Politics The COVID-19 pandemic news and discussion.

[Musashi]

A special message to Eurofolks.


Play a game with me. I'm going to be your mentor.
i. Book a cheap flight or two or ten that are very likely to be cancelled. Something like €15-30 each. You don't need to fly there, just book it, pay and do an online check-in.
ii. Some of them WILL be cancelled for sure.
iii. Claim €360 for each cancelled flight.
iv. Say "thank you" to me.

Coronavirus: Airlines cancel thousands of flights - BBC News

Ryanair, BA and Norwegian are among carriers cancelling services as demand collapses.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[morris]

On the other hand, Farina may have infected many more NATO senior commanders.

As of March 10, there have been at least three Active Duty service members confirmed to have the virus—one in South Korea, one in Europe, and one in the U.S. Additionally, one civilian, four dependents, and one contractor are confirmed to have the virus, which is officially known as SARS-CoV-2, Joint Staff Surgeon USAF Brig. Gen. Paul Friedrichs told reporters. Six more personnel have been evaluated, with results pending.

Pentagon Limiting Travel, Scaling Back Exercises During Coronavirus Outbreak | Air & Space Forces Magazine

The military is limiting travel and curbing exercises as more service members and DOD personnel are confirmed to have the new coronavirus.

www.airforcemag.com

 

[muck]

More in Polish:

Polski generał ma koronawirusa. Był na naradzie dowódców NATO

MON potwierdził nieoficjalne informacje na temat zdrowia Dowódcy Generalnego - generała Jarosława Miki. Oficer został zakażony koronawirusem. Kilka dni temu brał udział w ważnej naradzie dowódców wojsk NATO w Niemczech. Epidemia to coraz większy problem dla wojska, zwłaszcza że w Europie trwają...

wiadomosci.gazeta.pl

The Polish general took part in a NATO conference in Wiesbaden, Germany.
All NATO land forces commanders whose troops participated in Europe Defender 20 exercises were invited.
One of them was Salvatore Farina who came from Italy.
Farina was diagnosed with coronavirus on the 8th March, just two days ago.
Wikipedia confirms the Polish version:

Salvatore Farina (general) - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

WHAT A FVCKUP

Expect more "interesting" news in the future.

The Chief of Staff of the German Army has also been quarantined. It's going to be interesting to see the governments' reactions now that they know they're not immune to catching the virus.

 

[Junglejim]

Philippine Government shouldering the costs of the testing and treatment of the virus for the people.

PhilHealth to cover COVID-19 testing costs - Nograles

The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) will now shoulder testing costs for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a Malacañang official said Wednesday.

www.gmanetwork.com

And developing its test kits to be rolled out to other hospitals once it is fully tested and approved by the WHO...

UP-developed COVID-19 test kit cuts running time from 24 hours to 2 —FDA

The test kit for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) developed by scientists from the University of the Philippines (UP) can yield result in less than two hours, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said Wednesday.

www.gmanetwork.com

 

[Musashi]

The Chief of Staff of the German Army has also been quarantined. It's going to be interesting to see the governments' reactions now that they know they're not immune to catching the virus.

Hand shaking is an important part of the Polish culture. For example, British people do it when they are grateful that you did something for them, you made them happy and they want to say "thank you", while Polish people do it when they see you and greet you.

Both Italian and Spanish people are very specific, as they come up really close to you when they talk to you. They like patting your shoulder and the distance between you and them is far below one metre when they talk to you.

I work with a Greek guy and he comes up really close to me when he talks to me. He is in his 50s, so he is not as informal as my young Spanish colleague, but he still keeps a distance of 50-80cm when he talks to me.

The standard distance between two people when they talk is 1.8-2.0m in Northern Europe.

So, it will be easy to guess who was infected by Farina.

 

[Gaz]

A special message to Eurofolks.


Play a game with me. I'm going to be your mentor.
i. Book a cheap flight or two or ten that are very likely to be cancelled. Something like €15-30 each. You don't need to fly there, just book it, pay and do an online check-in.
ii. Some of them WILL be cancelled for sure.
iii. Claim €360 for each cancelled flight.
iv. Say "thank you" to me.

Coronavirus: Airlines cancel thousands of flights - BBC News

Ryanair, BA and Norwegian are among carriers cancelling services as demand collapses.

www.bbc.co.uk

I'd be wary of actually trying that. I'd assume that these cancellations fall under the "extraordinary circumstances" clause and a refund or offer to rebook for a later date is more likely.

 

[Musashi]

I'd be wary of actually trying that. I'd assume that these cancellations fall under the "extraordinary circumstances" clause and a refund or offer to rebook for a later date is more likely.

I played the game when Ryanair was losing its staff in 2018 and it worked.

Flight delay compensation

Martin Lewis' guide to EU regulations that mean you could be entitled to cash for flight delays or cancellations - see how to claim compensation

www.moneysavingexpert.com

Of course, as a pro, you know the rules better.
It's still worth to risk €15-30, as the potential reward is much bigger.

 

[Gaz]

I played the game when Ryanair was losing its staff in 2018 and it worked.

Flight delay compensation

Martin Lewis' guide to EU regulations that mean you could be entitled to cash for flight delays or cancellations - see how to claim compensation

www.moneysavingexpert.com

Of course, as a pro, you know the rules better.
It's still worth to risk €15-30, as the potential reward is much bigger.

To clarify, I have no special knowledge of this, I just know that airlines aren't liable to pay compensation if the delay or cancellation is due to "extraordinary circumstances" so things like mechanical issues with the aircraft and an airline being understaffed (Except for strikes) are within the airline's control so aren't considered to be an extraordinary circumstance.
The CAA gives the following advice -

"The main categories of events that are likely to be an extraordinary circumstance include:

• Acts of terrorism or sabotage
• Political or civil unrest
• Security risks
• Strikes (unrelated to the airline such as, airport staff, ground handlers, or air traffic control)
• Weather conditions incompatible with the safe operation of the flight
• Hidden manufacturing defects (a manufacturer recall that grounds a fleet of aircraft)

If you are not sure whether extraordinary circumstances apply to your flight, but have read about your other rights and think you might have a case, you can make a claim to your airline for compensation. The airline should explain to you the reason for the disruption. If they consider it was due to extraordinary circumstances they will need to clearly set out why. If they reject your claim then you can consider whether to pursue it further."

I suspect that the airlines will argue these circumstances are as extraordinary as it gets.

Passengers and public | UK Civil Aviation Authority

Information for your journey, dealing with travel problems and applying for a display

www.caa.co.uk

 

[Musashi]

To clarify, I have no special knowledge of this, I just know that airlines aren't liable to pay compensation if the delay or cancellation is due to "extraordinary circumstances" so things like mechanical issues with the aircraft and an airline being understaffed (Except for strikes) are within the airline's control so aren't considered to be an extraordinary circumstance.
The CAA gives the following advice -

"The main categories of events that are likely to be an extraordinary circumstance include:

• Acts of terrorism or sabotage
• Political or civil unrest
• Security risks
• Strikes (unrelated to the airline such as, airport staff, ground handlers, or air traffic control)
• Weather conditions incompatible with the safe operation of the flight
• Hidden manufacturing defects (a manufacturer recall that grounds a fleet of aircraft)

If you are not sure whether extraordinary circumstances apply to your flight, but have read about your other rights and think you might have a case, you can make a claim to your airline for compensation. The airline should explain to you the reason for the disruption. If they consider it was due to extraordinary circumstances they will need to clearly set out why. If they reject your claim then you can consider whether to pursue it further."

I suspect that the airlines will argue these circumstances are as extraordinary as it gets.

Passengers and public | UK Civil Aviation Authority

Information for your journey, dealing with travel problems and applying for a display

www.caa.co.uk

I experienced it with Norwegian and I did not play any game. They cancelled my flight to Gran Canaria in January 2016 and deployed a new plane about 20 hours afterwards. I was really upset, as I was to go Gran Canaria on Thursday and to come back on Sunday. They kept delaying my flight, saying they were experiencing some technical issues. In fact, the plane had broken down and they were BStting us for 10 hours that it had something to do with the weather. When we got in the new plane, we spent about 15 minutes there and were ordered to leave. Everybody was shocked and asked "wtf?" Norwegian discovered their pilots had been working for too many hours, so they could not fly. Can you imagine such a mess? Don't they have registers? They redirected a plane from Copenhagen and put us inside just to discover we could not fly. It was 23:30.
They gave us a free accommodation at the Hilton at Birmingham airport and told us the new flight would be on Friday at 11:00.
A friendly English passenger told me how to get a compensation, so I used resolver.co.uk and registered a complaint. I got £300 after a few weeks, so it had something to do with the EU law.
I got to GC on Friday afternoon, so I could not enjoy the weather, while it was a S**t on Saturday (17 degrees plus a strong wind), and my return flight was on Sunday morning.

I got more money as the compensation comparing to what I invested, but I did not enjoy that short break.

 

[Connaught Ranger]

US Marine tests positive for coronavirus in Virginia

https://taskandpurpose.com/news/marine-tests-positive-for-coronavirus

 

[Musashi]

Polish universities, schools and nurseries will be closed for two weeks on Monday.

 

[Musashi]

Funny news...
Amsterdam is becoming less Amsterdam-ish:

Travel magazine

Travel magazine

www.holidaypirates.com

 

[Ivan le Fou]

https://nypost.com/2020/03/10/dozen...ol-poisoning-in-attempt-to-fight-coronavirus/

 

[Musashi]

https://nypost.com/2020/03/10/dozen...ol-poisoning-in-attempt-to-fight-coronavirus/

I expected drinking alcohol to be haram.

 

[Fluff]

I expected drinking alcohol to be haram.

Gods will!

 

[Musashi]

Gods will!

Insh’allah.

 

[Junglejim]

It is officially a pandemic

Coronavirus | Yahoo - Latest News & Headlines

Get the latest news, photos, videos, and more on Coronavirus from Yahoo - Latest News & Headlines.

news.yahoo.com

 

[berkut76]

My company can't make up its mind. In short, "work from home, but don't work home" I was literally told that "corona virus panic" shouldn't be used as an excuse to work from home. If you oversleep this is not an excuse to work from home. However, if you feel "unsafe while riding public transportation to work" you can work from home. My inquiry as to what supporting documentation I should provide in terms of "unsafe public transportation environment" went unanswered. To make matters even more "interesting" i sufferer from "atypical Diabetes Type II with insulin resistance" (yep, this is how it's written in my medical chart), and my immune system is greatly compromised, but I still need to get sick for my doctor to provide an official documentation because "it would be irresponsible to contribute to hysteria, but do inquire from your employee about working from home". Catch-22.

 

[NebrHogger]

One school in Brussels, Belgium is closed now - by chance, it's where the king's children attend, so more closings are expected. And in their finite wisdom, all events with 1000 or more participants are banned at least until the end of March. I know - we'd be SO much safer if only 900 were attending. [sarcasm/]

Which means the militaria expo in Ciney is a no go for now. Dammit! I was really looking forward to the trip! But being an adult about the matter (relatively speaking) , there's another expo in October.

If this one isn't cancelled, I figure there will only be a fraction of the usual vendors present. For certain, my Italian friend from whom I always buy something won't be there. It's probably a good thing I held off buying tickets hoping for something really cheap.

 

[primer]

Hong Kong. Apparently no health staff have been infected.