The light remained Red.

:facepalm:

That does sound like a reasonable idea. In Italy they're saying to keep at least 1m between people whenever they're in public, so restaurants are rearranging their tables to accommodate it.

Apparently a cough can spray up to 2m in distance, then fall to the floor, so enforcing at least some distance won't hurt at all.

Pittsburgh St Patrick’s Day parade just canceled. I think they said it averages 350,000 spectators. A local bar owner said he sells one months worth of booze during that parade.

In Italy today they closed all shops, save for food and pharmacy. About 900 deaths, around 10.000 infected. I am wondering how things will work in the USA. We have free health care, and if somebody is ill, social care will pay his salary. So, as soon as someone feels bad, goes to the hospital and he is checked for free. If positive, he gets a room, assistance, and medical care. His salary is paid by the social care. What about the US?

:laughs in freedom:

Honest answer is that people will just go to work if they're sick. Most places (especially service type jobs), either don't have sick days, or have very few. Unless they've saved up a nest egg while working at minimum wage (ha!), they won't be able to afford to not work.

They won't go to the hospital until they're on deaths door because of their $10k deductibles, if they even have insurance.

A lot of states have "at-will" employment, which means you can be fired for any reason at any time, including not showing up if you're sick. They really can't afford to lose their job, so again, they'll just come in when they're sick.


About three weeks ago I probably had the flu (my daughter tested positive for influenza-A a few days ago), but luckily I work remotely from home anyways, so I was able to trudge along from home, taking a nap at lunch and again after work. We do have some savings, but I still couldn't really afford to miss the hours :-/

Maybe I should have used our actual $13.5k deductible instead?

I'm pretty sure no one has been fired yet, but this ride is just starting. It will get messy.

Maybe I should have used our actual $13.5k deductible instead?

I'm pretty sure no one has been fired yet, but this ride is just starting. It will get messy.

Thanks to the UnAffordable Care Act... Health insurance has tripled in 10 years it's already a mess...

I am scared, and wonder how long before a member here gets sick from it?
I live in the center of Houston !!!! almost 4 million people in a high density area. Time to lock and load.

You are desperate for a change....I get it.

Slowing the disease requires asking people to isolate themselves and, in most cases, stop working. Most of the world cannot shelter in place for long without income. When people are asked to survive alone—without the cultural, social, and financial inputs that typically keep us alive—new ways of attending to basic needs become immediately necessary. “For people who can’t afford time off work, we absolutely need to come up with out-of-the-box solutions right now,” Ko says.

Among them is the idea that everyone receive cash, immediately. People need to feel able to skip work and still make rent and feed their family. They need cash without strings attached, and they need it now, not via a complex omnibus economic stimulus package next month. With each day that such bills are debated by skeptical senators, people will continue to go into their communities, out of a need to work, spreading the disease simply because they have no other choice.

Planning for emergency cash transfers is underway in Hong Kong, where permanent residents are to receive the equivalent of $1,282 later this year, in an effort to keep both the economy and people alive.* In response to a month of nationwide school closures in Japan, the government is paying out $80 per worker per day to help cover child care or the costs of staying home to parent. Other government payments could be conditional on taking sick leave—a sort of emergency national sick-leave policy, whereby your employer might simply have to verify that you did indeed miss work for two weeks. Or, as with President George W. Bush’s $152 billion economic-stimulus bill in 2008, people could simply get a check in the mail.

In Italy today they closed all shops, save for food and pharmacy. About 900 deaths, around 10.000 infected. I am wondering how things will work in the USA. We have free health care, and if somebody is ill, social care will pay his salary. So, as soon as someone feels bad, goes to the hospital and he is checked for free. If positive, he gets a room, assistance, and medical care. His salary is paid by the social care. What about the US?

I am scared, and wonder how long before a member here gets sick from it?
I live in the center of Houston !!!! almost 4 million people in a high density area. Time to lock and load.