Talking with my wise beyond his years and completely un-woke 16 year old son, who also happens to be hispanic, we looked up car accident fatalities. About 100 a day in the U.S. and 36K a year. This is 10x the reported deaths in China from COVID.

So in the interest of traffic safety, with respect to the actions taken to prevent deaths from COVID, should we ban driving? Should we mandate speed limits of 10 MPH so no collision will be fatal?

We are going to bankrupt many small businesses, along with major airlines, and many other businesses, to prevent the spread of a disease that 99% of infected people will survive. And we are going to decimate the retirement savings of the people we intended to save...

You can't put a price on human life. But we do, every day, because the world cannot be made 100% safe.

quote:

Originally posted by frayedends:
She also has 40 employees that will lose their jobs. There are serious implications to the policies being implemented.

Yes there are. That 60% pay cut I mentioned earlier existed in part because it is hard as hell to look at an employee and say too bad so sad. We often didn't even take a salary so those working for us were covered. It's sustainable in the short run but not for any real time.

Our governor went from recommending schools stay in session on Friday to now recommending they be closed for 30 days. Our spring break starts tomorrow. I just received the text our school district is closed until at least April 13th.

Well they're closing the bars now but back in the day....




Link to original video: https://youtu.be/_tqdOwOxY3s

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
^^^^^^^^^^^^
My personal experience with natural disasters is that there will quite a bit of governmental assistance. Many will end up much better as a result, others will get little in the way of help. As I am self employed, I am largely on my own. All of us will take financial hits. In the end most of us will survive and thrive. Time will tell, but we will get through this crisis.

Yep. And we'll learn. As para posted earlier, we'll figure out that some things are important. Having a contingency fund, basic preps, etc.

quote:

Originally posted by PowerSurge:
This bullshit will have a bigger impact than 9/11. Some airlines have basically been telling their employees it will be somewhere between the effect after 9/11 and the Great Recession. People’s wallets have been forced shut outside of necessities.

I hope I’m dead wrong.

Have a friend who is a senior manager with an airline. They are immediately reducing flights about 35%. Basically grounding more than 300 planes.

So now, once again, Broward is in the national spotlight for all the wrong reasons including stupidity, selfishness, carelessness, and craziness. The guy flying in from New York to West Palm Beach airport after being tested for COVID-19 prior to him getting on the plane and not waiting for the results bears mention too. He supposedly got his positive test results via text while still in the air. At least JetBlue banned him for life but that is not much consolation to the people he selfishly exposed. Now with the National guard having 170 troops on the ground here in Broward already because of the confirmed community non-travel related spread, and several hundred more on the way, along with them starting to set up drive-thru testing locations, I hope they can keep the additional chaos to a minimum.

The stores have been worse than any hurricane panic of the past, but fortunately we always shop and have supplies as if it is always hurricane season. No TP or any other shortage in our home, for now. Our daughter at FIU is now transitioned to online classes for the remainder of the semester and our other daughter, a senior in high school is off for at least two weeks including the already planned spring break week to see how things unfold but are also being prepped for online classes just in case.
Hopefully things work out for them to still safely attend their Grad Bash at Universal in like 6 weeks. At least they already went to Bush Gardens early this year in the event that they can't go. My wife, a preschool teacher, will not be reporting to work tomorrow either and I have been working from home for a while now so we are fortunate to be in an advantageous situation all things considered with respect to school and work and limiting our exposures. I still worry about my Mom and Dad living here as they are both in their mid 70s but healthy and no real high risk underlying conditions thank God, but of the In laws living in Eastern Central Florida, my mother-in-law was a heavy smoker for many years and has some potential high risk health concerns.

Our new home being built in Central Florida (Polk County) will be done in the next few weeks and we expect to be able to close by early May. We just need to stay healthy to be able to travel up to do our walk through and ultimately complete the closing.
The good coming out of all of this is when we finally convert our construction to perm loan to the perm 30 year mortgage, we are likely going to have a historically low interest rate. We also had our weekly builder phone update on Friday and everything is on track and all materials were ordered in advance by the builder to make sure there were no material related shortages or delays, and their workers have been healthy and productive thank God. Needless to say, the entire family is so looking forward to getting the heck out of Broward county. While there are clearly some good people here that we will miss, we are starting to get the impression that this county is somehow cursed and too many people here are helping it along the way to getting worse in a variety of ways. Our move can't come fast enough.

REI, the major national outdoor equipment retail chain, just sent out an email announcing they will be closing all their retail stores (but continuing to fill online orders, while offering free shipping on all orders during the closure) for at least the next two weeks, during which time they will also continue to pay all employees of the closed stores.

Text of the email I received:

quote:

To our Co-op Community:

As the coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak continues to spread throughout the communities where we all live and work, we have consistently looked for ways to help protect the health and safety of our employees and customers. Since our founding, REI has been about doing the right thing for our community.

After a great deal of careful consideration, we are temporarily closing our 162 retail stores nationwide starting tomorrow, March 16, until March 27. I believe that is the right thing for our community. In fact, I believe it is our duty—to do all we can to help keep one another safe in this unprecedented moment.

That also means all employees from these stores will be paid during this temporary closure. And, even with our stores closed, we will be working hard to do everything we can to continue to serve our customers. All orders through REI.com will get free shipping while our stores are closed. Customers who have questions about gear and local outdoor activities that they’d normally ask in our stores can get answers through our digital community, REI Conversations. Co-op Journal will feature articles that help people find ways to get outside even during these challenging times.

We’ve always been deliberate and transparent when making significant decisions about our business. This is a difficult decision for any business, and I do not make it lightly. Our decisions are grounded in the belief that there are more important things than business right now—we owe that to one another.

Know that we will continue to work closely with our teams and public health officials throughout the country to understand how to best serve your needs, and serve our customers as soon as local conditions allow. We’ll continue to share information with our members and employees as we move forward together into a future that’s hard to predict.

In the meantime, thank you for your understanding, your patience and, most of all, for being a part of this incredible community. The outdoors remains a vital part of all our lives, especially in moments like this.

Be well and take care of one another.

My best,

Eric Artz
President & CEO, REI Co-op

There was a question earlier about the status of vaccine research.

According to this ( https://abc7ny.com/health/coro...-of-vaccine/6016413/ ) the first clinical trial for a coronavirus vaccine candidate will begin tomorrow in Washington state. The article is very short on other information.

quote:

Originally posted by sigspecops:
So, what's gonna happen to all of the restaurant employees that don't get paid for a week or more? Are rent, utilities, car payments and credit card payments suspended for the time everyone can't work? I haven't heard that, so I guess everyone is sol when they're credit is ruined and the repo man comes calling. This is utter madness. You didn't get the virus, awesome! But now your living on the street without a job.

From my chair, that is life. The alternative, as far as I'm concerned is worse.

quote:

Originally posted by Scuba Steve Sig:
Our governor went from recommending schools stay in session on Friday to now recommending they be closed for 30 days. Our spring break starts tomorrow. I just received the text our school district is closed until at least April 13th.

Same for my county in California. Closing schools starting this Tursday up until April 20th.

And WA governor now prohibiting dining in restaurants etc, restricting to delivery and take out only...

I just received an email from my organization stating that we will be closed for the next week. Someone tested positive for COVID-19 and they are shutting down to scrub the facilities using a contractor. Thankfully, we will be on paid admin leave during this period. This is something that most of us have been preparing for and the organization was already set to go on lockdown in the coming weeks while moving our services online.

Because this will be affecting both my wife and I (we both work in the same organization) we now have to decide whether to continue sending our child to daycare or keep him home with us. On the one hand, we can use the R&R and the house could use a deep cleaning during the week. On the other hand, I would feel a lot better about keeping him with us and.

I have always been grateful to work where I do but there is a peace of mind in knowing that we will not be going unpaid or using our vacation time during this period. I haven’t said it here but I have voiced to friends in person, the virus doesn’t really concern me (other than the welfare of my child) it is the effect on our economy and the supply chain that I am watching closely. I am reminded of the Matt Bracken essay "When The Music Stops" and I hope things smooth out quickly.

I’ve been trying to have this conversation with several people today

I have a very good friend in Savannah, GA who works in the film industry. He has many friends that work in food and entertainment in Savannah. Savannah, of course, announced the cancellation of the st Patrick’s day festivities. There are many businesses in Savannah that basically survive the year because of the revenue they basically take in during the 2 week period around st Patrick’s day. The complications from corona virus will probably kill many businesses. It will result in unemployment for a lot of people in the service and entertainment industry

Today the bars were still open. My friend was encouraging many people to go “Support these businesses in their hour of need”. He and I got into because that was stupid, and he just didn’t get the whole social distancing thing.

He was like “But this could ruin them all!” My response was: “yes. It could. And everyone should stay home anyway.’

I had that argument with two more friends.

One of them is the worst combination. He is:

1) well, It’s all God’s will
2). It’s mah right so if I need to go buy stuff for my softball team I will
3). This is the same as gun rights! Fuck the governor!
And finally
4). I pretend to understand disease vectoring and exponential growth but really I don’t know what I’m talking about so I’ll just continue to go anywhere I want to

So frustrating.

quote:

Originally posted by Expat:

quote:

Originally posted by sigspecops:
So, what's gonna happen to all of the restaurant employees that don't get paid for a week or more? Are rent, utilities, car payments and credit card payments suspended for the time everyone can't work? I haven't heard that, so I guess everyone is sol when they're credit is ruined and the repo man comes calling. This is utter madness. You didn't get the virus, awesome! But now your living on the street without a job.

From my chair, that is life. The alternative, as far as I'm concerned is worse.

Apparently, even ISIS is scared of COVID-19

quote:

ISIS advises terrorists to steer clear of Europe during coronavirus outbreak

The Islamic State is telling members not to travel to Europe to carry out attacks as the coronavirus ravages the continent.

After years of telling adherents to wage jihad in European countries, the terrorist group issued a set of “sharia directives” in its al Naba newsletter telling attackers to “stay away from the land of the epidemic.”

ISIS also said terrorists should wash their hands regularly and “cover their mouths when yawning and sneezing.” The newsletter describes the COVID-19 virus as a “plague” and a “torment sent by God on whomsoever He wills.”

“Illnesses do not strike by themselves but by the command and decree of God,” the directive read. ISIS also told followers who are already in Europe to stay put and not travel back to the Middle East.

The “healthy should not enter the land of the epidemic and the afflicted should not exit from it,” it said.

There are already more than 100 cases of the coronavirus in Iraq. In Syria, which once composed the bulk of ISIS’s territorial caliphate, dictator Bashar Assad said there are no cases, although that claim has been disputed. One Syrian doctor said the virus has reached the country, but the government forced him to recant the statement after the doctor was arrested by the regime.

Syria’s closest ally, Iran, has been one of the worst-hit countries. The Iranian regime claims there have been at least 12,729 cases and 611 deaths, although academics have said that number is not realistic. The National Council of Resistance of Iran, a dissident group working to overthrow the regime, said on Saturday that more than 4,000 people in 166 cities have died as a result of the outbreak.

The World Health Organization recently declared the outbreak a pandemic.

As of Sunday morning, at least 2,759 people have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus, and 59 people have died from the pandemic in the United States, according to the New York Times. Worldwide, there are 155,000 cases and almost 6,000 deaths.

https://www.washingtonexaminer...coronavirus-outbreak

quote:

Originally posted by Expat:

quote:

Originally posted by sigspecops:
So, what's gonna happen to all of the restaurant employees that don't get paid for a week or more? Are rent, utilities, car payments and credit card payments suspended for the time everyone can't work? I haven't heard that, so I guess everyone is sol when they're credit is ruined and the repo man comes calling. This is utter madness. You didn't get the virus, awesome! But now your living on the street without a job.

From my chair, that is life. The alternative, as far as I'm concerned is worse.

Agreed - it sucks, but that is fucking life. Sometimes you get the bear, sometimes it gets you. Be resilient and band together with your family / friends. Maybe this will have the unintended consequence of teaching people that living paycheck to paycheck isn't a way to go through life.

CA governor Gavin Newsom is so far doing an excellent job, IMO, in navigating between excessive orders and a laisser-faire response.
He is recommending that seniors and those with chronic diseases isolate themselves; recommending that restaurants increase “social distancing” by decreasing seating capacity.
He has said very publicly that Trump is giving him everything he asked for and follows through on everything, with a long and fruitful phone conversation between him and Trump.
I am very pleasantly surprised so far.

https://theconservativetreehou...-spaces/#more-186523

deBlasio

Effective tomorrow, March 16, New York City schools will close.

“Tomorrow, I will sign an Executive Order limiting restaurants, bars and cafes to food take-out and delivery. Nightclubs, movie theaters, small theater houses, and concert venues must all close. The order will go into effect Tuesday, March 17 at 9:00 AM.”

Got some observations from the EMS side in L.A. ER walk in traffic is way down, 911 volume is about normal to maybe below normal- it is a Sunday. I was at Holy Cross in the Valley this afternoon and Ive never seen the waiting room that empty...ever. Its always at least half full, I saw 3 people inside. Maybe thats a good sign that people are taking advice seriously and not flooding the ERs for flu/cold symptoms. They have a Covid-19 triage area set up outside in a tent. One of the RNs I spoke to said they had a few people come in saying they have very sick relatives at home and now they have symptoms, so they wanted testing. I also saw an entire hispanic family show up to the ER because one relative was sick. I counted 4 adults and 4 kids all together- probably the dumbest thing Ive seen today. Great idea, bring the whole family to the ER like its a fucking picnic .
The mayor of LA just issued an order closing all bars/clubs, restaurants , gyms and public venues like theaters. Take out/drive through only for food. LA county hasnt make that declaration yet but Im sure its coming.