Coronavirus:

[Rufus T. Firefly]

DOJ, FBI and SEC finally are moving on investigating Burr.....for dumping $1.7 million in stock after briefing what kind of disaster we would be facing back in Jan.......

I suspect his brother will be next.

[HONDO74]

DOJ, FBI and SEC finally are moving on investigating Burr.....for dumping $1.7 million in stock after briefing what kind of disaster we would be facing back in Jan.......

I suspect his brother will be next.

Feinstein denies wrongdoing in stock sale before coronavirus outbreak
https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/ar ... 145862.php

WASHINGTON — California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein took to Twitter on Friday to deny she did anything improper when she sold between $1.5 million and $6 million in a biotechnology company’s stock before the market crashed due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The New York Times reported that Feinstein and three other senators sold large amounts of stock in late January and early February, as federal officials publicly downplayed the threat of the virus. The sales came shortly after Trump administration officials provided classified briefings to senators on the threat from the virus, the Times and other media outlets reported.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

All but Burr were already found that their trading and sales were not directed by them but that their brokers acted independently.

They want Burr's phone records since it seems that he directed the sales.

We consulted on sales as well in Jan/Feb since it was painfully clear that something terrible was really happening in China and would broadly impact supply pipelines. We also bought a few things on the cheap, and then failed to buy some things on the cheap, We did avoid GE,

[up148]

All but Burr were already found that their trading and sales were not directed by them but that their brokers acted independently.

OK, but when we had money in the market, no broker would make a move unless we gave him specific instructions to sell at a certain point (up or down). If their broker sold without a market trigger and without owners acknowledgement, it's pretty strange.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

There have been other viruses that have come and not gone.

Associated Press: "WHO official warns virus may be here to stay....'This virus may never go away. Without a vaccine, it could take years for the global population to build up sufficient levels of immunity,' Dr. Michael Ryan said in a press briefing Wednesday."

[HONDO74]

Here is an interesting article about 2 different approaches to the virus. Germany & Sweden. You have to read the whole article about it. Sweden never did shut down,

Should Americans look to Sweden or Germany as a model for combating coronavirus?
https://news.yahoo.com/should-americans ... 32334.html

[chuck]

Should Americans look to Sweden or Germany as a model for combating coronavirus?

No.

Why?

Because we don't behave like the Swedes or the Germans. They social distance by nature. Their health care model is nothing like the US. They have the necessary equipment to fight the disease AND to test and track outbreaks. We don't do the former and are way behind on all of the latter.

BTW the "Swedish model" is not as rosy as some reporting has initially indicated. There are pretty vast differences in the way the virus has hit different elements of society based on age and socio economic standing. The elderly are being very hard hit (which their government now admits was a mistake) and the more wealth you have the less likely you will be affected (big surprise). They still have an inordinately high death rate per 100,000, even higher than the US (we just crossed 85,000 for the outbreak, see we are no. 1).

If you don't mind killing off a lot of people and risk collapsing your health care system you can ignore the virus. This is something that has been acknowledged almost from the beginning of the outbreak. Of course collapsing the health care system will lead to a collapse of the economic system as well but we'll ignore that for now as almost NO ONE is ready to initially suggest mass culling of the herd.

[robert.]

I get the feeling people in SE. Pennsylvania are near a boiling point.

[chuck]

I get the feeling people in SE. Pennsylvania are near a boiling point.

A lot of people are. I am not happy about the situation either. I also grasp that we are literally taking about life and death. The consequences of getting this wrong is almost incalculable.

IF we had the PPE equipment available

and

IF we had adequate testing available

and

IF we had good contact tracing in place

and

IF we had more treatment options or adequate supplies of Remdesivir to deal with people who are infected

THEN we could go back to something closer to normal

ASSUMING people stoped acting like flaming *holes.

I suspect that I have a better chance of winning the mega millions jackpot than I do of seeing ANY of the above happening anytime soon. I am mindful of the economic issues but this is a very real war. A lot of businesses will bounce back. Maybe not tomorrow or next week or next month but they will bounce back. The dead ain't coming back and I am not ready to throw whole chunks of society away because it is expedient for others.

[HONDO74]

IF we had the PPE equipment available
and
IF we had adequate testing available
and
IF we had good contact tracing in place
and
IF we had more treatment options or adequate supplies of Remdesivir to deal with people who are infected

THEN we could go back to something closer to normal

How come we don't have that. The CDC spent 100 billion dollars over the last decade to prepare this country for the pandemic that has happened.

[up148]

BTW the "Swedish model" is not as rosy as some reporting has initially indicated. There are pretty vast differences in the way the virus has hit different elements of society based on age and socio economic standing. The elderly are being very hard hit (which their government now admits was a mistake) and the more wealth you have the less likely you will be affected (big surprise). They still have an inordinately high death rate per 100,000, even higher than the US (we just crossed 85,000 for the outbreak, see we are no. 1).

Absolutely! PBS showed Sweden with few to no people wearing masks, everyone doing business as usual and PBS questioned why we were reacting with distancing and masks. 2-3 weeks later the real picture in Sweden came out. Lots of people getting it and many fatalities. They rolled the dice and lost.

[up148]

Wife told me this morning she saw where Chinese citizens have an app on their phone and they "scan in" and "scan out"whenever they go to a store, restaurant or public use transportation or location. Then if someone comes down with the virus, who was in the same spot at the same time, they're alerted and told to sequester. But, they have face recognition cameras all over their cities too, that can pick people out with a fever. Not sure this country would stand for that.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

Wife told me this morning she saw where Chinese citizens have an app on their phone and they "scan in" and "scan out"whenever they go to a store, restaurant or public use transportation or location....
.....Not sure this country would stand for that.

You're right! 1984 has come and gone, and we made it thru without Big Brother being part of our scene.

[HONDO74]

Wife told me this morning she saw where Chinese citizens have an app on their phone and they "scan in" and "scan out"whenever they go to a store, restaurant or public use transportation or location....
.....Not sure this country would stand for that.

You're right! 1984 has come and gone, and we made it thru without Big Brother being part of our scene.

We already had a thread about how China controls it's people. You either do what you are told or they will relocate you to one of the Uyghur concentration camps where you brain will be rewired.

[chuck]

But, they have face recognition cameras all over their cities too, that can pick people out with a fever. Not sure this country would stand for that.

Facial recognition software in and of itself is kind of useless when the subjects are wearing masks. If it can detect elevated temperatures and alert the "health patrol" in near real time, I don't see a problem, especially if it allows us to open up and behave in a more normal manner. UK has been using broad CCT capture for quite a while, mainly for IRA surveillance. Everyone knows it (including the real criminals) and accepts it.

How come we don't have that. The CDC spent 100 billion dollars over the last decade to prepare this country for the pandemic that has happened.

The strategic reserves were never meant to have stockpiled ALL of the equipment/supplies necessary to weather an event like this. Just enough material to get us through the first two to three months assuming that it was monitored and maintained. This is to buy time to ramp up production of critical materials. It wasn't maintained/inspected and to make matters worse the dufuses running the country blew something like six weeks hoping it would go away. Re the cupboard being bare, this administration had 3 years to do something about that. BTW, it was a republican lead house and senate that failed to appropriate funds to do the restocking of those critical supplies following drawdowns form the previous two outbreaks. This administration even failed to renew the maintenance contract on repair/inspection of critical equipment.

To make maters worse they had been left a guideline on how to respond (SOP's) including how to's on ramping up production of critical equipment/supplies and potential contacts, etc. This was apparently tossed. It was supposed to be annually reviewed and updated/modified as necessary. Federal agencies have all kinds of detailed plans on what to do in an emergency. In many cases they are in "red" binders for easy identification and they usually have decision tree structure to aid/assist in responses to a crisis. I took two classes when I worked at the Army Corps of Engineers on Emergency Management and one on "Natural Disaster Preparedness". You would probably be surprised on how detailed some of this material is and just how much of it exists (or at least existed).

While I worked at the university we had to prepare and maintain a set of guidelines (continuity of business plans) on disaster preparedness. This was started in earnest with the first bird flu alert about 12-15 years ago? We had to identify critical people/positions/resources and outline how these would be used in the event of an emergency. The documents were also required to be reviewed on an annual basis and full blown critical review/update on a two to three year basis.

None of this is rocket science. It does involve a lot of work. I guess if you put playing golf at the top of your priority list this is what you get.