General Category > General Discussion
Is the Corona virus the elephant in the room?
8ullfrog:
I just read a small blurb on it. People go to store for food. Store is out of food they want. Toilet paper is there. Toilet paper is large item, Toilet paper does not expire. People buy Toilet paper, people experience false victory feeling.
I don't know if I buy that, but there's one explanation.
6pairsofshoes:
I went to the store today. To my amazement, one entire side of an aisle was empty with a sign saying the supplier had been wiped out of stock. This was the rice and dried beans aisle. Fortunately, I buy rice in 20 pound bags (a year's supply of basmati from the Indian grocery) and we have enough dry and canned beans to last for years, so I didn't need to put any strain on the food supply. The store was mobbed but I think that's kind of normal for Sunday afternoon, thanks to the M-F work week.
I didn't check the toilet paper aisle. One woman was shopping in a mask, which seemed silly to me, as the masks offer no protection against this virus. We just had a cruise ship full of sick passengers assigned to the Port of Oakland, where they are theoretically being quarantined.
When I was younger, I went to Paris and a day after I landed, terrorists bombed the airport where I'd just arrived. I figured that if it's your time, if there's a bomb or a virus with your name on it, there's not much you can do to thwart fate. You can do the best you can to try to stay healthy, eat well and take exercise, but other than that, I don't think you can avoid an epidemic.
smokester:
Running the numbers it seems that virtually everyone is at some risk of dying from the virus regardless of age or health, and I think those odds are what is driving the panic.
If you were diagnosed with something serious and the doctor told you that you have a 99% percent chance of a full recovery you'd be jumping with joy. But by the same token, if you were in a room with 99 other people and someone was going to shoot a single bullet into the crowd, given the opportunity I'd rather not be in the room in the first place.
Let's be honest, if we all isolated for 2 or 3 weeks, it's the virus that would be dead. And I could catch up with some admin...
6pairsofshoes:
It's interesting, and somewhat concerning, to see the stock markets' current rollercoaster trading behaviors. Automatic pauses to trading have been instituted after the market plunged this morning. Locking down sections of the industrial producing areas, like they're doing in Italy, can't be good for business. The Fed keeps throwing money at this, reducing interest rates and offering more short term loans to banks. Oil is trading at very low prices. I'm wondering about whether the average consumer will see a drop in gasoline prices -- probably not.
As for not being in that room in the first place, yes, I agree. But, in preparation, I go dig up my yard, believing somehow that digging soil might be beneficial. Exercise and getting down with the local microbes might give me a little protection. But that's probably just wishful thinking. The weeds have gotten ahead of me, so it can't hurt to make the yard look better. Right now, I'm trying to deal with daylight savings time. I hate having the clock moved forward and backward. It's disruptive in basic ways. Have a good day and remember to wash your hands.
8ullfrog:
Those pauses make me question the utility of the stock market in the first place. At this point they're just trying to mitigate damage.
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