Also, restaurants and anything else in the area that sell to people working in the office will see a long term drop in patronage from those who work remotely more often.
It wouldn’t bother me at all if he did. I also invest in things I believe in. I wouldn’t expect him to do any differently. Many people own stock in companies they work in.
It bugs me when people sell their stocks (cough, several politicians, cough) when they know something’s going down ahead of the rest of the country, but I don’t get bothered by what they invested in thinking it would be a good investment (other than insider info about what “good” is coming in the company).
I saw a few polls asking folks if they would get the Covid vaccine if one becomes available. Depending on the poll 25%-33% said they would not.
That aggravates me!
For me to get it, it will have to have safety data that approximates the typical safety data of any newly launched vaccine.
Just to be clear, I am pro-vaccine, but have no interest in effectively being part of a clinical study to determine whether a vaccine is safe (or effective)…which is what the situation will be should a vaccine launch with relatively little data.
The more people get tested for either the virus or antibodies the more data public health departments have - which helps base not on policy decisions going forward but also with controlling spread of the virus.
Just got back from a trip to my Walmart Neighborhood Market. I went early (arriving around 8:00 a.m.). Finally was able to find some hand sanitizer! Have been looking ever since this started! Also scored Lysol disinfecting wipes and a bottle of Clorox disinfecting spray. Limited purchase to one of the spray. I self-imposed my limit of one on the wipes, though I would have liked more. There were probably ten of them. Only two packages of fresh chicken breasts - I was happy to snag one. I wasn’t shopping for beef, but it seemed as though there was a good supply - especially of ground beef. This is likely a function (I think) of rising prices.
I’d say about 50/50 with masks. All workers had masks but I saw one with hers below her chin. My checker kept fidgeting with hers which kept falling. One shopper in particular in no mask and not adhering much to keeping distance. Annoying. It bothers me that as things open up it seems as though mask wearing and general awareness of distancing is declining. Ought to be the opposite!
The other thing I noticed was there were many people who were only buying 4 or 5 items. Last week at Publix everyone seemed to be doing “bigger” shops than that. That may be a function of the differences in demographics of shoppers or because things are opening up more and people feel safer doing more trips. Idk.
I really do not understand people who are doing recreational shopping at this point. I know everyone is stir crazy, but personally I am sticking with only essential purchases and one trip out per week - ten days. In a mask.
We sure do have a warped sense of ‘essential’. There’s been numerous references to what those who went thru WWII experienced. I’d bet their answer to what is ‘essential’ would be…
Food, water, shelter, no one bombing me.
I’m also sure it wouldn’t include Starbucks, dry cleaning, dog grooming, cupcakes, fresh produce delivered to their doors, boutique clothing for curbside pickup, a full tank of gas, a choice of meat at the specialty shop, hiring someone to go and pickup all the above mentioned things.
COVID - at this time - has about a 97.5% survival rate. If we want a 100% survival rate then we simply need to stay the heck at home. Full.Stop. And all we need to survive is food, water and shelter. Oh, an no one bombing us.
With more people working from home permanently, homes with dedicated home offices will be in demand. You can’t effectively work from an office that is just a corner of the family room or kitchen.
I am very pro-vaccine. I got my kids vaccinated for chicken pox the week it was approved. But this vaccine is being so rushed that I would worry it hasn’t been sufficiently tested for efficacy and side effects. As I said a few pages ago, I remember the swine flu vaccine debacle of the 70’s. As I recall, many people contracted Guillan-Barre syndrome.
No one is forcing the dry cleaner or Starbucks or the boutique or even groceries chains to open. That is the choice of the businesses. Just because they are listed as essential doesn’t mean they must be open.
The only business being forced to operate at this time that I’m aware of are meat and poultry processing plants - which the Federal government imposed on them a few weeks ago - even with huge outbreaks happening in many plants across the country and spreading very quickly into their communities.
My nephew, for instance, closed down his boutique hotel in Portland Maine before Maine issued SAH. At the time his decision to close was to protect his employees health. Obviously, once SAH and most people stopped traveling he would have had to close anyway.
@emilybee Since the essence of any business is to engage in business transactions, those that have been designated ‘essential’ will of course engage in the very purpose for which they exist.
So, our original designation of ‘essential’ was essentially nonsense.
I really enjoyed that book The Righteous Mind!
Thx for the link to the NY stats. I wonder if Illinois has something similar.
I have become friends with a Sister from a nearby convent, which has basically become a nursing home for nuns. Thankfully, they have not had any cases to date. She told me they play bingo every day. At a certain time, they all roll their wheelchairs out in the hallway, next to their rooms, and someone yells out the numbers from the end of the hallway. She looks forward to masses resuming, but it would mean rotating priests being allowed to enter.
The people I used to work for? Still work for? They re-opened their second restaurant yesterday for curbside pick up & delivery.
I was there helping out with taking phone orders & running bags out to cars.
It was an anemic night. Only about ten orders. I recognized all but one — it was largely our most loyal regulars.
I was surprised a little by how cheering it was to see people & to chat.
@dietz199 - that is all I am purchasing. Food. And gas when I need it - which is not very often. Oh. And sheet music - but all of that is purchased and then downloaded and printed at home. On paper I already had.
Here are Illinois states, by county, gender, race, etc.
http://www.dph.illinois.gov/covid19/covid19-statistics
And status of restore illinois by region by metric (which determine when we can move on to the next phase of opening up). Unfortunately it is unclear how some of the metrics are calculated
And it looks like in the game of stared down between the Alameda County (CA) and Tesla - Alameda county blinked.
Good for Elon.
It has been a full week since I’ve been off our property. That has to be a record. I’m the household member who does the most running around! Such a strange feeling.
And I hadn’t thought about the fact that our house will be more in demand since we have a large home office. We built an addition in 2008 to include it and a garage. Right after that, the recession hit so it was tough making the mortgage payments, but now I’m glad we did it. 
Still not required to do so. Not every restaurant is open for take out just because they can. Not every restaurant is opening for dining just because they can.
Every business deemed “essential” made the choice to open or not open - except the ones specifically ordered to do by the Federal Government.
I would have had no problem doing what Italy did re closing. Only markets and pharmacies were open and you needed permission to leave your home to do so. You were also only allowed to do that once a day. They got to go to the market or pharmacy then immediately had to return home.
We could have done the same thing, but decided to allow some business to still operate.
I would have had no problem complying with what Italy did. I thought markets could, for instance, do what was done during the gas shortage in the 70’s. You could only get gas on a certain day depending on your license plate #, iirc. Something similar could have been done regarding going to the market. We could have also mandated all groceries would be curb side only and employees would have been freed up from other jobs in the market to fill the orders. Lessening their exposure to the virus. Or orders filled at their warehouses and trucked to the stores - keeping in-store employees at home. Order over the phone (like I do at one market) could be used for those with no internet access.
It might come to something like what Italy did when the second wave hits - since we are flops when given an inch.
@thumper1 , if you read the blogpost that was linked a couple pages up, there is reason to believe that the length of your exposure to a person spreading the virus in enclosed rooms is critical for your infection risk.
So if you’re a shopper, you can be in and out. Several hours in an office, risk goes up.
Not that I support turning away volunteers at a certain age. Minors, yes. But you’re an adult and your higher susceptibility due to your age is a risk to YOU, not anyone else - in fact, you’re probably less likely to be an asymptomatic spreader! No idea what the liability issues are for volunteers where you live.