How are these online language classes working out? I’m worried about my son’s online Spanish class. He has to pass it, and he’s not good at languages.
@“Snowball City”
" Can you explain your rationale for not doing social distancing and not staying home except for essential trips?"
I see comparatively little around me, especially among the working classes (which, by the way, get excellent health care by and large should the need arise - boy, could I tell the people on this board some stories). My marginal contribution through increased distancing would be quite marginal, as we are not hugely social anyway.
I also recognize that vectors of transmission are not linear systems, they are networks, and therefore the efficacy of distancing measures will increase nonlinearly with participation. At this point on the curve and in view of our situation, I believe the contribution from us from social distancing would be minimal.
Last, I judge the risk acceptable to myself and loved ones in view of the reasonable precautions we are taking as well as our ages and health conditions. I hope that helps.
Today was the first day with the professor trying it out for my D20. It is a dual enrollment class at the local community college. My D said it went very well. From what I could hear, the professor and the kids were all conversing in Spanish and it sounded like a regular class.
That was true until it wasn’t. The first half story. They finally got to talk to her and she masked the illness with drug. So who’s spreading false information now?
Burberry’s sales plunge 80% as coronavirus stalls luxury shopping
Luxury brand Burberry said sales in the final weeks of March would plunge by up to 80% as the impact of coronavirus on consumers, already seen in China, has spread to Europe and the U.S.
The British brand said like-for-like sales in the final weeks of its financial year to March 28 would be down 70% to 80%, and as a result fourth-quarter sales would be 30% lower, Reuters reported.
Medtronic says it has increased ventilator production by 40%
Global medical device producer Medtronic has said it is continuing to make progress in increasing ventilator production worldwide.
The company has increased production by more than 40% to date, it said in a statement, and “is on track to more than double its capacity to manufacture and supply ventilators in response to the urgent needs of patients and healthcare systems across the globe” confronting the coronavirus.
Apple limits bulk online purchases of iPhones amid supply constraints
Apple is limiting bulk purchases of iPhones and other products as it faces supply constraints.
Apple’s online store began limiting U.S. customers to two units of each iPhone model per person this week. Customers can still buy more than two iPhones in one order, but they would have to be different models – for instance, two iPhone 11s and two iPhone 11 Pros.
The restriction applies to the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone XR, iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Max.
Other products, including iPad Pro models announced on Wednesday, also have purchase limits.
Connecticut postpones 2020 primary
Connecticut will move its 2020 primary to June 2 from the originally planned April 28 in response to the deadly coronavirus outbreak, Gov. Ned Lamont announced.
“In coordination with other states and our Secretary of the State, and in an effort to carry out Democracy while keeping public health a top priority, I have decided to move our presidential primary to June 2nd,” Lamont tweeted. “I will provide more information later today.”
Connecticut has 60 delegates up for grabs.
CNBC
Amazon Prime Pantry temporarily closes as online shopping surges
Amazon has temporarily closed its Prime Pantry delivery service as it faces a surge in orders tied to the coronavirus outbreak.
A notice at the top of the Prime Pantry website reads: “Pantry is temporarily closed. We are busy restocking.” The service gives Prime subscribers access to discounted grocery and household items, which they can then have delivered to their door.
Amazon said the closure was due to “high order volumes” and pointed to other areas of its site that offer similar items, including Amazon Fresh, Whole Foods and the Grocery and Household category. A spokesperson declined to comment on when Prime Pantry will reopen.
France and the UK each report a 40% rise in deaths
A patient under respiratory assistance is escorted to the Strasbourg University Hospital by members of the medical staff of the SAMU-SMUR emergency services who wear protective suits and facemasks, in Strasbourg, on March 16, 2020 during a COVID-19 outbreak hitting Europe.
Patrick Hertzog | AFP | Getty Images
French health authorities reported 108 new deaths from coronavirus, taking the total to 372 or an increase of almost 41%, the toll rising sharply yet again as the country was in its third day of a lockdown aimed at containing the outbreak.
During a press conference, health agency director Jerome Salomon added the number of cases had risen to 10,995, up from 9,134 on Tuesday, which is a rise of 20% in 24 hours.
The United Kingdom also reported a significant rise in death toll. The number of people in the U.K. who have died after contracting the coronavirus rose to 144, up 40% in a day, the health ministry said.
The number of positive cases increased by 643, or 25%, to 3,269.
Regional US airline Compass shuts down as virus presents ‘insurmountable obstacles’
Compass Airlines, a regional airline that flies for American and Delta said it is shutting down as demand tumbles.
The shuttering of Compass comes days after its parent Trans States Airlines told employees that it would push up a planned closure of its eponymous airline to April 1 after its customer, United, cut its network. The company still operates the regional airline GoJet.
Earlier on Thursday, American Airlines’ CEO Doug Parker told CNBC he has never seen anything like this industry fallout, even after 9/11 when airlines were briefly shutdown following terrorist attacks using commercial airplanes.
CNBC
I don’t teach language, but I’m currently preparing for all of my college classes to migrate online for at least 3 weeks (my employer has not yet committed to full semester online instruction). I teach a subject that doesn’t require labs and studios. One thing we’ve been told to do, though, is minimize or eliminate virtual whole-group meetings at required times via Zoom etc. Many of our students don’t have the personal tech resources to participate in real time, and their lives and schedules have been disrupted. I am trying to teach “asynchronously” (i.e. using our online learning platform for recorded lectures and required participation in discussion boards by a certain time).
Many students are not going to do well with this transition at all. I’d say half my students really need in-person interaction to master the material. But there is no help for it. There has been a petition to go to pass/fail grading. I don’t agree with that because it will hurt students who need to provide a GPA for certification, licensure, or graduate school admissions. It also discards the achievements of the first part of the semester.
I’m solidly middle class in every sense of the word. Our household makes just about exactly the median family income in this country.
I only leave the house to go to medical appointments.
My partner only leaves to go to work (hasn’t canceled yet and his work can’t be done remotely) and occasionally to get groceries or meds.
Don’t blame your lack of caring about spreading the virus on not being high SES. Most of us in lower to middle SES places are getting by just fine without going out to get haircuts.
Senate Democrats propose cancelling $10,000 in student debt for all borrowers
Senate Democrats are proposing that the federal government cancel student loan payments throughout the outbreak and forgive at least $10,000 of the debt for each borrower.
The plan by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., among other Democrats, also calls for halting the garnishment of wages, tax refunds and Social Security benefits for past-due borrowers.
“Families and student loan borrowers desperately need our help right now and we’re only just at the beginning of the devastating economic impact of this crisis,” said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., in a statement.
Key Democrat Hoyer says House will look at ‘all options’ to tweak voting as virus hits Congress
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer expects the chamber will “adjust” its voting process to comply with CDC guidelines on stopping the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
“No decisions have been made on exactly what these changes will be, but we will be discussing all options,” he said in a letter to House members.
His message, sent while the House is on a temporary recess, comes a day after two representatives announced they tested positive for the coronavirus disease COVID-19. Multiple other lawmakers went into self-isolation after contact with those congressmen, Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., and Ben McAdams, D-Utah.
Coronavirus $1,000 relief check plan not even final yet and experts say fraudsters are already looking to cash in
The White House and lawmakers this week have announced ambitious plans to send Americans $1,000 checks to help offset the effects of coronavirus. But with details still to be hammered out, the proposal is not quite a done deal.
Yet the Federal Trade Commission is already warning consumers to beware of scammers looking to get their hands on that cash instead. “We predict that the scammers are gearing up to take advantage of this,” writes Jennifer Leach, an associate director with the FTC.
Normally, the FTC says it would wait until the details of the proposed payment plan are finalized before issuing a warning, “but these aren’t normal times,” Leach writes.
CNBC
@OneMoreToGo2021 So you are conforming to the people around you who are not social distancing?
I see someone like a barber who is in close contact with lots of people over the course of a week as someone who is in many people’s network.
My thinking is that I am reducing the number of people who are out and about as a community act - not about protecting myself but making it less likely for other people to get it by me spreading germs before symptoms appear. It is a gift to my elderly neighbors, it is a gift to the grocery store clerk, it is a gift to the stranger with a heart condition. In your state there are many many retired people who are at high risk should they get it.
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/coronavirus-is-hitting-restaurants-hard-even-in-states-that-havent-shut-them-down/ shows how much restaurant business has fallen, even in states where no shutdown order was given.
By UK guidelines my daughter could go back to work 7 days after first symptoms. I am going to think that should be fever onset versus her initial sore throat. The date would align with her three days fever free date.
The copied part is for isolated/living alone, not family groups. Further in the section is advice for multi person households.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance/stay-at-home-guidance-for-households-with-possible-coronavirus-covid-19-infection#ending-isolation
Self-isolation
If you have been symptomatic, then you may end your self-isolation after 7 days. The 7-day period starts from the day when you first became ill
In the context of College Confidential, that’s a paltry amount, but the median borrower owes $17K (2106 numbers, best I could find) and the median borrower with less than a bachelors degree, that is students from community colleges and trade schools as well as those who attempted four year college but didn’t graduate, owes $10K. So it would make a huge difference.
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/08/13/facts-about-student-loans/
Tesla will take temperatures of Fremont factory employees and hand out masks, internal email says
Tesla is taking extra precautions at its Fremont car assembly plant to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, according to an e-mail the company’s North American head of human resources, Valerie Workman, sent to employees overnight. Among other measures, employees will have their temperatures taken before they enter the factory.
The e-mail to employees from HR also said Tesla would rearrange operations as much as possible to enable “social distancing,” allowing people to keep 6 feet apart from one another. Masks would also be distributed to workers throughout the day, the e-mail promised.
Restaurant reservations grind to a halt
Restaurant reservations made through OpenTable ground to a halt in five U.S. cities on Tuesday as restaurant dining room restrictions go into place, according to data from the company. Honolulu’s restaurant bookings have fallen the least, with a decline of 55% compared to a year ago. The Bookings Holdings platform only tracks reservations, not takeout or delivery.
Trump wants direct payments of $1,000 for adults, $500 for kids in stimulus bill, Mnuchin says
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin laid out details of the Trump administration’s plan to send Americans relief money as part of a massive stimulus package to blunt the impact of the novel coronavirus crisis. Mnuchin said in a Fox Business Network interview that the plan would send payments directly to Americans totaling $500 billion.
That money would be divided into two large tranches.
“The first one would be $1,000 per person, $500 per child. So for a family of four, that’s a $3,000 payment,” Mnuchin said. “As soon as Congress passes this, we get this out in three weeks. And then, six weeks later, if the president still has a national emergency, we’ll deliver another $3,000,” Mnuchin said.
CNBC
I’d go with what the rest of the world is doing - 14 days or longer.
Yes, of course their systems cover residents, not just citizens. As long as you are economically active, you are required to pay in and will be covered. There are special provisions for asylum seekers and immigrants from the EU who are pensioners. Non EU immigrant pensioner probably need private provision.
Coronavirus could kill millions in the US: ‘Do the math,’ CDC advisor says
The new coronavirus could kill millions across the U.S., said Dr. Kathleen Neuzil, director of the Center for Vaccine Development at the University of Maryland’s School of Medicine.
“It would not surprise me,” she told CNBC when asked whether the U.S. could see millions of deaths. “We need to prepare for the worst.”
Neuzil sits on the Centers for Disease Control’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and is part of the leadership team of infectious disease experts working with NIH to test a coronavirus vaccine and therapies to treat those sick with COVID-19.
“We have 350 million people in the United States, and you do the math,” she said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” If 70 million people are eventually infected with this virus and again if there are multiple waves of this virus, then you can do the math and then you can get there.”
Democrats warn that one or two direct payments to Americans won’t be enough
Democrats are gearing up for a fight over whether direct payments to Americans struggling with the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic will be enough. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is among those arguing for expanded unemployment insurance as a source of relief.
“A single $1,000 check would help someone pay their landlord in March but what happens after that?” the New York Democrat said on the chamber floor Wednesday. “A thousand dollars goes by pretty quickly if you’re unemployed. In contrast, expanded unemployment insurance — beefed-up unemployment insurance — covers you for a much longer time and would provide a much bigger safety net.”
An aide for Schumer did not immediately answer whether the senator opposed to the concept of direct payments entirely, or just the form currently outlined.
[ I’ve read that Dems are calling for higher payments, excluding certain high income people. ]
CNBC
I wonder who is considered an adult and who is considered a “kid”. Is my 18 year old full time student/part time working D considered a “kid” or an “adult”?
I do think this would be a good thing, too, but wish it went farther.
I would think if they are considered a dependent, they are a “kid.”