Coronavirus quarantining, day 10, Tuesday, March 24th, 2020

Every day needs pics of puppies but maybe today more than others. Via

"Now, scientists have narrowed down this timeframe, noting that SARS-CoV-2 may be stable for up to 3 days on surfaces and—importantly—hours in the air, according to a correspondence to the editor recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine."

Important to know. The COVID-19 virus can remain airborne for hours. 

New study suggests how long coronavirus can stay on surfaces

Loss of smell, taste might signal infection

Now, there’s “good evidence” from South Korea, China and Italy for loss or impairment of smell in infected people, says a joint statement from the presidents of the British Rhinological Society and of ENT UK, a British group that represents ear, nose and throat doctors. In South Korea, some 30% of people who tested positive for the virus have cited loss of smell as their major complaint in otherwise mild cases, they wrote.

ha! YAY heroes!

Polish Paramedics GHOSTBUSTERS in Ambulance CORONAVIRUS

Indoor hero! 

Here are 450 online classes you can take during quarantine
All eight of the schools making up the prestigious Ivy League – Harvard, Yale, Princeton , Cornell, University of Pennsylvania, Brown, Dartmouth and Columbia -- offer online classes to the public for free.
You can find a detailed list of all 450 classes here.

Healthy social distancing

Meanwhile, in Minneapolis

Scary silly, wearing make up with a surgical mask

Covidiots abound

Crowds pack California beaches despite coronavirus order

How hard it is to survive COVID-19, even for a young person, a fight for life

Oliver Sacks Fdn.

@OliverSacks

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1h

"I think all human beings are essentially courageous, and may be made more so by facing affliction." -Oliver Sacks

A true hero
Gino Fasoli was 73 years old. He was italian and he was a family doctor and an emergency room manager. In Africa they even kidnapped him to cure the sick. Then he retired. Days ago he received a phone call: "Can you help us out?".He came back. He was infected by Covid-19. He died like a true hero.

Amazing adapting to the crisis.
The Lucky Devil Lounge strip club was forced to temporarily close due to coronavirus. Now, they've pivoted to a food delivery service called "Boober Eats."


whoa. Opening a Jurassic stone

Sage investment advice from an experienced broker

Over the past several weeks, the markets have been in turmoil as investors are coming to grips with the emerging coronavirus pandemic. The market slide began in late February as investors weighed the negative effect that the government imposed shutdown in China was going to have on global supply chains, international trade, and overall economic activity. The downward pressure only mounted as the virus spread beyond China’s borders... to South Korea… to Italy… and eventually to the U.S. The market finally buckled this past Monday under the combined weight of the Saudi Arabia – Russia crude oil price war shock and the growing realization that efforts to contain the spread of virus had failed. The virus is now with us and in our communities, and we fully expect growth in the number of coronavirus cases to rapidly accelerate in the coming days and weeks, if only because of more widespread testing. The lack of a coherent response by the Federal government has only magnified the anxiety, and as the wave of public and private closures, cancellations, and suspensions continues to build, there is no longer much doubt that this public health crisis will have a huge impact on our day-to-day lives and the economy in the coming weeks and months.

The S&P 500 Index is down more than 20% in less than three weeks, and we are officially in bear market territory. This is absolutely what a market panic looks like. The panic and hysteria are rooted in the fear of the unknown. We still know relatively little about the virus and COVID-19, and the absence of national leadership has left us guessing as to what the government response will be, let alone its efficacy. All we know is that the situation is bad and likely to get worse, and that the near-term economic impact is all but certain to be significant. Whenever there is so little information and yet so much fear, “worst-case” scenarios take on magnified importance in the minds of many investors, leading to irrationally excessive risk aversion and selling. This is the moment that drives too many investors out of stocks for the wrong reasons. As investors, we need to remind ourselves that the speed and magnitude of price drops like these are the reasons why equity investments deliver higher returns over long periods of time. The most important thing to recognize is that these higher returns only accrue to those investors who have the discipline and resolve to resist the impulse to stop the immediate pain and  get out. The short-term emotional relief from selling will come at a terrible cost, sometimes in the form of capital gains tax liabilities, but most significantly in the missed opportunity from either a partial or no participation in the market’s eventual recovery.

...In many ways, the current situation is much less alarming than what we saw in the 2008/2009 financial markets crisis or even the 2001 bursting of the dot-com bubble. Although it may feel worse in the moment, resolving this public health crisis will likely be more straightforward than fixing a profoundly broken banking system or unwinding a massive misallocation of capital. The first step in the right direction will be a clearer policy response by our government, and Friday’s declaration of a national emergency and passage of spending/aid package are positive signs that we can expect one soon. This, in turn, will provide businesses and consumers with some degree of certainty which will help loosen the bunker-mentality that can have a paralyzing effect on consumer spending and economic activity. At the same time, as we learn more about the virus and COVID-19 and develop more effective strategies and treatments, the level of public panic will also subside. The fear of the unknown will eventually give way as we better understand our opponent and regain our ability to look past this crisis. An economic recovery will follow.

Periods of panicked selling do tend to make excellent buying opportunities, and we can see that certain sectors/industries have been grossly oversold (e.g., energy, financials/banking). However, we are not in a rush to buy since we are likely to see additional volatility in the markets as it may be many weeks or even months before we are able to turn the corner on the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. and globally will rise exponentially, and we may see more and more governments (including our own) take extreme measures to slow the spread of the virus and buy time to “flatten the curve” and keep public health systems from being overwhelmed. We may have some time here to let the chaos play itself out and allow us to better assess valuations and find potential bargains.

...how the crisis is affecting bonds. The market sell-off and flight to safety has driven the yields on U.S. Treasury securities to all-time lows – below 1% across the board, even for 30-year maturities. These ultra-low returns have their own distorting effects if they persist, but the logic of locking a sub-1% return for 30 years escapes us as it implies that we can expect with near certainty a future of negative inflation. As in equity markets, fear and panic are resetting bond market reference levels to reflect worst-case scenarios, and this brings its own set of risks for investors seeking refuge in bonds. We continue to believe that equity ownership in good-quality companies backed by solid balance sheets and with well-supported dividends is the superior choice for long-term investors seeking to protect and grow their wealth.

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The New York Times

Saturday, March 21, 2020 2:00 PM EST

Italy reported 793 virus deaths, the most in one day. The country’s missteps have underscored the importance of early, strict isolation measures.

The tragedy of Italy now stands as a warning to its European neighbors and the United States, where the virus is coming with equal velocity. If Italy’s experience shows anything, it is that measures to isolate affected areas and limit the movement of the broader population need to be taken early, put in place with absolute clarity, then strictly enforced.