Family news: shutdown

everything is being shut down here: schools, shops, etc.

by "here" I mean the entire island of Luzon (not just Manila, which has been shut down for several days already).

The food stores are open as are the pharmacies and banks so far.

but even in our small town, there are police checkpoints that ask why you are traveling and check you out.

agggh: The "night market" is closed. What will the kids do?



But the news about the long lines of the military screening folks to get into Manila and the blocks on the roads make us worry if we can do our rice deliveries... this could be a major disaster: not the virus but the side effects of stopping it.

and economically it is a disaster for people working as street vendors or in shops/malls or restaurants that are shut.

The Inquirer says they finally are opening lanes for trucks bringing in needed supplies to Manila. So maybe we will be able to deliver rice later this week.

Locally it is quiet and everyone is sort of "hunkering down". Extended families help each other, but of course, it also means that the elderly are in contact with young people who might be asymptomatic and spread the disease. On the other hand, it also means the elderly won't die alone because no one is there to care for them.

all the miltary/ police screening is close to marshal law, but so far Duterte says no it's not marshal law.

In the USA, the press is crazy: Trumpieboy is killing people for not doing enough, they say, and next meme will be that he is a dictator, or that he is killing the economy. 

The danger is if the blockades and shut downs work, that fewer people will die. So then, the anti Trumpiboy talking points of the MSM will rewrite history by saying all these interventions were not needed: They were just Trumpieboy (or Duterte) using the crisis to become a dictator.

Never mind about reports from countries that didn't do these things that are reporting thousands of cases and a major crisis.

A relative in the UK says that her hospital had one case, but that they are having trouble finding fresh meat etc. in the shops.

Supply chain? Logistics?

Stock market panic is normal, but one does wonder if there has been manipulation there. Oh well, it's only my pension. So much for being a good person who saved her money for my old age.

and the next rumor is that the internet will go down.

in the meanwhile, Kuya was supervising the rice harvest yesterday. 

As Lolo promised, if I cam to the Philippines, I'd always have rice to eat. He lived though the depression and World War II so would probably less upset at all this "panic" than younger folks.

And we eat "locally". But Manila is not that far, so one worries if they open up we'll see loads of folks returning home to their families here.

In the USA, there are reports that in some cities the mayors said they won't arrest "petty crime" like burglaries and drug selling. 

Well, that explains why there are also reports of people buying up guns in the USA. A gun in an untrained hand is worse than nothing, but a lot of people in small towns hunt or were in the military (especially "boomers") so one wonders if there will be an increase in self defense shootings there.

Some of the US National Guard units have been called up. I had to laugh at the clueless yuppies who said: what will they do, shoot the virus? Yes, clueless. 

The National Guard training includes crowd control, but also disaster relief (e.g. supplying food, water, and medical help in civilian emergencies). And of course, part of our training was "NBC warfare": nuclear, biological and chemical warfare. Including protecting oneself, decontamination, etc. 

But luckily this wuhanflu is not as bad as smallpox etc. It is no worse than influenza: it is just that no one has immunity, meaning everyone might become sick at the same time, and no one will be there to care for them, or even supply food etc. for mild cases. 

Hence the emphasis on "Flattening the curve" so that the healthcare system won't collapse. The bad news, of course, being that it means the epidemic will last longer.

But it also means "herd immunity" will spread (mild cases that will develop immunity so that the disease stops spreading). And it gives time for treatments and vaccines to be developed.

In the meanwhile, here there is a ceasefire with the NPA etc. which might or might not work, but it will free up the military to do screening.
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update: StrategyPage summarizes the macro (federal) and micro (local and individual) responses to the virus.

update: Dilbert (Scott Adams) list of his recent podcasts that have been emphasizing the positive news.