General > General Technical Chat
Parcel tracking as a measure of system collapse
<< < (3/7) > >>
Kleinstein:
A significant part of the air- mail goes with normal passenger planes that are not fully loaded.  With less air traffic there is less of this side use path has stopped. So there is a backlog with international mail. It may take some time for additional special mail / freight connections to be installed. Chances are it is worth to remove the seats from a few planes.

Also for shorter distances by land transport there are some interruptions, e.g. at borders that were open before.

The last letters I got by regular German mail took some 3 days - in normal times some 95% arrive the next day inside Germany (I know we are spoiled by this service).  So as long as the delay is not too bad I don't mind. Life has slowed down anyway.  Delivering the mail only every 2nd day can safe quite a bit for the distribution, especially in more rural areas.
ajb:

--- Quote from: TerraHertz on March 27, 2020, 03:38:54 pm ---
--- Quote from: daqq on March 27, 2020, 03:13:19 pm ---We're not experiencing problems with deliveries so far and I've seen the normal suspects (GLS, UPS) working as usual, delivering goods to places.

Also, the news and futures are not all gloom and doom. There seems to be several promising symptom management drugs
--- End quote ---

Better than 'symptom management' there is at least one actual, fast-acting cure. (Although it does not confer immunity.) It's the one Trump pushed into rapid trials, running this week. See attached letter, and recent (at end) entries in chronological http://everist.org/archives/links/__Coronavirus_Preventatives.txt


--- End quote ---
This is a dangerous overstatement.  Trials of chloroquine for COVID-19 have been small and of limited rigor, and even being optimistic about it's known mechanism of action it isn't a "cure" in the sense that most people would think, it's a therapy that seems to slow the replication of the virus and thereby allows the immune system more leeway to do its job.  A big downside to chloroquine is that the therapeutic index is small, which means there's a very narrow window between an effective dose and a potentially lethal overdose.  People have already died after taking chloroquine on their own in a misguided attempt at protecting themselves.  Although it is a therapy worth investigating, chloroquine and similar drugs have not yet been demonstrated to be broadly safe and effective against SARS-CoV-2.  Saying that there is a "cure" at this stage is premature and only encourages people to downplay the risk of infection and ignore effective measures against the spread of the virus. 
edavid:

--- Quote from: TerraHertz on March 27, 2020, 12:39:28 pm ---Does anyone else have a tracked parcel in transit in the USA?
How is it going atm?

--- End quote ---
Several, and everything seems to be normal, including the usual error rate.


--- Quote ---But one parcel that was still in motion, going from the East Coast to LA by road, seems to have stalled ... somewhere. Tracking doesn't even say where, and that's unusual. The last entry on the status page went from "In transit, arriving on time" to "in transit, arriving late", stayed that way for days, and yesterday changed to "In transit to the Next Facility."

--- End quote ---
Those "in transit" statuses were recently added to the system.  It looks like they are generated automatically when the package isn't scanned for a day.  They don't seem to mean anything.
Rick Law:
30 miles from NYC, I just received a package from China that was ordered over a month ago.  So, if it get to en-route/in-transit status, it will probably get there if a little slower than usual.

Since the OP is USA delivery specific, let me get into some details here.  USA, being rather larger, situation differs across the country:

- On the west coast, thing are bad (Washington State and California).  LA is actually (per mayor of LA) is planning to cut power and water to non-essential businesses that stays open to force a closure[0].  In some cities (Washington State and California), stay-at-home order is in place and only essential trips such as getting food.

- On the east coast, New York State is the worst State in the USA right now.  It started just north of the city first, and now the whole NYC metro-area is in deep doodoo.  New York State has 1/2 the cases in the USA.  It is spreading outward with NYC being the center of the spread.  NJ, being next to NYC, declared Emergency as of a few days ago.  Stay-at-home order is in NJ/NY state wide.  Connecticut (CT) has a few hot spots and Pennsylvania (PA) is going to be next no doubt.

- In the mid-west, most are normal except major cities notably Chicago in Illinois.  Illinois is probably worst in the mid-west as of now but things changes very quickly.

- In the south/south-east, most are normal.  Last check, Texas (TX) and Florida (FL) issue interstate travel order requiring self-quarantine for people coming from out of state.

Self-quarantine doesn't work so well.  Around a month ago and prior to the stuff hitting the fan (Feb 28), there was an event at (or host by) Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) in New Hampshire (NH) for Hospice Care staffer/people.  A guy who was suppose to be self-quarantined ignore his status and went to the event[1] - this is going to cause problem.  A second DHMC staff is now (March 4)  tested positive[2].  Besides those in DHMC for other reasons, those in the area Hospice Care are already dying, they may be in contact with staffers who may have been attending that event.  This is not going to help.

Irresponsible behavior is causing problem even from those not in self-quarantine.  Some idiot kids in Kentucky held a "Virus Party".  As of now, one of them is tested positive.  Of the Spring Break go-ers, at least 5 UT (Univ. of Tampa) is now tested positive.

Stay safe, everyone, and best of luck to you and your family.


References:
[0] Business Insider article: LA's mayor says he will cut off water and power to businesses that don't comply with the coronavirus lockdown
https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-la-mayor-cut-water-power-companies-defy-lockdown-2020-3?op=1
[1] Yahoo.com article: New Hampshire Coronavirus Patient Breaks Quarantine to Attend Dartmouth Event
https://news.yahoo.com/hampshire-coronavirus-patient-breaks-quarantine-190256729.html
[2] The Dartmouth article: DHMC employee with coronavirus broke isolation; second person infected
https://www.thedartmouth.com/article/2020/03/dhmc-employee-with-coronavirus-broke-isolation-second-person-infected
[3] USA Today's Courier Journal article: One person tests positive for COVID-19 after attending 'coronavirus party,' Beshear says
https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/2020/03/24/coronavirus-kentucky-one-ill-after-coronavirus-party-beshear-says/2911870001/
[4] WSTS ABC Action News article: 5 University of Tampa students test positive for coronavirus
https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/coronavirus/4-university-of-tampa-students-test-positive-for-coronavirus

Edit: added (fixed) a reference
ciccio:
In the region where I live (norhern Italy) the epidemic is running fast and I see no positive news, but delivery services, both couriers and post, are working, without too many problems.
There is a very strange situation with postage (letters) coming from US..
A close friend of mine is a retired US citizen who receives his retirement money form US via mailed cheques. It seems absurd but it's the only allowed method:  bank transfers are not allowed. When he needs money he call the US and asks for a cheque be sent (by standard air mail, insured or registred mail are not allowed.
It usually takes about three weeks for delivery and other two week for the cheque to be cleared by the Italian bank.
A cheque mailed on January 13 ha not yet been received, as one other mailed on February 20.
We called the Italian Post Office and they said that no standard postage is leaving the US for Europe because there are no flights leaving the US to Europe.
In any case, they could not help us because we had no tracking number.
It seems impossible, but this is what  I learned.

On the other side, I got a package from Bangood via registered mail in 4 weeks (mailed from China on February 17 and received in Italy on March, 13.

EDIT : the cheque mailed on January 13 arrived on May 15.
Navigation
Message Index
Next page
Previous page
There was an error while thanking
Thanking...

Go to full version
Powered by SMFPacks Advanced Attachments Uploader Mod