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Post by millring on May 18, 2020 11:55:16 GMT -5
I may have had my doubt until I saw this graph.
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Post by aquaduct on May 18, 2020 11:59:30 GMT -5
I had no idea that the testing would involve seamen. Pregnancy testing?
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Post by Cornflake on May 18, 2020 14:09:52 GMT -5
Could some profiteering be going on? A friend sent me this article. A condensed version is that while consumers are paying $17 per pound for ribeye steak, producers are receiving only $1.02 per pound for fat cattle. Therefore meat processors may be exploiting the current situation to make undue profits. agrithoughts.tumblr.com/post/618372296273526784/on-wednesday-the-same-date-of-the-sell-by-date-onIt strikes me as dubious to compare the price of a ribeye steak, which is a good cut of meat, with what appears to be the price of cattle as a whole. Even allowing for that, though, that's a very big markup.
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Post by majorminor on May 18, 2020 14:14:57 GMT -5
I know a few people that raise cattle for the beef market. To a fault they claim to be getting screwed and are quite vocal about it. Mostly having to do with getting their clocks cleaned by imported beef not being marketed as such, and the power and price setting seems to be in control of the packers not the ranchers.
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Post by billhammond on May 18, 2020 14:17:56 GMT -5
I know a few people that raise cattle for the beef market. To a fault they claim to be getting screwed and are quite vocal about it. Mostly having to do with getting their clocks cleaned by imported beef not being marketed as such, and the power and price setting seems to be in control of the packers not the ranchers. Meanwhile in MN, they are turning thousands of pigs into compost with wood chippers.
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Post by theevan on May 18, 2020 14:33:32 GMT -5
We may have covered this before, but regarding beef prices it's my understanding that us'ns are screwing us. I don't know who started the stupid run on beef, but it happened. Dumbo citizens skyrocketed the demand for no apparent reason. Even at normal capacity, the processors can't keep up. Now they really can't keep up, what with restrictions and such...so they are slaughtering fewer cows because of reduced capacity. Thus:
1. Growers have oversupply due to lowered demand from processors...falling prices 2. Processors have lower capacity and huge spike in demand...soaring prices 3. Consumer gets mad a grocers/butchers
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Post by billhammond on May 18, 2020 17:33:38 GMT -5
This is one big-ass petri dish:
AUSTIN, Texas — Republican Gov. Greg Abbott gave permission Monday to reopen practically every facet of daily life in Texas, including bars and child daycare centers, lifting most full lockdown orders as the state continues one of the nation's swiftest reboots from coronavirus restrictions.
Abbott's sweeping new orders, which he described as a second phase in Texas' reopening, allows zoos and bowling alleys to resume business and lets restaurants and retailers expand the number of customers by the end of the week. They also set up the return of some professional sports, summer camps and summer school by June.
Abbott said social distancing measures must still be in place, such as limits on customers and no fans at sports events. Theme parks, however, remain closed.
The move pushes one of the world's largest economies toward getting back to business as usual, even while the state has seen record numbers of daily new coronavirus cases and deaths. But Abbott has emphasized hospitalization rates that remain flat and infection rates that have dropped, even after Texas began lifting stay-at-home orders on May 1.
“We've seen no evidence, no signs, that raise any concerns about a possibility of retrenchment in Texas," Abbott said.
Abbott did keep broad restrictions in two parts of Texas that are struggling with a surge of new cases, El Paso and Amarillo, for an additional week. He said the delay would give surge teams more time to get the flare-up of new cases under control.
Abbott said he can further push Texas open because the state has boosted daily testing and has seen a drop in the percentage of new cases.
That infection rate was as high as 13 percent in mid-April and has dropped under 5 percent in recent days, according to state health officials. Abbott also said the state has good hospital capacity and personal protective equipment to handle any dramatic increase in cases.
Under Abbott's order, restaurants will be able to open at 50 percent capacity on Friday — an increase from the current 25 percent — and bars, which had remained closed, to open at 25 percent. Bowling alleys will be allowed to open at 25 percent.
By June, youth sports and other camps will be allowed to open, and professional sports, including auto racing, golf, softball and tennis leagues can apply with the state to host events without spectators.
Theme parks are still being evaluated, Abbott said.
Democrats, including the mayors of several of the state’s largest cities, have criticized the plan as moving too fast, too soon.
“The people in the city of Houston we want things to open up. We want the economy to open up. We want people back on their jobs," said Mayor Sylvester Turner, a Democrat. "I probably would choose a different pace than what he has chosen ... My only hope and prayer is that several weeks from now, we are not going to see a spike occur.”
Few states have moved faster to reopen than Texas, where Abbott has warned that the numbers of new cases would rise as the state reopened and that has borne out. A nine-day streak of at least 1,000 new daily cases that ended Sunday saw the one-day infection rate hit a record-high of 1,801 on Saturday. The 110 deaths over last Thursday and Friday was easily the highest two-day fatality rate since the virus was first detected in the state.
The state reported 909 new cases Monday in about 30,000 new tests. Eleven new deaths was the lowest number of fatalities in a single day since March 31 when there were four. Mondays have typically reported the fewest days of new cases.
State officials said the surge in new infections came after 700 cases were reported in the Amarillo area where Texas has sent a response team to try to contain a growing spread at meat-packing plants.
“When we increase testing in hotspots the number of people testing positive is going to spike,” Abbott said. “We will be prepared to deal with spikes.”
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Post by jdd2 on May 18, 2020 18:20:39 GMT -5
For a 1000lb cow (@ $1/lb), about 400lb is what ends up in a supermarket, and a small fraction of that is ribeye (up to half overall could end up as hamburger).
Markup in retail (clothing, etc) is huge, beef could easily be the same, especially special cuts.
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Post by jdd2 on May 18, 2020 19:18:38 GMT -5
Saturday and SNL is a long ways off, but someone should do a youtube send-up of those "ask your doctor about..." drug ads on tv.
...using trump/alec baldwin to attest for 'hydroxy'.
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Post by Cornflake on May 18, 2020 19:37:16 GMT -5
"For a 1000lb cow (@ $1/lb), about 400lb is what ends up in a supermarket, and a small fraction of that is ribeye (up to half overall could end up as hamburger)."
Yeah. This is one where there may or may not be a good explanation. It's worth looking into, as senators on both sides of the aisle seem to think.
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Post by billhammond on May 18, 2020 20:17:50 GMT -5
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Post by jdd2 on May 18, 2020 20:19:42 GMT -5
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Post by Cornflake on May 18, 2020 20:20:47 GMT -5
Trump is on drugs? That could explain a lot.
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Post by jdd2 on May 18, 2020 20:23:51 GMT -5
One side effect of 'hydroxy' is hallucinations.
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Post by billhammond on May 18, 2020 21:09:49 GMT -5
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Post by aquaduct on May 18, 2020 21:27:22 GMT -5
Did the dipshit who wrote this bother to discover that Trump actually said he consulted his doctor and the doctor agreed and prescribed it? Hmmm, puts a bit of a different slant on the whole thing, eh? But now all of the sudden Cavuto (who apparently also missed that obvious point) is suddenly going to talk people out of their support for Trump? No wonder he's been so sucessful with the "fake news" thing.
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Post by james on May 18, 2020 21:49:50 GMT -5
I don't think that's a Madison quote.
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Post by billhammond on May 18, 2020 21:58:49 GMT -5
Did the dipshit who wrote this bother to discover that Trump actually said he consulted his doctor and the doctor agreed and prescribed it? Hmmm, puts a bit of a different slant on the whole thing, eh? But now all of the sudden Cavuto (who apparently also missed that obvious point) is suddenly going to talk people out of their support for Trump? No wonder he's been so sucessful with the "fake news" thing. Good point, I stand corrected. The White House physician, Dr. Sean Conley, said in a statement released through the White House press office that after "numerous discussions" with Trump about the evidence for and against using hydroxychloroquine, "we concluded the potential benefit from treatment outweighed the relative risks." The Food and Drug Administration warned health professionals last month that the drug should not be used to treat COVID-19 outside of hospital or research settings, due to sometimes fatal side effects. Regulators issued the alert for the drug, which can also be used to treat lupus and arthritis, after receiving reports of heart rhythm problems, including deaths, from poison control centers and other health providers.
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COVID 19
May 18, 2020 21:59:44 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by aquaduct on May 18, 2020 21:59:44 GMT -5
I don't think that's a Madison quote. I'll take your word for it for whatever that's worth.
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Post by Cornflake on May 18, 2020 22:00:10 GMT -5
The latest IHME projections lower the death total for the country and my state. That's good.
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