Coronavirus outbreak declared global emergency

[Jim]

I was hoping we would all ride this out and life would go on as usual, but I'm not so sure anymore.

My Sister-N-Law just got the call. She's been with the company over 30 years, worked her way up the ladder and thought she had a pretty secure job. But tourism is a thing of the past, planes are not flying, and all the hotels are closed. There's nothing for her to do and the company she worked for is probably finished.

Given the huge amount of debt that banks are carrying, (both consumer and business alike) I expect bank failures will be next. American Airlines alone owns 34 billion! We've been watching oil companies selling oil at a fraction of what it cost them to acquire it, all in an effort to prolong their survival. This crash in oil prices is going to wipe out countless oil companies, and each of these companies has a bank somewhere that will have to eat the massive loans they provide back in the early fracking days. Consumers that live on credit cards are all about to default. Can't pay for that 70K truck or your mortgage without a job, right?

I'd like to wake up tomorrow and find this is all a bad dream, but I'm afraid this is only the beginning of some real bad times ahead.

Alternate opinions?

 

[TJ&LadyDi]

In the short term, it will be a rough ride for many folks. Longer term, I see a good rebound. That doesn't help someone like your SIL, @Jim, but I think the future is brighter than It looks right now.

Without getting into partisan politics, let's just say our federal government was woefully unprepared and very slow to respond. Now, it is trying to play catch-up. Kinda like having a fast race car, but being a lap down because your pit crew didn't think you'd need a tire change and they can't find the jack or lug wrench.

I feel bad for those in tight financial situations; this could be devastating. The fact is, that this correction was long overdue, though it has been exacerbated by the health emergency. Still, I think many of the financial fundamentals remain in place and are relatively strong. It will take a while, but the economy will eventually recover. The strong businesses will survive, others will fail. That's sad, but it has always worked out that way.

And, then, there are those who have been, or will be, caught up in the health aspects of this pandemic. For those families, this will be devastating. They will need our support in order to get their lives back to a relative normal, however. We need to take care of one another as we battle back. We're all in this together and as I recall from my Army service, it is important that no one is left behind!

TJ

 

[Akdare]

My BIL was laid off, too...he’s an executive chef...luckily he’d already signed a contract to be the executive chef at Lake Lodge in Yellowstone starting April 2. He did it last year, too.

 

[Buly]

This toilet paper calculator lets you know how long your bathroom stash will last
For those who are stuck inside and running low on essential supplies
TP Calculator

Who would have thunk it?

 

[Jim]

Got word from some friends on the force to expect Macon County (where I live) to be under a "shelter in place" by Thursday. Aside from being a rather eerie message, I don't think things around here will change much. Nobody is going much of anywhere anyway.

 

[Jim]

 

[CoreyinWP]

From 2015

The next outbreak? We're not ready

 

[Neal]

I just read an article somewhere where Gates mentioned whether or not we'll learn from this one. Found it:

[Edit: Link removed as it no longer works]

 

[Jim]

I just read an article somewhere where Gates mentioned whether or not we'll learn from this one. Found it:

I'm getting a "page not found" error @Neal

 

[Neal]

Me too, it must have been removed for whatever reason.

 

[Neal]

Drove from Houston to Jackson, MS today, I-10 to I-55. Saw maybe 10 RV's max. Good and bad. Good people are not thinking this is vacation time and taking RV trips, bad in that it's sad to see.

 

[TJ&LadyDi]

Found an interesting (and, a little unsettling) article today regarding the potential duration of the pandemic and efforts to contain it.

When will the coronavirus pandemic and social distancing end?

Social distancing may have to continue for months to prevent a resurgence of COVID-19. Wider testing and isolation of cases could ease such measures.

www.sciencenews.org

TJ

 

[Neal]

Not a comforting read at all.

Had to make a stop at Lowes for one item, interesting all the registers have shields and grocery stores are installing them. We are aliens on our own planet now!

 

[Jim]

My little town of 3,930 confirmed its first Covid-19 infected person today. It's starting to get real now.

 

[TJ&LadyDi]

My little town of 3,930 confirmed its first Covid-19 infected person today. It's starting to get real now.

It does "get real" in a hurry when you start getting local cases. Our small county has 144 confirmed Covid-19 cases and has had eight deaths related to the coronavirus. And, our local community (about 10K people) has at least a dozen confirmed cases as of today, including a couple of people I know. Fortunately, I have not been in recent contact with them, but knowing someone with Covid-19 really brings it home.

TJ

 

[Neal]

I'm not convinced this virus is a person to person thing entirely for how it's transmitted. How is it getting into jails? How about navy ships out at sea? Unless people are carrying this for months otherwise is it in our food supply? We are not getting any information of those that contracted it if they were traveling, around others, etc. All we know are number of cases i.e. how many have it but no details other than that.

 

[TJ&LadyDi]

I'm not convinced this virus is a person to person thing entirely for how it's transmitted. How is it getting into jails? How about navy ships out at sea? Unless people are carrying this for months otherwise is it in our food supply? We are not getting any information of those that contracted it if they were traveling, around others, etc. All we know are number of cases i.e. how many have it but no details other than that.

What we have seen in our area of Washington state is that the initial cases developed in health care facilities serving the elderly. Either family members, visitors and/or staff brought in the initial infection and it went undetected for a considerable amount of time. As a result, the virus was incubated in elderly residents (the 8 who have died thus far were all care facility residents) and then unknowingly spread to family, friends and others in the community.

The insidious thing about the coronavirus is that it can be passed by an infected person prior to he/she showing any symptoms. And, it is beginning to look like younger, healthy people can have the disease without ever showing symptoms but they are fully capable of passing it to others who will have much more severe cases. That's why it is important for ALL of us to practice good hygiene and physical distancing.

Sadly, our nation...and, the world...was unprepared to deal with this event. No one wants to spend money preparing for something that MIGHT happen, but the lack of doing so has put us well behind the curve in this battle. Now, we are trying to play catch-up with something that is outrunning us daily. Eventually, the disease will slow due to the "herd immunity" noted in the article I posted the link to earlier. Once we do get up to speed, we'll be able to deal with it more effectively. In the meantime, we, as individuals, need to interrupt the spread mechanism by keeping our distance from one another and maintaining a high standard of personal hygiene.

TJ

 

[Neemer]

We just had our first death from this virus in my county. Army vet, 63 yr old. Same age as me. Sad and sobering.

 

[sheridany]

We found out on the news tonight that a skilled care facility with 45 beds has 27 patients that tested positive. The facility is about 3 miles from us. We are staying in and only going to the store but when it’s that close then it is concerning.

 

[Akdare]

We aren’t even going to the store...having groceries delivered. We do have masks...my wife has a lung condition that makes it way to easy to catch viruses...I just bought a large box of N95’s before we went abroad in January. I wore one today to pick up one of her prescriptions at a small pharmacy without a drive-thru.