Corona Virus

[GeoffH]

3 minutes ago, Heeb said:

To the animals of the planet and possibly the planet itself we are the virus.

I'm not a believer in the Gaia theories.

[hk blues]

1 hour ago, GeoffH said:

Humans in groups hunted the largest and most powerful animals of the African savannah.  I'll say that again... in groups.  They did it until this century and every man in the hunting group relied on every other man to do their job, weakest link or strongest link.

You see there are two basic modes that human society operates in, cooperation or competition.  Cooperation works better but it requires most people to cooperate and some people are simply unwilling or incapable of doing that.  It doesn't make one weaker to cooperate, humankinds greatest achievements come from cooperating and part of that is being willing to support people when they need it so that they'll support you later.  That's called enlightened self interest.

And yes there are times when cooperation works better (most times) and there are times when it doesn't.  But during a pandemic?  I know which one I'm betting on.

 

And of course the correct answer is cooperation. Only by working together can we see a light at the end of the tunnel. 

I'm still not in the 'The end is nigh' camp, far, far from it. We have seen too many positve signs of how some countries can do better than others, scientists are actively working on positive leads in the race to find a vaccine. Yes, sadly, many haven't lived to see it and many others will join them but we are not seeing hundreds of thousands of deaths. We aren't scratching our heads nor sitting on our thumbs wondering what to do next. 

It's not at the stage of the Hollywood movies where barren landscapes are inhabited by lawless gangs either. Far, far from it.

Let's all keep some perspective and keep moving forward to tomorrow.

[Heeb]

1 minute ago, GeoffH said:

I'm not a believer in the Gaia theories.

I don't either, nor do I believe in a mother nature but I do believe in cause and effect, too many people on this planet is not a good thing, look to Easter island for a microscopic example of overpopulation and using up resources.

 

[Tommy T.]

19 minutes ago, Heeb said:

look to Easter island for a microscopic example of overpopulation and using up resources.

Been there... done that... but they weren't printing T-shirts when I was there...

And the real story is a bit more complicated than that... ... another time, another forum...

Edited April 5, 2020 by Tommy T.

[peterfe]

Well, the article in The Australian sparked a bit of a debate, which was the idea. I really have no idea whether the Wuhan way, the Swedish way or any other "way" is the solution. There are so many medical, political and societal factors involved, also cultural and geographical aspects. So let's just sit tight and hope that prolonged house arrest doesn't drive us all up the wall (well, that's the only way you can go, as you can't go outside the wall)  

[Reboot]

Hey everyone. Don't come here as often as I used to. How are you doing in the middle of this? Hope you're all well and happy.

[Heeb]

Has anyone thought of the long term repercussions for travel and how they may affect us as expats, especially those who leave the country frequently? I think the airline industry will never come back from this, and we will see bankruptcy and some airlines will go defunct, not just because people may not travel as much because they worry about exposure but I believe that countries will impose new rules for international arrivals similar but not as drastic of course to what Hawaii, or the UK has for rabies, my dogs were quarantined for 4 months when I transferred to Guam from San Diego and I had to have proof of rabbis vaccination. At the very least travelers may have to have proof of vaccine, a health certificate or may be quarantined for a couple weeks upon arrival. Will this cause tickets prices to go up or go down? Hard to say but maybe this is a good thing because it's international travel that's turned this virus into a pandemic, I haven't wanted to take a vacation in the last few years because everywhere I go it's overcrowded, look at Boracay, it's crazy, Europe is the same. Am I thinking too hard about this, maybe.

[GeoffH]

1 hour ago, Heeb said:

Has anyone thought of the long term repercussions for travel and how they may affect us as expats, especially those who leave the country frequently?

Yes I have thought about it, quite a lot actually.  Perhaps that's because I went to Aussie to sell my investment property and I had already stayed longer here than I normally do.  The house sale started to proceed just as the virus started to be talked about and by the time it was finished the borders were closed so despite my plans to head back to the Philippines I'm stuck in Australia until all this is finished one way or another.

My guess is that we'll see fewer routes because less profitable routes will be culled, stricter border controls, more use of visas before departure rather than on arrival, more use of 'Vaccination documents"  (like the WHO one I mentioned in another post) and fewer budget carriers because initially at least most travellers will be business travellers (and most business travellers use full service carriers if not business class).

I also think we'll see more use of flights via major hubs (like Singapore for example) and less direct point to point flights.

 

Of course I could be totally wrong too.

 

Edited April 6, 2020 by GeoffH

[Tommy T.]

2 hours ago, Heeb said:

I go it's overcrowded, look at Boracay, it's crazy, Europe is the same. Am I thinking too hard about this, maybe.

Time to chill, Heeb.... Here... have a shot of Tanduay with me now?....

Don't worry, the glass is clean, I washed my hands before pouring and I will remain 8 feet away from you... The Tanduay will take care of any remaining infection?

Edited April 6, 2020 by Tommy T.

[Tommy T.]

5 hours ago, Reboot said:

Hey everyone. Don't come here as often as I used to. How are you doing in the middle of this? Hope you're all well and happy.

Howdy. I think most of us are still well as I hope you are too. Many of us are not at all happy... but we seem to be getting by...