Coronavirus prep

1161162164166167498

Replies

  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,264 Member
    jo_nz wrote: »
    We've woken up this morning to a new level of freedom (I'm in New Zealand) - at midnight we went to "alert level 2"

    Level 4 was full lockdown - supermarkets, pharmacies and medical centres open with restrictions, and a few other essential services were running. People had to stay home, no travel, only contact with those in your home (or your "bubble")

    Level 3 was a slight easing - cafes and restaurants opened for takeaway only. Stores opening for click and collect or delivery services. Travelling within your region was okay.

    Level 2 we now have restaurants open for table service again - groups of 10 or less. Shops can open, social distancing and hygiene measures in place. School will reopen on Monday. We can now travel again - looking forward to visiting my mum who is in another region and has been alone for 7 weeks! I have been talking to her lots, and ordering her groceries for delivery as she's in an at-risk group and taking all precautions.
    There are still restrictions on gatherings, so the kids' extra-curricular activities won't be starting face-to-face just yet. That will be reviewed in two weeks as we see how the case numbers progress.

    (Those descriptions of levels are not complete lists, just a few things relevant to me)

    Funny how today, for me, is actually just the same. I guess it will help when the kids head back to school next week, but I will continue to work from home. I am looking forward to taking the dog for a walk as we'd been requested to keep dogs on leash for all walks for level 3&4, so it'll be great to let her off at the beach or river for a run - except I think everyone else in town will probably have the same idea, and my dog hates crowds.
    My daughter is super excited to see her best friend today.

    Fingers crossed (and hands washed) that our numbers stay low going forward.

    What I don't understand is, if social distancing and hygiene measures are in place and groups are limited to 10, how do schools open? This is why we don't know when schools will reopen here. We have to follow the social distance guidelines, which is 10 or less. That is not a full school bus or classroom. They are even limiting staff to 10 at a time. Parks are open, but not playgrounds(in some cities). My city opened parks and playgrounds, but not restrooms. I don't understand...are we supposed to pee ourselves?

    I suppose the theory is you are not suppossed to be in a park long enough to need the toilet.

    Parks were open here too but playgrounds within them were taped off. So it was ok to go for a walk or jog through the park or to sit by yourself /members of your household on a bench - but not for children ( or adults - the adults fitness equipment was taped off too) to gather on equipment or have lots of bodies touching equipment.
    Same logic as gyms, I suppose.

    Outdoor playgrounds/ fitness equipment are un taped and ok to use here now in stage 1 of road to recovery.


  • Gisel2015
    Gisel2015 Posts: 4,184 Member
    jo_nz wrote: »
    We've woken up this morning to a new level of freedom (I'm in New Zealand) - at midnight we went to "alert level 2"

    Level 4 was full lockdown - supermarkets, pharmacies and medical centres open with restrictions, and a few other essential services were running. People had to stay home, no travel, only contact with those in your home (or your "bubble")

    Level 3 was a slight easing - cafes and restaurants opened for takeaway only. Stores opening for click and collect or delivery services. Travelling within your region was okay.

    Level 2 we now have restaurants open for table service again - groups of 10 or less. Shops can open, social distancing and hygiene measures in place. School will reopen on Monday. We can now travel again - looking forward to visiting my mum who is in another region and has been alone for 7 weeks! I have been talking to her lots, and ordering her groceries for delivery as she's in an at-risk group and taking all precautions.
    There are still restrictions on gatherings, so the kids' extra-curricular activities won't be starting face-to-face just yet. That will be reviewed in two weeks as we see how the case numbers progress.

    (Those descriptions of levels are not complete lists, just a few things relevant to me)

    Funny how today, for me, is actually just the same. I guess it will help when the kids head back to school next week, but I will continue to work from home. I am looking forward to taking the dog for a walk as we'd been requested to keep dogs on leash for all walks for level 3&4, so it'll be great to let her off at the beach or river for a run - except I think everyone else in town will probably have the same idea, and my dog hates crowds.
    My daughter is super excited to see her best friend today.

    Fingers crossed (and hands washed) that our numbers stay low going forward.

    What I don't understand is, if social distancing and hygiene measures are in place and groups are limited to 10, how do schools open? This is why we don't know when schools will reopen here. We have to follow the social distance guidelines, which is 10 or less. That is not a full school bus or classroom. They are even limiting staff to 10 at a time. Parks are open, but not playgrounds(in some cities). My city opened parks and playgrounds, but not restrooms. I don't understand...are we supposed to pee ourselves?

    I suppose the theory is you are not suppossed to be in a park long enough to need the toilet.

    Parks were open here too but playgrounds within them were taped off. So it was ok to go for a walk or jog through the park or to sit by yourself /members of your household on a bench - but not for children ( or adults - the adults fitness equipment was taped off too) to gather on equipment or have lots of bodies touching equipment.
    Same logic as gyms, I suppose.

    Outdoor playgrounds/ fitness equipment are un taped and ok to use here now in stage 1 of road to recovery.


    Weirdly enough, they did the same thing here - left parks open but closed facilities at them - and then apparently the city noticed that people still needed to go, so rather than arrest everybody for indecent exposure, they added portapotties and posted the location of the new portapotties on the covid site! So, let me get this straight, using a fully functional restroom is unsafe, but sharing a four by four foot fully enclosed space with no way to wash your hands afterwards is somehow safe. Got it.

    Portapotties are cleaned and supplied by the rental company. Fully functional bathrooms need to be cleaned and supplied by the city or county and they probably don't have enough personnel to do that. That is my opinion, but I also agree with your reasoning.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    Usually they have hand sanitizer with portapotties too, although I also think that seems weird.

    We also have (most) parks open but playground sections closed off. Facilities are closed, but it seems not that hard just to plan so no bathroom is needed. There are tons of local parks here, so people likely aren't too far from their homes anyway.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    mkculs13 wrote: »
    earlnabby wrote: »
    Our state Supreme Court just struck down the governor's stay at home order. This means any business or restaurant can open up immediately.

    Not a surprise, but I am so disappointed. Madison was already ramped up this week; who knows what it will become like now?

    I'm social distancing, wearing a mask inside stores (only the grocery store, about once every 10 days; one outing to a pet store every month). I work from home and take daily walks at the dog parks, where it's easy to be at least 6 feet from others. I tried my local trail (out my door, basically) yesterday but it was too busy. Most people walking with another person (or more than 1 other) do not walk single file, although I noticed some moms with kids on bikes who did that. If everyone walked single file on their side of the trail, it would basically be 6 feet or more for the entire 3.5 mile loop. But apparently that's too much to consider. I get pretty irritated b/c it is such a simple thing to do. I passed anywhere from 75 to 100 people--outrageously above the usual, non-Covid traffic. I don't begrudge anyone the need to get outside, especially now that our weather is finally decent. But c'mon, folks; move over and walk single file when passing others. It's not rocket science.

    I'm mostly concerned about a few people in my life and all the folks who will be put at risk b/c they *must* go back to work or have no income whatsoever. The truth is that reopening greatly increases the risk for those most AT risk, and these are the same folks who will not be able to claim unemployment if they don't go back to work. What a clusterf*ck. These folks do not have a real choice and that is so, so wrong.

    I imagine my nearby state park is quite busy as well, but due to the dog poop on the main trails >.< I started using a back entrance a few years back and hardly ever see people in that section.

    I've been too busy gardening lately to go there, but maybe I'll go today as it is super nice out.
  • moonangel12
    moonangel12 Posts: 971 Member
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    jo_nz wrote: »
    We've woken up this morning to a new level of freedom (I'm in New Zealand) - at midnight we went to "alert level 2"

    Level 4 was full lockdown - supermarkets, pharmacies and medical centres open with restrictions, and a few other essential services were running. People had to stay home, no travel, only contact with those in your home (or your "bubble")

    Level 3 was a slight easing - cafes and restaurants opened for takeaway only. Stores opening for click and collect or delivery services. Travelling within your region was okay.

    Level 2 we now have restaurants open for table service again - groups of 10 or less. Shops can open, social distancing and hygiene measures in place. School will reopen on Monday. We can now travel again - looking forward to visiting my mum who is in another region and has been alone for 7 weeks! I have been talking to her lots, and ordering her groceries for delivery as she's in an at-risk group and taking all precautions.
    There are still restrictions on gatherings, so the kids' extra-curricular activities won't be starting face-to-face just yet. That will be reviewed in two weeks as we see how the case numbers progress.

    (Those descriptions of levels are not complete lists, just a few things relevant to me)

    Funny how today, for me, is actually just the same. I guess it will help when the kids head back to school next week, but I will continue to work from home. I am looking forward to taking the dog for a walk as we'd been requested to keep dogs on leash for all walks for level 3&4, so it'll be great to let her off at the beach or river for a run - except I think everyone else in town will probably have the same idea, and my dog hates crowds.
    My daughter is super excited to see her best friend today.

    Fingers crossed (and hands washed) that our numbers stay low going forward.

    What I don't understand is, if social distancing and hygiene measures are in place and groups are limited to 10, how do schools open? This is why we don't know when schools will reopen here. We have to follow the social distance guidelines, which is 10 or less. That is not a full school bus or classroom. They are even limiting staff to 10 at a time. Parks are open, but not playgrounds(in some cities). My city opened parks and playgrounds, but not restrooms. I don't understand...are we supposed to pee ourselves?
    Theoldguy1 wrote: »
    That's what the other side of the tree is for:)

    My only regret about being female is due to males' ability to pee discretely in the woods :lol:
    Do a search for GoGirl. Still not the same ease as a male, but definitely easier!
  • Theoldguy1
    Theoldguy1 Posts: 2,493 Member
    lemurcat2 wrote: »
    Usually they have hand sanitizer with portapotties too, although I also think that seems weird.

    We also have (most) parks open but playground sections closed off. Facilities are closed, but it seems not that hard just to plan so no bathroom is needed. There are tons of local parks here, so people likely aren't too far from their homes anyway.

    Unless I'm missing something why is hand sanitizer in a porta potty weird? In most cases there is no running water available to wash your hands after using a porta potty. Hence the sanitizer is the next best choice.
  • spiriteagle99
    spiriteagle99 Posts: 3,740 Member
    As a runner, I pay attention to where construction projects can be found along the routes I run. I'm very happy when they have sanitizer in the POPs because when you're 4 miles from home in an area with no woods and only stubble in the corn fields, they can be a necessity.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    edited May 2020
    Theoldguy1 wrote: »
    lemurcat2 wrote: »
    Usually they have hand sanitizer with portapotties too, although I also think that seems weird.

    We also have (most) parks open but playground sections closed off. Facilities are closed, but it seems not that hard just to plan so no bathroom is needed. There are tons of local parks here, so people likely aren't too far from their homes anyway.

    Unless I'm missing something why is hand sanitizer in a porta potty weird? In most cases there is no running water available to wash your hands after using a porta potty. Hence the sanitizer is the next best choice.

    No, OF COURSE the hand sanitizer is not weird. The situation rhedd described was weird (shutting off bathrooms but then adding portapotties). What you were missing was my point, but I suppose I should have been more clear. Sometimes you just assume some interpretations are so bizarre that no one will think that's what you meant, but I should know better by now.

    I would guess the issue is you can only have one person at a time in the portapotties and the company sanitizes them, as someone else said, so if you think you NEED a bathroom facility there (I haven't seen any complaints about the lack of bathrooms here), the portapottie option might be better.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,118 Member
    Gisel2015 wrote: »
    jo_nz wrote: »
    We've woken up this morning to a new level of freedom (I'm in New Zealand) - at midnight we went to "alert level 2"

    Level 4 was full lockdown - supermarkets, pharmacies and medical centres open with restrictions, and a few other essential services were running. People had to stay home, no travel, only contact with those in your home (or your "bubble")

    Level 3 was a slight easing - cafes and restaurants opened for takeaway only. Stores opening for click and collect or delivery services. Travelling within your region was okay.

    Level 2 we now have restaurants open for table service again - groups of 10 or less. Shops can open, social distancing and hygiene measures in place. School will reopen on Monday. We can now travel again - looking forward to visiting my mum who is in another region and has been alone for 7 weeks! I have been talking to her lots, and ordering her groceries for delivery as she's in an at-risk group and taking all precautions.
    There are still restrictions on gatherings, so the kids' extra-curricular activities won't be starting face-to-face just yet. That will be reviewed in two weeks as we see how the case numbers progress.

    (Those descriptions of levels are not complete lists, just a few things relevant to me)

    Funny how today, for me, is actually just the same. I guess it will help when the kids head back to school next week, but I will continue to work from home. I am looking forward to taking the dog for a walk as we'd been requested to keep dogs on leash for all walks for level 3&4, so it'll be great to let her off at the beach or river for a run - except I think everyone else in town will probably have the same idea, and my dog hates crowds.
    My daughter is super excited to see her best friend today.

    Fingers crossed (and hands washed) that our numbers stay low going forward.

    What I don't understand is, if social distancing and hygiene measures are in place and groups are limited to 10, how do schools open? This is why we don't know when schools will reopen here. We have to follow the social distance guidelines, which is 10 or less. That is not a full school bus or classroom. They are even limiting staff to 10 at a time. Parks are open, but not playgrounds(in some cities). My city opened parks and playgrounds, but not restrooms. I don't understand...are we supposed to pee ourselves?

    I suppose the theory is you are not suppossed to be in a park long enough to need the toilet.

    Parks were open here too but playgrounds within them were taped off. So it was ok to go for a walk or jog through the park or to sit by yourself /members of your household on a bench - but not for children ( or adults - the adults fitness equipment was taped off too) to gather on equipment or have lots of bodies touching equipment.
    Same logic as gyms, I suppose.

    Outdoor playgrounds/ fitness equipment are un taped and ok to use here now in stage 1 of road to recovery.


    Weirdly enough, they did the same thing here - left parks open but closed facilities at them - and then apparently the city noticed that people still needed to go, so rather than arrest everybody for indecent exposure, they added portapotties and posted the location of the new portapotties on the covid site! So, let me get this straight, using a fully functional restroom is unsafe, but sharing a four by four foot fully enclosed space with no way to wash your hands afterwards is somehow safe. Got it.

    Portapotties are cleaned and supplied by the rental company. Fully functional bathrooms need to be cleaned and supplied by the city or county and they probably don't have enough personnel to do that. That is my opinion, but I also agree with your reasoning.

    I'd add that portos are also designed with easy, fast sanitization among their priority design characteristics, as part of the cost-management side of the business. It's basically a plastic box, and many of them (you may have noticed) have slanting surfaces and perforated grid-surface shelves to simplify full-box hose-downs to clean. Regular park restrooms typically require custom cleaning with things like mops, brooms, sponges.

    I'm not saying the porto companies use hose-down to clean them at remote sites - don't know, and probably varies by company - but "easy to clean" is a design criterion, for sure. When you frequently send your plastic box out (under normal circumstances) to places where massive crowds are drinking beer and ***-ing all over the inside of the box, you're gonna want that feature. :lol:
  • Theoldguy1
    Theoldguy1 Posts: 2,493 Member
    my mom is in her late sixties and still insisting she flies out for my birthday in july. it's the only thing she has left to look forward to, she keeps saying, and if i try to dissuade her she acts like i'm telling her she's not welcome here. i keep telling her no, it's not like that, i just don't want her being packed into a sky tube for hours at a time in the middle of a plague, but even as all the things she wanted to do out here get canceled she still won't listen because she doesn't want to "live in fear." i'm not a coward, i just know when to take basic cautions seriously, and the only thing i'm scared of is that she'll end up getting sick because of me. my family out here all most likely already had it so assuming the existence of antibodies (for our sanity's sake) we aren't that worried, but she's older and less fit than my dad and it nearly killed him. i can't lose my mom to this just because of some stupid birthday, how the hell do i get her to see it's not worth the risk? anyone else dealing with stubborn parents like this?

    Can she drive? Probably less risk.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    lemurcat2 wrote: »
    Usually they have hand sanitizer with portapotties too, although I also think that seems weird.

    We also have (most) parks open but playground sections closed off. Facilities are closed, but it seems not that hard just to plan so no bathroom is needed. There are tons of local parks here, so people likely aren't too far from their homes anyway.

    What strange paradise do you live in where they have sanitizer with portapotties? I’ve used a lot more local portapotties than I care to at races, and I’m lucky to see toilet paper! I’ve learned to carry a wad of paper in my waist belt. Sometimes they have handwashing stations with foot pumps set up nearby, but not sanitizer.

    As a transplant from the South to the Midwest, I've personally observed that it was very rare for me to see a portipottie with hand sanitizer in Tennessee/Arkansas, but not uncommon for me to see them now.
  • eccentricplaza
    eccentricplaza Posts: 115 Member
    I'd like to add a perspective to the face mask issue.

    Where I live in the states we are in phase 1. People can go to the beach and restaurants. I went to a restaurant, as the clientele you can't really wear a mask while dining. Also, there was maybe 1 waitress who wore her mask properly. Everyone else was either showing their nose (even the top part of the mouth! mask was too loose) or touching the mask to readjust it, and grabbing the front of the mask to pull it off and breathe deeply. So, IMHO sometimes masks are giving a false sense of security when the habits regarding them are more important. Don't touch your face, mind where you're breathing, and wash your hands so you don't transfer germs.

    It's been 10 days. There's not any concerning spike in cases, the stores do not require people to wear masks to enter, the hospitals asked people to not neglect their "elective" procedures (a lot of heart issues, there is a lot of older people in the town just north of me) which consist of heart surgeries. People are avoiding the hospital in fear of catching CV. I know in March I was terrified when I had to transfer from a small birth center to a hospital when a hiccup happened during my labor. I'm okay.

    I'll also add that I do live in a "city", but it's not urban. It's suburban. I think people are frustrated when they're in places like where I live, but are being lumped into the same situation as major cities. The reasoning I've heard is to dissuade city dwellers from fleeing and spreading it because there's no incentive related to freedom.

    But if there's a 2-3 week lag, we'll see what happens starting 4 days from now. Hopefully it'll be as expected or better—small increase in cases, but no frightening spike. Not all counties opened up, the two that were worst hit are (from what I last heard) still closed.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    edited May 2020
    lemurcat2 wrote: »
    Usually they have hand sanitizer with portapotties too, although I also think that seems weird.

    We also have (most) parks open but playground sections closed off. Facilities are closed, but it seems not that hard just to plan so no bathroom is needed. There are tons of local parks here, so people likely aren't too far from their homes anyway.

    What strange paradise do you live in where they have sanitizer with portapotties?

    Chicago. Portapotties around here normally have it, and I've seen it with them when doing races in other parts of IL, as well as WI and IN and WA. (I did a marathon in New Orleans, but have no memory of whether they surprisingly did not have it, I was too brain dead after to remember anything.)
  • Katmary71
    Katmary71 Posts: 7,041 Member
    Theoldguy1 wrote: »
    Of course in IL liquor and recreational marijuana retailers have been deemed essential and open through all of this.

    I think liquor has been deemed essential in every state with closures. I know it was the case here in MN as well.

    Random thing I read from someone on Facebook was the cigarettes and alcohol are currently not being sold in South Africa. The person admitted he and others were spending a 300% mark-up on illegal cigarettes.