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The Rich Are Preparing for Coronavirus Differently (nytimes.com) 208

The new coronavirus knows no national borders or social boundaries. That doesn't mean that social boundaries don't exist. An anonymous reader shares a report: "En route to Paris," Gwyneth Paltrow wrote on Instagram last week, beneath a shot of herself on an airplane heading to Paris Fashion Week and wearing a black face mask. "I've already been in this movie," she added, referring to her role in the 2011 disease thriller "Contagion." "Stay safe." [...] Business executives are ditching first class for private planes. Jet-setters are redirecting their travel plans to more insular destinations. And wealthy clients are consulting with concierge doctors and other V.I.P. health care services. Why spend $3.79 on a bottle of hand sanitizer from Target when Byredo, a European luxury brand, makes one with floral notes of pear and bergamot for $35 (although that, too, is sold out)?

[...] At a time when every stray cough from three rows back sounds like a ghostly greeting from Typhoid Mary, those who can afford it are paying extra to sidestep crowded security lines and jampacked planes and flying private -- which might be an attractive option for those who wish to flee the teeming cities for, say, a safe house in Telluride, Colo. Some wealthy people say they have been staying in their Hamptons homes and are prepared to jet off to cabins in Idaho if things get worse. And The Guardian reported that executives have chartered jets for "evacuation flights" out of China and other affected areas. For some private jet companies, fear equals opportunity. Southern Jet, a charter jet company in Boca Raton, Fla., recently sent out a limited test marketing email with the tag line: "Avoid coronavirus by flying private ... Request a quote today!"

[...] In certain pockets of Silicon Valley, where tech-elite survivalists drool over abandoned missile silos that were converted into luxury bunkers, coronavirus is precisely the doomsday scenario they've been preparing for. Marvin Liao, a partner at the venture capital firm 500 Startups, has been stocking up on canned food, water, hand sanitizer and toilet paper in anticipation of an outbreak, and has lately been scoping out a high-end air purifier called Molekule Air, which costs $799. "I don't know if you're ever ready for this," Mr. Liao said of coronavirus. "But I think that you're probably better prepared than a lot of people, because at least you've thought about it and at least you've stocked up. Worse comes to worse you'll have a lot more cushion than a lot more people out there."

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The Rich Are Preparing for Coronavirus Differently

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  • Sweet! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Berkyjay ( 1225604 ) on Thursday March 05, 2020 @11:06AM (#59799546)

    Now I know where to go to find some resources in the apocalypse. Just look for that house behind the big gate.

    • Now I know where to go to find some resources in the apocalypse. Just look for that house behind the big gate.

      They will be so glad to see you. No one has had clean laundry or fresh squeezed juice since all the help died. Now suit up and get to work!

    • "Release the hounds"

    • They have small private armies.
    • Now I know where to go to find some resources in the apocalypse. Just look for that house behind the big gate.

      Maybe you could join them on their cruise ship?

      Oh, wait.

      Actually, what I was looking for was some mention of the cruise ships. Not for the ultra-rich, but certainly not for poor folks. Now I see the story is not about "the rich" after all, but more like the richest top 0.1%.

      Still I want to say my piece:

      Please get everyone off the Grand Princess cruise ship ASAP. A cruise ship is NOT to be confused with a hospital ship and it is NOT suitable for quarantining people, rich or poor. And can you imagine the crew

  • Absurd (Score:4, Insightful)

    by DogDude ( 805747 ) on Thursday March 05, 2020 @11:09AM (#59799566)
    Either Earth is going to become a hellscape that you're not going to want to live in, or you stay home for a few weeks and eat what's in your cupboard. Either way, it's nuts that people are panicking like this. I'm not making any extra plans because of this new virus.
    • Re:Absurd (Score:5, Insightful)

      by CubicleZombie ( 2590497 ) on Thursday March 05, 2020 @11:22AM (#59799636)

      Clickbait.

      The media does this with every event.

      Like a school shooting. Hype everyone up. Everybody gives their kids bullet proof backpacks but still rides around without seatbelts.

      • by Baleet ( 4705757 )
        Oh, sure, blame the media--they're an easy target. If they don't report every development, it's a cover-up. How you react to the reporting is up to you.
    • Re:Absurd (Score:5, Funny)

      by BeerFartMoron ( 624900 ) on Thursday March 05, 2020 @11:29AM (#59799678)

      Either Earth is going to become a hellscape that you're not going to want to live in, or you stay home for a few weeks and eat what's in your cupboard.

      Dude, I'm not too sure I can see the difference between "a hellscape that you're not going to want to live in" vs. "stay home for a few weeks and eat what's in your cupboard". Both sound like I ran out of beer long ago.

    • In fairness, if I had poor lung health and was over 50 I'd be wiggy about it. Barring that however there's little reason to panic.

      • I am over 50 and lost my spleen in an accident when a child

        I have accepted an early death, but hopefully not this year

    • by Dunbal ( 464142 ) *
      Especially over a 2% mortality rate.
      • Especially over a 2% mortality rate.

        Yet there's always someone at the roulette wheel at those odds.

    • If Gwyneth Paltrow does something, clearly we all should pay attention.

      If only I could figure out how to use this yoni egg.

    • Speaking of absurdity - nothing like jetsetting off to Paris make a statement about your complete lack of commitment to climate change. First link from google because I don't really care to do more research:

      https://variety.com/2015/scene... [variety.com]

      Davis earned the EMA Wildlife Conservation Award for her work with elephants in Kenya, an animal that’s on the verge of becoming extinct. Paltrow was presented the EMA Green Parent Award by her mom and “radical environmentalist” mother Danner.

      “I r

    • by eth1 ( 94901 )

      Either Earth is going to become a hellscape that you're not going to want to live in, or you stay home for a few weeks and eat what's in your cupboard. Either way, it's nuts that people are panicking like this. I'm not making any extra plans because of this new virus.

      I *am* making extra plans, so that I can actually be fed and comfortable if I stay home for a few weeks. Fortunately that really just means gradually buying extra non-perishable food and other essentials (TP, cat food/litter) every time I shop until I have a decent stockpile, and keeping the cars topped up.

      The most unpleasant bit of preparation is actually going to be the discussion with my girlfriend (who's a nurse, and will be directly in the line of fire if things get bad) about whether we should avoid c

      • The most unpleasant bit of preparation is actually going to be the discussion with my girlfriend (who's a nurse, and will be directly in the line of fire if things get bad) about whether we should avoid contact during that time.

        Obligatory Futurama:

        "So you have to choose between a life without sex or a gruesome death? Tough call."

    • by k6mfw ( 1182893 )

      I'm not making any extra plans because of this new virus.

      Neither am I making plans though I probably be drinking a little more water, I read drinking water or other liquids will wash them down through your oesophagus and into the stomach. Your stomach acid will kill all the virus. Another was Taiwan experts provide a simple self-check every morning: Take a deep breath and hold your breath for more than 10 seconds. If you complete it successfully without coughing, without discomfort, stuffiness or tightness, etc, it proves there is no fibrosis in the lungs, basi

  • Stuff that matters (Score:5, Interesting)

    by alvinrod ( 889928 ) on Thursday March 05, 2020 @11:13AM (#59799586)
    I can understand articles about the coronavirus being relevant, but this is the most useless article yet. Just for shits and giggles, here's a sample of other hard hitting journalism from one of the authors of this piece:
    1. The Capital That Ate Wellness Is Going to Eat Your Mushrooms: Venture capital arrives for psychedelics.
    2. What Do Those Spotify ‘Top Fans’ Messages Mean?: A new marketing message tells people they are big fans of certain artists. But why?
    3. Kanye, Out West: What is the superstar doing in Wyoming?
    4. Lots of Rich Men Tweet Like the President Now: From Goldman Sachs to Amazon to the Democratic contenders, older rich men are going wild online.
    5. De’Andre Arnold on First Red Carpet: the ‘Kid With Dreads Is at the Oscars’: De’Andre Arnold, 18, is at the show with Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union, who produced “Hair Love.”

    This is the kind of crap I'd expect on some kind of Gawker rag. Has the Times really sunk this low as well? I mean I'm hardly surprised that msmash would post it to Slashdot.

    • by geek ( 5680 )

      The NYTimes has been this way for the better part of a decade. Maybe longer honestly, everything is an editorial from some hipster looking to stir shit up. Sad.

      • that would require them to run stories that might upset the kind of folks that sign their checks.

        Seriously, does anyone think a story like Watergate could get broke today? Hell, that Flint, MI stuff didn't go anywhere. A little bitty YouTube Channel Called Status Coup has done most of the reporting on it.
        • by geek ( 5680 )

          that would require them to run stories that might upset the kind of folks that sign their checks.

          Seriously, does anyone think a story like Watergate could get broke today? Hell, that Flint, MI stuff didn't go anywhere. A little bitty YouTube Channel Called Status Coup has done most of the reporting on it.

          Sad thing is stories far far worse than Watergate get reported today and ignored by the press because it hurts "their guy"

    • by lazarus ( 2879 )

      Can we flag an article as flamebait? This seems like a new low for Slashdot. I come here to avoid exactly this kind of "journalism".

    • Remind me how much you pay to be entertained by interacting with your fellow readers of this amusing article?

  • not news (Score:5, Insightful)

    by binarybum ( 468664 ) on Thursday March 05, 2020 @11:14AM (#59799592) Homepage

    dumb. not news. not for nerds. rich do everything a bit different. You would too if rich. dumb.

    • Re:not news (Score:5, Insightful)

      by binarybum ( 468664 ) on Thursday March 05, 2020 @11:15AM (#59799594) Homepage

      Also - Gwyneth Paltrow = terrible person, but this is not news either

      • Re:not news (Score:5, Informative)

        by geek ( 5680 ) on Thursday March 05, 2020 @11:19AM (#59799622)

        Also - Gwyneth Paltrow = terrible person, but this is not news either

        I wont go so far as to say terrible person. Maybe she is. I just think she'd umber than a bag of hammers with enough money behind her to make sure she never faces the consequences of that stupidity.

        • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

          by Anonymous Coward

          I wont go so far as to say terrible person. Maybe she is. I just think she'd umber than a bag of hammers

          OK, just what shade of umber is a bag of hammers?

  • yes, that old phrase applies here. When faced with the possibility that their money can't save them from what they cannot control, suddenly wary rich people become first class suckers. This is the time for the first class snake oil salesmen to shine... What? You didn't know snakes are immune to coronavirus? Have I got something for you!
  • Yeah, what's different about the rich people preparing is they can afford to do it.
  • Good luck (Score:5, Insightful)

    by t4eXanadu ( 143668 ) on Thursday March 05, 2020 @11:18AM (#59799614)

    Viruses do not descriminate between people of differing socioeconomic status. Rich people get sick and die just like the rest of us.

  • Some of those, or even many of those like to do quite horrifying things with kids, and kids are fucking great corona virus spreaders, as they don't actually catch it but spread it like a plague.

  • by SuperKendall ( 25149 ) on Thursday March 05, 2020 @11:43AM (#59799776)

    If I'm using a hand sanitizer and I smell anything except the heady sent of alcohol burning alive all viral matter before it, I have to assume it is doing nothing.

  • "Rich people have more options to deal with crises than poor people"

    How is that possibly news to anyone?

  • The millions paid for the stupid yacht are good for something.

  • The rich avoid crowds, seek medical advise, wash their hands, change their travel plans, etc... How is it different from everyone else?

    It is the luxury version of everything but there is no fundamental difference. It is like saying that the rich don't make phone calls like everyone else because they are using a diamond covered iPhone and they are doing it from their yachts. It may be a luxury phone call but it is still a phone call.

  • Nothing to do with Coronavirus really - sometimes I just like to know my vast sums of money make my every whim a reality. Besides, I hardly want their kind repopulating the earth after the apocalypse.
  • by fahrbot-bot ( 874524 ) on Thursday March 05, 2020 @12:29PM (#59799970)

    Gwyneth Paltrow wrote on Instagram last week, beneath a shot of herself on an airplane heading to Paris Fashion Week and wearing a black face mask. "I've already been in this movie," she added, referring to her role in the 2011 disease thriller "Contagion." "Stay safe."

    [*spoilers*]

    Ironically, it was her character who unknowingly contracted the disease in China and then flew back to the U.S., infecting people on the plane and back home, and was one of the first to die.

  • by PeeAitchPee ( 712652 ) on Thursday March 05, 2020 @12:34PM (#59800002)

    Shocking, I tell you!

    I guess they're just giving their subscribers what they want to read. The ultimate irony is that NYT and WaPo are becoming a mirror image of that certain right-leaning news network they hate more than anything else. Outrage sells.

  • I've been in this movie before as well, and so have you, twice. Paltrow's movie doesn't count because it was make believe, even if she died within 15 minutes after the movie started.

    Remember what all the doomsayers claimed would happen when the millennium approached? They were worried about the clocks not being able to switch from 1999 to 2000 and thought all the computer programs were going to crash, dropping planes out of the sky, sending trains into terminals at high speed, etc... Millions were supp

  • by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 ) on Thursday March 05, 2020 @02:10PM (#59800420)

    Yes, you should be prudent and take reasonable steps to minimize your chances of contracting COVID-19. If you catch it, you'll certainly feel like crap for a week or two - and, even at best, you'll dramatically inconvenience all the people who've been in contact with you for the previous few weeks. But odds are, you're not going to die - even if you're older or have an underlying health condition.

    This isn't ebola, folks. WHO currently estimates the overall mortality rate to be a bit above 3%. Yeah, that's bad... but the vast, vast majority of people don't die from it.

    • by DontBeAMoran ( 4843879 ) on Thursday March 05, 2020 @03:11PM (#59800626)

      IMHO the biggest danger here is not the mortality rate but the contagion rate and how much of the population it can affect. I think what most of us should be scared about is the potential disruption of all the various supply chains. Food, fuel, energy, transports, communications, etc.

      • This. And not just industry - healthcare too. Those ICUs can fill up and then there's not enough resources to care for all the seriously sick. Mortality rate goes up then.

    • The hospitalization rate might be more meaningful to most people. It seems like about 10-30% of infected people are clinically diagnosed with the remainder showing no or minor symptoms. About 20-50% of the clinically diagnosed people seem to require hospitalization.

    • It's better and worse than you say.

      If you are under 50, your odds of recovery are quite good, at 0.4% mortality, but when it comes to death, 1-in-250 is a risk I try to mitigate. Over 70 and you are talking about a 14.8% death-rate. Is anybody you care about over 70? Check out that stats here here [worldometers.info].

      My parents are right around 70 and have just begun social distancing. I completely support that.

  • by hlee ( 518174 ) on Thursday March 05, 2020 @03:09PM (#59800616)

    According to this article [statnews.com] cardiovascular disease makes you more susceptible to die from Coronavirus than anything else...

    Co-morbidities also raise the risk of dying from Covid-19. China CDC’s analysis of 44,672 patients found that the fatality rate in patients who reported no other health conditions was 0.9%. It was 10.5% for those with cardiovascular disease, 7.3% for those with diabetes, 6.3% for people with chronic respiratory diseases such as COPD, 6.0% for people with hypertension, and 5.6% for those with cancer.

    Not sure how long it would take for a vaccine to be available (many months, a year?), but it seems the best defense right now is to improve your cardiovascular health. Take a brisk walk 30 minutes each day, 5 days a week will put you at a lower risk from cardiovascular disease [cdc.gov] and possibly Coronavirus as well.

    FWIW being young helps a lot too, and there's likely a correlation there between age and cardiovascular health as well...

    Only 8.1% of cases were 20-somethings, 1.2% were teens, and 0.9% were 9 or younger. The World Health Organization mission to China found that 78% of the cases reported as of Feb. 20 were in people ages 30 to 69.

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