Coronavirus

[Cygnia]

All Ohio bars, restaurants to close 9 p.m. Sunday due to coronavirus - carryout still allowed: Gov. Mike DeWine’s Sunday briefing

[mattingly]

Tacky. 

 

Macabre.

 

Too soon.

 

But I still chuckled.

 

[Cygnia]

Coronavirus incubation could be as long as 27 days, Chinese provincial government says

[Old Man]

1 hour ago, Pariah said:

 

If you find that you're suffering from a fever, you should probably get yourself to a health care professional.

 

As I understand it, the ideal course of action is to call the clinic or whoever before you show up and tell them you're coming in with coronavirus.  Depending on the locale, they may take special precautions before you show up, conduct testing in the car, or gun you down before you get too close.  Well not the last one. 

[unclevlad]

4 hours ago, Michael Hopcroft said:

Gamestorm being cancelled worries me. They're a fan-run con without the resources the big conventions have. Their survival is at stake here.

 

It's not just small groups.  The major arts outfits quite often barely turn a profit.  Story in the NY Times about the Met, among a couple others.  

 

It is IMO inevitable that there will be a very substantial number of businesses and events that will disappear.  And yes, it's gonna bite when ones we like go under.  One of the scarier aspects of this will be the increasing pressure to go back to normal, lift restrictions, etc. prematurely.  Another will be from the disaffection and sheer BOREDOM from those who've lost jobs or just have nothing to do.

[unclevlad]

13 minutes ago, Old Man said:

 

 conduct testing in the car, or gun you down before you get too close.  Well not the last one. 

 

Yet.

 

Nah.  That's not likely.  I could see isolated rural areas trying to put up roadblocks.....with guns to enforce them.

[Badger]

20 minutes ago, Old Man said:

 

As I understand it, the ideal course of action is to call the clinic or whoever before you show up and tell them you're coming in with coronavirus.  Depending on the locale, they may take special precautions before you show up, conduct testing in the car, or gun you down before you get too close.  Well not the last one. 

 

I'd expect the last one around here, due to lack of funding and the fact the local spell Pandemic as dem(that)Panic

[Cygnia]

Coronavirus: Pubs asked to close by Irish government

[Spence]

So they have closed all the schools in the state.  Closing schools in an attempt to mitigate the spread of the virus, check.

But then the local school district announced they will be serving free meals to students every weekday 10:30 am-12:30 pm.

 

Kind of defeating the purpose I think 

 

 

[Cygnia]

Unfortunately, for some families, the schools are the only source for a meal for their kids.

[Scott Ruggels]

36 minutes ago, unclevlad said:

 

It's not just small groups.  The major arts outfits quite often barely turn a profit.  Story in the NY Times about the Met, among a couple others.  

 

You mean like Disney?  Disney was already heavily in debt due to the Acquisition of  20th Century Fox.  This is the debt burden that forced the board to boot out Bob Eiger.  Now all the parks are closed, worldwide. All cruises are Cancelled. All movie releases are suspended.  Their operating expenses, even if they furlough a lot of their "cast members", are immense.  At some point they are going to start divesting properties, and trimming of poor performing divisions. I think we will see a very different Disney on the other side of this.

 

[Old Man]

Disney's not the only one.  Many companies that executed stock buybacks in the past few years are too heavily leveraged.  It's one of the recession indicators that was flashing red even before the virus popped up.  We have a massive drop in consumer demand, an oil price war, two months of no manufacturing in China, and a possible seven digit death toll on the horizon.  Tomorrow will be another interesting day on Wall Street.

[Spence]

52 minutes ago, Cygnia said:

Unfortunately, for some families, the schools are the only source for a meal for their kids.

 

Hard truths.

Dispensing bag lunches/meals curbside would make more sense.   

Maybe more to distribute meal packs to take home, MRE's etc. 

But I don't know their logistical limitations right now. 

 

[Tom]

2 minutes ago, Spence said:

 

Hard truths.

Dispensing bag lunches/meals curbside would make more sense.   

Maybe more to distribute meal packs to take home, MRE's etc. 

But I don't know their logistical limitations right now. 

 

 

I've read at least one article where "grab 'n go" was the plan...

 

The Ohio restaurant/bar closures are only for 'dine in' - you can still order carry out (for the locations which provide that option).

[Spence]

4 minutes ago, Tom said:

 

I've read at least one article where "grab 'n go" was the plan...

 

The Ohio restaurant/bar closures are only for 'dine in' - you can still order carry out (for the locations which provide that option).

 

Good to hear.

Mind you, I still think that everyone is going far overboard in their panic mode.

But if you are going to do something such as quarantines and minimizing contact, then you should actually do it.

Half measures are worse than no measures. 

[Old Man]

1 hour ago, Old Man said:

Disney's not the only one.  Many companies that executed stock buybacks in the past few years are too heavily leveraged.  It's one of the recession indicators that was flashing red even before the virus popped up.  We have a massive drop in consumer demand, an oil price war, two months of no manufacturing in China, and a possible seven digit death toll on the horizon.  Tomorrow will be another interesting day on Wall Street.

Speaking of which, the Fed has dropped interest rates to zero, will spend another $700B to buy troubled assets, and market futures indicate a 900 point drop at tomorrow’s opening bell. 

[unclevlad]

1 hour ago, Scott Ruggels said:

 

You mean like Disney?  Disney was already heavily in debt due to the Acquisition of  20th Century Fox.  This is the debt burden that forced the board to boot out Bob Eiger.  Now all the parks are closed, worldwide. All cruises are Cancelled. All movie releases are suspended.  Their operating expenses, even if they furlough a lot of their "cast members", are immense.  At some point they are going to start divesting properties, and trimming of poor performing divisions. I think we will see a very different Disney on the other side of this.

 

 

Not Disney per se.  They're complex, but they will certainly be hurting.  Orchestras.  Ballets.  Theater groups.  The Times article mentioned another opera company that planned to do a complete Ring Cycle.  Complete...that's 17 HOURS over probably a week.  It's very rarely done because it's simply so HUGE.  Been in the works for years and now.........  Thing is, a great deal of the funding comes from private contributions...and those will drastically shrink in a bear market and likely recession.  They won't recover that fast either.  There are still some, probably mostly regional, circuses...but those probably count as small operations.  

 

For that matter, the venues will have issues;  they still have to pay rent, if nothing else, and they're clearly only going to be able to pay their people for a finite amount of time.  

[BoloOfEarth]

Did my normal bi-weekly grocery shopping Friday evening and yesterday morning.  Sam's Club (warehouse store) had many areas with either nothing at all or almost nothing there.  Not surprisingly, no toilet paper, but I was mildly surprised that I couldn't get any hamburger or chicken breasts there either.  Two weeks ago, I was supposed to hit Sam's Club but the only things I had on my list from there were TP (I estimated we had enough for another 3-4 weeks at that time) and eggs (which I can always get at my local grocery store), so I opted to not go then.  Silly me.

 

Regular grocery store was way busy at 8:30 am, also with numerous areas already completely or nearly completely cleaned out (TP and Kleenex, bread, spaghetti sauce, soup).  But I was still able to get everything on my shopping list except TP (and I picked up two 6-packs of TP today when the grocery store restocked, so the Great Toilet Paper Hunt of 2020 was ultimately successful).  Overall, not seeing huge reasons to panic-buy myself, and am mildly amused and ashamed at the antics of others.

 

Heck, if (more like when) coronavirus hits me, my wife, and/or our daughter living with us, I figure we can get by on what we have for 3-4 weeks without another trip to the store (as long as the power stays on and the freezer and stove are working, and water continues to flow from our taps).  I'm working from home now, and I suspect my daughter will soon be doing the same.  My wife, unfortunately, while mainly administrative is considered "essential personnel" at the hospital so she must continue going in for the duration (which is why I say "more like when").

 

I'm hoping and praying everybody stays safe and well, but mainly am hoping and praying for sanity and level-headed thinking for all (not just those in charge, though they're certainly high on my list, but also the general populace). 

 

The sarcastic, smart-a** side of me wonders how long it will be before China announces that victims of coronavirus are now turning into brain-eating zombies.  Y'know, just to round out everything.

[unclevlad]

42 minutes ago, Spence said:

 

Good to hear.

Mind you, I still think that everyone is going far overboard in their panic mode.

But if you are going to do something such as quarantines and minimizing contact, then you should actually do it.

Half measures are worse than no measures. 

 

You can't have a complete lockdown.  That's not even happening in Italy;  essential stores are still open, like grocery stores.  You also have to deal with public reaction.  The hammer blow we're feeling in the US is that...this bloody well feels like an Infinity Gauntlet finger snap.  Wednesay noon...normal-ish. at least in many places.  Wednesday night...20 foot waves crashing onshore.  Thursday noon...tidal wave hits.  It was that fast, that sudden, and that complete a change.  We couldn't, and still in many places, shouldn't go to a complete lockdown yet.  There are some serious consequences...shutting down public schools creates a BIG problem for kids who rely on that school lunch, and for working parents, for example.

 

The goal, BTW, isn't to stop new cases.  It's to keep the case load from spiking past the point where health care can deal with it.  That's when death rates start rising rather higher.  Plus, it offers more time for research for a vaccine or drug to take the virus out.  Because...figure.  With this many cases known, even if things quiet down as the weather warms...the risk of round 2, come November or December, is significant.

[unclevlad]

1 hour ago, Scott Ruggels said:

 

You mean like Disney?  Disney was already heavily in debt due to the Acquisition of  20th Century Fox.  

 

 

This is a point worth noting.  Companies with larger debt have bet on ongoing production.  If they can't produce, they're in deeeeep doodoo.  The debt service alone is going to be a massive problem.  And of course...a LOT of mergers and acquisitions have been leveraged buyouts like this.  There is likely to be some surprise bankruptcies or big bailouts that will shock us.

[Spence]

39 minutes ago, unclevlad said:

 

You can't have a complete lockdown.  --snip--

 

The goal, BTW, isn't to stop new cases.  It's to keep the case load from spiking past the point where health care can deal with it.  --snip--

 

Oh, I am aware.  The concept of containment is pretty much a non-starter at this point. 

I am just saying that closing the schools to minimize contact within the student body and then turn around and gather together that same student body doesn't really make sense.  At least to me with my very limited first hand knowledge. 

 

As I understand it, and it should be strongly noted that I am definitely not any kind of expert and can only go by what I have read and the applicable bits of training I have had over the years.  But as I understand it, while the virus is definitely dangerous and has caused deaths, the risk is heavily weighted to older ages and/or already having significant health issues.  

 

Most people I know who depend on school meals to aid providing their children meals are also the ones that work multiple jobs and lean heavily on their older family members to watch the kids while they are at work.  So this is essentially gathering one of the least at risk groups together increasing their chances of being infected so they in turn can infect one of the highest risk groups.  Perhaps instead of serving meals, they should issues MRE's once a week?

 

I fully understand that a "lock-down" is not really feasible and I don;t think that it is the right answer anyway.

 

But to be blunt, if you are going to open the school house everyday for meals, then just hold classes because the damage you were trying to prevent is being done anyway.  This is just causing a lot of hoopla for no real return. 

 

Unless the whole point to just to appear to be doing something.

[Badger]

1 hour ago, unclevlad said:

 

You can't have a complete lockdown.  That's not even happening in Italy;  essential stores are still open, like grocery stores.  You also have to deal with public reaction.  The hammer blow we're feeling in the US is that...this bloody well feels like an Infinity Gauntlet finger snap.  Wednesay noon...normal-ish. at least in many places.  Wednesday night...20 foot waves crashing onshore.  Thursday noon...tidal wave hits.  It was that fast, that sudden, and that complete a change.  We couldn't, and still in many places, shouldn't go to a complete lockdown yet.  There are some serious consequences...shutting down public schools creates a BIG problem for kids who rely on that school lunch, and for working parents, for example.

 

The goal, BTW, isn't to stop new cases.  It's to keep the case load from spiking past the point where health care can deal with it.  That's when death rates start rising rather higher.  Plus, it offers more time for research for a vaccine or drug to take the virus out.  Because...figure.  With this many cases known, even if things quiet down as the weather warms...the risk of round 2, come November or December, is significant.

 

 

I am considering calling it the Gobert-calypse.   

 

"This is gonna pass"

 

*NBA player Rudy Gobert has tested positive*

 

"Sh** just got real AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

 

 

[Pattern Ghost]

39 minutes ago, Spence said:

Perhaps instead of serving meals, they should issues MRE's once a week?

 

MREs aren't really suited for that, but I agree with the gist of this idea.

 

43 minutes ago, Spence said:

.  So this is essentially gathering one of the least at risk groups together increasing their chances of being infected so they in turn can infect one of the highest risk groups. 

 

I found the recommendation to not pull kids from school asinine for this reason. So what if the kids can't die from it? There are many situations where the kids cohabitate with grandma and grandpa, including my in-laws and their granddaughter. She's brought us home plenty of nasty stuff from that petri dish they call a school. Kids should have been pulled out of school up here from the get go.

[Spence]

29 minutes ago, Pattern Ghost said:

I found the recommendation to not pull kids from school asinine for this reason. So what if the kids can't die from it? There are many situations where the kids cohabitate with grandma and grandpa, including my in-laws and their granddaughter. She's brought us home plenty of nasty stuff from that petri dish they call a school. Kids should have been pulled out of school up here from the get go.

 

I agree 100% with the basic idea.  This is why I don't understand making a decision (close the schools) followed by cutting the legs out of the decision (but send the kids back to school for meals) as making any sense.  Beyond giving the appearance of doing something. 

 

 

[Michael Hopcroft]

The panic turned out to be a cold. But I'm glad I was seen anyway. It was interesting, though, that both the people I dealt with at Urgent Care were wearing masks. Are the providers at Urgent Care acting on the assumption that they have already been exposed?

 

I'm still going to self-quarantine for a bit. Now I have to figure out how to tell the ride to csre provider that the dental appointment I was scheduled for has been cancelled so they don't waste my time and theirs tomorrow morning?