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Maybe. I’m worried and I have a secure job I can do for home. Feel bad about people who are going to lose jobs, shut businesses and have financial issues once white-collar businesses go home. Let alone the risk to the elderly and those with health issues who the virus is fatal for. I’ve not been able to buy toilet paper for two weeks. There’s plenty to be worried about.
You're not the only one. But it is difficult when every media organisation is trying to outdo each other to cover every aspect of the virus, and headlines are all doom and gloom... when we need them to be focussing on good news stories during times like these. They can still have updates on the virus, but not be the majority of the news bulletin and the morning breakfast shows. How are people who are even a little bit worried, let alone the paranoid or hypochondriacs, supposed to go about with their day, looking after kids, earning a living, driving safely, etc.Quote:
Originally Posted by DELTAprime
The excessive over-buying of some items also seems unnecessary, but people are getting these end of the world messages from the people in charge, which just encourages them to stock up on things that they don't really need a huge supply of.
It is possible that there will be some disruption of certain products as factories and transport gets affected by people who start self-isolating over the next few weeks, but people will still continue to work for as long as they can, because they need the money.... and, as infected people recover, they'll be wanting to get back to work straight away, because they also need the money.
With a vaccine not possible before the end of the year, we have at least 9 months of social disruption, limitations, and for many people, isolation... if people want to try to hold out for the vaccine next year, and that's going to impact on the emotional welfare of people, as well as the living standards, as money starts running out and they have to go on welfare. These measures are necessary to minimise the spread for hospitals to keep up with a slower infection rate, and protect the most vulnerable who need the vaccine to survive... it's just going to be a long 9 months for the majority of people who won't end up being more sick than when having a regular cold or flu.
I was planning to go job hunting after I came back from the Melbourne Toyfair, but now it is too risky, as we could see up to a million people lose their job by the end of the year from this.
I know that a lot of people (mostly elderly) can't risk this as an option, but I'd rather catch it now, have a few days at home with the flu (since I should be young enough to not have anything worse than flu symptoms), and then get back to living without the worry of catching it, or being forced to avoid doing ordinary activities, like go to work.
My worksite bosses are still trying to figure out what best to do, to keep the warehouse operating, as it just takes one positive test result to shut down schools, sporting events, TV studios and various other businesses that can close for at least a couple of weeks. As such, the bosses don't seem to be taking it seriously, spreading wrong information about how the virus can be transmitted, and what can be done to prevent the spread (they are having us use anti-bacterial spray instead of bleach or alcohol based solutions as per the government websites... and claiming that having just 30 minutes gap between shifts would be enough time for the virus to die off on surfaces).
That is actually the most worrying thing for me about this whole situation. We know rather nasty bugs can develop from the "kills 99% of germs" disinfectants.Quote:
Originally Posted by griffin
I'm not worried about money as Woolworths has stated they will pay casual workers if they can't work. I'm not worried about getting sick as I should have very minor symptoms. I'm not worried about the retail supply chain as I've experienced that craziness many times before because of cyclones.
I'm just taking this as I would any other natural disaster.
I'm stuck in public transport, so I kinda have to go to work. I've been sick for about a week now anyway, and pretty much over it now. Back to work tomorrow. I'm more worried about going out to buy essentials when the food I have at home runs out. All these dickheads buying up everything leaving nothing for others. Just have to see what's available by time I go out to buy stuff on Friday.
Hmmm... I only wanted to share some quick thoughts, but five hours later, I seem to have ended up with an essay. Sitting on a forklift all day doing menial work, leaves me with a lot of time for my mind to wander and think of things.
I also know that this is weighing on the minds of just about everyone, having questions and concerns that they just want to talk to others about, somewhere.
As such, I might split these posts off into a new topic for people to get updates and to be able to unload their anxieties among friends, who are here to support each other, not judge or mock.
As for the essay you are about to scroll past, sorry...
I see that the Prime Minister on the weekend was now admitting that these social shutdown measures will be expected for 6 months or more, instead of just implying that it would just be a couple of weeks of disruption, or by the self-isolation by a small number of people. Either he was being ignorant of how a biological virus works, or he didn't want to make this public until society was already in a transition to shutting down and limiting contact between others. Because if we had been told publicly how long this would affect our lives, there would be mass panic and social collapse. Just look at the grocery stores... that level of selfish behaviour would have been reflected in all areas of society, particularly criminal acts (theft and violence).Quote:
Originally Posted by griffin
We've been told for over a month that a vaccine would not be available to the public until early next year, about 9-12 months away, as clinical trials take time, and mass-production of the vaccine in the order of mega-litres, isn't a matter of just mixing together a handful of chemicals and putting it in a syringe. So any measures taken now on society (closing of businesses, schools and staying at home), will be in place until the end of the year... and I don't think too many people realise it will be long, or be able to cope with it. Not to mention, people out of work for the next 9 months will effectively be long-term unemployed, and many will find it harder to get back into the workforce next year, after all that time stuck at home watching TV and other recreational things at home.
And it is not just the small businesses that are being affected (most of which will not be around next year when we are allowed to go back to work and be out in public), as many big businesses are affected as well, because when one person is infected, the whole site or shift has to shut down for at least 14 days. I currently work in a furniture warehouse, and for some reason there is still a significant demand for furniture, so I am still working... for now. But any day now I am expecting it to be closed up, either because someone has tested positive to the virus, or, because the orders have dried up due to so many people now using every spare dollar on bills and necessities and that the latest round of closures and social distancing has stopped people from going into the stores (we have an online store, but furniture is like a car... most people don't buy it before they try it first). Besides, some customers are cancelling their deliveries, in fear of catching something from the delivery guys. (we already lost a couple of delivery guys who delivered to a house that was supposed to be under quarantine, and the transport company told them not to come back to work for 2 weeks, just in case).
As much as I hate to say it, I would have to recommend that people need to stock up a little with their non-perishable food, to have at least a month or two on hand. NOT to strip the store shelves, like people buying up a year's supply of toilet paper... but to go to the supermarket every couple of days and buy a couple of extra items that you can freeze or store, because like I mentioned above about businesses having to close down if one person tests positive, the major grocery stores only have one warehouse in most capital cities - even if they just shut down one shift for 14 days, that's a lot of volume not being sent to stores (they can't keep up demand as it is, so imagine how worse the stores will be if one third of a warehouse stops operating for two weeks, or the entire warehouse has to shut down if their administration office is compromised and they can't even process orders). I've been going to several different Coles and Woolies stores over the last week or so, every day or two, just so I can grab just one or two long-term food items, because none of the stores have been able to keep their shelves stocked, despite the claims of now being able to get more deliveries in and limiting purchase quantities. In the last ten days, the following items were either found at just one store, or none at all - rice, sugar, salt, toilet paper, minced meat, long life milk, rolled oats, and generic brand noodles. With this virus being around for at least 9 months until a vaccine is available (at best), politicians would be foolish to be able to guarantee that the grocery store supply chain (from farms, to wholesalers, to grocery warehouses, to transport, to supermarkets) won't be severed for weeks at a time, if just one person at a worksite or shift is infected. As of yesterday the current infection rate was still only at about 0.02% of the population, which means only one out of every 5000 people is known to be infected... but that rate will hit 0.1% to 1% within a few weeks, and that effectively means that any worksite that has over 100 people (like a grocery warehouse), statistically, one of those people will be infected within the next two weeks, shutting down one of three shifts or the entire site for two weeks. Then over the next 9 months as more people get the infection, the site shuts down again, dozens of times until there is a vaccine to keep the place open.
It might seem like fear-mongering , but that's a realistic assessment of this virus, which our political leaders either don't want to accept, or don't want to tell us in order to prevent mass chaos in society or the stripping of the stores of all food items. Until there is a vaccine (earliest being next year), this virus won't disappear, without an extreme measure of a 24 hour curfew, forcing EVERYONE to stay in their home for at least 2-3 weeks (if you have a home), so that no one is able to catch the virus... and just have food rations delivered to any house that runs out, by a small number of people who are constantly sterilised, or have already had the virus (if it can't be caught again or transmitted to others). Then once the virus has died out after that 3 week curfew, life can go back to normal, but all international travel would remain suspended until the vaccine is ready next year (that would also mean exports and imports are stopped, as people have to fly the planes and drive the boats).
I just feel so bad for all of those people who have already lost their job, and the millions who will lose theirs in the next 9-12 months... having to sit on welfare, with little to do, and little money spare to spend or save.
I'm expecting to be one of those people within the next few weeks, if not, by the end of this week at the way everything is so rapidly being shut down like in foreign hot-spots.
I just think, to help keep as many people employed as possible while trying to mitigate the spread of the virus, instead of shutting everything down completely and have sudden massive unemployment (which will mean less money being spent in the economy and less jobs around when the virus is over), we should have been adapting our social lives and businesses to be able to do as much as possible without contact with the customers, or between the customers... but people just weren't taking those early measures seriously because our political leaders didn't want to create a sudden panic by telling the truth of what this virus would be doing, and how long it would be around for. (China's claim of having no more infected people recently because of their lockdown measures is not easy to believe, since they concealed the existence and extent of the virus at the beginning of the year, from their own people and from the rest of the world)
I've heard from someone who was just in Taiwan last week (came back just a day before the borders were closed), that they have virtually no cases because they had adopted anti-viral measures after SARS about 15 years ago, and made it a cultural behaviour that has persisted to this day.
The problem is these Western Capitalist countries have their policies dictated by Corporations with short-term profit interests, over long term social interests. We had our wake-up calls with recent global viruses, but we did nothing to protect ourselves from the next one. And to be honest, this current virus could have been a lot worse, because it isn't airborne, and the mortality rate is less than 5% because of the slower rate of infection and current medical technology. And if countries had invested more into their public hospitals over the years since the last viruses, the mortality rate percentage would have been equal or less than the flu. If this virus had been airborne, or targeted the immune system (like HIV) or brain (like malaria parasite), the mortality rate would be so much higher because the hospitals can only deal with about 5-10% of the population at any time.
At least we don't live in America, with a president who said two weeks ago that the virus was just another hoax against him which meant 35% of the country who believes everything he says didn't take any precautions... and as recently as last week was still saying that the virus would be gone in a couple of weeks because they only had a handful of infected people in the country. As such, they don't have the resources to help the infected or combat the spread, because the federal government and a third of the people didn't think there was a problem until 5-6 days ago. Now several cities in America have virus hot-spots, and hospitals can't meet demand. Australia had more infections first because of our closer ties to China (tourists and students), but the USA are out-pacing us on the infection rates per capita, and that's with a short-supply of tests, meaning that the amount of infected people in America is probably 10 times as many as officially known.
The sad thing is, when we come out of this next year, our major parties won't learn... they won't prepare for the next virus... they won't put us before their bank balances. None of our politicians will be at centerlink, signing up for newstart payments, so they won't feel the pain we feel... or the fear of being out of work for months, and not being able to afford the non-essential spending for the foreseeable future.
I certainly can't see Hasbro producing Unicron for next year, as most people aren't going to be employed early next year when it comes out... and they will probably have to cut back on producing future product this year, as stores (and online stores) aren't going to be selling as many toys, and many of us aren't going to be able to afford them until early next year... especially the expensive collector items like Japanese Masterpiece toys. EB Games stores are likely to shut down soon, if not already, which will leave a lot of pre-orders in limbo... and prevent the huge line up of exclusives they had on their roster for this year (most of the Generations Selects toys and JP Masterpiece).
Sorry to bring this back on topic... but I will certainly be disappointed if Hubcap doesn't see the light of day.Quote:
Originally Posted by griffin
Sadly, you're not.Quote:
Originally Posted by DELTAprime
I just remembered something else - I also feel sorry for the majority of school and uni students who are likely to have to repeat the grade next year, as the schools won't reopen this year once they close... because no one is going to be brave enough to re-open the schools before the vaccine is ready.
A lot of schools and Unis may have set up online learning, but a lot of kids who don't have computers, or probably won't be able to afford monthly internet fees, won't be able to keep up with those who can do their schooling from home... and that's IF those kids have the self-discipline to commit to school studies for several hours a day at home without the risk of detention or some other school penalty, particularly if they are in the higher grades and their parent(s) still work, leaving them home all day on their own.
I actually would be happy to see Hasbro pause or at least slow down their upcoming releases. The economy globally is in the toilet. There are more important things than Transformers.
The comics industry has started slowing down. Expect others to follow suit.Quote:
Originally Posted by DELTAprime