Winnebago Shuts Down

[powercat_ras]

Employees getting base pay and benefits for first 2 weeks of the shutdown.
Winnebago parts, dealer support, technical care will stay operating during the shutdown.

Winnebago Industries temporarily suspending production

[Goodspike]

Good for them. Boeing is continuing to produce 787s that their customers won't be able to afford to buy. The first person on their Everett line recently died, and the employees are not at all happy.

[rgvtexan]

https://www.elkharttruth.com/elkhart...7347a8332.html

[theSane]

The link is broken, but yes, they are shutting down the factory floor, but leaving service and support open.

[rgvtexan]

Try this link

https://www.elkharttruth.com/elkhart...7347a8332.html

[Morich]

With the current stats showing the curve going worse in the US, rather than better on easing the spread, combined with the announcement from the surgeon general that next week will be "getting bad", I would not assume anything less than an actual full blown shutdown to be in the future.
As in all things, it will take a struggle between the medical folks and the political folks and who knows who wins on that argument. We started so far behind and appear to be getting worse, so something drastic has to happen.
This is the stats sheet that I am looking at on how the curve is moving:
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/inf...covid19-curve/
Somewhat hard to get the green line for the US to come up without playing with it a bit but when you really look at it, it is bearing left toward doubling victims sooner rather than slowing the spread.

[theSane]

We have no idea what our curve looks like due to lack of testing. Any increase right now is a measure of increased testing discovering those already infected, not necessarily a increase in spread. Give us another two-three weeks and we will have an idea of our curve.

Time to study what S. Korea, Japan, and Hong Kong have been doing to flatten their curves an imitate them. Abundance of testing, strict quarantine of the ill and their social circles with disciplined use of face masks appears to be the key. (CDC now admits even the most basic of masks helps, as the sick often do not know they are ill & contagious in the early stages, and the masks help slow the spread from the ill to the healthy)

[Goodspike]

Boeing shut down today. Our Seattle area companies haven't been doing well in this area. Costco at first would not let their office employees telecommute because it wouldn't be fair to the retail clerks. Then one died their too. And Costco's management is usually good. I would expect stupid things from Boeing's management.

[akeagle]

Just a week or so ago, before the number of COVID-19 cases started skyrocketing, a discussion on Facebook was saying something to the effect that if we (the government) jumped on it right way and contained it quickly with draconian measures, there would have been criticism for overreacting and probably overspending, even though it was accomplished with the least amount of effort and cost . At the very least there would have been a lot of squalling from those whose "freedoms" were restricted and accusations of wasted money.

But if the government for whatever reason waits until the outbreak is obvious, the opportunity to contain it quickly with reasonable effort and cost is lost. Then real and severe draconian actions are required, not with an expectation to fully contain the virus, but at best just a HOPEFUL effort to minimize catastrophic loss of life or tanking of the economy. And now, strangely, we suddenly seem to have a government totally willing to spend TRILLIONS of dollars in a questionable effort to turn this thing around.

So, in our current situation, for strictly political reasons the opportunity to get out in front of the Coronavirus was squandered and scientific and medical expertise and advice were ignored. Now that the virus has spun out of control and increasing exponentially with the number of deaths rising every day, politicians are still dithering and trying to minimize the government's response for absurd political reasons.

And now we have people running the government who are not at all concerned about whether its people live or die, but instead focused on the wellbeing of business and the wealthy.

What has America become?

[Morich]

It has become what it voted for? When there is a change and among the biggest change is getting rid of anybody who has experience, you can about bet there will be hell to pay down the line somewhere.
The really dumb part is that we are this far along coming up on three months, and still no national plan for shutting down to stop or reduce the spread! If you look at a poor country like South Korea and their response and result, we look pretty dumb! We were rated as number one prepared before this case came up but we are now looking at the worst on results.

[theSane]

Elected officials did not fail us. The permanent professional bureaucracy at the CDC & FDA botched the creation of test kits and prevented private companies from creating their own.

The ineptitude of these "experts" put us behind the 8-ball and prevented us from spotting and isolating hot spots early. Now we are attempting to recover from their failures.

We can recover and we will.

Originally Posted by Morich

It has become what it voted for? When there is a change and among the biggest change is getting rid of anybody who has experience, you can about bet there will be hell to pay down the line somewhere.
The really dumb part is that we are this far along coming up on three months, and still no national plan for shutting down to stop or reduce the spread! If you look at a poor country like South Korea and their response and result, we look pretty dumb! We were rated as number one prepared before this case came up but we are now looking at the worst on results.

[Goodspike]

Originally Posted by theSane

Elected officials did not fail us. The permanent professional bureaucracy at the CDC & FDA botched the creation of test kits and prevented private companies from creating their own. .

It really does seem nuts to have two different entities dealing with test kits. Seemingly testing for disease should be under the CDC's control, where perhaps things like testing for a normal blood panel would be under the FDA's control.

[eldermike]

IMHO people are so dependent on being led this way or that way and blame must lie somewhere for everything that happens. It's a virus. My hope is that treatments for the respiratory issues are effective enough to get us back to work as soon as possible. Right now we have food. But unless people can work they will not be able to buy it. Just some thoughts.

[Morich]

Quote: Elected officials did not fail us. The permanent professional bureaucracy at the CDC & FDA botched the creation of test kits and prevented private companies from creating their own.
These are the professionals who were changed out! The leaders with knowledge were sidelined as the more politically agreeable were put into place to do the talking. Were professional medical people put in charge or was it the vice president and son in law? At this point the pro folks spend much of their time trying to correct what the leaders get wrong!
We know this is just getting started but we see the leader suggesting it is all over and we need to go back to work!
The Arizona couple are dead/dying because they blindly followed the suggestions of people who do not know anything about medicine.
It works that way in a cult!

[theSane]

Originally Posted by Morich

The Arizona couple are dead/dying because they blindly followed the suggestions of people who do not know anything about medicine.
It works that way in a cult!

One person died and other is in critical condition because they poisoned themselves with fish tank cleaner, not the drug used to treat Malaria or Lupus (only available via prescription).

Results out of France are promising for Chloroquine+z-pack

A more recent French study used the drug in combination with azithromycin. Most Americans know azithromycin as the brand name Zithromax Z-Pak, prescribed for upper respiratory infections. The Z-Pak alone doesn’t appear to help fight Covid-19, and the findings of combination treatment are preliminary.

But researchers in France treated a small number of patients with both hydroxychloroquine and a Z-Pak, and 100% of them were cured by day six of treatment. Compare that with 57.1% of patients treated with hydroxychloroquine alone, and 12.5% of patients who received neither.

What’s more, most patients cleared the virus in three to six days rather than the 20 days observed in China. That reduces the time a patient can spread the virus to others. One lesson that should inform the U.S. approach: Use this treatment cocktail early, and don’t wait until a patient is on a ventilator in the intensive-care unit.

[eldermike]

This virus will be with us for years and years to come. Even after the production of a vaccine this virus will still be with us. Type A flu deaths so far this year is about 12,000 and we have a very good vaccine for that. What we have learned about this new virus will help everyone in years to come. I predict that death from flu will go down because we have all learned more about transmission of germs and how to social distance during outbreaks. I predict going forward that people will not be expected or allowed to come to work with a cough or a fever.

Long term we will be better off based on what we have all learned from the pandemic. Testing is not a cure it's a data gathering activity. If you test positive you have it, negative you don't yet have it. It's the "don't yet" part that we have learned how to live with this new virus. That will save lives. But that will not be understood for some time, but it's true.

[creativepart]

Ok, no politics!

I’m leaving the politically charged posts up and the thread open, but here is the deal, the next poster that adds his political take on the crisis and how it is or should be handled will be responsible for closing the entire thread.

We’d like to not close this so please self-moderate when posting here.

[puttin]

The Junction City, Ore. service center has been closed and should reopen Apr. 14th.

[tmelsonjr]

Originally Posted by creativepart

Ok, no politics!

I’m leaving the politically charged posts up and the thread open, but here is the deal, the next poster that adds his political take on the crisis and how it is or should be handled will be responsible for closing the entire thread.

We’d like to not close this so please self-moderate when posting here.

[71_340]

Originally Posted by theSane

Elected officials did not fail us. The permanent professional bureaucracy at the CDC & FDA botched the creation of test kits and prevented private companies from creating their own.

The ineptitude of these "experts" put us behind the 8-ball and prevented us from spotting and isolating hot spots early. Now we are attempting to recover from their failures.

We can recover and we will.

Elected officials at the very top ignored warnings from the outgoing administration way back in 2016. Then they ignored warnings from the intelligence community because they are part of the "deep state".

It will all go away "like a miracle".