COVID-19 Thread

[young guns]

I was wondering about this earlier today, I got an email from Marcus cinema that they are shutting down until further notice.

[Outlander]

Well as of now most places are limited to gatherings of 10 so it doesn't really make sense to keep a theater open.

[MrTPlush]

I’m sure in the next few months a vaccine will be developed. Once that happens the cases will begin to lower rather quickly.

 

Maybe developed. They think about a year for it to actually be widely accessible.

 

EDIT: Kansas has ended their school year...I think this will be the reality for many states in the end. Mind you Kansas is a very minor hit state for the virus so far.

[LouisEly]

One thing we can do to help out restaurant industry is buy gift cards. They get the cash infusion now, then you turn them in later on after this is over. We plan on getting take out at least two or three times a week until this is over.

Sort of. It helps the business owner, but doesn't help the staff who make most of their income off of tips.

 

Many restaurants who get 90+% of their sales from sit-down customers are going to close. The cost of staying open isn't worth the little take-out business they will get. Take out habits have already been established, and if they weren't already thought of as a take-out place they probably won't be now.

[TURBO]

 

EDIT: Kansas has ended their school year...I think this will be the reality for many states in the end. Mind you Kansas is a very minor hit state for the virus so far.

 

That is really not true at all.

 

They have ended their face to face school year, everything will be done online until the end of this school year. Kids are not off the hook, just have to do everything online from here on out.

[homer]

One thing we can do to help out restaurant industry is buy gift cards. They get the cash infusion now, then you turn them in later on after this is over. We plan on getting take out at least two or three times a week until this is over.

Sort of. It helps the business owner, but doesn't help the staff who make most of their income off of tips.

 

Many restaurants who get 90+% of their sales from sit-down customers are going to close. The cost of staying open isn't worth the little take-out business they will get. Take out habits have already been established, and if they weren't already thought of as a take-out place they probably won't be now.

 

Well right. It doesn't solve the whole problem but at least there is a better chance of a business being open at the end of this thing if people spend money in whatever way they can. And I think delivery and take out will probably spike short term. Enough to compensate the sit down revenue? Not for every restaurant obviously but could very well help others weather the storm.

[GAME05]

All campgrounds closed yesterday for me. Hiking and bathrooms still open. Lots of snowbirds having a hard time heading back north, plus Florida parks were completely shut down, so it's a mass exodus so bad that the interstates here are terrible.

 

I'm speculating that we'll completely shut down if the number of cases in the state grows, but we'll see.

 

Was at training with someone who got sick, but they got better quickly so I think it was just a regular flu. Regardless, I'm now in a working quarantine, where I still have to come to work but can't go in the buildings or be around people.

[igor67]

Not an epidemiologist, but trained in some nearby areas so I can judge pretty well. First on balance this thread reminds of why Brewerfan is still an impressive place. For a complex unprecedented scenario the quality of the discussion is so far above the average internet nonsense it is impressive. Some general thoughts:

 

1) At least here in MN all of the actions have been a pretty even balance of trying to take significant measures but not jumping the gun until there was some additional supports in place to help deal with some of the issues.

 

2) The viral characteristics definitely align with factors I have heard about for years as being things to be nervous about. In this case the very easy transmission, combined with the ability to be asymptomatic and still transmit makes it noticeably worse than other recent outbreaks. Which is mirrored by the higher level of response than SARS or H1N1.

 

3) There are still significant uncertainties with the actual death rate, but it is comfortably higher than other bad flu's to warrant the concern.

 

4) Stressing the healthcare system also has a big negative impact on everyone else who needs medical care. I haven't seen that directly acknowledged, but you can definitely get to a point where people start dying of other things they shouldn't have because of scarce resources.

 

5) While I can certainly see some decisions made to speed up any vaccine approval the rules and testing are in place for a reason as well. I'm cautiously optimistic that we will be able to beat the timeline (1-1.5 years) commonly cited, but not by a huge margin since among other things there will be a huge production ramp up.

 

6) We also have no real idea if and to what extent there will be long term complications for some folks who recover. As an extreme example it was only a couple of years ago by going through historical records that researchers discovered that measles biggest issue may have been that it made survivors significantly more at risk of others diseases for up to 3-5 years after they 'recovered'.

[TURBO]

I understand why people are saying we should still frequent restaurants who are offering take-out and drive through business, but is it a legit concern that the people preparing your food could transfer the virus via packaging, coughing/sneezing near or on your food? I mean, if we are practicing social distancing as a society, and the virus can last on surfaces, isn't having others prepare your food a genuine risk?

 

I mean seriously, I get it, those businesses will need the cash flow, but to me, I'm not willing to risk picking up the virus from a careless person preparing my food.

[Jaylyn]

I’m sure in the next few months a vaccine will be developed. Once that happens the cases will begin to lower rather quickly.

That's if these companies in a hurry to be the first one to develop it, doesn't end up turning everyone into a Cronenberg!

[jerichoholicninja]

I understand why people are saying we should still frequent restaurants who are offering take-out and drive through business, but is it a legit concern that the people preparing your food could transfer the virus via packaging, coughing/sneezing near or on your food? I mean, if we are practicing social distancing as a society, and the virus can last on surfaces, isn't having others prepare your food a genuine risk?

 

I mean seriously, I get it, those businesses will need the cash flow, but to me, I'm not willing to risk picking up the virus from a careless person preparing my food.

 

That's what I've been thinking this whole time. People making your food could have it and not know like so many people already. Even one person working one night could infect a hundred people directly and then extrapolate from there. Our house will be making all of our own meals for the foreseeable future.

[DHonks]

Reality is that if we ordered all people to stay home for 30 days, those with it should be able to finish showing symptoms, sometimes passing it to a housemate, but we should be able to pretty much cease its spread. My hope is that by May 1-15, we’ll be having very few new cases.

[MrTPlush]

If they are going to essentially shut everything down and inconvenience everyone this bad just lock everything up already. Why is a food establishment allowed to make orders and (hypothetically) dish out the virus to everyone? Doesn’t make any sense.

[Jimbo]

Now the latest news that no more sit-down restaurants or bars. I'm getting to feel this is trending into over reaction territory. Convince me I'm wrong.

 

I was at the Workforce Development Center in Pewaukee this afternoon to see that they were to shut down at 5 pm today. So all these suddenly unemployed people have one less resource at their disposal.

 

My good friend was furloughed from Famous Dave's this morning. Already had plans to have lunch with him tomorrow, so will see how he is doing.

 

I was talking to my massage therapist last week and he has a son who has a background in biology/genetics. According to him, COVID-19 pales in comparison to the Swine Flu, and we didn't have all these precautions with the Swine Flu. Take it for what it's worth.

[reillymcshane]

Now the latest news that no more sit-down restaurants or bars. I'm getting to feel this is trending into over reaction territory. Convince me I'm wrong.

 

I was at the Workforce Development Center in Pewaukee this afternoon to see that they were to shut down at 5 pm today. So all these suddenly unemployed people have one less resource at their disposal.

 

My good friend was furloughed from Famous Dave's this morning. Already had plans to have lunch with him tomorrow, so will see how he is doing.

 

I was talking to my massage therapist last week and he has a son who has a background in biology/genetics. According to him, COVID-19 pales in comparison to the Swine Flu, and we didn't have all these precautions with the Swine Flu. Take it for what it's worth.

The Swine Flu had a mortality rate of 0.02%. Roughly 60 million people in the United States got H1N1 (around 20%), and about 12,500 died. It spread easily and quickly - but the fatality rate was not high. If I'm right, the death rate for seasonal flu is 0.1% - which is higher.

 

Estimates for the death rate for COVID-19 have been running between 1.5% and 3.0%.

 

Let's say that 20% of the population gets infected like in 2009 - that's roughly 65M people. Based upon the above death rate, that equals a death toll of about 1-2 million people.

 

Of course, maybe the infection rate will be much lower - say 10%. Well, that's still 500,000-1,000,000 dead.

 

And perhaps with all that has been learned, the death rate won't be as high.

 

If 10% of the US population gets the disease, and it has a 1% death rate - that's still 325,000 dead.

 

My wife is an exec at for a healthcare system. She's terrified of what it could do.

[BMuch25]

My godson was sent home from college and he now finds out that his 3 roommates have the Corona virus. Local doctors have refused to give him the test since he only has a sore throat. smh

[monkeyman343434]

Now the latest news that no more sit-down restaurants or bars. I'm getting to feel this is trending into over reaction territory. Convince me I'm wrong.

 

I was at the Workforce Development Center in Pewaukee this afternoon to see that they were to shut down at 5 pm today. So all these suddenly unemployed people have one less resource at their disposal.

 

My good friend was furloughed from Famous Dave's this morning. Already had plans to have lunch with him tomorrow, so will see how he is doing.

 

I was talking to my massage therapist last week and he has a son who has a background in biology/genetics. According to him, COVID-19 pales in comparison to the Swine Flu, and we didn't have all these precautions with the Swine Flu. Take it for what it's worth.

The Swine Flu had a mortality rate of 0.02%. Roughly 60 million people in the United States got H1N1 (around 20%), and about 12,500 died. It spread easily and quickly - but the fatality rate was not high. If I'm right, the death rate for seasonal flu is 0.1% - which is higher.

 

Estimates for the death rate for COVID-19 have been running between 1.5% and 3.0%.

 

Let's say that 20% of the population gets infected like in 2009 - that's roughly 65M people. Based upon the above death rate, that equals a death toll of about 1-2 million people.

 

Of course, maybe the infection rate will be much lower - say 10%. Well, that's still 500,000-1,000,000 dead.

 

And perhaps with all that has been learned, the death rate won't be as high.

 

If 10% of the US population gets the disease, and it has a 1% death rate - that's still 325,000 dead.

 

My wife is an exec at for a healthcare system. She's terrified of what it could do.

 

Thanks Reilly, I wish I could "like" this a million times. This is exactly why this is such a big deal and is freaking scary as hell when you look at those numbers and that's exactly what we are heading for, slowly but surely. It's like a car crash is slow motion, with not much you can do about it, and people complain that they can't "live their lives"

[DHonks]

Now the latest news that no more sit-down restaurants or bars. I'm getting to feel this is trending into over reaction territory. Convince me I'm wrong.

 

I was at the Workforce Development Center in Pewaukee this afternoon to see that they were to shut down at 5 pm today. So all these suddenly unemployed people have one less resource at their disposal.

 

My good friend was furloughed from Famous Dave's this morning. Already had plans to have lunch with him tomorrow, so will see how he is doing.

 

I was talking to my massage therapist last week and he has a son who has a background in biology/genetics. According to him, COVID-19 pales in comparison to the Swine Flu, and we didn't have all these precautions with the Swine Flu. Take it for what it's worth.

The Swine Flu had a mortality rate of 0.02%. Roughly 60 million people in the United States got H1N1 (around 20%), and about 12,500 died. It spread easily and quickly - but the fatality rate was not high. If I'm right, the death rate for seasonal flu is 0.1% - which is higher.

 

Estimates for the death rate for COVID-19 have been running between 1.5% and 3.0%.

 

Let's say that 20% of the population gets infected like in 2009 - that's roughly 65M people. Based upon the above death rate, that equals a death toll of about 1-2 million people.

 

Of course, maybe the infection rate will be much lower - say 10%. Well, that's still 500,000-1,000,000 dead.

 

And perhaps with all that has been learned, the death rate won't be as high.

 

If 10% of the US population gets the disease, and it has a 1% death rate - that's still 325,000 dead.

 

My wife is an exec at for a healthcare system. She's terrified of what it could do.

 

We’re heading that this is much more contagious than the swine flu or other viruses. The scary part is that they’re saying many of us could be carriers without knowing it. Makes me think of when I came back from Vegas after Super Bowl weekend and I experienced several symptoms for 3-4 days that now check boxes but weren’t known then.... slightly elevated temperature (99°), mild throat irritation, muscle/joint weakness and fatigue, chills at night, etc. once the US has an anti-bodies test, I’d like to check it out as I’m curious.

[DHonks]

Also, crazy that when we wake up, we’ll have hit 200,000 confirmed cases and 8,000 deaths. I started showing this site to my students last week Tuesday as I was comparing us to other nations’ graphs, like Italy.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries

[adambr2]

I understand why people are saying we should still frequent restaurants who are offering take-out and drive through business, but is it a legit concern that the people preparing your food could transfer the virus via packaging, coughing/sneezing near or on your food? I mean, if we are practicing social distancing as a society, and the virus can last on surfaces, isn't having others prepare your food a genuine risk?

 

I mean seriously, I get it, those businesses will need the cash flow, but to me, I'm not willing to risk picking up the virus from a careless person preparing my food.

 

That's what I've been thinking this whole time. People making your food could have it and not know like so many people already. Even one person working one night could infect a hundred people directly and then extrapolate from there. Our house will be making all of our own meals for the foreseeable future.

 

There's no evidence at all that COVID-19 can be transmitted through food. There's a risk associated with the virus staying active on a particular object, but unless an infected worker is coughing and sneezing on several hundred takeout meals, this particular example is never going to happen. Even food that was infected during preparation would likely have the virus destroyed in the cooking process.

 

The risk of getting COVID-19 from takeout food is extremely low. As with any other activity these days, it is not nonexistent nor is it nonexistent when purchasing your own ingredients and preparing them at home.

 

https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/03/16/coronavirus-cdc-answers-questions-on-safety-of-take-out-and-restaurant-food/

[PeaveyFury]

Thanks for sharing that, adam. There's always a risk, obviously, but my wife and I have decided to start ordering take out a couple of times a week to help do what we can for local restaurants.

 

There's probably only slightly more risk, if any, of the food preparer passing that to you than having it passed to you from your trip to the grocery store, where an infected person may have touched the door ahead of you, checkout credit card swipe machine, or even the food item you bought when it was being stocked on the shelf or picked up by someone then returned to the shelf when they didn't want it.

[zurch1818]

When possible, I've been using tap and pay (Google Pay) to avoid touching the card machines. Come to think of it, tap and pay is a little misleading...because my phone never actually touches the machine.

[LouisEly]

It's a fallacy and a bias to think that a restaurant chef is more likely to have COVID-19 than you do. If anything, they are less likely as they are not traveling for work or coming into contact with lots of different people at work. For most chefs, they are grabbing the food out of storage themselves, preparing it themselves, putting it on a plate or in a container, and then placing it on a counter for someone else to pick up and give to you. They rarely hand the food directly off to a server, and like others have said, the cooking process will kill most of the viruses. That occupation is among the lowest in terms of the number of other people they come into contact with while working, and sanitary conditions in a commercial kitchen are far, far higher than just about everybody's home or work.

[rickh150]

If you tire of reading COVID-19, here are some great Brewers games all in one place, made courtesy of a poster on brewcrewball.net

 

https://www.brewcrewball.com/2020/3/14/21180092/a-collection-of-classic-brewers-games-to-watch-if-you-are-missing

[MrTPlush]

The ones still open are fast food, bar food, and other restaurants that typically have some type of take-out in normal times. Don't know about you, but I have worked in multiple restaurants and the things you said are mostly false. Usually a different person does almost every task of the process. Someone preps, someone cooks, someone plates/boxes, and then someone takes it to the customer. This is pretty much the norm and efficient. I don't know of any real restaurant that has the chef do everything. While, yes, the cooking process kills the virus what about after? Many restaurants are also still doing take-out salad by me...that isn't cooked.

 

I think it is relatively low risk in the grand scheme, but I don't see any reason why it isn't shut down. With all the other rules and bans that seems logical to be included.