RE: COVID-19: Liberty vs. Safety and Security

[scalextrix]

I have seen some coverage of what is happening in the US and for the most part the other people in the UK I have spoken to about it are alarmed at the lack of clear and coordinated leadership, the President seems to be at odds with State Governors along predictable party lines. It seems unfortunate, if the dirty tricks of a bi-polar political system are being excercised even now. However, Im aware its all too easy to mis-understand a system from afar.

For our own part, in the UK, our constitution isnt formally written anywhere, its more of a collective conciousness, which governments have ignored to their peril in the past. We have only one aim through our lockdown; stop the deathrate becoming unmanageable. Whether people die from cancer or COVID-19, you should care for them in their final days and treat their remains with dignity. An excess deathrate with medical and mortuary staff off sick in droves, would cause chaos and that is all thats trying to be avoided here. Ultimately a majority of the population going to have to contract novel coronavirus, either in its full blown form or by vaccine, before we can be certain our civic systems will not collapse. Once we get there, things can go back to normal, but obviously societies are adaptable, and there will be the usual winners and losers. Tomorrows normal wont be yesterdays normal.

Comments

[roleerob]

Very nice @scalextrix, to receive some input from a representative of "Mother England!" 😉 Hard to say ...

"... are alarmed at the lack of clear and coordinated leadership, the President seems to be at odds with State Governors along predictable party lines. It seems unfortunate, if the dirty tricks of a bi-polar political system are being excercised even now. However, Im aware its all too easy to mis-understand a system from afar."

... what you are hearing over there, but there can be no question our political environment is more toxic than at any point in my lifetime. As I state in this post, there is little I despise more. In amongst it all, we no longer have a press upon which we can count for objective fact finding and reporting ...

While we all wait for the full impact of the unprecedented actions taken by our respective governments, what are you and your loved ones experiencing from disruptions to supply chains?

Thank you for stopping by and adding value to this post!

[scalextrix]

Thanks for the reply. Supply chains are generally OK from a consumer perspective, there was a phase of retail panic buying on non-perishables which meant there were strains on non-retail channels too (I work in Procurement), and we have seen the inevitable bull-whip effect causing problems of inventory gluts and shortages as expected. But as time goes on things are improving, supply and demand are matching better and things are largely stabilized; NHS gets top priority, critical businesses like my employer fend for ourselves, but we have the experts to manage.

Fuel (petrol/diesel/gasoline) has been effected by the oversupply situation because of curtailment in travel and prices are significantly lower I saw £0.99/L the other week (roughly $4.80/Gal) though again thats a little up now, I was paying that 20 years ago.

Online retailers have long delays on items like webcams as many people try to get online, and some ISPs have been having issues due to video calling and furloughed employees and school-kids streaming content.

Clearly restaurants and pubs closing has a massive impact on the hospitality industry, it will be interesting to see how that restarts, as well as bricks & mortar retail, I think this could have accelerated the decline of the High Street as many people will have become familiar with online retail.

The other big effect that I only notice because of my interest in renewable energy is the significant increase in the renewable energy mix on our grid. Effectively that has given us a view into a future of increased green energy supply, and the outlook is positive, the grid is fine with reduced traditional means of generation.

Personally we have not been significantly effected, we have a nice house in the countryside, with open spaces. The story is different for those stuck in the city apartments, and that is where infection rate is high, they have my sympathy for being shut-in.

[roleerob]

Thank you for the categorization of some of your key supply chains there @scalextrix. In the limited time I have, some quick comments on our situation here:

• Amazon is only growing more dominant through all of this. Another "nail in the coffin" of too many "brick and mortar" businesses? Some of which are going out of business, being they were in poor shape already ...
• Our fuel prices here are also incredibly low, with the glut caused by shutting down so much of normal transportation. I could share our prices, but ... They are fraction of yours ... 😉
• Our grocery stores were never shutdown, for obvious reasons. Just focused on everyone keeping their distance. Rationing on what can be purchased has already begun.
• Our DIY stores (e.g. Home Depot) now have waiting lines out in front of them. To enforce distancing between people ... Which is a joke, once you get inside ...
• Hard to imagine being a leisure-based sort of business of any kind and being optimistic about the future. Here the best examples of restaurants trying to survive is you call ahead and they bring your food out to your car ...

Nice to "hear" you are in a more secure location. We once had a family farm, but sold it, so that opportunity for a rural getaway is no longer available ...

Thanks again for your responses and helping add some value to this post. All the best to you and yours, in the weeks and months to come!