Muh Muh Muh My Corona (virus)

Slacker · Mar 26, 2020

TrooperBari said: ↑

I need to vent somewhere my real name isn't attached. Mods, feel free to delete if this is too OT.

Singapore, where I'm in grad school, is going back into lockdown because of a spike in COVID-19 cases (likely Singaporeans returning from abroad). Only citizens and long-term pass holders are allowed in, can't even transit at Changi, no gatherings larger than 10 people, etc. Our school has moved all classes online after flirting with it for weeks. Plus, it's threatening academic and financial penalties for students who don't report their body temperature twice a day, weekends and holidays included. A big ball of stress on top of the usual grad school workload.

Yesterday my family got in touch to tell me grandpa has esophageal cancer. The doctor, rather unhelpfully, said the tumor "is further along than not". Turns out grandpa has three weeks to live, tops. Says he doesn't want any heroic measures to extend his life and now there's a family APB to come home for a "celebratory, holiday-style gathering". Not that there's a good time for something like this, but it's hard to see how the timing could be worse.

This is all so fucked. If I leave Singapore -- where I have housing and health insurance, if nothing else -- I won't be able to return. Going back to Nebraska would mean I have no job, insurance, or means of transportation and I'd be a burden when my family can least afford one. I'd also be stuck there for the foreseeable future; I have a job offer in a country that has the outbreak comparatively under control, but the work visa I need has been in limbo for months while the office processing it has been told to work from home.

I'm pretty much on my own since the school has been of little help and the US Embassy's response can be summed up as "please hold". I want to be there for my family (if not grandpa), but going back feels like it'd be blowing up what sliver of hope and certainty I have in my life. I hate every bit of this.
Click to expand...

Bari, forgive me for being blunt, but ... you can't go. And your grandpa would understand, OK?

Talk to him by phone or Skype right now if you can. He'll love that too, and he'll understand.

This is a time of global crisis. Gotta protect yourself first, which then protects others, too.
Do what you can for your family from afar. But nobody can hop a plane right now, and that's hard, but it's right.

DanOregon · Mar 26, 2020

Della9250 said: ↑

Death toll to 924. Alabma, Alaska and North Carolina are off the list, which is now at 11 states without a death. So close to a top 10!

Delaware
Idaho
Maine
Montana
Nebraska
New Mexico
North Dakota
Rhode Island
South Dakota
West Virginia
Wyoming
Click to expand...

Interesting to note that of the 11 states, seven don't have a D1 football school.

Della9250 · Mar 26, 2020

Also 7 of the 9 smallest by population and all are in the bottom 15 in population

PCLoadLetter · Mar 26, 2020

Slacker said: ↑

Bari, forgive me for being blunt, but ... you can't go. And your grandpa would understand, OK?

Talk to him by phone or Skype right now if you can. He'll love that too, and he'll understand.

This is a time of global crisis. Gotta protect yourself first, which then protects others, too.
Do what you can for your family from afar. But nobody can hop a plane right now, and that's hard, but it's right.
Click to expand...

Yeah, Bari, I certainly understand why you are torn on this, but I'm 100% with Slacker on this. You can't give up everything you'd be giving up for this.

Sorry you're dealing with that. That's miserable.

MTM · Mar 26, 2020

Picked up dinner at a drive-thru tonight. I hand the woman at the window my debit card and she hands me a machine to punch in my PIN. She then hands me a little clipboard to sign the receipt, so I’ve now touched two things other customers have touched that were probably not disinfected between uses.

I drove home with just my wrists touching the steering wheel and, of course, every spot on my face itched since I couldn’t touch it.

I scrubbed my hands profusely when I got home.

Azrael · Mar 26, 2020

TrooperBari said: ↑

I need to vent somewhere my real name isn't attached. Mods, feel free to delete if this is too OT.

Singapore, where I'm in grad school, is going back into lockdown because of a spike in COVID-19 cases (likely Singaporeans returning from abroad). Only citizens and long-term pass holders are allowed in, can't even transit at Changi, no gatherings larger than 10 people, etc. Our school has moved all classes online after flirting with it for weeks. Plus, it's threatening academic and financial penalties for students who don't report their body temperature twice a day, weekends and holidays included. A big ball of stress on top of the usual grad school workload.

Yesterday my family got in touch to tell me grandpa has esophageal cancer. The doctor, rather unhelpfully, said the tumor "is further along than not". Turns out grandpa has three weeks to live, tops. Says he doesn't want any heroic measures to extend his life and now there's a family APB to come home for a "celebratory, holiday-style gathering". Not that there's a good time for something like this, but it's hard to see how the timing could be worse.

This is all so fucked. If I leave Singapore -- where I have housing and health insurance, if nothing else -- I won't be able to return. Going back to Nebraska would mean I have no job, insurance, or means of transportation and I'd be a burden when my family can least afford one. I'd also be stuck there for the foreseeable future; I have a job offer in a country that has the outbreak comparatively under control, but the work visa I need has been in limbo for months while the office processing it has been told to work from home.

I'm pretty much on my own since the school has been of little help and the US Embassy's response can be summed up as "please hold". I want to be there for my family (if not grandpa), but going back feels like it'd be blowing up what sliver of hope and certainty I have in my life. I hate every bit of this.
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear all this.

You can't go. Your grandfather wouldn't want that for you.

Skype or Zoom or Face Time in.

Azrael · Mar 26, 2020

MTM said: ↑

Picked up dinner at a drive-thru tonight. I hand the woman at the window my debit card and she hands me a machine to punch in my PIN. She then hands me a little clipboard to sign the receipt, so I’ve now touched two things other customers have touched that were probably not disinfected between uses.

I drove home with just my wrists touching the steering wheel and, of course, every spot on my face itched since I couldn’t touch it.

I scrubbed my hands profusely when I got home.
Click to expand...

Gloves, gloves, gloves.

Azrael · Mar 26, 2020

https://www.washingtonpost.com/busi...ump-coronavirus-economic-stimulus-2-trillion/

I guess the good news in last night's senate stimulus package is the enriched unemployment benefit for the millions of people losing their jobs.

Not so good is the corporate crutch for companies undone by their own mismanagement.

Rather see that money going to working class families. Now, rather than three months from now. Especially without some sort of moratorium on rents.

Meanwhile, in Canada:

Ottawa to send $2,000 per month to COVID-19-affected Canadians. But will the system be able to keep up?

The Big Ragu · Mar 26, 2020

Azrael said: ↑

ahem

www.netnewsledger.com/2020/03/25/canada-enacts-2000-per-month-canadian-emergency-benefit/
Click to expand...

I personally think the idea that these overly indebted governments (although somehow over the last few years, Canada has actually been relatively restrained compared to the US) are going to be able to bail out everything, is a fantasy. It's going to do way more harm than the benefit everyone is assuming -- and relatively quickly at this point because of where they are starting from after running up huge amounts of debt in "non emergency" times, and how much of it has already been monetized. Nobody is considering how much more expensive the cost of living is likely to get with all of the debt they are trying to monetize by just expanding the money supplies and thinking you can bail out the world that way. It's a formula for Weimar Republic type of stuff.

But putting that aside. ... that Canadian emergency benefit works out pretty similarly to what is in the U.S. spending boondoggle. First, they are taxing it as income. $200 off the top. Second, those are Canadian dollars, not USD. After the taxes, it works out to less than $1,300 USD per month for 4 months. It's more than what Canada's unemployment check came out to with their benefit that already existed. But what it really did was extend it to a boatload of people, set it up for 4 months, and it streamlined the process for applying. Unless I am completely misunderstanding what they are doing, and this is in ADDITION to a regular unemployment check. I don't think so, though.

The U.S. bill -- if it passes -- increases unemployment payments to $600 per week through July, which is close to $3,400 CAD per month if you want to look at it as apples to apples. This is was what the grandstanding was about yesterday with some of the numbnuts Senators waking up to the fact that there will be workers who will be given more than they were actually earning working. The bill also extends the unemployment benefit to self-employed people and people who had already exhausted what they could collect.

Azrael · Mar 26, 2020

The Big Ragu said: ↑

I personally think the idea that these overly indebted governments (although somehow over the last few years, Canada has actually been relatively restrained compared to the US) are going to be able to bail out everything, is a fantasy. It's going to do way more harm than the benefit everyone is assuming -- and relatively quickly at this point because of where they are starting from after running up huge amounts of debt in "non emergency" times, and how much of it has already been monetized. Nobody is considering how much more expensive the cost of living is likely to get with all of the debt they are trying to monetize by just expanding the money supplies and thinking you can bail out the world that way. It's a formula for Weimar Republic type of stuff.

But putting that aside. ... that Canadian emergency benefit works out pretty similarly to what is in the U.S. spending boondoggle. First, they are taxing it as income. $200 off the top. Second, those are Canadian dollars, not USD. After the taxes, it works out to less than $1,300 USD per month for 4 months. It's more than what Canada's unemployment check came out to with their benefit that already existed. But what it really did was extend it to a boatload of people, set it up for 4 months, and it streamlined the process for applying. Unless I am completely misunderstanding what they are doing, and this is in ADDITION to a regular unemployment check. I don't think so, though.

The U.S. bill -- if it passes -- increases unemployment payments to $600 per week through July, which is close to $3,400 CAD per month if you want to look at it as apples to apples. This is was what the grandstanding was about yesterday with some of the numbnuts Senators waking up to the fact that there will be workers who will be given more than they were actually earning working. The bill also extends the unemployment benefit to self-employed people and people who had already exhausted what they could collect.
Click to expand...

Worth considering in these calculations that Canada has universal health care?

Our one-time $1200 amounts to a month's pay at the federal minimum wage. As BTE points out, for a family of four it's a one-time payment of $3400.

The value of that, especially among those laid off, will depend entirely upon how long the emergency lasts.

The enhanced unemployment benefits will help, but how much and for how long we don't know.

Azrael · Mar 26, 2020

This is frightening:

Opinion | Trump Wants to ‘Reopen America.’ Here’s What Happens if We Do.

Scout · Mar 26, 2020

Azrael said: ↑

This is frightening:

Opinion | Trump Wants to ‘Reopen America.’ Here’s What Happens if We Do.
Click to expand...

Just because he reopens America it doesn’t mean people will go out.

I plan on keeping myself locked up until June.

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