Well said, Fran. I think my biggest adjustment (other than that I retired from my main job in January and moved, which was pretty big) has been that I cannot simply run out and get something if I need it. So I’ve had to learn to plan grocery trips/deliveries for the first time in many years. And I really want to be able to go to a fabric shop. Since I also moved in January, I downsized a bunch of stuff never dreaming I wouldn’t be able to run out and get more if I needed it… Oh well. And I do not know which shops in my new area stock what I want. I always said I’d work from stash when I retired… it is time to do so now. Especially since a lot of the travel I had planned in the next year or so probably will not happen.
I know it is not historical, but I picked up a new pattern from www.Fabric-stores.com <http://www.fabric-stores.com/> recently. Have any of you worked with any of their patterns? I have a length of cotton that will become one of these tunics in the not to distant future... -Megan > On May 6, 2020, at 4:26 AM, Lavolta Press <[email protected]> wrote: > > Just because we don't have truly reliable Covid-19 tests (many false > positives and negatives) for either the active disease or antibodies, does > not mean we never will. Or that we don't have some good tests developed > already. It's just that disorganization, shoddy production, lack of quality > control, and in some cases poor test administration--even mixups at the > lab--have rendered many test results unreliable. Obviously, the tests have > to be carefully, well, tested, then the reliable ones mass produced, and then > administered on a wide scale. We can find out how long antibodies last by > using a truly reliable antibody test and then keeping track of the people > with proven antibodies. I don't believe that most people in the US who had > flu-like or cold-like symptoms in the fall actually had Covid-19. > > Just because we don't have an effective treatment (other than trying to > support the patient with oxygen and hoping their body fights off the > infection) does not mean we never will. Remdesivir (which prevents the virus > from replicating) has only provided modest improvements in ICU patients. I am > hoping it is more effective if administered early in the disease, before the > patient is ill enough to need the ICU. I understand that Remdesivir is being > tested for early use, also different ways of administrating it. And many > other drugs are being developed and tested. > > I am also hoping that administering oxygen early, with the kind of machines > used for sleep apnea, will be something of a game changer. Treatment is new > and as far as I can tell, the epidemic went on for weeks before doctors > discovered that merely flipping the patients onto their stomachs provided > their organs with significantly more oxygen. > > Just because we don't have a vaccine now doesn't mean we never will. There > are over 100 currently at some stage of development and even testing. Plus > there is some hope an old tuberculosis vaccine will help. Flu is a > coronavirus, and there are effective flu vaccines. They have to be > administered annually, but so what? As far as I can tell, there are no > effective vaccines for the common cold because they would not be profitable > enough to develop. There will be huge profit in developing an effective > Covid-19 vaccine, which is a good incentive for drug companies. > > So, we will eventually get effective testing, contact tracing, treatment, and > vaccines. I don't think masks are any kind of substitute for social > distancing, but they are useful *in addition to* social distancing. I'll > believe the disease is transmitted by aerosols until it's proven otherwise. > I'd wear an N95 mask if I could get one, but I can't, so I have to make do > with homemade cloth masks. And yes, I want other people to wear them too. > Anyone can have Covid-19 and be asymptomatic. > > I am not one of the people who claims that no one will get a serious case of > Covid-19 unless they are old, or younger with an immune system problem. That > is clearly not true. However, deaths are highly concentrated in those > groups. Though many young, otherwise healthy people have died too, and a few > very old people have survived. It is not clear to me how common long-term > damage to the body may be (from things like blood clots and organ damage from > insufficient oxygen) but some people are experiencing damage even after > "recovery." I am healthy but I'm 65; my husband is healthy but 68. The > immune system declines with age. We're at high risk right there. Also, > deaths are skewed to the over-60 group because of triage. Overwhelmed > hospitals in many places--even New York from what I hear--are simply refusing > to treat older patients, and in some cases disabled patients. So yeah, most > of those patients die. And the more cases there are in the community, the > less likely people like me will be to get any treatment. And the more cases > there are in the community, the less likely *anyone* will be able to get > treatment for any other diseases. > > So I am all for sheltering in place. It's really quite comfortable. My > husband and I sold our San Francisco house in 2016 and moved to a house in > the Sacramento area with 4,800 square feet of living space and 1.8 acres of > landscaped grounds. We have fountains, numerous beds of roses, covered patio, > mature trees, everything. The price was an exact trade for our San Francisco > house. It's not a dense area, at all, and we are right across the street from > a golf course. We can run or walk around the neighborhood at any time of day, > and not encounter anyone. I work on my business. My husband has a to-do list > of home improvement projects. We both do lots of reading. I sew. We have a > very large personal library of books and DVDs, many years' worth of them to > enjoy for the first time. > > We do everything we did before Covid-19 except go out to restaurants--which > we seldom did anyway. We can do great cooking at home. We aren't going to > the dentist for checkups, but we didn't do that for fun, and our dentist is > open for emergencies (though only for emergencies) if we have any. We don't > go to the hairdresser. But I only have my hair cut once or twice a year, I > always dye my own hair, and I can cut my husband's. And we order groceries > online from any of four local stores and get curbside pickup. They put the > groceries in the trunk, no contact. The local hardware stores also offer > curbside pickup. Ever since there was an Internet, we've done most of our > other shopping online, including for fabric, so that's nothing new. > > So I'm not "cowering in place." Life is just like usual. I'm more likely to > survive than if I insisted on personally picking out my produce in the > grocery store--which isn't much fun anyway. > > I'm not looking forward to the "second wave" of Covid-19 in the fall, because > I don't think there will be a vaccine by then. But Governor Newsom is doing a > sensible job of handling sheltering in place in California. (Though even he > approved triage guidelines to deny medical care to both older people and > disabled people. Those guidelines were taken down after several > anti-discrimination groups protested, but I don't know what is being used > instead.) There are a number of other states where I really, really don't > want to be during a pandemic. Because that second wave will come, in fact in > some states the first wave just won't go away. Not looking forward to the > death counts. I care more about lives than the economy, but a high death > toll is also bad for the economy. > > Fran > > Lavolta Press > > www.lavoltapress.com > > > > _______________________________________________ > h-costume mailing list > [email protected] > https://indra.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/h-costume _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] https://indra.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
