Love in the Time of Coronavirus (#3)

[Fez]

1 hour ago, karaddin said:

Its not just a travel ban, its a cargo bane too

It's not a cargo ban. This is apparently one of at least three false statements from the speech. No idea if the reaction was so poor that they are reversing immediately, or Trump fucked up reading what was on the teleprompter (he needs glasses, but he almost never wears them in public). Both seem plausible.

[karaddin]

1 minute ago, Fez said:

It's not a cargo ban. This is apparently one of at least three false statements from the speech. No idea if the reaction was so poor that they are reversing immediately, or Trump fucked up reading what was on the teleprompter (he needs glasses, but he almost never wears them in public). Both seem plausible.

Indeed they do.

[Fragile Bird]

If you haven’t bought those emergency supplies yet, now might be a good time to do so.

[Fez]

House coronavirus bill is out. https://rules.house.gov/sites/democrats.rules.house.gov/files/BILLS-116hr6201ih.pdf

The House will approve it tomorrow. Hopefully the Senate acts quickly on it (on Monday they were talking about voting when they get back from next week's recess, but there was talk today of voting quickly). 

Looks like a lot of pieces to it. I haven't seen an analysis yet. Two things from a quick scan are that there's a new food program to replace the school lunches that a lot of low-income students rely on, and there's an emergency paid leave program that will be run by the Social Security administration. Basically, if your employer doesn't provide paid leave you are entitled to sick leave at 2/3rds your average wage (up to a maximum of $4,000 per 30 days).

There are also sections on unemployment insurance, SNAP benefits, and some other things. Looks like its all economic and funding stuff. But that's pretty much what Congress can do. I wouldn't expect them to pass a bill ordering up national guard medics to expand hospital capacity for instance; even though that's something that should be happening.

ETA: House Democrats summary is out now: https://appropriations.house.gov/sites/democrats.appropriations.house.gov/files/Families First summary.pdf

Looks like in addition to the emergency paid leave that the government will offer, employers will also be required to provide 14 days of paid sick leave in the event of public health emergencies. Small businesses with less than 50 employees will get reimbursed by the federal government for this cost.

[Fragile Bird]

Hey, some good news!

The Toronto Raptors could remain champions for another year!

[Fragile Bird]

Modeling done in Washington state suggested that if they didn’t take the actions they have announced they would have 25,000 cases by April and 400 deaths.

From the mayor of Seattle, on CNN right now.

[Fez]

Tonight has given me a feeling I've only had once before, in fall 2008 when the first bailout vote failed in the House and the economy was in free fall. If I was older when 9/11 happened I'd probably have had the feeling then too, but I was happily oblivious still.

It's the feeling of helplessness as the ground falls away. That things are spiraling out of control and the future is unknown, but dark. I probably should've had this feeling throughout the Trump administration, but at least that has been a slow-moving dumpster fire. Here, everything is happening at once, and there's no guard rails, no guide to what comes next.

Its fucking terrifying.

[Fragile Bird]

1 minute ago, Fez said:

Tonight has given me a feeling I've only had once before, in fall 2008 when the first bailout vote failed in the House and the economy was in free fall. If I was older when 9/11 happened I'd probably have had the feeling then too, but I was happily oblivious still.

It's the feeling of helplessness as the ground falls away. That things are spiraling out of control and the future is unknown, but dark. I probably should've had this feeling throughout the Trump administration, but at least that has been a slow-moving dumpster fire. Here, everything is happening at once, and there's no guard rails, no guide to what comes next.

Its fucking terrifying.

Fez, think of all the boomers who grew up being trained in school to hide under their desk if the sirens started wailing because the Russians had started a nuclear attack. That went on for years.

I’m thinking about the 24 months of the Spanish flu. Reports would be rolling in from around the world about thousands and hundreds of thousands and millions of deaths, but it came at you in slo-mo. This will wash over us like a tidal wave, but in three months it will be gone, hopefully to never return.

[Ormond]

6 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

 This will wash over us like a tidal wave, but in three months it will be gone, hopefully to never return.

I can understand how it will never be as bad again as the initial introduction of the virus, but I don't see why you think there's a good chance it will "never return."

[Jaxom 1974]

15 minutes ago, Fez said:

Tonight has given me a feeling I've only had once before, in fall 2008 when the first bailout vote failed in the House and the economy was in free fall. If I was older when 9/11 happened I'd probably have had the feeling then too, but I was happily oblivious still.

It's the feeling of helplessness as the ground falls away. That things are spiraling out of control and the future is unknown, but dark. I probably should've had this feeling throughout the Trump administration, but at least that has been a slow-moving dumpster fire. Here, everything is happening at once, and there's no guard rails, no guide to what comes next.

Its fucking terrifying.

Not a boomer myself, but I distinctly remember watching the Challenger tragedy, the first real tragedy of any scale I can recall. Obviously the is different.

9/11?  Absolutely remember that day too, the confusion of it all and the aftermath.

The closest thing I think of with this virus for the surreality of it all though is the Iraq invasion post 9/11.  At least the watching it in real time as it happened.  Just sitting and watching the televi8and wondering what the hell is actually going to happen next from moment to moment.

 

[Fragile Bird]

6 minutes ago, Ormond said:

I can understand how it will never be as bad again as the initial introduction of the virus, but I don't see why you think there's a good chance it will "never return."

I am hoping that like the Spanish flu (which may have been a coronavirus), SARS and MERs, it won’t re-appear. Something else will come along, of course. The Spanish flu never reappeared after the summer of 2019. There has been no new SARS case since 2004. MERs has not disappeared but there are very few cases, only 2,000 or so have ever been reported in total. So it’s not unreasonable to think this will go away too. 

[Castellan]

In Australia I think an awful lot of self-employed people will be in deep trouble with down turns due to supply problems. 

Also Australia has a high rate of casual workers who will just get no work when all sorts of things close e.g. in hospitality, tourism. There has been talk of paying them if they have to self isolate for two weeks but many will just lose their work and income anyway.

Some work arrangements are now problematic e.g. many nurses and carers are employed through agencies and get casual assignments, but now, when one ends, the next placement demands that they not have been at another hospital for two weeks.

[Fragile Bird]

Man, I keep saying holy smokes.

Italy had a one day increase of 2,313 cases.

[Guest]

I'm growing increasingly concerned that this stuff will be a ticking time bomb in red states. I've been warning all my friends that this is the real deal, and most of them are blowing it off. Even those who are medical professionals aren't taking it seriously, because they're taking their sense of things from Trump and state health officials.

[DMC]

45 minutes ago, Fez said:

Tonight has given me a feeling I've only had once before, in fall 2008 when the first bailout vote failed in the House and the economy was in free fall. If I was older when 9/11 happened I'd probably have had the feeling then too, but I was happily oblivious still.

...Wait you were happily oblivious to 9/11?  I was 16 at the time, always assumed you were older than me?  Fuck.  Anyway, I think this supersedes the proto-Tea Party killing the first bailout bill.  Today has been quite the day, and with that one you just knew they'd eventually work something out.  Still doesn't reach 9/11 levels, but I'd be hard-pressed to come up with any other more surreal day than all the shit that happened today in my adult life.  Jaxom mentioned when Dubya went into Iraq.  I guess, but I was more pissed at that than scared.

Anyway, just trying to figure out the proper language when I post the announcement about all this with my students - which I'm not required to but will do so tomorrow.  I don't want to alarm them any further than they already are, but I also don't want to sugarcoat things to make sure they take it seriously.  Tricky business.

[Ormond]

4 minutes ago, The Great Unwashed said:

I'm growing increasingly concerned that this stuff will be a ticking time bomb in red states. I've been warning all my friends that this is the real deal, and most of them are blowing it off. Even those who are medical professionals aren't taking it seriously, because they're taking their sense of things from Trump and state health officials.

And there's always some TV talk show doctor to aid and abet that:

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2020/03/10/dr_drew_pinsky_coronavirus_panic_must_stop_press_needs_to_be_held_accountable_for_hurting_people.html

[Darth Richard II]

Heh, I was...(does math) 22 on 9/11, and fuck me...just..fuck.

This reminds me more of the days after 9/11, when you turned on the news and had no idea wtf was going wrong now but you knew something was.

[Argonath Diver]

I am a pretty hale-and-hearty guy nearing 40, without pre-existing health issues that could compound risk if I contract this. Financially, though, this is really scary for people like me in the food and beverage industry. My hourly paid wage is only about 20% of my actual income. I read that the House is pushing for a bill that would include some sort of emergency payout for unpaid leave at something like 2/3s of your income, up to 4000 for the month. Well, 2/3s of my monthly salaried paycheck is approximately 500 bucks. If the virus spreads as rapidly as I expect it to, and even half my customer base stop going out to eat at their favorite little Italian joint, I'll be very financially stricken regardless of time off. It's not looking good, man.

And that's merely my own specific issue. I know and love a whole lot of people with far more significant health risks than I have, rich and poor alike. My father is one strong, stubborn bastard who has battled a whole legion of potentially life-threatening stuff. If he contracts COVID-19, he is right in the middle of the bullseye for risk. He has a terrific health insurance plan, though. One of my absolute favorite souls I have ever met is an undocumented fellow who has been toiling in NYC kitchens for forty years. If he contracts, will a hospital admit an aging illegal immigrant? His work would undoubtedly let him go the moment they found out, so he would have no income and no healthcare access. 

 

[Jeor]

Seniors have a lot to be worried about with COVID-19. I'm also a healthy 34 year-old with no major health conditions, but people my parents' age (60s) are right in the crunch. First, their actual health is more at risk, second, they're generationally the least equipped to deal with changes in the workplace such as remote workplaces, and third, a lot of them have retirement funds in the stock markets that have taken a hammering so they will have to work longer or accept a less-funded retirement. It's a triple whammy.

[Which Tyler]

Good GIF here on why we want to delay things, and flatten the curves:

https://giphy.com/gifs/delay-covid19-containment-dWCcpgCRiOHk5B8znA