Saw that the mayor is shutting the city down.

How's it going in Waco?

17 cases in the county. Limited ability still to test folks. Waco just playing me too with Dallas. Honestly doesn't change a whole lot given the liberal definition of what an "essential" business is.

Bear Doc said:

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17 cases in the county. Limited ability still to test folks. Waco just playing me too with Dallas. Honestly doesn't change a whole lot given the liberal definition of what an "essential" business is.

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No doubt.

The declaration was a bit ambiguous in some areas.

I work in construction, but I do mainly residential remodels. I would not consider redoing a fully functional bathroom "essential". However I was told non essential by the first person from the city, to probably essential from the second person, to essential from the person that wrote the declaration. This was all in about an hour.

I'm just giving clients and employees the option and we will see how it goes. So far it looks like we may hold on for a week and see what happens.

I was pretty surprised when I saw the essential businesses...It covers a lot of businesses that I wouldn't think would be essential. I expect the guidelines to get more restrictive.

I believe the Mayor said liquor stores were considered "essential" businesses...Does that mean that moonshiners are performing essential county services? :-)

Maybe this is one of those places where a politician can say "We're doing all the things....just don't look under the cover."

17 cases in a county with a population of 247k. Consider that's off by an order of magnitude that's 170 or two orders of magnitude 1700. At 1700 that's .6% of the population. There are almost certainly more active cases of flu in the county than that.

https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/17/a-fiasco-in-the-making-as-the-coronavirus-pandemic-takes-hold-we-are-making-decisions-without-reliable-data/

As far as essential, I'm in a similar position as Redfish. Construction was deemed essential but that's vague. I think it was vague on purpose. The list of essential services is long per the Order. About half of our trades are in the 'essential' list and half are not.

We are not forcing - or even heavily encouraging - any of our subs to work nor firing anyone if they feel they can't do so. We are leaving it up to them - since they are not employees, obviously - to read the Order and make the decision that's best for them, their families, etc.

Realistically, almost all of our trades can maintain a high amount of social distancing and still perform. The question is whether they'll do so off the job site, not on it.

BaylorGuy314 said:

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We have 17 cases in McLennan County. Only one is hospitalized.

I know Mayor Deaver very well and respect him very, very much. He is a God-fearing businessman, great citizen, and all around good person. But this definitely seems like a CYA situation based on the facts in Waco at this point.

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The politician move is probably wise here. Damned if you do. Damned if you don't. So, let's do it to give us cover but do it in a way that we are still conducting trade in the market.

Shouldn't be that hard to figure out. Legally, I'm sure construction would be classified as "essential". However, let's be real.

If a hospital or senior center needs repair to save lives, then sure. If a playroom needs moulding, probably not. The goal is to minimize new contacts. If you haven't already been near a person, do your best not to be near someone new.

I'm essential because I supply parts to power plants and several hospitals. I've been in contact with the same dregs of humanity here in this office for over 6 years. I'm disinfecting the heck out of the place several times per day. After today, the doors will be closed to walk-in business. Yes, bring the stuff to keep the power on. No, I don't want to talk to a farmer trying to fix his power-takeoff (until later).

I'm told that, during World War II, the stateside population tasked themselves with saving everything from nylon to rubber to small metal screws in an effort to ensure the war fighters had as much as they could send. We're currently blessed in that our situation doesn't require troops to fight and die. However, I'd encourage the same hard-nosed mindset as our forebears. The world has recorded deadly plagues before. This is absolutely one of them. The efforts and inconveniences to which we subject ourselves will absolutely save lives.

Quote:

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The world has recorded deadly plagues before.

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Current deaths world wide from Coronavirus 14,704. Global population 7.772 billion.

This article: https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2017/p1213-flu-death-estimate.html
suggests annual global flu deaths are between 291k and 646k. And that's with the availability of vaccines.

Coronavirus may yet turn out to be a deadly plague, but its got a long way to go to be worse than the flu.

Yep. Interesting that liquor stores are "essential."

Fine with me. We can all skip church since most are sheltered by "no more than 10" rule, but congregate at the liquor store of our choice--where Baptists have always been mainstays..

Mr Tulip said:

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Shouldn't be that hard to figure out. Legally, I'm sure construction would be classified as "essential". However, let's be real.

If a hospital or senior center needs repair to save lives, then sure. If a playroom needs moulding, probably not. The goal is to minimize new contacts. If you haven't already been near a person, do your best not to be near someone new.

I'm essential because I supply parts to power plants and several hospitals. I've been in contact with the same dregs of humanity here in this office for over 6 years. I'm disinfecting the heck out of the place several times per day. After today, the doors will be closed to walk-in business. Yes, bring the stuff to keep the power on. No, I don't want to talk to a farmer trying to fix his power-takeoff (until later).

I'm told that, during World War II, the stateside population tasked themselves with saving everything from nylon to rubber to small metal screws in an effort to ensure the war fighters had as much as they could send. We're currently blessed in that our situation doesn't require troops to fight and die. However, I'd encourage the same hard-nosed mindset as our forebears. The world has recorded deadly plagues before. This is absolutely one of them. The efforts and inconveniences to which we subject ourselves will absolutely save lives.

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I would agree concerning construction. Some things could be considered essential and some may not. I think the AGC was heavily involved and the way it was explained to me is that construction is not an industry they want to see falter in capacity. Therefore, the blanket statement of all construction. I was also told that is at this moment in time and to expect stricter guidelines.

I talked with my attorney and he advised to stay away from occupied home remodels for liability reasons, but if working was optional and it is, that a vacant home rehab is low risk and keeps everyone working.

I'm fortunate because I have 2 such houses ready to start this week, so I'm going to let the guys decide what they want to do. We can also practice pretty good social distancing because pretty much everyone can be in a different room. In addition, my foremen visually watch everyone wash their hands before they touch anything on the job.

Folks need to work, if they can, because they need the paycheck. That being said, it can be done with minimized risk.

Any thoughts from you guys in the construction business are appreciated.

I came into the office this morning for 30 minutes to download the software to access our system from home. Have yet to finish downloading software, as the city order came down about 20 minutes after I got in and I've spent the day trying to decipher it. McLennan County order came out about 90 minutes later; it is 100% verbatim except the city order adds a provision requiring daily reporting of COVID testing by labs within the city. It's not unlike the cancellation of the conference basketball tournaments; once one cancelled all the others followed suit so as to not be "that one" who didn't take the same precautions as everyone else.

Anyway, the only place I see "construction" mentioned in either order is in the exemption given to operation and maintenance of "Essential Infrastructure," but otherwise there is no definition of "Essential Infrastructure" in the Waco or McLennan County order. The Dallas County order is more specific; it defines "Essential Infrastructure" as essential critical infrastructure outlined in the 16 categories set forth by CISA (https://www.cisa.gov/critical-infrastructure-sectors).

One of the 16 categories is Commercial Facilities (including shopping centers, office buildings, entertainment and lodging). We are trying to figure out whether we can continue work on finishout on repurposing some office space during a time when otherwise our employee count is reduced due to the shelter in place (we are an Essential Business, but are split into two groups alternating working at home and the office.

With Bell County now having a shelter in place order, I received a phone call from a public information officer from a county department ordering me to close the showrooms of the three dealerships I am the controller for. I told this person the order issued by the County Judge specifically lists "automobile sales, auto supply and auto repair" as essential retail. These CYA orders by county officials are causing mass panic among my 200 employees that I am trying to safely keep working and getting paid. I had a tow truck driver that was a victim of a hit and run in Killeen on Friday afternoon and the police department refused to respond to the scene because they are only dispatching officers to life threatening emergencies. I spent most of the day working on policies to post to employees and customers when not on the phone with the Texas Workforce Commission with our options for reductions in hours for mass employees.

Rambling over.

Redfish, we are doing the same... one sub crew of less than 5 in a house at a time. These are vacant remodels/flips. I spend alot of time scheduling subs so we dont overlap at any of the 5 sites. I specifically work with gloves on and sanitize/wash hands often. I dont go to anywhere but to jobsite and back home. my Mid 20s helper willingly picks up supplies or we have them delivered. We have been doing this for over a week now and everyone is comfortable and working so far, as long as the inspector for waco continues to do general build inspections then we will work in some capacity- even if our standard process is slowed.

Luckily, I am part of an "essential" business.

The bad news is that our clientele have been completely undercut by the draconian measures taken by well employed men who will sleep well in their beds tonight knowing that their jobs will be paid.

We can make it until mid-May. If this isn't lifted by then, we will begin laying off employees and reducing salaries. We have no choice. It's either that or begin liquidating the business altogether.

I'm all for getting ahead of this virus, but if it costs us the middle class, there needs to be a hefty price at the ballot box: a price that maybe causes some of these authoritarian types to know what it feels like when you can't sleep because you are wondering where your kids' next meal is going to come from.

whitetrash said:

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Any thoughts from you guys in the construction business are appreciated.

I came into the office this morning for 30 minutes to download the software to access our system from home. Have yet to finish downloading software, as the city order came down about 20 minutes after I got in and I've spent the day trying to decipher it. McLennan County order came out about 90 minutes later; it is 100% verbatim except the city order adds a provision requiring daily reporting of COVID testing by labs within the city. It's not unlike the cancellation of the conference basketball tournaments; once one cancelled all the others followed suit so as to not be "that one" who didn't take the same precautions as everyone else.

Anyway, the only place I see "construction" mentioned in either order is in the exemption given to operation and maintenance of "Essential Infrastructure," but otherwise there is no definition of "Essential Infrastructure" in the Waco or McLennan County order. The Dallas County order is more specific; it defines "Essential Infrastructure" as essential critical infrastructure outlined in the 16 categories set forth by CISA (https://www.cisa.gov/critical-infrastructure-sectors).

One of the 16 categories is Commercial Facilities (including shopping centers, office buildings, entertainment and lodging). We are trying to figure out whether we can continue work on finishout on repurposing some office space during a time when otherwise our employee count is reduced due to the shelter in place (we are an Essential Business, but are split into two groups alternating working at home and the office.

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We were notified by the Home Builders Association, which met with someone associated with City Council, that homebuilders were considered "essential." This would apply to Waco/McLennan County. Not sure about other places.

The good news is that liquor stores are expressly essential.

That's how you know when you've elected a bunch of lawyers to run your town.

And, so long as you are going to force a bunch of draconian edicts up the a$$ of the populace, you might as well numb their wits to soften the blow...

SSadler said:

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Yep. Interesting that liquor stores are "essential."

Fine with me. We can all skip church since most are sheltered by "no more than 10" rule, but congregate at the liquor store of our choice--where Baptists have always been mainstays..

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We are not like those heathen Methodists or Presbyterians though. We keep our heads down and do not engage anyone. If we do this, then we were not really there.

Plumb - please spare us your fear-mongering. You should know that all cases are not the same.

They are keeping liquor stores open as essential businesses to help those with chemical dependency issues not end up in the hospital from withdrawals. Kinda like how they are releasing all the low level drug dealers at the county lock up to keep selling dope so that addicts can get their fix and hope they dont end up in the hospital from an overdose. They are betting there will be less overdose victims than those that would go through withdrawals. Lifes a gamble.