will this virus stuff stop/delay release?

[gbusrt]

just a question i wanted answered though other might be interested to hence the topic

[ooey]

Well London is a condensed city and Goldhawk are based near kings cross... I'd say they are near to first release now, but updates may probably be stretched out. I wouldn't mind self-isolating and playing xen2 for a good while . But we may soon go into lockdown like Italy. They'll probably blame it on Brexit like they do everything (not Goldhawk - just people in general)!

Edited March 13, 2020 by ooey

[Gijs-Jan]

Most of us work remotely at the moment. I myself working from the southern part of the Netherlands. 
So, excluding anything unforeseen such as actually getting ill, it'll affect us less than some other companies. 

[Chris]

Yeah, hopefully it shouldn't be too disruptive. We're all (relatively) young people here at Goldhawk so any given staff member might lose a week of work due to the physical effects of coronavirus if they catch it, but as we all already work remotely nowadays there's no disruption caused by us staying home and we're less likely to get the virus than most others.

[ooey]

Programmers have always tended to "self-isolate" regardless (I know, I have!). Sometimes its the only way to get things done without distractions. They'll be ok .

[maxm222]

Kidding aside, I'm afraid that programmers are not necessarily okay, unless they virtually never leave their home (to get more caffeine drinks, for example), never have anyone visit, and never read their mail without gloves.  Covid 19 can live on various surfaces for up to two days--as far as is currently known.

As for becoming infected or dying from Covid 19, it's true that people between the ages of 10 and 30 have fewer severe symptoms (sometimes none, apparently, even though infected) and far fewer deaths than older people.  But if you look at the preliminary statistics, you can see that what people of all ages are good at is spreading this highly contagious disease.  The number of cases before the epidemic starts to be contained (if it is) increase roughly geometrically every few days.  And those are only the cases that come to the attention of someone who can test for the disease--no country knows the true extent of the spread.  Plus, each country's experience has been different depending on various factors you have no control over (like your government's response, which is why we're going to be especially screwed here in the US).

So here's the scenario that even you 20-year-olds should be worried about: you go to the corner shop for a cup of tea or coffee.  The person behind the counter, who can't afford to stay home forever, hands over your drink along with the Covid 19 virus on the outside of the cup (where it can live for hours), since he/she contacted the virus from one of the shop's customers.  On the way home you rub your eyes.  Now you're infected.  When you get back to your apartment, you get the message that a parent or grandparent is going to be stopping by.  You don't let them in when they reach your place because you 're smart enough to know that you don't know if you or the surfaces in your apartment might be infected (more likely you do let them in and then don't kiss or shake hands--as if that will protect them).  

But you opened the door to your apartment house with the hand that carried that cuppa tea 20 minutes before your Mom put her hand on the door handle--and Covid 19, along with some other viruses, can live for days on hard surfaces like metal or plastic. 

I don't mean to scare anyone (and hopefully you all know all of the above), but no one should think they're "safe" from tragic consequences because they're young or tend to stay at home a lot.  Okay, you're young, you almost certainly won't die from the virus.  But will being young protect you from grief if one of the older people you care about dies?  Yeah, we should all try to calm down, but the pandemic is getting worse, and I think we need to continue to learn about and emphasize the very real dangers.

Edited March 16, 2020 by maxm222
clarification

[ooey]

Oh no one's ever really safe in this world, are they? So you're right. But if you've lived your life as a programmer as I have then you are at far less risk. The big thing that we can do is work remotely (as most of Goldhawk do). That takes a lot of the human contact risk away. 

Some have stated that this virus has been released deliberately to usher in the new world order, and that we will all soon be under some kind of global martial law. If that's the case then maybe aliens will come to save us rather than kill us, as in Xenonauts . I think we all have our suspicions. Why now? I mean, the Chinese have been eating strange things for centuries! It could all blow over in a matter of months, or it could be years. Look at the panic it's causing now however. If this continues the world will not be as we once knew it in a few years with the banks collapsing etc.

What a fragile world we live in! It does pay to be prepared.

Edited March 16, 2020 by ooey

[maxm222]

I liked the pics of Italians standing out on their balconies and singing, amid their lockdown.  The sign says: "I'll be OK."  Loosely translated.   Note Old Guy with electric guitar!  The irrepressible human spirit.

Edited March 16, 2020 by maxm222
clarification