Does the coronavirus merit investment, or personal, concern or consideration?

Incredibly complicated, fraught with danger, and certainly not safe solution - Get Married.

Did I sell it well enough? :smile:

JNJ starting Phase 3 trials for their vaccine, 60,000 people.

They won’t be ready for even EUA til next year, so this will be a ways away compared to PFE and MRNA. JNJs is a single shot, which is more practical, although it uses a benign virus to inject the covid protein, which can have issues when people have already been exposed to one of those fairly common viruses.

Here are some of the China vaccine results, which also use that approach. the concern is that those who have seen the virus vector before will get a less good immune response to the covid pieces inside since their immune system recognizes and responds quickly to the vector virus instead.

Dr. Birx is reportedly ‘distressed’ over the direction of Trump’s coronavirus task force

Birx, the White House coronavirus task force’s response coordinator, has “told people around her that she is ‘distressed’ with the direction of the task force” and is “so unhappy with what she sees as her diminished role” on it…

This report comes after the White House added a new member to the task force, Dr. Scott Atlas, who has no background in infectious diseases and reportedly touted a controversial herd immunity strategy. Birx, according to CNN, views Atlas as an “unhealthy influence” on President Trump and believes that he is providing the president with “misleading information” about the efficacy of face masks in slowing the spread of COVID-19.

Missouri governor, opponent of mandatory masks, has COVID-19

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican who has steadfastly refused to require residents to wear masks, tested positive for the coronavirus, his office said Wednesday.

Parson was tested after his wife, Teresa, tested positive earlier in the day. Teresa Parson had experienced mild symptoms, including a cough and nasal congestion, spokeswoman Kelli Jones said. She took a rapid test that came back positive and a nasal swab test later confirmed the finding. The governor’s rapid test showed he tested positive and he is still awaiting results from the swab test.

I just had an epiphany. I’ve been working from home for years, but never deducted any of my home office expenses, because I do not work from home for my employer’s benefit – they allow, but do not require it, and have space for me at the office. However, the office has been off-limits to me since March as my physical presence is not essential. Does this mean I’ll finally be able to legally deduct part of my home phone/internet/utilities/office/insurance this year? Along with millions of others “forced” to work from home?

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I talked to our tax accountant about this.

I use the house as a (more or less) office to handle all our business affairs. He said no, it’s not worth all the effort it takes to figure out each part of those expenses to deduct. It could cause the feds to take a real close look & possibly warrant an audit.

Yes, for years I’ve thought about deducting all the items of which you spoke. Never have, but I manage to go the limit on farming expenses.

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I think you can deduct the expense of any facilities, in your home, which are dedicated solely to supporting your employment. However:

If you have dual purpose accoutrements, used both for business and personal purposes, you could get into a world of hurt with the IRS if you try to claim deductions for such things, even if you apportion honestly. Don’t go there.

Another yahoo headline.

And is expected to be slightly ill for 3 days.

You can only take the home office deduction if you have self employment income. If that applies to you, and you’re comfortable with a slightly higher risk of audit, I highly recommend the simplified home office deduction.

The simplified deduction came from President Obama’s administration. So yes, I think at least one good thing came from his time in office. :wink:

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I do have a dedicated office, but it is small relative to the size of the home for the actual expenses deduction or the simplified method ($5 per square foot?), so probably not worth it as y’all suggested. Even though it wouldn’t take me much effort to figure out the expenses as I already keep track of every penny.

But I would also argue that it would be more difficult-to-impossible to prove that my office doesn’t qualify for “exclusive use” than to prove that the income from your side hustle is taxable :wink:.

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You’re right, at least until 2025 the TCJA made it impossible for W-2 employees. Thanks Trump!

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I believe you’re on a working farm, and probably have self-employment income. If so, and if you don’t have a business office at another location, you can dedicate one area/room of your house to the business only (not for any other use, including FragileDeal postings), you can deduct that portion. If you use the simplified deduction, you can still claim your full mortgage interest deduction if you itemize.

The great thing, for me, about the simplified deduction is that you don’t have to deal with depreciation or recapture of depreciation. You additionally don’t have to do all of the x% of utilities, insurance, calculations - just $5/sq ft up to 300, I think, sq ft.

Disclaimer: I’m not a tax anything (accountant,attorney,dodger), but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express at some time in the last 10 years. Additionally, my reading and math skills are less than they should be.

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". . . personal concern or consideration"

If you wanted to buy an N95 mask (3M or Honeywell) but were unable to locate one and . . .

If you ended up purchasing and using the Chinese KN95 masks instead . .

How is this working out for you? Did you, or another family member, become ill despite wearing the KN95?

Everyone needs a genuine N95 mask. But they are a tough get.

I tend to think that if you really feel the need for a N95 mask, you might as well walk around in a full hazmat suit.

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I disagree . . . respectfully, of course.

At my age, and with my several comorbidities, I need to do the best I’m able as a practical matter to protect myself. A mask, the right mask, is practical. Clearly the suit is not.

The N95 masks provide significantly superior protection to the dinky surgical masks or scarves some people use, which seal very poorly.

It comes down to N95 vs. KN95 today. So wondering what have been the experiences of others.

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My wife initially bought into the whole Covid-19 whizbang end of the world pitch. She was afraid to go anywhere and found herself maskless before going grocery shopping. I offered her my 3M KN95 mask that I use for painting. She took one look, and realized that she wasn’t so scared that she’d wear that.

One of the stores that I occasionally visit now has a mask policy so I bring it just to keep everyone clear of me. :smile:

Yes, we are self-employed. How could I manage to exclude Fragile Deal on my computer?

So as accountant suggested, “forget it”. Don’t want to forge into audit territory. :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

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Early deaths mentioning the virus were 95% or so cases where it was the cause. In the last few months, that’s down to more like 2/3, reflecting people dying incidentally while sick with the virus (ie young people dying in accidents who happen to also have the virus).

Depending on how covid death stats are counted, this could easily mean that now deaths reported should be only 2/3 of the headline number (50% higher than the estimated true value).

The article you link seems pretty clear. They’re counted only when it’s listed an underlying cause… it even demostrates this with two large images showing examples. The article makes no such claim that there’s an overcount.

your assumption made on a hypothetical “depending [on something that isn’t unknown]” is off-base.

The reported number is only an undercount. (Because people have died and not been tested or otherwise the link not been observed and confirmed with a lab test).
The approximate undercount can and has been estimated by excess deaths. That’s easier to do with more confidence over the summer months.

The article was looking at the U.K.; I’m not sure about how the US does it but we’ve definitely had a handful of obvious mistakes included. UK for a while was counting anyone who ever died after having a covid diagnoses as a covid death, even months later after recovering and getting hit by a bus (since fixed to dying within a month of testing positive). So the methodology for reporting has been in flux, and in the US since it varies by state I believe.

your assumption is off-base.

Possibly, but I think that’s less true than it once was. If you look at the CDC’s all cause US excess deaths for the year, it was much higher than historical averages during the April height of pandemic but is either flat or possibly below the historical averages. Remember the lockdown is stopping people from dying from car accidents and many other activities, and it appears the death rate of the virus has slowed enough that the lockdown effects at this point are larger or equal to the virus’s in aggregate.

Excess Deaths Associated with COVID-19 (see chart at bottom)

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