The Covid-19 Thread: News, Preparation Tips, Etc

ThirdEyeBeauty

Well-Known Member
^^^ Improbable! Wow! Insanity! Is this a joke?

That article better update.

ETA: I read that completely wrong. Nevertheless, if 146 out of 400 are positive but asymptomatic is a extremely good sign for that population. So if we focus on nutritious foods, vitamins, herbs, and supplements nearly all of us will beat C19 (I like that abbreviation) without the need for vaccines and medications by big pharma.
 
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vevster

Well-Known Member
I’m going to order an oura ring. I’ve been looking for an activity tracker to replace one I loved for a while. Tha Apple Watch gave me headaches, but this one says it has low emittance.

What sold me is that it also monitors temperature!
 

meka72

Well-Known Member
One Harlem church. 9 coronavirus deaths

Mount Neboh Baptist Church in Harlem has lost nine parishioners to coronavirus.
By Ray Sanchez, CNN

Updated 7:45 AM ET, Sun April 19, 2020

New York (CNN) — The Rev. Johnnie Green dreads answering his cell phone these days, fearing another call about a member of his Harlem congregation succumbing to the coronavirus.

Mount Neboh Baptist Church, a fixture in the cultural center of black America, has lost 11 parishioners in the last month, nine to Covid-19, according to Green and church members. Two died of natural causes.

"We deal with death all the time but we've never had to deal with a succession of death like now," said Green, who has been ministering to his flock via Facebook Live and Zoom from the dining room of his New Jersey home. "It was as if every other day I was getting a call that another parishioner had passed."


The Rev. Johnnie Green, pastor of Mount Neboh Baptist Church in Harlem

Even after four decades in the ministry, the experience overwhelms Green. The mounting death toll leaves little time for proper grieving.

"We see a lot of violence," Green said via Zoom. "We see gang activity from time to time. I've had to preside over the funerals of kids who were literally killed outside the doors of the church. But we've never seen anything like this."

The pandemic has hit black Americans especially hard. It has fallen on Green's close-knit congregation with unrelenting ferocity.
Black people are more likely than other Americans to have underlying health issues such as diabetes, heart disease and lung disease. They're also statistically more likely to live in poverty, with less access to health insurance.

"You know that saying, "When white America catches a cold, black America catches pneumonia," said Green, 57, a Dallas native.

From behind Mount Neboh's wrought iron gates and six ionic columns, the former synagogue is an early symbol of the ravages of the pandemic in African American communities across the country.
"I have never lost that many church members in thirty days," said Green, the pastor since 2006. "It's unfathomable. These are people who five weeks ago were sitting in the congregation. These were active members. People who sang in the choir and served in the ministry."



Only pastor attended graveside service



Early data shows racial disparity in coronavirus deaths 03:26

The first parishioner to die from the virus was Cathy Williams, 65, a choir leader and minister in training. She was at church the second Sunday in March, according to the pastor.

"She took ill on Monday and went in the hospital on Tuesday," Green said. "Six days later she was gone. She was wonderful. A mother and grandmother... Her family ran a laundry business for years."

Nia Mensah, 39, a physical therapist who has been volunteering on a prayer hotline set up for anxious parishioners, recalled that Williams sang at her wedding in 2010.

"Her passing broke my heart," Mensah said.

On Monday, Green presided over a graveside service for Williams at a New Jersey cemetery. Only one person was allowed to attend. Her family designated him as their representative. He took pictures for them.

"They came from Harlem to the cemetery in a procession and then they had to leave because of the restrictions," Green said.



On video, son tells dying mom he loves her



Magic Johnson calls out racial disparities with pandemic 02:56

The virus also claimed the life of Shirley Miller, 70, a deaconess who assisted with baptisms and communion. She was a retired school crossing guard.

"She was all about the family," recalled her 36-year-old son, Frederick, a minister at Mount Neboh.

Miller told him she wasn't feeling well when he visited on March 13. She had a hard time sitting up. Still, the next day she attended his girlfriend's baby shower. "I remember her smiling," he said.

Three days later, Shirley Miller, lapsing in and out of consciousness, was rushed by ambulance to a hospital.

Her last words to her daughter: "Tell Fred, don't worry about me. Don't come to the hospital. Make sure his girlfriend and the baby are good," according to her son. She was intubated that day.

On March 24, a doctor called Frederick Miller. His mother wasn't going to make it. A nurse set up a brief video chat. Through a partition he could see his mother behind a tangle of IV lines and breathing tubes.

"I told her I loved her and missed her, not knowing that was the last time I would see her," he said over the phone. "She couldn't see or hear me but I believe she (felt) me."

Shirley Miller died a few hours later.

"People need to take this seriously," Frederick Miller said. "This virus not only killed my mother and eight people from Mount Neboh, but I know at least 15 other people who have passed from it."



Pastor recites names of the deceased



W. Kamau Bell: People can't trust the federal government on Covid-19 01:59

Mount Neboh has 1,200 members from throughout the city and surrounding suburbs, Green said. Between 500 and 600 worshipers filled its pews most Sundays before the virus locked down New York City, an epicenter of the pandemic.

"We have people who are essential workers," the pastor said. "They work for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. They work in group homes and nursing homes and hospitals. So many people were stricken so fast we were not even able to trace of the origin."

The Rev. Sandra Baker, executive pastor, began reciting the names of the deceased church members -- mostly women -- during an interview the other day, one after the other: "Let me see, deaconess Miller, deaconess Cathy Williams, trustee Ruthann, mother Helen ... Mrs. Datcher, trustee Thomas..."

She paused, then added, "They showed up at Sunday school. They showed up at Bible enrichment leadership training. They were involved in the life of the church. They realized when you have a relationship with the Lord it's more than just on Sunday morning. Some of them were great listeners."



Reverend leans on fellow clergy for support



Van Jones: Start screaming this to the black community 02:36

The deaths were like they lost nine family members at one time, Mensah said.

"For me, it's like losing a few aunties," she said. "These were people who encouraged me over the years."

She fondly remembered Michelle Donaldson, the most recent fatality.

"She was the sweetest spirit," Mensah recalled. "She just gave the biggest hugs. Always smiling, even if she wasn't feeling well. She was always so warm. To know I won't see her again, on this side, is devastating.

Donaldson, a choir singer, was in her late 50s. She had underlying health issues, the pastor said. She died in her Harlem apartment.

"She loved my kids," Mensah said. "I'm on the dance ministry. She knows I loved to dance. My children love to dance. She called us 'the Soul Train family.'"

Green himself became ill around the second Sunday in March. He said he had the now familiar symptoms of the virus. He wasn't tested. He was diagnosed with what a doctor said was a severe sinus infection and respiratory issues. Green said he was prescribed antibiotics and told to quarantine at home, where he has recovered.

He has been leaning on fellow clergy members and friends in states such as Illinois and Louisiana, where the virus has also devastated black communities.

"This is what's getting me through right now," he said. "Now I'm looking at how long is it going to take our church to recover? How long for us to rebuild? The members we lost were iconic. Some were the pillars of this church. I don't think we'll ever get back to normalcy."

:cry3::cry3:
 
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ThirdEyeBeauty

Well-Known Member
This guy is getting his leg amputated due to coronavirus. I don’t get it. This guy is young and in shape?

Broadway actor Nick Cordero will have his right leg amputated as he fights for his life against the coronavirus, his wife said.

https://pagesix.com/2020/04/18/broa...-right-leg-amputated-amid-coronavirus-battle/
Sounds like he has a circulation problem and was recently place on ECMO due to C19 that made things worse...now he just had major surgery and still on ECMO or is he off?
 

Ivonnovi

Well-Known Member
ABOUT HOW "IT'S DISPROPORTINATELY HITTING BLACKS/NEGROS OR WHAT EVER THE UMBRELLA TERM IS." BS! I believe it's mostly a matter of how THEY are processing the data. and by THEY I mean non-blacks. The table below is from the Georgia Department of Health.

I urge you all to look at how your local municipality or State is reporting the data, because as far as I am concerned this data is reported with an agenda to incite fear and dilute the #'s of other races.

This table is from a few days ago. I did the math and according to this table Statewide Hispanic/Latino Cases & Deaths are only: 610/19 of the 15,669/ 587 reported cases.

ETA: The current stats are here: dph.georgia.gov/covid-19-daily-status-report. And I'm working to edit the table below to make it more legible.


COVID-19 Cases in Georgia by Race and Ethnicity

Race Ethnicity ......................... . . . . . Cases..Deaths
Black Or African American Hispanic/Latino 120 2
Black Or African American Non-Hispanic/Latino 3197 290
Black Or African American Unknown 672 14
White Hispanic/Latino 234 10
White Non-Hispanic/Latino 2192 203
White Unknown 373 8
American Indian/Native American Hispanic/Latino 0 0
American Indian/Native American Non-Hispanic/Latino 13 1
American Indian/Native American Unknown 1 0
Asian Hispanic/Latino 0 0
Asian Non-Hispanic/Latino 110 8
Asian Unknown 27 0
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Hispanic/Latino 2 0
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Non-Hispanic/Latino 6 0
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Unknown 2 0
Other Hispanic/Latino 89 6
Other Non-Hispanic/Latino 19 1
Other Unknown 23 0
Unknown Hispanic/Latino 165 1
Unknown Non-Hispanic/Latino 381 3
Unknown Unknown 8,043 30 Que?/WTF?!?
 
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Ivonnovi

Well-Known Member
I couldn't make the text appear in table format nor did my Edit save with the additional spaces. So the Latino stats are in Purple font :rolleyes:, and the big'ole Unknown group is in red font.
My point is that "THEY" have us running scared, when in fact they should focus on collecting and reporting FAIR AND ACCURATE NUMBERS; OR EXPLAINING WHY THEY CHOSE THE FORMAT THEY ARE USING.

ABOUT HOW IT'S DISPROPORTINATELY HITTING BLACKS/NEGROS OR WHAT EVER THE UMBRELLA TERM IS. I believe it's mostly a matter of how THEY are processing the data. and by THEY I mean non-blacks. The table below is from the Georgia Department of Health.

I urge you all to look at how your local municipality or State is reporting the data, because as far as I am concerned this data is reported with an agenda to incite fear and dilute the #'s of other races.

This table is from a few days ago. I did the math and according to this table Statewide Hispanic/Latino Infections & Deaths are only: 610/19. of the 15,669/ 587 reported cases.

ETA: The current stats are here: dph.georgia.gov/covid-19-daily-status-report. And I'm working to edit the table below to make it more legible.


COVID-19 Cases in Georgia by Race and Ethnicity

Race Ethnicity Cases Deaths
Black Or African American Hispanic/Latino 120 2
Black Or African American Non-Hispanic/Latino 3197 290
Black Or African American Unknown 672 14
White Hispanic/Latino 234 10
White Non-Hispanic/Latino 2192 203
White Unknown 373 8
American Indian/Native American Hispanic/Latino 0 0
American Indian/Native American Non-Hispanic/Latino 13 1
American Indian/Native American Unknown 1 0
Asian Hispanic/Latino 0 0
Asian Non-Hispanic/Latino 110 8
Asian Unknown 27 0
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Hispanic/Latino 2 0
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Non-Hispanic/Latino 6 0
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Unknown 2 0
Other Hispanic/Latino 89 6
Other Non-Hispanic/Latino 19 1
Other Unknown 23 0
Unknown Hispanic/Latino 165 1
Unknown Non-Hispanic/Latino 381 3
Unknown Unknown 8,043 30 Que?/WTF?!?
 

ThirdEyeBeauty

Well-Known Member
ABOUT HOW "IT'S DISPROPORTINATELY HITTING BLACKS/NEGROS OR WHAT EVER THE UMBRELLA TERM IS." BS! I believe it's mostly a matter of how THEY are processing the data. and by THEY I mean non-blacks. The table below is from the Georgia Department of Health.

I urge you all to look at how your local municipality or State is reporting the data, because as far as I am concerned this data is reported with an agenda to incite fear and dilute the #'s of other races.

This table is from a few days ago. I did the math and according to this table Statewide Hispanic/Latino Cases & Deaths are only: 610/19 of the 15,669/ 587 reported cases.

ETA: The current stats are here: dph.georgia.gov/covid-19-daily-status-report. And I'm working to edit the table below to make it more legible.


COVID-19 Cases in Georgia by Race and Ethnicity

Race Ethnicity ......................... . . . . . Cases..Deaths
Black Or African American Hispanic/Latino 120 2
Black Or African American Non-Hispanic/Latino 3197 290
Black Or African American Unknown 672 14
White Hispanic/Latino 234 10
White Non-Hispanic/Latino 2192 203
White Unknown 373 8
American Indian/Native American Hispanic/Latino 0 0
American Indian/Native American Non-Hispanic/Latino 13 1
American Indian/Native American Unknown 1 0
Asian Hispanic/Latino 0 0
Asian Non-Hispanic/Latino 110 8
Asian Unknown 27 0
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Hispanic/Latino 2 0
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Non-Hispanic/Latino 6 0
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Unknown 2 0
Other Hispanic/Latino 89 6
Other Non-Hispanic/Latino 19 1
Other Unknown 23 0
Unknown Hispanic/Latino 165 1
Unknown Non-Hispanic/Latino 381 3
Unknown Unknown 8,043 30 Que?/WTF?!?
Thank you thank you thank you
 

ScorpioBeauty09

Well-Known Member
ABOUT HOW "IT'S DISPROPORTINATELY HITTING BLACKS/NEGROS OR WHAT EVER THE UMBRELLA TERM IS." BS! I believe it's mostly a matter of how THEY are processing the data. and by THEY I mean non-blacks. The table below is from the Georgia Department of Health.

I urge you all to look at how your local municipality or State is reporting the data, because as far as I am concerned this data is reported with an agenda to incite fear and dilute the #'s of other races.

This table is from a few days ago. I did the math and according to this table Statewide Hispanic/Latino Cases & Deaths are only: 610/19 of the 15,669/ 587 reported cases.

ETA: The current stats are here: dph.georgia.gov/covid-19-daily-status-report. And I'm working to edit the table below to make it more legible.


COVID-19 Cases in Georgia by Race and Ethnicity

Race Ethnicity ......................... . . . . . Cases..Deaths
Black Or African American Hispanic/Latino 120 2
Black Or African American Non-Hispanic/Latino 3197 290
Black Or African American Unknown 672 14
White Hispanic/Latino 234 10
White Non-Hispanic/Latino 2192 203
White Unknown 373 8
American Indian/Native American Hispanic/Latino 0 0
American Indian/Native American Non-Hispanic/Latino 13 1
American Indian/Native American Unknown 1 0
Asian Hispanic/Latino 0 0
Asian Non-Hispanic/Latino 110 8
Asian Unknown 27 0
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Hispanic/Latino 2 0
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Non-Hispanic/Latino 6 0
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Unknown 2 0
Other Hispanic/Latino 89 6
Other Non-Hispanic/Latino 19 1
Other Unknown 23 0
Unknown Hispanic/Latino 165 1
Unknown Non-Hispanic/Latino 381 3
Unknown Unknown 8,043 30 Que?/WTF?!?
Latinos cases/deaths will be undercounted when the final death toll is estimated.

Undocumented people are not going to the hospital, and Latinos overall are more likely to be uninsured. Latinos along with AAs are also bearing the economic brunt of the shutdown.
 

ThirdEyeBeauty

Well-Known Member
^^^
Some Latinos are going to the hospitals but you are right. For the most part the data will not be correct. Numbers are to scare us to do something and that is working. Just as that gave us the black scientist to get us to take a vaccine. Personally she does not seem stable enough for me. I don't care about her degrees. Remember the M.D. who was mad in love with Bishop Sapp? This Dr. Corbett not too straight either. I apologize in advance if she is on this forum. If she is, she needs to take a break. I am sure working on a vaccine for the world can be extremely stressful and we don't need a mad scientist. It would be a freezing day in August before I would take that vaccine anyway.
 

Layluh

Well-Known Member
^^^
Some Latinos are going to the hospitals but you are right. For the most part the data will not be correct. Numbers are to scare us to do something and that is working. Just as that gave us the black scientist to get us to take a vaccine. Personally she does not seem stable enough for me. I don't care about her degrees. Remember the M.D. who was mad in love with Bishop Sapp? This Dr. Corbett not too straight either. I apologize in advance if she is on this forum. If she is, she needs to take a break. I am sure working on a vaccine for the world can be extremely stressful and we don't need a mad scientist. It would be a freezing day in August before I would take that vaccine anyway.
And one of the first things i thought about is if anything goes wrong with the vaccine, it will be her head.
Why do you think shes not stable enough though (i know nothing of her)
 

ThirdEyeBeauty

Well-Known Member
She is about to be thrown under the bus soon due to some conflicts she is not dealing too well in. She feels the number of black people dying is done almost on purpose. She might be an unwilling participant. If I were her I would exit before the bus comes.
 

Black Ambrosia

Well-Known Member
Experts say it may be time for grocery stores to ban customers from coming inside

New York (CNN Business) — Dozens of grocery store workers have died from the coronavirus, despite masks, temperature checks and capacity restrictions to keep them safe. So far, supermarkets have resisted the most draconian policy: banning customers from coming inside.

However, some worker experts, union leaders and small grocery owners believe it has become too dangerous to let customers browse aisles, coming into close range with workers. Grocery stores are still flooded with customers, and experts say it's time for large chains to go "dark" to the public and convert to curbside pickup and home delivery for food and other essential goods.

"Careless customers" are "probably the biggest threat" to workers right now, according to Marc Perrone, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers' union. The union said 85% of its grocery store member workers reported that customers are not practicing social distancing in stores.


"Anything that reduces the need for interaction with the public and allows for greater physical distancing will ultimately better protect grocery workers," said John Logan, professor and director of Labor and Employment Studies at San Francisco State University. "Shuttering stores and repurposing them for pickup and delivery only would be a positive step."

Many small, independent grocery stores have done this to protect their staff. Mike Houston, general manager of Takoma Park Silver Spring Co-op in Takoma Park, Maryland, decided to close his grocery store to the public in late March, when the state announced a shelter-in-place order, and switch to curbside pickup.

"It was clear that there was no real way to protect my staff and the public, especially as we served 960 people a day on average in a 4,200-square-foot store," Houston said. "I'm unwilling to put grocery store employees, essential though we are, in a position to risk what can be a fatal infection."



Whole Foods Market's Bryant Park location temporarily closed to the public to focus on grocery delivery. The coffee and bar area has been repurposed for delivery storage.
Some large companies like Best Buy (BBY), which has a strong online infrastructure, have also switched over to this model during the crisis.

New regulations

Public safety officials are not requiring essential stores to shut down to customers, but the US Labor Department last week recommended that retailers start "using a drive-through window or offering curbside pick-up" to protect workers for exposure to coronavirus. The California Department of Industrial Relations said this week that companies should "encourage customer use of online order and pickup."

Some big grocers are slowly starting to move in this direction. Whole Foods has closed down a store in New York City's Bryant Park area and transitioned it into an online-only store, focused solely on deliveries. Kroger (KR) and Giant Eagle have switched a few stores to pickup and delivery-only locations.


But these are a fraction of stores in their wide networks. And most large chains have hesitated to shut down to the public. Instead, they are implementing more limited policies like taking workers' temperatures and restricting the number customers inside stores at a time. Companies are calling on families to cut back on their trips to the store and shop alone if they can.

City and state governments are stepping in to force stricter safety measures than the companies have adopted. Los Angeles, Miami, Washington DC, New Jersey, Maryland and New York have ordered shoppers to wear masks or face coverings in stores. Vermont has required big box chains like Walmart to close down their "non-essential" sections like furniture, home and garden equipment and arts and crafts.

Will pickup and delivery-only work?

Some companies and safety experts say it's not feasible to convert all grocery stores to delivery and pickup-only outposts. Ordering systems for both pickup and delivery are completely overwhelmed by a crush of demand from customers in many areas of the country.

"We have no choice. They have to stay open. [America's grocery] delivery system has not matured to the point where we can switch to an entirely remote system," said Seth Harris, former deputy secretary of labor during the Obama administration.


Online pickup and delivery requires a much larger staff than grocery stores are currently equipped with. That could fill supermarkets to capacity with workers, defeating the purpose of removing the public from stores.

Paying that many workers would also cost grocers a lot more money, and many smaller chains don't have the resources. They have already hired more workers during the pandemic to meet demand, and they're raising pay for existing employees to convince them to stay on the job. Grocers operate on razor-thin margins, and for many, the recent increase in sales because of coronavirus has been wiped out by the increases they've needed to make in payroll.

"I think that's one of the major reasons chains are reluctant to do the switch," said Logan from San Francisco State University.

The inside of the Takoma Park Silver Spring Co-op in Takoma Park, Maryland. The store has closed down to customers and converted to solely online orders.

A Trader Joe's representative said that while "we understand that during this time customers would appreciate a delivery or pick up service," the grocer's "systems are not set up in a way that would allow us to be able to offer these services, and at the same time maintain our commitment to offering value to our customers."

Switching to online pickup and delivery may also burden low-income customers who can't afford fees that often come with these orders, customers without internet access and food stamp recipients. Most food stamp recipients are ineligible to use their assistance to purchase groceries online, although the Department of Agriculture has doubled the number of states that allow food recipients to order online in the past few weeks.

And converting to online-only may not completely solve the safety problem either because an influx of gig workers would have to be in the store to pick and fulfill all of the orders.

It's an imperfect solution, said Charlane Obernauer, executive director of the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health. "Workers would still have exposure if they are delivering goods or if they are in the supermarket."

Still, in Malvern, Iowa, Mulholland Grocery has stopped allowing customers inside and moved to curbside pickup. "We're in a small town. The employees that I have, they're just like family. I have known many of these people my whole life. I don't want to take the chance of having someone get sick," said owner Tom Mulholland. "There are very few businesses that get the foot traffic that a grocery store does."

Mulholland and Mike Houston in Maryland say their staffs are working harder than ever to select all of their customers' orders, but they're getting more efficient each day and the trade-off is worth it to keep everyone safe.

"Any store still allowing hundreds of members of the public to enter every day is taking a calculated risk on behalf of their front line staff," Houston said. "That is highly irresponsible to me."
 

Black Ambrosia

Well-Known Member
^^^ I don't see this happening soon but I've noticed stuff like this seems to be hinted at a few months before it actually happens. It's hard to imagine this working in low income areas or smaller stores that don't have already have an e-commerce platform.

Also, be careful with your Instacart deliveries. My sister was telling me that a neighbor's groceries were stolen minutes after they were delivered.
 

qchelle

Well-Known Member
Experts say it may be time for grocery stores to ban customers from coming inside

New York (CNN Business) — Dozens of grocery store workers have died from the coronavirus, despite masks, temperature checks and capacity restrictions to keep them safe. So far, supermarkets have resisted the most draconian policy: banning customers from coming inside.

However, some worker experts, union leaders and small grocery owners believe it has become too dangerous to let customers browse aisles, coming into close range with workers. Grocery stores are still flooded with customers, and experts say it's time for large chains to go "dark" to the public and convert to curbside pickup and home delivery for food and other essential goods.

"Careless customers" are "probably the biggest threat" to workers right now, according to Marc Perrone, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers' union. The union said 85% of its grocery store member workers reported that customers are not practicing social distancing in stores.


"Anything that reduces the need for interaction with the public and allows for greater physical distancing will ultimately better protect grocery workers," said John Logan, professor and director of Labor and Employment Studies at San Francisco State University. "Shuttering stores and repurposing them for pickup and delivery only would be a positive step."

Many small, independent grocery stores have done this to protect their staff. Mike Houston, general manager of Takoma Park Silver Spring Co-op in Takoma Park, Maryland, decided to close his grocery store to the public in late March, when the state announced a shelter-in-place order, and switch to curbside pickup.

"It was clear that there was no real way to protect my staff and the public, especially as we served 960 people a day on average in a 4,200-square-foot store," Houston said. "I'm unwilling to put grocery store employees, essential though we are, in a position to risk what can be a fatal infection."



Whole Foods Market's Bryant Park location temporarily closed to the public to focus on grocery delivery. The coffee and bar area has been repurposed for delivery storage.
Some large companies like Best Buy (BBY), which has a strong online infrastructure, have also switched over to this model during the crisis.

New regulations

Public safety officials are not requiring essential stores to shut down to customers, but the US Labor Department last week recommended that retailers start "using a drive-through window or offering curbside pick-up" to protect workers for exposure to coronavirus. The California Department of Industrial Relations said this week that companies should "encourage customer use of online order and pickup."

Some big grocers are slowly starting to move in this direction. Whole Foods has closed down a store in New York City's Bryant Park area and transitioned it into an online-only store, focused solely on deliveries. Kroger (KR) and Giant Eagle have switched a few stores to pickup and delivery-only locations.


But these are a fraction of stores in their wide networks. And most large chains have hesitated to shut down to the public. Instead, they are implementing more limited policies like taking workers' temperatures and restricting the number customers inside stores at a time. Companies are calling on families to cut back on their trips to the store and shop alone if they can.

City and state governments are stepping in to force stricter safety measures than the companies have adopted. Los Angeles, Miami, Washington DC, New Jersey, Maryland and New York have ordered shoppers to wear masks or face coverings in stores. Vermont has required big box chains like Walmart to close down their "non-essential" sections like furniture, home and garden equipment and arts and crafts.

Will pickup and delivery-only work?

Some companies and safety experts say it's not feasible to convert all grocery stores to delivery and pickup-only outposts. Ordering systems for both pickup and delivery are completely overwhelmed by a crush of demand from customers in many areas of the country.

"We have no choice. They have to stay open. [America's grocery] delivery system has not matured to the point where we can switch to an entirely remote system," said Seth Harris, former deputy secretary of labor during the Obama administration.


Online pickup and delivery requires a much larger staff than grocery stores are currently equipped with. That could fill supermarkets to capacity with workers, defeating the purpose of removing the public from stores.

Paying that many workers would also cost grocers a lot more money, and many smaller chains don't have the resources. They have already hired more workers during the pandemic to meet demand, and they're raising pay for existing employees to convince them to stay on the job. Grocers operate on razor-thin margins, and for many, the recent increase in sales because of coronavirus has been wiped out by the increases they've needed to make in payroll.

"I think that's one of the major reasons chains are reluctant to do the switch," said Logan from San Francisco State University.

The inside of the Takoma Park Silver Spring Co-op in Takoma Park, Maryland. The store has closed down to customers and converted to solely online orders.

A Trader Joe's representative said that while "we understand that during this time customers would appreciate a delivery or pick up service," the grocer's "systems are not set up in a way that would allow us to be able to offer these services, and at the same time maintain our commitment to offering value to our customers."

Switching to online pickup and delivery may also burden low-income customers who can't afford fees that often come with these orders, customers without internet access and food stamp recipients. Most food stamp recipients are ineligible to use their assistance to purchase groceries online, although the Department of Agriculture has doubled the number of states that allow food recipients to order online in the past few weeks.

And converting to online-only may not completely solve the safety problem either because an influx of gig workers would have to be in the store to pick and fulfill all of the orders.

It's an imperfect solution, said Charlane Obernauer, executive director of the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health. "Workers would still have exposure if they are delivering goods or if they are in the supermarket."

Still, in Malvern, Iowa, Mulholland Grocery has stopped allowing customers inside and moved to curbside pickup. "We're in a small town. The employees that I have, they're just like family. I have known many of these people my whole life. I don't want to take the chance of having someone get sick," said owner Tom Mulholland. "There are very few businesses that get the foot traffic that a grocery store does."

Mulholland and Mike Houston in Maryland say their staffs are working harder than ever to select all of their customers' orders, but they're getting more efficient each day and the trade-off is worth it to keep everyone safe.

"Any store still allowing hundreds of members of the public to enter every day is taking a calculated risk on behalf of their front line staff," Houston said. "That is highly irresponsible to me."

Dang. Time to do another big food haul.
 

Dellas

Well-Known Member
Open in app

Anyone
White Arrogance Is Getting People Killed
The problem isn’t China, it’s white people

Indi Samarajiva

Apr 20 · 5 min

I’m sorry white people, but it’s not China’s fault. It’s you. Your own arrogance, stupidity, and ignorance is getting you and everyone else killed.

Right now China has nearly zero cases and the western world has hundreds of thousands. Whenever they did it, they did something, while places like the US and UK are still casting blame. As if political blame does anything against a virus.

So what if China is to blame? What if China stands up in front of the UN and says ‘our bad’? Does that bring back the dead? Does that bring back the jobs and lives that have been destroyed? Does that bring back the doctors, nurses, and cleaners sacrificed to thunderous applause? Blaming China doesn’t even lead anywhere, except away from the mirror, where you should be looking.

And what should you be looking at? At the racism and empire that got you to these heights, and the ignorance and arrogance that kept you from ever looking down.

What Asia Did
Whatever the Chinese government said, on January 23rd they locked down an entire city. This was visible from space. This was a pretty clear warning, and East Asian countries immediately snapped into action.

Every neighboring country — from Thailand to Vietnam to Taiwan to South Korea — now has less than 1,000 deaths total. They had the same warning and in many cases more difficult relationships with China, but they still managed to fight back COVID-19 without blaming anyone. Because blaming anyone doesn’t do anything.

Wherever it comes from, whatever the next country did, you just have to take action and fight it yourself. Poor countries like Vietnam and even Senegal have figured this out, but the trillion-dollar empires of the west have drones for brains. They only understand bombing defenseless brown people, or picking on helpless refugees. In the face of an actual threat, they’re like paper tigers, folding under the slightest pressure.

After relentlessly framing China as an enemy, the west is then asking why their enemy didn’t save them. It’s meaningless and only feeds the pointless resentment that got them in trouble in the first place.


If the west was unable to learn from China, they could have still learned from a dozen other countries. But still, they remained arrogant. They remain arrogant to this day.

Computer-Modeled White People
Instead of looking to East Asia or even to Europe, countries like the US and the UK debated over ancient, undocumented computer models. They preferred to learn from computer-modeled white people over real Asian deaths. Over even real Italian deaths. Over even real New York deaths. That is the power of hubris, and that is the self-destruction they wrought upon themselves.

Instead of just learning from Asia and acting fast, the west dithered and debated into tens of thousands of casualties and, ultimately, much higher costs and economic damages. While Asian countries are now opening up, western countries are still protesting against themselves, and getting more and more hopelessly behind.

And they still can’t see. They still want a white savior.

Instead of looking to Korea, with 240 dead, Western media points to Germany, with over 4,600 deaths. This would be considered a complete catastrophe anywhere outside of Christendom, but Angel Merkel is now the great white hope, graded on a bloody curve.

Memes now imply that white women are the secret weapon, ignoring the preparation and hard work across much of the south. It’s not just East Asia, the Indian state of Kerala and even many parts of Africa have better responses, but no one looks there. Because they don’t want to see. It’s like a photo where the dark people just get underexposed. We’re just invisible.

The west has risen so far in empire that they forgot to look down, or even to the side. They call themselves the developed world, but that’s just not true anymore. They’re just an empire in decline, and now wholesale collapse, and it’s because they stopped learning. Their fatal sin has been pride.

In fact, it is Europe more than China that is responsible for spreading coronavirus around the world, especially to America. The empire infected itself, but they can’t see that, because they don’t want to.

The Whataboutery
I won’t even get into whether China should have done more. Everyone should have done more. China took 42 days from their first case to a lockdown, but Germany took 55 and the UK 53. The US still has no coherent national response. China sucks, but they were at least able to react, and react decisively. They at least didn’t debate killing their grandparents. Hubris seems more implacable that the worst authoritarianism.

Blaming the WHO, which is stuck between all these idiots, is even more reprehensible, but the US is going there as well.

Again, no responsible country is making these attacks against countries and institutions. They’re attacking the virus. It is only the West looking so desperately for someone to blame, because they cannot look bear to look in the mirror, at what they have become.

But Not All White People…
And yes, I said white people. The fact is that white nationalist leaders like Trump in America and Boris Johnson in the UK have had the most disastrous responses. And you can include Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil. Even the more benign leadership of Europe and places like Sweden have been undone by their quieter hubris, which is ultimately bound up in race and power.

To the white people in the formerly dominant west, the problem isn’t China or anyone else. The problem is you. And yes I’m saying all of you, because it’s a Medium post, and because it’s not just the outward racists. It’s the fact that these people get elected, get laundered by the press, that they are a structural problem with your societies and not just a few bad apples.

The refusal to see, to listen or learn anything from the rest of the world is endemic to the west. The years of slipping into easy blame of minorities or easy wars against poor brown people in places you’ve never seen. The easy fear of terrorism, and its misidentification as Muslim or brown. Even liberal white people are placated by the few minorities in your midst, ignoring the global apartheid that keeps most of the world outside, or oppressed as ‘illegals’ in your home.

The west is now just a bunch of failed states wearing Gucci belts, which are of course made in China. The pants are now down, the empire has no clothes and people are dying. And you are democracies. You can’t blame China and you can’t even just blame your governments and be done with it. At some point, it comes down to the racism and empire and arrogance that has propped up white power for decades, and the uncommon cold that’s bringing it all down.

 
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