quote:

Originally posted by sdy:
some businesses have seen as much as an 85% reduction in revenue

Down 85% reminded me of this article about Seattle from yesterday. Tip of the iceberg. The economic toll hasn't started to be felt. It'll be long term and potentially fatal for some cities.

The article states- "The Downtown Seattle Association estimates that 70 percent of downtown’s 343,000 workers have the ability to work virtually, meaning companies also have the ability to move the jobs somewhere else."

quote:

Seattle businesses ask City Council to stop the payroll tax

"Business is down 85 percent"
"His boutique joins a massive list of about 100 downtown restaurants, stores, gyms and businesses that have closed since the pandemic "
https://komonews.com/news/loca...stop-the-payroll-tax

Well, it seems that the 9-11 Lighting Ceremony is back on now. PUSHBACK !

https://www.wdrb.com/news/nati...07I4-MPHBEfdkZkCD3QQ

NEW YORK (AP) — The annual light display honoring victims of 9/11 is back on, officials announced Saturday, saying New York health officials will supervise this year's tribute to ensure workers' safety amid concerns related to the coronavirus pandemic.

“This year it is especially important that we all appreciate and commemorate 9/11, the lives lost and the heroism displayed ‎as New Yorkers are once again called upon to face a common enemy,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a statement.

The announcement came days after the National September 11 Memorial & Museum canceled the Tribute in Light over concerns the coronavirus might spread among crews creating twin columns of light to represent the World Trade Center in the Manhattan sky.

Alice Greenwald, president and CEO of the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, thanked former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, Cuomo and the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation “for their assistance in offsetting the increased costs associated with the health and safety considerations around the tribute this year."

“This year, its message of hope, endurance and resilience are more important than ever,” Greenwald said in a statement.

The Tunnel to Towers Foundation recently decided to hold an alternative 9/11 Never Forget ceremony after the National September 11 Memorial & Museum announced family members won’t read the names of the nearly 3,000 victims this year because of the pandemic.

The foundation’s tribute will be held just south of the memorial plaza and relatives will read the victims’ names, with mask-wearing enforced and podiums being sanitized after each speaker.

quote:

Retail chains and restaurants have abandoned an “unsustainable” New York City

That city is dead. No tourism, people have figured out they don't need office space, retail was already dying pre-COVID, and restaurants can't serve food.

If there was a way to short NYC real estate I would. That place is the next Detroit.

Try as I might I can’t really feel sorry for anything bad that happens to NYC.

They’re getting what they voted for and refused year after year to do anything about.

They voted for AOC.

Yep, hard to feel sorry for them.

Some thoughts on Covid-19.

My town is going through a pretty significant Covid-19 outbreak right now and I would like to share my observations and thoughts regarding this disease and its spread.

First, a little background. Hartford is a small town of about 2500 located in rural Geneva County, Alabama. We were pretty much untouched for the first half of this year. When the governor shut down all “non-essential” business it pissed off a lot of us, myself included. A lot of people were concerned about Covid-19 but most people were more concerned about the disruption of their day-to-day life than a disease that seemed to be more of a problem for big cities like NYC than rural Alabama.

We how have a lot of people who either have had or currently have Covid-19. I can name at least 100 people who have had it, I suspect that is an undercount. Most of the infections can be traced to a single event held about 4 weeks ago. Our municipal elections are being held next week and the local Chamber of Commerce hosted a meet and greet for anyone wanting to talk to the folks running for office. About 50 people were at the event, only 4 of which are reported to have worn face masks.

It appears that 2 people were contagious and spreading the virus (they showed symptoms and tested positive within 2 days). Other attendees started getting sick about 7-10 days later, with a second wave about a week after that. We are now seeing 3rd/4th wave infections.

Some of the people infected include my uncle and aunt, my brother in law and his youngest son, and several close friends. Most seem to be moderately sick, about like having a good case of the flu for about 10 days or so. Some are only sick for 5-7 days, some a lot longer. Everyone who shows symptoms reports loss of smell/taste, body aches, fever, and headache. Some really are not affected that much, my uncle was working on his classic car (70’s Trans-Am) after about 3 days. I know of one person who showed no symptoms but tested positive when he went to the ER for kidney stones (I do believe he really had it, his wife started showing symptoms the next day).

Four people have been hospitalized. All male, 2 in their 70’s, 1 in his 60’s, and 1 in his late 40’s. The guy in his 40’s had a bout with Lyme’s disease about 10-12 years ago, the two in their 70’s had some underlying health issues, I am not sure about the guy in his 60’s. The two men in their 70’s and the guy in his 40’s all eventually were placed into ICU. The guy in his 40’s spent 2-3 days in ICU, then another 2 days or so in a regular Covid-19 room before being released. The guy in his 60’s just went into the hospital yesterday, no ICU as of now. The guy in his younger 70’s is still in ICU. Unfortunately, the man in his late 70’s passed away yesterday.

Some final thoughts. This disease spreads easily in small confined spaces with extended close contact such as church, social events, people working closely in an office. If you have brief contact from a distance or outside it has a much harder time spreading. If you are 60+ or have other health issues, especially if you are 60+ and have other health issues be very careful. I do not think this thing is the end of the world. I don’t think we need to shut down our economy for it. I do think most of us will eventually be exposed to it. I think most will recover and be fine.

This post was not intended to be political or make anyone mad, I just wanted to share what I have seen. Post any questions you have and I will answer to the best of my ability.

Update: I just found out that the other gentleman who was in ICU is now in a regular Covid-19 room.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Herkdriver,

^Great post, thank you.

I know 3 families that have had it; 14 people. Ages from 10 to 45 or so. The youngest people had the easiest time, the oldest the worst. Two of the dads and one of the moms were hospitalized for a few days each. Most have completely rocevered, some more slowly, and one is still feeling lethargic. I haven't asked where they think they got it from.

My two youngest start school tomorrow.

long article

NYC IS DEAD FOREVER. HERE'S WHY

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse...s-why-james-altucher

"But NYC always always bounces back." No. Not this time. "But NYC is the center of the financial universe. Opportunities will flourish here again." Not this time.

"NYC has experienced worse". No it hasn't.

Midtown Manhattan, the center of business in NYC, is empty. Even though people can go back to work, famous office buildings like the Time Life skyscraper is still 90% empty. Businesses realized that they don't need their employees at the office.

In fact, they realize they are even more productive without everyone back to the office. The Time Life building can handle 8,000 workers. Now it maybe has 500 workers back.

Another friend of mine works at a major investment bank as a managing director. Before the pandemic he was at the office every day, sometimes working from 6am to 10pm.

Now he lives in Phoenix, Arizona. "As of June," he told me, "I had never even been to Phoenix." And then he moved there. He does all his meetings on Zoom.

But this time it's different.

One reason: bandwidth.

In 2008, average bandwidth speeds were 3 megabits per second. That's not enough for a Zoom meeting with reliable video quality. Now, it's over 20 megabits per second. That's more than enough for high quality video.

There's a before and after. BEFORE: no remote work. AFTER: everyone can remote work.

The difference: bandwidth got faster. And that's basically it. People have left New York City and have moved completely into virtual worlds. The Time Life building doesn't need to fill up again. Wall Street can now stretch across every street instead of just being one building in Manhattan.

We are officially AB: "After Bandwidth". And for the entire history of NYC (the world) until now we were BB: Before Bandwidth.

Remote learning, remote meetings, remote offices, remote performance, remote everything.

That's what is different.

OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 7:09 AM PT – Monday, August 17, 2020
Yale University researchers may have changed the coronavirus testing game with a new method solely based on a person’s saliva.

The FDA recently issued emergency authorization for Yale’s SalivaDirect method, which was developed in their School of Public Health. The new method attempts to provide a less expensive, less invasive and simpler way to test.

“The results that we were seeing seeing for the saliva examples were even in some cases better than what we we’re seeing in nasopharyngeal. These were COVID-confirmed patients that we were initially testing, so they should have been testing positive for SARS-CoV-2.”

— Anne Wyllie, PhD, Associate Research Associate of Epidemiology – Yale School of Medicine

SalivaDirect testing became popular with its effectiveness in diagnosing asymptomatic NBA staffers and players. Researchers found the testing produced similar results to nasal swab tests, but came in less than three-hours.

They also found saliva samples can remain stable in prolonged periods of time in warmer areas. On top of that, the samples are flexible enough to produce similar results with different chemical compounds.

“And overall it’s faster, so it can really be scaled up so more tests can be done and that is really gonna help to, you know, ramp up testing,” explained Dr. Chantal Vogels, Postdoctoral Fellow at the Yale School of Public Health. “It’s gonna be more scalable, it’s gonna be more accessible and we’re just really exited about that.”

Researchers don’t intend on commercializing their tests, which are estimated to cost around $10 per test. They hope their new method can be used to help struggling communities worldwide.

https://www.oann.com/?p=2211739

quote:

Originally posted by sdy:
...
We are officially AB: "After Bandwidth". And for the entire history of NYC (the world) until now we were BB: Before Bandwidth.
...
That's what is different.

This is one of the things that pleasantly surprised me. I expected that after quarantines started, and after everyone started working remotely, that the internet would be brought to its knees. I didn't notice any of that happening. Apparently, the telecoms have been building enough infrastructure to keep up with it.

quote:

Originally posted by IntrepidTraveler:

quote:

Originally posted by sdy:
...
We are officially AB: "After Bandwidth". And for the entire history of NYC (the world) until now we were BB: Before Bandwidth.
...
That's what is different.

This is one of the things that pleasantly surprised me. I expected that after quarantines started, and after everyone started working remotely, that the internet would be brought to its knees. I didn't notice any of that happening. Apparently, the telecoms have been building enough infrastructure to keep up with it.

My daughter is employed by a Internet travel business. Back in March, they closed her office and sent everyone home. While given the option to sit and still get paid, the teams started working remotely.( It’s a company that values its staff and they return it.)While travel is down, she’s been told they will be remote until at least January. They meetings are by Zoom And pretty relaxed. At one meeting the manager started off by asking if everyone was wearing pants! She’s had some serious discussions about this being permanent. There would still need to be a physical location to train newcomers, and then when someone gets a promotion. However she loves it as there’s no Seattle commute.

Another result of remote employment would be the loss of fuel taxes. No commuting.
So they will have figure another way to tax us!

Our IT dept has been working remote for about six months without skipping a beat. Our office lease is up for renewal in November. I'll be shocked it gets renewed.

US call centers for Comcast are closed through the end of the calendar year, and employees are working from home until further notice. Normally only a small fraction of CC staff work from home.

(I have friends in management there.)

The success of telecommuting during COVID-19 is going to change how private and the public sectors conduct business.

quote:

Originally posted by BB61:
The success of telecommuting during COVID-19 is going to change how private and the public sectors conduct business.

Very true, HQ office were big and beautiful to show success now many companies are realizing that overhead is not needed.

Our country's leftist city leaders, in an attempt to destroy this President, have instead likely destroyed themselves irreparably for the foreseeable future.

Like Captain Tupilev arrogantly firing his torpedoes at Marko Ramius with the safeties removed, the democrats hatred of Trump doesn't allow them to see past their own misguided ambitions, and it just circles back and destroys them instead.

quote:

Originally posted by sdy:
long article

NYC IS DEAD FOREVER. HERE'S WHY

Rush for days has been talking about why these cities aren't coming back.

And, they will be blaming Trump, and begging for bailouts, when in fact it's their governors and mayors that caused it.

Hey, I've got an idea - let's put the people with covid in nursing homes.

Make lefties heads go boom like Scanners... Ask fun questions.


Since we have to have total mail in voting because of the ‘Rona, what other civil rights should be permitted via mail?

Can we get guns via mail order again? Why should our citizens be forced to brave illness and death in order to purchase their 2nd Amendment guaranteed arms?”


https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/

This concept that big cities are going to feel some significant, and permanent, long term negative impact because of COVID-19 sort of caught me by surprise.

After reading about NYC, here is an article about San Francisco:

https://hotair.com/archives/ja...scape-san-francisco/

There is an exodus out of San Francisco, and the numbers are staggering.

Online real estate company Zillow released new statistics shining a stark light on the issue this week. Their “2020 Urban-Suburban Market Report” reveals that inventory has risen a whopping 96% year-on-year, as empty homes in the city flood the market like nowhere else in America.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The exodus was triggered by COVID-19 but there has been a growing level of unhappiness in big cities because DEMs have let the cities become almost lawless.

Thugs reign as militant occupiers and they are allowed to go unpunished. This discussion of big cities would be equally at home in the "Riots in America ..." thread.

The transformation our country will undergo could be staggering. I don't know how things will look 10 years from now, but I am feeling we will see change that will present an astounding number of challenges and opportunities. Perhaps we are like those people on the beach gazing at the horizon and not realizing the Tsunami is heading to shore.

Every dark cloud has a silver lining. The idea that this overblown virus bullshit and the associated leftist policies will devastate these filthy anthill major cities is a beautiful thought.