Coronavirus

[mikechamp]

I don't venture out much these days (for obvious reasons), but I did drive past a Steak 'n Shake today, and they have a big sign out front that says, "Free Fries". No purchase required.

Eat 'em up, everyone!

[Joe Shlabotnik]

According to what I've seen, the check is legit. Trump said something about getting it back, but it is based on the 2019 tax return, so that is why she would have gotten it. And you probably filed c/o when you did the return so that's why they sent it to you. Based on that, it looks like they knew full well she was no longer with us. Anyway, most people don't think the IRS 'can' get the money back if they wanted to, and even less think that they 'should'...or should even try to get it back. Not that the IRS minds being seen in a bad light, but this would be rough even for them. On the other hand, it really doesn't make much sense as a 'stimulus' to send it to her. My mom doesn't want it, but she'll get it and probably just go buy a cd with it. And add to that, how bad off the IRS is right now...I'm not saying to cheat on your taxes, but if you were so inclined, now would be the time.
Sorry to hear about your mother, my day for that is coming and I am in no way prepared for it.

Thanks Leroy - it was time and she was ready to go.

As far as the check, I'll hold on to it for a few months and see how this settles out. If its legit, I'll split the proceeds among the will beneficiaries.

[Leroy]

If you want to hang on to the money, that's ok, but if I were you I'd at least cash the check. Then just deposit the money somewhere. The very worst that could happen is that they ask for the money back (don't think they will), and you still have it to give it.

[GeddyWrox]

According to what I've seen, the check is legit. Trump said something about getting it back, but it is based on the 2019 tax return, so that is why she would have gotten it. And you probably filed c/o when you did the return so that's why they sent it to you. Based on that, it looks like they knew full well she was no longer with us. Anyway, most people don't think the IRS 'can' get the money back if they wanted to, and even less think that they 'should'...or should even try to get it back. Not that the IRS minds being seen in a bad light, but this would be rough even for them. On the other hand, it really doesn't make much sense as a 'stimulus' to send it to her. My mom doesn't want it, but she'll get it and probably just go buy a cd with it. And add to that, how bad off the IRS is right now...I'm not saying to cheat on your taxes, but if you were so inclined, now would be the time.
Sorry to hear about your mother, my day for that is coming and I am in no way prepared for it.

Thanks Leroy - it was time and she was ready to go.

As far as the check, I'll hold on to it for a few months and see how this settles out. If its legit, I'll split the proceeds among the will beneficiaries.

Yeah, when I was reading how it was made out, it sounded like it was made out to an estate. I was the executor of my dad's estate and he had set up a trust that everything rolled into immediately upon his passing. Because of this, all our insurance payments and whatnot came in made out to "The Trust of GW's Dad". It made dispersing funds to my brother and myself a little more complex, but it made going through the estate process sooooo much easier. Anyway, all that to say that if I had received a check with that kind of "name" on it, I would've treated it like it was part of the trust, put it into the trust bank account, sat on it for a while to make sure it was legit, and then cut equal checks to my brother and myself for half the amount. I think in your case that is how I would handle it too.

[sighyoung]

The gender disparity on this site may soon be a thing of the past.

[sighyoung]

Young and middle-aged people with coronvirus are dying of strokes.

Here's a similar report about it from CNN.

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

Feel like numbers with covid are approaching the baseball level where it's probably possible to make any argument wanted with the amount of data that's being collected.

Unfortunately, with that comes a lot of wrong arguments.

In the end, the mortality # (known) will be divided by the mortality rate (undetermined) and that's how they'll determine the true number of infected (important stat on many levels, most pressing is when can we get back to work). The only other options to determine true number of infected are to
1. Antibody test everyone
2. Trust the number of positive tests

Neither of which will happen.

The number of dead will be pretty closely known. The mortality rate is still up for debate. There are all sorts of numbers out there.

Starting at worldometers.com

32% of closed cases are deaths. I haven't heard anyone try to argue this is the mortality rate, likely because states are busy doing other things than following up on those that have healed. But, neverthless, worldometers has a pretty reliable accounting of the stats and it matches what the Arkansas DOH shows as well. So....32% is your worst case scenario.

All the way on the flip side, there's the best case scenario which is this study which puts the mortality rate at like 0.1%:

https://www.livescience.com/covid-antib ... -test.html

Nearly 1 in 7 people in New York who were randomly tested for coronavirus antibodies turned out to have them, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced today (April 23). In New York City, the number is even higher: About 1 in 5 people tested positive for antibodies to SARS-CoV-2.

In the middle are prison studies which I kind of think are probably pretty good data points (given that I don't know if that's a true statement) but they test everyone and have a captive audience.
https://www.themarshallproject.org/2020 ... infections

From California to North Carolina, prisons that do aggressive testing are finding that infection is spreading quickly. Take Ohio’s state prison system, which has two of the most serious outbreaks in the country. It has started mass testing of all staff and inmates at its most afflicted facilities.Marion Correctional Institution, an hour north of Columbus, has reported four deaths, but has more than 2,000 prisoners and at least 160 staffers who tested positive for the virus. At Pickaway Correctional Institution an hour away, at least nine prisoners have died, while more than 1,500 prisoners and 79 staffers have tested positive.“Because we are testing everyone—including those who are not showing symptoms—we are getting positive test results on individuals who otherwise would have never been tested because they were asymptomatic,” officials explained in an update on the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections website. A spokeswoman did not respond to requests for comment.

Quick math from those numbers is 13 dead among 3739 which is 0.3%.

In the end, I kind of feel like this is the only conversation worth having on a macro scale. If the mortality rate is 0.3% and they can prevent hospital overloading, I get the feeling this is going to be a shortlived sutdown. But...who knows.

Further, where is the CDC? Aren't they supposed to be the ones writing articles like this....

[Joe Shlabotnik]

The CDC is the government. Thy are, therefore, part of the problem as we have known since 1980.

[sighyoung]

[AWvsCBsteeeerike3]

Arkansas is starting to starting to reopen. They announced today state parks is entering phase1 which allows overnight guests (in state residents only) and reopens some of the restaurants in the state parks.

They're announcing what to do with restaurants, barber shops, etc tomorrow.

Tough to argue with how they're handling it. Despite the criticisms of non SIP states, there's not a lot more they can do. Number of active cases is about 2K. Hospitals geared up for an onslaught that they kept predicting would come later, but after pushing back the surge date multiple times, they finally have said it has already happened. Number of hospitalizations is about 100 and has been there a while. The hospital Mrs. AW works at increased their number of ICU beds from 18 to about 100 yet the most patients they saw at one time was 4. Which is great news. This is Mrs. AW's last week working in the covid ward and she'll go back to her old job pre-covid as will hundreds of people at her hospital. Of course, they're ready to come back if needed, but thankfully there's just no work.

Like I said, 2k active cases currently statewide. They've urged Arkansans to get tested saying they have the ability to test. They've ran those tests and didn't see a spike. About 800+ of the active cases are from one prison (Cummins) so almost half the states confirmed cases are under one roof. I think they tested everyone or close to everyone in that prison. 860 positives. A lot of asymptomatic carriers, 6 hospitalizations so far. No deaths.

They've ramped up their nurses to do contact tracing from 3 to 180. (not relying on cell phone data which I think is a mistake, but whatever).

Outside the big spike from the prison numbers, most everything is on downward trends.

At some point, I guess, you just have to get back out in the world. Personally, we aren't going back to work for at least another couple weeks. Well, employees aren't. I'm heading back next week. We'll probably play it by ear and wait a few weeks post re-opening to see what happens. If no 2nd surge then encourage employees to start heading back in. My daughters daycare shut down for a few weeks then re-opened mid April. My sons school let out for the year with online classes though they finish with the school work next week. After that, the hospital where Mrs. AW works has set up daycare at one of the schools that let out with 'social distancing' though...lol at the thought of a bunch of 7 year olds social distancing.

In the end, happy to be where we are, I guess, we'll see how this all unfolds.