Thread: How has Coronavirus affected you ?

I just heard that the Norwegian contractors I usually work for just refused to fly an ROV pilot from Thailand to Norway for a job. This is a worry as I was expecting to start up work this month.

Seems strange... Norway has 33 cases, UK has 53 cases and Thailand 43 cases. With a population of just 5 million, Norway must have a per capita infection rate 10 x that of Thailand which looks to be the safest of all 3 countries just now.

^Very disturbing news.

My brother is currently sitting in a railway station in Munich on his way back to Berlin waiting for the train he is on to get the all clear - another passenger was suspected of having covid-19 and the train was stopped . . . doctors and the federal police are checking the person and cleaning the areas he was in.

It's close to freezing and it's taking hours.

Shit gets real

Originally Posted by panama hat

doctors and the federal police are checking the person and cleaning the areas he was in.

Along with any in his carriage, food or toilet facilities he may have used, all he may have had contact with in the boarding station/taxi/car/hotel/home/office/factory ....

Where does the list stop? The last 14 days?

Originally Posted by OhOh

Along with any in his carriage, food or toilet facilities he may have used, all he may have had contact with in the boarding station/taxi/car/hotel/home/office/factory ....

Where does the list stop? The last 14 days?

Actually, I got it wrong - individuals were checked, disinfected and then given a disembarkation card to wait outside while the rest if the train was dealt with. My brother was in carriage 16 and the suspected covid-19 person in carriage one.
Turns out it was a false alarm . . . but the carriages were squeaky clean for the continuation.

A few hours later another train was dealt with the same way near Frankfurt - same result, luckily

But yes, where does one stop widening the net? Is it possible to isolate people, money, buildings etc... to the nth degree? No, so I guess one plays the odds and deals with the localised outbreaks as best one can.

Anyway, he got back to Berlin a few hours late and had to catch a flight to Madrid that evening - alls well, but the efforts to contain this virus are incredible

Even way out in the countryside of Japan schools are closed. All public events cancelled. Students graduating high school are banned from having parties. I have been sent on spring holidays one week early.

I will move to Tokyo this weekend. The city is like a ghost town in some ways. My friends are putting up pictures of empty train stations at places which are usually busy on social media. People are really starting to worry about the Olympics.

Yes it has affected me. I can't get my bourbon, my BBQ burner diffusion tubes and a few truck parts delivered. Starting to piss me off.

Originally Posted by Mendip

I just heard that the Norwegian contractors I usually work for just refused to fly an ROV pilot from Thailand to Norway for a job. This is a worry as I was expecting to start up work this month.

Seems strange... Norway has 33 cases, UK has 53 cases and Thailand 43 cases. With a population of just 5 million, Norway must have a per capita infection rate 10 x that of Thailand which looks to be the safest of all 3 countries just now.

The Thai Govt is also broadly suspected to be lying about the no. of cases here. My neighbour is an expat guy who works on offshore wind turbines (from a boat). He is grounded indefinitely for now.

Feel kinda guilty as it's having no impact whatsoever.


Another 2-3 months and will go condo hunting, could be some really good Chinese owned bargains around.

especially if you start an online rumour about them being infected with corvid-19

Had some travel plans and it seemed to increase the cost initially, canceled them for unrelated reasons; have some visitors coming so it may yet effect those plans (hopefully not); and decided to put some spare cash into buying shares in a dip instead of a peak for a change.

So all-in-all I'd say 'meh' to 'a bit'.

Originally Posted by Mendip

I just heard that the Norwegian contractors I usually work for just refused to fly an ROV pilot from Thailand to Norway for a job. This is a worry as I was expecting to start up work this month.

Seems strange... Norway has 33 cases, UK has 53 cases and Thailand 43 cases. With a population of just 5 million, Norway must have a per capita infection rate 10 x that of Thailand which looks to be the safest of all 3 countries just now.

It tells you a lot about how other countries trust Thailand to tell the truth.

EU parliament moves session from France over virus risk

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Parliament has exceptionally moved its planned session in Strasbourg, France, next week to Brussels because of concerns about the coronavirus risk.

Parliament president David Sassoli said the parliament’s medical service viewed a “significantly higher” health risk if the session went ahead in France and that it must exceptionally be held in Brussels.

Under the parliament’s rules, it must hold 12 plenary sessions a year in Strasbourg.

EU parliament moves session from France over virus risk - Reuters

Back in November all the signs were this was going to be a very busy year offshore.

Now, in addition to travel restrictions in place, the oil companies have slashed work scopes with the oil price crash. The Norwegian contractors I usually work for have said they can probably handle all work using staff.

Just when things were starting to look up in oil and gas.

A year in Korat... Jesus Christ...

Affected me - not in the least. The value of my investments have fallen @ 10% yet, the number of shares that I own remain the same. The decrease in the value of my shares will mean I must sell a few more shares for each of my monthly distributions. But, not of any real consequence.

As where I live is Nonthaburi - certainly not a tourist hot spot. The pandemic does not seem to affect anything. Traffic still sucks. Westgate Mall has about the same number of window shoppers sucking up the air. Maybe, just maybe, a 10-20% increase in the number of folk wearing face masks. But many, many bare faced window shoppers wandering the halls.

In a nutshell - other than the news and public service announcements I have not noticed any change at all.

Trump curbs travel from Europe as coronavirus disrupts schools, sports

WASHINGTON/SEATTLE (Reuters) - President Donald Trump ordered the suspension of European travel to the United States for 30 days to help curb the spread of a coronavirus pandemic that has disrupted nearly all corners of U.S. daily life, from education to sports and entertainment.

Trump, whose administration has come under sharp criticism for its response to the public health crisis, also announced several steps aimed at blunting economic fallout posed by coronavirus.

“We are marshaling the full power of the federal government and the private sector to protect the American people,” Trump said in a prime-time televised address from the Oval Office. “This is the most aggressive and comprehensive effort to confront a foreign virus in modern history.”

Trump, whose re-election bid on Nov. 3 could hinge on how well he responds to the crisis, stopped short of declaring a national emergency as the number of coronavirus infections continued to mount.

In the hard-hit Seattle area, the largest public school district in Washington state announced a two-week closure.

The unprecedented shutdown coincided with Washington state Governor Jay Inslee banning public gatherings of more than 250 people in the Seattle region.

The greater Seattle area is the epicenter of the deadliest, and one of the largest, clusters of coronavirus infections in the United States, accounting for the bulk of at least 37 people killed in the country by the highly contagious respiratory illness, also known as COVID-19.

The outbreak took a major toll on U.S. sports as the National Basketball Association said it was suspending the season until further notice after a Utah Jazz player tested positive for the coronavirus.

National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) said earlier on Wednesday that its wildly popular “March Madness” basketball tournament games would be played in arenas without fans.

Late-night television was taking a hit as well, with at least two shows produced in New York City - NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” and CBS’ “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” - planning to begin taping without a live studio audience for the first time, Hollywood trade publication Variety reported.

The outbreak even touched one of Hollywood’s most beloved stars, as Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks announced on Twitter that he and his wife, Rita Wilson, had tested positive for coronavirus in Australia, where he was on a film shoot.

TRUMP ACTS ON TRAVEL, BUSINESS FRONTS
Extending U.S. travel restrictions he imposed last month on airline flights from China, Trump said all travel from Europe to the United States would be suspended for 30 days, effective at midnight on Friday, though he exempted the United Kingdom.

Coronavirus outbreaks have flared in several European nations, especially in Italy, whose government has imposed a virtual lockdown of the entire country.

Read more
Trump curbs travel from Europe as coronavirus disrupts schools, sports - Reuters

Originally Posted by Klondyke

EU parliament moves session from France over virus risk

So how does that affect you Klondyke?

Originally Posted by Klondyke

Trump curbs travel from Europe as coronavirus disrupts schools, sports

So how does that affect you Klondyke?

Hint: This is not the corona virus news thread.

Very much starting to get the sense that the real effects are only just starting and will likely color the remainder of the year for pretty much everyone.

Last week my daughter's school closed for a day for 'deep cleaning', after a Korean student came back from Korea and one of her family subsequently fell ill. It turned out it wasn't coronavirus thankfully.

Anyway, the school organised last minute online lessons... no preparation or advice how to set it up. Is it Google Hangouts or Google Meet? It took ages to get anything working, forget getting any work done from home. And then halfway through my daughter's online Chinese lesson the dogs went off... had cornered a 2m rat snake in the garden (maybe just 10m from my daughter's computer). Dogs barking and howling, wife screaming... the daughter abandoned her lesson and ran outside... the poor Chinese teacher must have wondered what was going on. It was a disaster.

I really hope online lessons don't become the norm... a nightmare for parents.

Originally Posted by Mendip

I really hope online lessons don't become the norm... a nightmare for parents.

During the floods of 8 years ago my kids school the Harrow school went to online lessons. Not live but tutoring with a teacher in the selected subject you were taking. I will tell you the British teachers and admin did one heck of a good job. Worse was it still could not reopen after 5
weeks and they had to study from 3pm till 10pm on the campus at NIST after the NIST kids went home for 3 weeks..

Originally Posted by Mendip

Last week my daughter's school closed for a day for 'deep cleaning'.

Don't Thai schools close for March and April ?

^ She's in an international school mate, it more follows UK term times. She'll get a few weeks off for Easter which coincides with Songkran.

Just been cancelling everything for a planned UK trip at the end of the month. The meeting I was going to has been cancelled due to coronavirus.

Luckily KLM has a pretty decent no fee change going at the moment, you can book new flights any time up to end of May, or take a voucher good for one year. Will do the voucher thingy. Bugger getting in contact with them though, but finally got through yesterday.

Originally Posted by Luigi

Another 2-3 months and will go condo hunting, could be some really good Chinese owned bargains around.

Could be one in Patts, next to the CP family going. Nice views but smells of old people apparently.