DON'T PANIC.... well, maybe a little bit.

[Helpful Herbert]

The World Health Organisation has stated there is no evidence to suggest that pets can contract coronavirus, and therefore there is no longer any need for them to be quarantined. In other words:

WHO let the dogs out

 

[atlantis]

It's clear that almost every country in the world will have closed its borders within 2 weeks. But I wonder when the loss of jobs, people going crazy inside small flats, bankruptcy of half the tourism sector etc. will start to lead to civil disturbances. Or will people "keep calm and carry on"? Interesting social experiment.

I am usually not alarmist but there is already 2 weeks that I have started to turn our warehouses in "bunkers" discreetly. Better safe than sorry.

For the past 2 weeks I have tried my best not to alarm our staff or anyone else, presenting the change in the security of the house or warehouses, (adding CCTV cameras, changing the main gate for a higher and more solid one...etc) as if they were planned for some time now.

Considering that we (my company) will undoubtedly be hit hard by the consequences of the pandemy, our stock of food will remain particularly important (company trades F&B, supplying high end resorts and hotels and modern trade operators of my region) for the weeks/months to come and therefore particularly tempting should there be some shortages of anything in the city.

We've had our first official case positif to Covid19 last night in my city.

Tomorrow I will discuss with our household staff and tell them that they have the choice to either stay full time with us 7/7 (2 of them come back home on week end) remaining at all time within the house compound or quit.

I will most probably have to lay down some of our company staff, if not all of them. As you said almost every country will have closed their borders soon which means that most of my clients will shut down their operation. Many have already lay down part of their staff. So many people will have such a drop in income that I hardly see how it can goes smoothly if the situation last and worthen.

Not much fun ahead I am afraid.

 

[atlantis]

OK, but this one is published by Veterans Today. Who are they?

VeteransToday.com (VT) is an independent alternative journal for the clandestine services focused on U.S. Foreign Policy and Military Issues.

VT operates as de-centralized virtual media providing fully 100% independent writers from the USA and around the world a free and open platform to express their news and points of view without censorship in the spirit of press freedom and democracy.

Founded in 2004 by an American citizen John Allen who is also known in the artist community as “Johnny Punish“, VT remains owned by John Allen and legally runs through his private U.S. based Limited Liability Company (LLC).

VT is fully 100% independent and maintains no other owners, partners or assigns. VT maintains NO official brick and mortar offices.

And this is their article today:
Breaking/Exclusive: US Brought COVID19 to China with Fake Army Team for Military Games, Evidence Mounting

In October 2019, the US brought 172 (really 369) military athletes to Wuhan for the World Military Games. Despite having the largest military in the world, ten fold, the US came in 35th behind nations like Iran, Finland and Slovenia. No video or photos exist of the US team, no records were kept, a huge team but a pitiful performance for the best military in the world.

The US team did so badly that they were called “Soy Sauce Soldiers” by the Chinese. In fact, many never participated in any event and stayed near the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, where the disease is said to have originated only days after the US left the area.

The US team went home on October 28, 2019 and within 2 weeks, the first human contact cases of COVID 19 were seen in Wuhan. The Chinese have not been able to find “patient zero” and believe he was a member of the US team.

They also have sources that say the US had misrepresented influenza that Trump claims has killed thousands, an influenza carried to China by the US team, an influenza that was really COVID 19, a disease developed in a military bio-warfare facility in the state of Washington, now “ground zero” in the US for COVID 19.

The Chinese claim, something censored in the US, that the inattentive attitude and disproportionately below average results of American athletes in the game indicate they might have been in for other purposes and they might actually be bio-warfare operatives, and that their place of residence during their stay in Wuhan was also close to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, where the first known cluster of cases occurred.

Exclusive: US Army Brought COVID-19 to China with Fake ‘Military Games’ Team (March 2020 story) | VT Foreign Policy

www.veteranstoday.com

@dafluff already answered you so I don't think it is needed to add much else.

However, there is one point in his post I would like to strongly encourage you to consider, it is his warning for you stoping peddling silly unverified conspiracy theories. As much as I hate to delete and censor posts, even when thay are ridiculous, multiplying them would make me change my mind about post deletion very fast. I would fully support any action helping to stop this behavior should it become recurrent.

This thread is a serious one and consequences for many around us may be particularly dramatic. Out of respect for them, let's just stick to proven facts.

Thank you.

 

[Dave70]

It's clear that almost every country in the world will have closed its borders within 2 weeks.

I hope borders closed doesn't mean no international trade, we are manufacturers who export all our products. We can and will keep running as long as there are orders from abroad. However, if staff starts getting sick, we will have to stop production and declare "force majeure".

 

[Dave70]

@dafluff already answered you so I don't think it is needed to add much else.

However, there is one point in his post I would like to strongly encourage you to consider, it is his warning for you stoping peddling silly unverified conspiracy theories. As much as I hate to delete and censor posts, even when thay are ridiculous, multiplying them would make me change my mind about post deletion very fast. I would fully support any action helping to stop this behavior should it become recurrent.

This thread is a serious one and consequences for many around us may be particularly dramatic. Out of respect for them, let's just stick to proven facts.

Thank you.

Understood, sorry about it, it's not intentional, I didn't know the website is "pro-Kremlin, etc.", next time I'll google first as @dafluff suggested. BTW, you said "this thread is a serious one", are you saying there can be another thread to discuss conspiracy theories?

 

[atlantis]

you said "this thread is a serious one", are you saying there can be another thread to discuss conspiracy theories?

"This thread is a serious one" means that it must remain STRICTLY on topic, talking about the evolution of the pandemy, way to protect oneself and others, measures taken by the government...etc. Anything which can be USEFUL and INFORMATIVE for the community .

Perhaps You have missed it but one of our member said that he "consider(s) this forum as the best place to get news and updated information" and his comment has been approved by several other members. We MUST keep it this way because we cant ignore that some members within the community may have trouble to access information on the local situation either because they are isolated or because thay can't speak the local linguo. Anyone posting in this thread should really keep this in mind.

I admit that I have always enjoyed people insisting in ridiculing themselves at any occasion by posting silly stuff easily debunkable. Since a certain Mas something has left the forum, the seat of the idiot of the village is left free and available. I wouldn't mind someone taking over his legacy, but would prefer it to be done in The Cage. It would give the opportunity to all members to give him/her the well deserved smack round the ear (figuratively) s/he begs for.

 

[Dave70]

I admit that I have always enjoyed people insisting in ridiculing themselves at any occasion by posting silly stuff easily debunkable. Since a certain Mas something has left the forum, the seat of the idiot of the village is left free and available. I wouldn't mind someone taking over his legacy, but would prefer it to be done in The Cage. It would give the opportunity to all members to give him/her the well deserved smack round the ear (figuratively) s/he begs for.

Thanks for answering my question. I'm not in The Cage, so that's out of question. If you allow me to start a thread on General Chat about "Conspiracy Theory: Origins of SARS-CoV-2", I will not mind the well deserved smacking or the number of 'Disagree' received. After all, the title says "Conspiracy Theory", so reader beware, don't go there if it is not your cup of tea. Let me know if you agree or not, thanks.

 

[jstar]

If you look at China and esp. Italy, it is pretty obvious what the risk factors are: age, obesity and pollution. The air quality in bigger cities in China and Italy is definitely not good and the moment people have lung issues they are at a bigger risk. You can imagine what that means for the big Indonesian cities.

Talking about what we personally (can) do:

We have decided to separate the elderly and weak in the family from the youngsters. Since the latter still work, their exposure is much bigger. With separation I mean staying in different houses. I'm thinking about spending full Ramadan in Bali.

Live-out maids have gotten the choice to stay permanently or quit.

Only one person goes out to purchase groceries. If possible, these are cleaned or kept sometime in the sun the moment they arrive. The elderly are completely switched over to catering, all is nuked before eating and rice cooked by themselves.

We 'force' the elderly to sit in the sun every morning. And they get additional vitamines and milk.

Everyone has to do their own risk assessment of course, only later we will be able to say if it was overkill or not.

 

[dafluff]

Echoing @atlantis and @jstar above:

I have taken precautions in the last few days also. This includes increasing stocks for necessities (food, LPG, fuel for back-up generators, etc). We have taken stock to see what is absolutely necessary for about a month of isolation. Bali gets literally all their stuff from Java (and they get most of it from China), so if there are disruptions you could start seeing items disappear. For example, there is now a shortage of onions, and prices have skyrocketed to about Rp 250k/kg. It's no big deal, cause no sane person needs onions that badly, but other products?

As of this week, I have pulled the kids out of school. I have told our helpers they are to stay at our home until at least Nyepi (Mar 25) and we will evaluate then. They can take their days off at a later date. No resistance to the idea. They are young, and have access to internet, and they are just as concerned about the situation as we are (with the spread of fake news, maybe even more so). We have an outside gardener, pool person, and night guard. They don't enter the house normally anyway, so at this time no changes I feel are necessary.

I am also limiting trips outside the house to urgent trips only, as few times as possible and then only 1 of us (me) will go. I still have some N95 masks from when G. Agung was threatening to spew, so I guess those will finally get some use.

We are lucky that we are in a relatively remote area, so we don't literally have to stay cooped up in the house (ie. we can walk around in the area) and have access to a beach within walking distance.

 

[atlantis]

For example, there is now a shortage of onions, and prices have skyrocketed to about Rp 250k/kg. It's no big deal, cause no sane person needs onions that badly, but other products?

This is one of the many good example on how corona virus can affects our availability to certain goods.

Agro imports from China have been hurt in the past few weeks and we have already the result with onions and a few other goods.

Both onions and garlic don't grow well in Indonesia, save in rare places but where production doesn't even match the local demand.

Garlic, like onion, has seen its price increasing a lot too nationwide (though not in a as drastic manner as for the onions), especially added with fact that Ramadhan is coming soon.

China produces close to 80% of the garlic world needs and the jam in import of anything chinese has an impact on inflation here. Government has been late to react and they should better hurry now because it may fuel more tension if imported staple foord and condiments are out of reach during the Holly month due to very high prices.

Sugar has also been a serious concern recently, albeit it isn't link to corona virus (mainly a late harvest problem). Situation for sugar should be eased by the end of the month since the government has recently agreed to increase significantly the number of tons of imported sugar.

 

[harryopal1]

As things develop into a more serious situation it is so easy for false information to take off. First thing my wife does in the morning is to open Twitter. She was shocked this morning to read that Tom Hanks had died. It wasn't true but rumours in a time of crisis quickly gather momentum.

Apart from the health hazard the economic impact of all this I fear will result in the worst economic crisis in the last one hundred years outside of war. It is easy to declare a state of emergency and be able to rush troops to areas of disturbance. It is another thing to have contingency plans for emergency food and water supplies should there be major disruptions to availability. The US government, for all its might struggled to respond to hurricane Katrina in 2005. Later President Barack Obama said, ""What started out as a natural disaster became a man-made disaster—a failure of government to look out for its own citizens."
We can only presume that there are a great many governments ill prepared for the worst case scenario.
It seems that at the moment governments are completely focussed on the health issue and not enough on the major consequences of massive disruption to economies.

 

[dafluff]

West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil giving daily update. One shocker: He says a previous death in Cianjur was actually positive Covid19, even though it was initially reported negative. It is not clear which case he is talking about here, however, if he is talking about this one, then that death occurred MARCH 3rd(!!). Or more than a week before the "first" official death...

 

[fastpitch17]

Just realized why I had never had an interest in molecular biology. On the other hand, I did read an article that was saying the warmer climates may no be effected as much by the corona virus due to the amount of sun people are exposed to. Not because it is warmer or humid but because of the vitamin D that gets absorbed. It explained that vitamin D has shown to reduce the effects in other corona type viruses. So those from house to car to mall to car to home may be in trouble all in the name of whiteness. May be more to brown skin beauty than people ever imagined.

 

[fastpitch17]

Well, in Bekasi for instance they dont really (want to) understand what's going on. So the Bekasi Night Festival will still be held in the Food City Parking Area on Sunday the 15th.

Deputy Mayor of Bekasi Tri Ardianto urged residents not to worry about coming to the Bekasi Night Festival. Because the committee has prepared measures and anticipates action to limit the spread of the virus at the event.

“Yes, if it is as stated by the Mayor, to this day I am communicating with him that God willing, with the procedures of handling and prevention that we do (for the event) all will be fine and the event will run smoothly." Tri said yesterday.

Tri stated that medical personnel would be available at the Bekasi Night Festival. In addition, the committee also prepared hand sanitizers at several spots. They will also check the temperature of each visitor who will attend the Bekasi Night Festival. "So that if people who have infections and high temperatures we encourage them to rest at home" he said.

They expect 3.000 people.
.

I always made it a point to stay out of bekasi and now I have yet another reason.

 

[make_batik_great_again]

I have taken precautions in the last few days also. This includes increasing stocks for necessities (food, LPG, fuel for back-up generators, etc). We have taken stock to see what is absolutely necessary for about a month of isolation. Bali gets literally all their stuff from Java (and they get most of it from China), so if there are disruptions you could start seeing items disappear. For example, there is now a shortage of onions, and prices have skyrocketed to about Rp 250k/kg. It's no big deal, cause no sane person needs onions that badly, but other products?

But is it likely to become that bad? Regarding products from China...I think China has already experienced its worst period of the epidemic and the situation gets much better now. From what I read, (at least officially) there have been only a small two-digit number of new infections per day the last couple of days, and many people have already recovered from the desease. So, I assume and hope things go back to normal there. And probably, other countries would allow Chinese products to enter the country, even if the borders are closed (for people).

Not being an expert I hope I am not too naive, but I hope the inflation on some products will only be for a short period of time and shortage of goods will not apply on (many) important products.

Yesterday I read an article that Europe expects a shortage on some electronic devices because Japan and South Korea deliver lots of such products and many parts of the production process are from China. The article focussed on electr. devices, so I guess other products will still be available there.

Also Indonesia has a big agriculture sector, right? So, I expect Indonesia to not have a shortage on products that are really necessary in order to survive. (at least, as long as the number of infections does not raise rapidly in Indonesia)

 

[ChrisTex]

Indonesia's capital city Jakarta will close all schools and has ordered remote teaching for at least two weeks starting next week to curb the spread of the coronavirus, the city's government said.

How exactly would a normal SMP or SD do remote teaching?

Set up Google classroom or just assign the students homework due when they get back. A number of companies have already said they would allow their platform to be used for free for schools.

Tomorrow I am going in as they are going to instruct us about setting up e-learning and then don't report back until the 27th. Both days are half days.

 

[dafluff]

But is it likely to become that bad?

Maybe it does, I hope it doesn't. But worse (well, actually best) case scenario is I will have a bit too much rice, cooking oil, LPG, Aqua Galon and Pertamax. Stuff we will use anyway.

 

[Dave70]

Maybe it does, I hope it doesn't. But worse (well, actually best) case scenario is I will have a bit too much rice, cooking oil, LPG, Aqua Galon and Pertamax. Stuff we will use anyway.

How about food for your pets? We have dog food supply for at least 6 months, in comparison, our rice, cooking oil, LPG and fuel supply is only good for 3 months. For water, we have underground source for back-up as well as generator for electricity. It is impossible for us to store that many Aqua Galon because we drink a lot.

 

[jstar]

.
Discipline in China....

 

[make_batik_great_again]

117 now. 19 of the 21 new cases in Jakarta.

Indonesia reports 21 new coronavirus cases, total at 117 - CNN Indonesia

Indonesia reported 21 new coronavirus infections, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 117, CNN Indonesia reported on Sunday, citing health ministry official Achmad Yurianto.

www.reuters.com