Virus - What are the so-called 'essential businesses' that must be kept open at all cost? (Opinion - Non political): Many will answer weird stuff that addresses personal comfort and...

Rongnongno Loc: FL

Many will answer weird stuff that addresses personal comfort and 'feel good' stuff but not the essential.

Let's look at this at the simplest level. What do we really need? Food and water, that's it. Power as household electricity is not essential, even if many think so. Food is the first and main issue. Large cities need to import food in large quantities so we need farms to keep producing. These are the first essential businesses needed. From there there is a need for transportation from the farm to a transition center in order to package and keep the goods produced safe. And here we have transportation again. Lastly comes distribution centers with... Transportation. Funny how transportation has been cited three times already. Funny also that the transportation has been gutted for the last three decades and is now in dire straight.

So now as essential we have:
Farming
Transportation (road and rail road, possibly river water transportation)
Packaging and distribution centers

Water... It is not that simple unless you have your way to get it (wells). Water also means liquid waste disposal (sewage systems) unless to have you own (septic tank).

To get water out of the ground you need a system usually depending on electricity as does the sewage system. Distribution of water means maintenance on both sides as sewage always needs repair.

We can add then:
Water extraction
Maintenance
Sewage
Industrial electricity

Since industrial electricity is added to the list we now have another essential business to keep open and that is what we use most to produce energy, fuel, coal and a few newer less pollutant sources of electricity but do not forget nuclear plants.

Note that all the transportation mentioned depends on energy fuel mostly.

So now to resume we have:
Farming
Water
Energy

'Fell good' items are not part of anything essential. 'Give me freedom or death' as interpreted by fools who demonstrate all over to defend their right to have a hair cut or get together for a BBQ is not part of what is essential at all. But then again, I do not believe we will have to deal with this stupidity for long as they are their worst enemies as they consort with the very thing that will kill their loud protest by just killing them. What is wrong with that? Please tell me.

Note that I have not mentioned health care yet. There is a reason for that. At the moment health care is incredibly not a priority. It is cold, callous to say that but the simple truth. We are currently placing qualified job in dangerous situation for no reason. No one so far has been able to identify why some folks die and not other. Sure older folks are the first victims but so are anyone with an underlying condition. Another condition for dying is discrimination.

Health care professional need to be pulled back from the front line as we will need their expertise one the most essential workers have been able to do their jobs. These are researchers and scientists. They may discover the key to solve this pandemic virus. Then and only then should we send the health workers back in the front line. As I said, this is a cold callous analysis.

So what do we really have now as essential workers?
- Scientists
- Energy workers
- Farmers and farm workers
- Drivers, conductors
- Maintenance folks for all the above (includes road and railroad)
- Distribution workers
- Grave diggers (You did not think I was going to forget about then now, did you?)
- Law enforcement – including military
- Health care workers (kept as reserve)

As industry?
- Medical R&D (Cure and vaccine)--
- Energy production
- Water production
- Food production and distribution
- Medical production (Prevention, cure and vaccine if found)
- Communication (radio, telephone). Internet will prove to be useless
- Law enforcement
- That's it. The rest is frivolous non-sense.

This is a simple run down and does not pretend to be anything else.

Keep the political comments out of this, thank you.

Horatio

Thank you for this. I am frustrated over what is essential. For example, flight instruction, where two people are in a very small airplane together, with no masks, is essential. But, I cannot see my optometrist. If I cannot see, is this not essential? And, how is the WWE an essential business?

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Suppliers of repair parts for toilets? (In distribution workers category?)
Car repair facilities?
Car repair parts distributors? (In distribution workers category?)
Lawn mower repair places?

May not be necessities, until something breaks...

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

Rongnongno wrote:

Many will answer weird stuff that addresses person... (show quote)

You are correct about medical care. Our eye doctor called last week to say a colleague would keep our followup to a procedure last month - he is going only to another office, but he wanted to be sure this was taken care of. I forget when my routine appointment with my personal physician is, but I don't expect it to happen - she has other things to worry about.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

Horatio wrote:

Thank you for this. I am frustrated over what is essential. For example, flight instruction, where two people are in a very small airplane together, with no masks, is essential. But, I cannot see my optometrist. If I cannot see, is this not essential? And, how is the WWE an essential business?

I believe the WWE is performing only in Florida, where their Governor has interesting ideas.

If your eyes have been looked a t in the past year and were OK then, they are probably still OK; in my case, I had a laser treatment last month to treat glaucoma, and the doctor who saw me then arranged for the partner who now covers our area to make sure it worked ....... everyone {including me} was masked, and the first thing they did was to take my temperature and ask me some exposure questions {my wife had to wait in our car}.

Rongnongno Loc: FL

Longshadow wrote:

Suppliers of repair parts for toilets? (In distribution workers category?)
Car repair facilities?
Car repair parts distributors? (In distribution workers category?)
Lawn mower repair places?

May not be necessities, until something breaks...

Sorry but cars are not essential, especially considering that folks have usually one per person. Use one at a time for multiple reasons for each needed trip. Currently only food stuff so once a week if that much.
As to all the land-mowers and the like? Not essentials. The grass grows? So what? One day you will happy to have grass if we are reduced to eat it.

Plumbing? Learn to do your own, it will save you a bundle to start with. Done that a long time ago. Same for electrical and appliances.
We can be self reliant in many aspect of our lives, if we want to be. In other? It is not that easy since we have lost the know how.

wilsondl2 Loc: Lincoln, Nebraska

What gets me is that a dress shop must close but Walmart has food sop they can stay open - they also sell dresses - not fair - Dave

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

wilsondl2 wrote:

What gets me is that a dress shop must close but Walmart has food sop they can stay open - they also sell dresses - not fair - Dave

Another thing they have in common is that I wouldn't shop in either.

Horatio

rehess wrote:

I believe the WWE is performing only in Florida, w... (show quote)

For some odd reason, my eyes have been improving ever since I had stem cell replacement therapy for my hips and knees. This means that I am getting new glasses about every three or four months. It also means that I am unable to see out of my old glasses, as everything is blurry. Hence, the need for an optometrist appointment. Optometrists are a non-essential business. Yet, gun stores are essential.

I would never step foot in a Walmart and a friend stated that just the other day, the local Walmart was so busy, that no one was even thinking about social distancing and almost no one had a mask on. YIKES!!!

What baffles me, is that people are protesting about being cooped up in their homes, yet no one considers that Anne Frank was in a four hundred fifty foot attic, with seven other people, not being able to make any noise, nor leave the attic, for over twenty-five months.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

Horatio wrote:

For some odd reason, my eyes have been improving ever since I had stem cell replacement therapy for my hips and knees. This means that I am getting new glasses about every three or four months. It also means that I am unable to see out of my old glasses, as everything is blurry. Hence, the need for an optometrist appointment. Optometrists are a non-essential business. Yet, gun stores are essential.

Maybe some of the stem cells migrated.

I hope your state changes their standards soon and you’ll be ready for a few more months.

Horatio

rehess wrote:

Maybe some of the stem cells migrated.

I hope your state changes their standards soon and you’ll be ready for a few more months.

Ha, ha, ha. We are in Nevada at the moment. Who knows when anything will happen. I do not like the expense, as I would much rather be spending the money on camera gear, but as my eyes keep improving, I am not going to complain.

happy sailor Loc: Ontario, Canada

Rongnongno wrote:

Sorry but cars are not essential, especially consi... (show quote)

Cars aren’t a necessity? Maybe not for you but they are where I live and getting them repaired is necessary if something breaks.

Do you plan on hiding inside until the virus goes away, good luck on that. The purpose of the shelter in home and self isolation was to slow the curve so medical facilities were not overrun and for all intents and purposes that has happened, our medical facilities were not overrun and in that time built up their capacity as well.

So when would you propose moving forward with our lives.

Rongnongno Loc: FL

happy sailor wrote:

.../...

Who needs a car if you cannot eat or have no access to water?

As to your question... TESTING.

IDguy Loc: Idaho

Rongnongno wrote:

Who needs a car if you cannot eat or have no access to water?

As to your question... TESTING.

Where I live you can’t eat without a vehicle.

And I only get water with power. My pump is 380 ft. down.

Plus you cannot call 911 without power. (Yup, no cell service.)

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

Rongnongno wrote:

.... 'Give me freedom or death' as interpreted by fools who demonstrate all over to defend their right to have a hair cut or get together for a BBQ is not part of what is essential at all. But then again, I do not believe we will have to deal with this stupidity for long as they are their worst enemies as they consort with the very thing that will kill their loud protest by just killing them. What is wrong with that? Please tell me....

The problem there is that they are more likely to kill others than themselves. Assuming they all catch the virus, it appears that only 1-4% of them will die (numbers are uncertain because of lack of real data). But since they insist on going out and about, they are likely to infect lots of others in the process.