cwericb

The real estate market in Atlantic Canada has been on fire as people from across the country and elsewhere see the area as a relatively safe place from the virus. People are buying houses site unseen just to get authorization to move into the area. Prices are up 20%+ in the past year. The construction industry is booming and many contractors are booked over a year ahead. This has also fed an increased demand for furniture and all the other necessities required by new people moving into the area. Ironically this has gone a long way to offset the losses the tourism industry has suffered. It seems to show that taking steps to control the virus is not necessarily detrimental to the economy.

You gotta wonder about people who think it’s a big joke to have 2,000+ deaths every day and a quarter million dead. I imagine there are thousands of doctors and nurses, who would not appreciate the humour, not to mention a few million members of deceased’s families. As the hospitals fill to capacity and medical staff are on the edge of exhaustion, people with other sicknesses and injuries face reduced care. As the “flu” continues to spread, thousands flock to food banks. Meanwhile as federal public health officials explicitly warn against gathering in groups, Trump issues a proclamation calling for people to “gather” for the holidays. Party on guys, party on.

Around here, violate quarantine first time - $1,000, second time, $2,000, third time $!0,000. I only know of one person caught 3 times and I don't know about the fine but I do know he had an extended stay in the crowbar hotel.

Certainly hope you don't have any lingering effects. Keep us posted.

" And even if the doctors are sucessful in treating them in hospital, there is damage done by virus and we end up with long term symptoms." And that certainly is a major concern many people seem to ignore. Too many seem to be under the impression that Covid really only effects seniors and people with pre-existing problems. There is another concern with the creation of future ongoing health problems and that is the health and social costs should millions of people have recurring issues.

Hopefully that was sarcasm. I will add to this original post. On second thought, I have to agree that while there seems to be a lack of study into the effectiveness of masks in surgeries, there is a certain amount of common sense involved. When breathing we often exhale bodily droplets. If that person were carrying a disease those droplets could spread that disease to others because we know that is one way disease is spread. Wearing a mask might not completely stop the spread, but it would certainly reduce the amount of those droplets going into the air. If masks serve no purpose, we must have a lot of dumb doctors. To go back to my original post, would you prefer that doctors and nurses involved in operating on you wear masks or not?

For those who think wearing a mask is ineffective, next time you go in for a surgery tell the doctors & nurses not to bother wearing masks as they slice you open. Covid is like any other serious risk. You take common sense steps to avoid becoming a victim. But if your number comes up, your number comes up.

"Tracking Prem Watsa's Fairfax Financial Holdings Portfolio - Q3 2020 Update" from Seeking Alpha https://seekingalpha.com/article/4389192-tracking-prem-watsas-fairfax-financial-holdings-portfolio-q3-2020-update?utm_medium=email&utm_source=seeking_alpha&mail_subject=frfhf-tracking-prem-watsa-s-fairfax-financial-holdings-portfolio-q3-2020-update&utm_campaign=rta-stock-article&utm_content=link-0

Chart as quoted in my previous post

Graph showing infection rates in Canada and US by State and Province. Bottom four are the Atlantic Provinces that have formed their own bubble and anyone traveling into those provinces must isolate for 14 days. https://scontent-lga3-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/125537019_1792435374250121_7315521977690977436_n.jpg?_nc_cat=106&ccb=2&_nc_sid=8bfeb9&_nc_ohc=ZscIoHuaImsAX95U4kS&_nc_ht=scontent-lga3-2.xx&oh=9df3a7b9b29dbfefda3ad728424c6be3&oe=5FD79FD6

Thanks Viking for putting things in perspective. Fairfax is complicated, it helps to have an overview like this. I will probably check back to this post from time to time.

Anyone who has invested in FFH in the past couple of weeks should be feeling pretty good about now. :)

"Democrats celebrating their coup and super-spreading the virus is a case of killing someone who is attacking you? I am confused..." Xxxxxxxxx DooDiligence - Nominated for best put down for 2020!! :)

I doubt there isn't a boat owner that hasn't heard the old joke, "A boat is a hole in the water you try to fill up with money". Gotta say there is a lot of truth in that, especially in Canada where the season is short. After boating since I was a kid and four boats I am now a retired boater. PS My next boat was going to be named "WOFTAM" * * Waste Of F**king Time And Money

I have noticed this for years. Doesn't happen every time but more often than not, especially if there is good news. Who needs a crystal ball?

With all the talk of a hard market I just had notification from my insurance broker that my car insurance jumped by 35% - no accidents, no traffic tickets, etc and I have been with the same company for years. Broker shopped it to another company and cut it back to about what it was last year. Others seeing things like this?

I know this is not news and I don’t think this is the whole answer. But if everyone would simply wear a mask in the proximity to others from outside their immediate family, common sense tells us that it is by far the cheapest, the least complicated and potentially the most effective measure that the average person can take at this time to: a) protect oneself, and, b) protect others. It is just common sense and a simple first aid technique until we come up with more effective measures. The fact that anyone could disagree or politicize this is just mind boggling. Other than a slight inconvenience what does anyone have to lose? If some refuse to cooperate in protecting the rest of us, then mandate it just the same as we mandate against drinking and driving to protect others who are on the road. The penalties for ignoring the rules should be substantial. Here for example, if you do not self isolate after travel the fine is $1,000 first offence, $2,000 second offence, $10,000 third offence. Fines for refusing to wear a mask could be similar. Contract tracing is also most important. Here if you go to a restaurant or bar, for instance, you have to leave your contact information.

I have trouble with criticizing the discussion of politics on the board. Anyone who doesn’t want to is not forced to participate. Just ignore it. Politics is a part of life and it does have some impact on investing. The discussion does have some effect on how we view others on the board, which is not necessarily a bad thing. If following the political posts of a board member, leads one to the conclusion that the poster is batshit crazy, that will effect the credibility you give to his investment posts. No one is forced to participate. It is mind broadening to the extent that it gives participants a view of how those on the other side of politics think. Furthermore, if it is deleted much of the discussion will likely creep into other topics. The Covid topic is an example. How do you restrain discussing politics when the President himself has gone out of his way to politicized the disease? And - I guess my last remark is an example of how politics can even insert itself into any discussion.

I looked. And there is almost no criticism of Trump in Feb/March. He is the President of the United States. He's going to get criticism (even if he did everything right). But blatant Trump-bashing was exceptionally rare on this thread. My guess is that you are recalling conversations from other threads. No need to bash Trump, the man is fully capable of speaking for himself this subject: “Just the other day, they came out with a statement that 85% of the people that wear masks catch it” “A lot of people say masks are not good, I’ll tell you who those people are, waiters.” "If we stop testing right now, we'd have very few cases, if any' https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/pdfs/mm6936a5-H.pdf Please check page 1261 - table at top of page for "Reported use of cloth face covering or mask 14 days before illness onset" Mask use for Covid Positive group: Often: 14.4%; Always 70.6% (Total of Often + Always use of mask 85%) Mask use for control (negative) group: Often: 14.5%; Always 74.2% (Total of Often + Always use of mask 88.7%) I know what the numbers were for a tiny study of 150 people. But that study does not indicate that "that 85% of the people that wear masks catch it" [Covid-19].

I looked. And there is almost no criticism of Trump in Feb/March. He is the President of the United States. He's going to get criticism (even if he did everything right). But blatant Trump-bashing was exceptionally rare on this thread. My guess is that you are recalling conversations from other threads. No need to bash Trump, the man is fully capable of speaking for himself this subject: “Just the other day, they came out with a statement that 85% of the people that wear masks catch it” “A lot of people say masks are not good, I’ll tell you who those people are, waiters.” "If we stop testing right now, we'd have very few cases, if any'

Are we not simply seeing the expected Second Wave repeating the path of the first wave as it progresses from east to west, through Europe towards North America as we move from summer into winter? The only good news I see here is that it seems we have been able to treat the victims more effectively thus reducing the death rate.

Trump's right hand, Hope Hicks has Covid-19. Showed symptoms last night and has been in close contact with Trump & staff. Trump waiting for test results. May have to quarantine.

Our resident nihilist awakens. I'll send a postcard to my brother-in-law in Vietnam to share the bad news. He keeps saying they don't have Covid there. Just for Othopa's info our small Canadian Province has had 57 cases, 57 recovered cases, zero active cases, zero hospitalizations, zero community spread, and zero deaths. Applying US figures we should have had 100 deaths to date.

Viking said... “your leader lies pretty much every time he speaks” is not the same as saying "everything he says is a lie". 1) You misquoted Viking. You do this frequently and I have corrected you previously when you have misquoted me as well. If you use quotes to quote someone than do it accurately and don’t try to twist what they say. 2) You changed the meaning of what he said 3) If I have to explain the difference again, here goes... When Trump makes his speeches, most of them contains at least one lie. One would have to be pretty gullible to think otherwise*. But you said Viking said "everything he says is a lie" and that is quite different. * I believe fact checkers have now documented over 20,000 lies he has told - search it yourself.

Good luck Viking in trying to get straight answers. Trump supporters do not like to answer direct questions. I don’t know if they refuse to confront reality or what the reason is. However, they have a habit of changing the subject and deflecting as much as they can. Or they will misquote you contorting the question so they can come up with an answer. For example: You said... “your leader lies pretty much every time he speaks”. Greg twists that into you said "everything he says is a lie". Certainly different statements. Anyone who listens to Trump’s rants knows that he rarely makes a speech that don’t contain some lies.