Business
Coronavirus Cannot Be Ignored
March 13, 2020 
We don’t really know what to think of the pandemic due to the coronavirus.
At first it was in far off China, then it became a political thing, and now it seems to be a full-blown worldwide health crisis.
When President Trump called Washington Gov. Insley “a snake,” we were saddened to see something as serious as a health issue turned into a political football match. Today’s events seemed a bit more measured.
The last couple of days are beyond anything we have ever seen, short of 9/11. The USA is nearly shut down! Ada County is closing the courthouse, all professional sports venues are closed and
any event of more than a couple dozen spectators has been closed. Schools and universities are closed, the Mormon Church has even recalled missionaries.
Toilet paper of all things seems to be the item being hoarded the most. Feel free to offer comments and any experiences you may have observed.
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Comments & Discussion
Comments are closed for this post.
Mar 13, 2020, 9:43 pm
To me what is really frightening, is what happens when the human herd is stampeded. Your example of toilet paper is spot on. I could go on at length, but I think most of your readers already know what I’m talking about
Mar 13, 2020, 9:57 pm
Oh….. Maybe it’s time to re-instate the Idaho Press subscription. They deliver more paper for sure…
Mar 13, 2020, 11:50 pm
Nor will it go away by yelling insulting names at it. Good Lord man, please read and believe in your speeches before addressing the nation. This is not a game even if you think you own the league.
Mar 14, 2020, 9:36 am
I’ve been following Corona since the start of January – US news is 6 weeks behind international news and only showing 1/10th of the information. Here’s my summary:
Flu – including H1N1 – death rate is 0.05%. Corona is over 2%. IE 40x more lethal. It spreads easier (R 3.3 vs flu 1.2), has asymptomatic infections (44% do not even have a fever while contagious), last longer (2 weeks infectious then 2 weeks ill). 80% of cases are mild, 15% serious (hospital 3 weeks), and 5% critical (hospital 6 weeks, 50% terminal). Typical serious and critical cases start around age 30 then curve up in percentage based on age and health. There are some re-infections occurring 2 weeks after recovery but no solid numbers yet.
What can you do? Be concerned but don’t panic, because panic will cause more damage than the virus. Until a vaccine comes out, avoid crowds and wash your hands with soap. Make a plan for when your area has a 2 week quarantine and build up a month of food (easily done – buy an extra day of non-perishable food each week).
Emergencies and even quarantine aren’t new here. Many of us went through Mt St Helens erupting, hurricanes, tornadoes, multiple fires most years, etc. They are a “when” rather than “if”. If you think this is going away in summer then think again – it is spreading just fine in the southern hemisphere right now where it is summer.
Good articles kept updated:
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/coronavirus-cases/
https://nextstrain.org/ncov
https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6
https://www.marketwatch.com/economy-politics/coronavirus
https://www.theepochtimes.com/c-china
Mar 14, 2020, 9:41 am
Another example that we DO live in a global world.
The ideas of nationalism in the 21st century, ‘America First’, and class-warfare is short-sighted and dangerous to our own national well-being.
Let’s change that!
Our community IS the whole world.
Guatemala’s problem is our problem too:
Mexico’s problems is our problem too.
Syria’s problem is our problem too.
China’s economy is our economy too.
And WE are vulnerable to the world’s problems- even in little ol Boise- as we stand in line at the grocery store to buy 2 weeks of supplies, may we all remember that when standing in line for the ballot box come November.
Mar 14, 2020, 10:05 am
Guys, this COVID-19 hysteria is beyond ridiculous.
Last I checked, 5,000 people have allegedly died from it.
About half a million die yearly from the regular flu. No one’s freaking out about that.
This is a big push by the powers that shouldn’t be for more centralized governmental control, a cashless society, social credit, and the loss of personal medical freedoms in the form of forced vaccinations. It is a manufactured crisis.
The fact that things are being shut down is not itself evidence that there exist good *reasons* for any of these places to be shut down.
The CDC and WHO have cried wolf so many times in the past that these extreme measures are the only way anyone will take their absurd fear-mongering seriously anymore. Or did we all forget about swine flu (1976), SARS, MERS, Ebola, Zika, and swine flu again?
Turn off your propaganda box, stop listening to corporate funded sources, and get a freaking grip.
https://www.corbettreport.com/lies-damned-lies-and-coronavirus-infection-numbers-propagandawatch/
https://blog.nomorefakenews.com/category/sars/
https://www.activistpost.com/2020/03/coronavirus-follow-the-money.html
https://www.globalresearch.ca/ncov-2019-coronavirus-time-line/5705776
https://www.globalresearch.ca/coronavirus-causes-effects-real-danger-agenda-id2020/5706153
https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/03/12/coronavirus-vs-the-mass-surveillance-state-which-poses-the-greater-threat/
https://thefreedomarticles.com/5-nwo-agendas-accompanying-coronavirus-epidemic/
Mar 14, 2020, 10:12 am
A couple days ago I was chatting with a stranger.
He: “You know, people are just way over reacting. It’s amazing.”
I: “Maybe…. but are we prepared?”
He: (silence – turned around and walked away)
Mar 14, 2020, 10:30 am
Ned. I’m going to have to go with this one on a media fact check……
“Overall, we rate GlobalResearch a Tin Foil Hat Conspiracy and Strong Pseudoscience website based on the promotion of unproven information such as the dangers of Vaccines and 9-11 as a false flag operation.”
Except for descriptions found on global research site itself this is pretty much the consensus. -Rs
Mar 14, 2020, 11:13 am
I like the joke about hording toilet paper “Why is everyone hording toilet paper? They should be stocking up on alcohol! Your going to be quarantined at home with all your relatives!” got to have a little humor.
Mar 14, 2020, 11:30 am
True to form, Easterner gives us the view from his end of the tunnel. Must everything come down to a political anti rant? Having an affinity bias for ones country of origin does not require blind ignorance to the rest of the world. It also does not require you to solve their problems to your detriment.
Mar 14, 2020, 12:18 pm
Romeo Sierra:
If you think three towers were knocked down with two planes, I think you’re the one who needs his head examined.
Mar 14, 2020, 12:24 pm
Monkeys are rioting in Thailand because the tourists who feed them are staying home.
Mar 14, 2020, 12:28 pm
Trump has consistently denied any responsibility for his administration’s failure to get out in front of the COVID-19 crisis. At Friday’s news conference, he was asked “a nasty question” by PBS NewsHour reporter Yamiche Alcindor about the 2017 disbanding of the pandemics office:
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-i-didnt-do-it-trump-says-of-disbanding-pandemics-office?fbclid=IwAR3n4whs1m0xhw8CHX_nlQh8bpdiWpWXvlY5JZ0Wju39RnwhrCk6-eL5k4Q
The buck stops where? Here’s the story of the Trump administration’s 2017 disbanding of the office to deal with pandemics set up by the Obama administration in response to the Ebola outbreak:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/nsc-pandemic-office-trump-closed/2020/03/13/a70de09c-6491-11ea-acca-80c22bbee96f_story.html?fbclid=IwAR2OXmfYoFkK055U9Ke5cW5x1gXYyqsfkOS2XigHKZqUug4e3MQUTWP22Kc
Mar 14, 2020, 4:22 pm
Just a thought here… maybe most people including our government folks are trying to do the best they can with this bad situation. Maybe it is a good idea not to look for ways to run down the current politician that you don’t like and take a deep breath.
Are mistakes going to be made… sure we are plowing new ground here. But if there ever was a time for Americans to come together this is it. Just another thought maybe say a prayer tonight for the people in government and in health care that are on the front lines of this and ask God to give them wisdom and safety.
Go back to complaining after this is over
Just a thought
EDITOR NOTE–Amen! Your thought could work both ways and all the time.
Mar 15, 2020, 1:44 am
The schools are giant breeding grounds for pretty much every contagion. This virus is very contagious. Any age group can catch it and they’re pretty sure it can be spread without showing symptoms. That is a danger to the entire community. If the idea is to flatten the curve so as not to overwhelm the hospital system as the governor said. If we need to stop the community spread. Then we need to stop breeding the virus in the schools.
This event is so big and so unusual it’s hard to fathom. Many business oriented leaders are going against instinct when they order needed closures and restrictions. Italy is a good example of a western nation with modern healthcare which did not stop community spread in time. There’s nothing special about us. The same thing could happen here. Our geographic location bought us a few days. Days, not weeks. We are in the 1st inning and already getting behind.
Mar 15, 2020, 10:46 am
We have two choices. We can follow the examples of countries that did the right thing: China. We can follow the example of countries that did the wrong thing: Italy. Italy ignored the warning signs. Italy was late in its response. Its healthcare system decimated, doctors forced to treat patients in hallways, choosing who gets a ventilator, choosing who dies, TRIAGING. We have the benefit of hindsight. We can look back to see the future. China. Italy. And Italy is begging the world to heed their warning: “we were wrong.” Let’s not be late.
The reason for these drastic social distancing measures is so we don’t overwhelm our healthcare system and force our doctors into TRIAGING patients like Italy.
As Newt Gengrich (living in Italy) put it: “America needs to act now and act big.”
Mar 15, 2020, 1:31 pm
I have to discount your position if you try to convince me the Chinese response was the right approach.
Mar 15, 2020, 3:01 pm
“The Mormon Church has even recalled missionaries.”
A bit of a clarification: The church has closed the missionary training centers (several scattered around the globe) and is not sending out any NEW missionaries. Those who are currently serving will continue to do so, but in a much-different capacity than normal. (I would expect a focus on common-sense, low-risk community service.)
“Mormon” church congregations will not meet together for now. We have been encouraged to serve our friends and neighbors, but limiting our face-to-face exposure wherever possible. (Personally, I believe face-to-face is relatively benign, as long as neither face is coughing or otherwise spewing, and with a good hand-washing afterwards.)
Who’s to blame for this mess? Does it really matter right now? Let’s press on and try to minimize exposure… and if we’re exposed, don’t share! I’m tuning out the finger-pointers, and also the “science” as presented by people who are anti-vaccination raw water drinkers! (Remember “raw water”? – just drink water right out of the ditch! It’s good for you!)
Mar 15, 2020, 10:08 pm
The rampant hoarding and general chaos in grocery stores reminds me of the situation in towns along the Gulf Coast prior to the landing of a hurricane. It is difficult for me to imagine a scenario where the virus would interrupt the supply chain for toilet paper manufacturing, or cause the public water supply to become impaired. But I guess hoarding such items may give a sense of security to some in these uncharted waters, regardless of their utility during a pandemic.
Every cloud has a silver lining, as the saying goes. Growth will come to a complete halt, almost overnight. And that is something we can all look forward to.
Mar 15, 2020, 10:52 pm
Those of you who are hoarding toilet paper ought to know this one.
One of the largest US toilet paper producing plants is here in Idaho, the Clearwater Paper Corp. of Lewiston a subsidiary of Potlatch Corp. They make the Kirkland brand of toilet paper.
Most of the Charmin brand is made in Utah.
So, technically Idaho has more toilet paper than the price gougers.
Mar 16, 2020, 7:21 am
Bikeboy…as much as I relish a good swig of ditch water, I have found it’s better to avoid it until they start running irritation water. Those little pools in the winter get a bit too iffy..but I am not very adventurous.
Mar 16, 2020, 7:44 am
Tips for the current situation
Keep calm.
Do not be afraid.
Do the next right thing.
While we all can and must take steps to protect our health and economic well-being, giving in to panic and fear will only make things worse for ourselves and for those around us.
With so many changes happening day-by-day (and even hour-by-hour) planning ahead has become next to impossible. For now, all that we can do is the next right thing. Live a day at a time, and let tomorrow worry about itself.
Remember that our ancestors faced far worse pandemics and economic crisis than what we are going through. They survived (otherwise we would not be here), and we are carrying their DNA. Let us honor them by facing the current situation with courage and a steady resolve!
Mar 16, 2020, 12:56 pm
We do not seem to be learning from Europe’s mistakes made just a few weeks ago. I’m very concerned at our leadership’s foolish political attempt to compromise the necessary drastic action with pressures from business owners. This foolishness will cause a ballooning of the death rate like it’s doing now in Europe at this moment. Pull heads out now please.
Mar 16, 2020, 5:35 pm
that’s funny Bob T. you are at the EARLY stage of a crisis and you already have a complete conclusion about the outcome. You and Ned hanging out together?
The 1918 influenza pandemic was first identified in the US in spring 1918.
An estimated 500 million people or ONE_THIRD of the world’s population became infected with this virus. Deaths estimated at least 50 million worldwide with about 675,000 occurring in the United States.
That’s 675,000 people not being our “ancestors”. 500 million if you are an immigrant.
Please note- THAT virus did not go away in the summer.
Mar 16, 2020, 5:48 pm
BobT, guess what, people’s private retirement accounts just dropped in-half within ONE MONTH.
But don’t panic. No end in sight, though.
No big deal, keep calm and just accept it; no need to point fingers; even though THAT is unprecedented!
Feb.19: “I think it’s going to work out fine. – So let’s see what happens, but I think it’s going to work out fine.”
Feb.24: “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA. … Stock Market starting to look very good to me!”
…Buffoonery leadership.
Yes, let’s “do the next right thing”. Admit the mistake and hope for better in November.
Mar 17, 2020, 12:11 pm
First, the humor: I’m stocking up on nasal spray for the diarrhea-causing virus that I’m certain will be following closely in the trail of the coronavirus!
More seriously, do what small things you can to help small businesses, especially sole proprietors that depend on walk-in traffic. I’ve been buying gift certificates and dropping $20 bills in the tip jars of the different restaurants I like in SE Boise (where I live), for example. The virus crisis will pass, and I’d like to have a semi-normal community to return to.