Government Response to Coronavirus 3: Locked Down

[Ali]

3 hours ago, Italiangirl said:

Here in italy it seems that many shop are going out of yeast.. i don't know why, flour seems to still be found even if not so easily...

I know flour is hard to find here. We get yeast just in case we want to bake some bread and I heard it is hard to find here. We are stuck at home anyways. 

[Audrey2]

7 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

Speaking of Moscow McFuckstick, he just can't help but be nasty:

 

Shut your mouth, Mitch, you don't work in the Senate either. How many bills are sitting on your desk?

[Ozlsn]

Compare HEB (grocery chain in Texas)'s planning and response to Donnie's leadership.

There quite probably are people in his administration who were trying to do things, I honestly don't know. But when a supermarket chain manages a better disaster plan than the federal government there are some serious issues - and I don't think "less government" is the answer so much as "listen to the damn experts you have advising you".

Meanwhile in my state we had good weather so idiots gathered on the beach and foreshore in large groups. *headdesk* So now the beaches are closed, because some arseholes cannot get the concept of social isolation or distancing.

My state is also ramping up testing as a lower cost, rapid test comes out to get a better idea of the number of low symptom and asymptomatic cases and to try and target transmission more effectively.

It does look like Australia's curve is flattening, touch wood, but given what I know of the disaster planning (both via the media and friends) no one is relaxing just yet. When the media is reporting on things like possibly using the Exhibition Buildings as a temporary hospital/morgue you know it's serious.

Meanwhile internet is still struggling to cope as we all work from home.

[HerNameIsBuffy]

I had to go into work for an hour and took all precautions - touched nothing but my desk, washed after, didn’t use bathroom, 6’ away from everyone etc and I’m shocked how few there are taking it seriously.

ffs they are still sharing Friday donut box - sure eat stuff everyone is touching.

outside some definite resentment toward those of us working from home from some it’s business as usual.

contrast that to Walgreens where I had to stop on way home for necessary medicine.  Big signs about distance, announcements over the speaker ever few minutes, customers giving each other distance, lines on floor at check out to keep people 6’ apart.

the way they’re handling this at work if one person becomes a carrier the whole place will be infected.  

[Smee]

The US has a massive population and I don’t believe the Chinese numbers either, so it’s unsurprising to me that the US has taken over as the most confirmed cases - but given Trump’s appalling response and difficulty getting testing kits, I still think the US is going to be a disaster zone very soon.

 The different death rates around the world are noticeable, and I know there’s a lot of factors that go into that (average age, smokers etc) but I must say I find Australia’s comparatively low death rate comforting. We have 3180 cases so far and 13 deaths, which to me suggests we’re testing quite well.

[47of74]

45 minutes ago, Ozlsn said:

Compare HEB (grocery chain in Texas)'s planning and response to Donnie's leadership.

There quite probably are people in his administration who were trying to do things, I honestly don't know. But when a supermarket chain manages a better disaster plan than the federal government there are some serious issues - and I don't think "less government" is the answer so much as "listen to the damn experts you have advising you".

Meanwhile internet is still struggling to cope as we all work from home.

Hmmm....Hy-Vee (grocery chain in the midwest) had largely abandoned the 24 hour model earlier this year about a month ago before the COVID-19 shit hit the fan.  They were at 5:00am to midnight but now it's 7am to 8pm with the first hour being for high risk people. 

At the time Hy-Vee's official explanation was because of changing shopping trends and they wanted to be more efficient and competitive.  It makes me wonder how aware they also were of the pandemic beforehand, if they had some inkling of what was coming down the pike.

I wonder if they'll go back to the 5am to midnight if this is ever over?  A couple times I was in the store overnight or really early in the morning but that was because I was either trying to get adjusted to third shift or it was before one of my ass crack of dawn rides.  Or if they'll suddenly find religion and be like Fareway or Hobby Lobby and insist on closing on Sundays?

I wonder if Wally World and some of the other big players also had an inkling of this shit hitting the fan.     

[clueliss]

The daily presser is still going on.  Did the moron in charge’s hair get lighter than it has been late

 or is that just me?

[fraurosena]

Obsequious is what he really means.

 

[47of74]

29 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

Obsequious is what he really means.

 

I hope the governors tell him to kiss their asses. 

[Ozlsn]

1 hour ago, 47of74 said:

wonder if Wally World and some of the other big players also had an inkling of this shit hitting the fan.

Given they undoubtedly have supply chains in China I would imagine so - although whether their reaction was more focused on supply chain disruption than potential local disruption who knows. They may well have bought into the whole "Oh it'll only affect foreigners, not us the way SARS did" thing.

[clueliss]

Supply chain from China has an annual Chinese New Year interruption that is planned for.  This year it was just extended.  But yes, if you have dealings with that, there was advance warning.  But a lot of that was covered in the news anyway.  I had been following it before diamond princess.  Then my company’s facilities in China were put in extended shutdown (and made January month end financial closing a challenge for our accounting staff there).  We also had ideas of where product began to flow again.  
 

the federal government as a whole wasn’t paying attention.  If grocery chains figure this out, then what the heck was national intelligence and the cia doing?

[Ozlsn]

5 minutes ago, clueliss said:

the federal government as a whole wasn’t paying attention.  If grocery chains figure this out, then what the heck was national intelligence and the cia doing?

I suspect trying to get anyone in charge to pay attention and do something.

[JMarie]

7 hours ago, obiwanfreak said:

I’m in Minnesota and we just got a post card in the mail today with “President Trump’s Coronavirus Guidelines for America.” Has anyone else gotten one?

I did.  I'm in PA.

[47of74]

22 minutes ago, JMarie said:

I did.  I'm in PA.

If we did it's in the circular file now.  I'd sooner perform surgery on myself with a rusty chainsaw than read anything that orange fuck stick has to say. 

[GreyhoundFan]

I received one of the postcards too. It went into the recycling bin immediately.

[Audrey2]

I'm holding on to mine, just in case I run out of TP and get extremely desperate...

[fraurosena]

Guys, don’t throw them away! In the future they will become worth a lot of money as a rare analogue historic artifact from the digital era when a narcissistic imbecile was supposed to be leading the country through a terrible pandemic killing thousands of lives... and chose to put all his efforts into campaigning for re-election instead.

[fraurosena]

Trump’s COVID response timeline. Note that it shows why Mulvaney was fired.

 

[clueliss]

Bumbling MO governor calls up the National Guard, still won’t put whole state on stay at home (the guard will amp up paranoia even in the counties not affected yet)

Missouri deaths up to 12

Spoiler

 

Multiple states want people arriving from New York to quarantine after arrival (to which I say why not worry about LA, New Orleans, Michigan, and Chicago as well?  Why not just say if you’ve come here from elsewhere go to quarantine this is reacting too late)

Spoiler

 

And that was all that was ion my overnight twitter feed because we had the distraction of severe thunderstorm that brought power outages and sizable hail to the Jefferson City area.  
 

I’ll be gearing up for a Walmart grocery pickup later this morning along with getting the mail, taking out my recycling and other adventures in my car.  

[fraurosena]

Today's non-American update :

• There are now more than 600.000 Covid-19 cases all over the globe.
• The isolation of Wuhan has been lifted somewhat; passenger trains   are arriving there again.
• Quite a number of young people were fined in the Netherlands last night for holding anti-corona parties or congregating in large groups. They each received a 400 euro fine.
• It turns out the person dubbed the Dutch patient zero wasn't the first contaminated case in the Netherlands after all: 7 of 86 healthworkers who had symptoms before 2/19 in the ETZ and Amphia hospitals tested positive. A patient in the ICU also had symptoms and a later test returned positive.
• The corona-measures are having a positive side-effect on air pollution. Just look at the differences between February and March:
  Spoiler

  

• There is a heated quarrel between EU-leaders concerning extra European financing to counter the corona crisis. They say Europe should agree to quickly freeing up money from the European Emergency Fund, and that Europe should start issuing euro-bonds. However, the northern countries such as the Netherlands, Germany, Austria and Finland disagree. They say that a lot has been done already to aid the southern countries financially; of course using the European Emergency Fund is possible, but they want to look carefully at the timing and the provisions. The idea of issuing euro-bonds is unacceptable as the countries asking for money are financially weak, with national debts that are already high; using this type of bonds would open the way to the richer countries permanently propping up the weaker ones. 
  I can't really judge here -- I'm no financial expert and don't play one on tv. I think that the northern countries may have legitimate concerns. However, I also believe that if funding is necessary to save lives, those concerns should be waived. It seems though, that money will be made available from the Emergency Fund but that the southern countries are balking at the attached provisions.
• There is now a curfew in Surinam. People aren't allowed out on the streets between 20.00 hrs and 06.00 hrs, with an exception for certain essential jobs. Gatherings of more than 10 people are prohibited. I've no idea what good the curfew will really do. It's not like the virus is only contagious during the night and is inactive during the day.
• Germany has offered to take in Dutch patients if necessary. So far it has been possible to spread patients in Dutch hospitals all over the country, but the time may soon come that we will need their aid.
• More and more palliative wards for corona patients are being created in hospitals and care facilities, where terminal patients can be cared for until their inevitable death. This way dying patients and their family will have a more peaceful environment than in wards where other Civid-patients are cared for.
• There are 54 new confirmed cases in China. According to their authorities, all of them were contaminated abroad. They are reporting a total number of 81.394 cases in the country; 24 people have died, raising the total death toll to 3295. 
• Brazilian president Bolsanaro has stated his doubts about the actual number of deaths in São Paulo, saying they are not nearly as high as being reported. He says Brazilians "never catch anything" even when they dive into "sewage" and that they may have already developed the antibodies to stop the virus's spread. He has railed against lockdowns and closures of businesses, schools, and public transport. He has lashed out at governors and mayors who have implemented these policies, alleging they're committing crimes and "destroying Brazil," and is actively seeking to block some of these measures. Bolsanaro is persisting in his corona-denialism, even as his advisors, top officials and cabinet ministers are falling ill with Covid-19.
• Germany's corona-measures will stay in place until at least April 20.  Germany has forbidden to be out on the streets with more than two people (exception for families). Restaurants, hairdressers and cosmetologists are closed. Anyone violating the rules can be fined up to 25.000 euro. There are almost 50.000 known cases; 325 people have died. 
• The number of corona-related deaths in Spain has risen with 832 to 5690 in total. The number of confirmed cases has risen by more than 8000 to 72.248. Madrid and Catalonia are hit the hardest. After Italy, Spain is the largest centre of contamination in Europe.
• Turkey has closed all international fights. Travel within the country is prohibited, unless strictly necessary. Turkey has 5698 official cases and 92 deaths. Erdogan is not considering a national lockdown just yet, but the strict corona-measures have closed down most of normal life as it is. People older than 65 are not allowed outside. Cafe's, universities, libraries and schools have closed, restaurants may only deliver takeout and mosques have stopped prayer gatherings. This weekend parks will be closed and picnic's and hiking in nature will be prohibited. 
• Transport in world cities has steeply declined. In Barcelona and Milan travel was only 3% of usual travel. Travel in Paris and Amsterdam (6%), New York (8%) and Berlin (11%) also has noticeable declines. 

Personally:

There are now 20 cases in my town, 9 where my parents live, and 25 in the county where my son lives. 

When we took the dogs for a very late night (early morning?) yesterday at 00.30 hrs, it was extremely quiet outside. Friday nights are usually loud(ish) with people going out on the town, but now it was as silent as a mausoleum. The clacking of my heels sounded harsh and cacophonous, reverberating through the streets in a perverse disruption of the peace and quiet. Unconsciously we lowered our voices and whispered instead of talking out loud with each other, as if breaking the silence was somehow wrong. We kept the walk short, and as soon as the dogs had done their business made our way home quickly; ending our unwanted intrusion upon the natural silence.

 

[AuntK]

Can someone please explain why an obese, almost 74-year-old male in a stressful position, with poor dietary habits, little exercise, poor sleep habits, known drug user, who has been exposed to the coronavirus at least 3 times has not tested positive for COVID-19? Asking for a friend. 

[fraurosena]

30 minutes ago, AuntK said:

Can someone please explain why an obese, almost 74-year-old male in a stressful position, with poor dietary habits, little exercise, poor sleep habits, known drug user, who has been exposed to the coronavirus at least 3 times has not tested positive for COVID-19? Asking for a friend. 

Plausible deniability. Don't test, don't have it. 

[clueliss]

Statewide stay at home announced for Kansas

[HerNameIsBuffy]

Just now, clueliss said:

Statewide stay at home announced for Kansas

About time.

[clueliss]

I wish we could say the same for Missouri

 

and heads up contact lens wearers (I’m a glasses girl)

.

Spoiler

 

Picture with a map of current Kansas cases.