How Is Covid-19 Impacting Life in Your City?

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by destroycreate

Idk...we just got to stop living in chronic fear and begin to adapt to living with it. I had non-stop anxiety and nightmares for the first 6 weeks living in fear of the virus, to the point where I was looking at strangers like they were the enemy. I had panic attacks going out. And as of late, I've just learned to let this go...I cannot over-control a pretty hopeless situation anymore. I am not going to leave FedEx boxes in the sun for 6 hours before taking inside, handle my groceries in gloves or lysol my clothes upcon coming home. It's just too stressful. I'm leaving it in fates hands and am praying once or if I get it, I don't require hospitalization.

Look - a vaccine isn't coming any time soon. Low infection rate =/= ZOMG VIRUS IS DISAPPEARING!!!11 People keep on getting confused with this. In my opinion, we need to let infections slowly simmer vs boil over (aka hospitals get overwhelmed), so that we can slowly get people exposed to this virus. Shielding us all from it does what? Prolongs it, and causes more harm all around in the long run. As long as someone on the planet has the virus and it's as contagious as it is, we're fucked.

So with that said, I'm going to do the following:
- Socialize in small amounts and infrequently. But I need to see my friends for my mental health at least a couple of times a month. I simply cannot be all alone at home, anymore. It's a risk I've accepted.
- Will dine out at establishments because, well, I fucking can, I love it, and we should support our local businesses and I'm not going to hear anybody telling me that's a crime. I will however only patron places that are doing it smart and taking precautions - I want to see masks on staff, I want to see tables spaced out, etc.
- Avoid seeing my elders or anybody who is immunocompromised.
- Will try to live as normal as I can, but sanitize constantly (when I'm out, I probably wash my hands or use sanitizer every 5 min), and wear my mask publically at all times.

I'm not trying to lose out on the best time of my life here (30s). I'm SO over everybody policing each other and getting all up in one another's business.

This is a good and true post.

Funny that you say that you were initially terrified by the virus, because it has always opposite for me.

I have never personally been worried about being infected by it. In fact, I’ve always wanted to just get infected by it, get my immunity, and move on.

After all, I’ve spent a better part of my adult life moving from one sick adult to the next. I’m always around sick people and almost always have a feeling that my body is fighting off some kind of infection. Every so often I lose the fight and get pretty ill (2-3 times per year), but I prefer it that way. I’m arming my immune system, and that’s what it’s there for.

[pdxtex]

^^^^^find the george carlin bit about his immune system. Its hilarious.

[chris08876]

Originally Posted by pdxtex

^^^^^find the george carlin bit about his immune system. Its hilarious.

George Carlin - Germs, Immune System

• Video Link

[chris08876]

NJ's Motto: “Let’s not move forward, but instead, let’s move backwards together. And while you move backwards, there's a fee for every step".

[hauntedheadnc]

Meck sees triple-digit increase in new COVID-19 cases. Hospitalizations rise locally, across NC

State health officials on Thursday reported another triple-digit single-day increase in Mecklenburg County COVID-19 cases. It’s the sixth time in two weeks that 100 or more new local cases have been reported in a 24-hour period.

Mecklenburg has seen a total of 3,605 coronavirus cases since mid-March, according to state health data Thursday morning. The number is cumulative since mid-March. The county added 127 new cases from the previous day, the state Department of Health and Human Services reported.

***

Also Thursday, North Carolina reported its highest one-day total of statewide coronavirus-related hospitalizations — 708 people — since the virus first emerged.

Rebuilding America: Restaurants build COVID-19 precautions into opening preparations

ASHEVILLE - On March 17, Pack's Tavern, like thousands of restaurants across North Carolina, was forced by state mandate to close its dining room to the public.

The downtown Asheville restaurant laid off nearly 100 staffers in a matter of hours, except a small group of kitchen and front-of-the-house managers.

After launching to-go service, cancelling non-essential supply orders and walking former staff through unemployment, management began discussing what reopening would look like.

"We knew our restaurant was going to look totally different from the restaurant we opened before COVID-19," said Pack's Tavern marketing manager Mary Evans.

For one thing there will be signs — lots of them — directing people where to walk, where not to sit.

"I think we should put a social-distancing sign in a time capsule," Evans said. "I think that's going to be the key image of 2020."

***

Pack's Tavern reopened May 26. New customers will see many changes. The formerly 250-seat restaurant, just paces from Asheville City Hall, will have around 160 seats, as many as 58 of them on patios, to accommodate social distancing.

At the bar, where local politicians have awaited election results and fans have gathered to watch games, there will be no stools, no lingering over pints of local beer.

Staff will wear masks and gloves, including the employee who greets customers at the door with polite but pointed questions about COVID-19 symptoms.

[jtown,man]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

This is a good and true post.

Funny that you say that you were initially terrified by the virus, because it has always opposite for me.

I have never personally been worried about being infected by it. In fact, I’ve always wanted to just get infected by it, get my immunity, and move on.

After all, I’ve spent a better part of my adult life moving from one sick adult to the next. I’m always around sick people and almost always have a feeling that my body is fighting off some kind of infection. Every so often I lose the fight and get pretty ill (2-3 times per year), but I prefer it that way. I’m arming my immune system, and that’s what it’s there for.

I was scared at first. I'll admit, I was scared of the economic fallout first. The massive dip in the market really blew my mind. Then I realized I could capitalize on the situation by investing in companies that were being sold at great prices. Then I was scared by the human toll. Would my mom die from this shit? Would we have 1 million people die in a few months? What the hell did I know? Seems like everyone was lost. But now I am not worried about that. The data is very clear and trend lines seem more consistent.

But then I got scared by the government overreach(while I understand many don't think they overreached, that is the opinion I formed). I am now less scared of that issue.

So now? I don't think Corona is scary for the vast majority of people. I don't think governors have some hidden agenda to have marshall law. I am still scared for the economy though. Very.

[chris08876]

Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city has measurements in place that could trigger a possible need to dial back the restart and reinstate restrictions.

Here are the indicators the city will monitor:

* The percent of people who test positive for Covid-19 under a 15% threshold.

* The daily number of people admitted to hospitals for suspected Covid-19 under a 200 threshold.

* The daily number of people in Health and Hospitals intensive care units under a 375 threshold.

[jtown,man]

Well, Chicago will be doing some reopening next Wednesday(as long as the numbers don't go wildly the wrong way until then). This will include retail and outdoor dining. It's a relatively small change, but a welcomed one. I will be buying a pair of shoes as soon as places open.

[chris08876]

Next week is ripe for confirmation on the Memorial Day shenanigans. Hopefully we don't see a spike as folks if infected should start to see some symptoms.

[sopas ej]

I'm still gonna hold off a bit going to eat inside a restaurant... maybe another few weeks to a month, maybe.

From timeout.com:

Los Angeles restaurants can reopen dine-in service thanks to state approval

The state has given L.A. County the go-ahead to reopen restaurants.

By Stephanie Breijo
Posted: Friday May 29 2020, 11:25am

After closely monitoring—and now meeting—key public health metrics set by the state of California, Los Angeles County restaurants can reopen dine-in service.

Today Governor Gavin Newsom and the state of California approved L.A. County to move further into the state’s second stage of reopening, meaning restaurants—as well as bars that serve food—can seat diners, provided they follow Gov. Newsom’s detailed restaurant guidance and, if they are located within the City of L.A., Mayor Eric Garcetti’s set of best practices. The approval also lets L.A. reopen salons and barber shops. We are still awaiting word from city and county officials as to which day Los Angeles restaurants will be able to reopen.

The move trails a reopening of full-service restaurants and in-store shopping throughout most of California’s counties—including Ventura, San Bernardino and Orange County—which all met health and safety benchmarks in order the gain the state’s approval to reopen with modifications.

Restaurants—which had been required to cease dine-in service in L.A. since March 17—are in no way forced to reopen, but now have the option. Should dining establishments, or bars that serve food, choose to extend beyond takeout and delivery, they’ll need to enforce a number of temporary new rules for the safety of both employees and guests, including ensuring six feet of distance between tables; limiting party sizes to 10 guests per table; providing and using face masks; encouraging outdoor seating; discontinuing the pre-setting of tables; and throwing away paper menus after every use.

The county’s approval arrives during a somber week, when the United States reported more than 100,000 coronavirus-related deaths, total—the highest recorded death toll from the virus in the world—with more than 2,200 of those deaths occurring in L.A. County. Still, L.A. County met California’s key benchmarks for moving further into the state’s reopening plan, including demonstrating "stable/decreasing number of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 by a seven-day average of daily percent change in the total number of hospitalized confirmed COVID-19 cases of <+5% or no more than 20 total” cases hospitalized in a two-week period. Per the approval documents, Los Angeles County reported an average change of negative-one percent in hospitalized cases over a seven-day period.

Also earlier this week, Northern California’s Lassen County—one of the state’s first variance-approved counties—sought to withdraw its approval, and have since modified it, due to new cases of coronavirus spurred by the reopening of dine-in and retail services.

As to L.A.’s own reopening, county and city officials had offered both vague timelines and specific timelines—such as a goal of July 4—and even given contradictory estimations for the reopening, sometimes within one week: On May 13, county Department of Public Health director Dr. Barbara Ferrer stated that L.A. County would not seek the state’s early-reopening variance, but on May 18 shared that officials might apply simply to have the option. On May 27, L.A. County applied for the state variance in a move that would allow area restaurants the option to reopen earlier than an eventual statewide push, and today, May 29, Gov. Newsom’s office granted the county’s approval.

“You know, our testing, our positivity rate is down,” Dr. Ferrer said on May 27. "We increased our capacity to do contact tracing, we have shored up—and this is again with the help of the EMS and the Department of Health Services—the PPE supply. The hospital capacity remains very strong… We’ve been on a recovery journey and I think that July 4 date is a date that really says, ‘We will be continuing to reopen between now and July 4 in a phased-in approach.’ We’ve always talked about a phased-in approach.”


Photograph: Jakob N. Layman | Per state and city guidance, expect more outdoor dining this summer.

Link: https://www.timeout.com/los-angeles/...box=1590776831

[chris08876]

I wish the NJ governor wasn't so vague on what the deal is with this reopening. Everything is like the secret society in NJ. I just wish they would be blunt and to the point.

[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by chris08876

I wish the NJ governor wasn't so vague on what the deal is with this reopening. Everything is like the secret society in NJ. I just wish they would be blunt and to the point.

He's trying to figure out which mobs will be allowed to open their restaurants first, no doubt!

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by jtown,man

Well, Chicago will be doing some reopening next Wednesday(as long as the numbers don't go wildly the wrong way until then). This will include retail and outdoor dining. It's a relatively small change, but a welcomed one. I will be buying a pair of shoes as soon as places open.

I am vey much looking forward to it.

[sopas ej]

LA County's barbershops and hair salons can now reopen.

My barber just confirmed with me, I'll be getting a haircut a week from tomorrow, after having had my March appointment canceled because of COVID-19. I haven't had a haircut since January, and I am in dire need of one.

[chris08876]

Hopefully its The Kitchen Consigliere.

The Veal Saltimbocca, fresh as can be.

[hauntedheadnc]

Nine days in a COVID-19 coma gives this NC businessman a unique perspective
By Richard Stradling

Like a lot of business owners, Linwood Sanders is happy to see North Carolina lifting the restrictions that shuttered businesses and ordered people to stay home to try to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

Ray’s Hair Center, the barbershop Sanders owns in Dunn, reopened last weekend after being closed more than two months. His other business, Quality Time Towing, is about back to normal, after revenue dropped by 50% as the banks, insurance companies and dealers he moves cars for curtailed their activities.

But Sanders’ hopefulness about economic recovery is tempered by hard-won caution about the contagious disease that nearly brought it all to a halt this spring.

Sanders became Johnston County’s first confirmed case of COVID-19 in the second week of March. He ended up spending 18 days in the hospital, including nine in an induced coma while a ventilator machine pumped oxygen into his lungs as his body fought off the infection.

Sanders, 49, is all but fully recovered. But he worries people might be rushing too fast to resume their normal lives, in part because they haven’t experienced COVID-19 firsthand or know someone who has. As of Friday, less than 26,500 people had tested positive for coronavirus in a state with more than 10 million residents.

“That makes a whole lot of difference, ‘cause if people don’t know nobody, they ain’t taking it real serious,” Sanders said. “But if they know a loved one or somebody they know personally who passed from it or caught it, they take a different outlook on it.”

Source.

[dktshb]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

This is a good and true post.

Funny that you say that you were initially terrified by the virus, because it has always opposite for me.

I have never personally been worried about being infected by it. In fact, I’ve always wanted to just get infected by it, get my immunity, and move on.

After all, I’ve spent a better part of my adult life moving from one sick adult to the next. I’m always around sick people and almost always have a feeling that my body is fighting off some kind of infection. Every so often I lose the fight and get pretty ill (2-3 times per year), but I prefer it that way. I’m arming my immune system, and that’s what it’s there for.

I wasn't scared of it until my aunt died suddenly of a stroke that was from Covid. Nobody was even aware she had Covid because she was healthy and had no symptoms. Now I am reading a lot of people are having strokes. I don't want to get sick and will wait for a vaccine.

[Kngkyle]

Originally Posted by dktshb

I wasn't scared of it until my aunt died suddenly of a stroke that was from Covid. Nobody was even aware she had Covid because she was healthy and had no symptoms. Now I am reading a lot of people are having strokes. I don't want to get sick and will wait for a vaccine.

How do they know the stroke was caused by Covid?

[bnk]

Originally Posted by Kngkyle

How do they know the stroke was caused by Covid?

Exactly. Strokes don't just happen. I takes years, decades really of underlying conditions to get into a state of susceptibility. Did she also have Afib, Hypocholesteremia, HTN....?

[chris08876]

Today’s Covid Cuomo press conference: 6-1-2020