here's an update from aotearoa new zealand: we are officially at "level 2" alert, which means social distancing, no non-essential travel, all community spaces like libraries, swimming pools, etc are closed. schools are still open, but it is being hotly debated whether/when they should also be closed. so far all covid19 cases are still connected to overseas travel, but it's tracking up quickly & there must be community transmission even if it's not yet confirmed.
from what i can observe here (in dunedin, small southern university town), people are being quite sensible. there's no panic buying in our local supermarket, & the streets are quiet but not empty. just now on the radio there is an interview with some university students who are offering to bring groceries etc for elderly & people in isolation. community in action :) my 86-year-old mother is reluctantly staying home - all her activities like U3A & exercise class have been cancelled anyway, & her beloved library bus won't be coming to her neighbourhood. she has an abundant vegie garden & bursting freezer so no need to go out for a while! unfortunately my partner & i have to travel tomorrow - we're flying up to another small town in the north island to empty out the house of an uncle who died in february. at the moment, non-essential travel is discouraged but not forbidden, so we are hoping that we can get this job done as it's been a huge planning exercise. it's not a creative project, but i really resonate with ruth about furtherfield's situation - all of the planning that goes into it & then all of the work to change / adapt in such a rapidly changing situation ... it's exhausting & depressing. our lives as artists are precarious all the time so we're used to existing in a state of adaptability anyway, but now we're being pushed even further :/ i am personally pretty relieved that i was already having a self-inflicted freelancer's sabbatical for the first 6-months of this year, so i haven't got any work lined up to get cancelled. however the trip home is certainly not turning out the way i expected! & i have no idea whether i'll get back to germany at the end of july ... at least that is still a long way away, & we are a lot better off on these distant islands than in the middle of the epicentre! munich is in total lockdown & our house-sitters sent video of civil defence vans driving through deserted streets broadcasting instructions to stay indoors. quite surreal! take care everyone, & if you need some socially distanced social interaction, come along to the Pandemic Party in UpStage this evening - 8am monday morning UK time. https://upstage.org.nz/?event=pandemic-party-and-open-walkthrough h : ) On 23.03.20 07:51, Edward Picot via NetBehaviour wrote: > Hi Ruth and everyone, > > Actually work hasn't been so bad. We've gone from mainly face-to-face > consultations to what they call 'total triage' - nobody gets to see > the doctor without him telephoning them first - within the space of a > week. The nurse is still seeing people: you can't do things like blood > tests and dressings over the telephone. But she has to wear the > protective gear - face mask, gown, gloves - and change it once every > few patients; and we've cancelled all the non-urgent stuff, like > diabetic checks and asthma checks, the aim being to only have one or > two people in the surgery at a time, not counting the staff. > > The local chemist has gone into meltdown. Everybody is panic-ordering > their medication all at once. I went past the chemist on Saturday > morning and the queue of people trying to get prescriptions was out > the door. Lots of people are jumping ship from the local chemist to > online pharmacies like Pharmacy2U, because the online pharmacies are > set up to do home deliveries; but the elderly, who are the ones who > really need home deliveries because they're the ones who can least > afford to catch the virus, are least likely to make this move because > they're the least techno-savvy section of society. There are other > people who can help them out, though - 'social prescribing', which is > where we direct patients to 'helping hand' agencies, has suddenly gone > from being a peripheral thing to a front-and-centre option. > > Two things we're trying to get up and running are video consultations > and remote working. We were given a laptop about a year ago by the > Health Authority, which works off a VPN link, and the idea is that if > you're at home and stick your smart card in it, you can log into the > clinical system at the surgery and see patient records and do > electronic prescribing and stuff just as if you were there. This would > be brilliant, especially if David (the doctor) has to self-isolate at > some point but still feels well enough to work - but the VPN licence > has run out. We contacted the IT department to get it renewed once the > crisis started to get serious, about ten days ago now, but of course > they've been overwhelmed, so they haven't sorted it out for us yet. > > As regards video consultations - which would be really useful for > things like people with rashes - we've managed to get these working > via mobile phones, but it's very glitchy because the WiFi at the > surgery keeps going wrong. Either it doesn't work at all, or it works > with no internet connection, which has been pretty much how it's been > ever since we had WiFi put in. The other option is to do video > consultations on a desktop or laptop computer: there's a startup tech > company called Nye, based in Oxford, which offers this for free, and > we got it up and running on David's desktop, which is equipped with a > USB camera - but then the camera immediately went wrong. This is > pretty much how things work in the NHS. If the technology was in place > and reliable, we could do a whole lot more. > > The most frustrating thing for me and David, I think, is the sheer > volume of updates we're being sent. If I see one more email titled > 'Covid-19 - urgent - for immediate action' I'm going to do an act of > violence. You physically cannot keep up with all this stuff when the > phone is constantly ringing and you've got a million other things to > deal with. And the lack of testing is frustrating too. We've got a > nurse who's been off for a week with Coronavirus-style symptoms, but > of course we don't know whether it really is the Coronavirus or not - > so if she comes back to work and then gets another sore throat, she'll > have to self-isolate for another week. > > On the other hand in some ways it's kind of exhilarating. Suddenly > we've been given a licence to ignore all the bureaucratic crap we > usually spend our time struggling with, and that's quite liberating; > and the pace at which we've managed to reorganize our services, with a > lot of cooperation from the patients, it has to be said, has been > startling. > > On a personal level my main concern has been shopping. I go to bed > worrying about whether I'm going to be able to get any food in the > shops the next day. I've done all right so far, but I normally don't > get up to the Co-Op, which is our local supermarket, until after three > o'clock, and by that time there's virtually nothing on the shelves; so > I've been having to dodge out of work and make special trips up there > at about 9.30, once I've got somebody else to cover the front desk. > The other thing is that my demented Mum is in a care home a few miles > from here, and they've closed their doors to visitors, so instead of > going to see her twice a week, all of a sudden I'm not seeing her at > all, which is a big change to my routine. > > You do get very fed up with the stupidity of the public at times, > especially where things like panic buying and panic ordering of > prescriptions are concerned. You think to yourself 'This is what we're > like now - people have been brainwashed to be consumers, not citizens > - they don't know how to act responsibly towards one another any > more'. Then you come across people who are being really unselfish and > helpful towards one another, and you realize that things are a lot > more nuanced than that. And when I do get up to the Co-Op, everybody's > giving everybody else elbow-bumps and making jokes about the state of > things, and you think to yourself 'Oh well, at least there's one good > thing about Britain - we do have a sense of humour'. You find yourself > chatting to strangers, and you feel closer to the people who you > already know, because there's a sense of all being in it together. > Then something really annoying happens, or you have to deal with > somebody who's being completely self-centred and unreasonable, and > you're back to wanting to throttle everyone again. > > Edward > > > On 22/03/2020 15:14, Ruth Catlow via NetBehaviour wrote: >> Hello all, >> >> This last couple of weeks have been full of chaos and uncertainty for >> us in the UK - and much longer for others. >> >> The sudden shut down is clearly distributing immediate and extreme >> hardship very unevenly. >> >> I personally found the indefinite postponement of Furtherfield's 2020 >> 'Love Machines' programme last Monday (in the week we had planned to >> announce everything) incredibly hard to do, and to handle. I know we >> will adapt and find another way to make things work, but that doesn't >> stop it being incredibly disappointing, frustrating and disorientating. >> >> I'm now starting to adjust but I wanted to share this personal >> (non-life-threatening) experience with you because I would like to >> hear more from everyone about how the Corona virus is effecting them, >> so we can build a better picture, beyond the numbers and the public >> announcements, to understand how things are changing. And most of all >> it would just be good to know how everyone is doing (from regular >> contributors to all lurkers). >> >> Warmly >> Ruth >> >> >> -- >> Co-founder & Artistic director of Furtherfield & DECAL Decentralised >> Arts Lab >> +44 (0) 77370 02879 >> >> *Furtherfield *disrupts and democratises art and technology through >> exhibitions, labs & debate, for deep exploration, open tools & free >> thinking. >> furtherfield.org <http://www.furtherfield.org/> >> >> *DECAL* Decentralised Arts Lab is an arts, blockchain & web 3.0 >> technologiesresearch hub >> >> for fairer, more dynamic & connected cultural ecologies & economies now. >> >> decal.is <http://www.decal.is> >> >> Furtherfield is a Not-for-Profit Company Limited by Guarantee >> >> Registered in England and Wales under the Company No.7005205. >> >> Registered business address: Carbon Accountancy, 80-83 Long Lane, >> London, EC1A 9ET. >> >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> NetBehaviour mailing list >> [email protected] >> https://lists.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour > > > > _______________________________________________ > NetBehaviour mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour -- helen varley jamieson [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> http://www.creative-catalyst.com http://www.upstage.org.nz
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