Coronavirus prep

lemurcat2 wrote: »

lynn_glenmont wrote: »

lemurcat2 wrote: »

lynn_glenmont wrote: »

amusedmonkey wrote: »

Things are looking promising here. It has been a few days since the last new case. 2-4 cases daily, all are either children who are already at the hospital with their sick parents or import drivers who test positive at the border before entering the country (but mostly drivers).

Most things are open now under strict sanitation and distancing rules (even non-essentials). There aren't any plans to open gathering places yet (churches, mosques, wedding venues, clubs...etc). Restaurants are all open for delivery and pickup. Almost half the provinces are almost back to life as usual and can drive freely. The rest can drive but with restrictions. Cars with an even plate number drive one day, and cars with an odd number drive the next. No more than 2 people in one car. Public transport is now also open at 30% capacity.

People are...well... people. They're not distancing as much as they should be. It's Ramadan and they're flooding to buy food without any regard for safety. Some places are better organized than others - we've been buying and freezing bread once every 10 or so days to avoid crowds at bread bakeries and buying our vegetables at the grocery store (more expensive) because produce stores are less organized. I used to get upset at people, but I feel less upset now, probably because it's looking good right now. I have resigned to "people are people, and will keep doing what people do"

This is what concerns me. I think we could reasonably safely open up a lot of businesses, if people were just capable of continuing to obey social distancing advisories. They had a piece on "60 Minutes" yesterday of an automobile plant that has retooled to produce ventilators, and they have erected plastic barriers between work stations, everyone was wearing masks, and they had smart watches that buzzed if they got within six feet of another smart watch (also storing data on what watches they were near, for future contact tracing if necessary). And the company is doing all that because people are people, and if you don't have systems in place to stop them, they're going to go back to their old ways of swapping germs and not washing their hands.

They are adding a mask requirement for indoor shopping and places where you can't maintain 6 ft of separation, but opening up some of the closed outdoor areas and then adding as new essential businesses "greenhouses, garden centers and nurseries" (many of which were already doing business through curbside and delivery, and Home Depot was open). "These stores must follow social distancing requirements and must require that employees and customers wear a face covering."

"Animal grooming services may also re-open," and "[r]etail stores not designated as non-essential businesses and operations may re-open to fulfill telephone and online orders through pick-up outside the store and delivery."

This seems reasonable to me. However, a politician downstate sued to prevent the order from applying to him, so clearly others disagree. I don't think a majority, and I get the impression the police here are enforcing the orders and concerned for their own safety in that they are on the front lines of having to deal with people who may have the virus and are not compliant. (Mostly enforcement is ticketing and breaking things up.)

To clarify, I have concerns far short of intentional violations of restrictions.

I think there's a difference between effective social distancing and nominal, perfunctory compliance with the bare letter of restrictions. I don't have a lot of faith that folks wearing homemade cloth masks and bandanas (not their fault -- that's what's available), touching their faces right over their mouths and noses about every 20 seconds (based on my observations of folks in essential businesses and out walking -- I've even seen this in interviews with medical personnel on local news), mistaking three feet for six feet, not comprehending that talking when you're standing that close to someone presents increased risk, just as sneezing or coughing does .... I don't have a lot of faith with that as our baseline, that lifting restrictions with rules about social distancing will lead to effective social distancing.

Not sure why this is the response to my post, but I will say that I don't think people are mistaking 6 ft for 3, and most of the time in my neighborhood I see 6 ft of distancing, and it's easy outside.

Masks are a mixed bag, of course.

I really don't see a big deal with opening up curbside pickup and most outdoor spaces.

The issue with violations of social distancing aren't people mistaking 6 ft for 3 ft, but people who, for whatever reason, don't care at all, like a crazy huge house party that was shut down here or people trying to make points for social media. I don't get it, but it's happening.

GaleHawkins wrote: »

For the first time in a few weeks I went to WM this evening. They had a selection of a few different brands of paper towels and TP;and good stock but not all the brands they normally carry. The optional foods like chicken, pork and beef were wiped out after the news media talk of a lock down of meat plants. Corn is being planted and the farmers are sad because demand for corn for cars is down. We may be eating a lot of corn flitters if meat goes off line.

On a sad note I went by to pay the rent for the guy that I am his guardian that lives in an assisted living home for the past 25 years after his mom pasted. He is 76 and has COPD and one resident tested positive for COVID-19 today. He grew up without hearing so he did not develop speech or go to school. He is bright and watches TV so I expect he kind of knows what is going one. I have a former neighbor that lives there as well who is 96. Like another home near here it will sweep every hall in time I expect. They have been locked down for a month expecting something to happen.

I am going to try and be nice so maybe my son or daughter will let me have a tiny house in the back yard when I get near my end.

Now that doctors are seeing patients it seems like twice as many cars were on the road today. I made an 80 mile trip to the optometrist to rule out a detached retina before I do much tractor work and thankful it is just a vitreous detachment that is normal but can pull and tear the retina if the separation is suddenly. The flashing lights of the last week have really slowed down.

lemurcat2 wrote: »

lynn_glenmont wrote: »

lemurcat2 wrote: »

lynn_glenmont wrote: »

lemurcat2 wrote: »

lynn_glenmont wrote: »

amusedmonkey wrote: »

Things are looking promising here. It has been a few days since the last new case. 2-4 cases daily, all are either children who are already at the hospital with their sick parents or import drivers who test positive at the border before entering the country (but mostly drivers).

Most things are open now under strict sanitation and distancing rules (even non-essentials). There aren't any plans to open gathering places yet (churches, mosques, wedding venues, clubs...etc). Restaurants are all open for delivery and pickup. Almost half the provinces are almost back to life as usual and can drive freely. The rest can drive but with restrictions. Cars with an even plate number drive one day, and cars with an odd number drive the next. No more than 2 people in one car. Public transport is now also open at 30% capacity.

People are...well... people. They're not distancing as much as they should be. It's Ramadan and they're flooding to buy food without any regard for safety. Some places are better organized than others - we've been buying and freezing bread once every 10 or so days to avoid crowds at bread bakeries and buying our vegetables at the grocery store (more expensive) because produce stores are less organized. I used to get upset at people, but I feel less upset now, probably because it's looking good right now. I have resigned to "people are people, and will keep doing what people do"

This is what concerns me. I think we could reasonably safely open up a lot of businesses, if people were just capable of continuing to obey social distancing advisories. They had a piece on "60 Minutes" yesterday of an automobile plant that has retooled to produce ventilators, and they have erected plastic barriers between work stations, everyone was wearing masks, and they had smart watches that buzzed if they got within six feet of another smart watch (also storing data on what watches they were near, for future contact tracing if necessary). And the company is doing all that because people are people, and if you don't have systems in place to stop them, they're going to go back to their old ways of swapping germs and not washing their hands.

They are adding a mask requirement for indoor shopping and places where you can't maintain 6 ft of separation, but opening up some of the closed outdoor areas and then adding as new essential businesses "greenhouses, garden centers and nurseries" (many of which were already doing business through curbside and delivery, and Home Depot was open). "These stores must follow social distancing requirements and must require that employees and customers wear a face covering."

"Animal grooming services may also re-open," and "[r]etail stores not designated as non-essential businesses and operations may re-open to fulfill telephone and online orders through pick-up outside the store and delivery."

This seems reasonable to me. However, a politician downstate sued to prevent the order from applying to him, so clearly others disagree. I don't think a majority, and I get the impression the police here are enforcing the orders and concerned for their own safety in that they are on the front lines of having to deal with people who may have the virus and are not compliant. (Mostly enforcement is ticketing and breaking things up.)

To clarify, I have concerns far short of intentional violations of restrictions.

I think there's a difference between effective social distancing and nominal, perfunctory compliance with the bare letter of restrictions. I don't have a lot of faith that folks wearing homemade cloth masks and bandanas (not their fault -- that's what's available), touching their faces right over their mouths and noses about every 20 seconds (based on my observations of folks in essential businesses and out walking -- I've even seen this in interviews with medical personnel on local news), mistaking three feet for six feet, not comprehending that talking when you're standing that close to someone presents increased risk, just as sneezing or coughing does .... I don't have a lot of faith with that as our baseline, that lifting restrictions with rules about social distancing will lead to effective social distancing.

Not sure why this is the response to my post, but I will say that I don't think people are mistaking 6 ft for 3, and most of the time in my neighborhood I see 6 ft of distancing, and it's easy outside.

Masks are a mixed bag, of course.

I really don't see a big deal with opening up curbside pickup and most outdoor spaces.

The issue with violations of social distancing aren't people mistaking 6 ft for 3 ft, but people who, for whatever reason, don't care at all, like a crazy huge house party that was shut down here or people trying to make points for social media. I don't get it, but it's happening.

I had posted expressing doubts about people's ability to comply with social distancing constraints that government officials at all levels keep emphasizing should be followed even as businesses reopen. You responded to my post with one about (1) what the rules are in your area and (2) people who are actively opposing the rules. I wanted to clarify that I wasn't talking about either of those things -- I don't think the biggest problem is what the specific rules are or people who are actively opposing the rules but the large majority of people who will things think rules are a good idea, but just not for them right now in this particular situation. Or that situation. "Yes, of course we need to keep safe, but it's not going to be a problem if I just go over to a friend's house for a few drinks with them and one other person from one other household ... It's been a tough time being apart from everybody for so long. Just one evening isn't a big deal."

In effect, my whole last post was my explanation of why I wasn't sure what your response had to do with my post, or to clarify what I meant if my earlier post was being misunderstood as being about people actively protesting against rules.

Okay. I misunderstood your prior post.

Mine was intended to say that the rules had been loosened as you suggested could work and that I thought it was going to, as I see most following the rules -- certainly most who care at all.

I do disagree with the notion that people cannot comply with social distancing.