Coronavirus in DFW - News & Discussion (Grapevine, Hurst: automobile, expense)

[Ralph_Kirk]

Originally Posted by biafra4life

Tests, hand sanitizers and until recently, masks. There are still shortages of all three, and we are several months into this pandemic. This has been an eye opener into just how unprepared we are. None of those items are what I would consider complex engineering that are difficult to produce, and yet we are left to either beg or strong arm supplies from around the world instead. I kept reading about the private sector stepping in to fill the breach. I dont think it has worked at all.

I've talked about this on this and other threads.


It takes at least 50,000,000 effective masks per day to continue even essential national functions with any reasonable degree of safety (no, bandanas do not provide a reasonable degree of safety, as we will discover in a few weeks).


The requirement for PPE is far beyond that which could have been met by stockpiling.What was necessary was the same strategy that had been used for war preparations up until the 50s: Government and private industry were prepared to work together to rapidly ramp up production of needed materials. In many cases, that meant whole industries converted from peacetime products to wartime products. That's how clock makers wound up producing Norden bombsights.


But that takes coordination from the White House. Government must be willing to determine overall requirements and offer major contracts to private enterprises to go out on the limb to make those massive conversions.


The government should have standing contracts with certain first-line industries to prepare for graduated conversion upon notification (this is actually done right now for wartime transportation requirements).


For instance, the government would have standing contracts with, say, Scott paper company to convert to making N95 masks under license from 3M as, "produce 50,000 masks per day within 24 hours of notification; produce 500,000 masks per day within 7 days of notification; produce 1,000,000 masks per day within 30 days of notification." That contract would pay the Scott paper company a certain amount of money every year to maintain the ability to make that rapid conversion...whether it was used any year or not.


At the same time, the government would assess and state further requirements and offer additional contracts to other companies to convert to meet the additional need. So that might include those companies that make furnace filters, for instance, and perhaps even textile manufacturers.


We used to be able to do that, and we could do it today, but it takes coordination from the White House to make it happen.

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by jiping

As a governor of deep red state and a far-right die-hard Trump fan,
Andrew Cuomo just announced New York State will start to reopen on May 15.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/26/n...reopening.html

Opening Upstate, where the cows outnumber the people, around 5/15. And using the federal guidelines of 14 days of falling case counts.

It’s going to be a while before NYC is 25% or 50% open.

[RJ312]

Originally Posted by CHRockwell

Really good post. What also shouldn't go with our mentioning is I know a ton of white collar workers who have part of their income based on commission or on bonuses that have to do with revenue. They have also and will be impacted for the next 12-24 months and many of those furloughed simply will not have positions when they go back due to the decrease in revenue and jobs they would compete for won't be there because that competing company doesn't hav the revenue to hire them.

Sales and marketing positions are extremely layoff prone, even in reasonably good economic times. It does not take much for a layoff to occur in either of those fields. In sales, some loathsome manager only cares about last month's quota. If the sales person didn't meet last month's quota, they are out the door. Marketing is a little more complex because it covers a lot of ground. In the ad agency world, one sub-function of marketing, layoffs happen the second a client either reduces budget or is lost. For internal marketing positions, a lot of them are tied to leads and/or sales. When "normal" recessions occur, marketing budgets tend to get slashed, even though it is the fundamentally wrong decision. There are decades of studies to back up the assertion that slashing a marketing budget in a recession is a bad idea.

Originally Posted by NTXPerson

Yes, unfortunately, the effects of this pandemic will last for a while. There will be a false normalcy once everything opens back up because there will still be a lot of people without jobs. I have a friend that works in hospice essentially doing sales. Their company has laid off a lot of people (they are about to be one of them) because nursing homes and hospitals won't allow them to visit to sell their services to the family members and patients. I can see these strict guidelines for healthcare facilities lasting a while, so the hospice industry is going to have to change their selling model. Also, the longer people are staying home (even by choice) the less money is spent at local establishments.

Unfortunately, we are in for a slow recovery (as in we won't be back to where we were pre-pandemic in a couple of months).

I'm slightly surprised that hospice sales would be affected by COVID-19. Hospice is a palliative care service prior to death, and death is supposed to be recession proof.

Agree completely that the effects of the pandemic induced global depression are going to linger.

[NTXPerson]

Yes, I was surprised to hear it as well about the hospice companies. However, my friend has been in the hospice industry for about 10 years now and has been laid off about every 2 years due to new ownership and poor business models. I'm not sure about the doctors and nurses that work in hospice, but the marketing jobs in hospice are highly vulnerable.

My spouse and I both work in marketing and business development in the A/E/C industry. It's been surprisingly a good choice. Both of our companies have not been affected by what is happening and haven't had to lay anyone off. Roads and pipes have to be built no matter what, so this industry has so far been fine. We shall see what happens next year when the public entities have to adjust their budgets. However, they were able to stay afloat during the Great Recession. Only time will tell.

[Grainraiser]

" I loved that the folks were standing close together with no masks"

There are no words.

[Sunbather]

Originally Posted by CMC_TX

I did the same thing! No one looked at me weird & in fact, many others shopping did NOT have anything on, despite what the fear-mongering, bored people on this forum might lead you to believe.

When I heard Clay Jenkins was doing that, I thought alright, I’m driving to Collin County to do my shopping where the leadership seems to have ADULTS in leadership that believe in personal accountability and liberty.

So sad how Dallas’ radically liberal judge is using this as a political platform to try and enforce a nanny state & can’t accept they over-reached. I’m not wearing a mask like I’m in some 3rd world country, sorry. Thankfully, Abbott’s order supersedes local orders.

I was in Colleyville the other day for the lines they had at their restaurants and I loved that the folks were standing close together with no masks - great indictment on the government overreach by the Colleyville mayor. Look forward to others openings for those that want the option.

You seriously can't believe everything you jut posted right? I think that you THINK you're coming across as a tough guy. In reality the ignorance is blinding.

I have worked in clean room design and contaminant isolation for pharmaceutical manufacturing, bio labs, and nuclear reactor buildings. I have two close family members who are a doctor and a nurse respectively working on the front lines in New York (one in NYC). My cousin has a PHD in Molecular and Cellular Biology from Harvard. Do you want to know what we are all doing in public places right now? Wearing masks.

It has nothing to do with a 3rd world country. You're not wearing a mask because you are *uninformed* and choose to remain so or cherry pick your sources to support your decision and protect your 'liberty' and 'freedom'.

[mSooner]

A very popular and much loved restaurant and coffee shop (Zenzero) in Coppell announced it would close permanently today. The owner stated there were a number of factors, but COVID was the tipping point and she said they just couldn't recover from it. She put her heart and soul into this place and it showed. This sucks.

[CHRockwell]

Originally Posted by mSooner

A very popular and much loved restaurant and coffee shop (Zenzero) in Coppell announced it would close permanently today. The owner stated there were a number of factors, but COVID was the tipping point and she said they just couldn't recover from it. She put her heart and soul into this place and it showed. This sucks.

I think people are going to be shocked at some of the things that end up gone in the next 6 months. So sad.

[turf3]

Originally Posted by Lebowskis Rug

Well. We can hope all the YukYuks contract the virus and either die off and weed out their potential contribution to the gene pool or learn a serious lesson about reality.

Personally, I think some of the fear is a little overblown, but I’ve always been a careful person in public spaces. Currently, I know for a fact I don’t have the virus after being tested, but I still wear a mask when I do my grocery shopping as the neighbors around me are all fairly old and it’s more for their peace of mind and safety. I put it on as I walk in the door, take it off as I exit. Incredibly minor inconvenience really.

What you actually know is that you didn't have the virus at the time when the nurse stuck the swab in your nose. How long ago was that?

[Ralph_Kirk]

Originally Posted by turf3

What you actually know is that you didn't have the virus at the time when the nurse stuck the swab in your nose. How long ago was that?

Right.


We need more masks that provide protection in both directions (N95 equivalent, worn properly) and more handy sanitation cleaning materials (isopropyl alcohol, because some of us don't have running water in our automobiles) than we need testing.