COVID-19 Coronavirus Information and Discussion

[Buddhabreath]

No one is saying don't speak truth to power. I'm saying don't preach to the choir. The owner of this church doesn't allow it anyway.

Fair enough. I’ll try to restrain myself, sit in the back pews and try to throw a few coins in the collection plate now and then.

[Lou]

I mentioned a while back about my brother in law coming in contact with people at his work who tested positive and he got real sick. Been waiting on his test results for 5 days now and were told 3..."backed up" being the response. The testing system is a shitshow and no help to us at all. Since we were all in contact with him, my whole family has been sick. Biggest worry being my Dad who is 78. Been sick since Sunday. Cough, up and down fever, very tired. He was tested Friday, but at this rate we'll expect those results in June. I had a real bad fever for a couple days and a little coughing, headache...uncomfortable as hell but manageable. This thing spread to everyone in my family like a wildfire...amazingly fast! All of us (though my dad is still strugglin a bit) seem to be slowly getting better. Dealt with it on our own. The only help being Tylenol. We'll see what it is eventually. At this point we don't even care other than if it's not Corona, we would still have to worry about getting it. Now that would suck!

So sorry to hear this. I will be praying for your family.

[Zeuhlmate]

The report that made Trump and Boris to change their strategy (but not Sweden):

Impact of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) to reduce COVID-19 mortality and healthcare demand

https://www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imp...16-03-2020.pdf

Two fundamental strategies are possible: (a) mitigation, which focuses on slowing but not necessarily stopping epidemic spread –reducing peak healthcare demand while protecting those most at risk of severe disease from infection, and (b) suppression, which aims to reverse epidemic growth, reducingcase numbers to low levels and maintaining that situation indefinitely.Each policy has major challenges. We find that that optimal mitigation policies (combining home isolation of suspect cases, home quarantine of those living in the same household as suspect cases, and social distancing of the elderly and others at most risk of severe disease) might reduce peak healthcare demand by 2/3 and deaths by half. However, the resulting mitigated epidemic would still likely result inhundreds of thousands of deaths and health systems (most notably intensive care units) being overwhelmed many times over.For countries able to achieve it, this leaves suppression as the preferred policy option.

[Zeuhlmate]

I mentioned a while back about my brother in law coming in contact with people at his work who tested positive and he got real sick. Been waiting on his test results for 5 days now and were told 3..."backed up" being the response. The testing system is a shitshow and no help to us at all. Since we were all in contact with him, my whole family has been sick. Biggest worry being my Dad who is 78. Been sick since Sunday. Cough, up and down fever, very tired. He was tested Friday, but at this rate we'll expect those results in June. I had a real bad fever for a couple days and a little coughing, headache...uncomfortable as hell but manageable. This thing spread to everyone in my family like a wildfire...amazingly fast! All of us (though my dad is still strugglin a bit) seem to be slowly getting better. Dealt with it on our own. The only help being Tylenol. We'll see what it is eventually. At this point we don't even care other than if it's not Corona, we would still have to worry about getting it. Now that would suck!

Me, my wife and my youngest son have had the flu for almost 14 days now. Last time I had the flu was more than 20 years ago.
My wife have had high fever several days, on and off. We are alle dizzy and coughing, sleepy, have more or less headache. My left lung is bubbling an rattling, even my wife can hear that. 10 days ago we went to our family doctor and he said: most likely the flu, and he couldn't diagnose a covid-19 for sure anyway, and he couldn't get any corona-test-kits unless we were gasping like fish on land.
I am pretty sure its not corona, the suffocating symptoms are not there.
But as you say, then we must have corona later...damn it.

[Sputnik]

Yeah, in theory, I should be able to get unemployment. The thing is, I saw on the news the other day that there's been a 3000% increase in unemployment claims in Ohio since Governor DeWine issued his restaurant closure mandate. So who's gonna pay for all that unemployment? My understanding is the company you work for is supposed to pay unemployment, but I work for a company that has restaurants all over the state (and in fact most of the US, I believe) so they've got who knows how many thousands of employees who are trying to squeeze money out of them at the exact same time. How's that supposed to work?

Employers pay a tax that goes into a pool administered by your state government. The payments for unemployment come from that pool, not directly from your employer. In a sense, there could be come concern about a spike in unemployment claims, as the pool is finite. But the pool is vastly larger than simply what is available from one company to its employees, and the state has the ability to re-allocate funds to cover in emergency situations.

In the short-run, the crunch you're likely to experience will be delays as overwhelmed unemployment assistance workers sort through cases. You almost surely qualify for unemployment benefits as you were laid-off. But it may take time to process your claim. I wouldn't worry about there not being money to make claim payments, at least not in the short-run. Good luck!

Bill

[spellbound]

I live in a 'right to work' state. 'Right to work' means workers have no rights.

[ronmac]

Yeah, in theory, I should be able to get unemployment. The thing is, I saw on the news the other day that there's been a 3000% increase in unemployment claims in Ohio since Governor DeWine issued his restaurant closure mandate. So who's gonna pay for all that unemployment? My understanding is the company you work for is supposed to pay unemployment, but I work for a company that has restaurants all over the state (and in fact most of the US, I believe) so they've got who knows how many thousands of employees who are trying to squeeze money out of them at the exact same time. How's that supposed to work?

Yes, employers pay into the UC fund, but that's not all the funding. The Federal government will cover this, assuming they get the rescue plan that we need and not the ones their benefactors want.

[3LockBox]

I live in a 'right to work' state. 'Right to work' means workers have no rights.

Pretty much. I've even had a couple of employers attempt disway me from leaving (even with 2weeks notice) by stating bogus "implied" non-compete clauses. I reminded them that the terms "right to work" and "at will" worked both ways. The company's (Locating Inc) area manager called me within an hour of giving notice and tried the non-compete bluff then called again and said I had one hour to return the company work vehicle or he would call the police and report it stolen. All very illegal (my wife works in HR and knows labor code). I told them I was parking the car and they could come get it. I informed the manager that I sent an official email of intent to self terminate that predates any of his threats. I tried reporting them to L&I but they said that what the company didn't wasn't entirely illegal (they could claim ignorance) unless they interfered with my ability to work. I never told them where I was going. I never had any other interactions with Locating Inc but I wondered how many former or current employees they did that to.

[MYSTERIOUS TRAVELLER]

As this thing hits the Third World it is going to get beyond ugly

hopefully it is similar to the flu bug in that it does not tolerate heat, so the equatorial countries will be less severe

[hFx]

The report that made Trump and Boris to change their strategy (but not Sweden):

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/swede...-megan-penhoet

[Zeuhlmate]

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/swede...-megan-penhoet

Hold on to your hat!

[Trane]

FWIW, Just got off the phone with my wife’s parents who were here a few weeks ago and now back home in Lebanon. They are freaking out. I spent a good 30 minutes talking my mother-in-law down from the ledge. They are not in good health. Needless to say there are no services or systematic response, the country was in near-crisis before this happened. They are now getting everything, food, supplies & medicine delivered to their home at the insistence of all of us in the family. They are one of the lucky ones. As others have stated and from anecdotal reports of what is going on in Lebanon, I too am very concerned how this plays out in poorer parts of the world.

OK, I get it, but I was mostly speaking of highly-trained employees (generally trained by the employer) and of companies not interested in losing them when things go back to normal. I'd hate to be Boeing and seeing my employees fleeing to Lockheed or Airbus, for ex.

Restaurants are definitely not "highly trained", but one owner might want to keep his chef workinfg for him.

I live in a 'right to work' state. 'Right to work' means workers have no rights.

Yup, land of the not-so-free, I'm afraid

hopefully it is similar to the flu bug in that it does not tolerate heat, so the equatorial countries will be less severe

Yup, I've also heard that, but Brazil is hit quite hard

[MYSTERIOUS TRAVELLER]

I've also heard that, but Brazil is hit quite hard

most of the nations in the tropics have few cases but Brazil and Singapore seem to be the exceptions

[John Doe]

The Smithsonian in 2017, a prediction, the next pandemic.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/scien...mic-180965213/

And for those interested, SARS.

https://www.amazon.com/China-Syndrom...4949150&sr=8-1

And if you just look at the first 10 minutes, you would think is this morning news, we knew it was coming

[GuitarGeek]

So I got an e-mail from work, giving more info about how to file for unemployment, so I'm trying to update my profile on the Department of Unemployment (or whateve rit's called) website, but of course, the website is jammed with people trying to do the same thing. I guess I'm gonna have to sit here for awhile trying to do this.

[Jerjo]

Well Chris, I guess we could start a few guitar threads to keep you occupied while the unemployment site slowly loads.

[dropforge]

most of the nations in the tropics have few cases but Brazil and Singapore seem to be the exceptions

"Singapore so far appears not to have had a single recorded health-care-related transmission of the coronavirus, despite the hundreds of cases that its medical system has had to deal with. That includes one case reported this week of a critically ill pneumonia patient who exposed forty-one health-care workers in the course of four days before being diagnosed with COVID-19. These were high-risk exposures, including exposures during intubation and hands-on intensive care. Eighty-five per cent of the workers used only surgical masks. Yet, owing to proper hand hygiene, none became infected."

https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-...h-care-workers

[Shadow]

All non essentials close at 5PM in Maryland.

[ronmac]

All non essentials close at 5PM in Maryland.

Stay-at-home order takes effect at 8:00 pm in Allegheny County, AP (Pittsburgh area). I suspect it will be state-wide.

[Dana5140]

Dallas now has shelter in place in effect at midnight tonight. My wife ran to the store and to the library (which is open to deliver books at a window, not for in-person stuff). We are good now with food, supplies and so on.

[Jerjo]

We need to make a run for soda, milk, eggs, and cat food. I'm not sure how we're going to pull that off. I suspect if I go into the grocery store between 10 to 11 AM on the day the weekly sale kicks off, I might have a chance of fewest people but somewhat stocked shelves.

[Zeuhlmate]

Can we make fun about Covid-19 ? I'm not sure...but we need to take the pressure of a bit.

[thedunno]

Can we make fun about Covid-19 ?

Yes we can.

[Zeuhlmate]

This Danish lady (CEO, corporate advisor and writer, famous in Denmark) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soulaima_Gourani / https://soulaima.com/soulaima/ living in Palo Alto is not calm at all.

In the Danish media and on FB she predicts that 62 million people will die of Corona infection, claims that lots of people in her neighbourhood are building private hospitals at home, and predicting that a civil war (in the US) will come up soon.

It is serious, yes, but she needs a beer and a hug. Or ?

[ronmac]

^^ She needs a muzzle.