Coronavirus thread

[Grey]

[ramble]
Been working supply base to source PPE past few weeks. Some success, some fail. Biggest problem is logistics. I can find supply, but the first hopeful news (still verifying) I heard on being able to move things in bulk with a booked schedule was less than an hour ago.

Been able to move some stuff and help some folks on a small scale, but my frustration on cargo limits (and stories of shipments gone missing) had my anxiety boiling. 10 days ago an express package took 5 days. Today it's taking 10 days. Too long! Lost my shit earlier in the week and started making calls and shaking trees.

Got in touch with <redacted>.gov 2 days ago through an old colleague. Working on getting integrated with their process. I was surprised that I was being asked intelligent questions and there were already boots on the ground doing source quals. Blood pressure down 30 points, but still high.

Got a note this morning with an offer to spend $1M on masks for donation to NYC. No pressure.

Feels like we are on our own for Vents. When every bent of media and POTUS is still calling it some version of "Chinese Virus", there are limits to what they will be willing to do for you. Working some angles but not very hopeful. Praying for GM and others to pull off a win. I have family in NYC and they are rightly afraid.

I know we have some pilots here... If anyone has the ability to fly an aircraft capable of reaching Shanghai, I'd like to get a basic cost analysis for that. Aircraft, fuel, fees, crew, and all the other stuff I don't know to ask. I can handle export/import. Ideally, something with minimum cargo capacity of a 20' container, about 30 CBM. I need a backup plan if air cargo doesn't work.

Down about 8 pounds now. Not hungry, force myself to eat at least 2 meals/day. Hydration pretty good, but fell off the wagon yesterday. Climbing back on. Still exercising. Spend a lot of time on the phone pacing with frustration. Check in here when I can... I sure would like to see better news, but thanks for the reality at least. I'd feel better if I could drive over there to pick stuff up.

Was pacing my yard yesterday and had a thought. At least i could go in the yard or take a walk. Imagine all the folks in Asia that can't leave their small apartments filled with family. Then I thought about Manhattan and Chicago. And the kid at Kroger that's going to pick my to go order tomorrow (hopefully tomorrow).

Thanks for listening... Time to eat something. Stay safe.


Corey... thinking of you. Wishing you strength. [/ramble]

Called my dad who knows a TON of people in SE Asia but no contacts that can assist with flights. Sorry man and best of luck getting something worked out.

[Wondering Beard]

Doc, you can file this one away for a later date:

If you click the box next to "reply with quote" it will give you a check mark. That tells you that post is being multi-quoted. Check as many as you like next to posts to respond to them in one post.



It's times like this, where I wish I was a lawyer. I would get a kick out of suing the living shit out of these scumbags.

For those skeptical about the numbers from China......
---------------------------------------------
A spate of mysterious second-time infections is calling into question the accuracy of COVID-19 diagnostic tools even as China prepares to lift quarantine measures to allow residents to leave the epicenter of its outbreak next month. It's also raising concerns of a possible second wave of cases.

From March 18-22, the Chinese city of Wuhan reported no new cases of the virus through domestic transmission — that is, infection passed on from one person to another. The achievement was seen as a turning point in efforts to contain the virus, which has infected more than 80,000 people in China. Wuhan was particularly hard-hit, with more than half of all confirmed cases in the country.

But some Wuhan residents who had tested positive earlier and then recovered from the disease are testing positive for the virus a second time. Based on data from several quarantine facilities in the city, which house patients for further observation after their discharge from hospitals, about 5%-10% of patients pronounced "recovered" have tested positive again.

Some of those who retested positive appear to be asymptomatic carriers — those who carry the virus and are possibly infectious but do not exhibit any of the illness's associated symptoms — suggesting that the outbreak in Wuhan is not close to being over.

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsan...-then-positive

We tend to find out more about China's "truth in numbers" through other seemingly irrelevant news and numbers. For example:
China Shuts Down All Cinemas, Again

[TiroFijo]

Just to show how this touches us all:

In my country there are currently only 52 confirmed cases (likely 10-20X more, who knows?). One of them is my cousin (56), caught it in Peru and he is doing fine so far.

One of my friends (55 years old) from my old rugby team was recently in NY for knee replacement surgery (he has already changed the other side a couple years ago), and it was cancelled due to COVID-19 concerns. He and his wife got infected, very mild symptoms for him, a bit more severe for his wife (51).

My wife's cousin lives in Barcelona, Spain. He (53), his wife (51) and his twin sons (29) were infected, via one of son's girlfriend who is a nurse (28) ten days ago. He was admitted to the hospital yesterday, not very serious condition so hopefully he'll recover soon. The wife and kids have relatively mild symptoms.

We'll see how it hits us here. Apparenly A LOT of us will get infected.

[blues]

Sounds like you're playing six degrees of separation, @TiroFijo. I wish you buena suerte, amigo.

[TiroFijo]

Sounds like you're playing six degrees of separation, @TiroFijo. I wish you buena suerte, amigo.

Well, a ray of hope is that out of eight cases I know, none is fatal.

[HCM]

Once I can confirm I can deliver bulk cargo I'll follow up with you.. Thanks.

Is China going to release these type of materials? Or would they declare them essential for domestic use and keep them in country?

My understanding is that India, the other significant producer of Pharma and PPE has declared all such materials essential for domestic use and prohibited their export.

I ask because of reports like this:

https://www.news.com.au/finance/busi...ngREOnjp8M1gFM

Chinese company shipped out millions of Australia’s masks, hand sanitiser, glove supplies

A Chinese government-backed property giant has secretly raided in bulk Australia’s supplies of masks, hand sanitiser, antibacterial wipes and essential medical supplies and shipped them back to China.

The Greenland Group, which manages high-end real estate projects in Sydney and Melbourne, proactively drained Australian supplies of anti-coronavirus equipment, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Three million surgical masks, 500,000 pairs of gloves and bulk supplies of sanitiser and wipes were bought up in Australia and other countries where Greenland operates.

While the bulk purchases and shipping were perfectly legitimate, the goods shipped in bulk to China include the very items that have been in short supply for Australian citizens as well as health professionals.

They were accumulated at Greenland’s Sydney headquarters and sent to China over weeks in January and February.

As coronavirus locked down Wuhan, the global Fortune 500 company put its normal work on hold and instructed staff in Australia, Canada, Turkey and elsewhere to source supplies.

Pallet loads of items including thermometers and 700,000 hazmat suits were sent to China, the Herald reported.

Greenland deployed its HR staff members, contract managers and others away from their desks to go out and amass as many of the items as possible.

[RoyGBiv]

Is China going to release these type of materials? Or would they declare them essential for domestic use and keep them in country?

My understanding is that India, the other significant producer of Pharma and PPE has declared all such materials essential for domestic use and prohibited their export.

China spun up thousands of mask factories in the last 3 months. Lots of fake FDA/CE docs. I get a dozen emails a day from them. Some from my established suppliers in completely unrelated categories that are selling masks. We're dealing with established companies only. Although we are looking at some of the better-reviewed new entrants. Back story that relates to competence in masks is important.

For things like ISO suits, goggles, masks, there is more supply than internal demand. No problem to sell for export.
Vents... Test Kits... Different story.

N95s and testing reagents are still very much in short supply, for what it's worth. Testing is improving, but Denver has a critical PPE shortage (as does every other major city in the US it seems). PPE in the hospitals is for certain low, but for Fire/Police/EMS and testing personnel it is almost non-existent out here.

I think I mentioned upthread that my first call with to my local PD/FD. They said they were ok but would keep me in mind in case that changed. I'm holding some inventory for them just in case, at least until we can ship bulk and hold some warehouse level stock.

Was reading this morning about a union call for distributors to "locate" stock. Someone (one distributor) admitted to having 39 million on hand. "Duh, where did these come from?" At least they were selling at a reasonable $5/each instead of the blood-money $9/each I'm hearing from my contacts. I'm hopeful we'll get domestic production ramped up before $9 isn't price gouging.

ETA: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article...oronavirus-ppe

[RoyGBiv]

I ask because of reports like this:

https://www.news.com.au/finance/busi...ngREOnjp8M1gFM

Chinese company shipped out millions of Australia’s masks, hand sanitiser, glove supplies

China demand is way down from January and production way up. Now, if you're Finland and you have to ship your PPE via Hamburg, you have a current-day problem.

[RoyGBiv]

Called my dad who knows a TON of people in SE Asia but no contacts that can assist with flights. Sorry man and best of luck getting something worked out.

Thanks!

My neighbor flies 777 cargo. Just back from HK yesterday. (Social distancing!)
Asked him if he'd help crew if I could find an aircraft. He laughed at me for thinking any serviceable cargo aircraft were available for lease right now.

[Totem Polar]

Could you not consider it as an assault if an administrator ripped a mask off your face? I hate to think of how I would react if one of our administrators did that to me

I am no world-class martial artist by any stretch, but I am pretty sure that if an admin—in actuality—physically ripped a piece of PPE off my face, I would find a way to position said admin so that repeatedly shouting "I am a piece of shit with peanuts in it" would be the only way to escape the lock. Either that, or go down trying. And I am NOT an aggressive person.