Coronavirus thread

Started by JBS, March 12, 2020, 07:03:50 PM

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pjme

With or without corona:

The threat of becoming poor continues to hang over Belgians, according to the latest Statbel figures, which show that in 2018, just over 16% of the country's inhabitants risked financial poverty.

This is the highest level since 2004, when such measurements were begun, according to the national statistical office.

The poverty risk is calculated on the basis of available income. Anyone living in a household with a monthly available income of less than 1,187 euros (for a single person) is considered at risk. Last year, 16.4% of the Belgian population belonged to this category, up from 15.9% in 2017.

Unsurprisingly, the poverty risk is higher among homeless persons (49.4%) than among workers (5.2%). Other high-risk categories include single-parent families and renters. People with at best a lower-secondary diploma are four times more likely to become poor than those with higher diplomas (27.8% as against 6.4%).

According to Statbel, 12.1% of the population were in households with low labour intensity in 2018, down from 13.5% in 2017. The proportion of Belgians suffering from severe material deprivation also decreased slightly, from 5.1% in 2017 to 4.9% in 2018.

Persons facing at least one of the high-risk situations are considered at risk of poverty or social exclusion, according to the European Poverty Indicator, developed within the framework of the "Europe 2020 Strategy. In 2018, they comprised 19.8% of the population, as against 20.3% in 2017.

Oscar Schneider
The Brussels Times

drogulus

    We (there can be only 2) were supposed to fly to Paris in May. Oh well.....

Quote from: Florestan on March 17, 2020, 06:41:06 AM
C'est le ton qui fait la chanson . I think that not even you can seriously deny that saying "I'm right about cause X and all those who disagree with me are just idiots/brainswashed/ill-willed" can make a rational person sympathetic to cause X recoil in horror.

     Did you just do that? Since when is recoiling in horror an argument? I understood your wonder as expressing the opposite view.

     
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Pohjolas Daughter

Quote from: vandermolen on March 16, 2020, 10:48:29 PM
Good advice. Thank you PD  :)
Or, you could print out a copy of this and paste it onto a board and then hold it up in front of you and do the talking behind it.   :D

Pohjolas Daughter

Pohjolas Daughter

Quote from: Crudblud on March 17, 2020, 01:16:47 AM
Seems like I got me the ol' corona cough. Two mornings running I've had an irritation on my chest and throat, yesterday it cleared up as the day progressed but it is much more pronounced this morning. It's not a big deal in terms of self-isolation since I'm quite a solitary person and have worked from home for a number of years, but I am nonetheless concerned about disrupting family business with my viral shenanigans.
Please take good care of yourself and all good wishes too towards your family and friends.
Pohjolas Daughter

drogulus

Quote from: pjme on March 17, 2020, 06:48:27 AM
With or without corona:

The threat of becoming poor continues to hang over Belgians, according to the latest Statbel figures, which show that in 2018, just over 16% of the country's inhabitants risked financial poverty.

This is the highest level since 2004, when such measurements were begun, according to the national statistical office.

The poverty risk is calculated on the basis of available income. Anyone living in a household with a monthly available income of less than 1,187 euros (for a single person) is considered at risk. Last year, 16.4% of the Belgian population belonged to this category, up from 15.9% in 2017.

Unsurprisingly, the poverty risk is higher among homeless persons (49.4%) than among workers (5.2%). Other high-risk categories include single-parent families and renters. People with at best a lower-secondary diploma are four times more likely to become poor than those with higher diplomas (27.8% as against 6.4%).

According to Statbel, 12.1% of the population were in households with low labour intensity in 2018, down from 13.5% in 2017. The proportion of Belgians suffering from severe material deprivation also decreased slightly, from 5.1% in 2017 to 4.9% in 2018.

Persons facing at least one of the high-risk situations are considered at risk of poverty or social exclusion, according to the European Poverty Indicator, developed within the framework of the "Europe 2020 Strategy. In 2018, they comprised 19.8% of the population, as against 20.3% in 2017.

Oscar Schneider
The Brussels Times

     However convenient a poverty class may be in normal times (I don't think at all, others disagree), it's very dangerous in a crisis like this one.
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vandermolen

Quote from: Pohjolas Daughter on March 17, 2020, 06:54:11 AM
Or, you could print out a copy of this and paste it onto a board and then hold it up in front of you and do the talking behind it.   :D


Brilliant! Excellent plan.
8)
"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

premont

Quote from: Marc on March 17, 2020, 06:48:00 AM
Be sure to call a doctor though if you really begin to suffer from breathing difficulties.
Stay safe!

Precisely what I also would say.
γνῶθι σεαυτόν

André

Not much is known about the situation in Russia, as the government keeps mum on the subject. A CBC article says it's a time bomb.

Karl Henning

Quote from: Crudblud on March 17, 2020, 01:16:47 AM
Seems like I got me the ol' corona cough. Two mornings running I've had an irritation on my chest and throat, yesterday it cleared up as the day progressed but it is much more pronounced this morning. It's not a big deal in terms of self-isolation since I'm quite a solitary person and have worked from home for a number of years, but I am nonetheless concerned about disrupting family business with my viral shenanigans.

Mend quickly!
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Karl Henning

Quote from: drogulus on March 17, 2020, 06:07:13 AM
     There is no question that he is right. Just look at the personal nature of the responses to his observations, which focus on how radical a source he uses is and how unreasonably blinkered he is about a politician.

Nothing about the responses which acknowledge that there are problems to be addressed, but that the question is just how they may practically addressed?

You're right: there's no question that he's right,  he hasn't a clue.
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

Florestan

Quote from: drogulus on March 17, 2020, 06:49:53 AM
I understood your wonder as expressing the opposite view.

If I ask "hoyougonnadoit" (to borrow your favorite exoression) it doesn't follow I'm against "doing it". On the contrary, it might  mean I would like it done as quickly as possible in the real world.

Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

Florestan

Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on March 17, 2020, 08:49:03 AM
the question is just how they may practically addressed?

Precisely. As long as there will be starving children*, the question is not what is the best government which does not result in starving children, but rather how can starving children be fed.

Answer: starving children need food, not posts/articles/hand-wringing about their getting food.

* ie, until kingdom come
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

Karl Henning

Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

JBS

Quote from: Pohjolas Daughter on March 17, 2020, 06:55:04 AM
Please take good care of yourself and all good wishes too towards your family and friends.

Amen to the above!

Hollywood Beach Broadwalk

Florestan

#234
Quote from: drogulus on March 17, 2020, 06:55:43 AM
     However convenient a poverty class may be in normal times

I fail to see how poverty can be convenient, except as a permanent electoral reservoir for some leftists. Just come to think of it: if everybody will be lift off poverty most leftists will be left (pun) without argument.

Note to drogulus: if you have something to post about coronavirus, I'll be glad to reply. If not, I won't.
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

Pohjolas Daughter

Really annoyed here!  I'm trying to be good and stay home most of the time and my doorbell rings:  it's a guy from an energy company wanting to talk to me about switching providers!  I told him I was trying to keep a 6 foot distance due to the virus!  And he's about 2 feet away from me and going around door to door during this epidemic!  What the h*%l is that company thinking?!   >:(

And I hate solicitations/marketers to begin with!  >:(

PD
Pohjolas Daughter

Karl Henning

Quote from: Pohjolas Daughter on March 17, 2020, 09:37:42 AM
Really annoyed here!  I'm trying to be good and stay home most of the time and my doorbell rings:  it's a guy from an energy company wanting to talk to me about switching providers!  I told him I was trying to keep a 6 foot distance due to the virus!  And he's about 2 feet away from me and going around door to door during this epidemic!  What the h*%l is that company thinking?!   >:(

And I hate solicitations/marketers to begin with!  >:(

PD

Yeesh!
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

mc ukrneal

Quote from: Pohjolas Daughter on March 17, 2020, 09:37:42 AM
Really annoyed here!  I'm trying to be good and stay home most of the time and my doorbell rings:  it's a guy from an energy company wanting to talk to me about switching providers!  I told him I was trying to keep a 6 foot distance due to the virus!  And he's about 2 feet away from me and going around door to door during this epidemic!  What the h*%l is that company thinking?!   >:(

And I hate solicitations/marketers to begin with!  >:(

PD
I never open the door to people I don't know. Period. You can ask questions through the door if necessary. When was the last time a stranger came to your door and it was really important that you hear it (and the person was not in a fire or police uniform)? Exactly....
Be kind to your fellow posters!!

Florestan

Quote from: André on March 17, 2020, 08:08:03 AM
Not much is known about the situation in Russia, as the government keeps mum on the subject.

Vodka kills every known virus in the world, said Yeltsyn who engendered Putin.

So there.

;D ;D ;D

Seriously now, I don't trust Russians even when they say "Good Day!"

;D ;D ;D
Every kind of music is good, except the boring kind. — Rossini

JBS

Quote from: Pohjolas Daughter on March 17, 2020, 09:37:42 AM
Really annoyed here!  I'm trying to be good and stay home most of the time and my doorbell rings:  it's a guy from an energy company wanting to talk to me about switching providers!  I told him I was trying to keep a 6 foot distance due to the virus!  And he's about 2 feet away from me and going around door to door during this epidemic!  What the h*%l is that company thinking?!   >:(

And I hate solicitations/marketers to begin with!  >:(

PD

You should have started coughing and complaining about your runny nose.... >:D

I live in a townhouse, and am usually upstairs,  So when the (now relatively rare) solicitor comes around,  I open up the front bedroom window and talk to them from there.

A few months ago, the man running against the incumbent mayor of my city came around, going door to door in anticipation of the election (which is today).  First time a politician has come to my door in a while.  I ended up voting for him.  Both as a courtesy for the door to door campaign, and because the incumbent is doing a huge number of mailings, most negative.  I go by the rule that if a person spends a lot of money to get elected, then that person is not someone I want in office.  He (or she) wants it to badly.

Hollywood Beach Broadwalk