Coronavirus (Sports-Related and General)

[allentown]

COBRA extension with basically the same premium portion you now pay through employer,

[xogfog]

My intention when starting the thread was for it to cover all the sports related postponements and news related to the coronavirus, and the first segment of replies were that, but the thread has since progressed to a general discussion of the virus. I'm not a mod, so I can't parse out the sports from the general discussion to start a separate thread, but I'll leave it up to the mods to decide if that is warranted.

[Purduke]

I believe the cost of coverage under COBRA is the average cost of coverage actually paid by your employer + 7% max for administrative costs (not the employee contribution toward the premium) for up to an 18 month period. Often people are surprised how expensive the coverage is because they were generally unaware how expensive the coverage is that is being bourn for their insurance.

[andyb]

This thread has become about the virus and sometimes politics and that is OK. Threads do this.

Baseball talk probably belongs in the respective Phillies and MLB threads anyway. Speculation on when the season might restart is baseball related even if the virus response drives it.

[julio]

Daily Mail is sensationalizing the Australian cocktail results, I think

Ya think?!

It IS the Daily Mail. Sensationalizing is what they do. It's all they've got.

[julio]

My intention when starting the thread was for it to cover all the sports related postponements and news related to the coronavirus, and the first segment of replies were that, but the thread has since progressed to a general discussion of the virus. I'm not a mod, so I can't parse out the sports from the general discussion to start a separate thread, but I'll leave it up to the mods to decide if that is warranted.

I don't think there's much point now.

It's not as if there really is going to be much, if any, sports-related news related to the coronavirus (well, unless we have to report on individual athletes' health/passing). Everything is shut down; everything is going to stay shut down for at least several weeks. What else is there to say?

Tweaked the title - the Politics thread seems to be focusing pretty heavily on the economic implications of all this (and perhaps the election-related implications). This thread seems to be more about the progress of the pandemic, potential treatments, etc. - e.g., not so much political/economic as social/human concerns (with apologies to economists...).

[julio]

Perhaps of use to those of us who are in Pennsylania - link to map of PA counties with reasonably current case-counts:

https://infogram.com/pa-coronavirus-map-1h8j4xg5p5jr6mv

[Lawman]

Up here in NY, shelter-in-place orders are on being considered. NY state has close to 2500 infected w/, I believe, a 23% hospitalization rate.

[julio]

Up here in NY, shelter-in-place orders are on being considered. NY state has close to 2500 infected w/, I believe, a 23% hospitalization rate.

We're in PA (Bucks county, with about 10 confirmed cases) and we're already kinda-sorta sheltering in place. We'll still do occasional grocery runs (not daily, not every other day... only done one so far), and my wife will go to her studio to work (there's nobody else there). My live-at-home son is still going to work on schedule, so that's a hole. But we've just eliminated other things - social distancing for us means don't go places, don't see other people - not 6 feet; stay home.

Being retired makes it easier. Being in a "high risk" group (only due to age; I'm pretty healthy) makes it more... obvious?

Basically - Only do the things outside the home/yard that you HAVE to do - and don't confuse "have to" with "really want to." For weeks; probably for months. But so what? It's NOT THAT HARD. (Well, if you don't have financial problems.)

[bkox]

Being in a nursing home/rehab through all this is scary. Especially hearing that a nursing home elsewhere in the state has 42 positive cases

[zambonir]

Yeah, COBRA is generally unaffordable for most people. I think mine went from $300 to $1200 (which also means I had a pretty good deal from the job). Back before the ACA (uh-oh, going into politics again) you often didn't have a choice. Now at least there are options, and government subsidies for same. Last time my wife lost a job we were on hers and had to keep COBRA because I'd already hit my deductible. If we'd gotten a cheaper policy for four months ago I would have had to pay about the same in medical bills as COBRA cost.

The number of people left without income who didn't even job related insurance in the first place is probably a bigger problem. Food service people and creative people who don't get it at work and didn't opt to get it themselves (since it is no longer mandated, though that penalty was still way cheaper than paying premiums if you really didn't want to do it).

I went to a bike repair shop today as I would like properly working bikes through this. They only allow one customer into the store at the time. Clerk wears gloves. Gloves and Purell available for customers too. My local grocery has not yet limited capacity which I think they should do though I'm not sure how it would work without creating crowds outside instead of inside (that's still better, but this is an urban store, no large parking lot to spread out in).

[Jeff05]

". . . and an Arab-american" . . . Oh bigegypt! Finally, the lights have all gone on and the pennies have dropped!

[julio]

As a matter of language it is fine to associate the virus with where it originated like in the Spanish flu.

Except that the “Spanish Flu” did not originate in Spain. It’s called that, because Spain was the first country to acknowledge the disease - many others, including the USA, actively suppressed information, ostensibly because of WWI. Our best information is that H1N1 originated in Kansas, and was initially spread from there to a US Army training camp, and from there to the world. It would be really something to discriminate against the Spanish, eh?

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC340389/

[bkox]

U.S. Virus Plan Anticipates 18-Month Pandemic and Widespread Shortages

[Dirk41]

Once again, people out and about in the city today.

[Lawman]

Just to present a contrarian viewpoint:

Compared to what?

[rpmcmurphy]

Here is all you need to know about Heather MacDonald (from the bio at the end of the article):

“Heather Mac Donald is the Thomas W. Smith fellow at the Manhattan Institute and author of The Diversity Delusion (St. Martin’s Press) and The War on Cops (Encounter).“

The Manhattan Institute is a right wing think tank.

This is not just a “contrarian” viewpoint. It is a stupendously irresponsible one.

I will take my advice from the Imperial College in London, not the Manhattan Institute.

[flyers19rw]

With all of the nonsense about the germ being spread around on some social media sights, mainly Facebook and Instagram, these sources should be shut down. What is being passed along is driving panic in many ways. If it is illegal to yell, “Fire!” as a prank in a crowded theater, it should be the same for these sites to be spreading misinformation. Close them off since they won’t self police.

[phillychuck]

Not one of these groups/people predicting the progress of this disease is clairvoyant or has a monopoly on seeing the future. Also, a lot of the predictions we read in the public are worse-case scenarios laid out by people who are intentionally trying to prepare for unlikely but possible outcomes, but those reports are not presented in the press that way. Or that approach is mentioned only in small print in the last paragraph.

McDonald, regardless of her politics, makes a point at least worth thinking about--how do we balance the real, significant damage to lives that this kind of economic shutdown entails against hypothetical COVID-19 deaths averted? We make these risk/reward calculations all the time in society. A large number of us smoke cigarettes, we all drive, many of us are overweight, many of us risk our lives and our health in very dangerous recreational activities. We are not so risk-averse when we feel in control of the exposure.

I seem to remember reading that one of the European countries (Sweden??) was trying a "business as usual for everyone under 60" approach with complete "isolation" regulations for those over 70. Honest question, would that be better? Go crazy overboard protecting the most likely victims of severe reaction to the virus, but let herd immunity expand in the general population who goes about their daily lives somewhat normally (of course staying home if sick, washing hands, coughing into their elbows, etc.)?

One of my wife's co-workers was, before this virus, a year away from retirement. With the loss in her 401k she is now probably not retiring, maybe ever. Two small businesses in the local town I live in are closing. Colleges are closing, but not refunding tuition or, in many cases, room and board either (which seems to me grossly unfair). Our church runs a pre-school education center which is closed. We can pay the teachers for 2 weeks, but after that they will be on their own (they can't get unemployment due to PA rule on non-profits). The hairdressers and nail salons and barbers and cooks and housecleaners and the like often are not sure where their next meal is coming from. Our charitable organizations are trying to help, but stay-at-home advice is hampering our efforts, too. And this is in a county that really has only had one case of COVID-19.

What is the right approach? I'm curious what you all think...

[bkox]

With all of the nonsense about the germ being spread around on some social media sights, mainly Facebook and Instagram, these sources should be shut down. What is being passed along is driving panic in many ways. If it is illegal to yell, “Fire!” as a prank in a crowded theater, it should be the same for these sites to be spreading misinformation. Close them off since they won’t self police.

So in a time where we stay apart..you want to close down some of the ways people and families stay connected?

I'm currently in a nursing home after having a leg amputated. I use Facebook messanger to talk to my mom all day long because she has major anxiety and panic issues. I also use it to talk to other friends which has keep me sane. Yeah I could call.. but that's only one person at a time and could disturb my roommate.

I use regular facebook to keep up with a wide variety of friends i dont chat with on a regular basis and play games with people like chess and words with friends.

I'm sure... especially during this time.. there are millions of others like me who would feel a tremendous loss if there was no Facebook