The Entrepreneur Forum | Financial Freedom | Starting a Business | Motivation | Money | Success

Welcome to the only entrepreneur forum dedicated to building life-changing wealth.

Build a Fastlane business. Earn real financial freedom. Join free.

Join over 80,000 entrepreneurs who have rejected the paradigm of mediocrity and said "NO!" to underpaid jobs, ascetic frugality, and suffocating savings rituals— learn how to build a Fastlane business that pays both freedom and lifestyle affluence.

Free registration at the forum removes this block.

The Worldwide C0VlD-19 Coronavirus Pandemic Discussion Thread...

Rabby

Legendary Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
319%
Aug 26, 2018
1,924
6,128
Florida
Hey Smart People,
Wtf does this article mean? Is the WHO actually not declaring a pandemic because of this??

The bonds are debt financing. What they are doing is supplying capital for an insurance contract, similar to catastrophe reinsurance that keeps insurance companies afloat after disasters like hurricanes. What's really responding to the situation, or waiting to respond, is an insurance policy. Basically, it will say something like "if this many deaths happen in this period of time, we will accept the financial consequences up to this limit."

It's a multi-step risk transfer... take the risk from the local people and local governments and transfer it to a large government organization - government as insurance. Then, because the government organization doesn't actually have the funding for extreme catastrophes, create a financial instrument that allows for the transfer of risk to a corporation, syndicate, or other well funded organization that can underwrite enormous risks. Insurance companies, reinsurance companies, syndicates of insurance and finance houses, etc.

Now you have a contract that says the risk is on the company/syndicate if it reaches a certain level. But that company can also offload part of the risk to sophisticated investors (institutions, family office, rich folks, etc.). Investor buys a bond, and company sells that bond, to supply capital for the insurance program. I would have to read the instrument itself to take you past this point; according to that article, the bond does not perform if the policy pays (or, that's what it implies). At any rate, the bond investors' returns are, in some capacity and through some agreement, tied to whether or not the insurance contract is triggered. That contract probably does not care whether some expert calls this a pandemic. I think it is likely tied to death tolls and dollar amounts. Insurance is usually, though not always, good about things like that. I can name some exceptions to common sense though.

Someone with more google-fu than I have the energy to express today might find a copy of one of these contracts, and then I could tell you a lot more about it. But there is some secondary source information here, which more or less confirms my assumptions about how the contracts would be structured.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

EVMaso

Calm Seas
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
283%
Apr 28, 2019
189
534
Vancouver, Canada
Oh, and my favourite Yum Cha restaurant in Chinatown just shut down after 30 years in business :(
Apparently it's becoming a trend here in Australia, a lot of them closing down.

Not just in Australia, but also North America. It's an immigrant generational thing though.


“These people came to cook so their children wouldn’t have to, and now their children don’t have to.”
 

Rabby

Legendary Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
319%
Aug 26, 2018
1,924
6,128
Florida
From what I understand, there are certain “triggers” that need to be met for the bonds... not just the WHO declaring it a pandemic or not.

The main one we’re waiting on is the 12 weeks, and a second country with more than 20 deaths. We’ve already hit the 250 total deaths.

This Reddit thread has a good explanation (and a link to the actual document):
https://www.reddit.com/r/Coronavirus/comments/f9wwru View: https://www.reddit.com/r/Coronavirus/comments/f9wwru/425m_in_world_bank_catastrophe_bonds_set_to/

Blessings upon you for finding that original document. The google is strong in this one.
 

Rabby

Legendary Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
319%
Aug 26, 2018
1,924
6,128
Florida
I just want to mention that since we have pandemic bonds, we had might as well develop pandemic futures and pandemic futures-options. Who has a contact at CBOE?
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

PizzaOnTheRoof

Moving Forward
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
220%
Jul 30, 2018
1,218
2,682
Texas
Best case you just eat the food and drink the water.

Worst case you NEED food and water and YOU DONT HAVE IT.

Please prepare guys. This is not SARS, Swine Flu, or Bird Flu. We don’t even know how similar to the flu it even is.

A viable vaccine is minimum 12 months away.

SARS didn’t shutdown entire countries.

Asymptomatic transmission, HIV component, re-infection of recovered patients.

These are not traits of “another flu”. Give me a break.

Don't panic but FFS take it seriously.
 

GIlman

Still Gilman
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
604%
Oct 16, 2014
801
4,842
Best case you just eat the food and drink the water.

Worst case you NEED food and water and YOU DONT HAVE IT.

Please prepare guys. This is not SARS, Swine Flu, or Bird Flu. We don’t even know how similar to the flu it even is.

A viable vaccine is minimum 12 months away.

SARS didn’t shutdown entire countries.

Asymptomatic transmission, HIV component, re-infection of recovered patients.

These are not traits of “another flu”. Give me a break.

Don't panic but FFS take it seriously.

I’ve seen no indication that this virus has any HIV component. I think some people have construed this because it is an RNA virus and HIV is also a RNA virus.

Coronavirus however contains actual RNA that directly codes for proteins. HIV contains negative sense RNA and an enzyme called reverse transcriptase that allows it to convert the negative RNA into normal RNA that can then encode proteins.

Your genes are carried on DNA and your cells produce RNA as temporary templates to make proteins.
 

PizzaOnTheRoof

Moving Forward
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
220%
Jul 30, 2018
1,218
2,682
Texas
I’ve seen no indication that this virus has any HIV component. I think some people have construed this because it is an RNA virus and HIV is also a RNA virus.

Coronavirus however contains actual RNA that directly codes for proteins. HIV contains negative sense RNA and an enzyme called reverse transcriptase that allows it to convert the negative RNA into normal RNA that can then encode proteins.

Your genes are carried on DNA and your cells produce RNA as temporary templates to make proteins.
My bad. Not directly HIV but HIV-Like.


“Has an HIV-like mutation that means its ability to bind with human cells could be up to 1,000 times as strong as the Sars virus, according to new research by scientists in China and Europe.”
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

PizzaOnTheRoof

Moving Forward
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
220%
Jul 30, 2018
1,218
2,682
Texas
I don’t buy that people can get it a second time, especially in such a short timeframe.

imagine that when you get infected, the volume of viruses produced becomes like a swimming pool full of water. Your immune system mounts a response and drains the pool. Then right after it’s challenged with 1 drop and all the immunity your body built to drain the pool can’t handle that one drop.

unlikely. Unless you encounter a mutated virus your immunity is ineffective against.

sometimes immunity can dwindle over time, but not in days or weeks. Usually it’s years or decades.

the more likely explanation is that either the first of the second Illness was misattributed to Coronavirus. something like a false positive test result. Or they are going on clinical symptoms alone which is highly inaccurate.
I agree. If you didn't make antibodies strong enough to overcome the virus, you wouldn't get over the virus in the first place. Getting re-infected soon after recovery would imply a different strain, mutated sufficiently that your antibodies became irrelevant.
 

GIlman

Still Gilman
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
604%
Oct 16, 2014
801
4,842
Reading that article they are making a case for a second wave of The same infection more than a reinfection with a separate second inoculation. Granted from a patients perspective it’s all the same.

patients were cleared by throat and nose swabs, doesn’t mean it’s cleared in the lungs. They used xrays and CT’s to do that. I happen to know a whole lot about that, and CT’s can’t tell you if a pathogen is cleared, just if there is inflammation or fluid in the lungs.

As I read that article the two most likely reasons are wrong test results clearing the patient (false negative) or that there was a resurgence of the disease. There is another illness, which I can’t remember, that has this bimodal pattern. You will get better then there will be a second resurgence.
 

nowap

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
221%
Jan 24, 2020
28
62
There is another illness, which I can’t remember, that has this bimodal pattern. You will get better then there will be a second resurgence.
Malaria? Although I am not sure you will feel completely better in between the fever waves.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Timmy C

I Will Not Stop!
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
230%
Jun 12, 2018
2,921
6,727
Melbourne, Australia
Just listed some masks for sale on ebay, if its good enough for others its good enough for me. Trying to sell the same items elsewhere. Testing to see what channel is the best. Just arbitrage until i can determine that yes i can sell them.

Got a few importers im in contact with to.

Best to take it seriously guys, don't think anyone should panic, unless you haven't prepared that is.
 

GSF

Silver Contributor
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
278%
Aug 25, 2012
339
941
2020-02-28-11-05-15-png.30790

Think we'll see a significant breakout through Europe (outside of italy) in coming weeks or maybe days.

Was due to travel abroad this weekend, booked it last year. Have cancelled. Area got its first case a few days ago close to where i was going and more have since followed. Healthwise im higher risk. Dont want chance of being quarantined abroad. Dont want to risk bringing it back and spreading it. Not worth the risk.
 

Attachments

  • 2020-02-28 11.05.15.png
    2020-02-28 11.05.15.png
    149.8 KB · Views: 171
Last edited:

nowap

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
221%
Jan 24, 2020
28
62
I'm keeping an eye on the warmer / tropical countries. Nothing much seems to be happening there.

The cases in Malaysia were mostly 'imported'. Although some local infections have happened, nothing really happened there.

Same in Thailand and Philippines. Indonesia has 0 infections, which may or may not be true. But there's nothing similar to Italy or South Korea happening there.

Which is extraordinary, given the closeness to the source of the outbreak and the amount of travel between China and those countries.

Singapore has got quite a few cases now. But it's going up linear, not exponentially like in Italy or S.Korea, 2 to 5 new cases per day maybe.

update: from studies with SARS (238 cases in Singapore ) it is suspected that the "intensive use of air-conditioning" was a factor in the spread.

(here is a nice overview of transmissions in Singapore: C0VlD-19 cases in Singapore)

There's now 1 case in Brazil (summer/hot) and 1 in Nigeria (also hot). Both are 'imported' Italians. Hoping for the best there.

In Wuhan it is cold. South Korea it is cold now. North of Italy is cold. A lot of new infections are happening in France, Germany and Holland.. also cold now.

There is 1 case in Sevilla, Spain where they don't know how the man got it. Which is worrying.

He has been in the hospital for a few days, and from what I understood (my Spanish is not so good) he was not in quarantine for the first few days. Here's an interview with him (in Spanish): El sevillano con coronavirus: «No estoy asustado, los médicos me transmiten mucha tranquilidad»

update: 69 health workers from the hospital have been send home for self-quarantine for 14 days.

The Italians admitted that the hospital also didn't quarantine one of the early cases. He probably infected many in the hospital, starting the outbreak.

So very interested to see how things in Sevilla will go. Both because I live quite closeby, and also because it's quite warm here now (20+ degrees Celsius in the afternoon).
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.
Last edited:

GIlman

Still Gilman
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
604%
Oct 16, 2014
801
4,842
I saw this morning, that health care workers in California who had exposure to that patient have been asked to self-quarantine for 14 days. It dawned on me this morning that the best option is to get the virus early or not at all. Getting the virus late is a huge gamble.

What is it that sets the US apart from say China, a huge part of it is the quality and availability of our medical care here. But what happens when that care is not available for the following reasons:

1) There are only so many ICU nurses, Respiratory therapists, Intensivists (MD), Radiologists (MD), and other staff that make the critical care system work. What happens when too many are either sick, or simply quarantined for fear they could infect other patients. Only Radiologists can work from home, at least for diagnostic purposes. Everyone else really has to be there in person.

2) There are only so many ICU rooms that can support critical patients, and many hospital are already running at high capacity. What happens when there are no more available rooms available for new patients.

3) Each hospital only has so many ventilators and other equipment for critical patients, what happens when they are all in use already.

4) ICU Patients take very specific types of drugs to keep their blood pressure up and to force their body to keep fighting. I don't know the specifics of any drug, but some are almost certainly made in china or have components that come from China. What happens when these drugs run short.

Any one or all of these things and we are more or less reduced to near China level medical care. So that's why I say odds are better if you get severe illness to get it early while resources are still available, or not get it at all...of course a whole bunch of people won't need advanced care, but it is a roll of the dice if you or I will be one that does.
 
D

DeletedUser0287

Guest
Weren't the testing methodologies from CDC wildly inaccurate? Is it true they are just diagnosing people based on symptoms alone, since there aren't any accurate testing methods?

A person has fever, cough, sore throat....gee I guess that narrows it to every other illness. But they diagnose like you got coroavirus! I just think the numbers are wayyyy overblown. Feel like majority just have the regular flu or cold.
 

Bekit

Legendary Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
493%
Aug 13, 2018
1,135
5,601
I've thought the same thing. The lucky ones are the ones who get it early, while there's still medical care.

I don't know the specifics of any drug, but some are almost certainly made in china or have components that come from China. What happens when these drugs run short.
Yeah, this really worries me.

(article published in Aug 2019, so it's not "loaded" with any coronavirus-tainted opinions)

^^According to the Council on Foreign Relations , 97 percent of all antibiotics in the United States come from China.

In addition,

About 80 percent of the active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) used to make drugs in the United States are said to come from China and other countries like India.

Cool, so can we just switch to India for a supply of these ingredients?

It is true that many Indian pharmaceutical firms are leading API manufacturers but India depends on China for sourcing nearly three quarters of APIs in generic drug formulations.

A drug shortage will affect anyone with medical needs. People who need surgeries. Women who deliver babies. Anyone with chronic illness.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.
D

DeletedUser0287

Guest
Cool, so can we just switch to India for a supply of these ingredients?

What is up with this xenophobia? Do people not realize that most viruses don't survive very long outside the human body? For example, you can't catch HIV from a toilet seat. Idk maybe this virus is different
 

nowap

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
221%
Jan 24, 2020
28
62
What is up with this xenophobia? Do people not realize that most viruses don't survive very long outside the human body? For example, you can't catch HIV from a toilet seat. Idk maybe this virus is different
I believe Bekit is talking about supply problems (factories closed in China, etc), not virus infection of the boxes.
 

Bekit

Legendary Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
493%
Aug 13, 2018
1,135
5,601
I believe Bekit is talking about supply problems (factories closed in China, etc), not virus infection of the boxes.
Yes. Supply problems.

According to White House Trade Advisor Peter Navarro, China has already banned the export of N95 masks and nationalized a US factory that produced them there.

View: https://youtu.be/ImxuY_yLCBQ?t=67


What if they ban the export of pharmaceuticals next?

It could become difficult even to find generic items like penicillin or vitamin C.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

JAJT

Legendary Contributor
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
549%
Aug 7, 2012
2,970
16,306
Ontario, Canada
Was shopping yesterday and noticed that there's already been a run on sanitizer and various cold/flu medications. Big brands were all out of stock and the generics looked like they were also starting to take a hit.

This is in the Ottawa suburbs. The closest confirmed case of this virus was a 5 hour drive away in Toronto (there's a new case in Montreal this morning but nobody knew about it at the time of my shopping trip).

The news last night kept throwing "supplies running out" stories for our city as well. The panic is setting in.

If your medicine cabinet and first aid kit isn't well stocked - you should be looking to do so now, even if you don't live anywhere close to a confirmed case.

This isn't about being a "prepper" by any stretch. This is about KNOWING there's going to be a very real supply problem on certain items and making sure you have what you need.

There is all kinds of speculation about how bad the virus itself is going to be, and whether or not you'll even be hit with it where you live - but that doesn't really matter. There is no doubt at all about how people are going to behave as panic rises. It's smart to get ahead of it.
 

Envision

Legendary Contributor
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
779%
May 5, 2014
861
6,707
Do you have much official confirmation? Just curious really

I have spoken to a lot of sales managers that are back to work. factory owners hoping for the best..I have received a lot of "we will begin soon" from many factories that I deal with.

I've also received "our factory is back to work" from plenty of new contacts on Alibaba.

My bicycle factories keep saying they're opening soon but cannot comment on when component factories will open as well. Only that they have applied to reopen "soon" It's all quite terrible at the moment.

We have some staff going back to Yiwu but Yiwu market is a ghost town with very few shops open even though the Yiwu government is providing free hotels and even flights in some cases to kick things off again.

I'm dealing with a couple of factories in the south that say they will open back up on the 1st but nothing is guaranteed as far as I'm concerned. Another factory in Hebei says back to work, production on schedule, and shipment to sail out next Sunday but it's difficult to get that actual shipment booking out of them. Waited all day today..

So I'm curious if small capacity is small production capacity or just people answering and quoting / hoping for deposits so they don't collapse. Seems most factories are just hoping to spread good news so people don't begin looking at other countries

Photos, and I sent orders that will complete at the end of March/Beginning of April. Im not so much concerned with them producing my orders but the ports and shipping being screwed from everything so I am air shipping until this settles down. Id rather lose money on shipping than run out of stock.

Obviously they are operating at a fraction of capacity. Not posting others because it shows my type of products. but this is typical in most photos
30791
 

Vigilante

Legendary Contributor
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
596%
Oct 31, 2011
11,116
66,265
Gulf Coast
What is up with this xenophobia? Do people not realize that most viruses don't survive very long outside the human body? For example, you can't catch HIV from a toilet seat. Idk maybe this virus is different

xen·o·pho·bi·a
/ˌzenəˈfōbēə,ˌzēnəˈfōbēə/
noun
dislike of or prejudice against people from other countries.

What could you have possibly read in ANY of the comments here that would lead you to conclude anyone is posting from a position of xenophobia? That has zero to do with any reaction I have read in this thread.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

MTEE1985

Platinum Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
425%
Jun 12, 2018
685
2,914
Arizona
xen·o·pho·bi·a
/ˌzenəˈfōbēə,ˌzēnəˈfōbēə/
noun
dislike of or prejudice against people from other countries.

What could you have possibly read in ANY of the comments here that would lead you to conclude anyone is posting from a position of xenophobia? That has zero to do with any reaction I have read in this thread.

pro·jec·tion
Noun

the unconscious transfer of one's own desires or emotions to another person.


Anyways, thanks all for the updates. This thread is exponentially more informative than any news source right now.
 

Vigilante

Legendary Contributor
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
596%
Oct 31, 2011
11,116
66,265
Gulf Coast

Madame Peccato

Gold Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
311%
Jul 14, 2018
659
2,048
31
Morbegno, Italy
Here in Italy we are re-opening schools. The same goes for museums, bars, cinemas, and every other aggregation place.

Take this information as you will.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

GIlman

Still Gilman
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
604%
Oct 16, 2014
801
4,842
Weren't the testing methodologies from CDC wildly inaccurate? Is it true they are just diagnosing people based on symptoms alone, since there aren't any accurate testing methods?

A person has fever, cough, sore throat....gee I guess that narrows it to every other illness. But they diagnose like you got coroavirus! I just think the numbers are wayyyy overblown. Feel like majority just have the regular flu or cold.

the only way to know is to get a sample and test it. I haven’t looked into the test but assume it is an ELISA or PCR. Realize that the US has not been testing people. Last I heard 430ish tests had been done. It was just assumed that if you didn’t have risk factors you were ok. Expect for there to be pockets of infection that just pop up just like happened in Italy.

the problem without testing is that it looks like other viral pneumonia’s. Here is a case I had recently, this looks like how they describe C0VlD-19, but also more likely just viral pneumonia. Only way to know is to test everyone with generic upper respiratory symptoms (I.e. cough, runny nose, fever, aches, etc). Fwiw these are also the same symptoms as hiv and many other viral illness

51C8505F-322D-4EE0-B6A4-9AAF4EACDF2A.jpeg

p.s. the black lung is normal the grey lung is the infection.
 
Last edited:

MJ DeMarco

I followed the science; all I found was money.
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
445%
Jul 23, 2007
38,079
169,494
Utah
Just for the record, I believe @GIlman is a doctor, correct? Radiologist? So he's not speaking from a YouTube knowledge base.
 

GIlman

Still Gilman
FASTLANE INSIDER
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
604%
Oct 16, 2014
801
4,842
Correct, specialized in emergency radiology. If you get a CT in the ER Someone like me is reading it.

Just for the record, I believe @GIlman is a doctor, correct? Radiologist? So he's not speaking from a YouTube knowledge base.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Post New Topic

Please SEARCH before posting.
Please select the BEST category.

Post new topic

Guest post submissions offered HERE.

Latest Posts

New Topics

Fastlane Insiders

View the forum AD FREE.
Private, unindexed content
Detailed process/execution threads
Ideas needing execution, more!

Join Fastlane Insiders.

Top