Has the Coronovirus changed your schedule and your reading habits?

[Terry]

Thanks, Michele! I hope others can try virtual socializing. It’s really great for getting together with friends in this strange time!

[Lynn]

I understand that many people are having trouble reading. I am spending much too much time online and it is causing eyestrain. I tried two nights ago to read a physical book and my eyes would not focus at all. Yesterday, I had to have a "no glasses" day to let my eyes rest. I took the dogs on a walk in our neighborhood and trimmed all the azaleas that we have as foundation planting along the front of the house.

The only book I have read in the last two weeks had an audio to go with it. I need the physical book so I can stop the audio every so often when I feel I might have missed something, but I cannot spend all my time with the physical book. I thought I would remind people of this thread. It has a lot of resources mentioned. Also, with libraries closed, it is nice to have options.

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

And Michele, you are so right about the online socializing!

[Sandra]

Lockdown in Pennsylvania was extended through April 30th a few days ago. Since yesterday is also official that schools will remain closed for the rest of the school year. These are going to be a few though months.

[Karin]

I can read right now since while we are taking this seriously we haven't been hit personally, but for most of my reading I am choosing lighter fare. There are a few exceptions because some of the books I have here I took out of the library before all of this quarantining started.

Most things are to stay closed until the end of April here, but some government buildings are open on an appointment basins now (not libraries).

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

I have the feeling that schools in all 50 states will close for the remainder of the spring. Some states have already announced this.

I do think that most businesses will be free to start operating again in early June. The cost to our economy for this extended shutdown is going to be staggering.

[PinkieBrown]

There’s a fact that hasn’t been stated very clearly nor consistently which is; you will only gain immunity by catching the virus. Mitigation helps the health services cope with the numbers of the seriously ill; it slows them to a manageable level but, in doing so, it slows the rate at which people can get sick and gain immunity as well as protecting those who can’t cope with the virus. So, if you are staying in away from the virus you are only delaying the moment when you catch it. There will come a point when a vaccine is available and immunity can be gained. Now, the question is in order to protect the weak and sustain medical services, will mitigation have to last until the vaccine is available? If people are allowed to return to work because they have gained immunity those numbers aren’t going to be sufficient to kickstart any economy when only 1-2 million out of 7 billion have caught it so far (a gross underestimate but the disparity isn’t mitigated by that error).
On a related note I’m sickened to see those who have to work or have no economic choice being put at mortal risk; bus drivers with asthma dying where their only choice would have been to self-isolate and lose their jobs potentially but losing salary is enough. Even going to a supermarket and seeing workers being put at risk by constant contact; yeah I told them how much I appreciated them being there last time. It makes me feel queasy for them. Weeks into this and I’m utterly unconvinced at the measures taken.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

PinkieBrown wrote: "...Weeks into this and I’m utterly unconvinced at the measures taken."

I agree completely. It's unfortunate that we have been presented with such a binary choice, as if life has a big "on/off" switch that we can all flip. There are many creative options that have not been presented for consideration, such as allowing high risk people stay at home while low risk people are allowed to return to work.

One thing is certain: as a society we were completely unprepared for the risk of a pandemic, and we are very lucky that our lack of planning was not exposed by a virus with a higher mortality rate.

[PinkieBrown]

It reminds me of the old question of whether you quietly and calmly discuss the best way to proceed or scream “fire” and shout for everyone to leave a burning room. Some situations require one approach and some require the other. I suppose you define good leadership according the shot selection.

[Nidhi]

I searched in google for Spanish Flu 1918. It lasted a whole year and claimed almost 100 Millions lives. We are certainly doing better but a whole year!!!! is just unthinkable, depressing.

[Doubledf99.99]

I"ve been watching a lot of old sports stuff.
Still reading but not quite as much.
I think Goodreads has been infected by the Covid-19, I'm experiencing some wonky hiccups with a few links in Goodreads. Some pages load up normal, and other don't.

[Luke]

Matt wrote: "When the USA begins to re-open certain areas, I hope the public libraries open back up right away. Bookworms are already known for social distancing, so it’s hard for me to see much risk in especia..."

Librarians such as myself are going to have to do a lot of sanitizing and hiring and negotiation over funding before anything opens back up, especially those in public libraries with all the mass furloughing and letting go that's been happening. Considering how often I've seen patrons sneeze into or wipe their hands on books, I'm not going to rely on stereotypes when it comes to avoiding the propagation of mass contagions once the government thinks everyone is "safe". If any information institution is going to open back up, its stakeholders best be prepared to put their money where their mouths are, else any opening is just going to end in diseased disaster.

[Cynda]

With everyone else among my GR friends relaxing their reading schedule, I have more time to work on reading projects I have wanted to work on for a couple of years. I am reading some Illiadic plays, currently read the Orestian triology. Also I have been slowly working through The Decameron and may start on rereading The Canterbury Tales. And I have started on some folktales. Recently I reread Beowulf. In May for Jewish history month, I will read two collections of Jewish folktales. Anyone interested in folktales, we have started a folktales thread where you are welcome to post and chat.

[Lynn]

The governor of my state announced yesterday that we would not have school anymore this year. As of now, we are planning for normal schedules in the Fall, but of course only time will tell on that. I wrote a final "assignment" letter to my students. Basically I begged them to develop a habit of reading good literature.

The buildings are closed and we are under a "stay at home" order at present as most people are. We still need to clean the classroom, turn off computers, collect textbooks, and allow the students to retrieve their personal belongings. The school superintendent of our county says he will announce in the future how all that will happen. It's sad.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

Nidhi wrote: "I searched in google for Spanish Flu 1918. It lasted a whole year and claimed almost 100 Millions lives. We are certainly doing better but a whole year!!!! is just unthinkable, depressing."

Fortunately we have much better hygiene now (100 years ago not everyone had indoor plumbing for example) and better nutrition. Certainly our medical care is much better. Let's hope all of that makes a big difference.

[Lynn]

RJ from the LBC wrote: "Nidhi wrote: "I searched in google for Spanish Flu 1918. It lasted a whole year and claimed almost 100 Millions lives. We are certainly doing better but a whole year!!!! is just unthinkable, depres..."

In 1918 my grandmother's older sister Jessie died from pneumonia. It is likely as a result of the Spanish flu, but that is something I only realized years later. My grandmother was the youngest of 11 children. Her sister Jessie was the teacher at their one room school house with fewer than 20 children. Jessie was a young and very beautiful (from the pictures outside the school house) woman in her 20s. No one else from the family died or even records having the flu. Viruses can really target certain groups in a population. The Spanish flu targeted young healthy adults.

But RJ you are correct about advancements. I can remember my grandmother sadly saying, if only antibiotics had been available to them earlier, her sister might not have died.

[Laurie]

There is a woman in a small town nearby who just turned 104. The news said her mother died of the Spanish flu on Christmas day when this woman was 2 years old. It's sad that she lost her mother in a pandemic and now she's living through another. She is in a retirement home so her family couldn't join her for her birthday.

[LiLi]

Yes, obviously antibiotics do nothing against the flu; but we do at least have better sanitation and more treatment options to care for people.

[Newly]

I haven't really been able to concentrate on anything.

[Susan]

I have days when I get some reading done and others when I can’t concentrate at all. I live in Queens – the epicenter of the outbreak in NYC. Every morning when I wake up there’s that moment when I realize this is all really happening. It’s not just a nightmare that will dissolve with the dawn.

[Rosemarie]

I read multiple books at a time and also knit at regular intervals. I notice that I am reading fewer books than before, but that included some long ones.
My issue is sleep. I never did sleep that well before all this, so now I am turning into a night owl, but I still wake up a lot.
Everyone I know is fine right now, but I probably won't get back to normal patterns until this is behind us and we got through it safely.

[Lynn]

Elizabeth wrote: "Yes, obviously antibiotics do nothing against the flu; but we do at least have better sanitation and more treatment options to care for people."

True. I caught the Mexico City flu in 2009. Our school had to close down then, but only for a week. It was estimated that 85% of the faculty and staff at my school caught it. I live near Nashville, TN. The flu itself was unpleasant, but I developed pneumonia from it. I had to spend two weeks in bed, and I honestly believe that without antibiotics I would not have survived the secondary infection.

[Luke]

Well, the quarantine in my area just got extended through May, with some slight lifting of restrictions. I don't envy anyone graduating from my library science program during the customary spring semester. The job market is tanked, and what jobs there are are going to be so choked with self-sacrificing vocational awe with little to no humanitarian/union oversight that I wouldn't be surprised if a significant number of people who took them got the plague because of it.

[Laurie]

Aubrey wrote: "Well, the quarantine in my area just got extended through May, with some slight lifting of restrictions. I don't envy anyone graduating from my library science program during the customary spring s..."

Aubrey, are you still able to complete your degree? If I remember correctly, you needed to do an internship and that was up in the air.

In Texas, we will no longer be quarantined as of Friday. Retail businesses, restaurants, and movie theaters can open to the public with 25% capacity allowed in. Hair salons and gyms or other places that can't really social distance well will still be closed. I will return to work but only half of us will work on site, so I will work at home every other week.

While I am ready to get out of my house, I feel like this is too much too soon and the spike in positive cases will be more than our medical system can adequately handle, but time will tell.

[Luke]

Laurie wrote: "Aubrey, are you still able to complete your degree? If I remember correctly, you needed to do an internship and that was up in the air."

Thanks for checking in, Laurie. I was only gunning for the internship cause it'd be nice to have three professional references for work I'd done within the last year, instead of two and one from way back in 2016. The only one that I was interested in was an in person one, so that poofed, but I'm taking a class on coding instead, which, considering that's mostly what I'm doing for my currently library job, is going to be very useful for the distance work mode that the field's likely going to be in for some time to come.

I wish you luck with the opening back up. Even when my area finally opens back up, I probably won't be going out without observing social distancing procedures, mask and gloves and all, for at least a month, if not more. I see too many complacent folks who don't observe such even now when masks have become mandatory to think that herd immunity is going to do me any good.

[Erin]

Laurie wrote: "Aubrey wrote: "Well, the quarantine in my area just got extended through May, with some slight lifting of restrictions. I don't envy anyone graduating from my library science program during the cus..."

I agree with you, Laurie! And I object to the governor’s not allowing local mayors to maintain additional measures if they believe it necessary. IMHO, some aspects seem sensible, but masks and social distancing should still be required. What worries me most is his plan to reduce restrictions even more in only two weeks! With how long the incubation period is, waiting a month would be much wiser. I hope I’m wrong, of course, but I’m going to prepare myself for an extra strict self-imposed stay at home starting mid-May in case there’s a bad outbreak right as people are being even more lax. :(

[LiLi]

Didn't the job market for librarians tank over 20 years ago? I have lots of friends and family who went to library school, and currently none of them is working in a library. There's been a paucity of jobs for a while.

It's sad. I got a lot out librarians and going to the library when I was younger, and I think it would be a rewarding career if it weren't so hard to come by.

[Mike]

My wife has been a librarian for over 20 years, but about a dozen years ago she saw how they were becoming homeless shelters that offered computers for porn downloads and the renting of CDs and DVDs (and VHS) rather than books. So she transferred into the County's Law Library, which serves a different demographic.

[Mike]

My reading schedule has changed, but not for any intrinsic reason. I've been retired for a few years and always read a lot, but my wife--who MUST work!--is home for sequestering from her gravy County job, and she has been putting me to work in the house. So in a roundabout way my reading IS affected. We need to open things back up! ASAP!

[PinkieBrown]

Macron’s government just announced that any and all sporting events will be postponed until September; ending the continual chatter about when sports will be played. The psychology of an incisive, long range ban which, potentially, could be reduced if news is positive in the meantime, puts an end to the endless humming and hawing about the extent to which lockdowns can be eased (never mind those places where there never was a lockdown how’s that working out?). Politicians aren’t usually capable of this level of decisiveness because they fear the repercussions and this doesn’t equate at all to actual leadership.
On the ground this means any time I go in a shop I have the inevitable encounter where I refuse to squeeze past a, usually, tittering person, who has decided to go the other way around the shop; instantly making them a prime candidate as a vector. People aren’t stupid but when they don’t think they become thick- a genius who never considers a subject is a moron on that subject, qed. The couple holding hands down the street forcing anybody else into the road to go round them. The dog owner berating a passerby for getting too close when his lead is long; yeah I saw this. So when governments refuse to take decisive action and prevaricate; it leaves those without consideration to ... not consider others. Wear a mask to stop others catching the virus. In the uk we can wait for the inevitable enforcement of mask wearing by politicians or get them before the price triples? Your choice as always.

[Lynn]

I am still working in a way. Today I had an IEP. That is a parent/teacher meeting for a student who has an Individualized Education Plan. It was a video conference call. IEP meetings usually have about 8 people attending and take an hour or so. In the Spring I lose about 3 hours a week out of the classroom to attend these meetings. I teach 8th grade. The High School counselors come to our school to help students plan their coursework. An English teacher and a math teacher must attend. A "substitute" will come watch the class. The online meetings
are amazingly good!! I hope we keep this up even after we return to working in the buildings. There are also daily emails and a phone conversation with a parent today.

I have gone to the grocery store about once a week. I am not worried. I like being at home, and I love having extra time off, but will be one of the first to go back out when the time comes. I honestly think I already had Covid the second and third weeks of March. I had an unusual feeling cold, that was not serious. My husband's had a bad cold at that time which turned into a serious Bronchitis and he had to get antibiotics. Also, both of our dogs caught whatever we had and the older dog had a bad night when we thought we were going to lose him. He survived.

I love the balance this time has given me. There is so much pressure to do too much in our society. The 24 hour, 7 days a week pace of society overwhelms me. I like this slower pace. Perhaps when we go back into the world there will be problems, and perhaps I should be more concerned, but right now I am really grateful for all we have.

[Brina]

Lynn, I have many of the same feelings, including being exposed to covid in mid March. I work at the lunchroom at my kids school twice a week and substitute teach 2-3 times a week as well. That’s in addition to errands and housework. I feel like I’m always running somewhere during the week. I also go to the grocery once a week plus other minor errands that I limit to one per morning. My husband works at the grocery but can’t do the shopping or he gets bombarded by customers and can’t leave so I do it. The only thing with all four kids home is having the kitchen open practically 24-7 plus clarifying some schoolwork, so I don’t always have time to read. I will miss the laid back schedule. For some of the kids the online school works better and I wouldn’t mind if schools maintained a blended schedule- for example if kids need to work on projects or read a novel or do a lot of worksheets, they could be done at home without distractions from classmates. The other days, when new work is being introduced, the class could meet in school. In fact this blended school concept has been suggested by some government officials so I’m interested to see what happens. The only two places I will welcome being open are the library and hair salon. Other that I enjoy this break. I doubt I’ll run to places as much as before it just isn’t worth the effort. My cats would miss me too much if I was constantly back to running around. Hopefully we find a happy medium.

[Laurie]

I agree that we should look for many positives in our situation and make those work in a post-Covid society. Let's pay our workers more who work in essential services like grocery stores and many other industries. Let's plan for disasters and work the plan we have instead of winging it and pointing fingers when it doesn't work. Let's make our families and not our jobs our priority. Let's keep working flex schedules with some time working at home so we can commute less. Let's admit that we don't need stores to be open 24 hours 7 days a week and holidays too. There are so many things we can take away from this and I just hope we actually do some that are helpful. Sorry for my soapbox rant.

[Kathleen]

Laurie wrote: "I agree that we should look for many positives in our situation and make those work in a post-Covid society. Let's pay our workers more who work in essential services like grocery stores and many o..."

I love your rant, Laurie, and completely agree. And like Lynn and Brina said, I hope the slower pace continues. The speed of our lives and demand for instant gratification was way out of hand, and I hope this makes consideration for others more the norm.

[LiLi]

Laurie, I can't say I disagree with a single idea you've mentioned. These would all be good changes.

[PinkieBrown]

A thought line that seems worth following;

If you pursue social distancing because you believe someone else is going to infect you; then that amounts to saving one more person from being infected, namely you.

If you pursue social distancing because you believe that you are going to infect someone else; then that amounts to saving at least one more person from being infected but potentially multiple people being infected.

Logically one state of mind is much more potentially dangerous than the other. So when somebody gives you permission to end social distancing .. maybe politely decline at the idea of contributing to another outbreak. Really the idea of contributing to another persons demise affects me much more than worries about my own well-being; and the idea of unwittingly killing somebody else; well, it at least makes me question whether the activity I am so desperate to do is worth this potential outcome- one I may never find out I was culpable for but that I have imagination enough to weigh against self-satisfaction.

There are solutions; testing and tracing and a vaccine that seem worth the wait.