patrick.net

I think criticism is fair and there was a delayed response wrt testing, but not wrt containment. However tests have been ramping up and you can and should only test those showing symptoms, and I'm pretty sure they're catching up as you can see by the rising numbers. I also doubt the administration had anything to do with the delayed testing, the CDC wasn't prepared, as simple as that. How could they when they prepared for the yearly influenza and then got Covid-19. I heard there was a drill with a fictitious CV scenario just before it happened, but shit happens and it doesn't mean they have 100s of 1000s of tests ready for any illness that could spread.

I flew back from Europa last Saturday and there was absolutely no screening going on. No infrared thermometers. No one looking for symptomatic arrivals. Nothing. Infected Italians could have entered en masse, no problema. That seems to be very poor management.

Breaking: Covid-19 has been renamed to AF-314.

mell says

AF-314

AF-SukMiDik

Tim Aurora says

I am not sure why did that piss you off. Are you suggesting that all critiques of US, should move out . Brilliant.

No. I lost one of my 'ignore's. My feelings are hurt for not being as egregious as the title holders, and even losing an 'ignore'.

Things are getting bad. Catholic priests are demanding that you scream your sins from 30 feet away across the church floor during confession.

"Thousands catch Cornavirus from lines while waiting for Coronavirus testing!"

Ceffer says

"Thousands catch Cornavirus from lines while waiting for Coronavirus testing!"

That's exactly the problem if you would make widespread free testing available for every dick and jane.

Mortgage rates ticked up when they should be going down today.

https://twitter.com/COVID2019tests/status/1238081084165894145

The official response to fake news. 17k kits available for testing per day.

To bitch about not having 100k tests is stupid

Correct. I heard a doctor in an interview say that the tests will not show positive until two or three days after a patient shows symptoms. So to proactively test anyone who has no symptoms yet is wasteful.

SunnyvaleCA says

Commuting to work is so pleasant now! That's surely a sign of a lot of people "working" from home. I expect that, especially until people adjust, a bunch of software development deadlines are going to be missed.

Now that is scary. I would have presumed that software development experts would have an easy time using remote and collaboration software. And I also thought such tools would have been enhanced or developed in-house.

Ceffer says

Things are getting bad. Catholic priests are demanding that you scream your sins from 30 feet away across the church floor during confession.

Fake news. You must remain within fondling distance.

WookieMan says

mell says

WookieMan says

The reaction seems to be different regionally. I just went to the grocery store minutes ago. Pretty typical Thursday afternoon. Shelves fully stocked. No masks or any of that other rubbish. Plenty of TP. Maybe us midwesterners aren't as pussified as some of the coastal folks?

You can buy most of that at Trader Joes. It's more like Costco and Target the get frequented by the preppers.

It's the illusion that shit is being bought out. The god damn packages of TP at Costco fill the entire fucking cart. You can only store so much of a cheap product in the back room. You sell 10 of them and the shelf is empty in the snap of a finger. Perception is a mother fucker. It does make for some funny memes though.

Every major online retailer is sold out of TP completely.

Now I don’t doubt it’s an artificial shortage created by unnecessary hoarding combined with jerks attempting to misery profit, but it seems quite real.

APOCALYPSEFUCKisShostikovitch says

Is Trump shorting nursing homes?

I think I'm going to call my broker! MAGA!

No dude, prepare to witness the effects of an escaped bioweapon.

HeadSet says

SunnyvaleCA says

Commuting to work is so pleasant now! That's surely a sign of a lot of people "working" from home. I expect that, especially until people adjust, a bunch of software development deadlines are going to be missed.

Now that is scary. I would have presumed that software development experts would have an easy time using remote and collaboration software. And I also thought such tools would have been enhanced or developed in-house.

For some people, working at home can be very productive. For others, it's difficult to concentrate and group discussions are difficult (especially until the kinks of video conferencing have been worked out). If working at home were generally more productive, then every company would have mandated it years ago.

CV cases arent spreading. That can only mean orange man bad

CovfefeButDeadly says

Every major online retailer is sold out of TP completely.

Now I don’t doubt it’s an artificial shortage created by unnecessary hoarding combined with jerks attempting to misery profit, but it seems quite real.

People are being smart asses. My own wife bought a package and so did my neighbors just because of the hype (we literally already have 60+ rolls before Corona was a known thing). You can always wet a towel and wipe your ass and then wash it. It's not complicated.

It's amazing how stupid people have become. I think it should be mandated for people to travel to a 3rd world country. See how the crafty people do it that can't get TP and experience it yourself. Costa Rica I don't think is technically 3rd world and in Tamarido at most establishments you shit at, you're tossing the tp in the garbage. 80% of Americans don't get to experience that and yet bitch about everything. Sewer systems are expensive and more technical than most realize, yet they bitch about their water/sewer bill. Get over it.

If working at home were generally more productive, then every company would have mandated it years ago.

Also office politics. At my company, there is absolutely no reason all call takers cannot work from home. We have a few remote workers, including blind (a split headset, one ear reads the screen "Windows Narrator" style while the other ears hears the customer). The Call Center Manager does not want remote workers, since he "cannot manage them" despite the auto call distribution and very detailed dashboards.

Most Americans could lose some weight so a few weeks without potato chips and hot dogs would be a good thing.

APOCALYPSEFUCKisShostikovitch says

Patrick says

In China, 59.5% of men smoke!

You ever have a Chinese cigarette?

It's not smoking. It's like inhaling burning trash. I can't imagine what's in it.

Russian ones were like smoking wet socks. Awful. That was back in 1985, but they are probably not any better now.

Invest in crematoriums! Short nursing homes! MAGA!

Use dead seniors as blubber? Eco-friendly business opportunity!

Patrick says

https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/ITA/italy/smoking-rate-statistics

According to the CDC, as of 2015, a total of 15.1% of U.S. adults (16.7% of men and 13.6% of women) smoke

I'd guess it's probably closer to 13% men and 10% women now. I would have been part of that crowd in 2015. God damn it's a nasty habit. My professor neighbors pound a 6 pack of Sierra Nevada and American Spirits everyday. Surprisingly in decent health at 49.... I'd guess they're in the borderline risk category of dying from this though because of the smoking. Glad I made my decision to quit about 3 years ago now.

Read the last sentence, which is gold.

https://www.npr.org/2020/03/11/814550474/missouri-sues-televangelist-jim-bakker-for-selling-fake-coronavirus-cure

How come Trump didn't think of this? His name branding is just too slow on the trigger these days.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/18/australia/australia-chinese-restaurants-coronavirus-intl-hnk-scli/index.html

Chinese restaurants are losing business over coronavirus fears


Photos of Chinatowns across Australia, Canada, the US, and other countries show empty restaurants and quiet streets. Staff are the only ones seated at the tables, playing cards and waiting listlessly for customers.
Some restaurants have signs on the windows announcing that the interior and its surfaces are disinfected daily, in an attempt to reassure worried diners.
But these efforts often aren't enough. Shark Fin House, a well-known Cantonese dim sum restaurant in Melbourne, closed last week after reporting an 80% drop in business, according to CNN affiliate Seven News.

Ying Hou, the owner of Melbourne Chinese restaurant ShanDong MaMa, has seen her business drop by about half since January -- but many neighbors had it much worse, with only a handful of customers on any given day, she said.

When she told some fellow restauranteurs that she had lost 50% of business, "they said, 'You're doing well,'" she told CNN.

And it's not just Chinese restaurants -- other Asian businesses have also been affected. The Vietnamese restaurant Bia Hoi, also in Melbourne, has seen an 80% drop in business, said owner Jerry Mai in an Instagram post last week. Mai's other venues in Melbourne's central business district are down by 50%, she said.
"Chinatown and Glen Waverley (district) are ghost towns right now," she said in the post, blaming "fears of illness" for the decline. "I'm not exaggerating when I say that restaurant doors will close unless something happens right now."


https://www.eater.com/2020/2/10/21131642/novel-coronavirus-american-chinese-restaurants-explained

The Effect of Coronavirus on American Chinese Restaurants, Explained

The Times reports that NYC’s three main Chinatowns — in Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn — have seen business drop from 50 to 70 percent in the last two weeks. The owners of restaurants like historic Nom Wah Tea Parlor in Manhattan describe their environs as a “ghost town,” telling Grub Street that business had reached a five-year slowdown last Monday.

Steve Ip, owner of Yin Ji Chang Fen, tells the Times that he’s been expecting crowds of international students visiting New York-based family during the Lunar New Year: They haven’t materialized, and business at Yin Ji Chang Fen is down by half.

The phenomenon is widespread. Restaurants in Boston’s Chinatown are suffering, too: At a time when businesses like New Golden Gate Seafood Restaurant are normally bustling, that establishment and others are practically empty, Boston radio station WBUR reports. Business leaders in Houston’s Chinatown are seeing the same situation. The owner of Houston’s Shabu house, Debbie Chen, tells Houston TV station KPRC2 news that she’s worried about being able to pay her staff. Internationally, Chinatowns in London and Sydney observe declining business as well.

In San Francisco, Chinese Merchants Association spokesperson Edward Siu says foot traffic has dropped 50 percent in Chinatown.

zzyzzx says

Chinese restaurants are losing business over coronavirus fears

"If your dish bites your back it means it's fresh!"

He didn't propose cutting anything for infectious disease transmission, only for chronic self-imposed diseases like AIDS:

https://patrick.net/post/1330755/2020-03-13-democrats-lie-about-proposed-cdc-budget-cuts

And it's just a proposal, won't pass the house.

zzyzzx says

Most Americans could lose some weight so a few weeks without potato chips and hot dogs would be a good thing.

I'm already on the corona virus diet!