#Hand Sanitizing And COVID-19

[alwaysbewoke]

[anti-ao3]

actually drugstores should be obligated to have a hand sanitizer in the entrance. and while i'm at it, masks should be free. fuck capitalism.

[meekamaye]

2020: Covid 19 & Me

We all remember those days. The days of shutdowns, masks and untried vaccinations. I sure do. Let me tell you, if you can tough it through that, you can pretty much conquer anything. For me it began November 2019, Thanksgiving Day. I wandered upstairs to inform my husband I had made lunch. We had no plans, we weren’t going anywhere, it was just us two, no one else. His drinking had hit an all…

[nmsc-market-pulse]

Navigating the Hand Sanitizer Market: In-Depth Market Research and Future Outlook

The Hand Sanitizer Market has seen unprecedented growth, particularly in recent years due to heightened hygiene awareness and the global emphasis on health and safety. 

Key Highlights:

Surge in Demand: The COVID-19 pandemic significantly boosted the demand for hand sanitizers, turning them into essential household items. This surge has led to a permanent shift in consumer hygiene practices, maintaining a high demand for these products.

Product Innovation: Companies are continuously innovating to meet consumer preferences. From alcohol-based to alcohol-free sanitizers, and from gels to sprays and wipes, the market is witnessing a broad spectrum of product variations. Natural and organic ingredients are also becoming popular as consumers seek safer and skin-friendly options.

Regulatory Landscape: Compliance with health and safety standards is crucial in the hand sanitizer market. The research outlines the regulatory frameworks across different regions, highlighting the importance of adherence to ensure product safety and efficacy.

Distribution Channels: The rise of e-commerce has transformed the distribution landscape. While traditional retail remains significant, online sales have surged, driven by the convenience of doorstep delivery and a wide range of choices available to consumers.

Market Growth and Forecasts: The global hand sanitizer market is projected to continue its growth trajectory, with emerging markets playing a key role. Factors such as urbanization, increased health awareness, and government initiatives promoting hygiene are driving this growth.

Challenges and Strategies: The market faces challenges such as supply chain disruptions, fluctuating raw material prices, and market saturation in some regions. Our report suggests strategies for businesses to navigate these challenges, including diversification of product lines, strategic partnerships, and investment in sustainable practices.

The hand sanitizer market remains robust with significant growth prospects. Staying abreast of market trends, consumer preferences, and regulatory requirements will be key for businesses aiming to capitalize on this evolving market landscape.

[nobutumaycallmespookyman]

Sure, we all laugh at his strange demeanor, but if he where the president when Covid 19 was discovered, it would've never made it within 1000 miles of America.

[oops-prow-did-it-again]

The newest strains of covid are fucking wicked for real. When I had it in 2021, it sucked and I was feverish and bedridden for nearly a month, but at least I could sleep and mostly breathe without too much pain. This time it's moving way faster, i AM better than I was a few days ago, but the symptoms are So Much Worse. I'm talking congestion in your sinuses, congestion in your chest, your lungs themselves feel heavy, dry coughs that wreck your throat, the sensation of knives scraping your throat every time you try to breathe, horrible joint and muscle pains, wicked fast fevers that hit like a truck and then dissipate. Drinking or eating anything is miserable.

Anyway I wish every one in the US a merry Please Wear Your Fucking Masks, You Animals

[k12academics]

Wipes.com is the supplier of sanitizing and disinfecting wipes for hospitals, schools, community centers and other facilities worldwide. We are also a leading supplier of gym wipes to fitness facilities across the nation.

Offering various types of wipes, such as: -Disinfectant Wipes - 800 wipes per roll, 4 rolls per box - used on surfaces and registered with EPA to kill bacteria and virus -Sanitizing Wipes - 1200 wipes per roll, 4 rolls per box - used on both surfaces and as a hand wipe to kill germs

Our wipes can be used in a range of commercial applications (ie gym equipment wipes, clinic wipes, school wipes, desk wipes) on various nonporous surfaces and equipment. Additionally, both our disinfecting and sanitizing wipes are constructed of high-quality materials that won't tear or leave residue or lint particles. Our disinfecting lab-certified wipes use EPA-registered disinfectants, and are guaranteed to kill a variety of bacteria and viruses that include COVID-19, E.Coli, MRSA, H5N1, Salmonella, HIV, Herpes, SARS, and Influenza

[iww-gnv]

California fast-food workers are forming a unique kind of union

Lizzet Aguilar has worked at a McDonald’s in Los Angeles for 17 years. She’s never once been given a paid day off. She’s never taken a vacation. When her husband or nine-year-old son get sick and need her to care for them—or if she gets sick herself—she has to call out and lose a day’s pay. “Es difícil,” she says: It’s difficult. Her wages are already low. She makes $16.78 per hour. “Estamos luchando día a día. Es difícil vivir en California,” says Aguilar: We live day to day. It’s difficult to live in California. But for many years she was afraid to speak up and join the Fight for 15, a national movement to raise the minimum wage that started with fast-food workers and has since seen 14 states and Washington, D.C., raise their minimum wages to $15 an hour, increasing pay for 26 million workers.   Then the pandemic hit and Aguilar’s boss didn’t give workers any hand sanitizer, gloves, or even masks. Six coworkers got COVID-19. “Ese me puso a decir, ‘Basta,’” she recalls: It pushed her to say, Enough. She got involved to protect herself and her family.  Now Aguilar will be part of the next evolution in the Fight for 15 movement: She and her coworkers will announce on February 9 that they are forming the California Fast Food Workers Union, which will be part of SEIU. Hundreds of workers from different fast-food companies will gather in Los Angeles to sign union cards. It’s time, Aguilar and her coworkers decided, to become more formal members of a union and pay dues. It’s a fresh start, she says, on the road toward securing bigger gains.

Read the rest here.

[covid-safer-hotties]

Also preserved on our archive (Archive.is link on this page if you can't access the original source)

By Iris Gorfinkel

The lack of masking in health care facilities will needlessly spread disease. As in past autumns, cooler weather will bring a spike in flu and cold viruses while kids in Ontario have settled back into crowded classrooms and COVID-19 threatens to reach a 3-year peak, writes Iris Gorfinkle.

Imagine you — or a vulnerable loved one — needs urgent medical care. If you’re lucky enough to have a family doctor, you head to their clinic. Like most, yours is housed in a building with low ceilings and little air filtration. You enter the waiting room where several patients sit shoulder-to-shoulder waiting.

You have no choice but to sit alongside people sneezing, coughing and blowing their noses. Few if any, patients and health care workers are wearing a mask. While grateful for the hand sanitizer on offer, you begin to wonder if that will be enough to prevent your picking up an infection you hadn’t anticipated.

It’s an all-too-familiar scenario.

The most common reason people see a GP is to assess an upper respiratory infection. They most frequently start after inhaling infected droplets or aerosols or from having touched an infected surface.

An N95 or KN95 mask helps block transmission, whether it’s SARS CoV-2, influenza or a common cold virus like RSV. They’re not perfect, but they reduce viral transmission by 30 per cent. Yet in spite of their benefits, most health-care workers and patients no longer routinely mask, even during assessments requiring close contact with an increased risk of disease spread.

Many of my most vulnerable patients are keenly aware of the potential health risks this presents. Yet most say nothing and would never dream of asking their clinician to wear a mask.

There are sound reasons for this.

The first has to do with long wait times. A visit to the specialist is a precious commodity that cannot be risked. Several months pass before patients are seen, raising the urgency for care.

This is only the first of many factors to come that can silence even the most assertive of patients.

Many don’t want to appear disrespectful by asking their health-care workers to mask. They fear being labelled “difficult” or “demanding” and become distressed at the prospect of questioning their clinician’s judgment, even if it should put them in harm’s way.

Patients become more passive when burdened with the anxiety, dread and fatigue that accompanies illness. Deep-seated fears are ignited that further increase the dependency on health-care workers and squelch any remaining likelihood of their requesting that their clinicians mask.

Masking policies in health-care facilities don’t have to be all-or-none edicts. Patients who are hard of hearing often benefit when they’re able to read lips. Both patients and health care workers sometimes struggle because of anxiety. Young children may not co-operate, and there are people who simply cannot — or will not — tolerate them.

These are special cases though, not the rule. Smart policies in health care facilities need to have latitude for such exceptions. But tightening the policy on masking also recognizes that SARS CoV-2 is a stealthy virus.

One-in-three people infected have no symptoms yet can still transmit COVID-19. It can result in serious physical and mental harms that last 3 years and possibly longer following the initial infection. Since the start of the pandemic to the end of 2023, long COVID has affected 6 per cent of adults and 1 per cent of children.

Vaccines don’t lower viral transmission. Where they shine is at lowering the severity of cases and keeping Ontario’s hospitals from being overwhelmed, but they’re poor at reducing mild cases. It’s short-sighted to gamble on the hope that future vaccines will prove any different.

What’s more certain is that the lack of masking in health care facilities will needlessly spread disease. As in past autumns, cooler weather will bring a spike in flu and cold viruses while kids in Ontario have settled back into crowded classrooms and COVID-19 threatens to reach a 3-year peak.

The duty of care doesn’t land on patients. It’s the clinicians’ job to ensure patients don’t pick up an unintended infection. Patients have a right to safety in health care facilities. In the meantime, I can only advise my concerned patients to wear an N95 or KN-95 when in health care facilities and suggest they not be shy when asking clinicians to do the same.

[whilereadingandwalking]

In March 2020, I left Spain in a state of panic and tears. Covid-19 was a global emergency, but I had to snake maskless through crowds of hundred panicked tourists, shove myself into airplane seats, overuse my hand sanitizer, stand in endless Madrid & London airport lines, overhear racist remarks and people coughing into the air, for 36 hours straight. I got home sure I had Covid, cycling between a selfish sadness of my dream trip being canceled and overwhelming, isolated panic.

I recognize 2020 me, but 2024 me is utterly changed. From the little things (playing Animal Crossing with my sister with 900 miles between us, a Studio Ghibli movie marathon, the little neurotransmitters that make my nerves act wrong) to the big (watching my friends birth entire humans, seeing loved ones almost die, losing my job), I am new. I’m grown up now. I was 25 in Spain, now I’m 30.

Tomorrow, I’m going to step off my airplane, and I will be in Seville. Where I left off. The pandemic isn’t over, but it does feel like things have come full-circle. My family and I will go to Granada after that, and then I’ll go to Madrid. The dream cut short in 2020 will be completed, by a much different me. If I could see that me—maybe as I step off, she’ll be stepping on, in that same pocket of space—I would tell her that it will all be too much. But that she is going to find so much confidence and conviction in herself, up ahead. That she will survive it. That amidst all the pain, she’ll have so, so many adventures.

And I’d promise her: You will be back.

[charmedhypno]

Charmed! 2025 Covid Policy Update

Charmed! 2025 Covid-19 Policy

Charmed! is committed to hosting the safest event we possibly can as the world continues to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic. In light of this, the Convention Committee (“ConCom”) will continue to require up to date Covid vaccinations as well as masking for our attendees, staff, and volunteers at Charmed! 2025.

In addition, hand sanitizer stations will be available throughout Convention Space (“Con Space”) and our Dungeon Monitors (“DMs”) will be extremely proactive in reminding people to clean their equipment - if you need help please ask and it will be provided!

Please read the following policies carefully! They contain several important dates and deadlines – ignorance of these policies will not result in any exemptions.

Vaccination Policy

The newest Covid-19 vaccine update has been evaluated and released for use in the United States to people aged 6 months and older for Fall 2024. People can get the vaccination if it has been at least 2 months since their last vaccination for Covid-19. People who have not previously been vaccinated for Covid-19 are considered “up to date” with their vaccinations after receiving this single dose.

This vaccine update is free under most insurance plans in the United States (including Medicaid and Medicare), but is no longer offered for free by the United States government.

Free vaccinations may be available on a state-by-state basis; so check whether or not your state has a free adult vaccination program if you require a free option. People based in the United States can search for their local Health Department here: https://www.naccho.org/membership/lhd-directory

People who have been diagnosed with Covid-19 may wait 3 months before getting the updated vaccine.

In order to attend Charmed! 2025 in-person you must be up to date with your Covid vaccination: a person who is “up to date” with their vaccinations beginning September, 2024 is a person who has received the latest updated vaccine, released in September, 2024.

Vaccinations typically take around two weeks to reach full efficacy; therefore for the purposes of Charmed! 2025 vaccinations will be considered valid if they are received by or before Monday, January 6th, 2025.

In-person attendees of Charmed! 2025 will be required to show proof of “up to date” vaccination received in good time – that is, they must show proof that they have received the Fall 2024 vaccine update by or before January 6th, 2025. Proof may be in the form of one of the following: official paper vaccine card, electronic vaccine card, photocopy or digital representation of official vaccine card, website listing your name/vaccination date, dated email for an applicable vaccination appointment, a photograph of some part of the vaccination process (eg. the vial of serum), or other applicable media. If you are unsure that your form of proof will be valid, please contact us before arriving at the event. Proof of vaccination will be verified at badge pick-up.

You can contact us using one of the following ways: Email us at: Covid@Charmedhypno.org Contact us through Charmed! social media: Twitter: https://twitter.com/CharmedHypno Fetlife: https://fetlife.com/groups/121240?sp=1 Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/charmedhypno Bluesky: https://charmedhypnocon.bsky.social/ Discord: DM @Noelle - I have answers!

People who are unable to get the updated Covid-19 vaccine for a three month period ending with the final day of Charmed! 2025 (January 26th, 2025) due to a previous Covid-19 infection will be considered “up to date” for the purposes of in-person attendance. Please contact ConCom if you become Covid-positive within this window.

IMPORTANT: if you have a Covid-19 infection that results in you being able to get the updated vaccine within the two week time period before Charmed! 2025 begins – that is, January 8th through January 22nd – you will not be considered “up to date” with your vaccination and will be ineligible to attend Charmed! 2025 in person.

PLEASE NOTE: the three month waiting period is a CDC recommendation and it may be possible for people to get the updated vaccine within that time period.

In-person attendees at Charmed! 2025 will be required to show proof of a negative Covid-19 test taken within 48 hours of badge pick-up, (over-the-counter test is okay), in picture form in order to pick up their badge. Please do not bring a physical test with you to badge pick up - a picture on your phone is sufficient.

Mask Policy

In-person attendees at Charmed! 2025 will be required to wear well-fitting, high quality masks, such as N95s, KN95s, and FFP2s (or equivalent) at all times while in official convention space. This includes both the private convention area and Con Suite, as well as semi-public areas such as registration and the hallway outside of the upstairs classrooms.

If you are unable to acquire an N95 or similar mask, then pleated surgical masks are acceptable as a last resort.

Examples of unacceptable masks include: bandanas, gaiters, and scarfs.

Presenters and demo-bottoms may choose to remain unmasked only while actively presenting.

There are no mask exceptions for evening social events and dungeon play.

Masks may be raised, but not removed, in order to sip water and/or eat small snacks in Convention Space as needed.

A small number of masks may be available via Convention Operations for people who need them; however, we cannot guarantee this so please do your best to procure your own.

Testing Policy

In 2024, we did not require that attendees test daily but did highly recommend that they do so. For 2025, we are again highly recommending that people test daily before entering convention space. Over the counter tests are excellent at detecting a viral load in someone who is contagious, and are currently the best way for people to determine if they need to isolate themselves.

Convention Operations may have a small number of tests available for people who need them; please do not count on this and do your best to procure your own.

Policy Exemptions

Residents of countries that do not offer updated Covid-19 vaccines to the general population may be considered exempt from the requirement to be up-to-date by United States standards as long as they have received and can show confirmation that they received the primary course of vaccinations; that is, the original shot plus the two follow up shots.

We ask that people in non-U.S. countries who are eligible to receive updated vaccines continue to do so.

Attendees who are offered exemptions to the 2025 Covid-19 policy will be required to test daily while in attendance in person at Charmed! 2025 and to send verification of their negative test result to a member of ConCom before they are allowed entrance into official con space.

Failure to follow this policy may result in that person’s badge being pulled and them no longer being able to attend Charmed! 2025 in person.

We will continue to assess the status of attendees with possible medical exemptions on a case by case basis. If you are affected by this policy, please contact us as soon as you can via email at Covid@charmedhypno.org or dm Noelle_8033 on Discord.

There are no exemptions to the masking policy.

Covid Infections & Isolation Policy

Attendees, including all staff members, volunteers, presenters, etc, will be required to report and self-isolate if they test positive for Covid-19 while attending Charmed! 2025.

For the purposes of Charmed! 2025, an attendee who is “self-isolating” will remain in their private room as much as possible and will not enter any shared hotel spaces with convention members, including but not limited to: official Convention Spaces (areas past our security check points), shared convention spaces (eg. the badge pick up area, the hallway outside of upstairs classrooms), and the Charmed! 2025 Consuite (the enclosed room outside of regular Con space that is across from the public fireplace seating area.)

ConCom reserves the right to expand this list during the Convention in order to accommodate the number of in-person attendees present at Charmed! 2025.

Out of an abundance of caution, an initial positive test result will be taken as confirmation of infection, regardless of subsequent testing.

**The identity of anyone that contracts Covid-19 while at Charmed! 2025 will be kept anonymous unless otherwise unavoidable, unless that person wishes to share their identity.

Failure to report and self-isolate will result in the infected attendee’s badge being pulled and potentially a ban from Charmed! in the future.**

Reporting & Contact Tracing Policy

Anyone becoming positive for Covid-19 while attending Charmed! 2025 will be required to report and self-isolate. They will need to identify to ConCom classes/areas where they have been, including private spaces, and ConCom will inform the attendee population that they may have been exposed to Covid-19.

**The identity of anyone that contracts Covid-19 while at Charmed! 2025 will be kept anonymous unless otherwise unavoidable, unless that person wishes to share their identity.

Failure to report and self-isolate will result in the infected attendee’s badge being pulled and potentially a ban from Charmed! in the future.**

Charmed! 2025 is committed to providing as safe an environment as possible for our attendees. This may mean that our vaccination/mask requirements are stronger/stricter than those of other events or organizations. We understand that this can be frustrating, and we appreciate your adherence to these policies that are for the benefit of every attendee at Charmed! 2025.

[lestatslestits]

THIS is what I mean when I say that OCD is a fucking punchline to most people.

Monk felt fucking inescapable throughout the aughts. If you had OCD, you probably got called Monk. If someone you knew did something that they considered “OCD,” they probably compared themselves to Monk. It’s an incredibly narrow repetition of what OCD is but it was THE pop culture touchstone at the time. Sometimes it felt like a life raft and sometimes it felt like drowning, but it was always there. I’ll likely never work out all of my complex thoughts and feelings about it.

But it ended in 2009. Seeing these same jokes still being made fourteen years later (and, frankly, seeing hand sanitizer at a large public event get treated as some kind of haha funny overkill thing after years of surviving the COVID-19 pandemic) makes me feel so sick.

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Some recent news on the Canadian response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic

Medical research series calls on Canada to do independent inquiry into COVID-19 response

A new medical research series calls on Canada to conduct an independent inquiry into the country’s COVID-19 response, citing Canada’s failures in the equity of its domestic and global health deliverance.

The BMJ’s international editor Dr. Jocalyn Clark commissioned the series from Canadian experts to look in-depth into key issues in Canada’s pandemic response, including leadership, co-ordination and data sharing between provincial territorial and federal entities, equity research, the high death rate among nursing homes and Canada’s global contribution to vaccine sharing.

“These in-depth analyses are important because they help draw lessons about what went wrong, where were the missteps, how can these be prevented in the future and how can we be better prepared for the next health crisis or public-health emergency in the future,” Dr. Clark said.

You can access the full series here: https://www.bmj.com/canada-covid-series

Exposing deep institutional failures in the COVID-19 response in Canada

From the start, it was as if government authorities didn’t really want to know, or want us to know, what was happening. They didn’t implement any way of understanding how much infection was circulating in the population, instead relying on people with symptoms to come forward. Then, two years into the pandemic, Ontario ended whatever monitoring and reporting was put in place. These were irresponsible actions in the face of the most devastating public health crisis of the last 100 years.

The absence of data has left the public with the false impression that COVID-19 is no longer a real problem. This is made worse by the shocking lack of clear communication from authorities that the SARS-CoV-2 virus can linger in the air for hours and that it cannot be social-distanced or hand-sanitized away. (emphasis added)

[justrainandcoffee]

The Wandering Jew (Alfie Solomons x fem!OC)

"Welcome to end of the World", Alfie said.

Alfie x Rose Masterlist

Summary: It was like an apocalyptic movie. First it wasn't that bad, or that was people thought, until it was that bad. Rose landed in London with the idea of returning home a week and a half later, but few days after that, the PM decided to close everything. His flight was cancelled and getting a new one was an impossible mission. The world is facing a new era and she's there trapped in an Inn, in a distant city with a complete stranger and his dog.

Warnings: Just topics related to covid-19.

Words: 2K. || I'm rewriting the first chapters I posted last year. I changed several things and I'm happier now. You can find the rest of their modern story here.

Series masterlist.

18th March 2020.

The world was starting to panic because of the new virus created in China. Or maybe it was a sick bat that, like a domino effect, caused thousands of deaths already. China was closed, countries around it, too. Italy was collapsing slowly and the WHO already declared that this new virus, called COVID-19, was a pandemic.

Yet, millions of people continued with their lives as always. Working, going to classes, visiting friends or relatives and others, like Rose, were travelling.

Born in London in 1988, Rose Coldwell was returning to her city after eight years living in New York where she moved with her mother and two brothers. She received an important job offer back then and the money was beneficial for the four of them. Louis, her youngest brother went to high school and Samuel, the second brother, begun to study law in a good college there. Now the youngest was studying architecture and Samuel was part of a law firm in Manhattan.

Rose, on the other hand, ran her own fashion blog and had a small business. Nothing too extraordinary, but something that made her happy. After several years of sending mails and filling out forms to be part of any international fashion event and equal numbers of rejections, she sent a mail to be part of an international convention there in London and she was accepted. 2020, it was going to be an unforgettable year, she thought.

And she was right… but the reasons were going to be quite different.

The plane landed and she felt she was returning home like the prodigal son, or daughter. Not even once since she left the country she returned there and it was a pleasant feeling to be back on her land.

Some people around her in the airport were walking fast avoiding the multitude. Some were wearing masks, some not. A woman wearing one was offering alcohol to sanitize people's hands. An old man sneezed and caused several disgusted faces from people around him.

'Probably he's just allergic,' she thought.

While she was waiting for her baggage, she checked her phone. Her mother called her several times and also one of her brothers. She ignored them for now, once she was in her bedroom, she'd be able to call them.

"I think he needs to close everything."

Rose heard two men talking near her, one already had his suitcase, but the other not.

"Johnson already denied that, Luke. We're safe, he said."

"And you believe him?" the one named Luke, asked. "Give the virus a couple of days and we're doom, Fred."

Rose's heart started to beat fast. The fact that she was on the other side of the ocean away from her family, suddenly terrified her. But she shooed those thoughts from her mind. The UK under a strict lockdown sounded ridiculous.

.

The Wandering Jew was an Inn that opened its doors in 2017. The most popular in all Candem Town and its surroundings. Rated by its guests with five stars in websites like booking.com and full of positive feedback.

The Wandering Jew had over 60 rooms and five of them were almost a suite. Not like a the ones you would find in the most expensive hotels, but still quite elegant.

But most of all, The Wandering Jew had a man named Alfie Solomons, the owner.

Alfie bought the building, that was about to be demolished, in 2016 and hired people to reconstruct it. From engineers and architects to construction workers. One and a half years later, it was finished it. It costed him several thousands pounds but it was worth and he was happy with it.

His apartment was above the Inn, so he never really left that place, except to walk his dog and closest friend: Cyril. Every late afternoon it was common to see both of them walking out the Inn to go to a park and spend an hour or two there.

During the day, while Alfie was behind the reception counter, Cyril usually was sleeping next to his feet or greeting some guests.

And that was exactly what Cyril did that 18th of March.

The reception was empty in that moment, most of the guests were out visiting some places and few others were sleeping or at least they were in their bedrooms. Cyril had been chewing his favourite tennis ball, when he heard a taxi and he stood up quickly. The dog ran towards the glass door and spied from there. Alfie barely paid attention to him.

Cyril was excited. He didn't know her, but the dog was still happy. He could smell her as soon as she left the taxi and now that he could see her, his tail was wagging faster than before. His excitement caused to Alfie to finally raise his eyes from the newspaper and put attention to Cyril who was now hopping.

Alfie saw Rose for the first time while she was pushing the glass door with her body. In one hand she had her baggage and in the other her phone. She was speaking with someone and was clearly upset. And had every reason to be mad. The one on the other side of the line, was a bastard whose only purpose in his life was to harass her. No matter how many times she blocked him, he always get a new number to call her.

"Go and fuck yourself, dickhead!"

Alfie was amused, without no doubts that was the best entrance ever. And a very pretty one.

He saw her sliding her phone in her pocket and then watching at Cyril who seemed to be more than happy after she petted him gently. Cyril ran towards Alfie and barked at him.

"Did you see her? Did you?" He seemed to say.

"Calm down, boy," Alfie said to the animal and then he looked at her who was already in front of him at the reception counter. "I'm sorry, he's usually quieter."

"Don't worry, he's nice! And I love dogs." Rose smiled at him and he did the same. "I booked for a room online, two weeks ago. Coldwell is my last name," she told him.

After giving him her ID, and while he was checking the information she paid attention to the place. She had already seen several photos online and she liked it but the Inn was really nice. The paintings on the walls were warm and several represented the sea. A plant over the counter called Wandering Jew, like the Inn itself, captured her attention. Her mother used to have that kind of plans when they lived in London. She asked herself if the Inn's name was because of those plants or there was another reason.

"Everything is okay, Ms. Coldwell," he said giving her ID back and also a key "Room 44. Welcome and I hope you enjoy your days here."

"Thanks! I will!"

"Every room has a phone that communicates directly with this one," he said pointing at a black one over the counter, "if you need anything you can call me... us. Call us."

Rose chuckled and nodded "Thanks…"

"Alfred. Alfie."

"Thanks, Alfie."

_

Two days later, the 20th of March, it was obvious that things were out of control. Hospitals were saturated, the numbers of sick people were increasing, flights become to be a necessity and there weren't enough planes. Countries like Italy, Greece and France were collapsing under the virus. And several of them closed their frontiers. Boris Johnson had already a rope around his neck but he refused to start a quarantine yet.

"No, I'm not admitting new guests," Alfie said to the person who called the Inn "I'm sorry."

His right hand, Ollie, was next to him. Both of them were waiting news from the government but there was nothing except empty words and promises about a bright future.

The convention were Rose had to go was cancelled because the organisers were sick and it was suspended. And in top of that she received an email saying that her original flight to return home was cancelled. The company gave her the money back but they didn't say anything about a reschedule.

She returned to the Inn that afternoon only to see in the TV that was in the reception, that there were riots everywhere. Demanding a lockdown, demanding more medical assistance and some demanded Johnson's and the Queen's heads.

Both men, Rose and an old woman were paying attention to the BBC journalist who was in front of one of the hospitals.

"Welcome to the end of the world," Alfie commented.

He wasn't that wrong.

The night of the 22th of March, it was chaotic. Finally the lockdown was imminent and some people was already leaving the Inn. Ollie, who worked the night shift, was giving them their money back for the days that they couldn't stay. That night Rose didn't sleep. She tried to get a flight and she could hear her mother's voice in her head "you should listen to me."

And yes, Mary Coldwell was right but it was too late now for any regrets. Rose needed to return with her family, the thing was how.

The next morning it was officially confirmed the beginning of the quarantine. Alfie again behind the counter, was attending the remaining guests who were living the Inn. Including those who refused to leave. One particular woman was complaining about the lockdown and she was basically blaming Alfie because of that.

Alfie was trying to remain calmed but this Karen wasn't making things easy.

"You can't expelled me like that. I paid for my bedroom for three weeks and I've been here for only one. I want to stay here for three weeks!"

"But you can't. You can go to 10 Downing Street and talk with the Prime Minister about your holidays, if you want. I'm just a citizen following these new rules, ma'am. Pick up your belongings and get in your car and return home. Stay there until the Quarantine is over."

Rose was sitting on one of the armchairs at the reception. Phone in hand, refreshing the airlines website every two seconds, but not avail. Everything was collapsed and there wasn't any flights. The news showed people sleeping on floors and she knew that was her fate and she was really upset. So hearing that woman was ending with her patience.

"I'm going to sue you, you'll see! And you're going to regret it! This is a complete nonsense! There's no such thing as a virus!! It's the media! And the left and…"

"Shut the fuck up, for once! Fuck!"

Both Alfie and the woman stared at Rose who was frowning. The first one smiled, but the woman seemed offended.

"I didn't pay to be insultated!"

"I'm doing this for free," Rose replied.

Gasping, the woman warned Alfie with a lawyer one last time and left the Inn, according to her, to search a better place to stay. She found none.

The rest of the guests left the Inn without drama and by 4pm only Rose remained there. From all the guests that The Wandering Jew had there at the moment, she was the only one living in United States, the rest were all over Britain. In consequence, the only one having problems was Rose.

"Any luck?" Alfie asked watching her with her phone still in hand.

"No. Not really. My brother is trying to help from his home but he's not having luck either."

"You can stay here for tonight if you want," Alfie said.

"I was planning to go to the airport and stay there."

"Sleeping on the cold tiles in middle of a pandemic? I'm sorry but it sounds risky."

"But…"

"I hanged the sign. For everyone here, the Inn is closed. Don't worry."

"Just for tonight, I promise," she said.

Alfie agreed.

"Just tonight."

How wrong both of them were.

[pandemic-info]

The figures from this are amazing:

...to avoid inhaling the sanitizer vapor, the volunteers placed hands on one side of the body and turned the head to the opposite side, as shown on the right in Figure 2. The second practice was named as the vapor‐avoiding hand disinfection.

[verdemoun]

I'm legitimately thinking about the gang witnessing big events. Bessie was probably there when USSR collapsed. The gang and 9/11. Big advances in queer rights in general (I can definitely see Bill telling someone to turn up the radio after he hears a snippet). Covid, fucking covid. And that's just a few. That must've been wild. I can see some of the newcomers getting overwhelmed - the world has never seemed like this in their first life. There was never so much happening.

(i can also see Lenny fucking thriving; boy loves studying. I can DEFINITELY see him asking Bessie about events she witnessed before anyone arrived.)

I'M SO SORRY THIS WAS EATEN BY DRAFTS PLEASE ENJOY

Side shuffling around the gang living through 9/11 as a non-American who was alive but too busy shoving crayons up my nose to fully understand the devastation from 9/11 from a global perspective I am not going to attempt that But a) it definitely contributed to Arthur's fear of flying b) it was the first time the gang were seriously agitated by Bessie's no guns in the house rule because all the safety they had worked towards finding in modern era was ripped away from them and c) they would have been very bothered by the sheer amount of racism it inspired they did not go through 1899 bigotry just to watch it be born again.

QUEER RIGHTS MY PASSION

The gang were all over that shit they may still have a bit of that 1899 assumes pronouns and don't fully understand some LGBTQIA+ identities but most of them needed a hobby and keeping up to date with how queer rights were being adapted into civil rights was a whole gang affair.

Arthur hot for voting rights Morgan out there accidentally intimidating people to vote for parties that openly supported pro-lgbtqia+ agendas.

The number one thing Isaac never got in trouble from the gang for protesting no matter how much actual legal trouble he got into. He was wearing skirts and dresses to school to protest gendered uniforms, he was punching protestors in the face (maybe a lil trouble for that one but not nearly as much as he probably should have been), vandalizing homophobic signs and billboards he was out fighting.

Arthur picking him up from holding after teen Isaac got caught vandalizing a homophobic billboard and instead of a lecture Isaac gets McDonalds on the way home.

Bill didn't say outright it was to celebrate gay marriage finally being legalized but the day it was confirmed gay marriage was going nation-wide he invited everyone over for the biggest boozy cook-out ever and internalized homophobia be damned my boy can work a grill.

Also poor Bessie having to be the one to explain to the 1899 gang when they timewarped in 1999 that same-sex intercourse was still technically a crime and if anything the laws around it had gotten more explicitly anti-gay since 1899 when every single one of them was a little slice of fruit cake - the absolute riot she had to deal with in her living room.

COVID

Arthur was a nervous wreck. He died of the last plague and is absolutely convinced covid-19 would be his second demise. Comes off as really aggressive about people wearing masks and sanitizing their hands but in private Charles is fully aware he is absolutely terrified. Like paling as the death toll rises Charles having to convince him to turn off the news before he has a meltdown.

Arthur was living lockdown style even before lockdown was announced would not leave the house, sprayed any groceries left at the door with disinfectant, insisted Charles get changed out of outside-contaminated clothes before he walked into the house ect.

Charles had to be a very patient, loving supportive husband. Many bird houses and loafs of bread were made.

The gang very nearly shackled Hosea to the couch because his attitude was 'bah how many epidemics have i survived already' despite being an elderly smoker with pre-existing lung issues.

On his way home the day lockdown was announced Lenny bought as much gym equipment as he could fit in his car and while Sean absolutely went insane not being able to go out and do things he did accidentally get shredded because he would spend hours in the temporary home gym trying to burn energy.

Jack immediately dipped. Grabbed a suitcase and moved into Isaac's because being trapped at home with John, Uncle, Abigail and Addie would have resulted in someone being sent to hospital for grievous bodily injuries.

Kieran thrived. Objectively the peak of his neurodivergent and mental health. No cars? Reduced people in stores? 3ft apart? It was the first time he could leave the house without noise-cancelling headphones (still took them but wore them around his neck in bliss upon realizing how quiet it was). Jumped at the chance to go to the store or drop off things because he loved leaving the house when the world was so much more quiet.

Also little people-watcher knew exactly what things to drop off to just make someone's day a little less bad. Favorite snacks, fidgets, movies they'd love, craft kits. A lot of the gang were really grateful for how well Kieran actually knew them and looked forward to the random texts of presents left at the door-step.

Sulked when restrictions were taken away he was glad the pandemic was considered over but also having to retreat to those supports because outside was too overwhelming again. (i'm projecting)

Micah got covid twice during peak pandemic, was almost hospitalized the first time, and still anti-vac.