Coronavirus Sars-CoV-2/Covid-19 Megathread

[Admiral Yi]

Did your work get shuttered?

I work from home.  My April project got canceled because kids couldn't sit together in a room taking a test.  I'm signed up for something in May, but that's on site and I don't see how shoving 300 people into an airplane hangar is going to be allowed.

[fromtia]

I work from home.  My April project got canceled because kids couldn't sit together in a room taking a test.  I'm signed up for something in May, but that's on site and I don't see how shoving 300 people into an airplane hangar is going to be allowed.

hmm, yeah you are probably right about the hangar.

[PDH]

Who knows, by next week Trump might say that social distancing is bad for the markets and we can go back to a fun loving and happy economy.

[fromtia]

Who knows, by next week Trump might say that social distancing is bad for the markets and we can go back to a fun loving and happy economy.

Yeah there seems to be an economy faction pushing for that. They are using Fox to send him messages. That's going to be a wild development.

[Admiral Yi]

So far that hasn't been Trump's call to make, but the various governors.

[merithyn]

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.

You know that in most of Europe people automatically get healthcare and can apply much more easily for unemployment than in the States, yes?

You simply can't compare the two. It's like apples and daggers.

[Sheilbh]

Interesting new FT Tracker of the affected regions - London stats difficult to get but, I think, it's probably the same as Lombardia and they are trying to source data. NY, Catalonia and Madrid are very concerning:

[Admiral Yi]

One of the greatest joys of this crisis ending will be not having to look at any more log graphs.

[Sheilbh]

You know that in most of Europe people automatically get healthcare and can apply much more easily for unemployment than in the States, yes?

You simply can't compare the two. It's like apples and daggers.

Of course - and there's huge variance across Europe. Isn't the healthcare situation is another reason in the US you'd want to keep people employed but furloughed? UBI may be the best policy, but it seems an odd one for this situation (unless we are locked down for far longer).

[mongers]

When the situation really deteriorates, how do we stop a big wave of London 'refugees' spreading it thoroughly to all corners of the UK?

[merithyn]

You know that in most of Europe people automatically get healthcare and can apply much more easily for unemployment than in the States, yes?

You simply can't compare the two. It's like apples and daggers.

Of course - and there's huge variance across Europe. Isn't the healthcare situation is another reason in the US you'd want to keep people employed but furloughed? UBI may be the best policy, but it seems an odd one for this situation (unless we are locked down for far longer).

Unemployed they can apply for Medicaid, our poor people insurance. Employed, they still have to pay their premiums to their employer, even if they're not actually getting a paycheck.

[Fate]

You know that in most of Europe people automatically get healthcare and can apply much more easily for unemployment than in the States, yes?

You simply can't compare the two. It's like apples and daggers.

Of course - and there's huge variance across Europe. Isn't the healthcare situation is another reason in the US you'd want to keep people employed but furloughed? UBI may be the best policy, but it seems an odd one for this situation (unless we are locked down for far longer).

Unemployed they can apply for Medicaid, our poor people insurance.

True of many states, but there are tens of millions of people in large states like Texas, Georgia, Florida, and North Carolina where they never expanded Medicaid. Those people just end up uninsured when they're unemployed.

[Sheilbh]

When the situation really deteriorates, how do we stop a big wave of London 'refugees' spreading it thoroughly to all corners of the UK?

Yeah. I wonder if that's one of the reasons they've not declared a London specific lockdown - it would just encourage people to leave and now there's a national lockdown already in place. I really, really hope we don't see any more London people spreading it everywhere (after this weekend).

Edit: And it's worth saying we're seeing these fatalities in London with our hospitals still having capacity. And there's lots of stuff going on to increase it, the Care Quality Commission have lowered the staffing ratio required on ICU wards and hospitals are basically being pushed to not worry about funding issues - just get people out of beds. So there is still space, I'm not sure how much or for how long though.

[Fate]

When the situation really deteriorates, how do we stop a big wave of London 'refugees' spreading it thoroughly to all corners of the UK?

Yeah. I wonder if that's one of the reasons they've not declared a London specific lockdown - it would just encourage people to leave and now there's a national lockdown already in place. I really, really hope we don't see any more London people spreading it everywhere (after this weekend).

Johnson needs to avoid the mistake of the Italians. Don't let the plan leak out until you implement it in the dead of night.

[Razgovory]

Weirdly, I come out okay for in these circumstances.  I'm already on Medicaid, I get a social security disability check and If I choose to I can live in an apartment complex for the disabled.  It's not a good apartment, there is significant crime there, but I won't sleep under a bridge.