Just had lunch with DH coming off a zoom meeting that ran late. Labs were allowed to be opened up starting yesterday. They had put into place a bunch of safe-guards with staggered times, the curfew in NYC threw that plan out the window. Hopefully it won’t be for too long.
Yesterday we had a neighborhood meeting (via Zoom), my goodness everyone is so antsy! Our block party would normally have been this coming weekend. One person suggested replacing it with a roving stoop party where people would have the food and drink they normally would have brought available in their front yards and people can walk around and socialize without getting too close. People were enthusiastic and even thought we should do it once a month. Meanwhile same person is having a party this weekend in his double lot sized yard with multiple musicians. And a guy who has a jazz band is having the cancelled by the town jazz festival in his (not very big) back yard.
Heat kills more than just this virus. Hard to implement on a large scale. There are steam boxes that can be used to do steaming more efficiently than with a manual steamer, but even that would work only in a small shop.
My medical practice (part of UCSD) sent out a questionnaire about what would make one comfortable and uncomfortable about returning to face-to-face visits. I’d already done one at the doctor’s request but answered anyone. It asked, among other questions, what areas and surfaces would make me uneasy. Other than elevator and bathroom, I wasn’t too concerned. They’ve already switched to appointments only for lab work.
Many stores (Macy’s) are not putting the tried on clothes back on the racks for a ‘certain period.’ I’ve not been to a store but from pictures it looks like they’ve removed a lot of inventory. I can’t even imagine what the “last chance” racks look like. It used to be that you could hardly pull an item off those racks.
The shop I posted about is a small boutique with 3 “rooms”. One for only cosmetics, one for formalwear/party frocks, and one for casual wear. There are only 4, rather large, individual dressing rooms.
Whether steaming does anything, I don’t know, but it can’t hurt, so why not.
I doubt they are using the type of steamer we use at home, since when they get merchandise delivered they likely need to steam items to get wrinkles out before putting them out on the floor.
They are opening on Thursday with a “blow out” sale, but by appointment only.
Sounds like they want to test their procedures in a controlled setting before opening up to 10 people at a time.
I love their sales - t-shirts marked down from $150 to $30 kind of sales. I’m sure they have a ton of merchandise they need to clear from when they had to close down.
Still, I won’t be going because I don’t really need anything and I’m not going anywhere. Maybe you end of August I’ll go, depending on virus situation.
Our car washes have started doing the insides again. For a while, the only option was an exterior car wash.
Took H’s car in yesterday - it had been several months. We’d also been up in the mountains and it is a veritable pollen storm right now. The car looked like it had been to a secret Burning Man event. It felt so normal to be undertaking this simple errand.
The only point of concern was that the intake person still handed me the old style plastic menu. But there was a bottle of hand sanitizer right where you left the vehicle so the potential exposure was easily remedied. All the employees were wearing masks. All the customers - who now need to sit outside vs inside with the coffee were SDing AND wearing masks.
When the car was done, I got in, immediately hand sanitized and wiped some of the sanitizer on the steering wheel and gear shift. I left my own mask in place. I opened all the windows and drove for a few minutes before closing windows and taking off my mask.
It was a good experience - today or tomorrow - my car gets a cleaning.
We sold one of our other vehicles. The buyer wore a mask and left her DL as she took it for a test drive. It was a bit anxiety producing in that we didn’t accompany her on the test drive. It all worked out well.
Passed thru the Sierra foothills again. Boy oh boy there is actually aggressive behavior towards mask wearers. I was waiting with the dog outside a grocery store. A guy drove up and addressed me with ‘what makes you wear a mask outside and then let you’re dog do it’s business anywhere’. Um, huh, um…I had some snappy and snarky responses at the tip of my tongue but simply ignored this gentleman. FWIW, the dog didn’t do ANY business and I was waiting to go inside as soon as H came out.
I live in a very, very left of center area. We have wackadoodles galore on daily display. The Sierra foothills are filled with very, very right of center wackadoodles. In the end, they are both the same level of crazy. And during times of unrest, stress and social tension it’s just best to avoid both. Smile (from behind your mask) and wish them all a blessed day.
My outings today: 1) Two trips to the local composting site to drop off yard waste; I did not wear a mask; two other vehicles there while I was there and I was at least 20 feet away from other humans. 2) I bought gas, for the first time in 2 1/2 months. 3) I went to a tiny Asian food market. I wore my mask. The clerk was wearing a mask, two customers (besides me) were, two weren’t.
Honestly, I don’t think it matters where it came from anymore… unless knowing where it came from is going to help with a vaccine or medicine? The origins aren’t going to change the fact the entire rest of the world must live with it now. If the Chinese know where it came from - whether they are going to be honest with the rest of the world or not - they still ought to take better precautions, whether those precautions involve a lab or an open market.
I have a friend who got a job as a contact tracer. She is dismayed that some rural parts of the state still don’t have good access to testing. People who are very poor will make an enormous effort to get to a testing center, and then be turned away because they don’t have symptoms (yet). Meanwhile, the state is telling her to call them and ask them to be tested because they live with someone who has tested positive.
In our state…they are asking for volunteers to do contact tracing. I understand that in others, they are paid positions.
Why is CT using volunteers (other than the cost savings)? They say they are getting students from pre-med, nursing and other medical programs to volunteer. What happens when school resumes?
Our governor is a little annoyed that more people aren’t being tested…we have the tests. I have no reason (yet) to be tested. Plus I will need a Covid test before elective surgery the first week of October. Why would I do this now?
I wish my dentist was being as proactive as @Marilyn’s medical group. I have an appt for a cleaning in 3 weeks and today got a confirmation of my appt in the mail, but no info on what steps they’re taking post-covid. I’ll have to seek out that info from them myself. That doesn’t make me feel comfortable about keeping an appt I was already reluctant to keep.
@thumper1 our state, Michigan, is also using volunteers for contact tracing. I think it’s a cost saving issue but not sure about the reasoning behind it. Seems like it would be a good opportunity to employ some people who have lost their jobs.
I tried my first contactless pickup today. I had ordered a book from a fine local bookstore, to support its fineness and locality. They gave me a half hour window to pick up the book. When I swung by on my bike, there it was on a table outside, in a paper bag labelled with my name. I waved at an employee inside as I picked it up. I suppose it would be possible to steal some of the books on the table, but stealing five random books from an outdoor table doesn’t sound like a lucrative theft opportunity so I guess they don’t worry.
On the way back, I was looking for a place to eat, and instead found a little BLM protest on a street corner. Perfect chance for me to protest, while still being safe and distanced. Someone handed me a sign and I joined in for a while. Everyone was masked, and lined up, separated, along the street. I don’t think anybody was going to be getting covid from that protest.