[PLUG-TALK] Package from China

[Keith Lofstrom]

The package of pocket magnifiers that I ordered on Jan 1
through eBay from China arrived at the Beaverton post
office last week, and I picked them up today.

The supplier is in Zhengzhou, Henan province, and shipped
on Jan 14.  Henan is the province northeast of Hebei, the
epicenter of the NOVID-19 epidemic.  The package went 
through two holding centers, one in China and one at LAX,
before transit to Beaverton.  That's typical.

As I understand it, respiratory viruses last only two or
three days outside of a host.  Still, out of an abundance
of paranoia, I wiped my hands with alcohol swabs before 
and after the package pickup counter, and wiped down the
package and contents with more sterilizing swabs after
leaving the post office.  Postal workers can be infected,
too.

I share this mostly to show that commerce with China 
hasn't stopped completely, though it has been delayed. 
Musk announced that shipments of Tesla cars "from Shanghai"
are delayed; since Wuhan is China's Detroit, my guess is
that the shipments of finished cars from Wuhan to the
Shanghai docks is the actual bottleneck, and that saying
"Shanghai" scares away slightly fewer future customers.

Ah well ... our Supreme Leader (and virology expert)
assures us "The virus ... typically that will go away
in April," adding: "The heat, generally speaking,
kills this kind of virus." 

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/trump-expects-coronavirus-crisis-to-go-away-in-april/articleshow/74070621.cms

Ahem.

Keith

-- 
Keith Lofstrom          keithl at keithl.com