Dr. Gonzo

No, I think the response has been poor from the get go and that’s why we’re looking at a pandemic. If there was intelligence of a worldwide outbreak in January from “the leader of the free world,” you’d expect that leader of the free world to adopt a more serious stance earlier on. And as the leaders of the free world, that stance sort of shapes the stance of the west. I can’t just help but think that in countries where Rupert Murdoch’s got a heavy influence in public opinion, you’ve got world leaders turning a criminally blind eye to what’s happening. The UK’s stats are eerily similar to Italy’s right now compared to when Italy first started having cases. And as an immigrant to the US, it seems weird to me that my state govt seems several steps ahead of the actual government. Which doesn’t seem right since the US govt was the one with more advanced notice of how bad this could be. World leaders have been a disgrace with handling this, a lot of people will die as a result

Breaking news on WaPo says the US govt had reports stating this would likely be a pandemic in late January, early February. Makes this response all the more pathetic. The level of leadership we’ve seen all across the world has been so staggeringly poor. I hope this is a wake up call.

It’s not surprising, there’s still about a third of the US that doesn’t believe it’s just anything more than a flu or a cold

Nah that guy needs a bullet to the brain. Who on earth does something like that? Nobody that should be on the planet, that’s for sure

Haha I actually laughed my arse off at that point. And any time I did karaoke I was dying laughing as I was playing.

Unbelievable. I think many people will agree that while we're all meant to be socially distancing ourselves from everyone, that things like video games for entertainment are going to keep us sane. But there's other ways to get new games in 2020 rather than going to the shops. And at this point in time, it's hard to claim a service that's available already to people at home is an essential service to keep open during a pandemic.

Not surprised the dickhead who owns Wetherspoons is more concerned with making sure he still makes money rather than containing the spread of an infectious disease that no government has demonstrated they were ready for.

I didn't see this when you first posted that - sorry for not checking in. I'm not sure what chapter I was on back then... but I've just finished the game today. Really liked it, also... I found it to be pretty hilarious at times. Looking forward to the rest of them... which aren't on GamePass right now, as far as I can tell.

That's a sweet looking kitty.

Fucking hell it's so grim in Italy. The UK needs to lockdown before it gets that bad.

Scandal in the US as 4 republican senators had been given warnings about how bad this would get in January so they sold stocks before market volatility, while investing in teleconference and working from home companies. They should be thrown in prison.

The US govt is flying out my coworker & other Americans trapped in Peru, so I imagine Canada would do the same thing. I do know that dual nationals aren’t always afforded the same protection though while they’re in a country they’re a citizen of.

When I work from home, my normal colleagues are replaced with 2 cats that won’t leave me alone I’ve always been able to get more work done at the office. I’m one of those people that likes to have set boundaries between their work life and home life (even though several times a week I’ll need to take work back with me); I wish I was someone who worked better from home though as it’s obviously the most comfortable place for me... as it’s home

I hate working from home because I work much more efficiently when I’m in my office. But yeah I’m also hoping this shows people that not all meetings need to be meetings and some can be emails

Tehran’s got awful air quality, but I don’t know about Qom (the epicentre for the disease in Iran).

Italy's death toll is pretty terrifying.

Today I learned my coworker is trapped in Lima (she went to Peru on holiday, she was meant to fly back today but all flights are grounded). Made me think of @Inti Brian tbh

So they've banned gatherings of over 50 people here, bars and restaurants aren't allowed to have anyone visit - food can be sold still, but everything has to be to go or delivery. Schools and Unis officially ordered to shut down. Toilet paper's been at almost every store around here (got some bog rolls yesterday, thank fucking Christ because I actually needed some - didn't panic buy a shitload just took one pack). The supermarket by me is usually pretty nice because it's 24/7, which is pretty fucking handy sometimes if it's late, but with the Covid-19 fears they're now open for just 12 hours a day. Although I think that's a good thing considering the circumstances, you can tell they've sterilised the store in the mornings when you walk in. Going to the store in the morning is pretty unnerving though - it looks like a warzone with massive lines (but with everyone spaced out) to get into stores as they open. Thankfully more stores are putting limits on how many basic necessities can be bought in a single checkout. There's probably ways around that so people can still hoard basic necessities that have become scarce... but it's definitely proven to be more effective than just letting people buy everything up. I've been working from home since Friday- it's been alright (sometimes I take work home anyways, but business has slowed a bit as many of our clients operations have slowed or come to a standstill with the virus - even before it hit here like this). The worst thing about it is if we're using our company's VPN to access some of our secured shit... which everyone is doing right now because everyone's working from home... it's a bit slow compared to normal. I assume that's because there's a shitload of people are using it currently.

I imagine they'd have to contact their embassies to have the government arrange for flight back if they've been ordered to come back. But idk.

As a type O, I like this

Fuck ‘em, they should be bearing the world’s fucking costs for this by hiding this shit for a month. Nobody’ll ever tell China that because of money.

They kill people for smoking weed, nobody's allowed to smoke cigarettes, and you can't chew gum if I remember correctly. So yeah, they're probably adept at keeping everyone in line with those policies there. I wonder how bad the situation is in North Korea, or if being relatively isolated from the rest of the world means they've been relatively unscathed. The thing is, I know they've got close ties with China... so I doubt they're unscathed.

These people are fucking idiots. I also think the people stockpiling should probably be shot, just for the good of society. They're holding this back and making people feel the need to routinely check supermarkets and go into big gatherings is going to increase the number of people that get sick.

Fucking hell that makes their mortality rate around 7.5%.

Someone at my Uncle’s work in Tehran’s tested positive (Iran was given a load of testing kits by China, so start to expect a bit more news out of Iran regarding confirmed cases), so I think it’s only a matter of time before he gets it. He’s my oldest uncle by some distance, so I’m fairly concerned. Especially as the situation’s proven to be pretty bad there. Still think it’s mental our government’s seen what’s happened in Italy and seems to be moving more slowly.