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

nycutiepie

Well-Known Member
Way to go New Zealand! Definitely GOLD STAR worthy. :king:

New Zealand has now gone 100 days with no new local COVID-19 cases — and it hasn't been on lockdown since June

New Zealand has made it 100 days without a single new local case of COVID-19, the country's Ministry of Health announced Sunday.

The public health milestone comes as coronavirus cases are spiking in other countries, including nearby Australia. The total number of cases in the US surpassed 5 million Sunday — by contrast, New Zealand has only reported 1,219 cases of the virus, most in April and May, and 23 of those cases remain active.

"It has been 100 days since the last case of Covid-19 was acquired locally from an unknown source," the health ministry said in a statement Sunday. "No additional cases are reported as having recovered, so there are still 23 active cases of Covid-19 in managed isolation facilities."

New Zealand took an early, aggressive approach to stop the spread of the virus. The country of 5 million people entered a hard lockdown in April that closed schools and nearly all businesses, including food delivery. By June, most restrictions were lifted in the country, but New Zealand's borders remain closed to foreigners and incoming New Zealanders are required self-quarantine for two weeks after arriving.

Now, life has returned to normal for most New Zealanders, with bars, restaurants, and sporting events open for business — but public health officials said they're staying vigilant for the possibility of another outbreak.

"Achieving 100 days without community transmission is a significant milestone," Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield said in a statement on Sunday. "However, as we all know, we can't afford to be complacent."

Link:
https://www.businessinsider.com/new-zealand-100-days-no-new-local-covid-cases-2020-8
This is the model to follow. These idiots in the US killed thousands. We could’ve been on the decline in time for school but the lack of a national coordinated effort is going to ensure Rona stays for a very long time.
 

discodumpling

Well-Known Member
Final decision for complete remote learning for both of my kiddos. I was gonna send the boy for blended learning...but after attending a parent Zoom & hearing their plan to keep the kids safe I was confident that they will be having to deal with the Rona within days. Y'all, they expect the kids to stay in one classroom for the hours they're in school and they are expected to wear a mask for the entire time.
Bottom line I just wasn't comfortable with the way this is gonna go down. I'll keep my kids home until further notice.
 

nyeredzi

Well-Known Member
Final decision for complete remote learning for both of my kiddos. I was gonna send the boy for blended learning...but after attending a parent Zoom & hearing their plan to keep the kids safe I was confident that they will be having to deal with the Rona within days. Y'all, they expect the kids to stay in one classroom for the hours they're in school and they are expected to wear a mask for the entire time.
Bottom line I just wasn't comfortable with the way this is gonna go down. I'll keep my kids home until further notice.
Our county is all virtual until February and then possibly hybrid, but I bet they won't switch to hybrid then either. I'm going to be home with these kids until May 2021. The realization... I'm looking at home schooling for the year, because I'm not down with their distance learning protocol.

But, I don't understand the point of opening schools and then closing them when you get cases. We all know people are going to get cases at school. Did they think all these kids and teachers were going to come together and people not get it? I thought their reasoning was that kids get it and are themselves unharmed and don't spread it to anybody and also that children are the only people in a school, therefore it's okay for there to be a bunch of coronavirus positive kids at the school. I mean, that belief is wrong, but I thought that was their reasoning in opening up the schools. And if so, why close them because some kids got it? Can someone explain? Surely their reasoning was not that it will be okay because no one in the school will catch the virus.
 

vevster

Well-Known Member
I left my supplement container home by accident... thank goodness I carry spray zinc and can spray 3x a day....

Russia has approved a vaccine for the vaccine lovers out there....

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday revealed he has approved a coronavirus vaccine, calling it the world’s first treatment for the fast-spreading disease ripping its way across small towns and large cities in nations across the globe

He made the announcement on state TV despite the fact that the vaccine has not yet completed clinical trials. It has raised the eyebrows of both scientists in Russia and abroad, who have warned that rushing to implement a vaccine prior to Phase 3 trials — which normally last for months and involves testing thousands of people — could prove detrimental.
 
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Leeda.the.Paladin

Well-Known Member
This is a long article, so I only posted some of it. The rest is here: https://time.com/5864712/multilevel-marketing-schemes-coronavirus/

Pandemic Schemes: How Multilevel Marketing Distributors Are Using the Internet—and the Coronavirus—to Grow Their Businesses


Illustration by Guy Shield for TIME
BY ABBY VESOULIS AND ELIANA DOCKTERMAN

JULY 9, 2020 6:29 AM EDT
When Christine Baker, a financially strapped stay-at-home mom to two little girls, made up her mind to lose 30 lb., she took a cue from a friend who’d gotten fit with Beachbody. The company’s online workouts and diet products cost Baker about $160, but they worked.

“Literally within 30 days, I looked and felt like a different person,” says Baker, of Roseville, Calif., who was so impressed with her 2015 transformation that she decided to become a Beachbody fitness coach herself. She started paying around $135 per month to set up her own online portal and to purchase Beachbody products, and she got to work looking for customers. Yet as she spent more hours trying to sell people on Beachbody and fewer hours working out herself, Baker says the pounds piled back on but the money did not roll in.

“You’re working your ass off. You’re having to check in every day in your group, you’re having to keep everybody motivated, because if they don’t lose weight and see results, they’re not going to keep buying from you,” says Baker, 48. “It was like I was just throwing money away.” By the time she gave up on Beachbody, Baker says, she’d lost several thousand dollars and countless hours that she wishes had been spent with her daughters.

Multilevel marketing companies (MLMs) like Beachbody, which rely primarily on distributors like Baker instead of salaried staff to sell goods and services, have long been eyed with suspicion by regulators, and for good reason. The Consumer Awareness Institute, whose research has been posted on the website of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), found that 99% of people who participate in them lose money. “Statistically, it is more likely you will win the lottery than you will make hundreds of thousands of dollars selling for an MLM,” says Robert FitzPatrick, the co-author of False Profits, a book about MLMs, and the president of PyramidSchemeAlert.org.


But as the COVID-19 pandemic sends the economy into its worst tailspin since the Great Depression, some MLM distributors are wooing new investors with promises of big money and the opportunity to work from home–seemingly ideal for people who are unemployed. Facebook posts promising jobs are easy to spot, though the caveats that these opportunities do not offer guaranteed paychecks are rarely mentioned. “Worried about the Coronavirus?” reads a Facebook post by a Young Living essential-oils distributor touting its Thieves product line. “Thieves kills germs!” A similar post by a seller for Color Street, an MLM that sells nail-polish strips, urged members to “invest some of that stimulus check in yourself and start making money instantly.”


Attendees at Beachbody’s Coach Summit in July 2019 in Indianapolis take part in a group workout

Evan Jenkins for TIME
Some sellers imply that their non-FDA-approved supplements and essential oils can protect people from the virus. “With the flu and coronavirus spreading throughout the U.S., things are selling out,” wrote a seller for doTERRA, an essential-oils MLM. “If you are running low on these immune boosting protection items, now is a good time to replenish.” TIME reviewed dozens of similar claims made on social media.

The FTC has sent letters to 16 MLMs warning them against making claims about the coronavirus-related health benefits of their products, the potential earnings for investors, or both.

But the FTC is fighting an uphill battle as the $35.2 billion industry rapidly evolves, courtesy of the Internet. Unlike MLMs of yesteryear that relied on door-to-door sales, today’s MLM distributors can reach millions of potential recruits around the world on Facebook, Instagram and other social networks. Included in a distributor’s marketing tool belt are private messages, which regulatory agencies like the FTC can’t monitor. “[Social media] can be like a laboratory for deception,” says Kati Daffan, the FTC’s assistant director for marketing practices. “You’ve got all these members competing with each other to deceive more people. And they can do it however they want if there’s no one watching from above.”

And with so many people out of work, there’s an eager audience. The Direct Selling Association (DSA), the trade group representing MLMs, says that 51% of the 51 companies that participated in a survey in early June said COVID-19 has had a “positive” impact on their 2020 revenue; 59% reported the same in a later survey. DSA president Joseph Mariano says some sellers have inflated the potential rewards of investing in their companies. “You inevitably have a few overzealous people saying things that perhaps they shouldn’t,” he says. “When you have a vulnerable population of people who have lost their jobs or are concerned about losing their jobs, the fact of the matter is … direct selling is generally a modest supplemental income opportunity. It’s not something that is going to make you rich.” Mariano says the DSA has worked with the Better Business Bureau to monitor claims about products’ benefits and sellers’ potential earnings. The DSA-funded Direct Selling Self-Regulatory Council has referred four cases to the FTC this year for investigation of possible falsehoods.

But recessions tend to be good for MLMs, and this recession shows no sign of abating as new COVID-19 outbreaks slow reopenings. During the 2007–09 Great Recession, the number of MLM sellers began rising and went from 15.1 million in 2008 to 18.2 million in 2014, according to a DSA report.


Celebrity support helped. Soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo, lifestyle guru Rachel Hollis, former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton (after they’d left office), and private citizen Donald J. Trump have, over the years, appeared at MLM events or endorsed companies. Many influencers and athletes still back them, as distributors sign on to sell everything from leggings to home cooking products.


Attendees at Beachbody’s Coach Summit in July 2019 in Indianapolis take part in a group workout

Evan Jenkins for TIME
At most MLMs, investors, who are also known as distributors or sellers, make money by selling a company’s products and recruiting others to do the same. They then earn commissions or bonuses based on their recruits’ sales. But after investors have recruited as many friends and relatives as they can find, communities become saturated, making it difficult for new sellers to find customers. Countless distributors end up wallowing in merchandise they can’t sell and sinking into debt as they’re pushed to spend more money attending training seminars and bonding conferences, critics say. “They tell you if you don’t go to a training, if you miss a single training, you will never be successful,” says Illyssa Demarino, 31, a Phoenix bartender who tried three MLMs and spent thousands of dollars without making any money. “It’s so easy to get wrapped up in the cultlike mindset.”

MLMs fashion themselves as alternatives to the gig economy, which has been hit hard by COVID-19; apps like Uber are suffering as people avoid shared transport, while others, like Instacart and Doordash, are flooded with new workers, driving down gig pay. The MLM world implies a glamorous and safer alternative, and its prime target is women, who have been hit especially hard in this recession. Their service-sector jobs were the first to go when restaurants, bars, hotels and casinos closed, and when babysitting and housekeeping jobs ended.

Even before the pandemic, MLMs adopted the language of pop feminism with hashtags like #bossbabe and #momtrepreneur. Some sellers post doctored before-and-after photos for fitness and beauty products online in hopes of selling not just a payday but unattainable beauty.

“I was the perfect target,” says Jamie Ludwig, who in 2014 was convinced by a friend that she could make good money working from home in Kansas City, Mo., while selling weight-loss shakes and other supplements for an MLM called AdvoCare. “A new mom with baby fat I wanted to lose, desperate to be at home with my kids.” New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees endorsed the company, which in Ludwig’s eyes gave it an air of legitimacy.


Attendees at Beachbody’s Coach Summit in July 2019 in Indianapolis take part in a group workout

Evan Jenkins for TIME
She and her husband Josh bought a $79 starter kit, and she scaled back her hours as a hairdresser to devote time to AdvoCare. All they had to do, their recruiter told them, was find enough buyers for the $900 in supplements that arrived on their doorstep each month. “I spent the entire time on the phone trying to sell, giving my kids no attention, working 50 or 60 hours a week, more than I did before,” says Ludwig, 39. She and her husband, who is 41, found only a handful of buyers. They gave up AdvoCare 18 months later, but not before spending about $300 (plus transportation, food and housing) to attend a three-day “success school” sponsored by AdvoCare to learn sales techniques. When their car broke down on the trip, the couple was forced to face their financial straits. For years, Ludwig could not bring herself to look at the boxes of unsold shakes in her pantry.
 

yamilee21

Well-Known Member
@Leeda.the.Paladin Multi-level marketing schemes are not even legal in many countries; it is infuriating that they continue to operate freely in the USA. The top-level people involved in these schemes are true criminals for exploiting people at this time. There needs to be a way to inform more people about the realities of MLMs so that they do not fall for this, especially when so many are desperate and vulnerable.
 

discodumpling

Well-Known Member
Chile...DD's Zoom meeting about opening was even worse. A parent actually said..."my child has sleep apnea and other issues that make a mask uncomfortable...what protocols are in place for that?"
Then someone wanted to know if they could flex the days that their child was required to be in school with their own days at work??
Then there are the families with children in different grades asking for guidance on a schedule that fits their family....this a logistical nightmare!! Keep your kids at home if you live in NYC.
 

nycutiepie

Well-Known Member
Chile...DD's Zoom meeting about opening was even worse. A parent actually said..."my child has sleep apnea and other issues that make a mask uncomfortable...what protocols are in place for that?"
Then someone wanted to know if they could flex the days that their child was required to be in school with their own days at work??
Then there are the families with children in different grades asking for guidance on a schedule that fits their family....this a logistical nightmare!! Keep your kids at home if you live in NYC.
I don’t have children but this sounds like a HAM. Cuomo claims it’s safe.
 

discodumpling

Well-Known Member
I don’t have children but this sounds like a HAM. Cuomo claims it’s safe.
I like his optimism. But my common sense says (in a West Indian dialect of course) dis naah go work! There are far too many variables involved.
....we barely touched on safety for the administration. They want to entrust the parents with daily temp checks BEFORE dropping off kids for the day. Thats not gonna happen. They want you to teach your preschoolers & kindergartens to wear masks for 5+hrs at a time. Good luck with that one. Then there are the parents who are sick n tired of their kiddos and want them out by any means necessary! Some parents actually said that sounds like a good plan...and that they're confident sending their children (including special ed. with comorbidities) back to school during the pandemic.
Meanwhile I heard the exact same presentation and was horrified and ashamed that I had even considered sending DS#2 to school.
 

Stormy

Well-Known Member
“I know” folks. They start out with good intentions, but it doesn’t last. They lose the momentum... quick. Others are just plain lazy, trifling. They do just enough to “get by” and quit; They become slack and don’t care. There are those who are dedicated to “the cause”, but they are few and far between, and they can’t possibly fill in for those who are not. :nono:
So true! My gym started slacking on temperature checks, not one member wears a mask, some don't wipe down machines as instructed and the bathrooms aren't attended to clean as often anymore. This is the very reason I ended my membership and work out at home now.
 
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vevster

Well-Known Member
My next door neighbor is a car guy. He stay in his drive way cleaning his or his wife's car! Like all the time. DH paid him to detail my car for Mothers Day! This man cleaned my car inside and out and asked for $30...I told DH to give him $50 and it was worth 3x that! All I had to do was disinfect Lol!
Does this guy do this on the side??? I think you are in Queens/LI? I need my car detailed..... @discodumpling
 

awhyley

Well-Known Member
This is the model to follow. These idiots in the US killed thousands. We could’ve been on the decline in time for school but the lack of a national coordinated effort is going to ensure Rona stays for a very long time.

Agreed.
There are/were less than 10 new cases and already they've shutdown as a precaution.

COVID-19: New Zealand sees first outbreak after 102 days as Auckland is put into lockdown

Auckland has been put back into lockdown after New Zealand recorded its first cases of COVID-19 following 102 days without any domestic transmission in the country.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Tuesday announced four confirmed cases of the virus in one Auckland family, adding that the source was unknown. The index case was a person in their 50s from South Auckland, the Ministry of Health said in a press release. The person had been symptomatic for five days but had not reported any overseas travel prior to their positive test result.

Household contacts of the original case received a rapid test and three of these tests also came back positive, while three were negative, the ministry said. Anyone who came into contact with the person will be traced and tested for COVID-19, as is the usual protocol, it added.

All close contacts of the four cases will remain in self-isolation for 14 days, regardless of their test result, and all casual contacts will remain in self-isolation until they have the results of their tests. Arden said that Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, would be moved to Alert Level 3 from midday on Wednesday through midnight on Friday with bars and many other businesses closed. Citizens will be asked to stay at home.

Traveling into Auckland will be forbidden unless people are residents returning home. The rest of the country will be raised to Level 2 until Friday, which will see gatherings limited to 100 people and attendees required to socially distance from each other.

"These three days will give us time to assess the situation, gather information, make sure we have widespread contact tracing so we can find out more about how this case arose and make decisions about how to respond to it once we have further information," Ardern said at a news conference late on Tuesday.

"I know that this information will be very difficult to receive," she added. "We had all hoped not to find ourselves in this position again. But we had also prepared for it. And as a team, we have also been here before." Social media users posted pictures of the large queues that formed outside grocery shops after the local measures were announced.

New Zealand was praised internationally for its response to the coronavirus pandemic after the virus' spread was stopped by the introduction of a strict lockdown in late March when only 100 people had tested positive. The World Health Organization had applauded the country prior to Tuesday saying it was an example to others for having "successfully eliminated community transmission".

New Zealand had not recorded community transmission since May 1.

Link: https://www.euronews.com/2020/08/11...ter-102-days-as-auckland-is-put-into-lockdown
 

Stormy

Well-Known Member
I'm at average risk. It recommends 7,000 IU vitamin D. I only take 3000 because that's what my doctor recommended. I'm good. Plus, I do get a lot of sun everyday, but "most" of my body isn't exposed. Just my arms, legs and face. I figure when they say "most" they mean as in wearing a bikini laying out in the sun daily. What's your score?
 

vevster

Well-Known Member
I'm at average risk. It recommends 7,000 IU vitamin D. I only take 3000 because that's what my doctor recommended. I'm good. Plus, I do get a lot of sun everyday, but "most" of my body isn't exposed. Just my arms, legs and face. I figure when they say "most" they mean as in wearing a bikini laying out in the sun daily. What's your score?
I'm at low risk.....
 

vevster

Well-Known Member
:eek:

A batch of frozen chicken wings shipped from Brazil was contaminated with COVID-19 when it arrived at its destination in China, officials said in a warning to residents issued Thursday.

Evidence of coronavirus was detected on a surface sample swiped from the wings during a screening of imported frozen food in Longgang district of Shenzhen. They were sent from Aurora Alimentos plant in the southern state of Santa Catarina, but officials have not identified the brand, according to Bloomberg.

In response, health officials in the city worked to trace who came into contact with the batch of contaminated wings as well related products from the same brand that have already been sold.

Everyone tested so far in relation to the product have been negative coronavirus, according to the government statement. Still, they urged shoppers to be cautious when buying imported frozen foods and aquatic products.

Brazil has so far reported more than 3.1 million coronavirus cases, the second highest in the world after the United States, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University.

Authorities in Beijing increased screening of imported food in June, after a spike in cases linked to a seafood market sparked panic, BBC News reported. The discovery of the virus on chopping boards used to cut imported salmon at the Xinfadi market prompted shop owners to toss their supplies and clear their shelves.
 

B_Phlyy

Pineapple Eating Unicorn
Still a no for me dawg. I bet the theater snacks aren’t 15 cents lol.


I was looking forward to going back to the movies but this is an absolute no. 15 cent movies means the parking lots will be packed and lines long before you even make it inside to find out all the screens are sold out. Not to mention that price is so low that they full intend to sell out theaters for each show which means even less time for an even worse cleaning job by their crew.

I'll just be waiting for Tenet and James Bond to release on Blu-ray.
 
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