IOM Covid removing restrictions

[Apple]

17 minutes ago, immortalpuppet said:

I was speaking to a construction worker at the weekend who has completely cashed in due to the pandemic.

Same with a local builder recently - has work planned well into next summer. 

[Lxxx]

3 minutes ago, Beelzebub3 said:

With house price's through the roof now is the time to put up the for sale sign and get out with a load of dosh and set up elsewhere.

The island is a decent place to be in general in this kind of situation. The kicker will be if we follow the UK in our approach and then get the worst of where they are with the obvious downside of it happening in a microcosm here without the resilience of being able to hand out free money to weather the storm. Our government must resist destroying our economy at all costs.

[Happier diner]

8 minutes ago, Beelzebub3 said:

With house price's through the roof now is the time to put up the for sale sign and get out with a load of dosh and set up elsewhere.

Bye bye

[Apple]

2 minutes ago, Beelzebub3 said:

With house price's through the roof now is the time to put up the for sale sign and get out with a load of dosh and set up elsewhere.

I am sure there are some people thinking similarly but where would they go? Most of the UK is under some form of restricted activity. At leats here we can effectively still continue some form af social life and if necessary develop mechanisms to protect jobs, albeit different ones.

To be honest, after reading in the Sunday Times yesterday on the decision making by the Uk government I am actually ashamed of how the UK government kept older and vulnerable Covid cases out of intensive care units by using a proposed national guidance document that probably left many people to die in homes and at home in distressing circumstances. 

The paper's coverage was extensive and detailed and really these making the decisions for doctors to follow need to be held accountable for the deaths directly attributable to those decisions, wherever they happened.

And now they want us to trust them on organ donation - sod that for a game of soldiers! 

[Roger Mexico]

10 hours ago, Out of the blue said:

There will be positives to this mess and also opportunities, but there will be equally a lot of unnecessary damage, a lot of which could have been avoided. The western world will end up doing through necessity, what it should have done as soon as the initial lock down had eased, open up, keep going, whilst looking after our old and vulnerable. Currently, it is the old and vulnerable who are going to suffer in the long run, the brave would have prospered Covid or not.

There will be a lot of damage, but how much of it will be avoidable?  If the travel trade is being hit by borders being closed, if they then are opened you can't force people to take holidays.  And they will be even less likely to do so if outbreaks of Covid intensify.  This is all magical thinking - if we pretend the virus isn't there it will vanish.  It's not true I'm afraid.

In fact, as I keep pointing out, there is a link between the damage done to a country's economy and the number of deaths.  There a graph from a recent FT article (the whole thing is worth reading - and free):

(Some of the outliers, such as India, will be due to unreliable data).  It's what you would expect of course, if you think about it.

[Beelzebub3]

6 minutes ago, Happier diner said:

Bye bye

I live here and have done for more years than I can remember, also my family are manx why would I move? there are a lot considering moving and just remember that the more working families and professional people that leave there is going to be a lot  less in the pot to go around , Do you think that Covid avoiders from off island buying house's here is going to save the economy? I doubt that very much most will be retired pensioner's on a fixed income who will have most of their money under the bed and will only venture to the chemist for their free presciption drugs.

[The Dog's Dangly Bits]

20 minutes ago, Beelzebub3 said:

I live here and have done for more years than I can remember, also my family are manx why would I move? there are a lot considering moving and just remember that the more working families and professional people that leave there is going to be a lot  less in the pot to go around , Do you think that Covid avoiders from off island buying house's here is going to save the economy? I doubt that very much most will be retired pensioner's on a fixed income who will have most of their money under the bed and will only venture to the chemist for their free presciption drugs.

Are there really that many people leaving or desperate to leave? I suspect not.

[Andy Onchan]

1 hour ago, trmpton said:

I agree there are more businesses that I think a lot of people realise that I really don’t think will still be here in spring.  Most through no fault of their own, just a simple complete drying up of the income.  Don’t be thinking these are all in hospitality of day care either although some are related (would you fancy running a Cattery when no one is travelling)

However Cambon is right that some clever people have adapted an existing business or started a new one which capitalises on recent forced changes in our behaviour and spending, and good luck to the for having the balls to do it.

You don't have to be clever, some times it becomes a "necessity is the mother of invention" scenario.

[quilp]

16 minutes ago, Roger Mexico said:

There will be a lot of damage, but how much of it will be avoidable?  If the travel trade is being hit by borders being closed, if they then are opened you can't force people to take holidays.  And they will be even less likely to do so if outbreaks of Covid intensify.  This is all magical thinking - if we pretend the virus isn't there it will vanish.  It's not true I'm afraid.

In fact, as I keep pointing out, there is a link between the damage done to a country's economy and the number of deaths.  There a graph from a recent FT article (the whole thing is worth reading - and free):

(Some of the outliers, such as India, will be due to unreliable data).  It's what you would expect of course, if you think about it.

Thanks for that Roger. Very informative. Spain, Italy and the UK, the largest of the mask-wearing population groups all experiencing the largest upticks of new cases. Surprising, but population densities, therefore viral load, would be larger, perhaps? And the paradox of those countries which benefitted most from inoculation and vaccines are the countries most likely to be skeptical of vaccination. That's thought-provoking.

Be interesting to know what the uptake of any vaccine might be on-island, or even those on MF? If it was me I would wait a while before making any decision on that one, preferring instead to follow what I'm still doing- limiting my social interactions, maintaining distance and keeping up with the hand-washing, until the efficacy of any vaccine is proven. 

[The Dog's Dangly Bits]

it's a shame more don't follow your lead then perhaps the rest could get on with it.

[Gladys]

1 hour ago, immortalpuppet said:

I was speaking to a construction worker at the weekend who has completely cashed in due to the pandemic. They are turning away work and have some fairly substantial contracts in place due to people hiring locals.

It’s likely only a limited market but at least some are thriving in the current climate.

That is good to hear, but I know of one plumber (who I thought were in such high demand) that is still not firing on all four cylinders and does a bit of gardening on the side to make up for the days of lost work.

[Gladys]

54 minutes ago, Roger Mexico said:

There will be a lot of damage, but how much of it will be avoidable?  If the travel trade is being hit by borders being closed, if they then are opened you can't force people to take holidays.  And they will be even less likely to do so if outbreaks of Covid intensify.  This is all magical thinking - if we pretend the virus isn't there it will vanish.  It's not true I'm afraid.

 

Not many are magical thinkers, just thinking that the trick is to live with the virus rather than, falsely, expect to eradicate it.

[Beelzebub3]

1 hour ago, The Dog's Dangly Bits said:

Are there really that many people leaving or desperate to leave? I suspect not.

Where are all the people that are selling moving to? with a so called shortage of housing or the Government are telling us, look at any Estate agent's window and the amount of property sold is unbelievable, the Island is not that buoyant to afford everyone upgrading. Banks are not that keen on giving out short term inflated mortgages. I do think that the bubble will burst and there is going to be a lot of negative equity left to mortgage holder's especially in these uncertain times.

[Apple]

51 minutes ago, Beelzebub3 said:

Banks are not that keen on giving out short term inflated mortgages. I do think that the bubble will burst and there is going to be a lot of negative equity left to mortgage holder's especially in these uncertain times.

In summer, the BoE were adamant almost that negative interest rates were not on the horizon. This weekend, speculation in the finance press is again that serious consideration will now have to be given. 

Edited October 26, 2020 by Apple

[monasqueen]

2 hours ago, Gladys said:

Not many are magical thinkers, just thinking that the trick is to live with the virus rather than, falsely, expect to eradicate it.

There's an interesting article in The (UK) Independent about how long epidemics and pandemics can be expected to last, which ends up with "Despite humanity knowing more about coronavirus than in January, conversations are still plagued with uncertainties. Who knows if and when a viable vaccine will become available in the near future, and if it doesn’t, how long the pandemic will last? Past epidemics and pandemics show that it can take years for viruses to no longer pose a threat, with some remaining in circulation to the present day."

Doesn't give much hope for a quick ending...