Re: Coronavirus
 

The FDIC who insures bank accounts in the US in the event of a bank failure is telling people they don't need to run to the bank and get cash, and that banks have access to loans and other government programs, and the big banks are well capitalized. Sounds like they are seeing enough of an uptick that has them concerned maybe?

My GP office called today, doctor is unable to meet patients in the office, and they were advising the appointment will need to be done on the phone which works for me. Maybe this will bring about changes to the medical system where patients wont be required to go to the GP office physically, 99% of my visits to a GP don't involve any sort of physical exam, and could be done via phone no issue.

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yes that aswell!

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I wish twitter would shut the fool down, but suppose he brings them traffic and is of value to their company.

People have been banned for far less. Any regular ole Moe would have been banned by now.

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Maybe shutting Twitter down would be even better!

Re: Coronavirus
 

That would work too.

Re: Coronavirus
 

NYC governor Cuomo is getting a lot of airtime on CNN. He's coming across, in comparison to the braindead idiot inhabiting the White House, as someone who, while subject to the Covid 19 tidal wave, is at least recognising what needs to be done and is pragmatic and erudite enough to spell it all out.
Watch this Cuomo as contender for the 2024 presidential election.
A great many reputations will be made and lost before this one's over.

Re: Coronavirus
 

Sounds like a good plan...create panic buying so they take in two months worth of money in two days and can then shut for a couple of months and wait for it all to blow over. :lol:

That's just been announced as policy here in NB. :nod:
Not sure if the docs will still get their $45 per patient visit for that.

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Just had this in an email

Safely access doctors online, 7 am - 9pm, covered by Shoppers Drug Mart, March 16-23.

Re: Coronavirus
 

So you're good all the way to the weekend then. :rofl:

Re: Coronavirus
 

Not sure any of the announced plans to help people will benefit us, looks more geared towards people with kids and businesses, and those with mortgages. Hopefully some of the help for business will lead towards companies hiring.

https://www.canada.ca/en/department-...me_Support_for

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My wife tried their service yesterday to get her refill, the doctor told her to contact her GP..... :lol:

Re: Coronavirus
 

:) I suppose that's expected, tbf, if there's already a prescription current.

So long as the help for businesses really is used for employees it looks decent enough and low cost to implement.

There will be a few anomalies though. I mean, the idea should be compensatory so if you don't lose anything what's to be compensated?
We're four adults; two retired, one retail worker whose hours will suffer and someone for whom work is unlikely. Only the worker will lose anything.

Already had a conversation with my mother in law as I could see that for the sake of simplicity we might get something not needed. So if our GST bumps up for the year, the extra will be going to a good cause.

Re: Coronavirus
 

I guess on paper we didn't really lose anything as I didn't start the job, but losing that job offer is a loss in its own way, this virus sped our demise up and I am sure many others on the edge barely surviving are feeling the same at the moment, a lot of people suddenly became unemployed in the last 2 weeks.

Doubt there is enough places hiring right now to make up for it.

Re: Coronavirus
 

I would like someone to explain to me the non financial plan. Is the theory to keep people away from one another until a vaccine can be found? I get the theory of flattening the curve but won't that simply result in a curve at a later date? If people are not prevented from coming into contact with one another, what will it actually prevent?

Re: Coronavirus
 

If our dollar keeps falling, consumers will have a harder time making ends meet with essentials, so many essentials are bought/sold in USD$ at the supply level.

1 USD = 1.45506 CAD
1 CAD = 0.687259 USD

Re: Coronavirus
 

as I understand it, it will free up the number of people needing hospitalization and medical treatment. I think it will extend the duration but hopefully, it will be manageable.

Re: Coronavirus
 

Yeah we sold our house last year and part of me is now considering moving the proceeds from that sale into USD. It feels like house prices are going to stay high but the currency will just be devalued instead.

Re: Coronavirus
 

Some of the top comments in this video help explain your question.

Re: Coronavirus
 

This guy's argument is so wrong.

The incubation period is 14 days, once that is over, the infection is gone, so when the quarantine ends there won't be a sudden surge of cases as he depicts as the virus will have left most people's systems.

Re: Coronavirus
 

Times like this I wish back when CAD$ was par that I had the money to invest into US$, its a good back up currency still if your able.

Re: Coronavirus
 

And, from what I can tell, Canada is as the very low end of cases (water near the bottom) rather than water about to overflow. I don't know what is happening locally throughout the rest of the country but, in Calgary, no one is going to work to work so, minimal interaction and the businesses that rely upon people visiting them to succeed, have no one going to them, with a few exceptions of grocery stores and the like.

Re: Coronavirus
 

True enough. :nod:
One other thing on the renting side....a few days ago we talked of the quandary of a landlord faced with a tenant with loss of earnings and, therefore, rent and whether they'd evict considering the potential loss of rental income and inconvenience involved in re-renting and how that might be worse than simply allowing an otherwise good tenant some leeway.

If lots of people have been laid off or had hours drastically cut, there may not be hoards of ready made tenants with the money to replace the evicted tenant. The landlord would need to consider that too.

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Every landlord is so different hard to know.

Just even if the landlord is forgiving and let a tenant defer 1-2 months of rent, the question is how to pay back the rent owed, I don't see any way we could, if we missed a month, it would be impossible to pay back unless I manage to find a job but of course few places are even hiring as everything shuts down, so that is a long shot at this point.

At this point it is a wait and see how April goes.

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45 new confirmed cases in BC since yesterday, total now is 231, BC has tested approx 17,000 people. 13 are in hospital, 7 in ICU, no new deaths, and 5 have recovered.

Re: Coronavirus
 

Bar of chocolate bought for me in Longo’s was wiped down on the shelves by staff

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Pet stores are starting to close down.

With more and more places not taking cash, another concern for the very poor and homeless who don't have credit or debit, life must be getting even worse for them.

Re: Coronavirus
 

Still moving slowly here. It was 8 on Sunday and three days later 11, most at the presumptive stage and all with mild symptoms only. 4 are returned from abroad and the others are close contacts of 1 traveller who hopefully has now run out of close contacts. :unsure:
Most are not in my 'zone' of NB which is a bit surprising as we're the most populous.


My taxi driver told me that all was quiet around town and that basically it was just people out grocery shopping. The Premier is expressing annoyance at people "not staying home" - so maybe try something a bit more forceful and stop saying it's okay to go shopping. :blink:

Re: Coronavirus
 

It grew slow here then started growing more rapidly, the recent uptick is about 2 weeks after a large convention took place downtown Vancouver, I wonder how many of this cases showing up now were spread because of that. Not sure why anyone thought a large convention was a good idea.

They seem to be getting annoyed in BC, there is very visibly less people out and about, but some people just don't care, so if it keeps rising, they will mandate closures and shelter in place as some US places have done.

Air Canada is dropping significant amount of US city's for the time being, going from 53 US city's to just New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Houston, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Denver, Orlando and Fort Lauderdale.

Air Canada will also be going from 62 domestic airports served to 40 so suspending some airports in Canada for now, likely smaller communities.

Re: Coronavirus
 

Italy saw a record 475 people die in a day.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-51952712

Re: Coronavirus
 

In North Carolina, the state governor has issued an order prohibiting the eviction of tenants during the Coronavirus crisis. .... I am not sure what happens if tenants just decide to stop paying rent even of they could do so. :unsure:

Re: Coronavirus
 

It's terrifying to read through the first 50 posts of this thread, not many people took it seriously. Here we are in North America (about 2 weeks behind Italy) still not taking it seriously. Shops still open, crowds of people entering Costco, people at the beach.

Meanwhile my parents who live in Spain are under government lockdown. Only one person per household can leave to buy food.

Re: Coronavirus
 

Looks like my place of work is closing, I have had 3 shift change phone calls today, the last one said we are probably closing the stores for now.

Called Pet smart to see if puppy school is still starting on Sunday and got a yes it is. I was surprised at that.

Re: Coronavirus
 

Bill Gates was on Reddit this morning and had this to say about 'herd immunity'

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/british...6a1e3be746.png

Re: Coronavirus
 

Hi Bristol
I am not sure how that last comment has relevance to be honest. I'm surprised that it was you that said that. For starters, typically certainly in BC we get paid less than that per visit unless they are complex/getting on in years and secondly, I would hope that you would feel that we are working to both treat patients but also protect them, not just chasing the dollar. The reasoning behind transferring a considerable amount of our clinical contacts to remote telemetry conferencing or phoning is so that the patients do not have to come into our offices if they can avoid it and risk potentially picking up Covid 19 due to a crowded waiting room full of sick people. This also lessens the risk to both our staff as well as us contracting the condition-there is not much we can do to help the public if we are either confined to home quarantined, sick, or dead. We still see patients in the clinic that we have to on a clinical needs basis but by reducing the numbers in the clinic, the risk of cross infection significantly reduces. At some stage, we will if needs be work "outside our field of expertise" if things get bad, would you question/begrudge our fees then? Maybe you just meant the online docs, not those like us on the ground, it wasnt clear

Concerning the comments about the Shoppers scheme, there are countrywide companies that have appealed to the well heeled who can seek their medical care in the comfort of the living room. Such companies as Babylon, Maple etc. are probably doing a roaring trade but I have to say as JS says, there seems to be a lot of buck passing and they arent a great deal of use IMHO. The Docs working for Maple/Babylon etc will get their cut but the companies will likely take a big slice

Re: Coronavirus
 

The leaders of tomorrow. :thumbdown: Our 2 kids are 19 and 23 and I can't imagine them being so callous about this.

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Sorry to hear that Piff - hopefully you can get EI to help defray the loss of income. My son's place of work has closed, he's been laid off for the duration - potentially will have lost his job, if they don't reopen.

Re: Coronavirus
 

Existentialism, Nihilism, Absurdism? I've got no advice. I'm still struggling to figure out why I have so many sock orphans. :(

Re: Coronavirus
 

Could come in handy if there's a toilet paper crisis. I'm a caretaker and have 7 cases of 2ply at work, and the keys for several different types of commercial dispensers. If the Chinese curve model holds true and we ride this out for 2 or 3 months there should be gradual easing of restrictions. We should be able to handle that without getting all Lord of the Flies. Why, when I was a boy we were under threat of nuclear attack and we didn't collapse. Canadian Pacific built and stocked a bomb shelter in the basement of our railway station, and at school we learned to crawl under our desks and protect our heads with our arms. This is an inconvenience, not the end of the world, and it isn't the last or worst pandemic the world is likely to face; so we could in fact be practicing for an even more devastating one, so it's important we learn from it.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/british...e0f38a1108.jpg

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:goodpost:

I’m usually more pro cynicism than positivity but ...

Re: Coronavirus
 

Well put Caretaker - I agree and will try my best to adopt these sentiments :thumbup: