McLaren
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Doubtful. A former co-worker of mine argues he was using "layman's terms" when he said disinfectant.
COVID-19/Coronavirus Information and Support Thread (see OP for useful links)
- Thread starter baldgye
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Something worth paying attention to, we’re starting to see a chain reaction of events ripple through the food production industry. Processing plants have had to slow production due to Coronavirus outbreaks amongst their staff, and as a result, food producers from dairy farmers to vegetable farmers to chicken/beef/pork farmers are losing their ability to sell ripe/mature product to processing plants.
The price of pork (by the head) is falling quite rapidly as farmers now sit on an excess of mature animals. Some farmers are simply having to kill off their stock because they have no one to sell to. Other farmers are trying to slow the growth of their pigs. Farmers who raise piglets to sell to feed lots are also finding they have no one to sell too, as feed lots are backed up.
Any current meat shortages you might witness in your grocery store are currently due to slow downs in the supply chain, as there is still a significant amount of frozen meat in stock piles, but these stock piles are not being replenished at the usual rate.
I don’t think it’s time to start panic buying meat, but I don’t think this issue can be ignored forever. Either these food processing plants need to return to normal function, or there will be knock-on effects that we’ll start to see in the coming months.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/23/meat-shortage-coronavirus-shutdowns-205689
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...mers-have-culled-pigs-with-prices-in-freefall
I haven’t found any articles about the local food production industry where I live, which is mainly focused on fruits like apples, cherries, peaches, plums, and grapes (and in the “Lower Mainland”, ie the area surrounding Vancouver, there is a significantly large vegetable farming industry), but I know the local industry relies heavily on foreign workers for both planting and harvesting. We’ve already seen one outbreak amongst foreign farmers here in Kelowna (typically these farmers live in very close quarters in “picker shacks”). I’m not up to speed on how various levels of government are addressing the issue of foreign workers, or how what measures the local food production industry is taking to address these problems, but I can’t see the industry carrying on as though everything is normal.
The price of pork (by the head) is falling quite rapidly as farmers now sit on an excess of mature animals. Some farmers are simply having to kill off their stock because they have no one to sell to. Other farmers are trying to slow the growth of their pigs. Farmers who raise piglets to sell to feed lots are also finding they have no one to sell too, as feed lots are backed up.
Any current meat shortages you might witness in your grocery store are currently due to slow downs in the supply chain, as there is still a significant amount of frozen meat in stock piles, but these stock piles are not being replenished at the usual rate.
I don’t think it’s time to start panic buying meat, but I don’t think this issue can be ignored forever. Either these food processing plants need to return to normal function, or there will be knock-on effects that we’ll start to see in the coming months.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/23/meat-shortage-coronavirus-shutdowns-205689
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...mers-have-culled-pigs-with-prices-in-freefall
I haven’t found any articles about the local food production industry where I live, which is mainly focused on fruits like apples, cherries, peaches, plums, and grapes (and in the “Lower Mainland”, ie the area surrounding Vancouver, there is a significantly large vegetable farming industry), but I know the local industry relies heavily on foreign workers for both planting and harvesting. We’ve already seen one outbreak amongst foreign farmers here in Kelowna (typically these farmers live in very close quarters in “picker shacks”). I’m not up to speed on how various levels of government are addressing the issue of foreign workers, or how what measures the local food production industry is taking to address these problems, but I can’t see the industry carrying on as though everything is normal.
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- 29,095
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- GTP_Mars
Erm, yeh...Doubtful. A former co-worker of mine argues he was using "layman's terms" when he said disinfectant.
The White House claim that Trump's comments were 'taken out of context'.
What they fail to realise is that the very people who are most likely to misinterpret Trump's comments are the same people who listen to him at all.
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- GTP_Mars
Hardly 'some politician' though... the President of the USA has more influence than practically any politician on Earth (sadly) and his comments are accessible to a vast number of people, many of which are easily influenced and/or trust in the fact that the President is not supposed to be scientifically illiterate (and downright irresponsible).
- 20,689
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- Blitzbay
- Blitzbay
I think the only way I'd ever trust a politician with medical advice is if he was a medical doctor himself (or herself). Although, if he were an intelligent doctor, he'd never enter politics.
McLaren
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Were they taken out of context, or was it sarcasm as he apparently claims? Feel like there's a difference there....
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- GTP_Mars
Unbelievably, they can't even get their pathetic excuses right.
Sarcasm? SARCASM?? So it was a 'sarcastic question directed at the media' according to Trump... that is not only a plain and obvious lie, it would also be reprehensible if it were true!
It was also not taken out of context - though technically he doesn't actually advocate injecting bleach - but he does specifically suggest to the chief medical officer that perhaps injecting disinfectant would kill the virus.
As pointed out above, the irony is that he is actually right - it would indeed kill the virus... though there are notable side-effects, such as death. To paraphrase the late, great Robin Williams, that isn't a 'side-effect', it's more of an effect really...
- 4,007
- Derbyshire, UK
- DG Silva
One thing to consider about the food processing industry is that they are just as susceptible to staffing shortages as any other industry, and the main reason why the processing plants are struggling is because they are operating at much lower capacity - not because they want to, but because they're being forced to.
The same is happening across every part of the retail chain, and this includes couriers - the couriers we use at work currently have between 50-60% of their entire delivery workforce, despite having 150% more traffic year on year.
- 20,689
- NJ/USA
- Blitzbay
- Blitzbay
This is why I always find it alarming when side-effects of drugs to treat issues includes death.
Danoff
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I guess we live in different words after all. To me he is just some guy who got elected as a president and will become an ordinary guy once he is done with his current job. That's why in my eyes he is just some politician. Not much more influential from Putin or Xi ether.
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- TexRex72
Apparently today was the "Explain the Stupid **** from Yesterday's Press Conference" press conference.
McLaren
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Welp, 1 of our local counties is jumped ahead to lifting some restrictions in place, and the only thing it accomplished is attracting the attention of everyone from other counties to it with people admitting they drove from nearly an hour away just to go eat. I'll link the article if need be, but all the people interviewed are basically of the mindset: "We didn't buy into this virus! The economy is more important! We feel completely safe!". They claim there were safeguards, but a picture taken tonight shows 1 restaurant is basically pre-virus; bunch of people sitting just a few feet from each other. Won't be surprised if this county contributes to a "sudden" uptick in confirmed cases.
- 1,942
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So, beaches in some parts of Sydney were re-opened for people to exercise, and then were closed almost immediately due to people going there for recreation, ignoring social distancing rules.
This is why we can't have nice things.
This is why we can't have nice things.
Dotini
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In India, lockdown is doing wonders. Maybe this is the right way to live we are all looking for?
https://news.trust.org/item/20200424070343-wqwcx
https://news.trust.org/item/20200424070343-wqwcx
- 29,095
- Glasgow
- GTP_Mars
This is going to be a problem everywhere... but I reckon the US will be a particularly stark example. The UK is also facing the same dilemma - Scotland, Wales and England all have their own plans, but unless they all act in line with each other, then there could be a similar issue to what you are describing. Europe will also have a potentially big problem.
Both the US and the UK have seen a sustained drop in the rate of increase in new cases for the last couple of weeks, but that has now stalled at around 3-3.5% in each case - as such, both are continuing to see a stubbornly high number of new cases, with no clear drop in either case... in fact, the US has seen an increase in new cases for 4 days straight, which is worrying given that lockdown restrictions haven't even been lifted yet. This indicates (to my mind anyway) that it is still too soon, possibly by several weeks, to be lifting restrictions in the US or the UK for that matter. And, further to your original point, when restrictions are lifted, it would probably be best for states and counties to act in unison.
Dotini
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The real increase in cases, if any, might be from the virus finding new ways to surround and invade us. Or it might be we are letting our guard down. But isn't an increase in infections combined with a decrease in hospitalizations and deaths the Royal Road to herd immunity?
- 2,677
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- Outspacer
That stall in the decline of the increase of new cases in the UK has surprised me a bit, considering we are in lockdown. Granted, all those doing essential work are still at risk, but I don't know if they comprise the bulk of the new cases.
Another surprise is the marked decline in hospitalised cases in London compared to other regions of the UK. Since the whole UK went into lockdown at the same time, I think there has to be some other factor that caused that difference. London being 'further along the curve' doesn't cover it - in that case I'd still expect similar shapes in the graph, albeit with higher numbers. Possibly it's showing the unchecked infection/hospitalisation rate would've slowed anyway, or possibly there's some other factor such as generally increased viral load for infections in London compared to the rest of the UK causing more severe cases... or something else. Whatever the reason, it seems worth trying to understand it in case there is useful information for guiding an approach to relaxing lockdown restrictions in a good way.
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