6,337 New Covid-19 Infections 7/30, Extended Quarantine..?

[antipodean]

5 months, that's really tough on people. Does not gov give individual any financial help?
And does small business get any financial help too ? I really like to know and compare. Suddenly there is surge in Vietnam, China and HK and Greece. We are not going to isolate this problem away, only vaccine and drugs can get rid of it.

Extremely low income persons get $10.000 a month.
Some small businesses get a small % of their payrolls covered by ANSES, they need to make up the rest. Gradually this is being phased out.
Zero interest loans are available to autónomos and businesses, although usually for very small amounts.
Businesses are forbidden from suspending, furloughing or firing staff and must generally pay 75-100% of salaries depending on union agreement.
Argentina has consistently been rated as the (or one of the) hardest hit countries in the world economically thanks to government decisions and an unparalleled impediment to the economy. Tens of thousands of businesses have already gone bust and “for lease” signed are everywhere. It has only just begun.

 

[garryl]

I'm from the states and I don't know one person who's had it...

Tons of people I know had it. None of them died.

 

[Alby]

5 months, that's really tough on people. Does not gov give individual any financial help?
And does small business get any financial help too ? I really like to know and compare. Suddenly there is surge in Vietnam, China and HK and Greece. We are not going to isolate this problem away, only vaccine and drugs can get rid of it.

This should come as no surprise. Even a country like New Zealand, and states in Australia currently virus free (and Uruguay) will sooner or later get the virus. It has just been accidently released into Papua New Guinea due to a testing laboratory slip up. The line "xx country has beaten the virus" is heard so often (usually by people who don't believe in living with the virus) but is so short sighted. In 18 months to two years we will know if any country really beat the virus.

 

[Dougie]

I know 5 who've had it, 4 of them in their early 30s who handled it pretty well, few days of pain. The other one was a healthy guy in his early 50s. Really knocked him down, but didn't have to be hospitalized.

 

[Alby]

For sure COVID is real. The minority of cases will die, as they will with Dengue. But it is not a death sentence for everyone. As I have said before the cat is out of the bag. Further deaths and cases are a certainty and they cannot be undone. The only thing to do is to exercise personal and social responsibility. Make your own risk assessment and mitigate.

I am pretty sure that if I get COVID I will live to tell the tale, however I am a germophobe at the best of times and will go out of my way to avoid being sick with a flu for a few days. This one could be a few weeks. No thanks.

For that reason my COVID mitigation measures include working from home, avoiding the supermarket, having almost everything delivered, only entering shops/ hairdressers/ cafes if there are few or no others inside, avoiding or minimizing unnecessary social contact, masks and distancing, following rules on when to use the public spaces, lysoforming the elevator before getting in, hand shoe and clothes hygeine and otherwise enjoying my health and fitness the city in the outdoors away from other people. According to science all of these activities that I do partake fall into the low risk spectrum. At this point if I get COVID (or even Dengue...) despite mitigation measures, I get it anyway and it will suck.

Now, if I thought there was a larger risk of being severely ill or dying (eg falling into a certain age group) I would take more extreme mitigation measures unless I was open to go if the time comes early. The city has any army of volunteers ready and willing to help so one would not need to leave their home if one chooses that path.

I use the same tactics and have the same outlook on how to cope if, despite my best efforts, I am unlucky. I am almost as worried about becoming one of the "long haulers" with persistent delibitating symptoms and damaged organs as I am of dying.

The only thing I would add is avoid public transport, do not fly again until it is safe, and, fortunately, being claustrophobic, my place is on the first floor, so no chance of having to use a lift: those things frighten me even in good times. I understand they are dangerous not just for contaminated services but also for lingering trapped aerosols from a previous occupant.

 

[Alby]

All of which does, unfortunately mean limiting in-person social contact for the forseeable future, which is tough, and probably impossible for most people to sustain; one of the reasons the virus is unstoppable. I think for every additional person we cohabit with, our chances of getting the virus double; we get it if we are careful but unlucky just once in the next year or two, and we also get it if is our partner or another of our household members is careful but unlucky just once in the next year or two. It really is going to be very difficult to avoid in the medium term. No guarantee, but much easier if one is single and lives alone at this point in history.

 

[garryl]

5 months of lock down, that must be incredible hard. Without the 2 trillions that federal gov passed around, US would have have been over. Blood on the street, and stock market loses 70-80% of the value, home owners default on loans and tenants on the streets.
I know Argentines have much more saving than 2001, but how long can this go on for many of them ? At certain point, the society will crack, and fall apart.

 

[antipodean]

I use the same tactics and have the same outlook on how to cope if, despite my best efforts, I am unlucky. I am almost as worried about becoming one of the "long haulers" with persistent delibitating symptoms and damaged organs as I am of dying.

The only thing I would add is avoid public transport, do not fly again until it is safe, and, fortunately, being claustrophobic, my place is on the first floor, so no chance of having to use a lift: those things frighten me even in good times. I understand they are dangerous not just for contaminated services but also for lingering trapped aerosols from a previous occupant.

Lucky for public transport there is no choice if you are not an essential worker - new controls coming next week will try to make sure the Subte card matches with the permission to circulate making it harder to game the system. So if one does need to use transport, use a taxi or cabify and the advice is to sit in the back and open the window. Otherwise walk, most places in the city you can reach in an hour of leisurely strolling.

It is strange that WHO or similar have not revised advice or protocols regarding elevator use after the consensus started changing to show that COVID is an airborne illness - here in my building lift surfaces are cleaned frequently, there is alcohol gel inside and no more than 2 at a time are allowed but that does nothing if there was an infected person talking or coughing in it before, potentially up to 3 hours before. Nonetheless I always have an aerosol of Lysoform in my palier and I usually carry a mini one with me to spray the heck out of the air inside hopefully kill some of those airborne droplets!

 

[jeff1234]

not just for contaminated services but also for lingering trapped aerosols from a previous occupant.

I'm also keen on ventilation. If I need to be with someone, I do it outside if at all possible. If indoors I open doors and windows and windows to ventilate the room. If I pass people standing and chatting on the sidewalk, I avoid walking near them.
It's been my experience that most of the time I have contracted a virus it's been from the sneeze or cough of a person near me.

 

[on the brink]

When I was searching for an apartment, savvy friends advised me not to buy on the first floor - too easy to rob - or above the fourth floor - too dependent on the elevator. They were thinking of power outages, but now with the virus I appreciate being able to climb just two flights of stairs to get home, and avoid the elevator entirely.