The Covid19 thread

[mad_gater]

It's actually "Starlink". Sorry about that. Elon Musk is planning a satellite based internet service.

admit it...you got ST:VOY on the brain

[Womble]

There will also be an increased emphasis on internet access for everyone. (Which will mean subsidized internet of some sort to the poor)

Most obvious solution can be modeled either on Chinese WeChat platform, or on what Facebook is doing in some Third World countries, or a hybrid of the two. In places like the Philippines, apps from the Facebook group such as Facebook messenger are free to use to anyone with an active internet-capable sim card, even if you have no mobile internet plan and no money on your sim card (most of the Philippines are on prepaid). One could create a unified WeChat style "super app" that includes various government information portals, digital access to essential documents, free payment mechanism, tax filing etc. ) and make it available to anyone who has a sim card in their phone regardless of whether they're paying for internet access. This way there is no need to set up complex and costly mechanisms for eligibility checking and distributing the subsudies. Still need to ensure nationwide internet coverage though.

[Womble]

I don't know about that. Our current generation of seniors seems to be doing just fine without internet access

They're in competition for who will die out first - the seniors or the non-digital legacy services. Also, the seniors rely on younger generations to handle anything digital.

It's increasingly a struggle though. Right now, as I'm forced to handle the customers of my agency's regional branches instead of only those from the website and call center, it weirds me out how many technologically disabled people there are, and how helpless they are with basic tasks such as receiving their ticket by email, checking their bank account and credit card statements or verifying the status of their flight on the airline website.

I still have a physical doctor's office I can go to. I generally tend to think that "telemedicine" seems a little shady if you ask me

I also think we still have physical unemployment offices people can go to so that they can apply for unemployment benefits.

And once you lost access to your car you have neither. Or, alternatively, try registering for unemployment when that physical office is closed and you're not allowed to leave home because you're in the middle of a quarantine.

[Who Knows]

Can't wait to become a senior & not have to bother with the internet.
6 years till I can put OBE after my name.
(Over Bloody Eighty)

[Falcon Horus]

If a hospital has like 10 elderly patients with broken legs/hips and they all supposedly have covid but they aren't receiving any covid related treatment, the hospital is probably lying about the covid diagnosis.

If they supposedly tested positive, they would be quarantined as such and receive treatment for it.

It's actually "Starlink". Sorry about that. Elon Musk is planning a satellite based internet service.

I saw one of the trains in the sky... It was magical.

[Annoyed]

Most obvious solution can be modeled either on Chinese WeChat platform, or on what Facebook is doing in some Third World countries, or a hybrid of the two. In places like the Philippines, apps from the Facebook group such as Facebook messenger are free to use to anyone with an active internet-capable sim card, even if you have no mobile internet plan and no money on your sim card (most of the Philippines are on prepaid). One could create a unified WeChat style "super app" that includes various government information portals, digital access to essential documents, free payment mechanism, tax filing etc. ) and make it available to anyone who has a sim card in their phone regardless of whether they're paying for internet access. This way there is no need to set up complex and costly mechanisms for eligibility checking and distributing the subsudies. Still need to ensure nationwide internet coverage though.

Not really acceptable. Phones are useless for doing most things, they're just too small and limited in what they can do. Hell, I can't even browse this web site or the web in general on my phone because it's too limited.

[Annoyed]

Borders will open to the rest of Europe on June 15. Try and stop us!

Belgium: Man Receiving Pizzas He Never Ordered For Nearly A Decade

Like hell we're going to let you out again!

[Falcon Horus]

Belgium: Man Receiving Pizzas He Never Ordered For Nearly A Decade

Like hell we're going to let you out again!

Yeah, that apparently happens...

[mad_gater]

They're in competition for who will die out first - the seniors or the non-digital legacy services. Also, the seniors rely on younger generations to handle anything digital.

It's increasingly a struggle though. Right now, as I'm forced to handle the customers of my agency's regional branches instead of only those from the website and call center, it weirds me out how many technologically disabled people there are, and how helpless they are with basic tasks such as receiving their ticket by email, checking their bank account and credit card statements or verifying the status of their flight on the airline website.



And once you lost access to your car you have neither. Or, alternatively, try registering for unemployment when that physical office is closed and you're not allowed to leave home because you're in the middle of a quarantine.

well as far as news....a simple TV with indoor HD antenna plugged in so they can get local broadcast news for free seems to serve most of our seniors, and indeed people like me as well who are beginning to think that news delivered on a constant internet ticker is what's starting to drive people barmy and would rather simply live as minimalist as possible, rather well indeed

for telephone service yes there's pretty much no traditional analog service anymore but digital phone service like Magic Jack operates much the same way only it's plugged into an internet connected computer instead of into a wall jack, but the phone that's plugged into it operates in much the same way seniors are used to and at only a fraction of the cost of digital services (only $40 for the device plus 1 year of unlimited service for anywhere in the US so no extra charges for calling "long distance" like you had with the traditional analog services and then after that initial cost the service itself was only $20/year)...only drawback is that the Magic Jack service might hiccup occasionally and the person's phone might not ring although I think most of the time the call should go to Magic Jack voicemail in that case unless the voicemail service is also hiccuping...and broadband ISP's like Verizon FiOS and Time Warner are offering their own digital landline services

and that's for seniors from my grandparents' generation of which very few remain....now the next generation of seniors like my mom, from the Boomer generation, might be somewhat internet savvy

and as for losing access to the car....well more and more of our seniors are living in senior apartment communities, many of which have shuttle service, esp. seeing as how many seniors start swearing off driving altogether mainly due to failing eyesight

so again from where I'm sitting being "technologically disabled" as you put it doesn't seem to bother them any...most seniors probably don't have computers at all anyway unless it's seniors from the Boomer generation or when my generation eventually reaches senior status

of course my generation (I'm almost 40) is more like "X-Ennial" as we can still navigate some pretty old tech but also tend to pick up on the new stuff very quickly...I did grow up in the glory days of DOS/Windows 3.1x and dot matrix printers though

[mad_gater]

Can't wait to become a senior & not have to bother with the internet.
6 years till I can put OBE after my name.
(Over Bloody Eighty)

actually if you've only got 6 more years till you hit 80 then you're already a senior....usually senior status as far as Social Security is concerned begins at 65 (or at least it did...minimum age at which you can retire and draw SS benefits may have gone up) although could begin earlier for joining services like AARP or AMAC....guess you'll be a super senior

[Annoyed]

Can't wait to become a senior & not have to bother with the internet.
6 years till I can put OBE after my name.
(Over Bloody Eighty)

Like many things, "age" isn't a one size fits all measurement. Even taking major diseases like heart attacks, strokes and such out of the picture, many people never reach 80, their genetics run out their clocks way before that. You can have two people born the same day, and one can be the picture of health, active & fit at age 70 or more, and the other a physically a worn-out basket case by age 60 (if they get that far).

The same applies to mental condition. Some people still have their wits and situational awareness at 90, and some people never develop them at all.

The only way to evaluate people is on an individual basis; testing to evaluate that person's individual state. But like so many other things, that would be prohibitively expensive, so our society's bean counters have us sold on hard, inflexible numbers which do not take individual variation into account.

[VampyreWraith]

If they supposedly tested positive, they would be quarantined as such and receive treatment for it.



I saw one of the trains in the sky... It was magical.

I know, I was commenting on how cases of medical fraud could be uncovered. If hospitals were marking patients as having covid when they didn't in order to get extra money (like some people think), the care they were receiving would have to match the diagnosis. Hospitals can fake a bunch of paperwork to show that patients received treatment, if they are so inclined, but that would take time and effort, something staff at a hospital overwhelmed with sick people wouldn't be likely to have. That's why I suggested medical fraud might be more if an issue when things had calmed down for a hospital.

[Annoyed]

I know, I was commenting on how cases of medical fraud could be uncovered. If hospitals were marking patients as having covid when they didn't in order to get extra money (like some people think), the care they were receiving would have to match the diagnosis. Hospitals can fake a bunch of paperwork to show that patients received treatment, if they are so inclined, but that would take time and effort, something staff at a hospital overwhelmed with sick people wouldn't be likely to have. That's why I suggested medical fraud might be more if an issue when things had calmed down for a hospital.

I'm tired of the doubt on this.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...us/3000638001/

They rate it as true. I've also looked at some of the biased "fact checking" sites, and although they try to obusificate the issue with pages of dialog (truth is simple, it doesn't need explanations) they admit it's going on too.

[VampyreWraith]

I'm tired of the doubt on this.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...us/3000638001/

They rate it as true. I've also looked at some of the biased "fact checking" sites, and although they try to obusificate the issue with pages of dialog (truth is simple, it doesn't need explanations) they admit it's going on too.

No one is claiming it isn't possible, just that's their aren't actual reports that this has actually happened. From the article you linked to and the one I've already read and even referred to.

There have been no public reports that hospitals are exaggerating COVID-19 numbers to receive higher Medicare payments.

Jensen didn't explicitly make that claim. He simply suggested there is an "avenue" to do so now that "plausible" COVID-19, not just laboratory-confirmed, cases can be greenlighted for Medicare payment and eligible for the 20% add-on allowed under the relief act.

[Skydiver]

The mentions of internet/telework, etc is based on the lockdown/shutdown. Our county courthouse closed in March, so there are 3 months worth of license tags for cars that need to be renewed that couldn’t be, so a backlog to work through. Same with getting the driver’s license. Mail in only works if someone can come in and work them. I for one can’t renew my license by mail. once you’re over a certain age you must do it in person, and when mine renews next time I’ll be over that age.

For a while public transit shut down - then ended up running for free - safer for the drivers if people got on and off through the back door and didn’t pay fares through the front door. I live in a part of town where a lot of people are minimum wage workers. They walk to the bus to go to work...lately if their work is open. Even fast food jobs, well if all you have open is drive thru you only need maybe 8 people to run the restaurant if that many. So a lunch rush that would take 20 or more takes a fraction of that, if you have a rush because so many aren’t working. People like me sheltering at home/working from home that don’t hit the local burger joint for lunch. Or restaurants that are drive thru only, well if you don’t have a car good luck with that.