D&D and the rising pandemic

[Zardnaar]

Yeah, the lack of small homes is really frustrating for anyone looking to either start out or downsize. Seems any existing modest home is either rotted away ("needs TLC!"), or are eyepoppingly overpriced in chic neighborhoods. And ask about smaller (say, <1000sqft) homes in a newer developments? LoL! There's just no incentive for developers to build "cozy" homes when they can spend a little more to build a bigger place that they can sell for a lot more.

For a huge and growing segment of the population, the hope of being a homeowner has been absolutely murdered. And it's getting to where even renting a place that isn't trash is becoming an unachievable dream for many in the bottom half.

Similar here there's no money in building small homes. The extra cost of the materials is marginal relative to other costs eg connecting electricity and water.

Unlike USA you can't move somewhere that much cheaper unless you don't mind moving way out into the boon docks.

 

[Cadence]

Gaming friend with an ill (non-Covid) family member tried to use the local ER. The three closest hospitals are over capacity. Mercifully their condition improved while waiting and they'll use their family practitioner.

 

[J.Quondam]

Unlike USA you can't move somewhere that much cheaper unless you don't mind moving way out into the boon docks.

Such a nice side effect of all those fancy new billionaires neighbors of yours, heh.

But yeah, you're basically right: there are some relatively inexpensively markets here in the US. Problem is, they're inexpensive for a reason: namely because few people actually want to move there.
But those are also exactly the sorts of places I'm looking at moving to, so we'll see.

 

[Umbran]

Isn't it easier in USA to build though hypothetically keeping prices down?

If you want to put a house in the middle of nowhere, a hundred miles from any job, sure, you can do that cheap. But the urban areas are already built up to (and somewhat beyond) the carrying capacity for the infrastructure around them.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Just found out that, while the aforementioned friend’s daughter is in the hospital, she does not have a room yet. She’s stuck in an ER bay because of there being no rooms left.

 

[Thomas Shey]

If you want to put a house in the middle of nowhere, a hundred miles from any job, sure, you can do that cheap. But the urban areas are already built up to (and somewhat beyond) the carrying capacity for the infrastructure around them.

Honestly, it usually comes down to the two out of three thing: A place that's reasonably priced, that's anywhere even halfway nice, and that's conveniently positioned. Pick two.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Just found out that, while the aforementioned friend’s daughter is in the hospital, she does not have a room yet. She’s stuck in an ER bay because of there being no rooms left.

Let's just say I was super glad that when I had my atrial fibrillation event a few months ago, I had it happen after vaccination was picking up and before Delta.

 

[Cadence]

If you want to put a house in the middle of nowhere, a hundred miles from any job, sure, you can do that cheap. But the urban areas are already built up to (and somewhat beyond) the carrying capacity for the infrastructure around them.

There's still quite a bit of land within 20 miles of most of the metro areas in central South Carolina. Whether the infrastructure is good for as many as we need is an entirely different matter...

 

[Cadence]

Any news on how quick it should be to make variant vaccines for Covid (if they can) like they do annually for the flu? (Hopefully quicker than for the flu?)

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Any news on how quick it should be to make variant vaccines for Covid (if they can) like they do annually for the flu? (Hopefully quicker than for the flu?)

Nothing hard & fast.

So far, all the data suggests that the major vaccines- IOW, not Sinovax- are still mostly effective Vs all known variants. And current research suggests that boosters of the same formulas will shore up the body’s immune responses even in cases where the variants are showing a bit of resistance.

More to the point, though, the speed at which a vaccine could be developed against a variant that is truly resistant to the current formulas- singularly or in “cocktails”- would depend greatly on WHY the mutations are resistant.