People who are or look Chinese encounter increased bigotry. Gun shops see an increase in such people buying guns.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/23/us/chinese-coronavirus-racist-attacks.html
If the food processors shut down, then it’s all over. I read that Perdue chicken workers walked out saying there were no protections for them.
I wonder what this would have been like in the pre-internet era.
Well…educationally pre Internet …schools just closed.
After the Kent shootings in 1970, many many many thousands of college students just went home never to complete that term. Grades were either pass fail, or the grade as of the day the schools closed. No online learning…nothing like that.
The colleges communicated with all these many student using newspapers, and plain old snail mail. Not even phone calls.
Somehow, it all worked.
I was reading a history of the 1918 flu in St. Louis. Some places where people congregated were shut down but not all. My grandfather kept going to work. Stores were open, but Saturday sales were banned to prevent store crowding.
In 1918, there was a lot less people mobility than there is now. Fact is…most people shopped on Saturday. There were no Sunday hours, or evening hours.
People are far more mobile now…moving around far more. With plenty more things that they go to. How many fitness centers, yoga studios, massage parlors, hairdressers, etc were there in 1918 that folks regularly patronized.
Then was then…and now is now.
For those poo-pooing the economic impacts let me get personal…
We have student housing
The State just put a 90 moratorium on evictions.
You can not file the paperwork, you can not ask WHY a tenant is not paying you can do NOTHING. In one State delivering a notice of delinquency is a misdemeanor, in a neighboring state it’s a felony. Heck if you were a tenant why would you pay? You hold out for the three months and hope someone else eventually picks up the tab or the State mandates ‘forgiveness’ by the landlords.
NO mortgage relief, no property tax deferment, no deferment of utilities, insurance etc. no cessation of city/State fees. No relief for the owner.
Additionally, the property mgmt companies are fighting tooth and nail to be designed an essential service. Hey, who ya gonna call when the toilet don’t flush because you’ve stuffed last years T-shirt down there as TP. Who ya gonna call when your drunken student hits the fire sprinkler with a golf club in the wee hours of the morning and water is running at 50 gals/minute down the hall way (yes that happened).
Okay, so we figure close to no income. What do you do…you triage.
Figure out which entities you might be able to save. and then stop ALL payments on the others? Maybe the utility company turns off the central power which keeps the hall lights, elevators and garage doors running. Stop paying for garbage collections. Maybe the best a ‘tenant’ can hope for is a cold shower and supper by candle light.
You fire the gardener, the cleaning crew, the general maintenance and maybe the property mgmt company. (Since PMC’s are paid as a percentage of gross rents - why would they want to work for free?) You let the inmates run their own prison.
In a few months you have blighted properties. Bank foreclosures take months and months, by that time the value has plummeted because the properties were not maintained and managed.
Now repeat this dozens and dozens of times. Because not all rental property is owned by large deep pocket REITS or investors. They might come in and swoop up the dilapidated properties in a year or two… but until then the city has created it’s own nightmare.
So really folks, think this tru…
First “famous” COVID death - the playwright Terrance McNally. 81. Suffered from chronic lung disease and died from complications of COVID.
Ugh, now it’s feeling real. All non-essential businesses in Maine have to close at midnight and I had a hair appointment scheduled for 2 pm tomorrow. I had moved it up from next week but that’s the soonest she could fit me in. ?
@MaineLonghorn, you’re in with the rest of us on the no hairstylist group now. It seems so long ago, Feb. 28, when I last had my hair cut and colored. I refused to shake my hairstylist’s hand or hug him, as we normally do. He was miffed. “You’re doing that?” he said. Now we’re all doing that.
Los Angeles sheriff orders all gun stores shut down, and instructs deputies to enforce closures
From CNN’s Alexandra Meeks
Gun stores in Los Angeles have been declared a nonessential business and have been forced to close, L.A. County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said in a statement Tuesday.
Villanueva also announced the department will add 1,300 deputies to beef up patrols.
“There are hundreds of businesses which, through no fault of their own, do not fall under the Governor’s definition of critical infrastructure,” the sheriff said. “As a result, I have instructed my deputies to enforce closures of businesses which have disregarded the Governor’s order (gun stores, strip clubs, and other non-designated businesses).”
This directive comes after reports that gun stores in Los Angeles have seen an increase in sales due to coronavirus concerns.
Georgia health system asks other hospitals for assistance because it’s “quickly reaching a critical mass”
From CNN’s Angela Barajas
Phoebe Putney Health System, in southwest Georgia, is now reporting roughly a third of the deaths in the state.
CEO Scott Steiner said in a statement that the hospital system is “quickly reaching a critical mass.”
Steiner went on to say the health system’s main hospital “has been more severely impacted by COVID-19 than any other hospital in Georgia, and our entire health system is one of the hardest hit in the state."
Phoebe Putney Health System has asked other hospitals to take in its Covid-19 and non-COVID patients.
“Several hospitals that currently are not being severely impacted by the COVID-19 public health emergency have agreed to accept patients from our main hospital to free up capacity for our ever-growing number of COVID-19 patients,” a Putney spokesperson said.
The hospital is currently awaiting the results of more than 1,000 people who were tested for coronavirus.
French local authority bans sale of alcohol during coronavirus emergency measures
From Ya Chun Wang in Paris , CNN
Aisne, a region in northern France, has banned the sale of alcohol while emergency measures due to coronavirus are in place.
The ban has been put in place over an increasing risk of domestic violence due to restriction of movement, local police said on Tuesday.
“As intra-family violence is often associated with excessive alcohol consumption, a regulation measure to take-away sales of alcoholic beverages until March 31st had been decided,” police said a statement.
This announcement came after Minister of Interior Christophe Castaner stressed police effort to crack down on domestic violence cases.
@dietz199 I agree with you on the state of rentals. The public loves to yammer about rich, greedy landlords. Except…there are lots of every day regular people landlords. We have to pay mortgages, property taxes, repairs, etc.
One of my renters started making noise last weekend (when our state had 30 cases). I filed her tax returns. She got over $12,000 back two weeks ago. Her rent is $400…
The Denmark plan (government pays companies 75% of worker salaries to pay workers to not work) is looking more attractive. Otherwise, yes, if you forbid stuff like evictions/foreclosures, there are knock-on effects and the economic system still chokes. Though even under the Denmark plan, corporate debts would have to be handled somehow (rolled?)
This plus the Debt Jubilee!
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/03/21/debt-jubilee-is-only-way-avoid-depression/
South Carolina schools will stay closed through April
From CNN’s Stephanie Gallman
School in South Carolina will remain closed for the duration of the month of April, according to a joint statement released by Gov. Henry McMaster and Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman.
“Our dedicated teachers and school administrators have done a tremendous job in making it possible for our students to learn at home. We understand that the prospect of schools remaining closed for an extended period of time places stress and strain on parents and children. Rest assured, if there is any way to safely open our schools earlier, we will do that, but schools must remain closed to protect the health and safety of South Carolinians,” they said in the statement.
The closure applies to K-12 schools as well as public colleges, universities and technical colleges.
Pentagon orders all elective surgeries and dental procedures postponed at military facilities
From CNN’s Ryan Browne
The Pentagon has issued a memo to “immediately postpone all elective surgeries, invasive procedures and dental procedures” in order to free up medical facilities and equipment as it responds to the coronavirus outbreak.
“This action aligns with actions being taken across the nation to conserve vital healthcare resources during this public health emergency, to include bed space, personal protective equipment, supplies and medical personnel,” the memo said.
The order becomes effective on March 31 and is scheduled to last 60 days.
Procedures and surgeries designed to maintain deployability of active duty troops will be allowed to continue.
More than 13% of Spanish coronavirus cases are health care workers
From CNN’s Lindsay Isaac
Medical workers in Spain account for 13.6% of its total coronavirus cases, according to Fernando Simón, director of the Spanish Coordinating Centre for Health Alerts and Emergencies at Spain’s Ministry of Health.
Health care workers account for 5,400 of the country’s 39,673 total cases, he said on Tuesday.
3 sailors aboard aircraft carrier test positive for coronavirus while at sea for 15 days
From CNN’s Barbara Starr and Ryan Browne
Three sailors aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt have tested positive for coronavirus and have been flown to a military medical facility for treatment, the acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly said Tuesday.
“Three cases of COVID19 have been identified among personnel currently deployed and underway on the USS Theodore Roosevelt, these are our first three cases of COVID19 on a ship that is deployed,“ Modly said.
“We’ve identified all those folks that they’ve had contact with and we are quantifying they as well,” he added.
It is the first reported case of coronavirus aboard a US Navy ship while it was at sea.
The carrier was last in port 15 days ago as part of a port visit to Vietnam. However, Navy officials would not say if the sailors were exposed to coronavirus while there, noting that multiple aircraft had flown to the carrier in the intervening period.
There are approximately 5,000 personnel on board the carrier.
[ Certainly more than 3. ]
Georgia Republican urges Trump administration to temporarily ban exports of coronavirus medical supplies
From CNN’s Jeremy Herb
A Georgia congressman is urging Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to temporarily ban exports of medical supplies related to coronavirus over concerns that private companies will send supplies to foreign countries instead of states seeking the same equipment.
GOP Rep. Doug Collins sent a letter to Pompeo Tuesday saying that he has heard from state health officials that they are having trouble obtaining equipment because US companies are receiving an influx of European orders.
“I was informed by Northeast Georgia Health System that it faced uncertainty in the fulfillment of its recent purchase of high-speed testing equipment from a domestic company that is refusing any new customers because of a surge in orders from Europe,” Collins wrote in the letter, which was obtained by CNN.
Collins, who is running for Senate against fellow Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler, said he wanted the US government to “provide clear guidance that all production of necessary medical supplies must first be sent to purchasers in the United States until domestic demand has been satisfied,” adding that other countries have imposed limits on exports of medical supplies, too.
State officials across the country have warned about the difficulty of obtaining medical supplies, such as masks, gowns and ventilators, saying they are having to compete with other states, the federal government and foreign countries for orders. Several state officials, including New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, have pressed President Trump to invoke the Defense Production Act to obtain the supplies that states need.
I’m 99% laid off. Hospitality business (2 restaurants), on the office side. We are not paying any bills.
Los Angeles County on Tuesday confirmed four more deaths linked to the coronavirus, including one previously reported in the city of Long Beach. The deaths include an individual under the age of 18, the first such death reported in the county.
The number of deaths in the county is now 11.
Officials confirmed an additional 128 cases, bringing the county’s total to 662.
(Can’t find more details about the child under 18 – perhaps more will come later)
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is trying to sell Democratic members on the Senate coronavirus bill
From CNN’s Manu Raju
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her leadership team are trying to sell their caucus on the Senate plan, arguing it is a much improved version of earlier proposals even as some on the left gripe about reports of the emerging deal.
According to sources on an ongoing conference call with the House Democratic Caucus, Pelosi told her caucus the bill is an improvement from a few days ago, contending it has moved in a positive direction.
On the call, she argued that $500 billion fund for distressed industries, for instance, will now be overseen by a five-person panel, one of the sources said. This is a key point of contention within the House Democratic Caucus, even prompting Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to tweet her concerns about the emerging deal earlier this afternoon.
Pelosi said the bill is a “big advance,” but contended it was “not everything we want,” according to the source.
Winning over the caucus is important because any member — Republican or Democrat — could object and demand House members return to Washington to vote in person if lawmakers don’t cooperate and allow the vote to occur by unanimous consent or voice vote.
Also, on the call, Pelosi pointed that there would be $150 billion in funds for state and local governments and $130 billion for hospitals. She also said that Republicans would not agree to a 15% increase for food stamps and other nutritional programs, nor would they provide the money Democrats demanded to encourage states to adopt vote-by-mail programs.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, on the call, said there would be additional economic relief legislation as well — potentially two more.
Coronavirus cases are spiking in these US states right now
From CNN’s Matthew Hilk
New York state is soaring in coronavirus case numbers, higher and faster than anywhere in America, with more than 25,000 cases and at least 210 deaths by Tuesday — and case totals are doubling every few days.
But in recent days, numbers in Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Florida and Georgia are also spiking fast, according to CNN’s state-by-state county of positive Covid-19 cases reported by state and local health departments.
Here’s where things stand now:
Michigan rose from just 65 cases about week ago to 1,328 on Tuesday afternoon, including 15 deaths.
Louisiana, which reported no cases until mid-March, topped the 1,000-mark and has seen more than 500 new cases reported just since the weekend, with 1,388 cases and 46 deaths by Tuesday afternoon.
Pennsylvania saw a spike of more than 200 cases overnight, bringing the total to 851 cases statewide on Tuesday. Of those cases, seven people have died.
Florida and Georgia — two states where leaders have faced criticism for being slow to enact restrictions — both crossed the 1,000-case threshold over the weekend and continue to rise in cases at a rate of at least 20% each day. As of Tuesday afternoon, Florida recorded 1,324 cases and 17 deaths, while Georgia reported 1,026 cases and 32 fatalities.
Indiana went from a handful of cases about a week ago to 365 Tuesday afternoon.
Remember: To be sure, while these are notable recent spikes, the states with the consistently largest total number of cases are New York, Washington, and California. It’s just that in recent days, the rates of increase in Washington and California are not quite as high. Washington and California were also home to the nation’s earliest recorded outbreaks.