Novel Coronavirus COVID-19

[Redhead14]

News item today:  "Fauci Says Americans Must Be Prepared to Hunker Down More" --   https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/fauci-says-americans-must-be-prepared-to-hunker-down-more/ar-BB11dwhm?li=BBnb7Kz.  The grooming has begun.  The country is going to be locked down soon.  Locked down is a kinder-gentler version/way of saying martial law.    

[some_username1]

59 minutes ago, littleblackheart said:

Sorry to hear that @Redhead14. 

 

I feel like this is exactly where our gvts are coming short.Totally pointless to close borders and ask people to 'be careful' if we're not willing to pick up the tab for those in precarious / vulnerable situations.

 

France, Spain, Israel and some parts of other countries are closing down restaurants, cinemas, bars, clubs for the foreseable - it's bad, but at least these countries have a fairly sound social safety net.

 

What would happen to workers in that sector in the UK (or the USA) when the hospitality sector is a gig economy swamped with zero hour / temporary contracts, and they are more likely than most to contract this virus? Who is going to help small businesses?

Exactly! We are somewhat lucky in the UK in that, although we have one of the worst welfare states at least people can often get housing costs covered but if the hospitality and airline sectors start laying people off could our welfare system cope with so much money coming out of it at once?

I’d like to hear some re-assurance regarding safeguarding of jobs and that the welfare state will cope but nobody seems to be speaking of that yet.

[amaysngrace]

In NJ the electric company postponed disruption of service to those who are behind on their payments, events have been cancelled including all major St Pats festivities and parades and the Bishop of my diocese lifted the Sunday mass obligation for all parishioners in the diocese.  

My daughter works in a hospital and said it’s almost impossible to be tested due to the shortage of reliable test kits, you basically have to be intubated and have every other illness ran and ruled out first, so basically dying before they’ll test for covid-19.  

[Redhead14]

3 minutes ago, amaysngrace said:

My daughter works in a hospital and said it’s almost impossible to be tested due to the shortage of reliable test kits, you basically have to be intubated and have every other illness ran and ruled out first, so basically dying before they’ll test for covid-19.  

Great, so if someone who has to be hospitalized with respiratory distress does have it, pretty much everyone they've been in close contact with could also be carriers and no one knows about it so all of those people are contaminating others, etc. . . . this is the reason the country will likely be shutdown. 

[amaysngrace]

I know Redhead, it’s completely irresponsible.  If only we could’ve followed WHO’s advice rather than trying to privatize test kits.

The test kits we ended up with were faulty, hence a shortage of reliable test kits.

[sothereiwas]

The sad fact is that if people would keep their hands clean and follow other basic hygiene guidelines ALL the time our flu seasons would be a lot less severe and a lot of lives would be saved. Instead something like this makes people overcorrect until it's gone and then we'll be back to business as usual, complete with snot-filled handshakes and spitting on the sidewalk.

[thefooloftheyear]

1 hour ago, Redhead14 said:

News item today:  "Fauci Says Americans Must Be Prepared to Hunker Down More" --   https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/fauci-says-americans-must-be-prepared-to-hunker-down-more/ar-BB11dwhm?li=BBnb7Kz. The grooming has begun.  The country is going to be locked down soon.  Locked down is a kinder-gentler version/way of saying martial law.    

I read the same article as you did and nothing in the article suggests even remotely what you are saying....nothing...

Its this type of over exaggerated reaction to news events just perpetrates panic and doesnt do anyone good, really..

TFY

[littleblackheart]

51 minutes ago, some_username1 said:

I’d like to hear some re-assurance regarding safeguarding of jobs and that the welfare state will cope but nobody seems to be speaking of that yet.

This situation has shown how woefully ill-equipped some gvts are in dealing with the crisis, whether it be through lack of strong leadership or lack of social safety net or, more crucially, lack of investment in healthcare services. So many of these precautions have been taken so as not to put too much strain on the health services, because we know they are crumbling or people can't afford them.

 

Edited March 15, 2020 by littleblackheart

[Redhead14]

There are millions of people walking around with "underlying" conditions that they aren't even aware of yet.  Lots of people are prediabetic and very nearly near being diabetic.  Lots of people have heart conditions that haven't manifested themselves clearly yet.  Millions of people have undiagnosed high-blood pressure.  Millions of people don't take care of themselves but are walking time bombs anyway and just need one good virus to highlight it for them. 

[littleblackheart]

Surprise, surprise

Virgin Atlantic boss urges Boris Johnson to sanction £7.5bn airline bailout due to potential huge losses / redundancies caused by covid-19

https://news.sky.com/story/virgin-atlantic-boss-urges-boris-johnson-to-sanction-75bn-airline-bailout-11957708

[simpycurious]

I will say that many people are really altering their normal routines.  I have been getting texts about stopping their cleaning services

(people that clean their houses), stopping the lawn maintenance people (WHY??).  It's getting really CRAY CRAY.

[Redhead14]

25 minutes ago, thefooloftheyear said:

I read the same article as you did and nothing in the article suggests even remotely what you are saying....nothing...

Its this type of over exaggerated reaction to news events just perpetrates panic and doesnt do anyone good, really..

TFY

Right, that's what a lot of people probably said in Italy and Spain . . .

[Redhead14]

2 minutes ago, simpycurious said:

I will say that many people are really altering their normal routines.  I have been getting texts about stopping their cleaning services

(people that clean their houses), stopping the lawn maintenance people (WHY??).  It's getting really CRAY CRAY.

To conserve money.  A lot of people will be affected financially by all of this.  It's money conservation.  I said this earlier, my son is now on furlough from his job.  He works for an exhibit company and conferences and conventions have been cancelled. 

Edited March 15, 2020 by Redhead14

[simpycurious]

Just now, Redhead14 said:

To conserve money.  A lot of people will be affected financially by all of this.  It's money conservation.

No not at all (money conservation), it's about having people in their HOUSES.  

[Redhead14]

Just now, simpycurious said:

No not at all (money conservation), it's about having people in their HOUSES.  

Yep, that too.  There will be lots of things like this that will get cut out of lot's of people's budgets.

[elaine567]

Just now, simpycurious said:

No not at all (money conservation), it's about having people in their HOUSES.  

Lawn maintenance people go into their houses?

[CautiouslyOptimistic]

My friend told me this morning her 53 year old sister died yesterday, unexpectedly.  They tested for COVID-19 and will know in a couple of days. She was ill/on dialysis and in the care of her elderly mother.  She had a severe upper respiratory thing.  Coded, etc., revived twice, but not a third time.  

[Gaeta]

1 hour ago, amaysngrace said:

In NJ the electric company postponed disruption of service to those who are behind on their payments.

That's nice to hear news like this. Here many Internet and cable providers have unlocked access to their full services for free so people can have access to continous news and work from home without ending up with a huge bill. 

[Redhead14]

6 minutes ago, CautiouslyOptimistic said:

My friend told me this morning her 53 year old sister died yesterday, unexpectedly.  They tested for COVID-19 and will know in a couple of days. She was ill/on dialysis and in the care of her elderly mother.  She had a severe upper respiratory thing.  Coded, etc., revived twice, but not a third time.  

Hopefully, her elderly mother will be tested and your friend should be tested as well if she'd been near her recently . . .

[CautiouslyOptimistic]

1 minute ago, Redhead14 said:

Hopefully, her elderly mother will be tested and your friend should be tested as well if she'd been near her recently . . .

Yes, I hope her mom is tested too.  My friend, unfortunately, lives over 300 miles away from her mom :(.

[Philosopher]

This crisis is a global crisis and therefore requires a global response, both in how to contain the virus and how to minimise the economic damage afterwards. World leaders should be meeting (via teleconference of course!) to discuss the best course of action and then all countries should try and apply the agreed actions, whatever they may be. With a global response I reckon it is still possible to contain this virus.  

However from what I have read today it seems like too many countries or organisations are going it alone such as: 

Trump trying to buying a German vaccine manufacturer just so they can make vaccines for the US: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/mar/15/trump-offers-large-sums-for-exclusive-access-to-coronavirus-vaccine

The EU providing far too little support to Italy: https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/03/14/coronavirus-eu-abandoning-italy-china-aid/

The UK pursuing a delay and mitigation rather than a containment strategy: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/mar/15/britain-goes-it-alone-over-coronavirus-we-can-only-hope-the-gamble-pays-off

This I reckon is only going to the make the situation far far worse than it would have been otherwise.

[CautiouslyOptimistic]

My dentist died suddenly in mid-November and now I'm highly suspecting he had this virus before anyone knew of it.  I had just seen him a few days before he died and he seemed fine (and was a very thin/healthy/vibrant man).  He flew across the country for a conference, not feeling all that great, but having no clue he was *that* sick, and died the day after he arrived there.  He called his own ambulance from his hotel because he was having trouble breathing and then collapsed when he got to the hospital and they were unable to revive him.  It was pneumonia.  

[Ellener]

Hope your son is ok @Redhead14 I've just been very encouraging with my son, and though we had planned not to we already discussed getting a small apartment together when his lease ends if we are both affected for any length of time. My boy graduates university in @ 6 weeks, it's all rather discouraging to see disaster at their age. We old 'uns have seen things come and go and have more perspective hopefully ( I lost mine a bit after Harvey )

That reminds me of this from the Rudyard Kipling poem, 'If':

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

    And treat those two impostors just the same;   

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

    Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

    And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

 

...If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

    If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

    With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,   

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,   

    And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

 

There was a feminist version when I was younger with the last line changed to 'which is more- you'll be a bloody woman!'

 

 

[Gaeta]

2 hours ago, littleblackheart said:

France, Spain, Israel and some parts of other countries are closing down restaurants, cinemas, bars, clubs for the foreseable - it's bad, but at least these countries have a fairly sound social safety net.

We also have a solid free social and health network in Canada but we pay taxes through the nose to have this strong protective net. We Canadian accept to pay up to 51% income taxes. It's a choice a society makes when they go vote. 

[Ellener]

3 hours ago, Ruby Slippers said:

And everyone with the means to invest in the stock market benefits from these shady, evil practices.

I have never invested in the Stock Market personally, it's just gambling to me!