How many people do you know who have gotten a positive Covid 19 test result?

Of the hundreds of people that I know locally, throughout MA & the rest of the country as well as in Europe, I personally only know of 1 person who has tested positive. This group includes people who work in the medical field, teaching, trades people, people serving the public & a bunch who by their own choice practice semi isolation. Their ages range from babies to a few in their mid 90's. As part of their job requirement, at least 25% of these people get tested once a week .

Steve, I know of several, but sincerely what's the point of posting that question here? Honestly it's a good bet you already know where this post will lead. Some will say they do not know of many. Others will say they know of many and some, including myself, know of some who have died form it.

Then we will have a discussion that will end up with the usual two or three people who respond to these same off-topic posts repeating the same things and points they have basically said in countless other posts, and which can be found on countless other websites. That though does not add to the uniqueness, power and main focus of this forum.

This forum is to support, encourage, equip, advise and strengthen fellow landlords. IF your post can add to that purpose "in anyway" then it is welcomed. If it does not add in any way to the main purpose of THIS website, then it will be removed. I do appreciate your many contributions to this site that has helped add to the success of thousands of landlords over the years.

I didn't know anyone until last week, then heard through word of mouth. Two people I know, but not super well, got it. Both were in their seventies and and in bad shape already with all kinds of health problems.

Anyway, one of them was hospitalized for COVID and then had a heart attack in the hospital and died.

I didn't know anyone until last week, then heard through word of mouth. Two people I know, but not super well, got it. Both were in their seventies and and in bad shape already with all kinds of health problems.

Anyway, one of them was hospitalized for COVID and then had a heart attack in the hospital and died.

i have 10 relatives who have passed away due to COVID - youngest being 52.

About 3 total.

1 is my tenant in her 20's. Mild symptoms and is over them.

Steve, no need to apologize. I can completely understand why you posted this on a landlord forum. And from one landlord to another, I would like to offer you some words of encouragement. You are not going crazy! Things are as bizarre as they seem and you have every right to be a skeptical as you are. (assuming here)

I'm assuming you are a rational landlord and are looking to bounce off of other people who you expect to be rational your point of view and skepticism on this whole subject.

I say, what better arena to do it in? When the self-appointed kings close down every Avenue in society that brings us together, where are we supposed to turn? Online and most likely online to where other like-minded individuals meet. Churches are closed, gyms are closed, schools are closed, coffee shops are closed. We are social creatures, not social distanced creatures. We need to be around others and bounce ideas off of others in order to balance ourselves out.

So if you're asking about the tests as far as confirming or denying to yourself that this whole thing is just a bunch of BS, you're not alone. I'm speaking in regards to the response, not the virus. People die every day, viruses do not concern me one bit. The response is horrifying.

NE

Your losses and suffering are palatable thru your statements. I feel for you. You easily discount others loss and suffering as separate existential issues when the largest disrupter has left no one unscathed. You must have had a “moat” so impregnable that was breached.. we all believed that too.

THANK YOU JEFFREY FOR YOUR POST!!!

BTW your prediction has come true, quickly and exactly as predicted.

Reminds me of a meme I once saw that read, "If lockdowns worked, then why do we need to do a second lockdown? And if lockdowns didn't work, then why do we need to do a second lockdown?"

That's simply not true. It is about trying to stop it and/or slow it down significantly. The problem is that there are too many people like NE out there that don't care and don't actually follow the proper procedures.

Also, because there was little leadership from the federal level, each state did their own thing -- and we have a weird "sorta lockdown" all over the place (ranging from decent lockdowns in some areas to pretty much NO lockdowns in another). Those people quickly re-integrate with everyone else, of course, and the lockdown ends up not doing as well as it could have if people all followed a real plan.

THAT is why a lockdown "didn't work", but we continue to try a "second lockdown" -- because it helps some -- but, in the end, doesn't completely solve it, of course, because people simply won't actually "lockdown."

- John...

I believe the million dollar question is - the CDC is saying we will need roughly 70% of the population to develop a heard immunity and some level of normal. When will that occur?

That is a tough one to answer since we don't know how many folks have or have had it. Nor do we know how long that immunity will last.

If I had to look into my crystal ball, I am inclined to believe by late Spring - peoples attitudes will be improving.

No cure - I don't see that happen for years.

If you did not know that John Hopkins reports that across all age groups - THERE ARE NO MORE DEATHS THIS YEAR THAN ANY OTHER YEAR

media hounded them to take it down

FEDERALISM prevents the US govt from rough riding over the states and that IS THE CONSTITUTION - the right understand this - the left - not at all

Maybe it is the hospitals fault. What would happen if we were ever attacked? 100's of thousands or millions in need of care at a moments notice. How do you flatten that curve? Maybe the "experts" should have better and multiple contingency plans in place. Obviously they don't.

NE: John Hopkins did NOT report that. A professor there did -- and when people began to use it incorrectly to try to argue what you just did, they took it down for being an inaccurate analysis of the data. I linked to a discussion of that on another thread, but it is out there if you want to look into it. It simply wasn't accurate and there are NUMEROUS studies showing that there are indeed 300,000+ more deaths than "usual" this year.

-John

Ray-N-Pa: We will reach that herd immunity level when enough people have received the vaccine. Of course, we'll still have to deal with the anti-vaxxers out there, but hopefully they are less than the other 30%...

Also, to be very clear, the "media" did not "hound" anyone at John Hopkins to "take it down." They saw what was happening and retracted it with an explanation of why it was wrong. Then they even left the PDF up for people that wanted to read the original to do their own analysis. So, this "media hounded them to take it down" is absolute garbage. That isn't at all what happened -- and they didn't even "take it down" since the original is still available right now if you want to go read it. They simply noted a retraction of the article because of the inaccuracies in it.

Here's a positive test:

Is the glass half empty or half full?

The POSITIVE answer is 'half full'.

NE, I respect your accomplishments a lot, and often find value in the practical things that you contribute to the board. I disagree on your speculation that maybe it is the hospitals' fault.

Begin looking at this from a perspective of long term real estate holds. After initial startup, well run apartment buildings, condo associations, REITs, etc. maintain reserves for reasonable and foreseeable items, as well as planning for spikes of expense or resource use to a certain level. They do *not* maintain reserves or resource for every possible thing that could possibly happen in the world, including alien attacks, meteors hitting the earth, and worldwide pandemics.

Medical care is extremely expensive. The running of hospitals is extremely expensive. Many smaller community hospitals have closed in recent years as care has moved towards greater consolidation, and the need for newer, more accurate, and much more expensive machines have increased.

Even if abandoned buildings, tents, etc.could immediately be converted for emergency purposes, there is tremendous extra overhead involved in staffing up and running a new, or even temporary, facility. Not only from medical staffing, but support staffing, infrastructure, supply chain, appropriately trained janitorial, etc.

Many hospitals are funded by taxpayer dollars. Even private ones have quite a bit of government funding behind them.

Both socialists and scoffers often try to shift responsibility to other groups that they perceive as richer ("Seems like this should be THEIR responsibility"). In many situations, they do not want to adjust their behavior even in tiny ways to accomodate the greater good, even for a little while. (These traits are also present in bad tenants, who like scoffers in other areas of life, are so very costly to clean up after in ways they refuse to consider, comprehend, or acknowledge.)

Does it matter how we got into the position we are in at this point?

That should be something the academics can argue about for decades. What does is having a plan to pull thru this mess.