I have now read multiple articles about various governments

[conuly]

taking this time to do some cleaning and refurbishment of iconic tourist attractions.

The MTA could stand to take the idea and do all the track work now. Ridership is down, of course, so why not fix the L train?

As I said, I watched the newest episode of Brooklyn 99. It's surreal - it ostensibly is set "now", but of course it was filmed a while ago so there's no pandemic. The NYPD just lost a third person, so you know realistically they'd be obsessed with it. I guess that's for the fanfic until they can catch up, though. (If they do. By the time they start filming again it'll be over and done with, so.)

****

A service dog in training brings comfort to ER doctors on the frontlines

Social distancing is slowing not only Covid-19, but other diseases too

What's essential? In France: pastry, wine. In US: golf, guns

We analyzed secondary locations of anonymized mobile devices that were active at a single Ft. Lauderdale beach during spring break. This is where they went across the US. (It's easy enough to blame Spring Break partiers, or their parents if they weren't bankrolling themselves, but Florida could've shut down their beaches and bars and given these young adults no place to party.)

America Needs Plasma From COVID-19 Survivors Now

As virus explodes, world races to mask up

AP PHOTOS: Masks, disinfectant the new normal for commuters

Medical fetish store donates entire stock of hospital scrubs to the NHS to help fight coronavirus (It's funny, but it's also not)

U.S. ventilator makers pull out all stops to fight coronavirus

Cities after coronavirus: how Covid-19 could radically alter urban life

Coronavirus Treatment Developed by Gilead Sciences Granted “Rare Disease” Status, Potentially Limiting Affordability

‘It’s no different from New York’: Urban centers nationwide gird for catastrophic virus outbreak

Nurses Share Coronavirus Stories Anonymously in an Online Document

I’m Treating Too Many Young People for the Coronavirus

Countries Starting to Hoard Food, Threatening Global Trade

How Panic-Buying Revealed the Problem With the Modern World

Five ways the criminal justice system could slow the pandemic

When coronavirus hits, but the water is shut off (Similar article here with no paywall: https://nbcnews.to/3ar8h9n )

The Last Daycares Standing

She’s 10, Homeless and Eager to Learn. But She Has No Internet.

People Who Take Opioid Painkillers Are Getting Screwed Thanks to Coronavirus

The Curve Is Not Flat Enough

Postal Service forced to keep working despite shortages of cash and protection

Delivery drivers face pandemic without sick pay, insurance, sanitizer

Quarantined In India: No Soap, Dirty Toilets, Not Enough Coronavirus Tests

Vitriol and violence: A coronavirus death exposes paranoia in India

Job Vacancies and Inexperience Mar Federal Response to Coronavirus

Trump declares war on Washington State, Michigan

In Exchange for Aid, Trump Wants Praise From Governors He Can Use in Campaign Ads

Right-Wing Influencers Are Convinced Dr. Anthony Fauci Is Working With Hillary Clinton To Undermine Donald Trump

Comments

Transit Care and Feeding

[dewline]

It occurs to me that OC Transpo and its contractors can use this time of enforced schedule slowdowns - weekday service has been reworked to mimic what used to be Saturdays' level of service owing to the lack of passengers - to get the bus fleet into better working order. Lots of backlogged repairs, which I suspect their already overworked mechanics may have some very small measure of leisure to get caught up on.

[author_by_night]

That's actually why I always headcanon that shows take place a year earlier than their airing, because often it just makes sense.

Also, Parks and Rec takes place in a total AU now, because they time jumped to 2017 in their finale and... it's completely implausible. Which is why I hate time jumps in that context.

I also figure you can just have that shows in general are AUs. That would make more sense anyway.

[penpusher]

I would agree with your MTA assessment, if not for the fact that NYC leads the country in cases (still going higher) and subway tunnels are interconnected breezeways that also require workers to use the system to get to the job.

If people who had the virus would know it and stay out of public places, that would be a major help. But people can have the disease and not know it and still pass it on, or leave it behind on some surface. That's the catch that is tricking people into believing this isn't as bad as some are saying.

I wish we had a team of worker robots to fix the L train. But there would still need to be a human onsite to stop things if they went wrong, or something worse...

[conuly]

Are your worker robots unionized?

[penpusher]

I suspect they could be, depending on if labor or management got to them first.

But we don't have worker robots, so the question is moot.

[sgatazmy]

I am so far behind on Brooklyn 99. Maybe a season or two. But I love the show. It would be surreal when reality is so different than it was just a short while ago.

[conuly]

Well, you can always catch up. BUT IT IS SO SURREAL. They just had an episode plot where Jake was deciding which friend-with-kids to give tickets to some movie too (end result, they fought so much that he took the kids himself, effectively rewarding their fighting with free babysitting) and I'm "NOOOOO. DO NOT GO TO THE MOVIES."