Coronavirus thread for June

Dallas county has recently enacted an ordinance that businesses shall require customers to wear masks while inside. That includes restaurants, which are all requiring customers to wear masks everywhere but at their tables. And they were recently required to go back to 50% occupancy max. Bars have been closed again.

The grocery store I usually visit is in Plano, just north of north Dallas, where I live. Today I went and noticed several couples not wearing masks. Prior to this, almost everyone was wearing them. This time, I probably saw about 4 couples, 3 elderly and one rather young, shopping as a pair without masks. I wonder if this is something that will become more and more common.

Still no wipes (or cream of celery soup, lol), but everything else seemed in good supply. Oh, did notice that most of the Uncle Ben’s rice microwave packets were pretty picked over.

Meat, poultry, seafood, dairy, eggs, frozen vegetables, canned meat, bread, fresh produce, paper products, and wine were all plentiful. DH had specifically requested a bottle of his favorite cabernet, so I was glad about the wine. :slight_smile:

Hand sanitizer could be found in far greater quantities than pre-COVID.

Today I received two boxes of disposable masks that I think I ordered in March. Also came with two pairs of protective goggles, which I do not remember ordering. Last week I finally received a thermal forehead thermometer after having ordered 3 or 4 several months ago, only to have them all cancel on me. I never received the digital thermometers I ordered from Target a couple of months ago either. Was surprised to get these products so long after ordering them.

@emilybee the feds can’t impose rules on the states…we are a republic. They can and have given guidelines for the states to incorporate into their own rules. But not all states are in the same situation…Governors need to tailor to their own states.

“Regular working people” didn’t like the optics of the protests? When I was looking at the people who were in fact protesting, they seemed to be regular working people; I didn’t see a lot of limousines or private jets, although I saw a lot of working bikes. Do you have some special definition of “regular”? Do you include non-white people in “regular”? Why do you think you get to speak for “regular working people”?

I am also curious at what is meant by “regular working people.”

Some observations from the greater Seattle area… Our last two trips to Costco yielded 5-packs of Chlorox wipes. We were not there at the crack of dawn… not every shopper had them in their carts. Wipes and TP and chicken have purchase limits.

I ordered a case of sparkling wines (Riesling, Gewurz, Syrah) from Treveri. The case arrived the next day (packed in the morning, trucked over the mountains and delivered later in the day). Normally, I don’t wipe wine bottles, but I carefully de-covided some bottles for immediate consumption and quarantined the rest. Treveri is located in Yakima… our local epicenter. Had to support them a little, but who knows how the order was packed. Any virus was likely kaput by the time it arrived but… better safe than sorry. :slight_smile:

This is what’s confusing me, on the internet and in real life. Because you are allowed to do something doesn’t necessarily mean it’s sensible.

My friends and family know there is a pandemic.
They believe masks and social distancing help stop spread.
Some (not all) look to what the official rules are before making up their minds whether to go places and how much masking and social distancing to do.

The official pandemic rules allowing something doesn’t make that something safe or unsafe. Some extrovert friends and family members are starting to have socially distanced gatherings and say “we are allowed to do it now. They say it’s okay” I wish these very smart folks would instead say they’d done a cost benefit risk analysis and decided it’s worth it to them.

Locally we have a large, steady increase in hospitalizations. Record breaking for more than a week. Looks like a situation about to get worse, even though official rules allow more interaction.

Scientist friends seem to all still be isolating.

My scientist friends prefer to isolate or at least stay In very small groups. And that was pre Covid 19. lol.

“Regular working people”, blue collar mixed with some lower level professional workers of ALL races and several nationalities. Not managers, doctors, lawyers, suit wearers. People that get their hands dirty. People that have been working during this virus while others have been “working from home”. Again, a cross section at my particular work.

I am in no way saying protesters are any lower or greater form of human. Many of them are also “regular working people”. My use of the term was more to give an idea about the description of the people discussing the mass gatherings. Now I will say that the rioters need to be dealt with and they should have consequences. Their behavior is despicable.

I think I speak for the “regular working people” at my job, just like my post said. If you’d like to share your observations please do so. Maybe your “regular working group” has different talks.

Now, I hope I have fully explained my comment. If anyone would like to try to put more intent into my words then please bring proof.

@MarylandJOE

I think it was more of a question asking if the protestors were regular working people too.

They were primarily Caucasian so I don’t go with the drift that it was in way a race based comment as some had questioned.

I get what you meant.

The protestors appear to be gen z college students versus older people on the job. If that is what you meant.

Interesting. In my immediate family the scientists are really social, do lots of entertaining and love travel, and to dance. Some are entertaining me the last few months with all kinds of isolated Instagram fun. Juggling while dancing.

I agree. The first thing would be to fire them from their jobs as police officers. Charging them with assault would be next, and conviction would be the third thing. Here’s just one example of police rioting and violence (of MANY) for you:

https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/100000007174941/philadelphia-tear-gas-george-floyd-protests.html

@alh

I was only talking about my friends. And they are more like me which is why they are my friends. I feel the same way

You guys sound like a blast to be around ! The juggling sounds hilarious and difficult as a non juggler.

@MarylandJOE
I’ve lived in Maryland for 40 years and in reading your posts I keep thinking that your Maryland must exist in an alternate universe.

What I see in my universe is universal compliance with mask wearing indoors EVERYWHERE, which has been the case since late March. This even includes some people outdoors going to and from their cars and even some bicyclists. My neighborhood book club has been meeting online since March and while we discussed having last week’s meeting outdoors on the hostess’ deck with social distancing, we thought better of it and had it on Zoom again. One of our members was especially grateful for that decision since she now has her elderly mother in her home and wouldn’t have felt comfortable attending otherwise.

I saw pushback by a cop in riot gear who pulled down a man’s mask so he could pepper spray him in the face from inches away. There didn’t seem to be any bricks carried by any protesters so I think you and your buddies are just seeing what you want to see.

Oh there’s plenty of video of the rioting that went on in many, many cities across America. I’m sure we could have fun going back and forth all day long with these videos, you with your points, me with mine. In the end that really wouldn’t fly here. It does however serve as again an example of why many people where I work thought that if that is/was allowed (not really stopped) then people should be able to eat outside at a restaurant and participate in other “safer” activities. That was my original point and still stands.

This is one of the reason I wear my mask in the car. In case I’m in an accident or stopped.

I don’t have any idea if police in my town are wearing masks, but I know during the protests he admonished all participants and the police to wear them. Most of the protesters in NYC that I saw had masks on, but none of the police did. Cuomo said at every presser police need to wear masks, too - or else they are breaking NY law.

But if someone thought protesters were recklessly unsafe, why do they want to imitate them? This is what makes no sense to me.

Deciding to just stay home and protect yourself from possible exposure, when you think the protesters are potentially reckless spreaders of virus, makes absolute sense to me.

The majority of that progress was made here in the Northeast and upper Midwest. All that progress may have been wasted because we failed to see it through to successful conclusion nationwide.

We probably are talking about different parts of Maryland. Although I am not sure where I stated that people haven’t been wearing masks indoors EVERYWHERE though, except at my work where it’s not required unless working within 6 feet of someone else.

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There didn’t seem to be any bricks carried by any protesters so I think you and your buddies are just seeing what you want to see.

[/quote]

In my post I referred to protesters and “rioters”. The rioters I saw on TV did infact use bricks, chairs, bats, pipes, etc while plying their craft. Believe me, me and my buddies don’t want to see rioting.

Um, yes.

No one has a bigger bully pulpit than the President of the United States.

The problem is, there’s no consistency. Anywhere, including here on CC. The number of people here who are the most “strict” about masks and social distancing are the same ones who are doubling down that the protests did not cause any problems but bars and family gatherings did.
I’m sure if I wanted to, I could find those same people were negative about the SIP/resume our economy protests. That makes it political.
I’m not political about this. Either large groups are fine or large groups are not. When the letter came out from the 1100 physicians stating the George Floyd protests are OK but in the very next paragraph stated that SIP protests are not, that’s when science lost me. These physicians acted like they were an authority because they were Dr’s, but the letter was political.

I wear masks where required. I won’t wear a mask in my car or in a parking lot or outside walking. When I’m not wearing a mask I’m staying far away from others. I have my medical reasons for not wearing a mask when I don’t t have to, but I’m sure many here would chastise me. I’m considerate of others and take things seriously but based on what I’m reading here I’m not wearing my mask enough.

I don’t judge anyone’s motivations for wearing or not wearing a mask. I don’t judge anyone’s motivations for protesting or standing up for their beliefs. What I do judge is standing up for your own cause claiming large groups are safe while demonizing another group and claiming they are not safe.

I’ll say it again. Either large groups are fine or they are not. The virus doesn’t decide who to go after based on their cause.