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I actually knew that. It just turns out that the Bubonic Plague is not very contagious. At least today. Maybe it was more contagious back in the 14th century. Probably. That and the sanitary conditions were undoubtedly much much worse than what we have today.
Eye-opening seeing this mini-SHTF crisis happen to people. With little warning they are being locked in their cities, travel restrictions, people forcibly removed, others not having access to medical care. Yes the US probably has a better system to handle viral epidemics but it's still frightening to contemplate the "what-if-it-happened-here".
I'm not that worried about novel coronavirus in US but I'm sure we'll experience shortages in some items China supplies. Walmart and other sellers must have many ongoing internal discussions about supply lines stopping. I've read that before corona there were pork shortages in China due to swine flu so that may show up in US (shortages not swine flu) due to diversion to China.
We are not cruise people (one and done) but what a frightening scenario that is, trapped on a ship with known infected. Most will have no sympathy for rich people trapped that way but they are still people, rich does not equal evil.
What are the major items that US imports from China other that cars and parts? I haven't found that list yet and it would be interesting to know.
Not for nothing: If there is a predict of a snowstorm, my supermarket shelves are cleaned out. Meanwhile 24 hours later, the roads are cleared. Probably, good portion of the food spoils and gets thrown out.
Not surprised Chinese food prices are going up and probably in short supply.
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You are the first person I have heard, since Stossel wrote in a book about it, that gouging is actually a good thing. That it is just capitalism controlling a situation where people did not think ahead, and plan for an emergency.
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Originally Posted by in_newengland
The experts do not agree. Pick your "expert."
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Originally Posted by EveryLady
Even worse, most experts are saying they do not know.
You have to know your experts ahead of time, and know what they are good at.
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Originally Posted by twinkletwinkle22
Eye-opening seeing this mini-SHTF crisis happen to people. With little warning they are being locked in their cities, travel restrictions, people forcibly removed, others not having access to medical care. Yes the US probably has a better system to handle viral epidemics but it's still frightening to contemplate the "what-if-it-happened-here".
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A lot of us preppers say that we don't prep for the disaster, but rather, we prep for the panic that will ensue during or after the disaster.
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What are the major items that US imports from China other that cars and parts? I haven't found that list yet and it would be interesting to know.
There is a list out there, with more than 12000 items on it, and it makes no sense to a lay person. (It was generated as a side effect of the trade deals.)
After looking over the situation and realizing that I am already pretty well set, I just decided to roll with the punches, if they come.
I’m done worrying about this virus until I see thousands of infected/dead in American cities. So far that hasn’t come close to happening, but it’s always “wait a few more weeks, it’s coming.†Well it’s been long enough for me and I haven’t seen anything outside of communist China, so I’m going to assume this is a China problem and I’m ready to move on as business as usual and going to treat this on the same level as SARS and Ebola and Swine flu and Bird flu, etc.
The suspense and panic was fun, but it’s over and time to move on now. They get us every time. You would think we would catch on by now. The main tell to know this is a big nothing burger, is all the elite and politicians still happily gathering in crowded places.
Worry? Suspense? Panic?
Just who ARE you listening to?
Perparedness is what you before the emergency.
I watch with curiosity, and because I was asked, I have been doing some analysis.
Right now, from my analysis:
There is a full fledged epidemic in progress inside China, and the real numbers are about four or five times what they are publishing.
There are multiple outbreaks across Europe, but they are denying it.
Numbers in Europe are small, at this time, but will be in the thousands by the end of March.
(Keep in mind, there are millions of Europeans, so this is still a drop in the bucket)
There appears to be an outbreak in SE Asia, but I might not know until after the weekend, if the clues lead to that, or maybe I just got some sporadic info.
There are NO known breakouts in N. America, at this time.
My guess, and it is just a guess, is that this won't be a danger to us, as individuals, until Sep, when the kids go back to school. (But I am staying prepared, and watching.)
You are the first person I have heard, since Stossel wrote in a book about it, that gouging is actually a good thing. That it is just capitalism controlling a situation where people did not think ahead, and plan for an emergency.
I don't think it is a good thing - it's a fact supermarkets are jammed & people over purchase food items before a snowstorm.
Mostly, it is fresh items like bread, eggs and milk - items that don't keep over a long time period.
Really, with a risk of electrical lines coming down and losing power, baking a loaf of bread may not be in the cards. Without electricity, my dishwasher won't work and I won't have hot water for dishes anyway. Those supermarket bread come in handy.
Last edited by YorktownGal; 02-11-2020 at 02:45 PM..
About everything at this point - transmission methods, death rate, incubation period, r-naught etc. That makes it a tad difficult to find an expert "to listen to."
I don't think it is a good thing - it's a fact supermarkets are jammed & people over purchase food items before a snowstorm.
Mostly, it is fresh items like bread, eggs and milk - items that don't keep over a long time period.
Really, with a risk of electrical lines coming down and losing power, baking a loaf of bread may not be in the cards. Without electricity, my dishwasher won't work and I won't have hot water for dishes anyway. Those supermarket bread come in handy.
OK, I miss read what you said.
What Stossel said is that gouging, if the government didn't interfere is a mechanism to prevent people from scarfing up more supplies at the grocery (or elsewhere) than what they actually need.
To use your bread example, since a loaf of bread costs $2 on a normal day, the day before a storm a few people come in and buy all the bread, whether they need it or not. You would have no choice in the matter, as there would be no bread to buy. As you point out, much of it will go to waste. If the store were to jack up the price to $10 a loaf, those people would not buy up all of the bread, and you would have the choice whether you wanted it enough to pay the price or not.
That is the way capitalism is supposed to work. What we have now is a socialist example, where are people making decisions that affect your choices, wasting resources, depriving you of the ability to pursue happiness, and depriving the grocer of profits that would rightly be his (those profits that would be his are approximately equal to the waste caused by the person who bought up more than he needed, just because they were cheap).
I'm inclined to invest in gloves before masks simply because I so habitually put my hands near my face. Gloves would stop me from doing that as well as protect from picking up the virus from surfaces.
Use a cayenne pepper on your hands a couple of times: I bet you lose the habit of touching your face very very fast!
I don't think it is a good thing - it's a fact supermarkets are jammed & people over purchase food items before a snowstorm.
Mostly, it is fresh items like bread, eggs and milk - items that don't keep over a long time period.
Really, with a risk of electrical lines coming down and losing power, baking a loaf of bread may not be in the cards. Without electricity, my dishwasher won't work and I won't have hot water for dishes anyway. Those supermarket bread come in handy.
Perhaps you are unaware of what it was to be English. Without ovens they made English muffins with a pan. All ya need is cast iron and a rocket stove. And for a rocket stove all you need is a grill, grate or some kind of steel mesh and some bricks.
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