New Coronavirus - COVID-19

[JSH]

Originally Posted by Xist

I didn't even know they sold N95 masks! Now I want one!

They are a standard stock item at Home Depot for people doing wood working, concrete cutting, etc.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/3M-N95-W...B2-A/202077815

They are also an items that everyone living in earthquake prone areas on the West Coast should have at home and in their 72 hour car go-bag. It is a standard item in the Red Cross supply list.

Think of the dust from the world trade centers collapsing. Now think of the dust from 1,000's of unsupported brick buildings collapsing all of town. Pretty much any brick building build before the 1960's and not retrofitted will pancake.

I had a few left over from wood working that went into the go bags because I switched to a MUCH more comfortable reusable cloth mask for work.

https://rzmask.com/collections/m2-mask

[Xist]

$2.30 each?! [not in stock]

I do not have any idea what kind of respirator I have in the garage, but I did not think that it was nearly good enough.

Now I wonder!

[serialk11r]

Originally Posted by Xist

$2.30 each?! [not in stock]

I do not have any idea what kind of respirator I have in the garage, but I did not think that it was nearly good enough.

Now I wonder!

You can always swap out the cartridges. I'm considering investing in a reusable mask.

[Piotrsko]

Read the specs on what a N95 mask actually filters when it is installed correctly, and remember that is difficult to install correctly. Hint: viruses aren't on the stopped list.

I went back and forth with the local OHSA attempting to buy acceptable hazmat protection masks for our workers. We ended up using 3M 6000 vinyl half masks with pink bayonet cartridges about $20 ea.

N 95. Mostly useless for small particles, not that bad for wood and concrete dust. Unless vented, really good at keeping spittle contained.

[Xist]

Back when I went to work I looked up something and read something about a "Circle beard," which led me to looking up the names of different types of facial hair.

People call things whatever they want, but allegedly a goatee only refers to the partial beard, a circle beard is a mustache and goatee.

Curiously that page talked about respirators and how well each type of facial hair worked with them.

I do not know how well a beard filters air. It certainly wouldn't stop the coronavirus. I do not have any idea if I will be able to find an N95 respirator when the time comes, but I find it curious that I only realized they wouldn't seal with facial hair because I was reading about beards.

[Piotrsko]

Circle beard is the shape one gets using a paper mask as a trim template.

Beards only filter leaves, bugs, small rodents.

[Xist]

Mustaches filter soup, but are a complicating factor when experiencing a runny nose.

[redpoint5]

A mask would still be highly effective even with a beard. The purpose in this case isn't to filter out the virus, or even really to protect the wearer except as a reminder not to touch the nose and mouth. The purpose is to arrest droplets from spreading from the wearers mouth to protect others. The Japanese don't wear the masks when they want to avoid getting sick so much as they wear them the first sign they might be sick.

In Japanese culture, the group is valued more than self.

As far as daily use goes, practically any mask would be a benefit for others, but medical professionals have increased contact with pathogens, so they require increasing standards of protection.

Respirators normally have a valve that lets air straight out, which largely defeats the purpose of wearing a mask in the context of disease control.

[Fat Charlie]

Originally Posted by freebeard

Scott Adams needs to get out more.

He takes a call and they speculate about why there are not more cases in Russia. They speculate without knowledge about the Russia/China border and I stopped listening when they agreed their both Communist countries. Seriously? That's so 1980s.

Actually, that is why Russia has so few cases. They're having a big spike in "pneumonia", though. According to Ivan Telaly, it's just a coincidence.

Originally Posted by redpoint5

That's pretty darn hardhearted. Political rivals need to be overcome by superior ideals, not lack of aid and compassion. Even if someone's going to spit in my face after rescuing them, it's still the right thing to do.

Have you seen the difference in hurricane relief to Houston and Puerto Rico? I'll give you a hint: one is in Texas and the other is a little different.

I understand trying to withhold judgement, but at some point you've got to exercise it.

[Xist]

With normal use, I visualize someone rushing a safe distance from their paint booth or whatever, and wanting to take a nice and deep breath.

The valve would be great for that, but during an outbreak?

Maybe you can get a hundred feet from anyone and take some deep breaths.

People keep talking about the government bailing out big businesses and the executives giving themselves bonuses:

GOP leadership proposal for next stimulus:

Provides a financial lifeline of several hundred billion dollars to industries hardest hit by crisis. Initial proposals called for help for passenger airlines (up to $50 billion), air cargo lines (up to $8 billion) and “other major industries" (up to $150 billion) severely impacted by government health restrictions to combat coronavirus. Companies receiving assistance would be barred from raising the pay of executives (making more than $425K) or providing “golden parachutes” for two years.

Congress' $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus package, visualized

Democratic leaders’ proposal:

More strings attached for financial loans to industry than Republicans are proposing to make sure bailouts aren't followed by layoffs.. Banning companies who receive significant federal assistance from “buying back stock, rewarding executives and laying off workers.”

Someone make that sound unreasonable because I am at a loss.

What could happen:
Items potentially on table that have yet to generate broad support:

On Democratic side:

Minimum wage hike to $15
Cancel all student debt
Universal health care

We are falling headfirst into a recession or depression and they want to drastically increase the minimum wage?

I earn way more than that an hour, but cannot get enough hours, while I spend many unpaid hours driving from client to client, doing paperwork, planning activities, etc.

Most years I make $30,000 or slightly less. They want a teenager starting at McDonald's to earn at least as much as a college graduate with specialized training?

People with job skills are supposed to subsidize those without?

Would I even get a "Thank you" card for paying off my own student loans?

[In 2008 t]he Big Three automakers asked Congress for help similar to the bank bailout. They warned that General Motors Company and Chrysler LLC faced bankruptcy and the loss of 1 million jobs. The Ford Motor Company didn't need the funds since it had already cut costs. But it asked to be included so it wouldn't suffer by competing with companies who already had government subsidies.

The Treasury Department lent money and bought stock ownership in GM and Chrysler.

Auto Industry Bailout

The auto industry received nearly $81 billion from taxpayer money to be able to remain afloat.
The auto industry did not remain competitive in the market, often prioritizing selling inefficient gas-usage vehicles.
They also used tactics reminiscent of the housing crash, where they would finance loans with no money down.

GM took $51 Billion, GMAC took $17.2 Billion, and Chrysler took $12.5 Billion.

Ford Credit received its bailout from the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility, not TARP.

The federal government took over GM and Chrysler in March 2009. It fired GM CEO Rick Wagoner and required Chrysler to merge with Italy's Fiat S.p.A. The Obama administration used the take-over to set new auto efficiency standards. That improved air quality and forced U.S. automakers to be more competitive against Japanese and German firms.

It is Obama's fault that Fiat bought Chrysler?!

GM [...] spun off GMAC into Allied Financial.

Opponents said GM and Chrysler brought their near-bankruptcy on themselves. They didn't retool for an energy-efficient era. They should have cut production, jobs, and dealerships years earlier. Columnist David Brooks said, "...if these companies are not allowed to go bankrupt now, they never will be."

The three CEOs agreed to work for $1 a year and sell their corporate jets.

[emphasis may have been added]

By 2007, [...] Toyota beat GM to become the world’s leading automaker. It did so by meeting global demand for smaller cars. While Toyota was building plants in the United States, GM was closing them. Instead of changing, GM offered zero-percent financing to sell SUVs and other large vehicles.

General Motors Acceptance Corporation [...] expanded to include insurance, online banking, mortgage operations, and commercial finance. Its mortgage operations were full of toxic debt. As a result, title insurer Old Republic announced it would stop insuring GMAC's mortgages.

On May 2, 2009, GM stock fell below $1 a share for the first time since the Great Depression.

It is currently around $18. It is weird to watch it move around while I write.

GM promised to repay the $30 billion loan by 2012 when it planned to break even. The company pledged to cut its debt by $30 billion by converting debt ownership for equity. It agreed to pay union health care benefits to retirees by 2010. It promised to sell its Saab, Saturn, and Hummer divisions, reducing the number of models for sale to 40. It shut down 11 factories, closed 40% of its 6,000 dealerships, and cut more than 20,000 jobs.

Union members were paid $65 per hour, on average, while new hires made $24 per hour.

The main purpose of the bailout was to save jobs at GM. But GM had to slash its employment and production anyway. Toyota and Honda continued to increase their U.S. factories, providing jobs for American auto workers

If there had been no bailout, Ford, Toyota, and Honda would have picked up even more market share. Since they had U.S. plants, they would have increased jobs for Americans once the recession was over. The loss of GM would be like the loss of Pan Am, TWA, and other companies that had a strong American heritage but lost their competitiveness. It would have perhaps tugged at the heartstrings of America but not really hurt the economy. As a result, the auto industry bailout was not critical to the U.S. economy, like the rescue of AIG or the banking system.

Oh goodie. Back to the USA Today article and the $1+ Trillion bailout:

On Republicans side:

Bailouts of cruise lines, hospitality industry and others disproportionately affected by economic shutdown.

So, Trump Hotels?