Coronavirus Outbreak

[TrueTiger]

I just posted above in regard to the blame game.....

Im not racist and don't care what people want to defend or who.....
FACT...the virus came from MEATMARKETS in China..
FACT ….we were warned about the practice of eating wildlife such as bats,pangolins as they have VIRUSES that travel from animal to animal in the form of excretions dropped on other type of animal eg Bats crapping or urinating on a chicken...virus transfer.
Fact...eat what ever you want when you want....at your own risk..me for example don't have the inclination of eating roo,venison or any other form of non domestically bred animal..
each to their own but I don't criticise someone who does..
FACT....unhygienic surroundings in these meatmarkets were a focal point of Gates argument ..
FACT...

 

[TrueTiger]

Just got told a busload of people from Sydney travelled to the Southern Highlands on Monday and Tuesday to panic buy and hoard at our supermarkets....
This is a joke and now AFP have been called in because people are buying so they can on sell and profit from it...

 

[earl]

Gates spoke 12 months ago that we would be hit with a pandemic like this because as someone said we travel all over the world now and are multicultural…

Gates was yelling this to the rafters more than 12 months ago. He has been stating this for years.

 

[earl]

FACT…the virus came from MEATMARKETS in China…

True but the following are facts as well:-


* This has happened in the past and it didn't come from China. I provided links to a whole bunch of previous viruses that came from different sources than China including eating pigs.

* The western world have failed dismally when it comes to handling this situation and being prepared for it.

* Lot's of cultures eat stuff that we consider unusual and different. It was mentioned that we eat Kangaroo as well.

* The stock market crash and panic buying is caused by people in Australia and across the western world.

 

[dazza65]

Has anyone seen reasons given anywhere, why we are running out of CV19 test kits? Are there more on order? Where are they from etc?
It is apparent that epidemiologists see that as a major problem and we should be testing as many people as possible, but kits are being rationed. Anybody know anything?

Because they are being used world wide, there is currently a pandemic! ;p We have just set up to start producing our own kits!

Yeah the main problem is because COVID-19 kits never existed previously. When the outbreak started they had to develop a test for COVID-19, then when they did (it took 2 weeks), they had to ramp up production. A lot of normal kit supply comes from Asia (China), so not surprising at all that the capacity is impacted.

There have been 200K confirmed COVID-19 cases so far and you'd have to imagine significantly more folks tested - I read an estimate we are up to 1.5M tests globally and there's exponential growth. That's a lot of kits to consume in 2 months.

I read that the Chinese factories are now on high production for testing kits, but obviously they'll want a lot of those kits for themselves. I wouldn't have a clue what Australia's native kit building capacity is, but I would guess it is poor. In my line of work we literally don't source anything from Australia for lab testing, it all comes from O/S.

Yeah, because of our poor manufacturing sector we have actually had to repurpose a couple of manufacturing centres to produce test kits. Similar to the way industry has been repurposed in the world wars!

It will be a far harder proposition now ...with the dotting of the I's and crossing of the T's with unions and just about every other Govt dept by the time it gets off the floor the Virus will be ancient history (or we will be )

We already have a couple of centre producing kits, we are now looking at kits that return a result within 3 hours.

Im aware of some IgG/IgM rapid test assays that confirm within 10 minutes govt is looking at

 

[jadtiger]

Any true blue Aussie would have eaten our coat of arms kangaroo/emu and probably crocodile as well.All are very healthy meats to eat.Most other nations would think it bizarre if not distateful to do so( the same way i feel about whalemeat and horseflesh for example which some other countries consume).
It is the way it is killed/butchered/cooked that is important for hygiene purposes and that is where the system failed

 

[TrueTiger]

Gates spoke 12 months ago that we would be hit with a pandemic like this because as someone said we travel all over the world now and are multicultural…

Gates was yelling this to the rafters more than 12 months ago. He has been stating this for years.

Agree Earl,its just that I watched a video called TED on youtube regarding coronavirus and Gates was featured it was 12 mnths ago...cheers mate

 

[jirskyr]

I just spoke to a mate from Indonesia. He told me they've been eating bats there for years. My take is that it's not as uncommon a practice as we think it is.

Depends what we mean by "common". A lot of Chinese culture is weird to me, but they make up about 16% of the population. For example, China is only 4% Christian, but that is ~4.5x as many Christians as there are in Australia.

If they eat something in China and India and Indonesia, it's arguably quite common.

 

[earl]

Agree Earl,its just that I watched a video called TED on youtube regarding coronavirus and Gates was featured it was 12 mnths ago…cheers mate

Another thing I was thinking is how long have people been eating like that all over the world. This would have been going on for 100's of years.

 

[weststigers]

Let's not argue ladies and gents.

Whatever your personal beliefs are about where the weight of blame needs to lie or how much meat you should eat each week are now irrelevant.

Although my business revenue has gone to exactly $0, I've just finished 4 full days of contacting all my clients to see how they are doing and to assist them in arranging payment plans with banks if required. All in all, I've spoken to about 200 business owners in varying industries.

For the record, I mainly work with SME's. Here's the wrap.

1. All reporting turnover has decreased anywhere from 50% (in the construction industry for instance) up to 100% (I.e. hospitality, restaurants, cafes etc.). Typically, restaurants/cafes have said it costs less to close than to stay open for 1 customer. Makes sense.
2. Those that employ staff have cut casual hours as a minimum by half. Others have cut casual hours to zero. All have said this is the first wave of cuts just to keep the doors open.
3. Full-timers are next on the chopping block - only a matter of time.
4. Most have only 2-4 months reserves at best. Many are living month to month.
5. Enquiry for all businesses has dropped sharply. Minimum is 70% up to 100%.
6. Common view is that, even if this was to stop tomorrow, the damage already done is going to hurt them for the next 6-12 months until they can catch up again.
7. Some are holding stock they can't sell which has been bought at fair market value. As liquidations occur, there will be a glut of equipment and machinery on the market at drastically reduced prices. These people are fully invested in their current inventory, so are either forced into a fire sale to keep trading or into liquidation because they operate by financing their purchases.

There's much more, but to put it into perspective, these people have gone from relative prosperity to virtual poverty overnight.

Guys, here's an idea...instead of braving the crowds at Coles or Woolies, contact your local restaurant and ask them if they'll sell you some meat in bulk. They have a direct supply chain to farms and wholesalers and can help you skip the queues.

If you're still in an office, get your colleagues to pitch in and send them a catering order - catering allows them to know exactly what they need to buy to fulfil your order and there's no over-purchasing for the restaurant/cafe.

There's just 2 ideas for restaurants and cafes. Other industries are burning as well. There's some smart people on this forum, so I'm sure you can come up with ways to help your local businesses in such a difficult period. Coles and Woolies have made enough during this time.

And please...to anyone who wants to nit pick my post, save it for another time. On a personal level, this has devastated me financially and I'm only writing this post to give the forum a picture of what's happening out there and maybe it will spurn some people with the capacity to help out a mate/family member/colleague etc. and soften the blow for those people.

 

[TrueTiger]

Agree Earl,its just that I watched a video called TED on youtube regarding coronavirus and Gates was featured it was 12 mnths ago…cheers mate

Another thing I was thinking is how long have people been eating like that all over the world. This would have been going on for 100's of years.

I understand that people have been practicing this sort of eating for years I get that..its the new millinium now and we should be at the top of our game regarding hygiene and cooking food practises...the meatmarkets in China had questionable hygiene issues...that's where it starts..

 

[earl]

I understand that people have been practicing this sort of eating for years I get that…its the new millinium now and we should be at the top of our game regarding hygiene and cooking food practises…the meatmarkets in China had questionable hygiene issues…that’s where it starts…

I wonder if it's just the hygiene of it or also that certain animals are more prone to viruses. I also wonder if these viruses are just going to happen. I mean there are heaps of viruses that have happened throughout history.

I suppose my point is that we have to prepare for these occurrences as well. We've been really arrogant about it. It's not just about stopping those wet markets. It's how the world handles these situations and even other potential areas of virus contagion.

 

[Tim Sheens]

Regardless of where it may have originated, as with the Spanish flu, where the first cases were discovered gets naming rights which can last 100 years or more.

Spanish flu did not originate in Spain and from my recollection, most evidence points to it beginnings being a year or more earlier in the good old USA and brought to Europe with their army.

 

[Snake]

Just got told a busload of people from Sydney travelled to the Southern Highlands on Monday and Tuesday to panic buy and hoard at our supermarkets....
This is a joke and now AFP have been called in because people are buying so they can on sell and profit from it...

Blockades and baseball bates these people are doing this for profit time to start cracking heads!

 

[weststigers]

Just got told a busload of people from Sydney travelled to the Southern Highlands on Monday and Tuesday to panic buy and hoard at our supermarkets....
This is a joke and now AFP have been called in because people are buying so they can on sell and profit from it...

Blockades and baseball bates these people are doing this for profit time to start cracking heads!

Although a very opportunistic way to make money my friend, the only way to show these people is to refuse to buy so they are left with a huge amount of stock.

Ultimately, there are people buying these things knowing full well they are paying many times more than the actual cost.

Food for thought for the forum...what's everyones take?

Is it any different to someone selling a used vehicle that all of a sudden becomes scarce to the highest bidder?

What about when shares increase in value with no increase in the underlying fundamentals?

Should Government intervene and cap prices on these items during periods like these?

If intervention takes place, does that discourage sellers to make these goods available in times of shortage?

All interesting things to ponder people.

 

[mike]

The upside to the Coronavirus. Given the protocols everyone has put in place and the improvement in hygiene practices, I have a feeling this will be lightest cold & flu season on record. Less chance of transmission of these infectious diseases as a result.,

 

[pawsandclaws1]

Does anyone have difficultly with Qantas receiving $715m from taxpayers and still have workers taking unpaid leave?

 

[Tim Sheens]

Just got told a busload of people from Sydney travelled to the Southern Highlands on Monday and Tuesday to panic buy and hoard at our supermarkets....
This is a joke and now AFP have been called in because people are buying so they can on sell and profit from it...

Blockades and baseball bates these people are doing this for profit time to start cracking heads!

Although a very opportunistic way to make money my friend, the only way to show these people is to refuse to buy so they are left with a huge amount of stock.

Ultimately, there are people buying these things knowing full well they are paying many times more than the actual cost.

Food for thought for the forum...what's everyones take?

Is it any different to someone selling a used vehicle that all of a sudden becomes scarce to the highest bidder?

What about when shares increase in value with no increase in the underlying fundamentals?

Should Government intervene and cap prices on these items during periods like these?

If intervention takes place, does that discourage sellers to make these goods available in times of shortage?

All interesting things to ponder people.

The really interesting thing is socialism again coming to the fore and people deploring excessive capitalism and greed. I am truly heartened by your humble contribution.

I am all for the government helping those in need, including, within reason, small business, which apart from my life's current challenges, would also normally include me, but I draw the line at bailing out corporations and their leaders that have been taking the cream out of their organisations through structured bonuses, dividends etcetera, without properly reinvesting in the companies liquidity.

Entities such as airlines are a necessity, but any such bailouts should include part ownership, or nationalisation if necessary.

 

[Papacito]

Building on @weststigers post, I am keen to hear what impacts this has on on people's work so far.

I work in the Sydney CBD. Last Thursday I told my team that we were working from home fulltime.

The rest of my company followed our lead on Tuesday, along with pretty much everyone else I know that works in the CBD.

We lost a few big, long-term clients over the past three days. These aren't people that usually panic. They are extremely smart.

We haven't had to lay anyone off, but we are closely monitoring the situation.

 

[Tim Sheens]

Does anyone have difficultly with Qantas receiving $715m from taxpayers and still have workers taking unpaid leave?

Yes, and just mentioned along similar lines in a reply.