Stay home, wash your hands, and practice safe social distancing to protect yourself and your cat.
7. Best immune system boosters:
– Sleep, at least 8 hours.
– Water, drink enough of it.
– Moderate exercise, not crazy and making yourself sore or barf.
I know, it's not a sexy essential oil, but those things work.
Excellent Yoga Channel on YouTube — Free, my favorite.
NYC Ballet Workout
8. Here is a bunch more information on current vaccine research at my blog.
Bunch of information about current research on Covid-19 at Blair's Blog.
We're still safe here in Chez Babylon, except for some anxiety and dread. Stay safe, my dear friends. I am praying for you.
I'm also working on Maxence's books. One Night in Monaco is up there for pre-order. It's officially a “prequel,” but it's 280 pages long and has Arthur and Casimir as main characters, as well as Max. I'll put Max #1 up for pre-order within a month or so.
Scientific Research Roundup on Covid-19
Updates on Covid-19 research: This was a response to a question about herd immunity and whether we will be able to achieve that.
Howdy folks! Yep, I hold a PhD in microbiology/virology, and postdoc research in neurosci.
There's a lot that we don't know about this virus. However, some people (at least) are having very robust immune reactions and produce lots of antibodies.
Serum/gammaglobulin from these people is being used in NYC to treat patients to excellent effect. This confirms the presence of neutralizing antibodies.
There's also no evidence that Covid-19 infects the thymus, which is how HIV weeds out neutralizing antibodies and is thus nearly impossible to mount an antibody resistance to.
Coronaviruses are notoriously difficult to immunize against because the antibody response degrades withing weeks or months. However, research suggests that regular CVs infect only the upper respiratory tract.
However, ab to SARS, which is quite probably a better model than the seasonal “cold-virus” type coronas, peak at 4 months and decline after 3 years.
Covid-19 infects the upper and lower respiratory tracts, the digestive system, maybe the brain and heart, so it makes sense that it would provoke a much more robust immune response than a seasonal cold-type CV.
Once we have a good vaccine (more on that below,) we will deploy it.
Mostly likely, we would deploy the vaccine now and hit everyone we can to act as a fire break, or herd immunity.
Then, we would routinely monitor for outbreaks and do contact tracing, then vaccinate the population in rings around an outbreak. This strategy is how we exterminated smallpox.
(I have to say this carefully so the SEC doesn't come after me because I'm not a politician, but I am acting as an unpaid virology adviser to a guy on the leadership team at a pharm co who is paying me in sexual favors. I'm listening in to proprietary calls. But I think I can cite published papers freely.)
The NIAID is already in Phase 1 trials for almost a month now with an mRNA vaccine. This vax type is not an inactivated or attenuated virus, but just a gene (I think it's 2 viral genes) that are expressed by your own cells and provoke an immune response.
The question is whether this vax will be effective to produce *neutralizing* antibodies for a variety of reasons, including the lack of other viral proteins to post-translationally modify or produce the right 3* or 4* structure for the vps. So, they may be in a non-native conformation that does not produce neutralizing antibodies. If it doesn't work, we can add or swap other viral proteins for the vaccine. Eventually, it is highly likely that we will get a vax that works, and it will probably be within 3 months.
However, an mRNA vaccine would be incredibly safe, like 0 risk of GBS and other responses, and could not produce the infection.
Also, an mRNA vax is not produced in eggs. It's produced in a lab. This means that there would not be a months-long lag period like with flu virus. Vax doses would be produced within days of FDA approval, if not hours, and keep rolling off the line. Also, no problem for people with egg allergies.
NIAID vax paper: https://www.niaid.nih.gov/news-events/nih-clinical-trial-investigational-vaccine-covid-19-begins
April 3, 2020
How To Deal With Isolation:
This was posted to a group I'm in on Facebook. I take no credit, but it seems like good advice. HUGS, to ALL.
Deep breaths.Advice from a psychologist:
After having thirty-one sessions this week with patients where the singular focus was COVID-19 and how to cope, I decided to consolidate my advice and make a list that I hope is helpful to all. I can't control a lot of what is going on right now, but I can contribute this.
Edit: I am surprised and heartened that this has been shared so widely! People have asked me to credential myself, so to that end, I am a doctoral level Psychologist in NYS with a Psy.D. in the specialities of School and Clinical Psychology.
MENTAL HEALTH WELLNESS TIPS FOR QUARANTINE
1. Stick to a routine. Go to sleep and wake up at a reasonable time, write a schedule that is varied and includes time for work as well as self-care.
2. Dress for the social life you want, not the social life you have. Get showered and dressed in comfortable clothes, wash your face, brush your teeth. Take the time to do a bath or a facial. Put on some bright colors. It is amazing how our dress can impact our mood.
3. Get out at least once a day, for at least thirty minutes. If you are concerned of contact, try first thing in the morning, or later in the evening, and try less traveled streets and avenues. If you are high risk or living with those who are high risk, open the windows and blast the fan. It is amazing how much fresh air can do for spirits.
4. Find some time to move each day, again daily for at least thirty minutes. If you don’t feel comfortable going outside, there are many YouTube videos that offer free movement classes, and if all else fails, turn on the music and have a dance party!
5. Reach out to others, you guessed it, at least once daily for thirty minutes. Try to do FaceTime, Skype, phone calls, texting—connect with other people to seek and provide support. Don’t forget to do this for your children as well. Set up virtual playdates with friends daily via FaceTime, Facebook Messenger Kids, Zoom, etc—your kids miss their friends, too!
6. Stay hydrated and eat well. This one may seem obvious, but stress and eating often don’t mix well, and we find ourselves over-indulging, forgetting to eat, and avoiding food. Drink plenty of water, eat some good and nutritious foods, and challenge yourself to learn how to cook something new!
7. Develop a self-care toolkit. This can look different for everyone. A lot of successful self-care strategies involve a sensory component (seven senses: touch, taste, sight, hearing, smell, vestibular (movement) and proprioceptive (comforting pressure). An idea for each: a soft blanket or stuffed animal, a hot chocolate, photos of vacations, comforting music, lavender or eucalyptus oil, a small swing or rocking chair, a weighted blanket. A journal, an inspirational book, or a mandala coloring book is wonderful, bubbles to blow or blowing watercolor on paper through a straw are visually appealing as well as work on controlled breath. Mint gum, Listerine strips, ginger ale, frozen Starburst, ice packs, and cold are also good for anxiety regulation. For children, it is great to help them create a self-regulation comfort box (often a shoe-box or bin they can decorate) that they can use on the ready for first-aid when overwhelmed.
8. Spend extra time playing with children. Children will rarely communicate how they are feeling, but will often make a bid for attention and communication through play. Don’t be surprised to see therapeutic themes of illness, doctor visits, and isolation play through. Understand that play is cathartic and helpful for children—it is how they process their world and problem solve, and there’s a lot they are seeing and experiencing in the now.
9. Give everyone the benefit of the doubt, and a wide berth. A lot of cooped up time can bring out the worst in everyone. Each person will have moments when they will not be at their best. It is important to move with grace through blowups, to not show up to every argument you are invited to, and to not hold grudges and continue disagreements. Everyone is doing the best they can to make it through this.
10. Everyone find their own retreat space. Space is at a premium, particularly with city living. It is important that people think through their own separate space for work and for relaxation. For children, help them identify a place where they can go to retreat when stressed. You can make this place cozy by using blankets, pillows, cushions, scarves, beanbags, tents, and “forts”. It is good to know that even when we are on top of each other, we have our own special place to go to be alone.
11. Expect behavioral issues in children, and respond gently. We are all struggling with disruption in routine, none more than children, who rely on routines constructed by others to make them feel safe and to know what comes next. Expect increased anxiety, worries and fears, nightmares, difficulty separating or sleeping, testing limits, and meltdowns. Do not introduce major behavioral plans or consequences at this time—hold stable and focus on emotional connection.
12. Focus on safety and attachment. We are going to be living for a bit with the unprecedented demand of meeting all work deadlines, homeschooling children, running a sterile household, and making a whole lot of entertainment in confinement. We can get wrapped up in meeting expectations in all domains, but we must remember that these are scary and unpredictable times for children. Focus on strengthening the connection through time spent following their lead, through physical touch, through play, through therapeutic books, and via verbal reassurances that you will be there for them in this time.
13. Lower expectations and practice radical self-acceptance. This idea is connected with #12. We are doing too many things in this moment, under fear and stress. This does not make a formula for excellence. Instead, give yourself what psychologists call “radical self acceptance”: accepting everything about yourself, your current situation, and your life without question, blame, or pushback. You cannot fail at this—there is no roadmap, no precedent for this, and we are all truly doing the best we can in an impossible situation.
14. Limit social media and COVID conversation, especially around children. One can find tons of information on COVID-19 to consume, and it changes minute to minute. The information is often sensationalized, negatively skewed, and alarmist. Find a few trusted sources that you can check in with consistently, limit it to a few times a day, and set a time limit for yourself on how much you consume (again 30 minutes tops, 2-3 times daily). Keep news and alarming conversations out of earshot from children—they see and hear everything, and can become very frightened by what they hear.
15. Notice the good in the world, the helpers. There is a lot of scary, negative, and overwhelming information to take in regarding this pandemic. There are also a ton of stories of people sacrificing, donating, and supporting one another in miraculous ways. It is important to counter-balance the heavy information with the hopeful information.
16. Help others. Find ways, big and small, to give back to others. Support restaurants, offer to grocery shop, check in with elderly neighbors, write psychological wellness tips for others—helping others gives us a sense of agency when things seem out of control.
17. Find something you can control, and control the heck out of it. In moments of big uncertainty and overwhelm, control your little corner of the world. Organize your bookshelf, purge your closet, put together that furniture, group your toys. It helps to anchor and ground us when the bigger things are chaotic.
18. Find a long-term project to dive into. Now is the time to learn how to play the keyboard, put together a huge jigsaw puzzle, start a 15 hour game of Risk, paint a picture, read the Harry Potter series, binge watch an 8-season show, crochet a blanket, solve a Rubix cube, or develop a new town in Animal Crossing. Find something that will keep you busy, distracted, and engaged to take breaks from what is going on in the outside world.
19. Engage in repetitive movements and left-right movements. Research has shown that repetitive movement (knitting, coloring, painting, clay sculpting, jump roping etc) especially left-right movement (running, drumming, skating, hopping) can be effective at self-soothing and maintaining self-regulation in moments of distress.
20. Find an expressive art and go for it. Our emotional brain is very receptive to the creative arts, and it is a direct portal for release of feeling. Find something that is creative (sculpting, drawing, dancing, music, singing, playing) and give it your all. See how relieved you can feel. It is a very effective way of helping kids to emote and communicate as well!
21. Find lightness and humor in each day. There is a lot to be worried about, and with good reason. Counterbalance this heaviness with something funny each day: cat videos on YouTube, a stand-up show on Netflix, a funny movie—we all need a little comedic relief in our day, every day.
22. Reach out for help—your team is there for you. If you have a therapist or psychiatrist, they are available to you, even at a distance. Keep up your medications and your therapy sessions the best you can. If you are having difficulty coping, seek out help for the first time. There are mental health people on the ready to help you through this crisis. Your children’s teachers and related service providers will do anything within their power to help, especially for those parents tasked with the difficult task of being a whole treatment team to their child with special challenges. Seek support groups of fellow home-schoolers, parents, and neighbors to feel connected. There is help and support out there, any time of the day—although we are physically distant, we can always connect virtually.
23. “Chunk” your quarantine, take it moment by moment. We have no road map for this. We don’t know what this will look like in 1 day, 1 week, or 1 month from now. Often, when I work with patients who have anxiety around overwhelming issues, I suggest that they engage in a strategy called “chunking”—focusing on whatever bite-sized piece of a challenge that feels manageable. Whether that be 5 minutes, a day, or a week at a time—find what feels doable for you, and set a time stamp for how far ahead in the future you will let yourself worry. Take each chunk one at a time, and move through stress in pieces.
24. Remind yourself daily that this is temporary. It seems in the midst of this quarantine that it will never end. It is terrifying to think of the road stretching ahead of us. Please take time to remind yourself that although this is very scary and difficult, and will go on for an undetermined amount of time, it is a season of life and it will pass. We will return to feeling free, safe, busy, and connected in the days ahead.
25. Find the lesson. This whole crisis can seem sad, senseless, and at times, avoidable. When psychologists work with trauma, a key feature to helping someone work through said trauma is to help them find their agency, the potential positive outcomes they can effect, the meaning and construction that can come out of destruction. What can each of us learn here, in big and small ways, from this crisis? What needs to change in ourselves, our homes, our communities, our nation, and our world?”
Big Pickle is Sweet and Spicy!
Oh, wow. I totally needed a funny, spicy book like Big Pickle. This is the cure for what is ailing me.
Get Big Pickle Here: http://smarturl.it/BigPickleJJ
Anonymous woman in purple dress relaxing on green grass with tablet. Rear view. Crop shot with vertical orientation screen template.Jace Pickle is in a jam.
The problem? Smack-talking Nova Strong, who is either everything wrong with his deli, or everything right for him.
Big Pickle is one of the cutest, spiciest books that I've read in ages. I could make all kinds of puns in here about how Jace is one spicy pickle, or this book is a big dill! but the book is just funnier than anything I'm going to come up with.
JJ Knight is simply a treasure. (She also writes under the pen name Deanna Roy.) She's one of the nicest people I know. She's one of those people who, if you're in pickle, you call her. (Dang it, I did it there.) Please take a look at her book, because it's as funny and sweet and hysterical as she is.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Blair Speaks Again about Covid-19.
Blog Post #1 Here if you didn't read the first one.
So, yeah, I used to be a real-live microbiologist who pipetted live virus stocks into cell culture in a hood and worked with radioactive isotopes and everything. More info at the Blog Post #1, link right above there.
Okay, so let's talk about Covid-19, this piece of crap virus that's hitting the whole world in a pandemic right now.
First, just general advice.
If you're not sick already, please, for the love of God and all that is holy, stay home. Stay isolated. Stay in for as long as you can.
Every additional day that you can stay in your own place and not get infected is an additional day that the medical people can deal with the pandemic before you become a part of it.
If you can stay in for a week before you go out and get groceries, good. If you can stretch that to 10 or 12 days, better. If you can go for a month, even better.
If you can keep yourself well for a month or two, you might be treated with drugs instead of getting really sick.
I know on good authority (and just plain common sense and in the literature out there) that there are clinical trials going on now that are showing good results. Tablets should be manufactured before the end of the summer.
If you can shelter in place and delay getting sick until August, chances are good that you'll get a prescription at the pharmacy that will make you feel better in days instead of weeks, and it'll keep you from getting really sick or infecting other people.
If you get sick now, things might go badly. There's no treatment right now.
Also, this virus is obviously airborne. It's not just on surfaces. It's obviously floating in the air and transmitted by aerosol and droplet spread. I mean, duh. Of course, it is.
If you have to go out:
Decontaminate as soon as you get home. Wash your hands with good soap for a few minutes as a quick stopgap. Gargle with Listerine or something else “antiseptic” until you think you're going to drown. Throw your clothes directly into the washing machine with a lot of detergent. And then get into a shower and soap everything and wash your hair.
Yes, really. That's minimal decon.
It might help. It might keep you from getting it once or twice. Do no use this instead of trying to isolate yourself. Isolation will actually work.
Another thing, MASKS. I am now recommending and begging you to wear a mask when you must leave the house.
All precautions above still apply. Don't go out. Wash your hands thoroughly and well. Shower if you can.
Okay, if you have N-95s or surgical masks, please, for the love of Jesus and all that is holy, drop them off at a local hospital. Or mail them. Or put them in a paper bag and hurl them through the doors without touching anything and run.
But, other masks? YES. They are better than nothing. If you're near or downwind from someone who is just breathing who has it, a homemade mask will probably cut your chances of getting it by around 50%. That's a lot.
Yes, my dear readers, it has come to this. If you go out, put on a mask. If you or someone you know can sew a mask for you, do it.
If you can sew and have a fabric stash, make masks for others. I'm in a mask-sewing group on Facebook for just my state that is taking orders for non-Covid-patient health centers, like cancer chemo centers, dialysis centers, hospices, and pain clinics, because they can't get any masks at all. We've made and donated over 3000 washable masks, plus headbands, covers for N-95s, and gowns. We use tightly woven 100% cotton on the outside (good quilting fabric or high-quality bed sheets), and tee shirt material for the lining.
Mask pattern we've been using.
Rolling Stone article on masks.
What does this virus do? (Short version) See long version at my #1 blog post.)
There is some bad, bad information out there that Covid-19 disease is “a bad flu.” Deep-Fried Crispy Christ on a Cracker, that is wrong.
This virus should be called something like the “Ground Glass Fills Up Your Lungs Pneumonia Virus.”
One of the major problems is that it starts slowly for 3 days or so. It's a little tickle, a mild fever, if that. That's another reason why you and everybody should wear a mask.
Chris Cuomo hallucinated seeing his dead father and had a fever of 105F.
If you get this horrible disease, have a fever, or feel sick:
Stay in one room in your place. Don't be around other family members. Don't go out. If someone else gets sick from you, they'll be competing for your hospital bed when you are close to dying. Keep away from everybody and try to get through it without infecting anyone else.
Tylenol / Paracetamol / Acetaminophen is the best fever reducer. There was some info out of France about Advil which may or may not hold up, but try to just use the Tylenol. If your fever is really spiking, you might want to ad Advil every 6 hours, too. First, save your brain from the fever. Then save the rest.
Best sore throat remedy: half and half mix of Children's Liquid Benedryl and Liquid Gaviscon. Gargle as long as you can then swallow it slowly. Pro-Tip: Get them both in cherry flavor, not 2 different flavors.
Okay, so what else?
Act like your life and your loved ones' lives depends on what you do, because it does.
1. Stay inside. Stay inside. Stay inside. Stay away from other people.
2. Cancel all concerts, vacations, plays, plane flights, organizations, clubs, church meetings, Sunday services, school, work, restaurants, take-out, lunch dates, dinner dates, golf league, and going out.
3. If you're a boss or an employer, close your place of business unless it's a pharmacy or a grocery store, and then continue to pay your people while it's closed. I have 5 people whom I will be continuing to pay during this time, no matter what. I get it. It's going to hurt, but it will keep those people safe. If you're an employee and your boss laid you off, first, remember that. Remember that when you're looking for a new job next time. Seriously. Then, file for unemployment benefits. (USA site to file here.)
4. Consider delivery services. I love Misfits Market, which is produce delivery. If you buy a box from them and use the coupon code COOKWME-GC7RTY, you'll get 25% off your box. I will, too, and I will use that 25% off to buy boxes for a local food bank. Also, Instacart.
5. Bake bakery items or take-out food into your oven at 250F/110C until heated, at least 10 minutes. Heat kills this virus. Freezing it does not.
6. Starting now, you will probably want to spray the outsides packages of your groceries with bleach spray (not on the carpet or couch! It's bleach!) and wipe them down. You can make 1% bleach spray in an old spray bottle with 1 part bleach to 99 parts water. Obviously, don't spray this directly on food. Just on the plastic packages. Again, this is bleach. Do not eat or drink the bleach.
Do rinse the soap off of any produce you wash very well. Like, a lot. Really wash it off. Soak it in clean water. Don't eat soap, either.
How to wash your groceries.
7. Do not go visit elderly relatives. OMG. Seriously. If you need to give them food, drop it and run while you're healthy. If they need supplies, shop now while you're healthy. And wipe it off with bleach.
Okay, so what can I do?
I get it. Even though I as a writer have been training for self-quarantine my whole life, it can be weird. So, what's safe-ish to do?
1. Stay home. Sorry, but I had to emphasize that.
For 10 more things that are safe, see my Blog Post #1.
What You Can Do to Boost Your Immune System:
1. Get enough sleep. Seriously on this one. Getting 7-9 hours really boosts your immune system. That might be the difference between a mild case and being hospitalized.
2. Drink water. Ditto. Immune system. I know, but it's something you can do.
3. Maybe 30-60 minutes of mild exercise if you can. Yoga is great. I do Yoga with Adriene on YouTube. There are hundreds of easy beginner videos on there, or some really challenging ones. It's free on YouTube. Just go there and watch.
4. Try to eat some fruits and vegetables, not just chocolate and wine.
Essential oils or anything like that will not help. Don't waste your money.
That's my info. Virtual hugs to all. I will try to keep in touch. Don't panic, but do everything you can to be a fire-break for this pandemic. Go home and stand firm.
One of the big things is that our governments, pretty much all of them, aren't coming to rescue us on this one. So, you need to do what you can to protect yourself and your family. And that means not getting sick, and not passing the virus to others if you do.
Please stay home, my dearest friends.
I am praying for you and the whole world. Pray for us all, too. We're all still healthy here in Chez Babylon. I'm doing my best to write and get things out to you.
Love, and Stay Safe,
Blair
March 16, 2020
Be a Fire Break.
Hey folks — I haven't spoken up much, but I feel that I need to now. Please, for the love of God and all that holy, stay home, stop going out, don't get delivery, and don't interact with people in person. Seal yourself into your house/apartment and don't go out.
***If 7 out of 8 people stay home and don't get infected, we can BREAK this pandemic. We can STOP it.***
Think of a forest fire that rages through a forest.
How do you stop it?
You chop down brush in an area.
You refuse to give it fuel.
You build a fire break.
Be the fire break.
I hold a PhD in Microbiology, concentration in Virology. I used to be a real-live microbiologist who pipetted live virus stocks into cell culture in a hood and worked with radioactive isotopes and everything. I had 6 peer-reviewed scientific papers published before I left science for family reasons. I've worked on epidemics with the UN's World Health Organization. I taught medical school. I've worked on emerging viruses in the lab. I was on the last plane INTO the Dominican Republic to study the polio outbreak for WHO in the 1990s. I need to talk to you about Covid-19.
Okay, so let's talk about Covid-19, this piece of crap virus that's hitting the whole world in a pandemic right now.
Quick thing: this virus is obviously spread by coughing and breathing, not just on surfaces. Washing your hands will prevent maybe 25% of cases. You need to not breathe other peoples' germs to prevent the other 75%.
First, just general advice.
If you're not sick already, please, again, for the love of God and all that is holy, stay home. Stay isolated. Stay in for as long as you can.
Every additional day that you can stay in your own place and not get infected is an additional day that the medical people can deal with the pandemic before you become a part of it.
If you can stay in for a week before you go out and get groceries, good.
If you can stretch that to 10 or 12 days, better.
If you can go for a month, even better.
If you can keep yourself well for a month or two, you might be treated with drugs instead of getting really sick. If you can go longer, there's a chance for a vaccine.
Also, if you get sick, there is a 15-40% chance (depending on your age, but that 15% is pretty much the lower end) that you will have to be hospitalized and probably on a ventilator, which means medical bills in excess of $200,000. Think about that when you are thinking about going out. Is this thing you're going to worth $200,000 or more in medical bills?
My husband works for Pfizer. There's a lot going on behind the scenes. The pharmaceutical companies are working on treatments and vaccines. The Cleveland Clinic developed a new, better test for Covid-19 in 9 days. Everyone is working on Covid-19 right now.
Also, this virus is obviously airborne. It's not just on surfaces. It's obviously floating in the air and transmitted by aerosolized droplet spread.
I mean, duh. Of course, it is.
All the other coronaviruses are.
That means that you can get it by breathing.
If you have to go out:
Decontaminate as soon as you get home. Wash your hands with good soap like Dial for a few minutes as a quick stopgap. Gargle with Listerine or something else “antiseptic” until you think you're going to drown. Throw your clothes directly into the washing machine with a lot of detergent. And then get into a shower and soap everything and wash your hair.
Yes, really. That's minimal decon.
It might help. It might keep you from getting it once or twice. Do no use this instead of trying to isolate yourself. Isolation will actually work.
What does this virus do?
There is some bad, bad information out there that Covid-19 disease is “a bad flu.”
Sweet Baby Jesus's tiny toes, that is wrong.
This virus should be called something like the “Ground Glass Fills Up Your Lungs Pneumonia Virus.”
Literally, that's what it looks like on an X-ray. It looks like your lungs are full of ground glass, and it feels like that when you're trying to breathe, too.
One of the major problems is that it starts slowly for 3 days or so. It's a little tickle, a mild fever, if that. Sometimes, it's nothing. And for 3 days, you walk around spewing virus and don't even know it.
And there are people around you spewing virus who don't know they're sick yet.
That's the real terror of this virus, the “prodromal” phase.
When you get the Flu, it slams into you like a ton of bricks. In 15 minutes, you know you're sick.
Covid-19 is different. It creeps up on you.
And then after 3 days, you get sick. Desperately sick.
When people say a “mild case” of Covid-19 disease, they mean that you don't require hospitalization or else you will die. You're still going to be sick as hell, in bed, gasping for breath and trying to breathe through ground glass for 2 weeks. You may think that you are going to barf up your lungs. It's a very bad disease.
Another piece of terrible information out there is that in the first few days of illness, when the virus is replicating in your throat and upper tract, that you can magically “wash it away” with water or vinegar or something.
Wrong. Oh, so wrong.
Once it's got a foothold and infects a few cells, that battle is lost. The only thing you can do is try not to infect others. If they get sick, they'll be competing for your hospital bed when you are close to dying. Keep away from everybody and try to get through it without infecting anyone else.
Now, why did I say Listerine up there? Because if you can kill the virus before it infects you, then you might have a chance. Once it's established an infection, then it's just virus v. immune system, and you have to try to get well.
I'm sorry about scaring you. I'm scared as hell. I mean, I've worked with HIV, a chickenpox virus that you can get again that had killed 5 people, and an emerging virus that killed a bunch of people in the Southwestern US. I was the kind of microbiologist who would have drunk samples to see what happened. I did my PhD research in a rogue lab that said, Hey! Let's all infect ourselves with this lab virus and see if it makes us immune to smallpox! (We did. It does.)
And this sucker scares me.
Okay, so what else?
ACT LIKE YOUR LIFE AND YOUR LOVED ONES' LIVES DEPEND ON WHAT YOU DO, BECAUSE IT DOES.
The problem is that as people get sick, our medical system is going to be overwhelmed. This will happen in 10 days.
Yes, 10 days from now. Or 9. I wrote this yesterday.
Dead serious here. If we don't all act as a fire-break for this virus, in 10 days, it will be too late.
People you know will die. Probably a lot of them.
BEST PRACTICES:
1. Stay inside. Stay inside. Stay inside.
2. Stay away from other people.
3. Cancel everything: all concerts, vacations, trips, plays, plane flights, organizations, clubs, church meetings, Sunday services, school, work, restaurants, take-out, lunch dates, dinner dates, golf league, and going out.
4. If you're a boss or an employer, close your place of business unless it's a pharmacy or a grocery store, and then continue to pay your people while it's closed. I have 5 people whom I will be continuing to pay during this time, no matter what. I get it. It's going to hurt, but it will keep those people safe.
Be a leader, not a lagger.
Do the right thing for your employees and customers. Protect them.
5. Get your kids' school/daycare to close. If they don't, first just keep the kids home, and then pull them out of school if you have to, if all their absences are used up. It's drastic. Yes, it is. Call the principal. Call the secretary. Scream at them. Yes, I am hereby giving you permission to frickin' scream at them to close the school.
In the 1918 Flu pandemic, places where the schools closed proactively, before the flu hit hard, had much lower death rates than places that hemmed and hawed about it. Links at the bottom.
6. Don't leave your house.
7. Don't buy fresh produce or bakery items that were made by hand, even if wrapped in plastic. Sorry. The virus is obviously aerosolized. It will settle on anything.
8. Starting now, you will probably want to spray the outsides packages of your groceries with bleach spray (not on the carpet or couch! It's bleach!) and wipe them down. You can make 1% bleach spray in an old spray bottle with 1 part bleach to 99 parts water. Obviously, don't spray this directly on food. Just on the plastic packages.
Again, this is bleach. Do not eat or drink the bleach.
Also, if you don't have bleach, take a bar of soap or a squeeze of dishwashing detergent and make a bin of soapy water. It should feel slippery and take the lotion off of you hands. Dunk things in that for a minute or two. Then rinse.
9. Stock up on food, medicines, vitamins, and pet food and supplies NOW. Sorry about this post being a little late for that.
10. Do not go visit elderly relatives. OMG. Seriously. If you need to give them food, drop it and run while you're healthy. If they need supplies, shop now while you're healthy. And wipe it off with bleach.
Okay, so what can I do?
I get it. Even though I as a writer have been training for self-quarantine my whole life, it can be weird. So, what's safe-ish to do?
1. Stay home. Sorry, but I had to emphasize that.
2. If you live in the suburbs, ex-urbs, or rural areas, yeah, you can leave your house to go on a solitary walk or with the people you're quarantining with. Walk the dog. Or jog. If you see someone else out, no handshakes, no hugging, no touching. Talk to them from more than 10 feet away. I know this sucks. It really does. I'm sorry. But stay back. If they cough, turn around and walk the hell away. Just pretend they're zombies.
3. Skype/Zoom/Google Hangout/Whatsapp with anyone you want to, for however long you want to, at any time you want to. Do all the Skyping. Make “lunch dates” with friends to eat together while Google Hangouting. This is really fun. I've been doing this with writer friends for a few years now because we are all hermity introverts and live all over the world.
4. Again, if suburbia or on a balcony, start a small garden in some planters. Just some lettuce, radishes, and zucchini will be nice if you can't/shouldn't buy produce. On behalf of your neighbors and humanity, don't plant more than 2 zucchini bushes. Really.
5. Buy some ebooks? Definitely no risk there!
6. Remember your hobby closet? If you're a quilter like I am, it's time to finally dig into your stash. Ditto if you're a knitter, crocheter, or whatever your hobby of choice is.
7. Time to seriously reconnect with your pets. Or your kids. It's up to you.
8. Get enough sleep. Seriously on this one. Getting 7-9 hours really boosts your immune system. That might be the difference between a “mild case” and being hospitalized or on a ventilator for a month, and $100,000s in medical bills.
9. Drink water. Ditto. Immune system. I know, but it's something you can do.
IF YOU DO GET SICK:
1. Call your MD’s office for advice. Do what they say.
2. TYLENOL/ACETAMINOPHEN or PARACETAMOL, NOT ADVIL OR MOTRIN or NSAIDs. France told people to take Advil, and they’re seeing half of their patients that end up on ventilators are under 60. Like, 18 year olds. NSAIDs of any kind may make this worse.
3. Fluids. Sleep. DO NOT GO OUT.
4. No one in your house should go out. You are now under a 3 week quarantine. Even after you feel better, for 7-10 days after you feel better, you may be infectious and able to spread it.
That's my info. Virtual hugs to all. I will try to keep in touch. Don't panic, but do everything you can to be a fire-break for this pandemic.
Go home and stand firm.
One of the big things is that our governments, pretty much all of them, aren't coming to rescue us on this one.
So, you need to do what you can to protect yourself and your family.
And that means not getting sick, and not passing the virus to others if you do.
Please stay home.
I am praying for you and the whole world. Pray for us all, too.
I'm also posting this publically for sharing. Feel free.
And I'm not going to argue with anybody about “over-reacting” or anything else. Unless you have a PhD in microbiology, epidemiology, or the like, don't argue with me.
If you do have one of those, I know you won't be arguing with me.
LINKS FOR YOU: If anybody needs the WaPo articles because they're behind a paywall, let me know and I'll copy-paste. But the animations are enlightening.
Why staying home works:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/world/corona-simulator/
Iran is building mass graves that you can see from space.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/world/iran-coronavirus-outbreak-graves/
1918 Flu study on how social distancing works:
https://qz.com/1816060/a-chart-of-the-1918-spanish-flu-shows-why-social-distancing-works/
Another one, but specific to CT:
https://ctmirror.org/2020/03/11/with-coronavirus-spreading-in-connecticut-when-is-it-appropriate-to-close-schools/
Blair Blathers
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