Unprecedented Times

[Tuscany]

LOL Matt.
I dressed up like a surgeon to go into Wal-mart for staples we ran out of. PWT bringing their entire families.. unreal.

Well, all of us in retail have endless stories of brain draining ignorance and stupidity.
Everything we do is in house packing right now. Our doors are closed to the public and everything is call in/pick up in order to stop all public exposure.
We are so busy, our phone line is holding 15 people at a time..all day.. We are at “all hands on deck” and our employees are risking their health for the business and a paycheck.. Yes, Combat bonuses are going out this week.

I had a lady make such a stink about a steak that she wasn’t satisfied with. A guy ordered a rib eye, and was appalled that it was 3/4 lb instead of 1 lb. I guess age, and the extra patience it brings makes it easier to deal with it.. 40 year old George would have handled it a lot differently.
But generally, 99.9% of our customers are genuinely pleasant and thrilled they they are buying safe and secure food that isn’t exposed to the public.

[akorcovelos]

The company I work for does a lot of military contracts, and supports the mining and commercial marine (ships propulsion) industry so we are 'essential', but Corporate ordered all employees that can work remote to do so, only shop staff are allowed on campus, and they are checking peoples temps before they let them through the security check at the entrance. Any temp over 100 or refusal to have temp taken means go home. Pleased they did that, but being in IT it meant I had to mobilize hundreds of people that don't typically work remote to do so. Digging out old laptops, opening our VPN to allow personal PCs to connect, it's been overwhelming for sure, but this week seems to be calming down.

Mrs. akor is an RN, and they are so short on PPE that they get ONE n95 mask, period, so they are misting them with hydrogen peroxide every day before they leave...Then the cleaning crew, the only external company that has access to her unit (hyperbaric chamber) stole an entire box of n95s...that's low.

Meanwhile I'm home with the kids and working remote, it's a lot, lol. I compare it to bringing both of them with me to the office, total chaos. Mrs. akor is seeing the same thing as Nauti, it's going to get worse before it gets better. She also heard that they anticipate this coming back around in the fall, hopefully not as bad due to herd immunity.

I also agree we won't ever get back to what we considered 'normal', much of these changes are going to stick. That's not really a bad thing, but I could see it being a slippery slope.

In better news, my detailer is still working, just no contact with the public so I dumped the boat in front of his garage and texted him it was there. He came out after I left and brought it into the shop. Hope to have it back by the weekend, then I need to do the lower unit service, impeller and oil change and it's splash time! My team is going to get a kick when they see me chillin' on the lake during our daily Teams video conference, lol.

[sailor55330]

Mrs. akor is an RN, and they are so short on PPE that they get ONE n95 mask, period, so they are misting them with hydrogen peroxide every day before they leave...Then the cleaning crew, the only external company that has access to her unit (hyperbaric chamber) stole an entire box of n95s...that's low.

That's what some hospitals are doing in Canada. I'll go you one better. The Hospital that my wife works refused PPE to a nurse, claiming she hadn't had enough exposure to be considered in danger proximity and warrant PPE. I guess a quick call to the union took care of that. I'm sure she will do "something" in the near future that will be considered "career ending".

I honestly admire and appreciate all of those who are on the front lines keeping the world flowing and especially medical personnel who are really on the front lines. This stuff really does spread easily. I personally know someone that has contracted it simply from talking to a person who was a carrier without symptoms. (traced back through the health department). Both parties were healthcare workers taking all of the standard precautions with no known prior exposure to COVID-19.

Stay safe

[akorcovelos]

Mrs. akor is an RN, and they are so short on PPE that they get ONE n95 mask, period, so they are misting them with hydrogen peroxide every day before they leave...Then the cleaning crew, the only external company that has access to her unit (hyperbaric chamber) stole an entire box of n95s...that's low.

That's what some hospitals are doing in Canada. I'll go you one better. The Hospital that my wife works refused PPE to a nurse, claiming she hadn't had enough exposure to be considered in danger proximity and warrant PPE. I guess a quick call to the union took care of that. I'm sure she will do "something" in the near future that will be considered "career ending".

I honestly admire and appreciate all of those who are on the front lines keeping the world flowing and especially medical personnel who are really on the front lines. This stuff really does spread easily. I personally know someone that has contracted it simply from talking to a person who was a carrier without symptoms. (traced back through the health department). Both parties were healthcare workers taking all of the standard precautions with no known prior exposure to COVID-19.

Stay safe

Yeah, that's absurd, I would lose my sh*t if they did that to Mrs. akor.

[Tuscany]

Cheery morning thoughts...

So, this is getting old, but no matter what brand of rosie BS this administration feeds the 7.8 billion world wide, I have a feeling we may be stuck in an indefinite holding pattern until this has completely run it’s course.. Simply, nothing like this in our lifetime, and no definitive owners manual to go by...
Common sense (which is is short supply) says that until there is an effective vaccine or a therapeutic remedy that actually works, everyone will be susceptible until this virus has run its course through everyone like dominos.
The Pres sells it as if it were his decision. The NFL seems to think that 75K will cram into a stadium, jammed together like stuffed pigs.. I highly doubt it, in fact, I would guess that unless games are played without fans, college football will be cancelled first, then the NFL.

Until health and safety standing/sitting next to people is ensured, anyone ready to take a full Southwest flight?
Anyone ready to go to a concert?
How about a restaurant?
Who goes into a Walmart without feeling it’s like a stroll through an open, festering infection?
Aside from that, it’s all sunshine.

Anyone else see this another way?
Let’s hope we get VERY lucky and the scientific community finds an early answer.

[MnLakeBum]

I talked to my first cousin about Covid 19 the other day. He’s the smartest person I know and has 4 medical doctorates and is the head of anesthesiology at Stanford Medical School. He is confident we will have a vaccine for Covid 19 that will be effective. Obviously the sooner the better but here is an article he sent me on why a vaccine will soon be a reality.

https://www.embopress.org/doi/full/10.1 ... .202050334

From the article:

There is though growing optimism over developing therapies against the COVID‐19 virus. This applies particularly to vaccines and antibodies to neutralize the active sites of the virus surface that expedite the penetration of host cells, according to Michael Farzan, Co‐chair of the Department of Immunology and Microbiology, Scripps Research, La Jolla, CA, USA. “This virus is a close cousin of SARS‐CoV, and like SARS‐CoV, it ‘chooses’, meaning has been selected, to move rapidly from host to host before an adaptive immune response emerges”, he explained. “Because of this, and unlike HIV‐1 and Ebolavirus, it keeps its key epitopes exposed, probably so that it can be more efficient at binding the next cell. This makes it very vulnerable to antibody neutralization, and thus it is a relatively easy virus to protect against. I refer to it as ‘stupid’ on a spectrum where HIV, which lives in the face of an active immune system for years, is a ‘genius’”.

Furthermore, as Farzan added, it does not mutate rapidly for an RNA virus because, unusually for this category, it has a proof‐reading function in its polymerase 3. “In short, a vaccine, and especially a vaccine targeted in part to the receptor‐binding domain of the 2019‐nCoV entry protein, the Spike or S protein, should be effective”, he said. As this protein is protected against mutation, a vaccine would not need regular updates, unlike seasonal influenza vaccines.

[vans]

Hope he's right, we need a vaccine or our lives will be changed forever.
I read this morning that Pfizer aims to have vaccine by years end.
https://www.mlive.com/coronavirus/2020/ ... -2020.html

[Big Block Power]

Hope he's right, we need a vaccine or our lives will be changed forever.
I read this morning that Pfizer aims to have vaccine by years end.
https://www.mlive.com/coronavirus/2020/ ... -2020.html

Thanks vans. Good to hear from you Again!

[cmattj]

All great reads, and my confidence level of the true wizards of science understanding this going forward is improving.

The social outlook will still be a dramatic slow process in combining close gatherings from where we are now.

Why do I feel that future “ flue seasons “ will be in the same social distancing we do now.

Oyveee !!!
November through May might be dismal for all of us.

[Big Block Power]

Gas just went under a buck.

[sailor55330]

Wow...just wow. $1.73 the lowest I can find within 10 miles of me. Even Costco is still at $1.25 and that's 17 miles away. Get some cans!

[MnLakeBum]

I just ordered a 300 gallon above ground tank with a 160 foot hose to get to the boats and jetskis. My neighbor has one and has been letting me use it but it’s really not big enough for both of us and I’d feel much better having my own. The tank itself is $1000 and the hose/nozzle is another $750 but with gas on the lake always about $1.50 per gallon more than the local pump price and me going through about 1,500 gallons a year the tank will more than pay for itself the first year. I’m having the tank put right next to my neighbors and we are putting up a 40+ foot gas dock right on our property line.

[vans]

I just ordered a 300 gallon above ground tank with a 160 foot hose to get to the boats and jetskis. My neighbor has one and has been letting me use it but it’s really not big enough for both of us and I’d feel much better having my own. The tank itself is $1000 and the hose/nozzle is another $750 but with gas on the lake always about $1.50 per gallon more than the local pump price and me going through about 1,500 gallons a year the tank will more than pay for itself the first year. I’m having the tank put right next to my neighbors and we are putting up a 40+ foot gas dock right on our property line.

Wouldn't do us any good in Michigan

https://www.mlive.com/public-interest/2 ... order.html

People are pissed, my boat is still in storage and hopefully this order will be over when I want to use it.

[AsLan7]

.
In case anyone is interested, here is the Final version of the 2 TRILLION Dollar Coronavirus relief aid package also known as the CARES Act.

CARES Act Bill

It's 883 pages but the search function on the right side of the page makes it easier to navigate.

I'm sure by now you have heard of the add-on funding fat that got into the bill. If you don't want to know where your tax dollars are being spent, don't click on the link.

If you do, I'd recommend you stay away from page 784 that talks about our House of Representative Salaries and Expenses increases or your blood may boil.....

,

[Big Block Power]

They take care of themselves all the time. And they did quite well.