By staying home as much as possible, wearing masks and doing social distancing will bring down spread of the virus, which in turn will also protect those essential workers. We all do what we have to do, some of those smug moral superior people still have to work, take care of their parents and kids.
My sister living in NC can enjoy her carefree life because she does not need to take care of my mother, whereas I have to be more careful to stay healthy so I could visit our mother. My kids are also being extra careful because they know I have to go visit their grandmother.
I have no idea why you addressed my post with this response. My post says nothing about “killing granny,” makes no “moral” pronouncements, calls no one “stupid,” or anything of the like. Words such as “morally deficient” or other words or phrases you put in quotation marks- which I did not use- should be addressed to the people who actually used them. Putting words in quotation marks in your response to my post insinuates that I am the one who said those words, when in reality, I’m probably out and about more than most people posting here-wearing my mask and staying as far from others as I can manage.
We may differ in our definition of “extreme measures”-Personally, I do not view maintaining social distance and wearing a mask in the presence of others in a closed indoor environment as extreme. I think it’s the least I can do to protect myself and others. As my understanding of this virus and its behavior- so to speak -has improved, I have come to believe we could easily re-open most venues without seeing virus spikes if all of us visiting those venues would do those two simple things.
@Nrdsb4 I thought he was addressing post 1199 by @oldfort with the response. That was the latest killing granny post.
I never stated I have a problem with service providers earning a living. Don’t pretend like I do.
Both the service providers and their customers should take as many precautions as possible to protect themselves and their communities. I also believe that at certain stages of a pandemic, closings are an unfortunate necessity and that our government should step in and provide more financial safety nets for folks impacted.
@MomofWildChild - I wish you would stop calling it killing granny post. I think it is distorting my post and many others.
If it is addressing my post, I don’t think I called anyone stupid, not even in quote. But if my post makes you feel that way then it does say something then.
It was really bad, and I couldn’t help but think about that Seinfeld episode where a stinky valet leaves such a bad odor in Jerry’s car that neither he nor Elaine could wash the smell out of their own hair and clothes. I would have opened all the windows if not for temperatures in the mid -high nineties!
It was extremely hot, and these guys were working very hard outside and inside to get these windows installed for us, and being human beings, they couldn’t help it. But still, yuck.
Perhaps it is a response to a trend occurring on this thread. Many pages ago, I asked a simple question about the efficacy of masks, and studies thereon. FYI, I was actually trying to determine if Rice was wise in ordering thousands of cloth masks, or would be better off using the glut of surgical masks available here. Rather than answer the question, a host of posters (you know who you are) attacked me, making assumptions about my politics, religion, morals-all without answering the basic question. My thanks to those who did eventually post studies, and I can even contribute to the mask knowledge with one more tidbit-embroidery and many types of decorations will reduce cloth mask efficacy. But many of the responses were truly troubling, and displayed a degree of polarization and bias I am disappointed to find on CC.
We’re 49 days away from the additonal $600 from the Feds drying up. Pay close attention to the “Coronavirus thread for August.”
How is this different from the argument for drunk driving?
“I have a different risk tolerance! I have extreme mathematical sophistication and understand risk level. I conclude dying in a crash, or killing someone else in a crash, is not worth stressing over, so I don’t stress over it. I’ll just keep driving drunk because I want to and I’m not going to take anyone else’s risks into account.”
There can be other arguments for opening up, but this one looks unconvincing. And yes, of course if you choose to (let’s say) not wear a mask you’re imposing an externality on someone else. Maybe that’s justified, but the scare quotes are not justified; that’s what an externality is, a side effect not felt by the person doing the action.
I will continue to refer to it as I choose, but I was merely pointing out that @OneMoreToGo2021 was referencing your post about gr… , I mean “the elderly”.
Allow me to send a hug or two… (()) and to let you know I luv ya whether our views agree or disagree. This whole virus/economic crisis has a lot of folks pretty wary and that does weird things to our human minds.
There are times I have to think and remind myself to stick with the facts as we know them (meaning they can change as we know more). Things predicted for the future are just theories at the moment - both sides. We’ll find out as we go along. Each of us has to pick our path, of course, and those can differ, but on another topic those who differ might be in complete agreement.
The whole country and all of us in it don’t have to “take sides.” We can be a group and ponder things intelligently together as we figure out how we individually want to proceed.
Well that’s helpful. (sigh)
I’ve just realized this. And I’m sure many restaurants will be cheating a bit on the tables 6’ apart rule…a few inches here, a few inches there…and before you know it there are more tables than before.
Except that some/many of those going out are elderly and are vulnerable. (Several posters on cc have already mentioned that their grandparents refuse to shelter in home.) They choose quality of life in their remaining time.
I think I understand your perspective.
I’m not sure I’m able to explain, for example, why the entire staff at the restaurant I work for does not wear a mask for employee to employee interactions.
I guess I could ask, but I suspect the boys will say they expect to get the virus eventually, and they do not see themselves as part of the vulnerable population.
Even the owners do not wear a mask when they come in and do not insist on employees wearing a mask around them.
I don’t think any of them believe they are doing something “wrong” or intentionally disregarding others.
The long time waiter at our favorite restaurant where we ate on Sunday said that they had the hardest time rounding up the staff to get their dining restarted. Guess why? He profusely apologized for the lack of personal attention… the service in the past was above stellar, and he said it was painful to him not being able to restart at the top notch level. We told him that we really appreciated the opportunity to get out of the house and not to worry about the hiccups. We left a generous tip.
At the other favorite restaurant where we ate yesterday, there were a lot of youngsters working. Looked like HS or college kids waitering. They did a good job and earned a nice tip.
NYS now has the lowest transmission rate (Rt) of any state in the nation at 0.77. 14 states are now in the red (1.0 Rt or above) Those in states below 1.0 must remain diligent or they will likely join the states already over 1.0. You don’t want to go there.
Wear a mask, social distance, wash your hands and don’t go out like normal just because you can.
Yes, there is a strong incentive to get as many tables on the “patio” (sidewalk, driveway, parking lot…) as the business can. My guess is enforcement by municipalities will vary quite a lot. (We are in NE Illinois)
In more good news in our little world, the restaurant H works for had a BIG night last night. Lots of carry out orders and a full patio with a wait. On a Thursday night. Sales beat LY.
It’s nice to feel hopeful again (about the business surviving). March was…grim.
If they aren’t earning more than state unemployment + $600 and would have to take a potentially significant risk of catching Covid for themselves and their family on top of earning less, I can’t say I blame them, esp in a HCOL area.
I agree, but I’d like to add it’s not just the UI on steroids. I posted before about ex-coworkers who are middle-aged and professional servers.
Some restaurants, even with outdoor seating, are running on a near skeletal staff on purpose in order to keep payroll low. One ex-coworker complained about the new rules only allowing the server to approach the table (no bus staff, no food runner) and having to change gloves after each table visit.
Another ex-coworker in Milwaukee said the staff had a meeting and expects to be called back soon and expects much smaller stations due to the extra cleaning and additional rules to follow when serving.
And this is with summer heat, working on a patio, wearing a mask, maybe wearing gloves and waiting on people who are laughing and talking at the table without a mask and no plexiglass to separate you! Picking up plates and utensils and glasses that have been in people’s mouths. And you better hurry because guests are not fond of waiting for anything.
Who is going to be first in line to sign up for that?! And for less money than you were making before in normal times. And, you’re not a spring chicken anymore!
We had a small gathering last week, and everyone said they’d be looking for different jobs and not going back to serving until things return to normal.
Small sample size, but I suspect is representative of how older staff who have mortgages to pay feel.