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UK is joining a litany of countries around the world by requiring a 14 day quarantine – apparently officials could pay you a visit at the address you’ve registered to make sure you’re not being naughty. This is part of a phase two roll out that the government is unveiling to gradually open the country back up for business. In addition to the quarantine, recent news has indicated that a track and trace app, developed jointly by Google and Apple, is favored by 10 Downing to track and trace those with COVID symptoms.
I’m sure Edward Snowden will be one of the first to sign off on an app that details your health, tracks your every movement, and notifies not only the government of your person to person interactions, but also those persons who could have been infected. No potential privacy concerns at all 😉
Data out of Stanford and USC are estimating that the true number of infected cases in the US may be 25x to 85x the reported number. If this is anywhere near true, how much will the app actually dent the spread of Covid when there are 50 people walking around asymptomatic for every person exhibiting symptoms. That data suggests an insanely high morbidity rate, but significantly lower mortality rate, and thus a faster herd immunity built, and easier curve to flatten. If the app is optional, then caveat emptor, but if it’s not…seems like a lot of privacy to sacrifice.
I’m totally onboard with the 14 day quarantine makes sense, and honestly I’m surprised it’s not already implemented, but I’ve got enough apps on my phone that track my every move. In fact, anonymized data is already big business, and if you do a couple of google searches on anonymized data you’ll find it’s pretty easy to attach a name to said anonymity. Just look at what Tectonix GEO was able to do to the Florida Spring Breakers that gained so much news coverage in March. Impressive and frightening at the same time. Add in health data…no thanks.
Want to see the true potential impact of ignoring social distancing? Through a partnership with @xmodesocial, we analyzed secondary locations of anonymized mobile devices that were active at a single Ft. Lauderdale beach during spring break. This is where they went across the US: pic.twitter.com/3A3ePn9Vin
— Tectonix (@TectonixGEO) March 25, 2020
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
The Chase Sapphire Preferred is a great starter card that earns Premium Ultimate Rewards that can be transferred into over a dozen partners many of which are US based.
Welcome Offer
60k Points after $4k spend in 3 months
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex℠and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash , Ink Business Unlimited you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
- 3x on dining
- including eligible delivery services for takeout
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards – Chase Travel Portal
- $50 Annual Credit on hotel stays purchased via Ultimate Rewards/Chase Travel
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred® continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel Portal and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including primary rental car insurance, purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 13 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in the Chase Travel center for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Primary rental car coverage is my favorite
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
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