Coronavirus

[dismalist]

Oh, hell! This might be like the Black Plague: Survivors will be much, much better off [on account of the increase in the capital/labor ratio :-)], and the dead will be , well, dead.

Sorry, reality sucks.

[Caracal]

Which pharmaceutical firms would spend huge money to pre-make 200 million doses of an as yet untested and unapproved vax?

That's how Warp Speed and similar programs in other countries work. They are being reimbursed for mass producing promising vaccines before they go through all of the trials.

[apl68]

Six months in, our current best tool to beat this thing is wearing a mask?  Wasn't that the case for the 1918 flu, over a century ago?  I thought we'd be much farther along by now.

Well, we are a lot better at coming up with vaccines than we were 100 years ago.  But it still takes time.  In the meantime, masks, cleaning, and social distancing are still the way to prevent transmission, just like then.

[pigou]

Six months in, our current best tool to beat this thing is wearing a mask?  Wasn't that the case for the 1918 flu, over a century ago?  I thought we'd be much farther along by now.

Our best tools are treatments like remdesivir, dexamethasone, and convalescent plasma.

The Spanish flu killed about 3% of the world's population. So we'd need about 235 million deaths to get to that point, or 9 million deaths in the US. We'll not get to that point.

[FishProf]

Six months in, our current best tool to beat this thing is wearing a mask?  Wasn't that the case for the 1918 flu, over a century ago?  I thought we'd be much farther along by now.

Our best tools are treatments like remdesivir, dexamethasone, and convalescent plasma.

The Spanish flu killed about 3% of the world's population. So we'd need about 235 million deaths to get to that point, or 9 million deaths in the US. We'll not get to that point.

Best tools for treating infection and best tools for preventing infection are not going to be the same.

"Remember, best defense, no be there." - Mr. Miyagi

[AmLitHist]

The wife of Missouri's governor has tested positive.  He's a strong defender of Trump's "this is no big deal" approach.

[Anselm]

Oh, hell! This might be like the Black Plague: Survivors will be much, much better off [on account of the increase in the capital/labor ratio :-)], and the dead will be , well, dead.

Sorry, reality sucks.

This is already happening with workers in grocery stores and fast food.  They are getting the best raises I have seen in my lifetime.

[pgher]

The wife of Missouri's governor has tested positive.  He's a strong defender of Trump's "this is no big deal" approach.

The governor himself also tested positive, but has no symptoms.

[pigou]

This is already happening with workers in grocery stores and fast food.  They are getting the best raises I have seen in my lifetime.

I tried to hire someone on TaskRabbit to clean my apartment and the lowest price I could find was $75/hr. I mean, more power to the workers who can command a large premium... but I'm kind of surprised that there aren't more people jumping at that wage given that the job requires no qualifications. Not only is the risk of infection fairly minimal, it'd be easy to all but eliminate it by handing them the key and waiting in a restaurant across the street.

[Treehugger]

This is already happening with workers in grocery stores and fast food.  They are getting the best raises I have seen in my lifetime.

I tried to hire someone on TaskRabbit to clean my apartment and the lowest price I could find was $75/hr. I mean, more power to the workers who can command a large premium... but I'm kind of surprised that there aren't more people jumping at that wage given that the job requires no qualifications. Not only is the risk of infection fairly minimal, it'd be easy to all but eliminate it by handing them the key and waiting in a restaurant across the street.

Maybe people who need the money haven't heard about Taskrabbit. Maybe they don't have an internet connection. Maybe they don't have transportation. Maybe they aren't well enough to engage in heavy cleaning. Maybe they are depressed. Maybe they simply lack resourcefulness. Maybe they think cleaning houses is demeaning. Maybe they are not yet desperate enough and are trying to find a job they can put on their resume. Maybe in spite of the relatively low risk they are still afraid of infection. Or maybe they just know they suck at cleaning <raises hand>.

[Treehugger]

.

[Hegemony]

I think Taskrabbit is the wrong place to find housecleaners. I'd ask for names on Nextdoor, and/or among your local friends. I suspect the problem is not that Taskrabbiters want a higher wage for cleaning, but that they're not going to be taking cleaning jobs at all.

[downer]

I never used Taskrabbit -- the people I heard use it were those in their 20s, in cities.
I agree that Nextdoor could be a good place to look. There's also Craigslist.

[Anselm]

This is already happening with workers in grocery stores and fast food.  They are getting the best raises I have seen in my lifetime.

I tried to hire someone on TaskRabbit to clean my apartment and the lowest price I could find was $75/hr. I mean, more power to the workers who can command a large premium... but I'm kind of surprised that there aren't more people jumping at that wage given that the job requires no qualifications. Not only is the risk of infection fairly minimal, it'd be easy to all but eliminate it by handing them the key and waiting in a restaurant across the street.

[Anselm]

This is already happening with workers in grocery stores and fast food.  They are getting the best raises I have seen in my lifetime.

I tried to hire someone on TaskRabbit to clean my apartment and the lowest price I could find was $75/hr. I mean, more power to the workers who can command a large premium... but I'm kind of surprised that there aren't more people jumping at that wage given that the job requires no qualifications. Not only is the risk of infection fairly minimal, it'd be easy to all but eliminate it by handing them the key and waiting in a restaurant across the street.

Sorry, I clicked Post before finishing...

If I drop off the radar here it will because I went into the lucrative cleaning business.

I wonder if these high priced cleaners are with big companies that have to pay normal business expenses?   Twenty years ago my family members were charging $20 per hour in a large urban location.