Coronavirus: What Vintage Skills Can Help Prepare for a Potential Pandemic?

LizzieMaine · Mar 2, 2020

I have a big bottle of 93-percent alcohol I use to clean tape-recorder heads which will serve the purpose.

Those wanting to actually brew their own "hand sanitizer" can mix anything from 60 percent alcohol up with a small amount of glyercine to get basically the same thing they put in the bottles. Add a vile and cloying fragrance if you must, but I'd really rather people didn't. Add some glitter if you're a six year old girl.

tonyb · Mar 2, 2020

Pity the poor stepped-on shareholders! You know, that wealthiest 10 percent of households that own 84 percent of all stocks.

Paisley · Mar 2, 2020

Frunobulax said:
Indeed. Especially since this isn't true. The 38% figure reflects what respondents in America said about drinking Corona beer when questioned whether they would drink it for any reason.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/02/about-corona-poll/607240/

The downturn in sales reflects sales in China, where multiple brands of beer are having sales slumps because fewer people are going out.

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/corona-beer-fear-coronavirus/

tonyb · Mar 2, 2020

Scam artists must be positively giddy at all of this. People fearing for their lives — that those fears may be ill-founded matters little — will hand over their dough to just about anyone offering hope.

Few things outage me quite like quackery. Snake-oil peddlers and worthless “alternative” practices take more than peoples’ money; they can take their lives. “Patients” waste precious time on wholly fanciful “therapies” while diseases that can be effectively treated by real MDs progress unchecked.

This is not to say that all herbal, say, treatments are without medicinal effects. But they’re no substitute for the ministrations of honest-to-goodness medical doctors and nurse practitioners.

Frunobulax · Mar 2, 2020

tonyb said:
Scam artists must be positively giddy at all of this. People fearing for their lives — that those fears may be ill-founded matters little — will hand over their dough to just about anyone offering hope.

Few things outage me quite like quackery. Snake-oil peddlers and worthless “alternative” practices take more than peoples’ money; they can take their lives. “Patients” waste precious time on wholly fanciful “therapies” while diseases that can be effectively treated by real MDs progress unchecked.

This is not to say that all herbal, say, treatments are without medicinal effects. But they’re no substitute for the ministrations of honest-to-goodness medical doctors and nurse practitioners.

Starting with the snake oil being hawked by the talking heads who breathlessly tell us that we're all on the verge of being wiped out.

Paisley · Mar 2, 2020

tonyb said:
Pity the poor stepped-on shareholders! You know, that wealthiest 10 percent of households that own 84 percent of all stocks.

Over half of Americans own stocks, directly or in retirement funds including pensions. https://news.gallup.com/poll/266807/percentage-americans-owns-stock.aspx

PrettySquareGal · Mar 2, 2020

LizzieMaine said:
They better hurry up. I just saw two women at the grocery store get into a ferocious grabbing contest over the last bottles on the shelves.

Or you could just forget about commercially-manufactured "hand sanitizer" altogether and use plain alcohol. Or, if you're bibulous, vodka is a good substitute.

Rubbing alcohol is selling out locally in addition to hand sanitizer. I'm making my own with aloe and went to the local chain grocer. I could not believe they are charging $3.99 for a 16 oz bottle!!!! It's $2.50 at CVS, Target, etc when it's in stock.

belfastboy · Mar 2, 2020

LizzieMaine said:
Meanwhile, eBay speculators are selling ten-ounce bottles of hand sanitizer that normally retail for less than three dollars for as much as $14.99 each or three bottles for $39.99. God bless America.

I went to buy some rubbing alcohol in my local pharmacy....it has been sold out for two months running. My friend, a film make up artist needs it to sterilize his brushes and he can't find it anywhere. Apparently folks be using it to wash down all surfaces in the home. I imagine next step will be $50 bottles of rubbing alcohol if it reaches pandemic.

Fading Fast · Mar 2, 2020

Paisley said:
Over half of Americans own stocks, directly or in retirement funds including pensions. https://news.gallup.com/poll/266807/percentage-americans-owns-stock.aspx

In my extended family, we have several retired teachers and cops - they live very nicely on the "guaranteed" pension payments that they think come "from the government," but in truth come from the investments in stocks, bonds and other assets the pension plans have made. One of the largest and, overall, most sophisticated client class Wall Street has are gov't and private pension plans.

My retired aunt (who ironically left Chicago where she taught to retire in Florida because she could keep her pension - after hitting some complex formula of number of years retired, days in the state, etc. - because of FL's lower taxes, which means she's undermining her own pension) told me she'd never invest in stock because they are too risky. When I noted that her pension is a huge investor in stocks, she changed the conversation.

tonyb · Mar 2, 2020

Paisley said:
Over half of Americans own stocks, directly or in retirement funds including pensions. https://news.gallup.com/poll/266807/percentage-americans-owns-stock.aspx

Yet it remains that the wealthiest 10 percent own 84 percent of the shares, while the bottom 80 percent own all of 6.7 percent of shares — largely in mutual funds and retirement accounts. The next wealthiest (or less unwealthy) 10 percent hold roughly 9 percent of shares. That’s according to a couple of what appear to be reliable sources.

Lean'n'mean · Mar 2, 2020

LizzieMaine said:
Meanwhile, eBay speculators are selling ten-ounce bottles of hand sanitizer that normally retail for less than three dollars for as much as $14.99 each or three bottles for $39.99. God bless America.

It's the spirit of enterprise. The coronavirus & economy appear to be synonymous.
You'll notice that no one seems particularly concerned by those that have died or will die.

PrettySquareGal · Mar 2, 2020

belfastboy said:
I went to buy some rubbing alcohol in my local pharmacy....it has been sold out for two months running. My friend, a film make up artist needs it to sterilize his brushes and he can't find it anywhere. Apparently folks be using it to wash down all surfaces in the home. I imagine next step will be $50 bottles of rubbing alcohol if it reaches pandemic.

Today while at the pet store the store manager who was behind the register said they can't get any hand sanitizer for their employees/store so he sent an employee go to Walmart and buy whatever rubbing alcohol remained, if any.

tonyb · Mar 2, 2020

Is it of any value to wipe down surfaces with bleach solutions?

I’ve read what seem to this layman to be contradictory information about how readily the virus might transmit from, say, a doorknob or an elevator button.

3fingers · Mar 2, 2020

Yes bleach will most likely be effective. Another alternative is hydrogen peroxide.
I'm not a fan of commercial hand sanitizers. I've seen the demonstrations of their effectiveness. Not nearly as impressive as washing your hands.

PrettySquareGal · Mar 2, 2020

3fingers said:
Yes bleach will most likely be effective. Another alternative is hydrogen peroxide.
I'm not a fan of commercial hand sanitizers. I've seen the demonstrations of their effectiveness. Not nearly as impressive as washing your hands.

Bleach for surfaces but not skin, of course. Hand sanitizers are for when soap and water is not readily available. Since it's not feasible to wipe down all surfaces in public hand sanitizers are the best bet. I don't care what anyone says, I never trust a doorknob.

LizzieMaine · Mar 2, 2020

Real Lysol, the kind you mix up from concentrate, is still available and is an effective disinfectant. It might not be practical to carry around with you unless you make up a weak solution you can put in a spray bottle. It is, however, very effective for household cleaning.

I am told by our resident germophobe, who has an impaired immune system and has to be careful, that unlacquered brass surfaces are naturally antibacterial -- and don't need to be disinfected because the metal is a hostile surface for bacteria. If you have brass doorknobs or railings in your home or office, consider stripping the lacquer coating that keeps them from tarnishing. Lacquer thinner from the hardware store will do the job. Your brass will eventually turn brown or black, but bacteria won't like it.

tonyb · Mar 2, 2020

^^^^
But is it antiviral?

tonyb · Mar 2, 2020

3fingers said:
Yes bleach will most likely be effective. Another alternative is hydrogen peroxide.
I'm not a fan of commercial hand sanitizers. I've seen the demonstrations of their effectiveness. Not nearly as impressive as washing your hands.

When the lovely missus was hospitalized for a few days last summer I noted that the nurses took a squirt of Purell from the wall-mounted dispenser near the door of her room.

Some of my providers (I’ve become something of a wreck) do the same, and some don’t. I’m presuming it is mostly a matter of the level of contact.

Frunobulax · Mar 2, 2020

tonyb said:
Yet it remains that the wealthiest 10 percent own 84 percent of the shares, while the bottom 80 percent own all of 6.7 percent of shares — largely in mutual funds and retirement accounts. The next wealthiest (or less unwealthy) 10 percent hold roughly 9 percent of shares. That’s according to a couple of what appear to be reliable sources.

I am at a loss as to why this should be a concern.

tonyb said:
Is it of any value to wipe down surfaces with bleach solutions?

I’ve read what seem to this layman to be contradictory information about how readily the virus might transmit from, say, a doorknob or an elevator button.

Back in my younger days, when I was an asbestos inspector and environmental engineer, I ran into more than one person who claimed that they cleaned with bleach and that would take care of any asbestos.

PrettySquareGal · Mar 2, 2020

Frunobulax said:
Back in my younger days, when I was an asbestos inspector and environmental engineer, I ran into more than one person who claimed that they cleaned with bleach and that would take care of any asbestos.

Coronavirus: What Vintage Skills Can Help Prepare for a Potential Pandemic?

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