Coronavirus

Gilbert wrote:

The entire world is falling apart. With the exception of North Korea where the corona infection is being carefully controlled and limited to one patient max .

All hail the caring and wise Kim Jong Un!

Boris2008 wrote:

tohostudios wrote:

Our local news is showing a story about a local small batch whiskey maker using the excess byproduct alcohol of their product and working with another business that makes various skin lotions to create hand sanitizer they're giving to the local first responders.

We all could do with hearing more stories like that amid all the doom and gloom.

This is also happening everywhere. We have car makers switching production to producing ventilators and the company that makes Dior and Givenchy perfume are making hand sanitizer for French hospitals.

The whole world seems to be on a war footing. I work for one of the largest healthcare companies in the world but our site focuses more on the health & beauty side of the business but I think that might change soon.

We need more stories like these just to give everyone some hope.

When you see people hoarding toilet paper and bottled water it tends to make you think we're heading into some apocalyptic future like Escape From New York.

The whole world is coming together. Once you get away from social media and mainstream media (Sorry Boris, at least here in the USA they are alarmist a-holes just trying to beat each other in the ratings and scaring people ups the ratings) I see TONS of hopeful things. Some stuff will suck for a bit, but people are already shifting their style of work or how their work works. People will temporarily work in ways or industries they never figured they would. People are pitching in, helping out. The Gov. is working together. For the first time in HUMAN HISTORY all of the best minds, and the rest of the healthy bodies, are working on the same problem.

The net positive...once we get through...will be good.

If for one thing everyone finally and completely decides to ignore MSM for the hacks they are, the better.

Fresno is going on "voluntary" lockdown tonight. I can say we as a family have really been enjoying our time here at home.

Fat Freddy wrote:

...it's been an absolute nightmare so far getting my 12 year old, who has ADHD, to sit still long enough to complete any of them.  

If it were up to me I'd tell him to forget it, go outside and go skateboarding so *I* can get MY work done!

I hear ya man. My youngest (7) has severe ADHD and calling my clients from home has been a near trainwreck with him interrupting all the time. But education-wise we lucked out since the school hasn't issued any work for home. We still have a structure in place, but for the most part it's just early Spring Break for now.

I feel half-guilty for not having to deal with the additional stress you people with families have to deal with.  The worst thing I have to handle is breaking up cat fights (had a major one this morning while I was on a work conference call; Loosie yowled and I found Squirrel with a mouthful of fur).  But the solution for those situations is easy; blast Squirrel with water and chase Loosie into my plush finished basement where she has her choice of soft leather furniture to sleep on.

I'm only sharing this story to try to lighten the mood; I know a lot of you have way more serious things to worry about. 

tohostudios wrote:

I'm only sharing this story to try to lighten the mood; I know a lot of you have way more serious things to worry about. 

We all have more serious things to worry about. Add that to going stir crazy at home we will all need some mood lightening and all round silliness over the coming weeks

sooo..........

Wow, that video is pretty bad.  And the music is pretty lame too.  Yet somehow I think I've seen worse. 

You know, this sounds like a good idea for a new thread; the "Anti-coronavirus Depression" thread.  A place to put various pictures, videos, jokes. funny stories...whatever, as long as it has nothing to do with the pandemic.

I know I felt sooooo much better last night after spending 2 hours watching the Dropkick Murphys livestream of their annual St. Patrick's Day concert from an empty studio.  It was great!

What does everyone else think?  Would a thread like that in maybe the "Unsound Mind" be useful to help people get a little levity in their lives?

tohostudios wrote:

Wow, that video is pretty bad.  And the music is pretty lame too.  Yet somehow I think I've seen worse. 

You want worse? You asked for it:

It's normal at home for us right now. The kids are on Spring Break anyway but schools closed until April 15. My oldest daughter is a senior and a bit worried about classes and graduation. She hopes they don't extend the school year any longer because FSU summer session starts right after her graduation. She was wondering if FSU would start before she graduates if they extend the school year. Yesterday the school sent out a video and the principals said they will start sending out assignments on Canvas (I don't really know what Canvas is but the kids and my wife do). They will be emailing material and doing things online and said they will send another video on Friday with an update. She also got an email from FSU telling her that if she has any questions to contact them as they are in their offices. She's supposed to have orientation at the end of May, no word on if that has been changed or not but current students are doing the rest of the semester online at FSU and UF. My brother in law also said UT in Knoxville is also moving to all online classes and altering graduation plans.

As for me it is business as usual at the paper mill although they don't want more than 5 people at a time together. They changed our cafeteria to take out only and only 5 people at a time can go in to get lunches. I always bring my lunch anyway so that's not a big deal to me. Yesterday when I went to clock out at 3:27 (I leave at 3:30) an HR person was standing where we clock in and out and said only 5 people allowed to clock out at once but I was the first person there (which was a bit odd as with only 3 minutes left in the day it is usually pretty crowded).

In Florida the Governor said no more than groups of 10 on the beach at a time. So what do the spring breakers do? Raise hell on the beach in groups of 50-100 and when interviewed they said stuff like "I'm not worried about it, it doesn't have an effect on me at all! I'm healthy".

Watch the video here:

https://www.mypanhandle.com/health/coronavirus-pandemic/pcbpd-patroling-beach-to-keep-spring-breakers-out-of-large-groups/

I went to my office today. Stayed there for about three hours and was able to properly finish lots of work and emails.

Actually my colleague and I have agreed to attend to the office on shift terms as of next week. A good way to escape the routine.

Roads are totally empty. Reminds me of the Walking Dead world. That's a good thing, as I got to test my car's performance.

Guys. Just a word of advice from someone who is somewhere a couple of weeks ahead of you guys.

Food - It's getting really worrying over here now. Basics like bread, fresh meat, fresh vegetables (including potatoes), milk, cereals, cooking oil, eggs, frozen food and tinned products are getting really scarce as are any products with paracetamol.

It's been heading this way for days but nothing seems to be being replenished and they are still blaming panic buying even though there are not that many people shopping and they have limited how much you can buy. They are now saying that there may also be supply chain issues ahead due to sickness absenteeism in the food production plants.

I'm not suggesting that anyone panics and buys three tonnes of army surplus tinned everything but make sure that you can weather a temporary storm.

In 48 years I have never been shopping and been unable to buy a loaf of bread until today. Usually I spend 10 minutes trying to choose between 60 different bread options but today there was nothing and I went to 5 stores looking.

And where exactly are you that things are this bad? Sounds awful.

In Finland I haven't had trouble getting anything. People have been stockpiling toilet paper, but there's so much of it getting shipped to supermarkets every day that there is no danger of running out. 

I work in logistics so I can kind of get a sense of if there are problems where a demand can't be met by production. None so far. It's just a matter of what is a sensible amount of pasta and TP you can deliver to each market each day. Production is not the issue, having enough freaking trucks and drivers to get everything everywhere at the same time is. At worst, it's a 1-2 day delay, but stuff isn't running out.

Even drugs. There's enough paracetamol. Maybe if it lasts till Christmas will there be real disturbances, and not just "no, not everyone can have a truck load of TP immediately". Supply lines have a limited capacity, but it will all get there eventually. 

Especially now at border crossings there's delay, because private cars trying to cross are blocking the roads from lorries trying to deliver trailers full of goods. And those lorries would be allowed to cross, if they ever got past the queues.

Lari wrote:

And where exactly are you that things are this bad? Sounds awful.

In Finland I haven't had trouble getting anything. People have been stockpiling toilet paper, but there's so much of it getting shipped to supermarkets every day that there is no danger of running out. 

I work in logistics so I can kind of get a sense of if there are problems where a demand can't be met by production. None so far. It's just a matter of what is a sensible amount of pasta and TP you can deliver to each market each day. Production is not the issue, having enough freaking trucks and drivers to get everything everywhere at the same time is. At worst, it's a 1-2 day delay, but stuff isn't running out.

Even drugs. There's enough paracetamol. Maybe if it lasts till Christmas will there be real disturbances, and not just "no, not everyone can have a truck load of TP immediately". Supply lines have a limited capacity, but it will all get there eventually. 

Especially now at border crossings there's delay, because private cars trying to cross are blocking the roads from lorries trying to deliver trailers full of goods. And those lorries would be allowed to cross, if they ever got past the queues.

That's the way that I have been thinking too as I am also involved with logistics. I figured that it was just a very temporary blip and would be sorted as soon as they limited the amount the loonies were buying. With some products I can understand that there will be delays but bread? That is made and delivered daily and isn't really a hoarding item at all, neither are fresh veggies but there you are. The meat isle was all but empty. I got some of what was left because I can afford sirloin steak and fillet of lamb but for some people there is nothing. I haven't seen an egg in a shop anywhere for about six days!

If stuff isn't running out then there is a major problem because it is not reaching shops in the U.K.

Don't get me wrong, there is food in the shops and no-one will starve and people can find alternatives in their diet but it needs to get sorted.

One conspiracy theory that I had was that the government are behind it to shock the population into taking this seriously (if so, it's worked!)

Now supermarkets are drastically reducing the number of different items they will be stocking in order to concentrate on essentials and maximise food production.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-51961624

I spent most of my years living through much worse. So this Coronavirus outbreak is a simple walk in the park .

That said, what scares me is the fact that it is heavily affecting the big nations and major governments are obviously losing the war against it.

Gilbert wrote:

I spent most of my years living through much worse. So this Coronavirus outbreak is a simple walk in the park .

That said, what scares me is the fact that it is heavily affecting the big nations and major governments are obviously losing the war against it.

We really don't know what it is yet and I don't know what kind of parks you frequent but compared with bombs aimed at your head it's probably not going to compare.

The thing that does concern me is that major populations such as India, U.S.A, Indonesia and the U.K have done so little testing that it may have spread everywhere with very little containment. This is what happened in Italy and it's now an absolute shitshow there.

I ventured out of the house for the first time in a week to make a trip to the grocery store.  I was pleasantly surprised at how much stuff was on the shelves.  Sure they were out of toilet paper, paper towels, hand sanitizer and bottled water - the usual suspects - but other than that the only thing I noticed really lacking certain kinds of bread (notably anything wheat) and raw chicken.  But I was able to buy fresh peppers, onions and potatoes and all the stuff I was actually looking for.  The cereal aisle looked the same way it always does.  I don't eat a lot of meat anyway so since I was able to stock up on hamburger meatless substitutes and I already have a TON of frozen meat I should be good for a long haul if necessary.  I even found 10 rolls of TP I didn't know I had when I was cleaning the cat litter box in the downstairs basement (which I never use).  I opened the cupboard under the sink down there and heard the celestial TP choir.  I've got about 80 rolls of toilet paper on hand now so it's definitely time to hunker down here at home and stay away from people - in other words nothing really that different for me. 

Guys, I want to give you some hope.  My law firm represents Mylan - a pharmaceutical company - and 24 hours ago I started to hear rumors of a "cure" for Covid-19. This is all over the news now but apparently hydroxychloroquine is at least 70% effective in curing the virus and some studies had 100% cure rate in as little as three days. Mylan is ramping up to produce millions of doses as is Bayer in Germany. This is why the President was talking about it this morning. Remarkable stuff going down.

Another bonus is the treatment is dirt cheap and readily available and both the Chinese and South Koreans have had success with it.

A word of caution though - I'm a doctor, but a juris doctor so take that for what it's worth.

Is that the drug that's been used to treat malaria for years that the President was talking about?  If so, that's really great news because if the same dosage works well to treat this then there shouldn't be much worry about side effect and the like because that drug has been used for a long time.

Witchfinder wrote:

Guys, I want to give you some hope.  My law firm represents Mylan - a pharmaceutical company - and 24 hours ago I started to hear rumors of a "cure" for Covid-19. This is all over the news now but apparently hydroxychloroquine is at least 70% effective in curing the virus and some studies had 100% cure rate in as little as three days. Mylan is ramping up to produce millions of doses as is Bayer in Germany. This is why the President was talking about it this morning. Remarkable stuff going down.

Another bonus is the treatment is dirt cheap and readily available and both the Chinese and South Koreans have had success with it.

A word of caution though - I'm a doctor, but a juris doctor so take that for what it's worth.

Looks promising.  It seems as though the French study was initially dismissed but subsequent trials have indeed shown promise.

https://techstartups.com/2020/03/19/two-anti-malarial-drugs-chloroquine-and-hydroxychloroquine-show-early-promising-results-in-coronavirus-treatment-u-s-doctors-now-say/

If it's as good as claimed it will be the miracle that we need.

Yes, it's an old malaria drug. The French study was dismissed and then it turned out they were right.

I'll just say this much, Mylan's stock is up more than 20% since this news broke a couple of hours ago.

Good for Mylan.

I know it's popular to rag on pharmaceutical companies and how much money they make on their drugs (and I don't want to get into the politics of it because honestly I have mixed feelings about them myself) but if an already-available, cheap drug will actually take care of this virus AND they don't suddenly jack up the price (which would be business suicide) then the companies and stockholders thereof deserve to make money.  Sure it's dumb luck if this drug works but then most of the stock market is luck.

tohostudios wrote:

Good for Mylan.

I know it's popular to rag on pharmaceutical companies and how much money they make on their drugs (and I don't want to get into the politics of it because honestly I have mixed feelings about them myself) but if an already-available, cheap drug will actually take care of this virus AND they don't suddenly jack up the price (which would be business suicide) then the companies and stockholders thereof deserve to make money.  Sure it's dumb luck if this drug works but then most of the stock market is luck.

If it's an old WW2 drug then it will be out of patent. If they try jacking up the price they would completely destroy themselves AND someone else would make it cheaper.

Boris2008 wrote:

tohostudios wrote:

Good for Mylan.

I know it's popular to rag on pharmaceutical companies and how much money they make on their drugs (and I don't want to get into the politics of it because honestly I have mixed feelings about them myself) but if an already-available, cheap drug will actually take care of this virus AND they don't suddenly jack up the price (which would be business suicide) then the companies and stockholders thereof deserve to make money.  Sure it's dumb luck if this drug works but then most of the stock market is luck.

If it's an old WW2 drug then it will be out of patent. If they try jacking up the price they would completely destroy themselves AND someone else would make it cheaper.

It's a dirt cheap treatment - $25 a month - and long ago was a generic drug so pricing won't be an issue.

tohostudios wrote:

Wow, that video is pretty bad.  And the music is pretty lame too.  Yet somehow I think I've seen worse. 

You know, this sounds like a good idea for a new thread; the "Anti-coronavirus Depression" thread.  A place to put various pictures, videos, jokes. funny stories...whatever, as long as it has nothing to do with the pandemic.

I know I felt sooooo much better last night after spending 2 hours watching the Dropkick Murphys livestream of their annual St. Patrick's Day concert from an empty studio.  It was great!

What does everyone else think?  Would a thread like that in maybe the "Unsound Mind" be useful to help people get a little levity in their lives?

I like it. I'm in. I will have more time as they are shortening our hours at work, We will work part time but still put in for 40 hours on our digital timesheets. We can't close as banks are deemed essential but it will be a nice to have a bit of a break. I am gonna hit the home gym, crank some killer tunes, and spend time with my daughter. My wife (she's an OT in a hospital) is still working full time.

Thanks to your wife sentinel; she's really on the front lines of this.
Really, anybody who works in any kind of medical position is taking a serious risk these days.  In fact I have a dentist appointment in 2 weeks to repair a crown and a doctor appointment the next week just to check my blood pressure and I'm cancelling both because I don't want to risk being in the "petri dish" that any medical establishment is.  Neither of my appointments is addressing an urgent issue so I'm not chancing it but kudos to the people still staffing those jobs for people who DO have important medical things to address.