Corona Virus, general conversation

[Kevin LaCroix]

I am a massage therapist. We know how to do massage through clothes. We also know how to disinfect surfaces. I also am trained to do facilitated stretching. As @jscusmcvet is correct, IMO, that physician referred patients need various physical therapies to properly recover. I do not do spa type massage. What I do, when I am working, is theraputic/corrective massage. Some of the business deemed essential or non-essential make little sense.

 

[Dave]

Priorities

 

[jscusmcvet]

I am a massage therapist. We know how to do massage through clothes. We also know how to disinfect surfaces. I also am trained to do facilitated stretching. As @jscusmcvet is correct, IMO, that physician referred patients need various physical therapies to properly recover. I do not do spa type massage. What I do, when I am working, is theraputic/corrective massage. Some of the business deemed essential or non-essential make little sense.

Exactly. NC Gov. Cooper actually called Massage Therapy... wait for it... Massage Parlors... in his executive order. There was quite a bit of anger about that. We have Massage Therapy at all our sites, including at our hospitals in oncology services. It has grown to be an essential part of our offerings.

 

[Doug]

Exactly. NC Gov. Cooper actually called Massage Therapy... wait for it... Massage Parlors... in his executive order. There was quite a bit of anger about that. We have Massage Therapy at all our sites, including at our hospitals in oncology services. It has grown to be an essential part of our offerings.

A wise woman once told me if it has "Massage" in the name on the sign, it's not about massage.

 

[jscusmcvet]

A wise woman once told me if it has "Massage" in the name on the sign, it's not about massage.

There are a lot of people who benefit greatly from regular therapeutic massage. If you don't, or the lady mentioned doesn't, you might consider learning more about it. It's not about happy endings and has been proven and substantiated to be beneficial for all kinds of health issues. Good thing the cancer patients we serve in this regard understand it is about their health rather than a stereotype. What do you think @Kevin LaCroix? Maybe you can shed some light on the actual health benefits of massage therapy.

 

[Doug]

There are a lot of people who benefit greatly from regular therapeutic massage. If you don't, or the lady mentioned doesn't, you might consider learning more about it. It's not about happy endings and has been proven and substantiated to be beneficial for all kinds of health issues. Good thing the cancer patients we serve in this regard understand it is about their health rather than a stereotype. What do you think @Kevin LaCroix? Maybe you can shed some light on the actual health benefits of massage therapy.

Although I meant it as humor on here, she was serious when she said it. Perhaps it's more of a SoCal problem here with a proliferation of those other types of massage places, well known for prostitution. The legitimate places all call themselves a spa or are affiliated with chiropractors. I used to get a therapeutic massage about monthly before it was deemed non-essential.

 

[Kevin LaCroix]

Primarily massage moves blood, lymph and interstitial fluids and stimulates neurons. We also move fat and muscle. Facia, a membrane that separates various tissue can can stick to other facia. Massage can help unstick the facia and allow tissue to move properly. The benefits of this are moving O2, metabolic waste, CO2 into and out of cells, increasing metabolism for a short time. That is the science.

The meta science is touch healing. Being touched in a beneficial manner, light or firm, can have enormous psychological healing effects. I have had people fall asleep as soon as I touch them, others relax so deeply, you can hear their spines and ribs "crack".

The industry does have a big problem with human trafficking and prostitution.

 

[BushHead]

I just want to know why I can't get a good massage and a happy ending too?? lol.. I jest, don't kill me.

What really kinda got me rankled the other day was driving around our wonderful traffic circle in Pinehurst, there had to be at least 20 state guys planting flowers shoulder to shoulder.. I was like damn, guess that's essential...

 

[Mike]

We also move fat and muscle

Soooo I need to get some fat moved to some new places and muscle moved to other places... can you work with that? hahaha

Actually I have had both, relaxing and therapeutic. Both have their places for what your needs are. I went through 3 months of biweekly therapeutic on my calf's because they were rock hard and hurt all the time. Finally found out it was medication induced and stopped the meds and issue when away in about 3 weeks. I tend to get relaxing massages about every 8 weeks or so, just to work out sore spots and release stress. Have caught myself more than once snoring.

I can see how relaxing massages might not be an essential (though lowering stress is) but therapeutic, that is what I would consider essential. The whole random allowed/not allowed businesses is mind boggling. Personally, all businesses are essential otherwise they would not exist.

 

[Haggis]

Someone asked me today how this pandemic has effected my life....I replied “Well I work all the time and when I’m not I avoid people. So it’s pretty much like my regular life but with a mask.”

 

[Gallowbraid]

My rotating furlough (work three weeks, furloughed 1 week) was just cancelled early which is nice. Projects are starting back up and I'll be putting my team back out on the road again mid June.

Not sure how I feel about flying at this point, so it looks like road trips to FL and TX are happening soon.

 

[Kevin LaCroix]

Wife recovery update. She continues to improve. 2 round trips of the driveway, ~1500' in total, are now do able without feeling too exhausted. She still feels colder than normal, cannot take a full deep breath. Her Dr believes she had Covid-19 and double pneumonia as a result. Her recovery, IMO, is slow likely from the pneumonia.

 

[bob91yj]

Yikes, happy to hear she is improving!

 

[Greg]

Glad to hear you wife is improving @Kevin LaCroix.

 

[jscusmcvet]

Update from NC. As we entered Phase 2 last week, Gov. Cooper modified the order to not include gyms/fitness centers. It does allow pools and limits outdoor gathering to 25 or less. SO...
We opened this morning for use of our pool and will host outdoor classes on our patio. There is a group of NC gym owners that have reportedly filed a class action lawsuit against the state for requiring us to remain closed. I have donated to that cause but it is up my administration if we can officially support it. Looking at the state's own published numbers is interesting:
NC population: 10,500,000
Confirmed COVID cases - 21,618 = .0021%
Hospitalizations - 568 = .0000541%
Deaths - 728 = .0000693%

Good grief.

 

[Greg]

Update from NC. As we entered Phase 2 last week, Gov. Cooper modified the order to not include gyms/fitness centers. It does allow pools and limits outdoor gathering to 25 or less. SO...
We opened this morning for use of our pool and will host outdoor classes on our patio. There is a group of NC gym owners that have reportedly filed a class action lawsuit against the state for requiring us to remain closed. I have donated to that cause but it is up my administration if we can officially support it. Looking at the state's own published numbers is interesting:
NC population: 10,500,000
Confirmed COVID cases - 21,618 = .0021%
Hospitalizations - 568 = .0000541%
Deaths - 728 = .0000693%

Good grief.

Just the nerd in me commenting on the math. Not anything else. You forgot to multiply by 100 to convert a decimal to a percentage.

 

[Gallowbraid]

I've transitioned back into my on the road role as my company has started putting my team back out in the field. The week of Memorial Day I made a loop up through Arkansas, over into Oklahoma, down into Texas and then home through Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee. The differences from state to state and town to town were amazing; running the gamut from full lock down to "what pandemic? "

Sunday I flew for the first time since this all began. I booked an evening flight out of Atlanta into Houston Hobby. The Atlanta Airport was dead. My flight was "full" but Southwest is only booking to 2/3s capacity until the end of September. The plane itself was very clean, but the individuals flying were not. Masks were required for the flight and the flight attendants had to remind many passengers of this throughout the flight.

Being one of the last flights of the day into Houston I couldn't judge how busy that airport was. The rental car was very clean, but I wiped it down again anyway. I stayed in a Hilton Garden Inn in The Woodlands where my room door had a "Sanitized" seal on the door when I arrived. Online check in and the ability to use my phone as my room key kept me from interacting with anyone in the hotel.



Texas was an odd mix of varying degrees of pandemic restrictions. I ate at a restaurant in The Woodlands where the staff all wore masks and gloves but no social distancing was maintained. Every table was full at lunch time. The Enterprise commercial truck rental office, however, wouldn't even let me inside. Business was conducted outside on the sidewalk while trying to remain as far apart as possible.

The storage buildings my team had rented pre-corona as we were pulling people off the road, now weren't staffed at all. The liquor store next door to one of them was packed with people. I finished up in Houston early and rather than flying again I opted to drive to Port Orange FL.

At a Cracker Barrel outside Pensacola tonight I shared the restaurant with only 3 other patrons. My hotel for the evening is completely booked.

It's a weird world.

 

[4x4x4doors]

Fits into the category of anecdotal.
Friend had some pics from Montana on his BookFace account today so I asked how the travel was going. (He's based in Northern Virginia.) Their primary route would be further north than the sunbelt high occurence locations of the past few days. They travel in a bumper pull Trailer behind his truck. He and his spouse are mid-60s in reasonable (but not perfect) health so I know his restrictions/precautions are similar to mine.
He said they were currently in Montana. Had driven cross-country or interstates to Rapid City, SD beginning Jun 6. Their primary fuel/food/restroom stops are Flying J and similar attached to their Good Sam membership. He reported no problems finding open stops that were fully functioning for fuel/food/rest.
After they had gotten to Yellowstone, there were limits on restrooms and facilities inside the NP. Elsewhere they had done okay.
His only experience of feeling less-than-welcome had come in Dubois WY when he had gone into the local coop store. It wasn't really an unwelcome feeling as a wary feeling. All the employees and customer were thoroughly masked up and he believed the area had seen a reported case of the virus in preceding days.
Just another data point from someone moving around.

 

[Dave]

Florida is really spiking. What is interesting is the continued influx of people here visiting our beaches. Yesterday we saw license plates from GA, MA, NY, IL, TX, WV, PA and IA. Just that I can remember. Even saw a plate from Ontario, Canada.

Meanwhile, the USN is on global lockdown and travel restrictions. Cant visit barber shops, restaurants, bars, parks, malls, non-essential shopping is forbidden, pretty much telling everyone to stay home.

 

[Doug]

Not always the best measure without knowing the volume of testing but for California, at least, testing seems to be available for anyone who wants it on a daily basis anywhere near me. My cousin lives in NV and has been charting it and has cases going up significantly while testing has actually reduced.