cwericb

“But CV is sure to skyrocket once the Trump rallies begin..” Well let us explain something to you since you don’t seem to understand. There is a BIG difference between crowds gathering outside with the vast majority wearing masks and packing 20,000 people with no masks into an indoor stadium. And here is a new slogan for ya... Dump Trump and Make America Great Again !

So back to the Cronavirus... If someone in the United States is hospitalized with Covid-19 does anyone have an idea of what costs are involved? I know there is no exact answer, but if the person is uninsured, what might his bill be? It would seem now that most travel insurance will no longer cover you for Covid-19 if you travel to the US.

What sort of alternate universe do we live in? Protected by hundreds of Secret Service, Police and even Army troops, The President of the United States (You know the draft dodger) is such a phony coward that that he and his family hide in the basement like Saddam Hussein hid in a ditch. And then in an asinine attempt to recover his masculinity the big chicken refuses to wear a mask setting a terrible example for those fools who see him as an example. Not much wonder Trump has done such a terrible job of protecting his citizens from the pandemic. And yet there are those who still attempt to defend this buffoon.

"IMO, shutting down was a no-brainer at the start, and now opening shops while requiring masks in public enclosed spaces (and ideally good ventilation) is also a no brainer. " Agreed. You have to wonder about anyone who is against wearing a mask in public. Wearing masks help protect yourself, but more so it protects others if you should have the virus. At some point it will become evident that not wearing a mask is insulting to those you meet. I know of some countries where this is already the case and those not wearing masks may be met with some hostility.

"Japanese tend to more about the culture/community instead of the individual. I think you're right that it can work without lockdowns. I just don't know how well that would work in a more individualistic culture like the most of the west." Probably right. We seem to have a lack of self discipline to the point that would make this difficult.

"Its also really bizarre all the outrage some here had at college kids partying or states reopening, but now little to no concern about hoards of protesters everywhere.” “...why you seem to have an infatuation with putting everything on one person(POTUS)...” First, I can’t recollect any post that suggested that there was no concern over protesters. Of course there is a concern over crowds gathering. Second, what sort of example is set when the country’s leader continues to downplay the virus and refuses to be seen wearing a mask or when he promotes discredited medicinal treatments? He is the guy in charge after all. Remember "The buck stops here" vs "I take no responsibility for that" Why worry about protesters when the president himself continually crowds people together without masks for his photo ops or plans to hold an INDOOR rally of 20,000 people? And while Trump discourages people from wearing masks, he requires attendees to his rally to agree to hold him harmless in the event attendees contract the disease. Obviously the country has made a total f*** up of the situation and the credit for much of that rests with the guy in charge. Remember that guy who set up guidelines for reopening and then criticized states for not ignoring them and for not opening up faster. You know, “free Michigan”.

“Now, of course there are those cynics among us who may think that Trump is not that stupid. Perhaps he is making a smart strategic move to retain power by postponing elections indefinitely and using the pandemic as an excuse.” Well Cubs, since you don't think Trump is that smart, I guess you and I agree that Trump is just stupid. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “People unfortunately die. This is part of life. I wish this wasn't the case, but it is. You arent griping about car accidents..totally avoidable. Cancer kills tons of people. We haver a pandemic. A virus with no vaccine yet. This stuff is inevitable. “ Given your previous statements of “Its just the flu” and you would only “become concerned if there were a few dozen deaths in the whole US.” now that the US is heading for 120,000 deaths and rising, are you concerned yet? It would seem that you simply can’t grasp the fact that the situation may become far worse unless it is taken more seriously than it has been in the US. I wonder if your attitude would change if some people close to you comes down with the virus? Unfortunately, as this virus spreads the chances of that are increasing. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- And for both of you guys, if you think that the country is doing such a great job, we are still waiting for your explanation of : Why are US deaths still rising when other countries have been getting it under control? Why does the US account for nearly 30% of world wide deaths? You guys never actually face the tough questions. Deflect, deflect, deflect because it seems you have no answer.

“Of course it needs to be minimized...” Really? Ignore it and it will go away? It is unbelievable that some STILL haven’t clued in to what is going on and are still following the official line of the Buffoon-in-Chief. This is serious sh*t and with Trump seemingly sticking his head in the sand and ignoring it will not make it go away. In fact this thinking has is causing thousands and thousands of unnecessary deaths. Those are not just numbers. Those are DEAD people. And to assume those are just old people or people with medical problems is simply ignoring the realities. The gross mishandling of this disaster is proven out by the fact that the US accounts for about 30% of world Covid deaths while accounting for just 4% of world population. Want to try and justify that? The US is handling the epidemic worse than third world countries. Why? And while you are so worried about the economy, you still don’t seem to understand that this line of thinking may very well lead to another major shut own of the economy. Now, of course there are those cynics among us who may think that Trump is not that stupid. Perhaps he is making a smart strategic move to retain power by postponing elections indefinitely and using the pandemic as an excuse.

Yeah, when you give assholes a break some of them are still going to be assholes. Put them in the Covid ward. I have no sympathy for them. You would think that if you had been let out of jail you would try to avoid going back. Then again those idiots probably liked it better in jail where they get 3 meals a day and a bed for free.

I find it surprising you still seem to be trying to minimize the Covid-19. A few months ago you were telling us that this was “basically the flu” and you would be concerned when you could count the deaths on the fingers of one hand in any state or if there were a few dozen deaths in the whole US. You give the impression that this is still not any worse than the flu. Just FYI. 116,000 people in the US have died and that number is climbing daily. Trump and his third world administration - that you seem to support - have so badly handled this that the US accounts for nearly 30% of the world’s Covid deaths, while only accounting for 4% of the world population. This ain't no flu. And it is going to get a lot worse.

At last! Seems they have finally found the way to stop the spread of Covid-19. Trump today announced that "'if we stop testing right now, we'd have very few cases' So it was all those tests that have been causing it. Who knew that the source of the virus was right in front of us all along.

"I am not sure how much of a cofactor colder weather is. People are mostly indoors and most infections occur indoors as well. it might increase the susceptibility of the respiratory system but then on the other hand, the epidemic has been raging pretty well in warmer climates as well (Italy, Spain, Brazil etc)." Well if the flu is any indicator, look what happens late fall, early winter. Will this spread like the flu?

This whole Covid situation is a learning process and while the demonstrations are unfortunate coming at this time, if nothing else it should be a learning experience and provide more knowledge about the spread of the disease. It is just a darn good thing this isn't happening later in the year when we can probably expect another wave.

To date total deaths in the US from COVID19 = 110,000 Total US population: 328 million To date total deaths in the world = 389,000 Total world population = 7.6 billion So with 4% of the world population the US accounts for nearly 30% of Covid deaths. These numbers seem to speak for themselves.

Based on your criticism of the President and how he handled the virus you must be losing your mind watching all of these mass protests. Remember when he wouldnt send masks to Canada? Seeing these mass protests with thousands huddled together must be driving you nuts! Not sure what point you are trying to make? What is has the fact that Trump attempted to steal Canadian owned masks got to do with the protests? I simply posed the question: Should we expect a spike in COVID in a couple of weeks or will the warmer weather have an effect? I also note that many of the protestors were wearing masks, so might this combined with the warmer weather reduce the potential spread of the virus?

It is rather ironic that if you intend to break the law, its a great time to wear a mask. Over the next couple of weeks should we expect to see a spike in Covid due to the mass protests? Or will the warmer weather offset the effects of the large gatherings. Predictions?

“We talk about the VOVID-19 in the US a lot, but what is going on in Canada?” Prince Edward Island - Canada’s smallest but most densely populated province. Population: 160,000 Tourist visits yearly: 1,600,000 Locked down: Mid-March. Total cases of COVID-19: 27 Total community spread: 0 Cases due to International travel: 27 Total hospitalized: 0 Total Deaths: 0 Total recovered: 27 Last positive case: April 28 Fine for not self isolating 14 days: 1st offense: $1,000 2nd offense: $2,000 3rd offense: $10,000 Applying U.S. figures would have predicted about 50 deaths. (If my math is correct)

So let’s get down to the nuts and bolts. I would suggest that no one really cares what Fairfax did 10, 20 or 30 years ago. That’s history. We can quote figures portraying Fairfax as a great company, and I believe it has great potential, but the bottom line is that very few appear to agree. In 2016 Fairfax share price was pushing $800 CDN. In fact, it was in that area as recently as June 2018. Two years later the share price can’t seem to reach half that amount. And that is not even factoring in gains the general markets have made in the meantime. This certainly doesn’t seem to indicate much respect for Fairfax’s performance. We may believe it is a great company but few seem to agree. Fairfax used to have a large core of longtime shareholders but it would appear that a lot of those longtime shareholders have simply become fed up with the company’s performance and dumped their shares. The question is: What is Fairfax doing to attract investors, what are they doing to boost the share price? I ask this because I really don’t think Fairfax management gives a damn.

None of us here has a better insight into the value of Torstar than Paul Rivett. If Torstar is such a dud, why would Rivett want to have anything to do with it at the risk of his personal funds? On the other hand if he has a plan to reinvent Torstar, why didn’t he put it in place while Fairfax was still paying him for his expertise?

Thanks for the input Norm, but the optics are not good here with the numbers and the story surrounding Rivett leaving Fairfax. I doubt many shareholders would be impressed with what looks like a ‘sweetheart deal’.

Once again, a new application of the "Fair and Friendly" motto of Fairfax.

“Paul Rivett joins Jordan Bitove in taking Torstar private at $0.63 per share or approx $52 million in total.” “BTW at March 31, 2020 Torstar had more than $78 million in cash on its books and no debt!” Given that we have been mourning the loss of Paul Rivett from Fairfax due to family reasons and now this, in what way does this pass the smell test? Just wondering what I am missing and why this is worthy of congratulations?

One can understand the frustration of some with so much political discourse on this thread. But how do you separate out the political aspect of the fight against COVID-19 when the man in charge of the country has made himself a major part of any discussion on the virus by consistently minimizing its threat? By his ignoring his own health experts? By refusing to wear a mask and setting a poor example for the country? By admitting to taking a drug that health experts warn against and in fact, may deprive people in need that drug? Has not Trump made his politics and his personality a integral part of any discussion on COVID-19. Just a thought.

"Does Elon Musk remind you of Howard Hughes? What an interesting comparison. Yes. As one who has read a fair amount about Hughes' life and followed him in the news during his later years, I would say that there are definitely a lot of similarities.

Its funny, I was thinking of all the crazy risky things I have done in my lifetime. Fast cars, fast boats, skydiving, and other dumb stuff I am too embarrassed to admit. Yet the other day I did one of the most life threatening things ever. I went to the supermarket.