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  1. #1
    I came in like a wrecking ball... [Desolate Divine]'s Avatar
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    COVID-19: How is it affecting you?

    Unless a scarily large portion of PXR people live under a rock, I am assuming we are all somewhat aware of the Corona Virus.

    How is it impacting your life so far?

    In terms of home, things are tricky. My mum has a few health conditions, so the Coronavirus poses more of a risk to her, but even without all of this, she tends to have slight hypochondriac tendencies, and freaks out, so naturally, she is freaking out, and because I am concerned, but not freaking out, she is taking that as me being flippant about the whole thing. In all honesty, I wouldn't be surprised if I had to stay with my Dad for a little while, if jumping through mum's hoops to keep her satisfied gets to be too much.

    In terms of school, it is hard to say. The closest university to where I live, that I know a number of students at, has had a confirmed case. From what I gather, they notified all of the students, and within a day, notified those who had been in contact with the student to isolate themselves. Their classes are still running, and I assume mine are as well. I was planning on not being there this week, as I have a meeting that evening that clashes, and then after I decided to take the day off, I got offered an easy funeral job. The funeral is still going ahead, but I am not sure about the meeting. But I wouldn't be surprised if in the next week or two all our classes are moved to be online.

    In terms of work, work at the factory has been quiet, but that is just a random thing. Nothing to do with COVID-19. And I really hope that picks up, because COVID-19 going to have an impact on my other work.

    My work at the church has been impacted the most.

    Every June, we do a big combined camp called State Youth Games. This year, I was going to be running it for my group, however in the last week it has seemed more and more likely it wouldn't happen, and on Friday, I got an email from the church saying that they were assessing with all of this what the Church will be involved with, and SYG was referenced.

    Basically, even if the organization that runs it doesn't pull the plug on the event (and they really should, it is 3000 people gathered together and camping together), there are too many obstacles on our side. The Youth and Young Adults HUB have to approve us going, and I know they won't. Even if they do, we rely on funds from the church, and fundraising ourselves to afford to go. We usually raise funds by doing Trivia Nights, which we can't do during all of this (they were referenced alongside State Youth Games), and there was the possibility we would have to stop Sunday Services. The church relies on tithes to fund programs, and a large portion of them are cash in the offering bowls during the Sunday services. Basically, State Youth Games is off the table for us regardless.

    On Friday, I told the other Youth Leaders this, and said that as long as the services run, Youth group would continue to run as well. I thought we would have the rest of the term (two more weeks). But this morning, I got an email from the church council saying that as of tomorrow all weekly activities at the church are postponed. This includes:
    -Anime Club
    -Playgroups
    -Craft Group
    -Friendship Group (old people get together once a month)
    -Girl's Brigade
    -Boy's Brigade
    -Youth Group
    -Sunday Morning Service
    -Youth Chills
    -Sunday Evening Service.

    We have an evening service tonight, then for the next few months at a guess, no physical services or weekly activities. Anime Club, I have arranged to be digital (organizing watch parties via different platforms). We will be doing live streamed services, but will still probably lose income outside of electronic giving. I still need to figure out how we keep the momentum of Youth Group going during this time, but that will be difficult.

    In terms of me financially, this knocks out about 40% of my income from the church, as that is jobs that are basically setup for these events, which are now not happening for the time being.

    Long term, my job at the church may be in jeopardy because of the loss of income, and if I do end up isolated, I will rely on that, as the 60% left is work I can do from home.

    So that's me. How is COVID-19 affecting you guys?

  2. #2
    growing strong Pokemon Trainer Sarah's Avatar
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    I was supposed to be in Japan right now for a conference but it was cancelled due to coronavirus, so I took the 2 weeks off from work anyway and just did a local trip for the first week and spent the second week playing mystery dungeon at home. I go back to work tomorrow. A lot has changed there since I left. No big meetings, everyone who can is being told to work from home and anyone returning from overseas is not allowed to return to work for 14 days. Most people at my work travel overseas 1-2 times a year to go to conferences, but all traveling has been banned and all conferences around the world seem to have been cancelled. Everyone lost a lot of money in flights/accommodation. It will be interesting to see what is like at work when I go back tomorrow.

    Outside of work, I've made sure my grandparents have enough essentials so they can avoid leaving the house for a few weeks if there is a huge increase in cases. My mum works in aged care and has to wear full protective equipment now (goggles, mask, apron, gloves).

    My dad decided to fly on a pre-booked holiday to New Zealand yesterday even though the prime minister said people shouldn't travel unless essential. The same day, New Zealand said anyone arriving into the country would need to be quarantined for 14 days. He just made it before the cut off... But just now Australia made the same rule so he will need to quarantine for 14 days when he gets back from his holiday... I think it was pretty dumb of him to go but he didn't want to lose the money from the holiday. I'm glad he will have to isolate as I don't want him to be around my grandparents when he gets back if possible (he was living with them for the moment).

    It seems like the schools will shut at any time, which means lots of parents (including my boss and many others at work) will need to stay home. Unfortunately I can't do my job from home, so unless my work shuts down I'll have to go into the city every day. I ride my bike in at least, so I don't have to take public transport. I have lots of leave saved up so lucky I don't have to worry about being paid if there is a lockdown.

    I think it's too soon to worry yet but the wave of cases will come eventually. I'm not scared of getting sick but the panic buying of everything in supermarkets makes me a bit anxious. I'm also worried about my grandparents getting sick.
    @Desolate Divine that sucks that your hours are being cut so dramatically. Could you try doing more activities online or something for youth group? There have been plenty of forum events you could take inspiration from! And it would take time to plan, run etc so if the church was still willing to pay for your time, at least you'd have some work to do. I'm sure the kids and their parents would appreciate it too, especially if they close schools soon.
    GCEA


  3. #3
    I came in like a wrecking ball... [Desolate Divine]'s Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Pokemon Trainer Sarah View Post
    I was supposed to be in Japan right now for a conference but it was cancelled due to coronavirus, so I took the 2 weeks off from work anyway and just did a local trip for the first week and spent the second week playing mystery dungeon at home. I go back to work tomorrow. A lot has changed there since I left. No big meetings, everyone who can is being told to work from home and anyone returning from overseas is not allowed to return to work for 14 days. Most people at my work travel overseas 1-2 times a year to go to conferences, but all traveling has been banned and all conferences around the world seem to have been cancelled. Everyone lost a lot of money in flights/accommodation. It will be interesting to see what is like at work when I go back tomorrow.

    Outside of work, I've made sure my grandparents have enough essentials so they can avoid leaving the house for a few weeks if there is a huge increase in cases. My mum works in aged care and has to wear full protective equipment now (goggles, mask, apron, gloves).

    My dad decided to fly on a pre-booked holiday to New Zealand yesterday even though the prime minister said people shouldn't travel unless essential. The same day, New Zealand said anyone arriving into the country would need to be quarantined for 14 days. He just made it before the cut off... But just now Australia made the same rule so he will need to quarantine for 14 days when he gets back from his holiday... I think it was pretty dumb of him to go but he didn't want to lose the money from the holiday. I'm glad he will have to isolate as I don't want him to be around my grandparents when he gets back if possible (he was living with them for the moment).

    It seems like the schools will shut at any time, which means lots of parents (including my boss and many others at work) will need to stay home. Unfortunately I can't do my job from home, so unless my work shuts down I'll have to go into the city every day. I ride my bike in at least, so I don't have to take public transport. I have lots of leave saved up so lucky I don't have to worry about being paid if there is a lockdown.

    I think it's too soon to worry yet but the wave of cases will come eventually. I'm not scared of getting sick but the panic buying of everything in supermarkets makes me a bit anxious. I'm also worried about my grandparents getting sick.
    @Desolate Divine that sucks that your hours are being cut so dramatically. Could you try doing more activities online or something for youth group? There have been plenty of forum events you could take inspiration from! And it would take time to plan, run etc so if the church was still willing to pay for your time, at least you'd have some work to do. I'm sure the kids and their parents would appreciate it too, especially if they close schools soon.
    That sucks your trip was cancelled. I hope you didn't lose money if it was a work trip?

    That answers one question about how aged care is being treated. I am guessing they are not allowing visitors? I have a relative in an aged care place that we usually visit weekly, but get the feeling that won't happen for a little while.

    Yeah definitely a good thing if your dad isolated. My mum and stepdad were supposed to be touring Europe in the next few months starting with Italy, which is now down the tube.

    The kids at youth group were told by their schools on Friday to empty their lockers in case things get worse, so I am expecting them to close soon.

    It's tricky. I think it's more so a matter of good social media engagement. An example of that, is a youth group that has also closed nearby. They posted on their Instagram story a picture of Coronavirus transmission on different greetings. Handshake, high-five, fistbump etc, and had a shaka with 0%. So they told their kids to post a video to their story and tag them giving some random a shaka. Stuff like that is informal, keeps us in the minds of the kids, and is fun. I just gotta think of things like that.

    They will hopefully still pay for my time in terms of youth work. I am still doing the work, but the focus is shifting from doing youth normally to figuing out how to do it differently in light of current events. The work that I am losing is physical setup work, eg setting up tables for a group of old ladies to do crafts of a Wednesday.

  4. #4
    garlic bread champion Bulbasaur's Avatar
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    Governor just declared a statewide curfew for New Jersey. I gotta stay home from 8PM-5AM.

    In addition, I'm having classes online after Spring break. Thankfully, I am still working my job.

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  5. #5
    I came in like a wrecking ball... [Desolate Divine]'s Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bulbasaur View Post
    Governor just declared a statewide curfew for New Jersey. I gotta stay home from 8PM-5AM.

    In addition, I'm having classes online after Spring break. Thankfully, I am still working my job.
    God-damn, I don't think I could get by with that curfew. Like, the stuff I am now having to do to get by in terms of church stuff, like meetings to plan, filming etc, has me there until all hours of the night when I am working.

    Glad to hear your job isn't slowing down!

  6. #6
    garlic bread champion Bulbasaur's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Desolate Divine View Post
    God-damn, I don't think I could get by with that curfew. Like, the stuff I am now having to do to get by in terms of church stuff, like meetings to plan, filming etc, has me there until all hours of the night when I am working.

    Glad to hear your job isn't slowing down!
    Just found out that it's apparently not mandatory, but recommended. So that's better, haha.

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  7. #7
    The Art Saboteur Coru's Avatar
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    The whole situation is surreal at the moment really. I've never experienced anything like it. I was keeping an eye on it but was naively not too concerned. I didn't want to go overboard like the panic buyers but didn't want to be one of those deniers so sort of kept updated to see. I wasn't directly impacted until today. I think for the UK, today was quite a bad day for a lot of people, everything seemed to hit everyone at once. When I got into work, they told all of us that because they are losing a lot of money all staff's hours and pay would be cut to a 4 day week and then a few hours later that went down to 3 days. So my pay has almost been cut in half. I live at home with my dad and he is in his 60s and has numerous health conditions so he's very concerned. I also have Asthma so both of us are "High Risk". My dad is self isolating but I can't afford to and need to work still, but I'm concerned that even when my dad is isolating, I'm still in and out so I could pass it to him if I'm unlucky enough to get it. He's been told he would get seriously ill if he gets it so our whole family is super worried.

    I'm considering asking working from home considering my work is design based so i dont need to be in the office but I've only been there two weeks so I'm not sure if they will trust me enough to work from home. So many of my friends have told me today that they have either been laid off or their pay has been cut. It's absolutely insane how much it's escalated. I hope everyone is ok and taking the precautions so you're all safe and healthy. :)

    Feel free to check out my Instagram for design and art stuffs

  8. #8
    Senior Moderator EmeraldSky's Avatar
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    I am effectively confined to my house for the next few weeks. It didn't help that they had a confirmed case in my area today (but to be fair, the person came here from New York, which has been hit especially hard.)

    Thankfully, I have family and friends to help me out if I need something--I was able to pick up a grocery order successfully thanks to appeals to not hoard everything.
    Everyone has a dream that fills their heart. A journey they must take. A destiny to fulfill. As close as your imagination exists a magical place, where wondrous creatures with incredible powers help make dreams come true. It's the world of Pokemon!!"


  9. #9
    Pokemon Trainer roo's Avatar
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    My state has pretty much shut down everything except for essential work places (grocery stores, pharmacies) and shut down almost every event for like the next two months. I work in a pharmacy so I'm definitely more aware of cleaning the work space and making sure I'm also taking the correct precautions to avoid it.

  10. #10
    Unbowed, unbent, unbroken Homura's Avatar
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    So we're on the verge of erupting in numbers in NYC rn, so we are bracing for that impact. The ER has climbed in numbers to unsustainable levels. I work in a hospital though.

    So...just stressed. :D
    What is happiness?
    It's being called by someone
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    It's when someone is thinking of you
    But Heaven has none of this
    A lizard girl took pity on God
    So the lizard girl tore God in two and brought a half from Heaven to Earth

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