Coronavirus Sars-CoV-2/Covid-19 Megathread

[Josquius]

Johnson has already shown however that he is more than happy to burn his own principles for more power.

[Fate]

https://www.axios.com/chloroquine-coronavirus-death-09c91a91-4fe7-472c-9de9-79b890aa8fff.html

DO NOT SELF MEDICATE WITH CHLOROQUINE WITHOUT A DOCTOR'S SUPERVISION.

Today a man overdosed and killed himself with chloroquine and his wife is in the ICU. It can cause cardiotoxicity and interacts with other medications you may be taking that can increase its toxicity. Be careful and share with your families incase they are thinking about taking this because of all the news hype out there.

[Admiral Yi]

SO FAKE

[fromtia]

There was a minute there last week where it looked like Trump was listening to his handlers and he was going to try to do a bit of governing and sound kinda sorta Presidential. Republicans in the Senate were going to outflank the Congressional Democrats on the left with some temporary UBI and so on.

But no.

USA as full blown banana-republic dystopia is back in full effect. With new global pandemic/economic catastrophe sauce!!

[Duque de Bragança]

There's a preliminary story by italian researchers establishing a link between pollution and the spread the virus.  Seems like the virus would traval within microscopic particules of pollution to infect other people.  I have posted the link below, in italian, for the benefit of our resident italien members.

the results are very preliminary, but they would explain why Lombardia had such a rapid and very high infection rate, as the region is known to have a lot of these floating particles.

Link

Shit. I really hope that's not it or I'm fucked. If there is something in abundance at work it's soot. You can't weld shit without the stuff getting everywhere.

If true, very bad news for cities like London or Paris...

[Josquius]

Time to hope for rain? We've been having good weather lately.

[Sheilbh]

There was a minute there last week where it looked like Trump was listening to his handlers and he was going to try to do a bit of governing and sound kinda sorta Presidential. Republicans in the Senate were going to outflank the Congressional Democrats on the left with some temporary UBI and so on.

But no.

USA as full blown banana-republic dystopia is back in full effect. With new global pandemic/economic catastrophe sauce!!

I'm also dubious UBI is a solution here. It's useful for some people, but in general I think it'd be better if you basically paid companies to keep employees furloughed.

It seems to me that it'd be more helpful to have viable companies with employees at the end of this, than profoundly understaffed companies and mass unemployment.

[Admiral Yi]

I'm also dubious UBI is a solution here. It's useful for some people, but in general I think it'd be better if you basically paid companies to keep employees furloughed.

It seems to me that it'd be more helpful to have viable companies with employees at the end of this, than profoundly understaffed companies and mass unemployment.

That's some pretty Peronist thinking there.  Nobody is working, but let's pretend they're not unemployed so the numbers look good.

[Sheilbh]

It's the approach in most of Europe.

My reasoning is if we can get out of this quickly there should be a very quick recovery and we'll be better off with companies at capacity that can respond to that rebound than ones that are suddenly having to take on lots of staff, train people up etc.

I think there's space for the UBI - possibly at this point for the unemployed and self-employed - but it sort of feels like "everything looks like a nail" of social policy at the minute. It could also have a role if this actually goes on for 18-24 months and there's unlikely to be a very quick recovery.

[Tamas]

There's a preliminary story by italian researchers establishing a link between pollution and the spread the virus.  Seems like the virus would traval within microscopic particules of pollution to infect other people.  I have posted the link below, in italian, for the benefit of our resident italien members.

the results are very preliminary, but they would explain why Lombardia had such a rapid and very high infection rate, as the region is known to have a lot of these floating particles.

Link

Shit. I really hope that's not it or I'm fucked. If there is something in abundance at work it's soot. You can't weld shit without the stuff getting everywhere.

If true, very bad news for cities like London or Paris...

I think its probably a case of having a conclusion and making the statistics match it.

You'll have more cases in population centres and those will have higher pollution.

[Admiral Yi]

It's the approach in most of Europe.

My reasoning is if we can get out of this quickly there should be a very quick recovery and we'll be better off with companies at capacity that can respond to that rebound than ones that are suddenly having to take on lots of staff, train people up etc.

I think there's space for the UBI - possibly at this point for the unemployed and self-employed - but it sort of feels like "everything looks like a nail" of social policy at the minute. It could also have a role if this actually goes on for 18-24 months and there's unlikely to be a very quick recovery.

I don't see the distinction you're trying to make.  I imagine most places that are forced to close are telling staff they will be contacted when it's safe to return to work.

[Sheilbh]

I don't see the distinction you're trying to make.  I imagine most places that are forced to close are telling staff they will be contacted when it's safe to return to work.

And you want to go back to work for the guy who fired you in the middle of a pandemic before your income was sorted out?

I'm already keeping a tally of good and bad companies to inform my purchasing at the end of this.

[Admiral Yi]

And you want to go back to work for the guy who fired you in the middle of a pandemic before your income was sorted out?

I'm already keeping a tally of good and bad companies to inform my purchasing at the end of this.

I assumed that someone in, say, Fromagia's position would think I'm fucked and my place of work is fucked, but after this is over let's get back to work.

But I do kinda see your POV now that you're spelled it out.  Maybe laid off workers will be furious they weren't paid while the company was shut down.

On the other hand, why would they be less furious if Uncle Sam paid them while the company was shut down, but passed it through the company?

[fromtia]

I don't see the distinction you're trying to make.  I imagine most places that are forced to close are telling staff they will be contacted when it's safe to return to work.

I have been told to expect to return to work April 6th when the Governors current order to close comes to an end. Pending possible extension of that order.

I haven't done any public assistance, unemployment or anything like that yet. The 14 days of sick pay is probably a mirage. No clue whats happening with my health insurance.

I would need zero assistance if this was the case, but I suspect very strongly that it is not the case and that we are looking at months of various stages of lockdown and the aftermath.

[Iormlund]

And you want to go back to work for the guy who fired you in the middle of a pandemic before your income was sorted out?

That really depends on the circumstances. I wouldn't mind working for the guys that laid me off in the previous recession. They waited longer than I would have and basically chose whomever was cheapest to fire, which I can understand. They were so ashamed they wouldn't even look at me in the eye that last day.