Author Topic: Corona Virus  (Read 7813 times)

Offline Peter B

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Re: Corona Virus
« Reply #15 on: March 25, 2020, 04:49:39 AM »
What is happening with the US Senate? Is there pork-barreling? Is it one side or both? I'm a Trump hater but you guys have to get this money flowing to save jobs, and to save lives.

Per WaPo, they're close to finalizing a $2 tn relief package.  The initial bill failed since it gave Mnuchin carte blanche to issue something like $500 bn in loans without any oversight.  There were similarly looty provisions that are being modified. 

Of course, now Trump wants everyone back to work and in restaurants and hotels (his hotels, anyway) by Easter, which ... sure, why not, what could possibly go wrong with that plan?

Yes, the current lockdown is bad for economic growth.  So's 80% of the workforce being sick all at the same time.  It ain't gonna be beer and skittles either way.  You want to talk about supply chain problems, what happens when half your factory is on its back?  How about your long-haul truckers and pilots?  Not to mention hospitals and insurance providers blowing up left and right.

According to this article (https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-25/coronavirus-update-australia-covid19-olympics-usa-india-lockdown/12086878) Trump would like packed churches for Easter.

Quote
"Wouldn't it be great to have all of the churches full," Mr Trump said in a subsequent interview. "You'll have packed churches all over our country."

Okay, apparently Trump hates Christians...!

Offline Peter B

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Re: Corona Virus
« Reply #16 on: March 25, 2020, 06:13:12 AM »
And this article suggests a worrying time for the UK: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-25/boris-johnson-changes-his-stance-on-uk-coronavirus-outbreak/12086234

Quote
Asked by a reporter when police would begin enforcement of social distancing, Johnson spluttered in faux outrage: "The police?"

Obviously it'd be silly if all they did to enforce social distancing was to sing "Don't stand so close to me."

Offline gillianren

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Re: Corona Virus
« Reply #17 on: March 25, 2020, 10:25:55 AM »
I'm in the same boat, due to move on Saturday had already transferred all broadband and phone services to the new property (due to complete on Sunday). Have also closed my office and we are working from home. Now yesterday we are in total lockdown. Can I move? Will my internet services be transferred? 50% of my house has been transferred already, including freezer food and household products. No answers from anyone. 

I contacted the person I thought was most likely to know--our realtor.  She says that they've worked things out so that people in the process of closing can finish closing on houses without actually having to come in contact with anyone--even she can't get together with us and will have to hide our key on the property and let us know where it is by phone.  As for moving, what worries me is things like my big bookcase, which I'm pretty sure doesn't even fit in my van.  It'll take time, but we can do all of it other than a few pieces of furniture ourselves, but I don't know what we're going to do about the few big pieces of furniture.  From what I can tell, as long as we don't stop anywhere (other than to get gas or groceries), we can go between our apartment and the house.  We're going to be figuring out utilities probably Friday, then getting keys Monday.
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Offline jfb

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Re: Corona Virus
« Reply #18 on: March 25, 2020, 10:33:26 AM »
What is happening with the US Senate? Is there pork-barreling? Is it one side or both? I'm a Trump hater but you guys have to get this money flowing to save jobs, and to save lives.

Per WaPo, they're close to finalizing a $2 tn relief package.  The initial bill failed since it gave Mnuchin carte blanche to issue something like $500 bn in loans without any oversight.  There were similarly looty provisions that are being modified. 

Of course, now Trump wants everyone back to work and in restaurants and hotels (his hotels, anyway) by Easter, which ... sure, why not, what could possibly go wrong with that plan?

Yes, the current lockdown is bad for economic growth.  So's 80% of the workforce being sick all at the same time.  It ain't gonna be beer and skittles either way.  You want to talk about supply chain problems, what happens when half your factory is on its back?  How about your long-haul truckers and pilots?  Not to mention hospitals and insurance providers blowing up left and right.

According to this article (https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-25/coronavirus-update-australia-covid19-olympics-usa-india-lockdown/12086878) Trump would like packed churches for Easter.

Quote
"Wouldn't it be great to have all of the churches full," Mr Trump said in a subsequent interview. "You'll have packed churches all over our country."

Okay, apparently Trump hates Christians...!

There's a Twitter hashtag #ETTD - Everything Trump Touches Dies.  It's about to become literal

But again, Trump isn't the problem, all the people enabling and defending him are the problem.  People like McConnell and Cornyn and Paul and Barr and Nunes and our own Light Governor Patrick all have a choice to not pretend that Trump is a medieval petty noble and they are his vassals, and they should be made to feel the consequences of that choice. 

Then you have Prothero Hannity and the rest of the FOX "News" crew encouraging virtual suicide among its primary demographic, which is somehow winning, I guess. 

Offline molesworth

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Re: Corona Virus
« Reply #19 on: March 25, 2020, 08:04:07 PM »
Quote
Asked by a reporter when police would begin enforcement of social distancing, Johnson spluttered in faux outrage: "The police?"

Obviously it'd be silly if all they did to enforce social distancing was to sing "Don't stand so close to me."
Well, it might work - apparently explaining the risks to people doesn't seem to get the message across.  (Although, having said that, it does look like it's starting to take effect.)

My place is on a work-from-home basis now, apart from a couple of production guys getting stuff shipped out.  Judging by the drop in emails a lot of our customers are scaling back too.  I'm not sure how this is going to affect launch schedules, especially the imminent ones, but I guess a few folks will still be trying to get things ready on time.
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Offline gillianren

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Re: Corona Virus
« Reply #20 on: March 26, 2020, 11:01:11 AM »
Our apartment complex has someone trying to organize a rent strike, which . . . makes me wish we hadn't already paid our rent.  Still, it's our last rent.  Graham and I were talking over logistics of the move last night, and the thing I have to do today is look into whether Washington State considers U-Haul rental an essential service.  I kind of wonder if they'd let him borrow one of the trucks he uses for appliance delivery at work.
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Offline JayUtah

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Re: Corona Virus
« Reply #21 on: March 26, 2020, 12:32:17 PM »
So far my tenants don't need a rent deferral, but it's available to them for asking and they know this.

Sadly our last drive-in cinema in the county closed many years ago.  It hasn't been torn down yet, so I wonder what it would take to get it recommissioned.

As far as packed churches, all those in our state have closed their doors.  But there was the one incident earlier in the week were large crowds gathered at the airport to welcome Mormon missionaries who had been brought back on chartered flights -- all this in defiance of both government orders and church edicts.  This caused a big stink in our local media, rightly so.  It is exactly the kind of thing we're supposed to be avoiding.

Luckily I can do a great deal of my work from home.  I've had a home office set up for many years.  We're also an essential service, but not all our customers are.  But I have incredibly talented business people, including our H.R. director who sent out the list of instructions for safe work practices.  Number one on the list was, "Report all zombies to your supervisor."  It really helped lighten the mood.
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Offline raven

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Re: Corona Virus
« Reply #22 on: March 26, 2020, 03:30:27 PM »
They're the ones buying up  all the TP for a disease that doesn't include gastrointestinal distress in its symptoms.

Offline MBDK

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Re: Corona Virus
« Reply #23 on: March 27, 2020, 08:11:20 AM »
"Report all zombies to your supervisor."
Please don't turn me in.  I promise I will eat your brain last.   :-X
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Offline Peter B

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Re: Corona Virus
« Reply #24 on: March 27, 2020, 09:49:06 AM »
I said good bye to a few work colleagues this afternoon. From next Monday our team is split in two, one half working from home and the other half in the office, rotating on a weekly basis.

We have no idea how long this will go on, potentially for a few months. So it's likely to be that long before we see each other again, except perhaps on a computer screen.

It's a bit of a shame, as there's a pretty good rapport between us, with respect for each others' knowledge, and plenty of good-natured ribbing about topics such as football teams, cars and raising families (and lately, sharing of Covid-19 memes).

The big downside is how shambolically the whole thing was organised. We knew that work-from-home was coming, and assumed we'd have enough warning that we'd have time to do things like discuss procedures, digitise paper forms, warn staff and negotiate which half of the team we'd be on. Instead, it started with a work-from-home roster being sent out with no notice and with no negotiation allowed, and ended with managers showing no realisation that working from home is going to be a much less efficient way of working.

Offline gillianren

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Re: Corona Virus
« Reply #25 on: March 27, 2020, 10:29:32 AM »
So far my tenants don't need a rent deferral, but it's available to them for asking and they know this.

Yeah, whereas we know for a fact that it isn't, here.  We got very pointed notices posted the other day about how rent was due on the first as always, he still wouldn't take cash, and there's no one in the office to negotiate with even if the manager were allowed to negotiate. 
"This sounds like a job for Bipolar Bear . . . but I just can't seem to get out of bed!"

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Offline LionKing

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Re: Corona Virus
« Reply #26 on: March 27, 2020, 02:13:09 PM »
Just saw videos of thefts of malls in usa. How can this be allowed??
“When you go through a hard period,
When everything seems to oppose you,
... When you feel you cannot even bear one more minute,
NEVER GIVE UP!
Because it is the time and place that the course will divert!”
 Rumi

Offline jfb

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Re: Corona Virus
« Reply #27 on: March 27, 2020, 03:44:15 PM »
Just saw videos of thefts of malls in usa. How can this be allowed??

I originally read that as "theft of mail", to which I thought "that's brave" - you generally don't mess with postal inspectors, they take their job seriously.

As for theft of malls...

My theory is that most Americans have not experienced a real crisis (health or otherwise), something that has a real effect on our daily lives, in living memory.  I think the last health crisis that had a real impact across the country was polio, when parents wouldn't let their kids out of the house for weeks or months at at time.  But thanks to Jonas Salk, that's not an issue anymore.  Since then, we've never had to really inconvenience ourselves on a large scale.  We've been at war for almost 20 years now, but you wouldn't know it.  Hell, we were told explicitly not to let the fact that we were at war interfere with shopping. 

So the idea that there's a crisis we can't shop our way out of has people a little freaked.  We just have no cultural basis anymore to act towards the common good by moderating our usual gluttony, and that's just inconceivable - it's the end of the goddamned world as we know it. 

We've become an infantile, self-obsessed, self-centered culture, and we put people just like us in charge. 

So yeah, at times like this, we start looting. 

Offline LionKing

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Re: Corona Virus
« Reply #28 on: March 29, 2020, 06:56:34 AM »
The role of the police should be emphasied in this critical time. People will not expected to follow regulations, including staying at home for their own sake.
“When you go through a hard period,
When everything seems to oppose you,
... When you feel you cannot even bear one more minute,
NEVER GIVE UP!
Because it is the time and place that the course will divert!”
 Rumi

Offline gillianren

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Re: Corona Virus
« Reply #29 on: March 29, 2020, 11:58:39 AM »
I'm wary of emphasizing the role of police until we have proper oversight of them and they can be trusted not to kill innocent people.
"This sounds like a job for Bipolar Bear . . . but I just can't seem to get out of bed!"

"Conspiracy theories are an irresistible labour-saving device in the face of complexity."  --Henry Louis Gates