tdhoosier

Continuing my role as a wet blanket.... At the end of February I listened to a podcast with Donald McNeil who's a science a health reporter. Listening to him is what initially worried me about COVID19. Back then he was talking about cities shutting down, when I didn't that could possibly happen here. He's been on the forefront with many of his prognostications. I shared that podcast with IUFLA a couple of weeks ago. He wasn't exactly right, but he was pretty darn close...at least about how we'd respond as a country. Well (gulp), he just gave another interview on The Daily today which is both informative and sobering. I'm sharing this, hoping you don't write him off as an alarmist. Like I said, he was right about many of the things that happened since February. I hope he's wrong. I know he hopes he's wrong. But we could be in for quite the ride. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-daily/id1200361736?i=1000472047223

I really don't try to be a wet blanket in my responses, just putting thoughts out there. haha Looking at these state and federal checklists, there's one thing that's going to keep delaying reopening and that is tests. I have 2 friends who are pretty certain they have it - their doctors are certain they have and they STILL can't get tested. I just can't imagine we'll be reopening things up until states feel they have a grasp on who is infected and who has antibodies. This whole shut down, whether you agree with or not, really has been a stalling tactic. The reality is that the virus is new and we don't know much about it, so the government is stalling until they have enough information to ensure it's safe to go back out in public. Until we a. can ensure hospitals won't be overcrowded b. know the infection rate and c. know the death rate, they won't reopen things - and this is all tied back to testing. Governors have been asking for these special testing swabs for the last few weeks so more of these tests can be performed. Yesterday the Defense Production Act was issued yesterday which is a step in the right direction IMO. As far as i'm concerned, let's do everything we can to compel companies to manufacture testing kits ASAP. The faster it happens, the faster things open up and the sooner we can get back to work.

I've been reading opinions that China will benefit in the short term from this while the rest of the world is nursing their people and economies back to help, which makes plausible sense to me. However, I am wondering it this is the straw that breaks the camel's back and it will hurt them in the long term. Horrible viruses keep on coming from this part of the world. China has been lucky that previous ones did not have an impact to this degree. It's only a matter of time that the rest of the civilized world is going to hold this against China for covering up the severity of the spread and wrecking the global economy. I think they were saying that the transmission wasn't human to human all the way up until January 19th (even though experts didn't believe them), and then a couple of days shut later they shut down Wuhan while their foot was still in their mouth.

One thing in common about all conspiracy theories is that they raise "interesting questions" that can send you down rabbit holes, whether it's conspiracies that the Earth is flat or the Holocaust didn't exist. These questions are always raised while dancing around the central subject. Like for example. why did Fauci say Trump was going to face a pandemic (gasp)???? How about because every administration faces the threat of pandemic. Or why was Fauci researching the coronavirus two years ago (gasp)? Because that's what epidemiologists do. They also leave out that there are MULTIPLE types of coronavirus including MERS and SARS, so why wouldn't he be researching it? Then they Interview a crackpot doctor and the seed is planted.... The doctor this time? Rashid Buttar who pushes alternative medicine; while he touts his credentials as a medical doctor, he was charged by the North Carolina Medical Board in 2008 for unprofessional conduct after charging “exorbitant fees” to cancer patients, three of whom died, for “ineffectual therapies.” Recently, he’s been pushing fringe theories about the coronavirus’s link to 5G, and that it was intentionally engineered to spur crackdowns on civil liberties. IMO, these types of videos don't need to be posted in this thread.

@IU Scott glad to hear it isn’t hitting you hard. Hope you get through this quickly and your parents are safe. It is interesting how this virus affects people differently: some hospitalized, some have high fevers for 5 days, some have mild fevers for a few days and some don’t even know that they are sick. Because it’s not getting you bad in comparison to some others I’m curious (and if you don’t mind sharing) do you consider yourself a healthy person with a healthy diet? I know I’m not going to crack any mysteries but I’m wondering if there is a correlation between less severe symptoms and healthy, vitamin rich diets/low sugar consumption/etc.

What's everybody's opinions on masks? Two weeks ago only few people were wearing masks at Costco. Last week more that half were. In CA I know that people are expected to wear one in public. I think there seems to be the general attitude that you are wearing a mask for your own protection. But I think it's more important for other people's protection. Just by talking without a mask you send airborne droplets into the air, they land on the floor, a cereal box at the store, etc. Because there's a delay in symptoms and people are unintentionally spreading COVID19, this would seem like an important measure to take. Especially as Governors are contemplating loosening restrictions. My biggest worry (other than the deaths of course) as we rollout going back out into public, is a second spike that'd force us to go back into isolation and delay us getting back to work even more. Facemasks may be annoying, but maybe a necessary precaution. Just curious about others opinions on this. Would you be upset if the state told you that you had to wear a mask in public? We'd at least get some killer tan lines.

Maybe states would have to open up in sections? I’m in the region and a whole lot of people around here work in IL. I’d guess that our trajectory is closer to Chicago than Indianapolis. Opening up a different times could cause potential issues. Again, another tough decision.

Another promising drug. https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/16/health/coronavirus-remdesivir-trial/index.html?utm_source=fbCNN&utm_medium=social&utm_term=link&utm_content=2020-04-17T03%3A15%3A07

Happen again? It bred more terrorists. It's a never ending cycle. I agree a response with force was needed. We needed to defend our country better. But whether it was right or wrong it significantly altered the course of history, which was my greater point. I find we're veering off subject.

The government would no longer be required to disclose the identity of anyone, even an American citizen, detained in connection with a terror investigation - until criminal charges are filed, no matter how long that takes (sec 201). Current court limits on local police spying on religious and political activity would be repealed (sec. 312). The government would be allowed to obtain credit records and library records without a warrant (secs. 126, 128, 129). Wiretaps without any court order for up to 15 days after terror attack would be permissible. (sec. 103). Release of information about health/safety hazards posed by chemical and other plants would be restricted (sec. 202). The reach of an already overbroad definition of terrorism would be expanded - individuals engaged in civil disobedience could risk losing their citizenship (sec. 501); their organization could be subject to wiretapping (secs. 120, 121) and asset seizure (secs. 428, 428). Americans could be extradited, searched and wiretapped at the behest of foreign nations, whether or not treaties allow it (sec. 321, 322). Lawful immigrants would be stripped of the right to a fair deportation hearing and federal courts would not be allowed to review immigration rulings (secs. 503, 504).

2,400 dead soldiers and $2.4 trillion spent in Afghanistan? All of the civil liberty violations in the Patriot Act? Yes, we needed to act but not go that far. edit: also my point being for the Patriot Act was that it was rushed through and written in fear. Intentions may have been right in the moment, but consequences may linger. I just think we are in a similar situation right now and caution needs to be excercised.

i don't know how I feel about some of those tracking solutions. I definitely prefer the 'bluteooth coins' which is removable over the government tracking your phone. I don't know if any of you listen to Dan Carlin's history podcasts, but he always says how the biggest moments in history are triggered by over-reactions. Whether it was the assassination of Archduke Frans Ferdinand that led to WWI or the over-reaction to 9/11 which paved the way for some sketchy things in the Patriot Act or the war in Afghanistan. It's impossible to see the future, but I do wonder which pandemic reactions will be regrettable in years to come. I completely understand why the proposed tracking will be helpful, but what will that lead to?

Yikes. I do think those numbers are a tad skewed, no doubt it's really bad though. Many people are furloughed and collecting unemployment for the hours they can't work. They'll go off unemployment when things begin to open back up. We'll still have a lot of unemployed when this is over from the businesses who couldn't survive, but that number may get cut in half when restrictions are loosened. *fingers crossed this is the case*

The first half of the post was contradictory to the second half of the post. I thought we not trying to go there?

I will say it’s hard to navigate this thread without getting into politics. I’ve already gotten myself into hot water. But let me just remind people that in many cases your reality dictates your perspective. Lostin76 is in the thick of it. Hundreds of people dying everyday and he’s working for a hospital system. He’s seeing the worst if it first hand. It’s a complete change from here (where I live at least); my neighbor is an ER nurse and the hospital is cutting hours because they’re so slow. Frustrations are going to come out. I like this thread, let’s bite our tongues as best as we can and keep this thread going because it is a bit therapeutic. But also keep in mind some are living completely different realities right now...let’s try to respect that at the very least.

Now that the Tour De France is cancelled, maybe they can donate all their blood doping equipment. haha. All kidding aside, I really hope one of these trials works out.

Holcomb is contemplating loosening restrictions next week, but state officials are now saying cases aren't expected to peak until early May. This coupled with the fact that people with symptoms are still being denied tests. I can't imagine he'll go through with that plan because to a certain degree we are still flying blind. That's a huge amount of liability to take on. These governors are in tough positions, no doubt. On one side people need to work. On another side, if he opens up and cases spike and he'll be held responsible. On another-other side, if he opens up and cases spike then we have to start are social distancing all over again, thus, further delaying the opening up of the state. AND then to throw another stick on the fire...Governors have to also consider how their decisions affect their neighboring states. Damn...glad I'm not a Governor.

I definitely fall into a niche. First, if I couldn't write off all my automotive expenses I'd never lease. Secondly, i'm consistently under 12k a year on mileage. So it works for me. There's definitely a game to play with leases too. Car dealers bank on you not knowing how leases are calculated and try to confuse you. Bottom line is that you are renting a vehicle for 3 years and you are paying the depreciated amount with interest. The trick is finding the sweet spot for a car that's going under msrp that's going to hold its value well for 3 years. The car I'm currently in right now is an Acadia. I was able to get my uncle's GM employee pricing and I got an unbelievable deal. Last month when I was getting my vehicle serviced I had them price out a new accadia (still with the GM discount) and it was $120 more a month....for the same car but with a new face lift! Turns out the rebates weren't as good and the residual was not as good either. The crazy thing, I could hypothetically get into a Volvo XC90 or a Lexus RX350 for a better price because they are going for way under msrp and hold their value better. Who'd take an Acadia over an Volvo or Lexus? I just find it funny.

Yes, this is the article I read. For my wife's car we opt to do the 'newer used' too. There's a lot of good certified pre-owned programs out there that allow you to take advantage of manufacturer financing deals, plus you get another 30k miles of warranty. This seems enticing, the only problem is then we'd have to sell hers. haha. And responsible me thinks that I'd rather not have another car payment in this climate.

Anybody on here lease? As a business owner it just makes more sense for me to do this because I can write off all the automotive costs. That said, my lease is up at the end of next month and while the low financing rates and deferred payments are good for new cars, I'm wondering how this is going to affect leases. I just read an article in Bloomberg that predicts the used car lots are going to be flooded with inventory from repos, but mainly from all the rental fleets sitting untouched and waiting to be turned over. More inventory on used lots means that the prices are going to dive on used cars. If that happens, the residual values on leases would plummet too, which would make leasing not attractive at all. I'm going to need a car at the end of May (possibly June because GM is extending lease contracts); it's going to be interesting what is going to happen. Anybody else in this predicament?

My bad for bringing up elected officials because there's no way of getting into this conversation without breaking the board rules, so i'm going to side step that. I'll just say that I don't agree with you regarding revisionist history for various reasons, but I shouldn't have went there. Again, I take full responsibility for leading us down that road. Regarding testing mishaps, I'm assuming it's pretty non-partisan to bash the CDC (since it's been done already), but them mishandling the first round of testing kits really set us back. I 100% agree with you about the CDC. I really think our reality could be different right now if the testing roll out didn't get f'd up. For pandemics, the CDC should be the most prepared department in the world. It was their time to shine and they poop'd the bed. I'm sure there's more blame then I care to imagine for that, going back many administrations. Hopefully all testing and antibody testing is not held up any further. Unless there's a magic bullet (in terms of a pharmaceutical cure), I think that testing is what will bring us back to any semblance of 'normal' until a vaccine is developed and approved.

They are already getting pressure about closing their wet markets where these bats and other sketchy animals are consumed. If China was able to mandate a one-child law I'm sure they can get a handle on these wet markets. There's a reason a lot of these new and uncontrolled viruses come from this part of the world.

Here is an article: https://www.post-gazette.com/news/health/2020/04/12/COVID-19-UPMC-AHN-remdesivir-hydroxychloroquine-ivermectin-Derek-Angus/stories/202004060098 I know this does not need to be said here, but please don't take your dog's heartworm medication after reading this. The FDA has already issued a warning about this. Stupid people are going to stupid. 😆

I'm not ready to rehash the whole chloroquine debate, but in news related to this we are seeing the mobilization of the global scientific community like we never have before. Many have stopped what they were doing and using their expertise to look for a cure. I just read about an anti-parasitic drug called Ivermectin; it has shown to stop COVID19 in its tracks within 24-48 hours. Of course this was done in lab settings and they need to test in humans. Who knows if it will work but while most of the noise is about chloroquine, there are other promising trials going on. And because of this huge mobilization it's very possible treatments for other viruses may be found on accident. It's very unlikely but wouldn't it be crazy if all of this research accidentally stumbles on better treatments for the common cold or seasonal flu? ...Just something positive to think about.

My friend is a pharmacist in TN and I heard directly from him that he was having a hard time securing chlorquine for his patients. It wasn't a rumor in his particular case.