Our primary election will be held next month, and our country will now allow voters to vote by mail. I will order the ballot tomorrow.
Australia's popular Vivid Sydney has been cancelled. This brings millions to our economy every year. Also just announced is the cancellation of the Melbourne Grand Prix motor racing round. Some of Sydney's major sporting events.. such as a cricket series, Super Rugby and possibly our entire Rugby League football season have been either cancelled or postponed.
Here in Lafayette, LA besides all our schools being shut down for a month as of today our City Government Buildings and Public Libraries, etc. are all closing their doors to all but needed employees. Even our Court houses are only open to employees, and court dates, etc. will be rescheduled for later dates. We can still go online and order library books and then pick them up at the Drive through window. Taco Bell has closed its dining room but will still serve food through their drive through. I love my Taco Bell right now so I'm real glad to hear this. There is a lot of common sense being used in our City...and I'm sure a lot of panicked people too. But all our Officials are calm as they tell us the new things being put into effect...and I hope that helps those people who are panicking. I just feel that the Coronavirus is not what this is all about....and I pray I am wrong about my feelings. Our voting primary has been put on hold too.
Our government in Britain are said to issue the orders that we geriatrics self-isolate for four months. They suggest we hide away in our two bedroom apartment. If you are fortunate to own a computer you will be able to shop on line but the supermarkets are stripped bare. Can you imagine being locked in with your loved one for four months with nobody to deliver food. I suppose we will slowly eat eat each other. Fortunately many of our politicians and all the lords-a-leaping will be included.
So, my question would be....…...for those that think a lot of this "shutting down" and "staying at home" is a bunch of crap, how would you control the spread of this virus???? When the public doesn't listen and/or jokes about this virus thing, drastic measures have to be done. IOW, do we or do we not, want to stop the spread of this virus and get back to "normal" living???
Tonight at 6 pm our government is said to announce that Germany is gonna be shut down almost completely with the exception of critical services such as medical, police, firebrigade, supermarket and pharmacies. The Italian government has now warned other EU states not to hesitate to take drastic measures. In our tiny country there were 1,000 new cases within 24 hours. Borders closed etc. The drastic measures Spain had taken has reduced the number of new cases in half. Not everyone wants to stop the virus, though. Other things are more important to them. As any emergency, this crisis is bringing out the worst in some people but there are also signs of solidarity. China has sent more than a million masks to Italy via charter flight. Young people want to do the shopping for the elderly, etc.. My city is being closed down completely like Berlin: all public institutions including schools and universities, daycares, libraries, museums, sports centers/gyms, cafes, restaurants/bars, almost all shops. Since schools and daycares are closed, parents with young kids are being forced to arrange childcare by themselves. Taking them to the grannies is no option, though, because kids seem to have the least problems with the virus but keep spreading it to adults.
In my post #22, i mentioned that our schools here in town were implementing a two week closure because of Covid 19.....i assumed it started this last friday, i guess it is to be starting this coming friday.....so, what's the point if taken a week to start.
I just watched the latest message from President Trump, and he has issued some guidelines for the next two weeks. Basically he says not to have more than 10 people in gatherings, stay away from restaurants, etc., and stay home as much as possible. Stop discretionary travel, and the government is going to help the airlines because of this. Several people asked him if there was going to be a depression, because of the stock market falling. Of course, he can’t say that there will or won’t be, so now they are reporting that he said there might be a depression. What he did say was that once this is over, he expects to see the economy and the stock market doing very well. He thinks that it might be July or August before we are through all of this, but that of course, depends on how well we are able to stop the spread of the virus. https://www.reuters.com/article/health-coronavirus-usa-guidelines-idUSL1N2B95GU
Deutsche World reports that the European Commission has proposed a 30-day travel ban for all but essential travel as the crisis deepens in Europe. Spain has become the fourth most virus-infected country in the world, surpassing South Korea. Germany and France are implementing unprecedented levels of restrictions. President Macron has urged citizens to stay at home and closed France's borders while Germany's social life grinds to a halt. French President Macron has warned people to "severely restrict movements for the next 15 days at least," limiting social contacts, and that any violation of this new regime would be "punished". Germany's social life is grinding to a halt, its retailers are largely shutting down and borders partially closing.
American actor Tom Hanks, who tested positive for COVID-19 last week, has been discharged from the Gold Coast University hospital. His wife Rita Wilson remains in the isolation ward for the time being. Hanks was in Queensland to work on an Elvis biopic with director Baz Luhrmann.
Canada is closing its borders to everyone but Canadian citizens, people who are related to Canadian citizens, those with a friend who is a Canadian citizen, and United States citizens. Perhaps I'm missing something but what's the point? Its border with the United States is the only land border they have.
*Many Australian schools are cancelling all gatherings, including parent-teacher meetings, keeping students' desks apart and catering for a growing number of children staying home in a bid to contain the spread of COVID-19. *There are calls to close Tasmania's borders. *The annual ANZAC DAY March thru Sydney streets has been cancelled. This is the day when my state commemorates its war dead. *Australia's fabulous VIVID SYDNEY has also been cancelled. What to do when we isolate, quarantine, or lock down? Learn to knit, sew, wood carve, tool leather, dig the garden, pot the plants, write our books, our poetry, try a new recipe, do that hard jigsaw ... Just remember to get in supplies. You won’t have time to go back to work!! Keep well. ...says Carol of Sydney.
To defeat your enemy, first you must understand it. Scientists look to have taken significant steps to doing exactly that in the battle with COVID -19, with researchers at Australia's Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity beginning to learn how humans fight off the virus. Laboratory head Katherine Kedzierska found people's immune system responded to the coronavirus in the same way we try to fight the flu. "The immune cell populations we have seen emerging before patients recover are the same cells that we see in influenza," she said.