outbreak! (ebola, sars, coronavirus, etc)

I have no PTO, other than the ludicrous 40 sick hours/year I can use for, y'know, cancer treatment

I can lead class naked, as long as I don't turn my Webcam on!

― sorry for butt rockin (Neanderthal), Wednesday, March 11, 2020 8:55 PM (seventeen minutes ago)

prelude to a Florida Man headline

There'd have to also be a gator or crystal meth

my work—i don't know if it's because of its union contract or being a state institution or what—actually has ~sick day drives~ where they implore people with unused time to give it to for instance cancer patient coworkers whose treatment makes them run out their own sick time. they even have an automatic web page set up where you can target the individual recipients. which in the obvious way is good and in the cynical way is zeitgeisty-typical. as if there is an imperative from on high, so many days Shall Be Worked by Someone or Other and Only So Many Shall Be Exempt From Work.

Starting to suspect Microsoft is behind all this, we just got Teams at work a couple of weeks ago, noticing tons of commercials for it lately on TV.

my state job has a leave bank. you can donate 8 hours a year to be a member so if you run out of sick leave you can draw from it. sometimes we get an email asking for donations for a sick person. i have 1100 hours! it is absurd though. just pay them and don't worry about the bank imo. must be some sort of regulation behind it.

yeah i think a lot of our rules about what we can and can't do, especially can't, are ultimately regulated and hence subject to political contestation, primarily making sure no one gets more than they 'ought to' from taxpayers

Australia giving out stimulus payments

Cue next outrage:

Reuters: White House told federal health agency to classify coronavirus deliberations

The White House has ordered federal health officials to treat top-level coronavirus meetings as classified, an unusual step that has restricted information and hampered the U.S. government’s response to the contagion, according to four Trump administration officials.

Staffers without security clearances, including government experts, were excluded from the interagency meetings, which included video conference calls, the sources said. “We had some very critical people who did not have security clearances who could not go,” one official said. “These should not be classified meetings. It was unnecessary.”

Attendees at the meetings included HHS Secretary Alex Azar and his chief of staff Brian Harrison, the officials said. Azar and Harrison resisted the classification of the meetings, the sources said.

One of the administration officials suggested the security clearances for meetings at HHS were imposed not to protect national security but to keep the information within a tight circle, to prevent leaks.

That was the story that briefly set me off earlier

and the travel ban isn't actually a travel ban. President is just a misspeaking idiot.

From CNN:

In a primetime address to millions of Americans, President Trump misrepresented the travel restrictions he is imposing on travel between the United States and Europe.

Trump said "we will be suspending all travel from Europe to the United States for the next 30 days" before adding that there will be "exemptions for Americans who have undergone appropriate screenings."

Those exemptions are far more extensive than the President made them out to be. They apply to all US legal permanent residents, citizens and some of their family members, according to a statement from the Department of Homeland Security.

The travel restrictions Trump is enacting are in fact far more similar to those enacted on China.

The ban also does not apply to all of Europe but to nations in the Schengen zone. That includes Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.

What this means: Americans and US permanent residents who are in Europe will still be allowed to fly to Europe and be allowed back into the United States during this 30-day period.

They will simply be screened upon entry to the United States and face quarantine or restrictions on their movement in the US for 14 days.

However, it is not clear whether airlines will still fly the routes if passenger demand from European nationals dries up because of the ban.

Trump also appeared to correct himself on a ban on cargo. In his speech he said, "There will be exemptions for Americans who have undergone appropriate screenings and these prohibitions will not only apply to the tremendous amount of trade and cargo, but various other things as we get approval. "

A few minutes ago, the President tweeted, "...please remember, very important for all countries & businesses to know that trade will in no way be affected by the 30-day restriction on travel from Europe. The restriction stops people not goods."

This is not to say the President is not taking an extremely severe step, but it is not the all-encompassing suspension on travel between the United States and Europe that the President portrayed.

Australia giving out stimulus payments

This got us through the GFC so its not a bad move. Plus we're really exposed cos of Chinese tourism/Chinese students.

wondering what 'relief' the US has in 'store' for 'us'

since Bush gave us a stimulus Donnie clearly won't do that

Don’t even know where to post this shit anymore. But lol

Oh man!

You gotta check out this back-and-forth between Don Lemon and John Kasich in which Lemon straight-up admonishes Kasich for thinking Trump's address was fine.

"Can I finish now?"

"No, you can't, John!" pic.twitter.com/a4TaAN0qcX

— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) March 12, 2020

now I'm wondering what happens if this shit is still going during hurricane season

you just nuke them both duh

when the National Review is begging you to "step it up":

https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/03/president-trump-needs-to-step-up-on-the-coronavirus/

(don't worry, it begins with a not very veiled sanctimonious jab at never Trumpers that clearly want him to fail and people to die)

the staggering gap between the sheer force of the moral imperative of things one is told to do -- don't take public transportation! don't go to work! otherwise you are selfish and are murdering people! -- and the infeasibility of doing any of these things without the risk of directly or indirectly torpedoing one's life is what is paralyzing me

― like, I’m eating an elephant head (katherine), Wednesday, March 11, 2020 5:42 AM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

katherine otm.

Woolworths (supermarkets) just announced the following panic buying restrictions

Tissues - two pack limit per shop
Paper towel, serviettes and wipes - one pack limit per shop
Toilet paper - one pack limit per shop
Hand sanitiser - two unit limit per shop
Bulk rice (2kg+) - one pack limit per shop

The last one had me wondering because you can go to any of the Vietnamese and Cantonese markets in my hood any buy rice in anything up to a 25kg sack which really shows people aren't thinking things through.

The Tom Hanks thing smells like a Jussie Smollett thing and it’s got Michelle Obama written all over it.

— Randy Quaid (@RandyRRQuaid) March 12, 2020

Real Romania: some guy from Laloșu, a tiny (pop. <3000) village in the South, had recently returned from Italy and was asked by the authorities to self-quarantine for 14 days. 9 days in, he left his house because he supposedly needed to get a document from the city hall. That is until his neighbour intercepted and punched him in the face.

I hope his neighbour washed his hands thoroughly afterwards.

The Real Romania thread definitely needs to happen.

It seems likely that the EC 80/20 flight slot rule that could mean airlines having to fly empty planes to keep their places will be lifted in the next couple of days. I'd expect the majority of planes to be grounded more or less immediately.

Meanwhile, in the Republic of Moldova, a woman suspected of being a carrier attacked nurses and doctors as she was about to get tested and fled the hospital with her children.

The Real Romania thread definitely needs to happen.

Wholeheartedly seconded.

My bad, only one child was involved, which makes it alright I guess.

xp

Police officers had to intervene in Craiova (South-West) after a dozen people who had recently returned from Italy refused to be quarantined. Upon arriving at the medical centre, one of them reportedly said: 'hey, you better make sure we're comfortable here if you want us to stay. Tell us what you're offering.'

tbh that’s a reasonable ask

not hugely keen on the would-you-mind-terribly suspension of habeas corpus situation from states who have not made public what they are going to actually do to deal with the wellbeing of the people the request is being made of

I work for an org attached a hospital but physically and financially. People from the hospital are in and out of our office all day and we’re in the hospital often too. Yesterday an out patient tested positive. Last week we hosted and all worked at an event at a massive arena that was attended by 12,000 people and this patient also attended that event. This isn’t great? I’m not an epidemiologist but I know a little bit about this shit and I’m sorry but there is no way that this was the only infected person at that event. Also - most of the people in attendance were old.

selfishly hoping they don't shut the airports in uk until my scheduled holiday is over at the end of march, takes the joy of being away from work down a notch if your coworkers don't have to go in anyway

Yeah that’s pretty fucking selfish.

International traveling friends boasting on facebook about getting bargain plane tickets is really nagl.

At this point that is just stupid and infuriating.

People are selfish cunts who think it’ll never happen to them.

it's not even about it happening to them

it's that they don't give a shit about it happening to other people

especially the olds

Yep. It reminds me of people who have accidental pregnancies or get STIs and then say “oh I just never thought it would be me”. I have never understood that at all but I’ve pretty much operate under the opposite assumption of if something shitty is going to happen it will def happen to me so let’s me extra safe just in case.

(sorry for typos on phone - can’t get on at work)

(sorry for typos on phone - can’t get on at work)

No way I’d actually do it but I keep getting tormented by notifications about bargain package holidays & I’m like fuck... that’s p cheap tho

flights to visit brother in tokyo are booked for months, have been rescheduled and I'm still pondering travelling or not, but id not particularly welcome anyone letting me know that they disapproved of my deciding to go tbh

Oh stop, I’m talking about my own family members as much as anyone itt (more so) ffs

i see yr ffs and raise you

whats a colloquial raise on ffs

heh i dont raise it as far as yr dname like, whats a good compromise

fcs?

lol

I think any non-essential travel is an indulgence (at best) at this point tbh

Nah I have sympathy for long-standing arrangements, esp to visit family. But people talking about cheap flights? It’s bigger than you. (Ffs).