We talked about pulling out some cash, it's just sitting there not earning anything, how's that different from sitting in the house not doing anything? Not sure I'm going to bother with it, if we are to the point of infrastructure collapse, cash is just paper, guess we could use it as TP though.

Reading this thread reminds me of the fire drill episode of “The Office”.

“ Oh my God, now the fire is shooting at us”

The virus is going to take out the power grid?

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
We talked about pulling out some cash, it's just sitting there not earning anything, how's that different from sitting in the house not doing anything? Not sure I'm going to bother with it, if we are to the point of infrastructure collapse, cash is just paper, guess we could use it as TP though.

I like to keep about $500 in cash or so in my safe.....along with some silver coins and a couple prepaid credit cards ($200 on each).

Well, there is a big asteroid coming too. But it's gonna miss. Maybe.

quote:

Originally posted by jljones:
The virus is going to take out the power grid?

The concern, possibly more than a bit over-blown, is the virus may put so many people out-of-commission power delivery may become unreliable.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

quote:

Originally posted by jljones:
The virus is going to take out the power grid?

The concern, possibly more than a bit over-blown, is the virus may put so many people out-of-commission power delivery may become unreliable.

Oh for Pete’s sake.

A virus, that has infected a fraction of one percent of the US population in a MONTH’S time is going to take out enough employees of any given power company to take the grid down.

Got it.

^^^^
The power industry is almost all automated. They have redundant systems.

Being in the target zone for this, age almost 70 & have a chronic lung condition. I have been more keen lately on washing my hands and watching where I put them. I also this year got the flu shot and the first of two Pneumonia inoculation injections. So come on Corona or whatever is up next I'm as ready as can be!
Ps And I have adequate supplies "as always".

I had a rather anti-gun acquaintance of mine down the road teasing me because I wasn't stocking up on "necessities" yet. "There's a good chance I'll be lucky enough to be able to wipe my ass if toilet paper is scarce" to which I replied that assuming we both were healthy that if we play the game "Rock, toilet paper, guns and ammo" that my guns and ammo would trump him every time.

He didn't seem to find that as humorous as I did.

Well, it's in my county now.

All our administrators have been working on these "C-19 taskforces". All the local schools are on the verge of going ballistic.

We've already been told to make plans for shutting down for 2 weeks on a moment's notice. I shit you not, they told us to pack "go bags" of our essential resources so we could work from home. To hear your typical white liberal academic use the term "go bag" was...extraordinary.

They're telling us to help calm the kids down, but at the same time walk them through the online resources we're going to use for remote classes. A balancing act easier said than done with teenagers.

I am not looking forward to having to do 2 weeks of video conference classes with kids from my house.

I fear it's only a matter of time, too. They just cancelled all the international trips that were coming up during spring break in a few weeks, as well as a major lacrosse tournament and some other stuff. Our Chinese international students are forbidden from going home for break.

Sigh. At least I got a big pack of TP last week, because the local stores are all out.

quote:

Originally posted by jljones:
A virus, that has infected a fraction of one percent of the US population in a MONTH’S time is going to take out enough employees of any given power company to take the grid down.

Got it.

To be fair, infection rates can grow exponentially.

If everyone infects two people a week after they get sick, then from one initial infection, you have 1000 people that have gotten sick after 10 weeks, 1 million people that have gotten sick after 20 weeks, and 1 billion people that have gotten sick after 30 weeks.

Of course, that's a huge oversimplification and ignores a lot of factors, but in general outline, that sort of thing CAN happen.

I'm more concerned with the chicken heart, I stocked up on lots of jello.

quote:

Originally posted by sigmonkey:
I'm more concerned with the chicken heart, I stocked up on lots of jello.

Now that's going old school

A little perspective. It is 1950 but pretty accurate as to the fears and hype. Actually a pretty good film noir:

Was out to Sam's Club in Erie, PA this afternoon and everything was as normal as usual.

From a news report I didn't bother linking to because everything they mentioned has already showed up here...except for this little gem-

"And Starbucks on Friday night reported that one of its employees in downtown Seattle had tested positive."

So the macchiato's were coming with something extra?

quote:

Originally posted by jljones:
A virus, that has infected a fraction of one percent of the US population in a MONTH’S time is going to take out enough employees of any given power company to take the grid down.

Got it.

Yeah, I would not be looking to get cash out or buy metals or do other “prepping” because of this virus. Of course, I believe in having some cash on hand, having some food, water, and supplies on hand in general just in case. This virus doesn’t seem like any reason to change defcon level.

2 got infected in my county today (Broward County,FL) I'm going out to Benihana's for dinner, sitting elbow to elbow with strangers and breathing food fumes.....hehehehe

Well, this is about 30mi from my house, and there are three cases in Montgomery county which as the crow flies is 7 miles from my house (25 in a car).

ACU says CPAC attendee tested positive for coronavirus