What Does A Quarantine Due To Coronavirus Mean For Truckers?

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Makes Some Very Interesting Statements

I continue to come across things that somehow are not very well known. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has made some really interesting comments about coronavirus recently, to say the least.

In a recent address with President Trump standing nearby, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had a slip of the tongue when he said this coronavirus response was a "live exercise" and got an amazing response from the President:

United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had a slip of the tongue while addressing the American people from the White House when he stated that COVID-19 is a live military exercise.

“This is not about retribution,” Pompeo explained. “This matter is going forward — we are in a live exercise here to get this right.”

With a disgusted look on his face, President Trump replied: “You should have let us know.”

When being questioned by a member of the House, Mike Pompeo would not deny that coronavirus was a "hoax":

US secretary of state Mike Pompeo has refused to deny a conspiracy theory that the severity of the coronavirus outbreak is a "hoax", after the White House tried to paint coverage of the disease's spread as a conspiracy to undermine Donald Trump.

The president accused his opponents and the media of “politicizing” the virus, adding, “This is their new hoax,” following the investigation over Russian interference in his election and his impeachment.

Challenged to dismiss the suggestions of a ruse, Mr. Pompeo repeatedly refused to do so, saying: “The State Department is doing everything it can to protect American citizens around the world."

Interesting Numbers Globally About The Concentration Of Coronavirus Deaths

It has already been demonstrated that the death toll numbers have been inflated by several countries like the United States, Italy and Spain. It has been documented that New York State has decided it is "safe to assume" that "most" deaths have been from coronavirus, which I reported the other day.

From the outset, people have tried to figure out why the number of deaths is supposedly so high in some places and considerably lower everywhere else. Theories have included the quarantine measures used, resistance within a population, or even various effects the virus has on different ethnicities.

I was looking at the numbers yesterday, and they say 84,000 out of 115,000 deaths globally, or almost 75%, were concentrated in 5 countries:

• United States
• Spain
• Italy
• UK
• France

In the United States, we're told 9,300 out of 22,000 or 43% of all deaths were in New York.

How can that be? Of course, they'll say it's due to the effectiveness of quarantine measures used in different areas but that doesn't make sense. Italy, for instance, was the first country outside of China to implement a strict quarantine. Italy has 60 million people and claims 20,000 deaths.

Yet South Korea, a country with 51 million people, has had only 217 deaths even though they were one of the first and hardest-hit countries outside of China and never implemented any government-instituted lockdowns:

South Korea's coronavirus lessons: Quick, easy tests; monitoring:

But in South Korea, once the country with the worst outbreak outside China, life seems to be going on with some sense of normalcy.

Dozens line up at pharmacies to buy their government-rationed face masks every week and many are working from home, but businesses carry on and cities have yet to be subjected to a government-instituted lockdown.

Even better, South Korea has one of the lowest casualty rates from COVID-19 in the world, at just 1 percent.

"South Korea really distinguished itself for being able to transparently disclose information and combat the virus," said Hwang Seung-sik, an epidemiologist and professor at Seoul National University.

Canada, a country with over 37 million people has had only 717 deaths.

These numbers simply make no sense. You can not possibly claim that South Korea did a lot of testing which somehow stopped the virus, even though there is no cure for it and they never implemented a quarantine. Yet Italy implemented very strict quarantines right from the start and had a massive number of deaths.

I think the gig is almost up. Unfortunately, it's too late for the U.S. economy which has suffered over 16 million documented layoffs and tens of millions of undocumented layoffs, business closings, furloughs, and a reduction of work hours. It's impossible to know how many businesses have already gone bankrupt and how many more are to come over the next months and years, but it will be staggering.

Did a "raw numbers" calculation on one of my FB posts. Looks like this:

Let's look at some REAL NUMBERS here. To start with:

U.S. TOTAL Population - 328,200,000 (2019 #'s). US Cases (according to John Hopkins as I write this post): Confirmed Cases: 577,842 Total Deaths: 23,232 (won't go into how this number has been "fudged" to include people that DIDN'T DIE DIRECTLY from COVID-19 - but we'll use it, just to make things easier).

So now - looking at "confirmed infections" (considering they are NOT TESTING EVERYONE) versus "total deaths" = 4.02%

"confirmed infections" versus TOTAL US POPULATION: .18%

"total deaths" versus TOTAL US POPULATION: .0071%

So let's go under the (most likely true) assumption that WAY MORE PEOPLE ARE ACTUALLY INFECTED than have been "confirmed". Then the "actual death rate" (however artificially bloated) goes WAY DOWN.

But always keep in mind - despite the "scary picture with red blobs" - the ACTUAL NUMBERS (both infections and death) in the ENTIRE POPULATION is actually very minimal - despite the PANIC that we have had foisted on us...

Rick

Yeah Old School, it is. My question is what are the regular workers being paid? I know not that much. This is for a guaranteed pay contract of at least 8 weeks but up to 12. So whether I work or not, I'd still receive that. 48 hours a week so 4 12 hour shifts per week. With them locking up necessary PPE, I say absolutely not, unless they give me a reliable blood test (titre) to prove I've already had it and I'm immune.

Funny thing though.. I ask my friends about patient census counts.. friends who are doctors, nurses, and other registered therapists.. some in Washington state, some in Kentucky, some in Ohio, some in the Northeast. Response? Crickets. I know for a fact that hospitals in Louisville are laying off employees, as are some in Florida, yet one Tampa hospital will not leave me alone.

I left healthcare for what I thought was a very valid reason. Bean counters should have no say so in the treatment a patient receives. Believe me when I say staffing levels were abysmal. I personally had 16 ventilator dependent patients on 4 different floors when I finally walked out and took 6 other therapists with me. The following year I testified in 4 wrongful death lawsuits. Yes I testified against a Kentucky hospital. The deceased patients families won, thank God. They deserved it.

Susan,

Thanks for posting this. When I talk to anyone at home they declare that ALL the medical professionals in the country will confirm the "war zone" of patient overload in in the hospitals.

St. Louis County is building a temporary morgue.

Rob.

St. Louis County is building a temporary morgue.

From the article about it:

St. Louis County confirmed it is retrofitting a warehouse on Rider Trail in Earth City. The county’s permanent morgue is a one-story building in Berkeley, with a capacity of 20 bodies. The official said the temporary morgue is not needed but may be if the number of deaths from COVID-19 spikes.

Their morgue only holds 20 bodies to begin with. So they're not actually building anything. They're going to retrofit a warehouse just in case. Just more fake news about the theoretical piles of bodies that never happened.

Exactly, Brett. Morgues are generally quite small.. especially hospital morgues. It's quite common for them to rent a reefer trailer as a temporary morgue.

U of L is Louisville is getting busier and one of the doctors there is going to have me tested for antibodies as soon as it's more available. If I've had it already he needs my plasma. In Louisville its hitting the African American population much harder (maybe because they weren't following guidelines?) and they often have the same blood type that I do (b+). Apparently people with my blood type tend to get sicker.

On the other hand, Nortons is forcing employees to take off work.

The hospitals here and in many areas are over prepared, if that's such a thing. We've turned our convention center at the fairgrounds into a makeshift hospital, believe it or not.. but who's going to staff it, if it's needed? Idk, but I have tons of questions about all this stuff. Something definitely isn't right.

Apparently many will have the GI symptoms like I had (and was therefore denied testing) back in mid February when I was horribly sick for 9ish days.

Oh and to Old School and GTown.. I thought of both of you.. I drove past the New Delhi LA exit going to load in West Monroe 3 or 4 weeks ago and the following week I drove very near GTowns DC. This week I was all over Colorado. Yep hauling strange stuff and certainly not in our normal lanes. Staying busy and I'm grateful.

Thanks for the thought Susan!

Trucker Bandit

In PA, this is the new norm effective tomorrow when I enter a Walmart.

Yippee!

6 weeks ago if I rung the bell in this get-up... they’d call the Police. Now? They’ll call them if you are not wearing a mask.

I spy.......

Prime announced this week that they tested over 100 drivers and in house employees and thus far have only had 5 drivers and 3 in house test positive. Considering we have well over 12,000 employees that is good. You can get tested at the terminal in Sprimo if you have symptoms. Our normal DOT doctor there is doing them so it is someone we know and teust They partnered up with coca cola for the bottles and Casey Distllery to give us out hand sanitizers. Masks just arrived and they are hoping to be able to give anti body tests soon. Quarantine areas are set up for those who feel ill.

The Sales Director said we had record freight during the restock push, and had "many loads canceled" due to less demand for other products. Tanker for example now does oils for candles and soaps as well as pet food. that freight is down or completely eliminated in addition to the meat plant closures or reductions. They are now dead heading us much further than normal. But since fuel is so low, it isnt hurting as badly.

Good news is that some.plants that were closed put in orders for the next couple weeks. There has been an increase on team freight, and solos are sitting a little.more than usual, but nothing compared to some other companies. Also, they are continuing with the Driver Health & Fitness program, knowing depression can set in since people are delaying home times or are stuck in the truck.more.

Upgrades for trainees have been slightly delayed but will continue according to our operations managers.

They are asking anyone who takes hometime in NYC, New Orleans, Detroit, Chicago metro areas to stay home if symptomatic.... or avoid the terminals for 2 weeks after home time if no symptoms.

They are posting weekly updates on Prime Inc Youtube channel for.anyone interested.