Covid-19

[MadDoctor]

I'm just hoping that this isn't/wasn't a 'test' to see how quick a virus (biological weapon) could spread throughout the world...

No no no. It's people from space. Sure they could blast the earth into a hunk of dust in a second (think death star) but what's the fun in that? Playing the "what will happen to that ball of dirt if we dump a virus on it" game.

Our betting lines are open. No waiting.

[jeremyboycool]

I am fairly sure it is crab people, they want to weaken us before they storm the surface world.

[Easto]

Well, it looks like today 4/11/2020 will be the day that the US reaches 20k virus deaths.

4/24/2020 - 52,000+ Deaths. More than doubled in 13 days.

[YeOldeStonecat]

Got our EIDL deposit last week, that'll keep us open for a couple of hours.
Received our PPP deposit 2 days ago. We has just hired a 6th employee in Feb, but the PPP needed to be an average of last years W2...1x month worth, when we were 5 employees and before a big pay raise we all did first of this year.
But...some money is better than nothing. So about 65-70% of 2 months worth of payroll is covered.

As for my wife, she's a sole prop Realtor, hasn't heard back or gotten a thing yet. Ugh. The spring season she's normally very busy, in these 3 or so months she'll make what I make in a year and that's a big part of our budget for the year.
At least we can almost tread water on my salary.

This stuff had better start lifting soon, it's putting a major hurt on people.

[YARDofSTUF]

This stuff had better start lifting soon, it's putting a major hurt on people.

Its gonna be bad either way, though if the treatment Fauci mentioned turns out good enough that could be a big boost.

Tests per capita arent in a good spot for us for reopening.

[Easto]

I personally feel that one of the saddest and most tragic aspects of all of this, beyond the deaths, is the impact this is taking on small businesses across the country. When you own a small to medium sized business your margins are usually paper thin, and even in the best of times maintaining a going concern can be a precarious endeavor. I am getting tired of the "We're all in this together" cliche. If viewed from only the financial standpoint we're not all in this together. There are people who are going to lose everything. As I ride my bike or drive my car down familiar streets I see shops that show the signs of being closed for good. Not for 2 months. That really scares me.

[Easto]

My wife received an email today and was informed that her status has been changed from "Furloughed" to "Terminated". This eventuality was somewhat expected, but the attached letter was addressed to "Dear Sir or Madam". That was about a rude as I could possibly think.

[Philip]

Got our EIDL deposit last week, that'll keep us open for a couple of hours.
Received our PPP deposit 2 days ago. We has just hired a 6th employee in Feb, but the PPP needed to be an average of last years W2...1x month worth, when we were 5 employees and before a big pay raise we all did first of this year.
But...some money is better than nothing. So about 65-70% of 2 months worth of payroll is covered.

As for my wife, she's a sole prop Realtor, hasn't heard back or gotten a thing yet. Ugh. The spring season she's normally very busy, in these 3 or so months she'll make what I make in a year and that's a big part of our budget for the year.
At least we can almost tread water on my salary.

This stuff had better start lifting soon, it's putting a major hurt on people.

Haven't received a cent yet... My bank's (BofA) initial online-only application process required that one has not only business bank accounts, but also an existing "business loan relationship" with them, which I didn't so I couldn't apply the first week or so. I applied after they lifted that ridiculous restriction (it has nothing to do with the SBA requirements) , but then while applying and submitting 941s, etc. the initial money ran out, while my application was sitting with the bank. They held my completed application for two weeks and I got in on the second round a couple of days ago. Anyway, I will survive.

I agree that many small companies that had to close may not be able to recover from this. It is sad that hotels and bigger businesses with up to 500 employees got the big chunk of the money earmarked for "small businesses". Not to mention, small businesses account for 50% of all employers in the country, while they only got ~1/6th of the 2 trillion stimulus package that will be a burden on all taxpayers for years.

I will stop ranting now. Of course the human toll is more important than the economic aspect of it.

[MadDoctor]

the human toll is more important than the economic aspect of it.

Yep.

[jeremyboycool]

People can survive poverty and many will have to lower their standard of living, but rushing ahead will not only cause more unnecessary deaths, it could also have a greater negative economic impact in the long run.

[YeOldeStonecat]

Haven't received a cent yet... My bank's (BofA) initial online-only application process required that one has not only business bank accounts, but also an existing "business loan relationship" with them, which I didn't so I couldn't apply the first week or so. I applied after they lifted that ridiculous restriction (it has nothing to do with the SBA requirements) , but then while applying and submitting 941s, etc. the initial money ran out, while my application was sitting with the bank. They held my completed application for two weeks and I got in on the second round a couple of days ago. Anyway, I will survive.

Good luck getting something on the second go-a-round!

[Rainbow]

I have no thoughts. I've seen people struggle to breathe. Some were colleagues. Take all the precautions you can. You don't want this unless your one of the lucky ones that are asymptomatic. As someone said this is just surreal.

[koldchillah]

Finally starting to run out of work to do. Pay cut just came down today, but I should feel lucky my workload is down 80% and I'm probably only working about 10hrs a week right now but my pay cut is just 20%. With no more work on the horizon, Im not sure how long they will keep us on the payroll. In today's conference call they seemed to believe these pay cuts will allow the company to survive the rest of the year but not much beyond that unless medical businesses start buying EHR & PACS software again. We get the bulk of sales through large medical conferences and conventions which are non-existent right now. Interesting times ahead for sure. Hope everyone else is hanging in there and staying safe! Tonight calls for whiskey on the rocks! cheers to better times ahead!

[sailorpapay]

covid made me go through a lot of.....unpleasant things.
first, we started working remotely.And then, the company started a terrible downsizing - just because they had to save some money
so I was fired
and job-hunting during this kind of isolation is not the most pleasant journey I should say

[Easto]

Wow, this has sure been one heck of an experience.

It's been one heck of an emotional roller coaster for me. Fortunately Mrs. Easto and I, and all of our immediate family have been able to stay healthy. I've been able to maintain my sanity by going on 3-4 hour bike rides with some of my close friends. Those rides have been a blessing. Unfortunately, Mrs. Easto is as very social creature. Not being able to see her son, daughter and grandchildren is really taking it's toll on her. I do my best to keep her distracted as much as possible.

My heart goes out to everyone, especially the small business owners who might never recover. If this would have happened years ago when I was self-employed I don't know what I would have done. I've been self-employed, I know what a struggle it is virtually all the time. As I go on my bike rides we ride by so many stores that have definitely closed for good. I feel so bad for everyone that has had to go through this.

As of today it appears that the social distancing restrictions are starting to peel away. I can't keep people from going out and socializing, I just hope everyone is not to quick to forget and that they carry forward some of the lessons we've learned and how to be a bit more sanitary that usual.

[NatalieK3]

These events are terrible, but how many conspiracy theories have appeared now, it's just wow
people really have nothing to do

[Humboldt]

Best wishes to everyone.

[koldchillah]

Lost my job due to COVID this week. 5 yrs, 4 months, and 37 medical practices taken live on new software systems, migrations, and interfaces all over the US. Had a good run at it. Onto the next chapter! I haven't been this unemployed since I was 13 yrs old and mowing 4 neighborhood lawns on Sundays. Guess it's time to dust off and update the 2002 resume. lol

[Easto]

Sorry to hear about the job loss. My wife was laid off 3 months ago. Hang in there.

[Philip]

Sorry to hear that Matt, I guess at least you can get some unemployment out of it. Not the greatest time for hiring, but remote IT jobs should still be in demand imho.

[Easto]

... remote IT jobs should still be in demand imho.

I keep telling my wife that once she's able to join the work force again it's going to be some sort of essential job. Trash truck drivers are still working. Although I'm retired, I would have been effected by the layoffs almost right away with my previous occupation, and with little hope of jumping back into it.

[Debbie]

I am still working remotely. No word on a "return to the office" date. I am not in a hurry since my office is in lower Manhattan.

I had surgery 2 weeks ago. I am glad that is over with.

I hope everyone is doing well.

[Philip]

Deb, hope you're recovering well from your surgery. At least you didn't fall of the wagon, er, bike like Easto ( jk ).

[YeOldeStonecat]

Lost my job due to COVID this week. 5 yrs, 4 months,

Dang Matt...sorry to hear that!
What's your skillset? Got advanced 365 skills? They're in very high demand and companies are still reorganizing to "work from home". And/or anticipating the worse 2nd round of 'vid this winter.

[koldchillah]

Dang Matt...sorry to hear that!
What's your skillset? Got advanced 365 skills? They're in very high demand and companies are still reorganizing to "work from home". And/or anticipating the worse 2nd round of 'vid this winter.

Started a new job yesterday. I'm back in IT Consulting joining forces with an old colleague who has built his IT company for the past 15 yrs and now I'm the 7th full-time employee to join the team. While my skillset now leans more towards project implementation in healthcare IT, this allows me to get back to my roots of working on servers & networks and helping them grow the business in other areas too. My main focus however will be bringing their IT company into the medical space where they currently have zero footprint. Currently the company does about 60% of its business via low voltage wiring contracts on large commercial buildings and second to wiring is security cameras and access control systems. The IT MSP side accounts for only about 10% of their business, so that is where I come in. They also are into telecom, so I'll be getting to learn a lot of new stuff and wiping off the dust from skills I haven't used in a long time. It's great to be back at work and excited about what I do again. I just have to hustle so I can build up enough clients to raise my salary back to where it should be, but I'm up for the challenge and its a lot easier to join an established firm than to build one from the ground up like I did 14 yrs ago.

[Philip]

Sounds like you have it figured out.. It is a bit different field if you're also doing telecom/wiring, but if you are fusing your area of expertise and not afraid of the challenges you will do great over time I'm sure.

[Ken]

Started a new job yesterday. I'm back in IT Consulting joining forces with an old colleague who has built his IT company for the past 15 yrs and now I'm the 7th full-time employee to join the team. While my skillset now leans more towards project implementation in healthcare IT, this allows me to get back to my roots of working on servers & networks and helping them grow the business in other areas too. My main focus however will be bringing their IT company into the medical space where they currently have zero footprint. Currently the company does about 60% of its business via low voltage wiring contracts on large commercial buildings and second to wiring is security cameras and access control systems. The IT MSP side accounts for only about 10% of their business, so that is where I come in. They also are into telecom, so I'll be getting to learn a lot of new stuff and wiping off the dust from skills I haven't used in a long time. It's great to be back at work and excited about what I do again. I just have to hustle so I can build up enough clients to raise my salary back to where it should be, but I'm up for the challenge and its a lot easier to join an established firm than to build one from the ground up like I did 14 yrs ago.

Best of luck!

[koldchillah]

Best of luck!

Thanks guys! So far so good!

[Debbie]

Well, I heard that we should not expect to be back in the office until after December. No date set.

[Easto]

Well, I heard that we should not expect to be back in the office until after December. No date set.

This is dragging on way too long.

[TonyT]

My 2 cents

While covid is a real virus and a real threat, it has been hyped into something that it is not.
The media reported stats and numbers are skewed and false.

The CDC just released their latest fatality report. For weeks 2/1/20 through 8/22/20 in the US, The CDC reports "For 6% of the deaths, COVID-19 was the only cause mentioned. For deaths with conditions or causes in addition to COVID-19, on average, there were 2.6 additional conditions or causes per death."

This is 6% of deaths, not 6% of the population. This means that the number of people dead from covid alone in the US is only 10,980.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/covi ... /index.htm

Covid is not actually a threat to people in decent health.

Thus lockdowns are a poor solution. Masks don't really protect anyone nor prevent spread. The solution that should be being promoted is "get healthy and stay healthy".

We'll never see main stream media prompte health because they make their dollars from companies that produce unhealthy products and big pharma (largest $ advertiser).

[Philip]

There has been a trend in the US towards healthier choices lately, even though individuality is one of its' founding principles as well. "Get healthy and stay healthy" is a great long-term goal, but not really a solution to the current situation.

While I agree that the media is hyping it and spinning too much, and caters to their advertisers, the threat shouldn't be taken lightly or ignored imho. There are some cases where young healthy people have long lasting effects/complications due to COVID-19. Masks help reduce the spread of the disease, even if the virus is not a threat to you, a mask can prevent you from spreading it to others. While masks are not 100% effective, there are many studies showing they significantly reduce the spread of viruses, they are recommended by both the CDC and WHO regardless of what the media and politicians spin. Yes, the virus molecules are smaller, but most droplets get stopped by masks.

[TonyT]

Yes, the virus molecules are smaller, but most droplets get stopped by masks.

Ever see someone vaping using a mask? Water vapot goes right through and also out the sides.
Masks do reduce the spread slightly.
Those in poorer health are more at risk, esp heart disease, asthma and diabetes folk, and I do wear a mask when entering stores, etc., solely for their benefit.
The 5-10% protection may just be enough to prevent the other guy from becoming more unhealthy.

[Easto]

Those in poorer health are more at risk, esp heart disease, asthma and diabetes

And the CDC states that 30 million people have full blown diabetes in the us. I would say that's a considerable amount of our population that need to be protected.

[Philip]

Aerosols/vapor can pass through masks, but not larger droplets, so you're significantly reducing spread, masks reduce virus spread much more than 5-10%.
https://files.fast.ai/papers/masks_lit_review.pdf

It is a cheap courteous way to reduce the risk, I also wear one in enclosed spaces with other people nearby. It is still funny to see people driving around alone in their cars wearing them.

[Easto]

It is still funny to see people driving around alone in their cars wearing them.

Yeah, I haven't figured out that one either.

[Ken]

My take, ...people demanded that other people not be allowed to smoke indoors, second hand smoke is a killer! Something which could take years to show any effect on others...
Those same people don't want to be forced to wear a mask, something that could actually kill someone in 2 weeks...
Intelligence is limited, stupidity has no limits...


An N95 can filter down to .3 microns. Covid is .1 microns. WTF??? Well, that would mean something if the virus was a loner. Fortunately, they stick together and stick to other things like moisture droplets...
It is like 3 NFL offensive lineman trying to go through a door at the same time...

MIT has proven that a sneeze can travel 27' and that a person talking loud can spew the virus and it linger in the air indoors for 14 hours...

So, an N95 can keep you from spreading covid, UNLESS it has the valve in it... (The 95 means something, as does the N, look it up...)

Homemade masks can have SOME benefits depending upon the material, I believe a minimum of 2 layers of cotton is best...


Bottom line, yes, basically any mask can HELP you from SPREADING covid as it can catch the MOISTURE that the virus clings to when you exhale, cough, sneeze or merely talk, efficiency depending of course on the material that the mask is made from and IF it is WORN Properly...

Yes, some people are at a greater risk, and they know it.
How many people have you known that had a hidden or unknown health problem, such as a heart defect, and died from it? Throughout my years, I have known about 5 or so, would have to really think it. Not something that I want to remember... I wouldn't want to think that I could have contributed to killing someone... Let your conscience be your guide and remember Typhoid Mary!

Stay safe!!!!!

[Ken]

I haven't searched, however I heard on the "news" that the head of the CDC rescinded a page about deaths and causes due to much misinterpretation by people...

[Philip]

I am not surprised... People die from complications from other conditions/diseases and combinations of factors, seems kind of subjective to determine when the cause of death is definitely Covid-19, or certainly related to it. I imagine different states and institutions report data differently as well, but overall it is a very large number of people.

[Ken]

Yes, I agree, the reporting has been all over the place... We did not know and had no protocols for something like this... They need to be established into a standard...


Some major points of covid:

It is not comparable to the flu in basically any meaningful ways. We have studied the flu for years and cannot eradicate it due to it evolving, recessing, going dormant, being asymptomatic in people until the conditions revive it. That is why the flu can break out simultaneously all over the place. It is never truly gone, just waiting...

COVID came out of nowhere (meaning new) and was in 182 countries in 2 months... Big difference!

COVID kills people with certain existing conditions, be it health, age, known or unknown. Asymptomatic carriers (such as my reference to Typhoid Mary) can spread it like wildfire without the carrier even knowing...

I have read peer reviewed articles from scientists and epidemiologists that actually know and do the research, know as much as currently possible anyway. The TV is an 'entertainment medium' that is going to say what you want to hear so that you will keep watching, it is all about the ratings, not the truth...

As I posted about MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, they are very accredited with their research) have done other types of tests, such as how it can be distributed. Pay attention to research facilities such as that...

Masks can save lives as unless they are properly worn, N95 or better, which can protect the user, surgical and homemade masks are able to slow the spread...
As I posted earlier, the virus is clingy...

It appears that COVID is now evolving as at least a second strain has been confirmed... This could become a problem for asymptomatic carriers...


I don't know about you guys, however I will wear a mask as I don't want to have even a possibility of spreading it and certainly not killing someone with it that had no clue they had a hidden condition that made them unknowing vulnerable.


As far as cause of death...
A short, however true story as my mom told me and the death certificate proved.
I never knew my father as my mother had a restraining order against him due to him being a violent alcoholic. I only saw him at his funeral shortly after Christmas, 1970.
He was in Tampa General Hospital, due to advanced cirrhosis of the liver, he was dying, not expected to ever leave the hospital alive. The actual cause of death? He choked to death in bed on his on him own vomit, he couldn't even sit up in the bed...
So what did he die from?

1 more, sworn to truth: A young girl that was a neighbor that I knew her whole life. A good girl, honor student, no drugs, ran every day, ate healthy. Graduates and goes to the University of Miami, where she continued to run every morning for almost 2 years. They found her in her bed one morning when she didn't go to class, she always went... Still in her running clothes and shoes, they found her deceased in her bed... Autopsy results; no drugs or alcohol, body in excellent condition from eating right and exercise, however she had an unknown heart defect...

Why these stories? You never know how things will end. From the death certificate was father was in his last days/hours due to cirrhosis, which is listed 2nd, choking is listed 1st. Choking due to the effects of cirrhosis...

Poor Jaime, she was just average looking, slim build, but had a heart of gold. She was taken at ~20 years old, about 20 years ago... RIP baby!

I'm tired of typing, maybe more later...


Bottom line, why would anyone want to take a chance at spreading this? Wear a freaking mask! The life that you save could be a friend or family member!

Let your conscience be your guide...