[Granny Bear]

A news conference is scheduled today for 3 o'clock. It is rumored that Trump will declare a National Emergency and will implement a quarantine of uncertain parameters.

You guys better get your bread and milk bought up, and fill up your car with gas. This could get panicky.

[jetpilot]

You mean cancelling every event in the country isn't panicky?

[jetpilot]

On October 24, 2009, President Barack Obama declared Swine Flu a national emergency in the United States. On November 12, 2009, the CDC reported an estimated 22 million Americans had been infected with 2009 A H1N1 and 4,000 Americans have died. [125]

[Hoot Gibson]

Up until a few days ago, I thought that the coronavirus pandemic was being wildly over hyped. Now, I am not so sure. The federal government is taking it very seriously. Beginning next week and and continuing for at least 30 days, my coworkers and I will be telecommuting all but one day each week.

In person meetings around conference tables have been almost eliminated and we are being encouraged to keep a distance from other workers of at least 6 feet. Most promotion and retirement ceremonies have been canceled. If we travel to countries on the watch list, then we must undergo a 14 day quarantine before returning to work. Security guards are no longer touching our CACs (Common Access Cards) at entry gates to the base.

This is beginning to feel like I am a character at the beginning of one of the many post apocalyptic books that I have read.

[Westside]

Up until a few days ago, I thought that the coronavirus pandemic was being wildly over hyped. Now, I am not so sure. The federal government is taking it very seriously. Beginning next week and and continuing for at least 30 days, my coworkers and I will be telecommuting all but one day each week.

In person meetings around conference tables have been almost eliminated and we are being encouraged to keep a distance from other workers of at least 6 feet. Most promotion and retirement ceremonies have been canceled. If we travel to countries on the watch list, then we must undergo a 14 day quarantine before returning to work. Security guards are no longer touching our CACs (Common Access Cards) at entry gates to the base.

This is beginning to feel like I am a character at the beginning of one of the many post apocalyptic books that I have read.

Me too. I thought this was all caused by the media over hyping. Now, I don't think so. I truly believe it's legit.

[Hoot Gibson]

My daughter works as a manager in a large grocery store in Maryland. Starting tomorrow they are going to begin limiting sales of items like rice to two boxes. They cannot restock shelves fast enough with toilet paper, water, hand sanitizer, or anything else that the public thinks they will need the next few weeks. The store had done over half a million dollars in sales with several hours left before closing. Customers have been stealing open containers of hand sanitizer from checkout lines belonging to cashiers.

I have never seen people panic over a disease the way that they have the past few days.

[Spud6]

As someone who works in retail (Coca Cola). This has been the craziest thing I have ever seen in my life, Christmas and thanksgiving combined weren’t this busy. We could sell any type of product we want right now that normally would sit on shelf’s till they went out of date. It’s just a matter of time if things don’t get better that we will start seeing limits in our supplies to stores right now. At my large stores like Walmart’s and Food City’s it is impossible to make their product last the entire day. We are running out by 2-3 o’clock and we are sending way more than usual and even more than double what a normal day sales. I’ve never seen anything like it and I’m honestly scared of it continues because I don’t think we will be able to keep up with the demand going forward if it doesn’t start plateau’ing or lifting just a little bit.

[Granny Bear]

My daughter works as a manager in a large grocery store in Maryland. Starting tomorrow they are going to begin limiting sales of items like rice to two boxes. They cannot restock shelves fast enough with toilet paper, water, hand sanitizer, or anything else that the public thinks they will need the next few weeks. The store had done over half a million dollars in sales with several hours left before closing. Customers have been stealing open containers of hand sanitizer from checkout lines belonging to cashiers.

I have never seen people panic over a disease the way that they have the past few days.

I've heard a lot of folks say that they don't trust the information being given to them. I can understand that. Media outlets are tremendously biased toward one political party or another and have allowed that bias to be first and foremost. Then you have the government telling you that we will get through this, wash your hands, stay out of public gatherings and stay six feet away from everyone.

Personally I believe that we are getting the expert's best guess, even if it is educated, about what to do and what not to do. This is a brand new strain, and the simple truth is, NOBODY knows what to do. The virus simply hasn't been here long enough to adequately study and draw definitive conclusions as what will happen.

So, I intend to follow the expert's best guess. I have a lot of predisposing issues that wouldn't bode well should I catch COVID19. I am retired and live alone, so it's not difficult to self isolate. That's pretty much my life now.

The last group activity I attended was at the Bijou Theater in Knoxville when my friends and I went to see Menopause The Musical. Fabulous!!!! Highly recommend it to anyone who wants to laugh and would enjoy a musical that's entirely 60s music.

[Bob Seger]

As someone who works in retail (Coca Cola). This has been the craziest thing I have ever seen in my life, Christmas and thanksgiving combined weren’t this busy. We could sell any type of product we want right now that normally would sit on shelf’s till they went out of date. It’s just a matter of time if things don’t get better that we will start seeing limits in our supplies to stores right now. At my large stores like Walmart’s and Food City’s it is impossible to make their product last the entire day. We are running out by 2-3 o’clock and we are sending way more than usual and even more than double what a normal day sales. I’ve never seen anything like it and I’m honestly scared of it continues because I don’t think we will be able to keep up with the demand going forward if it doesn’t start plateau’ing or lifting just a little bit.

It will peter out. You can only buy or hoard so much stuff. Trust me, after all this blows over (and it will blow over) you wont sell anything that amounts to much for weeks.

[Spud6]

It will peter out. You can only buy or hoard so much stuff. Trust me, after all this blows over (and it will blow over) you wont sell anything that amounts to much for weeks.

Since Wednesday we’ve been running out before 1 o’clock. Been getting calls this morning from merchandisers at my stores that they’ve already put out 500-600 cases and it’s just now 12:30. We don’t put out 500-600 cases a day normally. Demand hasn’t slowed down yet since Wednesday.

[jetpilot]

One death reported so far in New York state (population 19,540,000).
An 82 year old woman with emphysema.

[Hoot Gibson]

Coronavirus deaths in Italy (population 60 million) increased by another 250 on Friday to bring the total to 1,266. It was the largest one day increase since the count began.

Hopefully, the travel restrictions that our federal government put in place will slow the spread of the virus in this country until a vaccine can be developed and the best treatment for those infected is determined.

[jetpilot]

Looks like about 130 people under the age of 70 have died of the virus in Italy, the hardest hit country by far in Europe. About 13 under the age of 60.

https://www.pharmaceutical-technology.co...-outbreak/

[jetpilot]

Perspective, good short read:

https://newcriterion.com/blogs/dispatch/...ed-to-what

[Van Hagar]

One of our daughters is an RN, works at UK, she has been there about 12 years. She says this is the first time in her career that the medical professionals are very concerned, so that’s the way I will lean right now, towards taking this seriously.

[Spud6]

One of our daughters is an RN, works at UK, she has been there about 12 years. She says this is the first time in her career that the medical professionals are very concerned, so that’s the way I will lean right now, towards taking this seriously.

I feel like doctors and medical professionals are 50/50. You’ll see one say it’s not that serious another one will say it’s awful.

[Westside]

At first I thought it was purely media driven. I have since changed my perspective. I hear how most people survive and it is usually only fatal for the elderly or people with preexisting health conditions, but if something kills 22 people at one facility regardless of it was a senior care facility, it is to be taken seriously, IMO. People who say otherwise and aren't taking precautions because they feel they aren't at risk are being selfish. These people need to realize even if they don't get sick, they could be a carrier to someone who could become very ill or die.

[Cardfan1]

On October 24, 2009, President Barack Obama declared Swine Flu a national emergency in the United States. On November 12, 2009, the CDC reported an estimated 22 million Americans had been infected with 2009 A H1N1 and 4,000 Americans have died. [125]

That’s a .0001 mortality rate.

The low low mortality rate of the Coronavirus has been 1% which would be 220k American deaths.

See the reason for panic?

If the rate is 3.4% that’s 750,000 Americans dead.

But what’s really scary is this could possibly infect 216 million Americans according to CDC’s worst case. Let’s do that math on 1% and 3.4% mortality rate.

[jetpilot]

That’s a .0001 mortality rate.

The low low mortality rate of the Coronavirus has been 1% which would be 220k American deaths.

See the reason for panic?

If the rate is 3.4% that’s 750,000 Americans dead.

But what’s really scary is this could possibly infect 216 million Americans according to CDC’s worst case. Let’s do that math on 1% and 3.4% mortality rate.

No. Anyone can run all the "what ifs" they want until they are hiding under their bed in the fetal position sucking their thumb if they try hard enough.

There are currently 10 actual serious cases of this virus in the whole country of 330+ million people. See why I'm not scared?

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

[Hoot Gibson]

No. Anyone can run all the "what ifs" they want until they are hiding under their bed in the fetal position sucking their thumb if they try hard enough.

There are currently 10 actual serious cases of this virus in the whole country of 330+ million people. See why I'm not scared?

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

Whether you believe that the coronavirus threat is exaggerated or not, the panic is a real threat that has to be taken seriously. A major grocery chain has already cut its operating hours and is seriously considering temporarily closing its doors. If that hapens, it will suddenly become much more difficult to buy groceries in much of the northeast, as people hit the stores of its competitors even harder. The DC area is not far from seeing food riots.

[jetpilot]

Whether you believe that the coronavirus threat is exaggerated or not, the panic is a real threat that has to be taken seriously. A major grocery chain has already cut its operating hours and is seriously considering temporarily closing its doors. If that hapens, it will suddenly become much more difficult to buy groceries in much of the northeast, as people hit the stores of its competitors even harder. The DC area is not far from seeing food riots.

A nation of sheep panicking when some of their their politicians, tv talking heads and social media "gurus" tell them to panic is a discussion for another thread.

[Cardfan1]

A nation of sheep panicking when some of their their politicians, tv talking heads and social media "gurus" tell them to panic is a discussion for another thread.

Those who suggest that the coronavirus presents no greater threat than does the seasonal flu need to answer some questions:

Why are Italian hospitals being overrun with Covid-19 patients, and why doesn’t that happen with the seasonal flu? Why can’t that happen here?

Why are the Iranians digging mass graves that are visible from outer space?

Why did Communist China — a regime that cares much more about national strength than about human life — shut down factories and bring its economy to the brink of recession in an effort to contain the spread of the virus?

Why did Japan announce a month-long closure of all schools two weeks ago, when there were only four coronavirus deaths in the entire country?

Are we supposed to believe that the Japanese, South Koreans, and Chinese are panicky idiots who don’t understand math and science?

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/co...e-is-huge/

[TheRealThing]

Whether you believe that the coronavirus threat is exaggerated or not, the panic is a real threat that has to be taken seriously. A major grocery chain has already cut its operating hours and is seriously considering temporarily closing its doors. If that hapens, it will suddenly become much more difficult to buy groceries in much of the northeast, as people hit the stores of its competitors even harder. The DC area is not far from seeing food riots.

Point taken Hoot. People are panic buying. Even here in the tri-state area of Ashland KY Huntington WV and Ironton OH, the shelves are bare in every grocery, Walmart and Aldi's. Heck, even the shelves of SpeedWay Stations are besieged by maniacs desperate to buy snacks or Theraflu or the like, as are those of every Dollar General. Hysteria can cause the collapse of supply chains, as it can the collapse of our financial district. But just for entertainment's sake, I posted the following back in 2014. I put up the whole quote for context, but the last paragraph is mostly what I wanted to emphasize---

Financial experts, those who actually risk investing money in the stock market, always make reference to the fact that the market is being propped up by the fed. Some call it printing money, some call it quantitative easing. But, anyway you slice it the government is engaged in manipulating currency. At any rate, we are experiencing an undeniable surge in the market, as records are being set daily.

Those same experts however, are very concerned about the correction they feel certain is coming. Most believe that our 20 trillion national debt has a reasonable chance of dealing a devastating blow to our financial system and they are worried. They are worried that the two models, free enterprise and the European style Keynesian system, cannot work together in the same country in the way the US is presently trying to pull off. One system is based on the tenets of socialism, which takes from the productive side of society and gives to the non productive side. The other rewards those who work, thusly innovation and progress have the perfect environment to flourish.

Despite Margaret Thatcher's here quoted observation, "The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money", we press on. Greece is an excellent example of what we have to look forward to. They've been bailed out at least 3 times by the other member nations of the Eurozone, and having gotten their debt ratio down to 136% of their GDP in the last bail out, are once again looking at a ratio of 174%.

The point? Human nature is what it is. The Greeks are not going to change because their culture has raised legions of those who expect to be taken care of by the government. We're doing exactly the same thing and it will come back to bite us, hard. And, the problem is almost systemic across the globe. Japan has a debt to GDP ratio of over 200%. I mentioned that Greece has gotten help from her neighbors. Does anybody on here really believe the US can expect something like that once our steady progression to an upside down debt to GDP ratio has our economy in it's grip?

The United States used to be the country that loaned money to other nations, we have been knocked off that lofty perch as China now holds that distinction. Now the US has to come begging to China, who manages to save 51% of it's GDP. I've seen my share of heavy-weight boxing championships. And, I've seen several champs get knocked off. Their reaction is always the same. Even though they just lost they refuse to believe it, and vow to reclaim their title in a rematch. And, it almost never happens. Many economists are doing their best to get America to wake up while there is still time and opportunity to right her financial ship. And predictably, liberals (Keynesians) are blowing their advice off as passé 20th century thinking. [SIZE="3"]You see, we have not run out of other people's money yet.

If and when we do, the comforts of today will disappear over night, it won't matter how much one has in the banks of this land, or the stock market. They will crash for the guy who has millions just as they will the guy with hundreds. At that time the so-called have nots, people who have been taken care of their entire lives, will very likely take to the streets in mobs and packs. Most Americans are so used to going to a drive-thru, they have no concept of actual cooking. Much less gardening and scraping to feed themselves and their families. In that light, the apocalypse is not that far fetched a concept[/SIZE].

Now I realize that this present panic is not the fault of socialist programs, but it does serve to show just how quickly things and normalcy can change. I remember some pretty hard times in this country, but I can tell you that what I'm seeing right now is as new, as it is sudden. Stopping far short of being apocalyptic in scope, it nonetheless smacks of same.

[jetpilot]

Active Cases
4,560
Currently Infected Patients
4,548 (100%)
in Mild Condition

12 (0%)
Serious or Critical

Show Graph

1 death in KY - a 66 year old man was taken to the hospital with a stroke and pneumonia and died, but was classified as a coronavirus death.

[Cardfan1]

5 days ago there were 41 deaths and 1625 cases. Now there are 86 and 4560 on last report in the US.

Our medical system can only handle so much.
Italy has had 368 deaths in 24 hours simply because their healthcare system is overrun and healthcare workers are getting sick.

Hospital beds per 1,000 people, via the OECD:

Italy: 3.2 total population 60 million
United States: 2.8 total population 360+

[TheRealThing]

Active Cases
4,560
Currently Infected Patients
4,548 (100%)
in Mild Condition

12 (0%)
Serious or Critical

Show Graph

1 death in KY - a 66 year old man was taken to the hospital with a stroke and pneumonia and died, but was classified as a coronavirus death.

I'm with you on this point Jet. Part of me believes this thing will not slam us as hard as many seem to think. IMHO it all depends on how much of an attitude adjustment God says we need to accomplish His purpose.

God allowed the US to prevail against all odds in WW2 for example, because among other things, He had a prescribed purpose for our people. We should conform to our leadership's directives, as such is His stated will for any people. That is of course, as long as those directives would not constitute a direct violation of His law. And even more importantly, put our hope and trust in His purpose. I did hear last night however, out of the mouth of DR Ben Carson no less, that this virus is up to 3 times as communicable as the flu.

[jetpilot]

5 days ago there were 41 deaths and 1625 cases. Now there are 86 and 4560 on last report in the US.

Our medical system can only handle so much.
Italy has had 368 deaths in 24 hours simply because their healthcare system is overrun and healthcare workers are getting sick.

Hospital beds per 1,000 people, via the OECD:

Italy: 3.2 total population 60 million
United States: 2.8 total population 360+

Don't remember all the panic or health care system failing when 22 million were infected by H1N1. 5000 cases of this. But there is an endless list of things to be scared of if you are determined to be scared.

[Granny Bear]

^^That really is true!!!!

I may disagree with you Jet, but I hope and pray you are right.

[Cardfan1]

Don't remember all the panic or health care system failing when 22 million were infected by H1N1. 5000 cases of this. But there is an endless list of things to be scared of if you are determined to be scared.

H1N1 was actually less deadly than the seasonal flu, according to estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Consider the 2017-2018 flu season, a particularly deadly one. That year, the CDC estimates, there were about 61,000 deaths among 45 million infections. That’s about 1.4 deaths for every 1,000 infections. H1N1, by comparison, saw a bit more than 12,000 deaths among 60.8 million infections — about 0.2 deaths per 1,000 infections.
Covid-19 is estimated to be 10 times deadlier than the seasonal flu.

[jetpilot]

H1N1 was actually less deadly than the seasonal flu, according to estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Consider the 2017-2018 flu season, a particularly deadly one. That year, the CDC estimates, there were about 61,000 deaths among 45 million infections. That’s about 1.4 deaths for every 1,000 infections. H1N1, by comparison, saw a bit more than 12,000 deaths among 60.8 million infections — about 0.2 deaths per 1,000 infections.
Covid-19 is estimated to be 10 times deadlier than the seasonal flu.

More what ifs from the king of whatif'ers, posting all bold now for added effect lol. Stay at home under your bed for a year or two and you should be fine.