With these changes, I wonder how much this impacts gas purchases. If people are not going out for work, not going out to eat or shop, there has to be a massive reduction in gas purchases.
Gas prices can include significant taxes. I'm guessing it also takes a while for the lower prices to propagate through the system. You also have refinery bottlenecks, so even though we might have lots of crude, we don't have a glut of refined gasoline yet.
What terrifies me is the massive deregulation all the states are going to do to recover from this, likely causing ten times the damage the slight pause in toxic practices spared (fracking, etc)
Gas purchases might have a bit of spike before a lagging downtrend. Everyone in my area has been panicing and stocking up on whatever they deem essential. I certainly succumb to the panic as well. Though, I bought cheap shelf stable dry staples. I also filled my tank in case the gas supply chain gets disprupted.
I don't expect failures of the supply chains. But I do expect there to be some unexpected problems that lead to very bad situations for some. I've prepared my home to be wholly self sufficient for a week without power, water, sewer, internet, gas, etc. I don't expect disruptions to any of these, but I also didn't expect people to panic by toilet paper of things.
I can build a wooden make shift outhouse with a dug waste hole in a few hours. In the interim I can use a 5 gal bucket with a makeshift seat. To clean out the bucket either use a bag or flush out waste with water into a hole dug at least 2ft deep then sanitize the bucket with a strong bleach solution. But I live in a rural area. This solution probably won't be as effective in Brooklyn.
My partner is a k-12 teacher who has been told to wfh. This is relatively uncharted territory. I don't envy her. She's trying to figure out how to support students in households without internet, with parents who are technologically illiterate, in households with very high risk individuals, etc. These are hard problems in a functioning society. I might get laid off this week too. I don't look forward to being cooped up inside for weeks to months. I guess I can keep trying to learn web dev to keep my mind busy, at least until we get evicted from our home.
I'm counting on the hope that banks will realise that the cost of giving normal people a few months to get their shit back together will cost much less in the long run than the cost of evicting people.
Yeah, not exactly an immediate concern of mine. But now that I've done everything I can to prepare my family and home for quarantine I've started worrying about things outside of my control...
If you don't mind my asking, what do you do? I'm under the impression that most people on HN are in STEM and I would expect the majority of that group to be fairly insulated from the turmoil as far as their jobs go (obvious exceptions being things like Airbnb and Uber).
I'm an hourly employee for a staffing company in a specific industry, that I'd rather not name drop here. I make between 20-30k a year. My work site is liable to shut down soon because it is irresponsible to keep their doors open with this virus. When it does I'm on unemployment. There's rumblings of new contracts specifically due to covid but nothing concrete yet. Let alone anything for me. I am not in stem, though that is where my interests and hobbies are. I'm here because there are good discussions with actionable information.
That's what I thought too, when they first implemented social distancing rules in Italy.
The rules seemed reasonable: you cannot move across the borders of your municipality unless you have a written proof you have to do that for work or health reasons. All non-essential shops closed, but you can go buy groceries and essential items. 1m distance between people (in small shops only one person at a time can enter).
The rationale was explained, and the populace was encouraged to further minimize contact within reason.
Many thought it meant that within the borders of your municipality you can take long walks with your dogs. The municipality adjacent to mine stretches out towards the sea and has a few km of beaches. Some thought this weekend was perfect time to have a walk on the seafront.
Some people came technically from a different municipality and 400 got fined 200eu. The city council reacted by closing the beaches and seafront road and limiting access also from people from the same township (allowing only people living strictly within a few hundred meters).
Similar stories with people being either fined or strongly criticized for walking their dogs a bit too far from their homes.
Also people who had small plots of land to tend (now it's olive tree pruning season) which were not adjacent from where they live, were publicly denounced for unauthorized 'non essential leasure activity' (despite going there working alone or with significant other, would not cause them any contact with people). Agricultural activity, the newspaper said, is permitted, but you have demonstrate that's your job (which here means to be registered as a professional agricultural producer, a form of business incorporation that you just don't do if you have a small family plot of land; and now offices are closed and you can't register a new one).
A newspaper has FAQ section where I read a case: "two parents work from home and ask their child's grandmother can come and babysit" the answer is "no, because they work from home and babysitting activity is only allowed if the safety of the children is at risk". (Those who made those rules clearly have no idea what working from home means....)
I can't but groceries for my 80yo in-laws because they live 20 miles away. In theory, supermarkets offer an online order and delivery. By the time we managed to get past the outages in the registration process to the website, all deliveries were booked until the end of the month. I have faith local authorities will find a way to care for the vulnerable population, but I assure you: it doesn't look like a minor limitation.
Every day it looks worse. The more you talk to people, especially those living in cities where there are no places they can walk (I live at the foots of a mountain, it's easy for me, I can just walk in the woods and meet perhaps one person). Most people are cut off from this leisure activity.
I'm worried how this will affect people's mental health.
I'm in two minds. On one hand I do understand the rationale behind social distancing, I'm sold. On the other hand, it seems this has gone too far. There are no shades of gray, everything is black or white: "you're either have to do all it takes to limit chances of contagion, or you're not doing enough" seems to be reasoning.
The relentless obstinacy of the exponential function that lags behind the tally by days/weeks, makes it obviously impossible for people to notice any effect of their massive collective efforts. Of course we had twice as many new deaths than last week. They were people infected before the strict rules took place last week! And the cumulative numbers will grow even when the rate will slow down.
In the meantime people start to freak out and take extra measured. The idea of sanitizing the streets has been floated (and then retracted); many people I know have reacted by disinfecting their shoes every time they go out (clearly, they reason, the groun...
My wife teaches at a school for autistic children ranging from K through 12. Her students are barely functioning and some can't talk. I have no idea what their parents are going to do as the school closed today until further notice.
I can sympathize. My partner also has students on the spectrum. Though she is at a mainstream school. Some of her students are even physically aggressive, I hope the parents manage okay and know that she's there to offer support as needed. This is a serious concern, but one that she has had no time to make plans for.
What these parents need is helicopter money to stay home and care for their families. In the case of the families of essential employees they need federally funded child care. It is a travesty that solving these problems isapparently so hard for our elected officials.
But not millions of kids, not here, they are running around the neighborhood screaming their lungs out unsupervised. Bringing that virus home to their parents. At night the teenagers hang out in the parking lot and drink/smoke. People just do not get it or more likely just do not care. It's one big holiday for the carefree.
You can do everything right, be responsible for yourself and family but your town is as screwed as the weakest link which are the thoughtless who do not give a darn and no-one can stop them.
Assuming they didn't have a WFH policy in place before, it sounds like they're remaining level-headed while everyone else is panicking, which is respectable. Although, hopefully that won't continue to hold that line if things get bad enough. All this assuming it's not already located in one of the few areas with a high number of confirmed infected.
If you won't lose your job over it, this is something to push the line on. Maybe just work from home anyway; we're talking about your basic health. Worst case, use PTO if you have it.
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I don't expect failures of the supply chains. But I do expect there to be some unexpected problems that lead to very bad situations for some. I've prepared my home to be wholly self sufficient for a week without power, water, sewer, internet, gas, etc. I don't expect disruptions to any of these, but I also didn't expect people to panic by toilet paper of things.
Sheriffs in a few places are not evicting due to risk of infection...
If you don't mind my asking, what do you do? I'm under the impression that most people on HN are in STEM and I would expect the majority of that group to be fairly insulated from the turmoil as far as their jobs go (obvious exceptions being things like Airbnb and Uber).
There's no need to be cooped up unless you're actually sick.
You can go for walks, runs, hikes, bike rides, do whatever outdoor activities you want as long as it's not crowded, without it being a problem.
In Italy the rules are designed to protect others from you.
The rules seemed reasonable: you cannot move across the borders of your municipality unless you have a written proof you have to do that for work or health reasons. All non-essential shops closed, but you can go buy groceries and essential items. 1m distance between people (in small shops only one person at a time can enter).
The rationale was explained, and the populace was encouraged to further minimize contact within reason.
Many thought it meant that within the borders of your municipality you can take long walks with your dogs. The municipality adjacent to mine stretches out towards the sea and has a few km of beaches. Some thought this weekend was perfect time to have a walk on the seafront. Some people came technically from a different municipality and 400 got fined 200eu. The city council reacted by closing the beaches and seafront road and limiting access also from people from the same township (allowing only people living strictly within a few hundred meters).
Similar stories with people being either fined or strongly criticized for walking their dogs a bit too far from their homes.
Also people who had small plots of land to tend (now it's olive tree pruning season) which were not adjacent from where they live, were publicly denounced for unauthorized 'non essential leasure activity' (despite going there working alone or with significant other, would not cause them any contact with people). Agricultural activity, the newspaper said, is permitted, but you have demonstrate that's your job (which here means to be registered as a professional agricultural producer, a form of business incorporation that you just don't do if you have a small family plot of land; and now offices are closed and you can't register a new one).
A newspaper has FAQ section where I read a case: "two parents work from home and ask their child's grandmother can come and babysit" the answer is "no, because they work from home and babysitting activity is only allowed if the safety of the children is at risk". (Those who made those rules clearly have no idea what working from home means....)
I can't but groceries for my 80yo in-laws because they live 20 miles away. In theory, supermarkets offer an online order and delivery. By the time we managed to get past the outages in the registration process to the website, all deliveries were booked until the end of the month. I have faith local authorities will find a way to care for the vulnerable population, but I assure you: it doesn't look like a minor limitation.
Every day it looks worse. The more you talk to people, especially those living in cities where there are no places they can walk (I live at the foots of a mountain, it's easy for me, I can just walk in the woods and meet perhaps one person). Most people are cut off from this leisure activity.
I'm worried how this will affect people's mental health.
I'm in two minds. On one hand I do understand the rationale behind social distancing, I'm sold. On the other hand, it seems this has gone too far. There are no shades of gray, everything is black or white: "you're either have to do all it takes to limit chances of contagion, or you're not doing enough" seems to be reasoning.
The relentless obstinacy of the exponential function that lags behind the tally by days/weeks, makes it obviously impossible for people to notice any effect of their massive collective efforts. Of course we had twice as many new deaths than last week. They were people infected before the strict rules took place last week! And the cumulative numbers will grow even when the rate will slow down.
In the meantime people start to freak out and take extra measured. The idea of sanitizing the streets has been floated (and then retracted); many people I know have reacted by disinfecting their shoes every time they go out (clearly, they reason, the groun...
What these parents need is helicopter money to stay home and care for their families. In the case of the families of essential employees they need federally funded child care. It is a travesty that solving these problems isapparently so hard for our elected officials.
You can do everything right, be responsible for yourself and family but your town is as screwed as the weakest link which are the thoughtless who do not give a darn and no-one can stop them.
I'm preparing to leave and already have an interview with another company.