Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

People are complicated. Love is not.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

It’s a good piece. click on over. but then come back!!

Motown is Joe-Town!

Russia bombs Ukraine’s maternity hospitals; Republicans in the House can’t sort out supporting Ukraine.

We’re not going back!

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.

This must be what justice looks like, not vengeful, just peaceful exuberance.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

Everyone is in a bubble, but some bubbles model reality far better than others!

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

I have other things to bitch about but those will have to wait.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

Republicans can’t even be trusted with their own money.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

The Supreme Court is corrupt. Democrats must win in November and force court reform.

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 / COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Monday/Tuesday, Nov. 16-17

COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Monday/Tuesday, Nov. 16-17

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Genuinely good news:


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Suspect there’s a few jackals could get behind a project like this:

… Today, in addition to being a virtual and physical hub for teachers, Geek Teachers offers free access to three web courses on technological innovation for educators. They have also trialled their first paid course on mobile app integration, which also offered subscribers a tailored mentorship program for 1,990 rubles ($25).

Plotkina and Nuriahmetova say that in spite of their program’s online success, meet-ups for educators remain the centerpiece of their start-up, though these have had to be put on hold during the pandemic.

Natalya Chaynikova, 34, an English-language teacher from Izhevsk, joined Geek Teachers shortly after she returned from maternity leave.

“Integrating technology into the learning process is not as simple as downloading an app on your smartphone. It takes a lot of practice, requires you to completely restructure the lessons you were so used to delivering before,” she said.

Chaynikova started with creating basic pop-up quizzes on Geek Teachers before moving on to more complex digital solutions like Google’s educational services, which she says “turned out not to be difficult at all.” By the time the pandemic came, she was well-prepared to instruct her students remotely.

“I work at an ordinary school with limited resources, so teachers had to adapt to remote work on their own. We compiled every bit of knowledge received through Geek Teachers and were able to develop a methodology for remote learning lessons.”…

“We are not teaching people how to use virtual reality systems in a school environment but rather how to effectively integrate the most basic tools that require nothing more than one smartphone and that don’t even need reliable internet,” Plotkina said.

Plotkina and Nuriahmetova believe that Geek Teachers can find followers beyond their native Russia, particularly among educators in rural localities in Europe and the U.S. where they want to expand to in the near future.

“The big idea I have right now is to collaborate with a similar project in the U.S. and run a sort of an exchange program with them,” Plotkina said. “And in my experience, teachers in Russia and smaller European communities face very similar challenges — they all lack professional support and stable internet connections.”

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One (among many) reasons to be grateful for President Biden: The workers most dependent on public transit are those who are least able to ‘adapt’ by purchasing their own private vehicles. The Trump administration was virulently anti-transit, but Amtrak Joe understands why trains & buses are vital…

Reader Interactions

47Comments

  1. 1.

    NeenerNeener

    313 new cases in Monroe County, NY yesterday with 33 people in the ICU. I canceled my appointment with the eye doctor next week, and am looking at canceling other upcoming  appointments thru January…except for the effing car inspection and the appointments with the orthopedic surgeon to check on my broken wrist.

  2. 2.

    YY_Sima Qian

    Yesterday, China reported 0 new domestic confirmed and 0 new asymptomatic cases.
    In Xinjiang “Autonomous “ Region, 2 cases have recovered and 26 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation. There are currently 15 confirmed cases (none in serious condition), all in Kashgar, and 104 asymptomatic cases in Xinjiang (96 in Kashgar and 8 in Kizilsu).
    Yesterday, China reported 15 new imported confirmed cases and 12 imported asymptomatic cases:

    • Chengdu in Sichuan Province – 6 confirmed cases (2 previously asymptomatic), 3 Chinese nationals each returning from Egypt and Nepal; 2 asymptomatic cases, both Chinese nationals returning from Nepal
    • Shanghai Municipality – 4 confirmed cases, 1 Chinese national each returning from Japan, Spain and the US, and a French national coming from France
    • Guangzhou in Guangdong Province – 3 confirmed cases, 1 Chinese national each returning from Panama, the UAE and the UK; 7 asymptomatic cases, 2 Chinese nationals returning from Panama, and 1 each returning from Madagascar, Ethiopia, Iraq, the UAE and Singapore
    • Tianjin Municipality – 1 confirmed and 1 asymptomatic cases, both Chinese nationals returning from Spain
    • Tai’an in Shandong Province – 1 confirmed case, a Chinese national returning from Liberia (via Nairobi), the case had entered China at Guangzhou at the end of Oct., passed through the 14 days quarantine and tested negative twice on RT-PCR and traveled home in Tai’an in mid-Nov., where he was tested again in centralized quarantine and was positive on RT-PCR as well as positive for IgG and weakly positive for IgM antibodies, and was diagnosed as a confirmed case
    • Zhengzhou in Henan Province – 1 asymptomatic case, no information released
    • Xiamen in Fujian Province – 1 asymptomatic case, a Chinese national returning from the Philippines


    Various points of entry into China seem to have inconsistent practices in terms antibody testing of incoming visitors (or returnees) during the mandatory centralized quarantine. Shanghai now actually only does 7 days of mandatory quarantine upon entry if the final destination is within the Yangtze River Delta region; authorities at the final destinations arrange for dedicated transportation of the visitors/returnees from quarantine at Shanghai to centralized quarantine at the final destination. This is probably to relieve the pressure for Shanghai, one of the main portals of entry into China. Guangzhou solves the problem by housing visitor/returnees in hotels and resorts in neighboring cities such as Qingyuan and Foshan. Beijing simply diverts a substantial portion of inbound flights to other cities. Imported cases reported by Hohhot in Inner Mongolia     “Autonomous” Region, Shijiazhuang in Hebei Province, Taiyuan in Shanxi Province and Xi’an in Shaanxi Province are almost always from flights diverted from Beijing.
    Different areas in China also have inconsistent policies as to whether additional quarantines are required after the 14 day one at point of entry. Some require no further quarantine at all, some require 7 – 14 days of self-quarantine at home, others require 7 – 14 days of centralized quarantine, still others require 7 days of centralized quarantine and 7 days of self-quarantine. Many local jurisdictions are clearly concerned that 14 days of quarantine upon entry is not quite enough, and there have been an number of cases where the person passed through 14 day quarantine upon entry, and tested positive upon reaching final destination during follow up screening. (Most of them were asymptomatic, though, and were probably recovered cases shedding deal viral particles.) Yet the visitors/returnees are allowed to take public transportation (flights or high speed rail) from point of entry to final destination, which does not make sense. Governance in China is typically Beijing setting targets and giving broad guidance, leaving local authorities to figure out the details and the best means to achieve them, and be held accountable for the results. Some times the local authorities would try to undermine or circumvent Beijing’s objectives. With COVID-19, which is clearly a top priority for the CCP regime, local authorities will do their utmost to achieve the goals set by Beijing, sometimes to the point of overzeaolotry. This kind of incoherence is often the result of such style of governance.
    The reported cases such as the one at Tai’an in Shandong Province (a confirmed case with active infection, though may have passed the infectious period) is probably the reason China is now demanding serological IgM antibody test report within 72 hours, in addition to RT-PCR test report, before boarding a China bound flight. Some (a small minority) infected people just do not test positive on RT-PCR on a consistent basis. The challenge is that serological antibody tests are readily available in Chinese hospitals, but not necessarily overseas, and results may not arrive in 48 hours. This new requirement will serve as deterrent to foreign and Chinese nationals seeking entry/return, in addition to the low availability of flights (and exorbitant costs) and the quarantine requirements. Whether 14 days of quarantine upon entry is adequate (I think Vietnam is doing 21 days) and the rare infected cases producing false negative results on RT-PCR, are definitely tail risks, just like fomite transmission from outer packaging of frozen products. However, if a country has COVID-19 eradicated, such risks bears scrutiny to avoid them sparking new outbreaks.
    Yesterday, Hong Kong reported 4 new cases, 3 imported and 1 local (source of infection unknown).

  3. 3.

    Ohio Mom

    Anne Laurie, there you are! I was getting worried when I woke up and there was no sight of you.

    Now I can read the post.

  4. 4.

    Martin

    So, the Moderna vaccine is much more exciting, not because of the effectiveness rate – they’re both quite good, but because it’s substantially easier to ship and store. FedEx and UPS have already begun building huge supercold storage facilities – they’ll be ready. But hospitals won’t be, nor will the logistics after UPS/FedEx deliver it.

    The US has ordered some of the Moderna vaccine – we’ve ordered some of all of them, but our largest order is for the Pfizer one. They’ll have to be smart on how they distribute these, which I don’t expect will happen before 1/20.

  7. 7.

    OzarkHillbilly

    How bad is it here? All my doctors have changed my in person visits to phone visits, which should be interesting considering their accents and my hearing are a recipe from hell. I expect to say, “I’m sorry, can you repeat that?” a lot, along with my inevitable surrender to never knowing just exactly what he said. (don’t ask me why I do better in person, I just know that I do).

    On the upside I shouldn’t have to argue much with the GI Doc about putting off the 2nd scope of my stomach until March at the earliest. Also putting stents into my leg veins at the pelvis just went way down the options list. Of course, the reason why isn’t so good: BJC just suspended all elective procedures. So I’ll only have these done if I’m gonna die without them.

    Thanx GOP.

  8. 8.

    raven

    @OzarkHillbilly: What are the stents for? My leg problems haven’t improved and the neuro scheduled a nerve induction test for Dec 30 but I don’t know what they are going to do when they find out whatever they find out.

  9. 9.

    Rusty

    @NeenerNeener: We’ve been watching this number too.  Today is the hard discussion about Thanksgiving.  Having our two oldest come from out of state and me working in another state, bringing us all together seems like a really bad idea.  We can have a blow out Thanksgiving next year to make up for missing this one.

    What we find maddening is the resistance to testing at the schools.  If enough kids are tested and the rates are low, we have a chance to keep the schools open even if the county goes to orange (which seems a guarantee at this point).  Se parents are angry at Cuomo for restrictions, won’t give permission for testing, and so the schools close?  Right wing idiots.  Hopefully enough sane parents will save school for our kids.

  10. 10.

    Brachiator

    One (among many) reasons to be grateful for President Biden: The workers most dependent on public transit are those who are least able to ‘adapt’ by purchasing their own private vehicles. The Trump administration was virulently anti-transit, but Amtrak Joe understands why trains & buses are vital…

    Unfortunately, mass transit may not be a safe option for a while.

  11. 11.

    Bruce K

    Greece had 2198 new cases and 59 deaths on Monday. Positive test rate is about 10%, where the WHO says anything over 4% is cause for alarm. Greece’s R0 reproduction number is somewhere between 1.2 and 1.4. Average age of intubated patients has dropped from 75 to 65.

    Experts are saying to expect “rolling lockdowns” through into the spring, dependent on hospital capacity.

  12. 12.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @raven: I’m unsure exactly how much of which diagnosis plays a part in it. I have varicose veins. Some of the valves in my leg veins aren’t working properly. And lastly he is pretty sure I have a pinch in the veins where they and the arteries feed thru the pelvis (he said it was a common enough condition that after 62 years of the high pressure arteries pressing against the veins for the latter to develope a restriction) Add it all up and the blood just doesn’t flow as freely as would be ideal, hence the blood clots. There is also the option of inserting screens in the veins to catch and break up any clots that do form before they get to my heart or lungs, but he didn’t sound too high on that idea.

  13. 13.

    TS (the original)

    Like NZ, Australia has found you can’t be covid free, you can only control it.  We have a new cluster in South Australia – started with a medi-hotel (quarantine) worker. Spread through close contacts. Now have (I think) 34 cases. So most other states immediately close their borders (again, this time to Adelaide, the capital city of SA)  and the SA government has immediately brought in restrictions including

    • The closure of gyms, play cafes and trampoline facilities, likely for two weeks
    • Community sports fixtures and training temporarily cancelled for both indoor and outdoor sports, as well as contact and non-contact sports
    • Private gatherings at licenced venues will now be capped at 50, with one per four square metres
    • Pubs, clubs and restaurants will be capped at 100 per venue with one per four square metres and no stand-up consumption of alcohol
    • Private gatherings are capped at 10 people per residence
    • All activities with an approved COVID management plan scheduled for the next two weeks have been cancelled

    This will go further if the numbers grow.

  14. 14.

    Chyron HR

    Someone please remake the “You made this?  I made this.” comic with Trump and his hideous sons taking credit for the vaccine.

  16. 16.

    WereBear

    I have a stress break at my favorite coffee shop entirely dependent on how many people are there at the time I stop in. Otherwise, it’s to-go and I’ll eat it in my vehicle.

    The whole place has a vibe which repels wingers, and one guy stomped out when he tried to come in without a mask, and my county is low.

    Also, could nose-mask work? I was taught to chew with my mouth closed :) and that has got to keep the interchange low, no?

  17. 17.

    YY_Sima Qian

    I see that Moderna is claiming their mRNA vaccine can be stored at 2 to 8 degrees C for 30 days. This is great news if validated! Makes distribution much less challenging, and mRNA vaccines should be easier and cheaper to produce at scale. I had heard -20 degrees C storage requirement, which would have still been challenging, though better than the Pfizer/BioNTech one.

  19. 19.

    Amir Khalid

    Malaysia’s daiily Covid-19 numbers. The Ministry of Health reports 1,210 new cases today for a cumulative reported total of 49,730 cases. The Ministry also reports five new deaths for a total of 318 deaths — 0.64% of the cumulative reported total, 0.86% of resolved cases.

    12,788 active and contagious cases are currently in hospital; 105 are in ICU, 40 of them on respirators. Meanwhile, 1,018 patients recovered and were discharged, for a total of 36,624 patients recovered — 73.7% of the cumulative reported total.

    Five new clusters were reported today: Avenue and Kejora in Sabah, Kasah in KL, Summer in Penang, and Mengketil in Kelantan.

    1,191 new cases are local infections. Sabah has 499 cases: 180 in older clusters, 106 in Avenue cluster, six in Kejora cluster, 117 close-contact screenings, and 89 other screenings. Selangor has 259 cases: 208 in existing clusters, 12 close-contact screenings, and 39 other screenings. KL has 245 cases: 208 in older clusters, 19 in Kasah cluster, two close-contact screenings, and nine other screenings. Negeri Sembilan has 67 cases: 56 in existing clusters, eight close-contact screenings, and three other screenings. Perak has 47 cases: 41 in existing clusters, five close-contact screenings, and one other screening. Penang has 33 cases: 27 in older clusters, three in Summer cluster, one close-contact screening, and two SARI screenings.

    Kelantan has 19 cases: six in older clusters, 12 in Mengketil cluster, and one SARI screening. Johor has 14 cases: four in existing clusters, and ten close-contact screenings. Kedah has eight cases: seven in existing clusters, and one close-contact screening. Melaka has two cases: one in an existing cluster, and one other screening. Putrajaya has two cases, both close-contact screenings. Terengganu has one case. Sarawak has one case, a close-contact screening. Labuan has one case, found in other screening.

    Pahang and Perlis reported no new cases today.

    19 new cases are imported, involving five Malaysians and 14 non-Malaysians. They are arrivals from Nepal (four), Qatar (three), India (three), the Philippines (two), Nigeria, the US, Turkey, Russia, Tunisia, Romania, and Myanmar.

    The five deaths today are a 59-year-old woman in Perak with diabetes, hypertension, heart disease and chronic kidney disease; a 65-year-old man in Sabah with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; an 80-year-old man in Sabah with hypertension,. dyslipidaemia and asthma; a 65-year-old non-Malaysian woman in Sabah; and a 25-year-old non-Malaysian man in Sabah with schizophrenia and obesity.

  20. 20.

    beth

    @NeenerNeener: Watching the news  this morning made me wonder if the states are preparing for armed militia groups showing up and demanding the vaccine. It’s a crazy thought but lots of crazy things I never thought would happen have occurred these past four years.

  22. 22.

    Matt McIrvin

    @beth: The armed militia groups trying to get the vaccine will have to fight the armed militia groups trying to stop the vaccine.

  25. 25.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @TS (the original): Has the break down in protocol been identified? After the breach at Melbourne, and the expensive lock down required to eradicate the outbreak, I am a bit surprised of a similar failure at Adelaide so soon after. Has South Australia also outsourced staffing at quarantine hotels to private security firms?

    What is the PPE for quarantine hotels staff look like in Australia? For reference, staff in similar facilities in China are gowned up like nurses in COVID-19 wards (masks, goggles/face shields, Tyvek suits, gloves, and booties), though with fewer layers. All staff is regularly screened with RT-PCR every 1 – 2 weeks, and staff working rotation at such facilities stay in dormitories for the duration, away from their families. I assume the last one probably will not fly in Australia. Such staff are also priority for vaccination under emergency use authorization. To date, I am only aware of a single case of staff being infected at such a facility, an asymptomatic case in Guangzhou last month. Taiwan and South Korea have had similar success.

  27. 27.

    satby

    @OzarkHillbilly: You do better in person because even people with nearly normal hearing rely on facial cues to understand what’s being said. Can you have your wife sit in on all the calls so that she can catch what you miss, or alternatively have the doctor’s office email you the information the doctor would normally tell you on the phone? The doctor’s office would have dealt with lots of situations where phone consults weren’t ideal, it’s not a new problem for them to accomodate.

  28. 28.

    Kay

    I just don’t see any indication the Republican Party intends to do anything to get the Trump Administration to do any work on a transition. I think we’re looking at paying hundreds of low quality Trump hires for 2 months for doing nothing, with the Trump cult compound only breached and liberated in late January. They’re all still absolutely terrified of cult leader, Donald Trump. They’re now meekly and obediently backing down to Trump’s demands that no professionals get in there thru December.

    They’re afraid of an outside evaluation of their work. There’s no other reason they’d join forces to block access.

  33. 33.

    cmorenc

     

    @raven:

    @OzarkHillbilly: What are the stents for? My leg problems haven’t improved and the neuro scheduled a nerve induction test for Dec 30 but I don’t know what they are going to do when they find out whatever they find out.

    After your nerve induction test, you will understand why Dr. Frankenstrin’s monster was so cranky after they shocked him to life with electrodes.  I recently had that done to test for ulnar nerve compression in my left hand/arm, and the multiple zaps they give you are each strong enough to make you involuntarily flinch, wince, and yelp.

  34. 34.

    raven

    @cmorenc: I had one a few years back. I knew the tech and I was sheepish because I jumped too much. She said ” hell, I’ve had football players pass out doing this”! If it helps me figure this stuff out I’m all in

     

    eta I severed an ulnar nerve and was surprised to learn they could repair it!

  35. 35.

    Sloane Ranger

    Greetings from the UK. Yesterday we had 21,363 new reported cases. This is about 3600 fewer new cases than the day before, but these figures may still be affected by the weekend delay. We will know more when today’s figures are published. The new cases are distributed by home nation as follows,

    England – 19,423 (down @2500)
    Northern Ireland – 331 (down @140)
    Scotland – 717 (down @450)
    Wales – 892 (down @400).

    The total number of new cases for the week ending 16 November was 177,318, up 11.2% from the week before.

    Deaths – There were 213 new deaths yesterday. This is lower than what we have been seeing recently, but again, may be affected by weekend reporting delays. 191 deaths were in England, 14 in Northern Ireland, 6 in Scotland and 2 in Wales.

    Testing – 283,866 tests were processed on Sunday, 15th November out of a capacity of 504,595. 2,315,411 tests were processed in the week ending 15th November, an increase of 11% from the previous week.

    Hospitalisations – 14,915 people were in hospital as of Thursday, 12 November and 1355 were on ventilators as of Friday, 13th. Both trending upwards but the rise in ventilations continues to slow down.

    General – Nothing to report here, the news is concentrating on Boris Johnson saying that Scottish devolution was a mistake. One funny thing, they’ve changed the way local cases are recorded by using the home address of the person being tested rather than the location of the testing place and this has led to the number of cases where I live going down.

    That’s all from a cold and grey UK.

  36. 36.

    TS (the original)

    @YY_Sima Qian:

    Sorry I disappeared – had a few things to do. They have started mass testing in the area where the infection spread. More people than they could handle today, so no doubt facilities will be increased asap.

    The quarantine issue started with a cleaner. Needless to say it is being investigated. One thing Melbourne found was people were working at multiple places (this particularly impacted care homes, where contract nurses work shifts at multiple places).

    I really don’t know the answers to the rest of your questions. I believe the PPE is fine but it is all under investigation.

    This is my main source, plus listening to the ABC news broadcasts

    Mr Marshall said the virus was transferred to a cleaner at the Peppers Waymouth medi-hotel “via a surface” and that they believe she infected two security guards but none were symptomatic.
    He said he did not believe there had been a breach of the state’s hotel quarantine system, but SA Health would conduct a “fulsome” review once the threat of the Parafield cluster was over.

    It was picked up when an 80 year old went to casualty – I think she lived in the same house as the cleaner.

  37. 37.

    arrieve

    I’m in the first semester of a master’s program for TESOL, and though I’m in the track for teaching adults (too old to go through all the extra work to get certified to teach K-12) the other students in one of my classes are mostly public school teachers. And seeing the lessons they’ve created for our grammar project has been wonderful; there are so many online platforms teachers can use to create interactive engaging lessons. There’s one called Kahoot, where students can use their phones to answer multiple choice questions and they get points for how quickly they can answer correctly. These are mostly NYC teachers and they’ve had a horrendous time since the spring when they were thrown into online learning with little warning, and they’ve been see-sawing between in-person, hybrid, and online since classes came back in September, but the dedication and creativity they’re putting into teaching under these circumstances has been amazing.

  38. 38.

    NeenerNeener

    @beth: The QAnon whackos are saying that Bill Gates is putting some sort of tracker in the COVID vaccine so they will refuse vaccination. Like the government can’t track them with their cell phones….

  39. 39.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Chyron HR:

    Someone please remake the “You made this?  I made this.” comic with Trump and his hideous sons taking credit for the vaccine. 

    Can the Rethuglicans also put out a new version of that stupid “We Built This” song too?

    Maybe “We Killed This”?

  40. 40.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Matt McIrvin:

    The armed militia groups trying to get the vaccine will have to fight the armed militia groups trying to stop the vaccine. 

    Wonder if there are any disused water cribs they could fight on.  Battle of the stupids in the middle of Lake Michigan in February sounds good to me.

  43. 43.

    Unique UID

    Hope this is appropriate here:  I was thinking about a temporary part time job.  UPS is hiring personal vehicle drivers, $21/hr and 59 cents/mile.  I would meet a big truck at some rural location (I-69 commuter parking lot, etc), transfer packages to my car and then deliver them around my rural county.  My thinking was that if I were masked up and wearing gloves, this wouldn’t be very risky. In my own car, mostly outdoors, very brief interactions with customers.

    I retired last year, and have been living alone the last few months (Michigan). I don’t have many social interactions – drive-thru takeout, curbside pickup, etc.  Very rarely I go into a store. I’m not really desperate for income, but it might be nice.

    Just wondering what others might think about the risks.  thanks

  45. 45.

    Chris T.

    @OzarkHillbilly: (don’t ask me why I do better in person, I just know that I do).

    There are a lot of in-person cues that don’t come across the phone: you may partially read lips, for instance, and there are a lot of low and high frequency signals that just get cut off by the narrow phone-line band.

  46. 46.

    Chris T.

    @OzarkHillbilly: There is also the option of inserting screens in the veins to catch and break up any clots that do form before they get to my heart or lungs, but he didn’t sound too high on that idea.

    The screens suck big time. Avoid if at all possible. It’s true that having the blood clog up at the screen, so that your leg is in horrible pain and quite possibly has to be chopped off, is better than dying then and there … or is it? Seriously, this is a real question.

  47. 47.

    Another Scott

    @Unique UID: Dead thread, but, a few things…

    1. GSA’s mileage rates for 2020 are $0.575/mi so are likely to be higher than $0.59/mi next year.  Will the rate you’re offered change if you’re working past January 1?
    2. Will you be delivering to apartment complexes and small businesses inside giant office buildings, or mainly isolated homes and businesses?  How do you (emotionally, intellectually) handle seeing lots of people not masked up?  Are you confident that you can minimize your exposure in such situations (well-fitting mask, maybe even face shield)?
    3. Do you have a reliable car with good tires, maybe even chains?  Weather is difficult to predict and who knows what winter may be like (polar vortexes, excessive warmth and thunderstorms, …).
    4. What happens if you have an accident on the job?  What happens if the packages get lost, damaged, or stolen?  What is your potential liability?
    5. Worst case, can you handle being sick for a week or more, or even being hospitalized?  Does your contract offer medical benefits?  If so, is there any fine print (waiting period, etc.)?

    I helped my mom deliver phonebooks a few times.  Delivery like that is a way to make some money, but it’s not easy and you won’t get rich doing it.  ;-)

    Good luck, and stay safe!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

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