Economic implications of a SARS/Coronavirus outbreak

[ducati916]

Unseen consequences:

Reports of strokes in the young and middle-aged — not just at Mount Sinai, but also in many other hospitals in communities hit hard by the novel coronavirus — are the latest twist in our evolving understanding of the disease it causes. The numbers of those affected are small but nonetheless remarkable because they challenge how doctors understand the virus. Even as it has infected nearly 2.8 million people worldwide and killed about 195,000 as of Friday, its biological mechanisms continue to elude top scientific minds. Once thought to be a pathogen that primarily attacks the lungs, it has turned out to be a much more formidable foe — impacting nearly every major organ system in the body.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/04/24/strokes-coronavirus-young-patients/

jog on
duc

 

[Knobby22]

I have downloaded the Covidsafe App.
Doing my best to get restrictions lifted and protect my family.

 

[jbocker]

Medical supply company charging $786 for a box of 20 face masks accused of exploiting coronavirus crisis

In a chemist the other day and they had boxes of masks on their counter $2 a face mask, box of 50 @ $100. My initial thought was gee that's expensive but in retrospect maybe it wasn't. I have no idea of the quality, I suspect not brilliant.

 

[basilio]

In a chemist the other day and they had boxes of masks on their counter $2 a face mask, box of 50 @ $100. My initial thought was gee that's expensive but in retrospect maybe it wasn't. I have no idea of the quality, I suspect not brilliant.

Settle down.. The masks in the chemist shop were your common garden flat variety. They too were about 10 times the normal price.
The ones quoted for n95 masks . Bit more serious Normally a few dollars each.

 

[cutz]

Just a friendly reminder.. report price gouging here.. https://www.ebay.com.au/help/polici...ed-items/reporting-price-gouging-ebay?id=5105

 

[qldfrog]

In a chemist the other day and they had boxes of masks on their counter $2 a face mask, box of 50 @ $100. My initial thought was gee that's expensive but in retrospect maybe it wasn't. I have no idea of the quality, I suspect not brilliant.

In HK, same price $100 but in hk$ so 5 times cheaper..to give an idea: retail price high quality and certification
I bought surgical masks in January when Australia was pretending nothing was happening :less than $13 inc postage for 20.
60c a piece
There is no penury of masks 8n China anymore..but Europe is crying for them and shipping them in by chartered planes from China
Not cheap....

 

[jbocker]

Settle down.. The masks in the chemist shop were your common garden flat variety. They too were about 10 times the normal price.
The ones quoted for n95 masks . Bit more serious Normally a few dollars each.

This was purely an observation. Couldn't tell what variety it was. Quite a bland box about the size of a tissue box. I guess in my minds eye I compared price against a box of tissues (~$5). Their counters were full of them... which sometimes tells the story.
Wasn't unsettled bas.

 

[qldfrog]

Some treatment hope on tocilizumab..
Seems to be quite effective.sorry msb...

 

[IFocus]

I have downloaded the Covidsafe App.
Doing my best to get restrictions lifted and protect my family.

Me to Knobby its not about me or my privacy but the lives of our front line health workers and the vulnerable.

 

[sptrawler]

The shift of some companies from a bricks and mortar model, to an online model is starting to happen, IMO this will become a big problem for shopping mall landlords.
https://www.watoday.com.au/business...big-leap-in-online-sales-20200427-p54ni0.html
From the article:
Major footwear retailer Accent Group will shift its focus away from its 522 bricks-and-mortar locations to become a digital-first business, as the coronavirus crisis sparks a fundamental change in how Australians shop.

Chief executive Daniel Agostinelli told The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald he planned to close anywhere between 50 and 100 stores as part of a major repositioning of the business, though more closures could be on the cards if discussions with landlords turned sour.
"There's been a seismic shift to behaviour, which we feel will be prolonged and instilled in the way people shop," he said.

Accent Group's digital sales have jumped from an average of $250,000 a day in early March to as much as $1.1 million a day during the last two weeks of April. Online penetration has reached as high as 45 per cent of sales, and Mr Agostinelli expected it to stay about 30 per cent by the end of the year.

Accent is not be the only major retailer to flag a major review of its business, with listed fashion retailer PAS Group telling investors today it had appointed advisers to pursue a restructure of the business.

The company's shares entered a trading halt on Thursday, and today it said it would accelerate its strategic review, which will likely result in a closure of a number of retail stores and a significant reduction in costs.

 

[Dona Ferentes]

https://www.bis.org/publ/bisbull04.pdf

The economic consequences of the virus will depend on a number of factors, including:
- the direct effects of confinement measures to limit its spread;
- the required duration of these measures;
- the extent to which the direct economic effects persist and magnify; and
- the size of spillovers and spillbacks across regions.

 

[jbocker]

If I can speak a little metaphorically about the waves of coronavirus outbreaks in Australia. I would say we have surfed the first wave with some good fortune but not a pretty ride or a painless ride. The lifesavers have done a great job and with great commendation nearly all on the beach, swam between the flags. But we have suffered some very regrettable tragedy and our lifesavers and revivers have magnificently rescued many. Unfortunately there are still many in deep water some out in the terrible rip and many washed up on the shore injured to an unknown extent. We may have been lucky that the first wave was mild.

The second wave. The savers on top of the lookouts claim they see glimpses of another wave coming. It could be much bigger and could easily form to be a huge dumper. It will be, very likely, far more difficult ride and will certainly have a huge rip form, taking again many more swimmers out into very rough waters. The rescuers will become inundated. The nervous anticipation is, we have set the flags a little broader along the beach as we try to stay in some sunshine and go back into the water. To add to the concern, it may be far more difficult to get swimmers back between the flags. And if they don’t, the beach could get closed. This could become the forerunner swell, to a long winter of ugly seas and waves that wash the our beach away.

Remember to stay within the flags folks!

 

[Humid]

And the sand in your budgies?

 

[jbocker]

And the sand in your budgies?

Life is a grind sometimes.

 

[sptrawler]

Very interesting read, it sounds as though the Government is well aware of the supply issues, how it deals with the problem will be interesting.
The article is well worth a read, I hope it hasn't already been posted, my apologies if it has.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04...tralia-prepare-for-worse-coronavirus/12193228

 

[SirRumpole]

Very interesting read, it sounds as though the Government is well aware of the supply issues, how it deals with the problem will be interesting.
The article is well worth a read, I hope it hasn't already been posted, my apologies if it has.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04...tralia-prepare-for-worse-coronavirus/12193228

That's a pretty disturbing report, yet we continue to export as much natural gas as we can and then buy the stuff from overseas for ourselves. Totally crazy.

Everytime I see people like Fried Burger saying "we are committed to free trade", I feel sick. There is no such thing. These idiots will walk us into another crisis with no ability to fend for ourselves. The medicine situation is particularly troubling.

We need a government prepared to realise the danger we are in and do something about it.

 

[bluekelah]

Fed cuts to 0.

Stimulus has added about +15% to markets since Friday.

Just relief rally, bring out the popcorn as earnings season comes around...

 

[sptrawler]

That's a pretty disturbing report, yet we continue to export as much natural gas as we can and then buy the stuff from overseas for ourselves. Totally crazy.

Everytime I see people like Fried Burger saying "we are committed to free trade", I feel sick. There is no such thing. These idiots will walk us into another crisis with no ability to fend for ourselves. The medicine situation is particularly troubling.

We need a government prepared to realise the danger we are in and do something about it.

Hastie seems to be agitating about it, hopefully something is done, to think another Country is going to give a ratz ar$e about us in a crisis is madness.
At least this is a wakeup call and should ring alarm bells, IMO the next pandemic will be worse than this one and it is only a matter of time IMO.
They are getting more devastating, this one has the virulence, but relatively low mortality rate, but each one seems to be stronger than the last.

 

[Smurf1976]

I have downloaded the Covidsafe App.
Doing my best to get restrictions lifted and protect my family.

Likewise.

The one concern I do have however is the apparent assumption by some, that being the media and according to reports some retailers, that everyone owns a smartphone and carries it with them constantly.

In practice most but not all people own one and a portion of those carry it with them constantly. I note that government is not demanding that everyone does so but there does seem to be an element that finds the idea that someone ordinarily finds no need for such a device incomprehensible.

Personally yes I have one but under normal circumstances no I certainly don't carry the thing every single time I step out the front door, they're too fragile and expensive for that.

I'm not opposed to the app in any way, just to the assumption that every single person walking down the street is carrying a smartphone at all times as though doing so were some mandatory requirement under normal circumstances.

 

[Smurf1976]

That's a pretty disturbing report, yet we continue to export as much natural gas as we can and then buy the stuff from overseas for ourselves. Totally crazy.

Two big problems there.

First is that gas is a finite resource. Once it's gone then it's gone and before anyone says that's Chicken Little type thinking, I'll point them to have a look at the actual situation in Victoria and SA where there really ain't much left and production's falling as a result.

Second is that reliance on foreign suppliers and foreign owned ships is just unnecessary vulnerability. In a war you can blow up however many cities, towns, factories, railways and so on to cripple a country but all that's completely unnecessary if you can instead just shut the energy supply off. Do that and you don't need to worry about the rest.