l_davis

Agree about the business model. I don't think all places can meet all requirements, but those who can meet more of them will get more business. Still, from what I know as a consumer about the restaurant business, it's an extremely tough one and only getting tougher. I have sympathy for anyone getting into it and honestly trying to make a go of it. And I did get carryout after our discussion during my socially distanced walk. Enjoyed my food, enjoyed my walk. And the restaurant is supposedly providing some meals to people in need, which is extremely generous of them. I do need to strike a balance with that, though. Most restaurant food has the down side of being too fattening. Something I need to watch.

Outdoor seating as you described works in certain seasons and in certain locations. Not very practical where it gets below freezing.

Little Caesars may be high quality for you. It's poison for me. Doesn't matter how clean it is. Not saying that to disparage the points you made, but eating that food would slowly kill me. Food intolerances, or more likely our awareness of them, seen to be increasing so that is another challenge to accommodate. The restaurant business is a tough one.

I'm in a medium sized suburb in a metro area of maybe 3 million people. Partly public transit accessible in normal times. Service is of course curtailed now. There are lots of places to eat walking distance from my home. A good number are closed now. No doubt some won't reopen, unfortunately. Rent where I live has skyrocketed in recent years, we'll see what affect the pandemic has on that.

Blowing one's nose in public is gross. I wish I lived in a culture where it was not acceptable.

I agree about supporting takeout now; I'm focusing on independent restaurants, especially Asian ones as I fear they are having the toughest time now. Local publications have said this takeout business isn't much help right now. But it may be different case by case. I went to a local bakery the weekend before this past one expecting them to be having a hard time but they seemed to be doing more business than usual.

Takeout isn't a substitute for people going out to eat together, though, and if I am eating a distance from home, I will look for a place to sit.

People's requirements will differ though. Certain things like cleanliness are applicable for all, but others may not be. Little Caesars may be a good solution for you, but I doubt I could eat their food as I can't eat gluten. Another friend of mine can't eat soy, so she would need to skip most Chinese restaurants that I love. While it is an ideal for a restaurant to be able to accommodate all issues, it can't always happen.

Almost fully recovered is probably not good enough yet for your not to endanger others -https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/if-you-are-sick/st... Congratulations for heading in the right direction.

Using antibodies to treat patients appears to be on the pipeline - https://www.jhsph.edu/news/news-releases/2020/infectious-dis...

They aren't the same thing as medical masks. I'm well aware of that. But if people start making their own or get them from providers that aren't supplying medical needs anyway, it could very well reduce spread without taking masks from medical providers.

Why is Japan an outlier? One thing they do differently from most of the rest of the world is wear masks. Not perfectly but certainly more than in the US. And many Japanese are making their own now as they can't find professionally made ones either.

Yes it's a desparate measure but this is becoming more serious by the day.

I did have the opportunity to ask a Japanese person his opinion on why the rate of increase is lower than in the US. One reason he gave is wearing masks. Another one is the practice of taking shoes off when entering one's home (you bring in fewer pathogens that way). He did preface his answer with the statement that he is not a medical professional and that he was stating that it was his opinion only. But maybe something to consider.

Editing to see that the question I answered might suggest that I was saying those types of cotton masks are medical grade. I didn't mean to suggest that and agree that it's not responsible for someone to use a medical grade mask now without a medical need. My apologies for any misunderstanding I created.

WHO is, I believe, encouraging outdoor exercise as well, with appropriate distancing.

Lots of discussion here on mask wearing, which I think is great and would help slow spread of this (reusable ones for those who aren't health professionals). Not a lot of discussion that I've seen on how to improve health and function of the immune system, which might not stop spread but could certainly improve the percentage of those who don't get critically ill. I'm talking mainstream advice like getting rest, exercise, eating nutritious food, not smoking. I've also seen a reputable study that states that vitamin d supplements can lower odds of getting respiratory infections. So a low cost way of improving odds. I'm glad I take vitamin d already.

I got carryout at a Chinese restaurant today. The staff (Thai) said her friends are afraid to wear masks because of fear of assault. So that would most certainly be a factor outside of Asia for Asians.

Personally I'm not wearing a mask yet as I am strict about only going outside for exercise and essential shopping, I am staying very mindful about keeping distance (which I think many people are being lax about), and I don't own reusable masks yet. I have ordered cotton reusable masks though and plan to buy additional ones (from a friend who is starting the process of sewing them - taking nothing from medical personnel) so I can change to keep them effective as needed. And then when (probably not if, I speculate) I need to go out more before this pandemic is over, I plan to wear them in public. Both to avoid spreading to others if I am an asymptomatic carrier and to do my very tiny part in normalizing mask wearing in this case. My thinking has gone from buying into to the current conventional wisdom in the west not to wear them to believing that they are a relatively low cost way to slow both this and possible future epidemics.

Unless the lockdown ends before covid 19 completely dies out, we should all think of what we can do to minimize the destruction.

If a mask doesn't harm the wearer, doesn't take away from the supply needed by medical and other essential personnel, and can help stop or minimize spread from asymptomatic carriers, why not wear one?

It seems that masks might harm the wearer if warn incorrectly. Well, here's some information - https://www.info.gov.hk/info/sars/en/facemask.htm - looks like there are already lots of videos as well. (And they would need to be adequately cleaned, no question.)

Taking away from essential personnel - don't think that's applicable to cloth ones.

And i think most studies show they reduce spread of viruses. Probably not eliminate, but reduce.

So, I certainly intend to wear one - I have 2 on order. And I hope others will too. It won't solve the entire problem, but it can help.

I order lots of stuff from Japan, from Amazon US from Japan-based sellers. It's taken anywhere from a few days to two months (my last purchase). So I didn't want to risk it. Didn't find Japanese sellers of masks anyway.

I actually thought that was a good speech. I can't comment on Germany's policies on this as I haven't been following them that closely.

I said many, not most.

I watch NHK World regularly. One of their programs, Japangle, ends every episode with the catchphrase "It means that Japanese people are so special." A datapoint to show why I made my statement.

And, speaking of what works in one country as opposed to others, I started watching Japanese news instead of American news years ago because of the calm delivery. I do read news from many other sources, but I don't listen to other TV news programs. My two cents on that is that American news goes for getting people emotional, and hearing it affects the ability to think rationally. Taking this pandemic seriously but not getting worked up enough that one loses the ability to be rational is something that would benefit us all.

And hopefully we can improve our practices based on their experience. Thanks for bringing it up, I may need to know this as the virus spreads.

I think I understand the point behind that post. Many Japanese believe that they are special and superior and love to sell that to non Japanese. It can be really annoying, and it isn't true that as a nationality they are somehow inherently superior.

Certainly Japanese people look out for their own self interest. And there are non altruistic reasons for wearing masks - including, if you are female, skipping makeup. I don't buy into the stereotypes that you mention, but I do believe that Japanese manners, in general, make it easier for people to coexist in crowded places. That includes wearing masks. And maybe I'm completely wrong about that. I still think that if more asymptomatic people in the US wore masks in public (and I don't think complete distancing is sustainable long term), the spread of this could be slowed. So I do intend to wear the masks I purchased when they arrive. I do hope I keep up with that resolve. On my last trip to Japan I had a cold and wore masks to try to be polite and avoid spreading my germs. They really aren't that comfortable.

I just saw an interview with an Italian physician where he briefly mentioned therapies for the lung before things got to the stage where ventilators were needed: https://youtu.be/3dmIzW3icRs

It was a brief reference without enough details to be sure that he was referring to clearance methods similar to our the same as what you reference, but it sounds as if this may be part of therapy already. So well in line with what you have described.

I wasn't clear; I meant some kind of reusable 3D mask, not cotton.

I know nothing about 3D printing, so if you do you might want to search and see if what you find looks workable. I got many results that indicate it is possible.

I'm sure PM Abe is sweating bullets. Japan has been in an economic slump for decades. The Olympics and associated tourism was supposed to fix that (and Japan has seen a big increase in tourists in recent years as they gear up). And now this?

If iodine is the reason, probably from seaweed rather than shellfish.

I ordered cotton masks from Etsy. They are supposed to arrive by the end of the month. Select vendors in the US for speed. Amazon has lots of cotton masks, but they all seem to be shipped from China, which means they will take awhile to arrive. (Am assuming US buyers. Looks like Etsy vendors are all over though so you can probably find a vendor locally in many countries.)

There are plenty of patterns for cotton masks online and I think ways to use a 3D printer to make one. I would much rather just buy one, myself.

In Japan, people wear masks so they don't spread their germs. In the US, people want to wear masks to avoid other's germs. Totally different mindset. And in the US we are being discouraged from wearing masks because they don't block the virus from going in even though they could be keeping asymptomatic people from spreading.

Well I feel duly embarrassed for not thinking that way earlier. Just ordered some cotton masks.

I'm sure there are other reasons the spread is different in Japan but this is something we can do. Not the disposable ones though.

Was going by your context in this post "(which I posted to HN and it got no traction)". Didn't see a related post and other intent.

Then it sounds like it is a good solution for you and potentially could be a good solution for others who can write. I can see where people in IT (that's the typical audience here, right?) wouldn't care about work like that though. Most people in IT would rather do almost anything other than write, and I think most in the IT profession who can in the US can make more than $20 per hour on a 1099 basis, though that seems to vary greatly by type of writing and geographic location (I live in an expensive area so salaries/hourly rates are relatively high, though not the highest in the US).

I looked at the writepay link, and then the textbroker site. They said that they paid between $4 and $8 per assignment. Is that true? How long does an assignment take?

That was a good article. But of course it didn't cover everything.

Japanese tend to be extremely health conscious and in general take better care of themselves than many other developed countries, though there are exceptions (like high rate of smoking). So it's entirely possible that more people were indeed infected but could have contacted a mild version that wasn't counted in the statistics.

Second, there is a culture of wearing masks. From what I can find, surgical masks don't really prevent you from getting infected. But maybe they prevent you from infecting others. Wish there was more concrete info on that one.

Third, many things are closed in Japan now, if not to the degree that they are in Europe and the US, so there is more isolation than the article would have you believe. For example, Tokyo Disney, Sanrio Puroland, schools, sports events being held without audiences. I belong to a Buddhist temple whose Head Temple is in Japan. They are restricting if not eliminating attendance during the crisis. I didn't see that rapid of a response in Christian churches where I live; in fact, I remember at least one news report of a pastor at a local church encouraging his congregation to get close to each other because God would heal/protect them from the virus. At the beginning of March, in contrast, our Chief Priest told us he would really prefer we not come to our temple now because of the situation.

I do travel to Japan regularly, so I have some knowledge of the culture. Don't claim to be an expert, though. But I really wish there was more of an effort with Covid 19 to keep it under control - I really support and cooperate with the social distancing, but also really wish we would do more to look at how to prevent spread and lessen severity in more sustainable ways. I have my theories on that, but they might be a bit controversial and as a new user here I probably shouldn't go there.

With all the memes flying around, it is tough to sort out what is believable or not. But coughing is apparently part of recognized therapy for CF - see https://www.cff.org/Life-With-CF/Treatments-and-Therapies/Ai... - so if you have fluid in your lung from covid 19, perhaps airway clearance techniques could help?