Covid19

Jackmartin

I am interested in everyone's opinion as to how this virus crap is going to effect their business. We are entering the shoulder seasons which,in my experience, always leads to a slowing of business. I really do not know what to think, the shutting of public gathering places will almost certainly effect us. The wholesalers are busy sending out emails claiming they are doing everything possible to keep everyone safe, that is a lovely sentiment, but so is believing in Santa. We have have one wholesale that is closing an hour early, ummm, how does that prevent virus transmission? In Winnipeg driving around in the middle of the day looks like 5:30 am that's how many people are staying home. The last time I looked we do not have that option, no one is going to bring their boiler to the shop. I am an old guy and truth be told I could care less about this virus on a personal level, something is going to kill me anyways so no big deal. I was born with a brain anomaly, I have no physical fear. The number of times I have been hurt will attest to my lack of good judgment.
The people I am worried about are my family and by extension you and your family, the idea of some young person being robbed of their future makes me very queasy. I have to say our government ,for once, is actually doing something responsible, who knew they had in them? However, I have people I care about residing in the USA and the response by your government leaves me rather worried, if I am allowed to say this as a Canadian, you deserve much better than you are getting .It is time to stop the Tom Foolery ,children are at risk and no politician born, is worth any child's life.
All I can say is be safe and Be Blessed Jack

Jamie Hall

Well, you are allowed to say your comment on government, and I'll stay out of that except to say I think we are doing pretty well.

On how it will affect people -- not well. Some folks will be fine (my son's company, for instance, is working flat out to fill orders for, of all things, insulated containers). Salaried people will be OK -- if they don't panic. Retirees? Well, that depends not on the virus, but on how fast the world manages to get out of panic mode and how their retirement is funded. The folks who will get hurt are the small independent folks -- such as might be yourself, @Jackmartin . My daughter, for example, is a logger. For reasons no one can understand, the outfit she has contracts with has said that contractors have to stop work for an undetermined length of time. So... she doesn't get the timber down and out, she doesn't get paid. If she doesn't get paid, her crew doesn't get paid (at least she's not in Nova Scotia, where loggers have other problems...). This will be true for many small operations.

Main thing is to get folks -- and the media -- out of panic mode and get them to crawl out from under their desks or wherever and get on with life. That's going to take a while.

EBEBRATT-Ed

The economy in the US is going to take a big hit. It seems like they are on top of this virus problem now after a little shaky start. If the curve flattens out (they probably wont tells us until later) which i think it will we will be in for a tough few months. Luckily the economy and employment numbers were good to start with, I haven't looked at my 401K since this mess started and I am not going to.

Everyone stay safe...wash your hands, stay calm, no panic buying we will get through this.

pecmsg

We've haven't even hit the tip of the iceberg yet.
The worst is yet to come.
The next 4 - 8 weeks are going to be very interesting.

10 - 14 day incubation periods
A few if any test kits available
Hospitals unable to deal with large #'s of sick

The worst case models are all coming into play.

ALL we can do is keep distance to each other, Stay away from large groups, Let it run its course and Do Not Panic.
10% bleach solution to sanitize everything.


If you don't feel well STAY HOME!

unclejohn

As far as business is concerned yes this would be the slow stock up on your A/C parts run caps and contactors so no real big deal. The only ones who may get hurt are the newer companies less then 2 or three years old that do not have a solid customer base. Things are still open here in Costa Rica and as far as I can see so should every thing in the good ole USA. I leave the country for the first time in my life and the whole place falls apart. Seems to me that if 85% of the people that have it don't know they have it ain't that bad. Just stay away from Mel Brooks.

SlamDunk

Unless there is a back log of test results, i'll find out if I was Very exposed to someone who came down with symptoms tomorrow.

pecmsg

SlamDunk said:

Unless there is a back log of test results, i'll find out if I was Very exposed to someone who came down with symptoms tomorrow.

BS

10 - 14 day incubation periods. I could be tested today negative 10 days later positive, that's the problem!

pecmsg

SlamDunk said:

Unless there is a back log of test results, i'll find out if I was Very exposed to someone who came down with symptoms tomorrow.

There are not enough test kits available at this time.
That will change in the days to come

SlamDunk

the guy who is ill was tested for covid after testing negative for flu type a and b. He returned from travelling in Europe three weeks ago before any restrictions and had no symptoms until last thursday. We were in a truck together for an hour on Thusday. He was tested yesterday and if there isnt a backlog, we will know the results tomorrow.

@pecmsg , sorry I wasnt clear enough for you.

nibs

China is not getting many new cases, by all reports they have been vigorous in their containment efforts, and in their testing.
People who do not take the recommended sanitary precautions are putting others at risk.
The CDC used to be the gold standard for medicine in the US, but over the last few years has been de-funded, and has had its scientists fired and its leadership turned into a patronage appointment.
My favorite wife speaks highly of her experiences with the CDC, and is rather saddened to see what it has become.

Sal Santamaura

My wife and I, both in our late 60s and retired, went on our regular weekly food shopping expedition today, intending to stock up for two weeks. Numerous substitutions were necessary in order to achieve that. I wore nitrile gloves for cart pushing; they were disposed of when exiting the store.

Other than taking the trash/recycle/greenwaste containers to the curb this afternoon, then retrieving them tomorrow after the trucks empty them (to be repeated next Wednesday/Thursday), and evening walks to the cluster mail boxes, all followed by hand washing as described in this video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PmVJQUCm4E

we don't intend to leave the house for 14 days. I don't think government is "doing pretty well." We'll happily accept what Dr. Anthony Fauci suggested he's willing to be accused of, namely "over reacting."

The iceberg cometh.

PerryHolzman

It is highly likely that I have had an active Covid-19 flu for the last 2.5 weeks. No testing has been available in Wisconsin during this period because I was not sick enough to go to the hospital.

I checked again earlier this week, and my Dr. told me that there is no testing available for cases like mine.

The current testing criteria in Wisconsin per the State Department of Health is to only test if the results will affect treatment options.

So, I have mostly been home-bound except for necessary errands. It has had a significant impact on my income (self employed). At least I can do some of my work via computer.

I'm guessing that infection rates are at least 10 times what is being reported in Wisconsin. There are almost no test kits available and they have never tested everyone who is sick even if they had a good likelihood of exposure. They have no clue.

Fortunately, according to the World Health Organization that most people recover from Covid-19 in about 2 weeks. 3-6 weeks if you have other health issues (I'm type II diabetic - and I eat glipized like candy trying to keep my blood sugar low - as blood sugar goes up when your body is fighting an infection or other illness). You cannot properly heal and recover if your blood sugar is > 140.

It used to be that they gave out samples... and the last time I had a long term illness I was given some insulin samples that allowed me to control my blood sugar for a few weeks. No longer.

Personally, I think they are way over-reacting and causing trillions of economic damage that will affect things for years.

I wish everyone the best,

Perry

nicholas bonham-carter

Would an under reaction such as has happened up until last week be better for the economy?
Testing is key, and we have to get up to the abilities of South Korea, to identify those who may be able to spread the virus, before showing symptoms.—NBC

nicholas bonham-carter

What to do while self isolating-play this game:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63Ha1ktxvoY

Notice it seems to place emphasis on professional cooperation…—NBC

EBEBRATT-Ed

I doubt anyone with no symptoms or mild symptoms will be tested so there is likely many out there with the virus

Jamie Hall

For those of you contractors who have been turned away/locked out from jobs and thus have incurred losses: unless you are in a jurisdiction which has an hysterical government which has legally passed a shelter in place order, you may have a breach of contract action against the party locking you out. On a larger job this may be worth pursuing. Further, if you have been locked out, or if you have a shelter in place government, any time deadlines are null and void and unenforceable.

Sal Santamaura

PerryHolzman said:

It is highly likely that I have had an active Covid-19 flu for the last 2.5 weeks...most people recover from Covid-19 in about 2 weeks...

I don't know how old you are, Perry, but "most people" does not include those who are older. Take a look at Table 1 on page 5 of this document, published Monday:

https://www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperial-college/medicine/sph/ide/gida-fellowships/Imperial-College-COVID19-NPI-modelling-16-03-2020.pdf

PerryHolzman said:

...Personally, I think they are way over-reacting...

Boris Johnson thought other countries were over reacting too, until he read that report, then changed the U.K.'s direction. I'll stick with Dr. Fauci's approach. Go ahead and accuse me of over reacting. The worst I'll suffer is being laughed at later, not being eulogized.

Sal Santamaura

nicholas bonham-carter said:

...Testing is key, and we have to get up to the abilities of South Korea, to identify those who may be able to spread the virus, before showing symptoms...

That would have been optimum. More than two months ago. Too late now; spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus is rampant, cases of COVID-19 are ubiquitous and testing capability will continue to remain far below what was needed. Look to Italy for an idea of what's coming as a result of squandering so much time.

SlamDunk

SlamDunk said:

the guy who is ill was tested for covid after testing negative for flu type a and b. He returned from travelling in Europe three weeks ago before any restrictions and had no symptoms until last thursday. We were in a truck together for an hour on Thusday. He was tested yesterday and if there isnt a backlog, we will know the results tomorrow.

@pecmsg , sorry I wasnt clear enough for you.

My coworkers test results are NEGATIVE for Covid-19!

nibs

To all of you who are "over-reacting" thank you and keep up the good work.
To each of you who is under-reacting, you are putting our lives in danger, please stop.

Sal Santamaura

One year later, as a non-contractor I'm interested to hear how the heating professionals who visit The Wall experienced this pandemic. Have your businesses been hurt, helped or not been impacted in terms of volume? Have you and your employees become sickened or worse? Your customers?

My wife and I are fortunate to be retired, so have essentially been hermits since March 2020. During that time, we've left our home/yard only once every two weeks for food/medication shopping trips and kept two medical appointments (couldn't get prescriptions renewed otherwise). Today marks two weeks since we received our second doses of the Moderna vaccine, so we'll now somewhat relax our hermit lifestyle.

Until a substantial percentage of the population is vaccinated, our "relaxing" will consist of still wearing masks when in public, indoor spaces; no longer ensuring Trader Joe's visits are limited to between 8:00 and 9:00 AM every other Wednesday (the seniors-only hour); feeling less paranoid about covidiots in our vicinity (the death toll in this city has risen markedly over the last month) and finally visiting our dentist for those cleaning appointments we cancelled last June.

In a now-deleted thread that became too political, I estimated there would be between one and two million COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. Others felt such a toll was unlikely and that numbers so high were scare mongering. They thought 100,000 to 200,000 would be the total. As of today, 540,000 people have perished in this country, with the latest estimate for a final toll at 670,000 when a sufficient number of vaccinations have been administered to confer herd immunity. This is certainly one case where I'd have much rather been closer to wrong than right.