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

RazorCut

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Extrapolate this idea to a smaller scale - what if your neighbors start snagging your Amazon boxes and potential food delivery boxes (butcher box, etc)?

Good people steal (and worse) when they're scared and trying to look out for their own.

Do we really need to go down this thought process right now? This thread is already depressing enough without hypothesising the world turning in to an episode of The Walking Dead.
 
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RazorCut

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They're helping with logistics and setting up tents and cots to treat hospital overflow. They're not armed in any of the photos I've seen, so they're not gearing up for a lockdown.

Thanks for that. Lets face it all military forces should be utilised to help wherever they can right now. There are a lot of personnel that can be utilised. Drivers, medics etc. etc.. Hopefully they are being deployed already or moved into place ready for a swift response.
 

Lex DeVille

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Extrapolate this idea to a smaller scale - what if your neighbors start snagging your Amazon boxes and potential food delivery boxes (butcher box, etc)?

Good people steal (and worse) when they're scared and trying to look out for their own.

What if good men and women start working to bring their communities together so people don't have to steal from one another? This isn't a stab at you. It's something I'm working on for our community.

We have access to NextDoor.com.
We can create chat rooms and Facebook Groups and other outlets for free.

It doesn't have to be a me versus you scenario. That's not the only option.
 

Ved Vardhan

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If only that were the case in England/Wales. Idiots thinking they will hit the beaches and public parks because they have all this time off is ridiculous. Mind you having a government that suggests people stay in and observe social distancing like friendly advice from an old uncle rather than be straight and forthright and say stay the F*ck away from each other voluntarily or we will force you within a couple of days doesn’t help.

Maybe some public information films showing people actually dying might bring the seriousness of the situation home.

So many people think they can just carry on as usual because it doesn’t really effect them, and one extra person going about their normal daily routine won’t hurt will it? Well guess what, when hundreds of thousands think the exact same thing you end up making matters far worse.

This is Wales on the weekend. Those cars are parked on the road because the car parks are full to busting.View attachment 31422
reminds me of pic from Italy on 25 Feb 2020 when no one was taking government instruction seriously .
 
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Ernman

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Extrapolate this idea to a smaller scale - what if your neighbors start snagging your Amazon boxes and potential food delivery boxes (butcher box, etc)?

Good people steal (and worse) when they're scared and trying to look out for their own.
The shame of it is that there is plenty to go around IF people would stop hoarding and wasting critical resources. N95 masks are a perfect example. Most people don't need a mask. But so many, either ignorant or misinformed, want them. The result is insufficient supplies where they are needed.
 

Tossek

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It is really amazing to see that political parties can work together. The government wrote up the monetary relief law in two days and an update of the infection law within one day. The federal parliament and council approved them within one day. The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

:hilarious:
 

WillHurtDontCare

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What if good men and women start working to bring their communities together so people don't have to steal from one another? This isn't a stab at you. It's something I'm working on for our community.

I'm playing the role of Mr. Apocalypse in this thread so any comment that I make should be taken with a few grains (or more) of salt. And what you're getting at is where the real opportunities lie in times like these.

It doesn't have to be a me versus you scenario. That's not the only option.

You're right. And even if it does get bad, you will need help - helping the right people is essential during times of uncertainty.
 
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WillHurtDontCare

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The shame of it is that there is plenty to go around IF people would stop hoarding and wasting critical resources. N95 masks are a perfect example. Most people don't need a mask. But so many, either ignorant or misinformed, want them. The result is insufficient supplies where they are needed.

The leaders of healthcare systems should be lambasted for being vulnerable to random people buying up the supplies they need. Why didn't they have backup plans? They're in the business of things going horribly wrong. I put the blame squarely on them.
 

tpf

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31424

My community is getting organized.

Apparently 8,000 of these are being delivered as we speak (or type). The reverse features contact details and a list of jobs that you can ask people to do.

We've not be able to take part in printing them or getting them through letter boxes, our job is self isolating right now...
 

GIlman

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The leaders of healthcare systems should be lambasted for being vulnerable to random people buying up the supplies they need. Why didn't they have backup plans? They're in the business of things going horribly wrong. I put the blame squarely on them.

yes, there is blame here.

But realize a huge part of the issue is regulation. I’m not sure, but I’m guessing, that like many products n95 and other masks have an expiration. So hospitals and others don’t any too much stock of things on hand because if they expire, they have to be wasted. do these items need an expiration. I’m going to guess likely not, or a very long one if at all.

The joint commission on hospital accreditation and other certifying organizations tighten the screws every year on hospitals. These are not research driven decisions, these are committees sitting around making decisions. And hospitals must comply.

as an example, just a couple months ago one of the hospitals here in AZ the joint commission came around. One of the things they were cracking down on, wearing the same mask for more than one case. So literally as this crisis was brewing, supply was tightening, they were forcing hospitals to use more mask than ever before. As long as I can remember, everyone has reused masks, between cases you release the top string and it would hang around your neck. For the next case you would rescuer the top string.

Extreme over regulation in medicine (and many many other industries), has caused prices to spike, and needless waste of time and resources. Hopefully we learn some lessons and become less of a throw away and live in the moment society.
 
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GrandRub

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It is really amazing to see that political parties can work together. The government wrote up the monetary relief law in two days and an update of the infection law within one day. The federal parliament and council approved them within one day. The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

:hilarious:

i hope these "government aides" for freelancers and small businesses will be there fast ... i heard something like 9000€ for 3 months for smaller businesses up to 5 employees ...
 

sparechange

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Norm MacDonald suggested a new name for Covid19. Shall we all start calling it Tom Hanks Disease?

As a Canadian I like trumps name of China virus
 
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Kak

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VERY interesting article...

From where I am standing and in my opinion we are only seeing the tip of the iceberg. Through the reports of completely asymptomatic individuals or symptoms mild enough that folks are mistakenly thinking it is allergies, I am sure there are millions upon millions of undocumented cases of the virus worldwide and it is likely only reported in the more noticeable cases.

The reasons I think this might be the case...

1. Testing shortages.
2. Likelihood of someone with super mild or nonexistent symptoms to even get tested.
3. The likelihood of only people with legitimate concerns showing up for a test.
4. The sheer exponential nature of spread

Today Trump tweeted something that I finally wanted to clap for. Amidst the things that the government on both sides of the aisle have done or attempted to do during this pandemic that have made me cringe... The president tweeted this: “WE CANNOT LET THE CURE BE WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM ITSELF,” I couldn't agree more.

We all talk about flattening the curve in terms of not overrunning hospitals. There is no question that these measures do save some lives... But is it worth completely trashing the economy?

The question is this... Of the people that require treatment... What percentage of them would unfortunately die anyway? What percentage of cases are saved, not by the hospital itself, but the curve flattening efforts? I would be willing to bet very very few.

Here is an example: We have less than 20 documented cases in our county. 90% of them are at home, self quarantining. We have a massive medical center and at least 5 hospitals. The curve flattening efforts in Montgomery County Texas have thus far done absolutely nothing for survivability. The economic damage of the policy, however, is real and is going to last.

Furthermore does flattening the curve save THAT MANY more lives? Not to sound heartless, but is one person's life worth 10,000 out of work? Would they have died anyway? The economy suffers the consequences of the policy whether they live or die. That is an ethical and moral dilemma in the highest form.

Given that more of us have had this than we even know, would it be better to just have the highest risk individuals take the most precaution while the rest of us move boldly forward with life while also supporting them in that effort? In my thoughts, yes. It supports freedom and it supports the economy.
 
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sparechange

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2 trillion holy crap

You Americans really love debt eh?
 

lowtek

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VERY interesting article...

From where I am standing and in my opinion we are only seeing the tip of the iceberg. Through the reports of completely asymptomatic individuals or symptoms mild enough that folks are mistakenly thinking it is allergies, I am sure there are millions upon millions of undocumented cases of the virus worldwide and it is likely only reported in the more noticeable cases.

The reasons I think this might be the case...

1. Testing shortages.
2. Likeliness of someone with super mild or nonexistent symptoms to even get tested.
3. The likelihood of only people with legitimate concerns even showing up for a test.
4. The sheer exponential nature of spread

Today Trump tweeted something that I finally wanted to clap for. Amidst the things that the government on both sides of the aisle have done or attempted to do during this pandemic that have made me cringe... The president tweeted this: “WE CANNOT LET THE CURE BE WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM ITSELF,” I couldn't agree more.

We all talk about flattening the curve in terms of not overrunning hospitals. There is no question that these measures do save some lives... But is it worth completely trashing the economy?

The question is this... Of the people that require treatment... What percentage of them would unfortunately die anyway? What percentage of cases are saved, not by the hospital itself, but the curve flattening efforts? I would be willing to bet very very few.

Here is an example: We have less than 20 documented cases in our county. 90% of them are at home, self quarantining. We have a massive medical center and at least 5 hospitals. I am not really worried about ventilator shortage here, but the economic damage is real and is going to last.

Furthermore does flattening the curve save THAT MANY more lives? Not to sound heartless, but is person's life worth 10,000 out of work? Would they have died anyway? If these individuals would have died anyway, were the efforts worth it? The economy suffers the consequences of the policy whether they live or die. That is an ethical and moral dilemma in the highest form.

Given that more of us have had this than we even know, would it be better to just have the highest risk individuals take the most precaution while the rest of us move boldly forward with life while also supporting them in that effort? In my thoughts, yes. It supports freedom and it supports the economy.

I'm starting to come around to this as well.

We sacrifice many hundreds of thousands of lives a year in the name of freedom.

How many could we save by banning the elderly from driving? How many could we save by doing away with private ownership of vehicles altogether, coupled with a rebuild of all our cities?

How many could we save by banning fast food? Cancer and heart disease are right at the top of the list of causes of death, both of which are helped along by obesity.

The list goes on. There's a million ways to die and we navigate the tradeoff between risk and freedom every single day. A new virus comes around and suddenly we're supposed to shut down life as we know it indefinitely?

Is there a way of protecting the most vulnerable that doesn't involve surrendering yet more liberty to an already voracious government? Did we end the patriot act after killing Bin Laden? Why should anybody believe the surveillance and precedents we put in place now will be completely discarded later?

We know that the moment a lock down is lifted the virus spreads again anyway. We don't know if a vaccine could be developed in any reasonable time frame, but we do know that we can get some type of herd immunity. How can we manage that process so as to not overwhelm the medical system?
 
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Kak

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Is there a way of protecting the most vulnerable that doesn't involve surrendering yet more liberty to an already voracious government? Did we end the patriot act after killing Bin Laden? Why should anybody believe the surveillance and precedents we put in place now will be completely discarded later?

LOL Lindsey Graham wants law enforcement to be able to look through all of our devices remotely. So no. It isn’t over.

The man wants to flat out ban encryption. Says it is only for “perverts.” You can’t make that shit up.
 

tpf

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If government had been doing its job and stocking this stuff all along,


I'm starting to come around to this as well.

We sacrifice many hundreds of thousands of lives a year in the name of freedom.

How many could we save by banning the elderly from driving? How many could we save by doing away with private ownership of vehicles altogether, coupled with a rebuild of all our cities?

How many could we save by banning fast food? Cancer and heart disease are right at the top of the list of causes of death, both of which are helped along by obesity.

The list goes on. There's a million ways to die and we navigate the tradeoff between risk and freedom every single day. A new virus comes around and suddenly we're supposed to shut down life as we know it indefinitely?

Is there a way of protecting the most vulnerable that doesn't involve surrendering yet more liberty to an already voracious government? Did we end the patriot act after killing Bin Laden? Why should anybody believe the surveillance and precedents we put in place now will be completely discarded later?

We know that the moment a lock down is lifted the virus spreads again anyway. We don't know if a vaccine could be developed in any reasonable time frame, but we do know that we can get some type of herd immunity. How can we manage that process so as to not overwhelm the medical system?

I wonder if this is the UK governments end game plan, as they've started talking about "cocooning" high risk individuals.
 

lowtek

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LOL Lindsey Graham wants law enforcement to be able to look through all of our devices remotely. So no. It isn’t over.

The man wants to flat out ban encryption. Says it is only for “perverts.” You can’t make that shit up.

Only if government decrypts all their data first. If they're not perverts, let's see what they've been hiding.
 
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Pritesh

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Some real concerning things here:

Bill Gates' AMA: Mandatory microchip implants coming to "mark the vaxinated".


ixbanmtdiin41.png
 

Kak

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Only if government decrypts all their data first. If they're not perverts, let's see what they've been hiding.

In theory, we should have had collective access to government files all along. This was supposed to be government of the people, by the people and for the people. Not government nefariously “classifying” everything, INSIDERS trading on the information, and forcing us to do or not do shit.
 

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Tossek

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Just because I like math, I made a quick graph to show the issue of population density:

31427

You can see that the areal states are more or less linear correlated. Which is interesting and shows a bit the issue of bigger population density.
 

GIlman

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VERY interesting article...

From where I am standing and in my opinion we are only seeing the tip of the iceberg. Through the reports of completely asymptomatic individuals or symptoms mild enough that folks are mistakenly thinking it is allergies, I am sure there are millions upon millions of undocumented cases of the virus worldwide and it is likely only reported in the more noticeable cases.

The reasons I think this might be the case...

1. Testing shortages.
2. Likelihood of someone with super mild or nonexistent symptoms to even get tested.
3. The likelihood of only people with legitimate concerns showing up for a test.
4. The sheer exponential nature of spread

Today Trump tweeted something that I finally wanted to clap for. Amidst the things that the government on both sides of the aisle have done or attempted to do during this pandemic that have made me cringe... The president tweeted this: “WE CANNOT LET THE CURE BE WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM ITSELF,” I couldn't agree more.

We all talk about flattening the curve in terms of not overrunning hospitals. There is no question that these measures do save some lives... But is it worth completely trashing the economy?

The question is this... Of the people that require treatment... What percentage of them would unfortunately die anyway? What percentage of cases are saved, not by the hospital itself, but the curve flattening efforts? I would be willing to bet very very few.

Here is an example: We have less than 20 documented cases in our county. 90% of them are at home, self quarantining. We have a massive medical center and at least 5 hospitals. The curve flattening efforts in Montgomery County Texas have thus far done absolutely nothing for survivability. The economic damage of the policy, however, is real and is going to last.

Furthermore does flattening the curve save THAT MANY more lives? Not to sound heartless, but is one person's life worth 10,000 out of work? Would they have died anyway? The economy suffers the consequences of the policy whether they live or die. That is an ethical and moral dilemma in the highest form.

Given that more of us have had this than we even know, would it be better to just have the highest risk individuals take the most precaution while the rest of us move boldly forward with life while also supporting them in that effort? In my thoughts, yes. It supports freedom and it supports the economy.

All very good points. Certainly it’s very hard to make any decisions right now since there is a 3-4 week lag between the decision we make and seeing the effect of that decision. Then if we don’t like the outcome of the first decision we are in an even worse starting point as far as the disease is concerned. But even making decisions like shelter in place carry a huge toll on everyone.

As you allude to, complicated decisions, anything we do is not a one and done. China and other countries in Asia are seeing this. You can control it with strict measures, however relaxing those restrictions results in a resurgence.

Three things seem to be becoming apparent.

1) The death toll and disability can be very significant and are worsened by increased RATE of spread.
2) quarantines if strictly applied stop the spread of disease, but it takes 2-3 months to achieve this effect
3) relaxing the quarantines and strict measures results in new cases and the risk returns

How to manage all these factors and not trash the economy is very hard to say, and quite frankly the two probably cannot be balanced. Sometimes there simply isn’t a solution that’s a win win. I had a long conversation with my brother yesterday, he owns a small business that he has done very well with, and is suffering and fearful of his losses.

I quite frankly don’t know what the answer is, but whichever pathway we choose, one group of people will suffer so another group can live and prosper. At this moment in history there is no way to balance the needs and desires of all groups effectively.

one other thing I am increasingly believing though, every age group of people will suffer much more than they are thinking they will, economically and health. This is likely to be like polio in these generation, leaving visible scars on society that last a lifetime.

Something else I have been considering, is the fate of businesses and jobs significantly different even if the government does nothing. How many people will stop eating out, stop traveling, save more because of uncertainty. If people around them are getting sick and start dying, how will that impact peoples spending patterns? Are those changes temporary or long enough lasting to make the business fail?

EDIT: one other thing I wanted to point out, out government is rushing through legislation, the cost of which is about $5,700 per person. So the cost in debt to a family of 4 is almost $23,000. That same family of 4 will receive about $3,400 in cash. Someone somewhere is going to have to pay for all this, and all the billionaires combined don’t have the resources to do it. The lack of saving and living on the financial edge will eventually catch up with us.
 
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ChrisV

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Some real concerning things here:

Bill Gates' AMA: Mandatory microchip implants coming to "mark the vaxinated".


ixbanmtdiin41.png
Dude come the f--- on. How in God's name do you get "Mandatory microchip implants coming to "mark the vaxinated"." from what Gates said?

It says nothing like that and I'm only even acknowledging this post just in case someone glances over it without reading his actual words.

First off, he said nothing about a microchip. He's probably talking about something more like database with health care records.

Second off he's mainly spitballing here based off some research by MIT regarding work in developing nations.

Having information available of who is immune COVID is extremely valuable to the community. Why? Those people can go back to work!

It baffles me how "maybe we'll have digital tracking to see who is immune" turns into "THEY'RE GIVING MANDATORY CHIPS TO EVERYONE AND IMPLEMENT THE NEW WORLD ORDER." Stop spreading completely unfounded conspiracy theories
 
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ChrisV

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VERY interesting article...

From where I am standing and in my opinion we are only seeing the tip of the iceberg. Through the reports of completely asymptomatic individuals or symptoms mild enough that folks are mistakenly thinking it is allergies, I am sure there are millions upon millions of undocumented cases of the virus worldwide and it is likely only reported in the more noticeable cases.

The reasons I think this might be the case...

1. Testing shortages.
2. Likelihood of someone with super mild or nonexistent symptoms to even get tested.
3. The likelihood of only people with legitimate concerns showing up for a test.
4. The sheer exponential nature of spread

Today Trump tweeted something that I finally wanted to clap for. Amidst the things that the government on both sides of the aisle have done or attempted to do during this pandemic that have made me cringe... The president tweeted this: “WE CANNOT LET THE CURE BE WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM ITSELF,” I couldn't agree more.

We all talk about flattening the curve in terms of not overrunning hospitals. There is no question that these measures do save some lives... But is it worth completely trashing the economy?

The question is this... Of the people that require treatment... What percentage of them would unfortunately die anyway? What percentage of cases are saved, not by the hospital itself, but the curve flattening efforts? I would be willing to bet very very few.

Here is an example: We have less than 20 documented cases in our county. 90% of them are at home, self quarantining. We have a massive medical center and at least 5 hospitals. The curve flattening efforts in Montgomery County Texas have thus far done absolutely nothing for survivability. The economic damage of the policy, however, is real and is going to last.

Furthermore does flattening the curve save THAT MANY more lives? Not to sound heartless, but is one person's life worth 10,000 out of work? Would they have died anyway? The economy suffers the consequences of the policy whether they live or die. That is an ethical and moral dilemma in the highest form.

Given that more of us have had this than we even know, would it be better to just have the highest risk individuals take the most precaution while the rest of us move boldly forward with life while also supporting them in that effort? In my thoughts, yes. It supports freedom and it supports the economy.
I'm starting to come around to this as well.

We sacrifice many hundreds of thousands of lives a year in the name of freedom.

How many could we save by banning the elderly from driving? How many could we save by doing away with private ownership of vehicles altogether, coupled with a rebuild of all our cities?

How many could we save by banning fast food? Cancer and heart disease are right at the top of the list of causes of death, both of which are helped along by obesity.

The list goes on. There's a million ways to die and we navigate the tradeoff between risk and freedom every single day. A new virus comes around and suddenly we're supposed to shut down life as we know it indefinitely?

Is there a way of protecting the most vulnerable that doesn't involve surrendering yet more liberty to an already voracious government? Did we end the patriot act after killing Bin Laden? Why should anybody believe the surveillance and precedents we put in place now will be completely discarded later?

We know that the moment a lock down is lifted the virus spreads again anyway. We don't know if a vaccine could be developed in any reasonable time frame, but we do know that we can get some type of herd immunity. How can we manage that process so as to not overwhelm the medical system?
I'm coming to this conclusion as well. Which is why I was defending @Rivoli a couple pages back. Despite his poor presentation of it, that was essentially his position on it.

I mean shit... we can take everyone 65 years or older or with preexisting conditions and send them all on a 1-2 month all-expense paid luxury cruises with separate cabins and isolated air supplies... pamper them for a month or 2 and still come out ahead financially in comparison to a full shutdown.

By the time they get back from their 2 month fiesta (complete with daily Skype calls from their kids and grandkids, and anything else they love) the population will have build herd immunity and bam. Good to go.

Don't get me wrong... by no means should we put our elderly at risk, but there's got to be a better solution to this than (quite literally) shutting down the entire world and tanking the economy. There has to be ways of protecting them that are smarter than this.

(Btw my cruise suggestion is a bit tongue-in-cheek, but I think it nicely illustrates my point)
 

ChrisV

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- At the end of the day, we’ll likely see a shift in the economy over the next several years as Americans come to grips with how all this played out. Employers may recognize that working from home is a viable option for a lot more employees, which will have a tremendously negative impact on commercial real estate, especially office. And retail real estate could get hit as well, as companies learn to manage online options for their customers.

- My take is that many companies will also realize that they can reduce work travel, opting instead for video communications. This could impact the travel industry considerably – reducing air travel, hotel bookings and restaurants, especially in metropolitan hubs.
This is true, but there's also a counter-argument.

If a system of working from home is more efficient, then on a global level, I think it will be of value.

A good parallel was back in the 90's when the internet started taking off.... that was bad for the print industry (magazines, newspapers,) but it was a more efficient way of doin things as a whole; thus good for humanity in general. Netflix is bad for Comcast, but a more efficient way of doing things.

People who work in the travel and real estate industries are extremely bright and capable. Now their time and mental resources will be freed up to work in other areas.

Yes, certain specific industries will suffer short term, but I think long term it will benefit humanity. More efficiency = more value and less waste. So the way i see it, the more efficiently we can do things, the more value we will be able to deliver in the long run.
 

Ludachris

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That's the neighborhood app I was quoting in my post above - where people are telling a local senior who voiced a concern about the lack of social distancing at the park down the street to mind her own business and stay home if she's scared. I guess at least you can "mute" the trolls on there.
 
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LightningHelix

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Looks like complete lockdown here officially, our primere decided to close down all non-essential services (except grocery, pharmacy, etc.).

Will find out soon how this effects my company.

Source Quebec halts everything but essential services as community transmission of C0VlD-19 detected
 

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I've posted this elsewhere but it just gets rejected because people can't really see past problems or think big. Reckon this is probably more like the place.

The issue is that the virus spreads too fast and hospitalizes and kills too many people to just let it run it's course. I think in the UK that was modelled at causing something like 500,000 deaths. It's not bearable politically and morally it's ghastly.

Vaccines are the long term answer but the best case scenario is a year before one is qualified. It's too far away, the virus could blow through the population if unchecked in 3 months.

Anti-virals might be the golden answer. There's some promising options and they're already approved in certain countries for treating other conditions so would be available quickly if they worked. The clinical trials haven't been completed and we basically do not know if they will work. It's completely unpredictable and any strategy relying on them is purely a gamble. (We should 100% after this crisis be focusing on broad-spectrum anti-viral though).

The herd immunity thing is bullshit. Just run the numbers if you don't believe me. 64m people in the UK, 60% of population required for herd immunity (although 80% would be far better). 38.4m people needing immunity and for it to be a useful policy you'd need to get to that point significantly quicker than with a vaccine to be worthwhile. So to get that in a year you'd need over 105,000 people a day to become immune let alone become infected. There's something like 6.5 ICU beds per 100,000 people in the UK. Say 8 if you're going to sure it. I mean I don't even need to continue here do I.....

Complete lock downs are effective. They are. The question is how long can you do it without destroying your economy and killing more people than the virus would as a side effect. The other major probably is that a single person (or animal) could restart it all over again and herd immunity is out of the window as discussed above. You could maybe do on/off lockdowns (and I think we'll see this in Europe) but the uncertainty is going to savage economies, maybe almost as badly as complete lock downs would.

So vaccines, anti-virals, herd immunity, lock downs and going Leeroy Jenkins on it are all out. What else can be leveraged?

Testing. Strategic testing combined with tracing, quarantining and tactical lock downs of affected areas. The problem is that not anywhere enough testing happens for it to be effective. But unlike say the length of vaccine trials, testing limitations are a factor we can leverage.

Imagine if we could test every single person in the country in the space of a week. And do it again a week later. Would we really need to shut much down if we had that much knowledge of infection?

Ah but we don't have enough tests, can't process that many, don't have the labs. Yeah £%$*%^ obviously! But is it impossible or just hard? It's just hard isn't it.

No one is asking the question, what would we need to do to be able to regularly test people on a population wide scale? What test would be most suited? What chemicals are required? What kind of production process would be needed to produce the kits? How could we massively scale up the number of labs available? Who in the population has the skills to work in a lab but isn't working in coronavirus? How could we mobilize and train these people on mass? How could we collect samples on mass?

I'm pretty sure if you went on a war footing and threw all the money and political capital you had at it, it could work.
 

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