General Coronavirus chit chat thread - non-travel specific

[Quickstatus]

And the USA President got hammered and labelled racist when he wanted international flights from China to stop.

It is not surprising that USA and Italy got numbere higher than China

1) reliability of data from china
2) these countries outside china got hit by multiple virus carrying passengers from China over a short period of time. So the initial growth was very fast.

 

[Quickstatus]

If Australia had auto industry I suppose ventilators could have been made for medical needs

Unfortunately even with Ventilators there are other countries who makes them a lot cheaper.

 

[Cossie]

Had to renew my drivers licence today, options 5 years or 10 years, feeling optimistic I paid the extra and went for 10 years, although cheaper per year on average.

I'll be mightily pee'd off if this virus gets me before then.

 

[DC3]

And Trump got hammered and labelled racist when he wanted international flights from China to stop.

It is not surprising that USA and Italy got numbere higher than China ...

And I’m guessing that the USA won’t all be back in church for Easter?

 

[tgh]

Many companies are scrapping or pending dividends

brrr

last week or so routine forecast $$ from bhp medibank coles origin.. we have a diverse portfolio and I don't really follow what comes in when.. maybe I should start.. but otoh that would probably be depressing

 

[Himeno]

And I’m guessing that the USA won’t all be back in church for Easter?

A number of states have said that if the US President orders it, they'll ignore it and continue the lock downs for as long as their medical experts advise.

 

[Quickstatus]

And I’m guessing that the USA won’t all be back in church for Easter?

No this is going to be 6 months at least. Maybe the Pope should postpone Easter.
No one is buying Easter chocolate
Covid love Church gatherings

 

[Pushka]

On a lupus Australia FB group someone has tested positive for Covid. They are on plaquenil. Had fever then subsided. But now has no taste nor smell. Also no known contacts with overseas nor known positive.

 

[Quickstatus]

A number of states have said that if the US president orders it, they'll ignore it and continue the lock downs for as long as their medical experts advise.

In the USA, states have a lot of power. The feds have limited power over the states

 

[Flying mermaid]

No this is going to be 6 months at least. Maybe the Pope should postpone Easter.
No one is buying Easter chocolate

I bought mine some time ago and panic bought some extra chocolate. (From Haighs). I think we have enough chocolate to see us through on our reduced income.

 

[Foreigner]

Unfortunately even with Ventilators there are other countries who makes them a lot cheaper.

you’re right, provided quality is acceptable and they are able/willing to supply us

 

[Flying mermaid]

On a lupus Australia FB group someone has tested positive for Covid. They are on plaquenil. Had fever then subsided. But now has no taste nor smell. Also no known contacts with overseas nor known positive.

What state?

 

[Quickstatus]

We don’t buy cheap ventilators on eBay. They all come with robust service level agreements and few manufacturers make them but the technology is nothing special.
But yes I do lament we don’t have significant manufacturing in OZ relying on global supply chains that are as weak as a single weak link

 

[Pushka]

What state?

Not sure. I'll try check again on iPad. Ok, Bankstown NSW. The person is receptionist for a surgeon and also recently attended massage and hair salon. Now Day 8 after positive and only remnants are lack of taste and smell. She didnt report her result on FB until 2 days ago.

 

[RooFlyer]

A number of states have said that if the US President orders it, they'll ignore it and continue the lock downs for as long as their medical experts advise.

And New York rebelled when the US president threatened to lock New York City down.

USA is a funny place isn’t it?

 

[Quickstatus]

And New York rebelled when the US president threatened to lock New York City down.

USA is a funny place isn’t it?

Yes.
Power is not centralised in the USA. There is no way the US President can shut down a State without their agreement. He can’t even call up the military

 

[lovetravellingoz]

Covid19 Foxtel

While Covid is causing all sorts of problems for all sections of the community, it is of no surprise that Foxtel is also affected

In normal circumstances, it is impossible to cancel or reduce a Foxtel subscription without calling Foxtel on the phone number 131999. Foxtel makes it deliberately difficult to reduce or cancel but easy to increase a plan or signup because Foxtel’s website only allows upgrades or new customer signups. The website does not allow for cancellation or reduction on the subscription plan

Foxtel website now says Covid has impacted its call centres and are not taking any calls except for technical issues. Therefore it is impossible to cancel a subscription or reduce a subscription.

While I accept that call centres would be affected due to social distancing rules and non essential services rules, I do not accept that I do not have the ability to cancel or reduce my subscription. On one level this may be interpreted as Foxtel not wanting to lose revenue by making impossible for people to cancel their subscription - because this is the effect of preventing people from cancelling or reducing their subscription.

Even live chat is not available.

I have some knowledge of Foxtel.

100,000 people have cancelled subscriptions recently. So many have successfully cancelled subscriptions since CV19 hit. Evidently loss of job being a key reason.

Many have rejigged their packages. ie swapped sport for movies etc. There are also new subscribers due to people spending more time at home and as their satellite system allows it to work in areas where the internet is poor.


They have totally lost their offshore call centres due to CV19. Only the small but higher level Australian based tech support remained. So while I can very much understand people being annoyed the company suddenly had a massive problem.

So they have had to ramp up, and are ramping, up call centre capacity here in Oz to handle the normal vast number of routine enquiries from virtually nothing. And with CV19 enquiries are up.

So yes very limited call centre capacity. But on the bright side for all of you that hate offshore call centres you are now only talking to Australian staff

 

[Quickstatus]

So how do I reduce my subscription

 

[DC3]

So how do I reduce my subscription

... or, get all of the free programs mentioned upthread?

 

[lovetravellingoz]

just had a dividend deferred to October - at this rate I don't need to worry about covid-19 - will just die of cold in winter or starvation Master FM might be sending money to support us and his sister .....

This month I have had 4 companies pay dividends and 1 defer all 2020 dividends.