MODERATOR’S NOTE: Sybylla has not been permanently banned, but has received a two-week timeout for multiple TOS violations.
Like Hawaii, the USVI has seen a surge of new cases.
The VI have walked back their opening. All non essential businesses are to shut on Monday, restaurants are take out only, churches closed, etc.Hotels and short term rentals cannot check in new customers starting on Wednesday 8/19. The virus is in the nursing home and the prison. There is a lot of community spread. The hospital could get overwhelmed very easily.
https://viconsortium.com/vi-coronavirus/virgin-islands-bryan-shuts-down-non-essential-businesses-hotel-reservation-system-churches-and-more-in-stay-at-home-order-
People please just stay home. My kid got sick from a tourist. Don’t be the person who brings it to an area.
HI is having a surge. We had 355 new cases today! It’s a new record, going the wrong direction. Hotel openings have b en pushed back in light of the volume of infections. 
Gettysburg College just reported yesterday that 5 students tested positive.
https://www.gettysburg.edu/opening/
I wish more humans were intelligent and considerate. Life could have been different. (sigh)
Yes. My mother and my daughter live in two different areas with summer tourism. Both communities seem split between those who want the tourist income and those who wish people would stay away to avoid the spread of the virus. I feel kind of guilty about not visiting my mom, but also feel that it would be irresponsible to travel all across the country picking up germs, potentially, and then stay in her house with her. I am sad to be staying home, but I keep thinking that at least I won’t be the person that brings the virus to them and their communities. That gives me at least a little satisfaction that I’ve made the right decision about staying home.
Do they have an explanation for the surge? Coming from off the Islands? Businesses opening? People changing habits?
We’ve been talking about a small trailer for a few years. We’re also campers. Don’t want something huge, as we don’t have a place to put it, or a vehicle big enough to pull.
We had never planned on buying new – there are too many people who buy a trailer/RV and then realize it doesn’t work for them. So in a couple of years, I think we’ll be on it!
so, we’re taking the plunge. Since D20’s college start will be entirely online for fall semester, a group of kids (ok, really the parents) have organized a meetup on the day dorm move-in would have happened. It is at a state park about 3 hours from our house. Feels like too much driving for one day, so D20 and I are going to stay overnight in a nearby town. I am super nervous about this (I haven’t been indoors anywhere except for my own home, the grocery store and a doctor’s office since March), but I am going to trust that the hotel is doing everything according to safety protocols. D20 is now ridiculously excited just to go somewhere/do something.
We did our “big” summer adventure the last few days renting an AirBNB in Michigan near Lake Michigan. About a 3 hour drive for 4 out of 6 of us. I would 100% repeat the experience. The AirBNB was/seemed pristine, we had access to cleaning products while there. We did take out but not eat in. All small towns so limited people out and about, largely masked. Our best beach experience was a large state park with a huge beach. Avoided the weekend there so we had plenty of room with no one even 12 feet away. Not all, but plenty of people wearing masks till they got to their piece of beach. Everyone seemed to respect space.
It was a different way to enjoy a vacation - no eating out, very little exploring of stores and such in the small towns, really mostly staying to ourselves - but it was oh so good to get away for a bit!
We leave Saturday for a week of camping. If all goes according to plan we will meet up with my D and her husband for 4 nights. Keeping my fingers crossed for many reasons that the fires don’t derail our plans. We bought a 20 ft trailer last year prior to Covid and used it just once last year. Prior to this we always tent camped. I’m adjusting to the idea of a bit of comfort. This week has been about planning meals and loading the trailer. We are lucky we can park the trailer on our property which means I can pack it slowly.
H and I also have another camping trip in the planning for late September.
Late October we have a weekend at a vacation rental. That trip is an annual trip booked long before Covid. When I look at the availability calendar for the house it is totally booked solid. I think a lot of people are more comfortable in a house.
I’m bummed. We went to a nearby town to get take out from a place we’ve been supporting pretty much weekly all throughout the pandemic. It’s in an Amish Market. The place, itself, was fine and the food was still terrific, but it was as crowded as before Covid today and only about half the patrons were wearing masks. Many were eating inside (very few open tables) and it’s not 6 ft between tables. Some of the other food court places had workers not wearing masks and still interacting with customers (not the two we visited).
I keep track of cases by zip code weekly. This town has had over 10% of their new cases in the past week. They’re among the worst in the state at the moment according to a list I saw. Now I know why. I doubt it’s just happening at the market.
And… we’ve crossed off going there again for a while. Hopefully we’re safe this time. Only time will tell. One 30ish lady stood right behind us waiting to order with no mask on. When I politely asked her if she would stay at least 6 feet away due to our 92yr old FIL and wanting to stay extra careful for him she took a step closer and just stared at me. Thanks lady. It makes me think very highly of you and those like you.
I hope the workers who are wearing masks stay safe too. I know they can’t afford to close even if they wanted to. It’s why we’ve been picking up food there almost weekly and tipping over 100% at one of the places (as their mom is dealing with cancer adding a lot of extra bills for the family).
I liked being able to travel at least short distances and helping out financially. At this point, I think we’re staying in until the wave has passed our area.
@abasket We are making a 2 day drive in early September to Petoskey and Charlevoix and Harbor Springs (on Lake Michigan). Were you in that area?
One night in a hotel in Columbus OH on the way. Staying in hotels in the towns mentioned.
Sadly we aren’t being given much data about where the people are contracting the virus, their ages, where they live, whether masks are worn, if they’re essential workers, etc. since tourism is officially mostly shut down it’s not clear where cases are coming from—flights are still arriving with passengers. Not sure if ALL are quarantining as they should.
We had yet another day of >200 more cases. The Lt Gov is predicting all I’ve beds will be full by the end of this month!
@NJres no we were in the lower southwestern corner of the state and lake! But your area will be amazing!!!
I know Columbus quite well if you need any travel/food advice there. 
Now the number of cases connected to the INDOOR wedding in Millinocket on August 7 has risen to 32. 65 people attended the event. The inn where the wedding was held is getting fined, thank goodness. I’m still nervous about our neighbors holding a wedding in their backyard on October 10. What if it rains? I just don’t get it.
@MaineLonghorn, hopefully your neighbor will make provisions for rain. When my S got married in our yard two weeks ago (only 16 people though), I had a tent twice the size needed for the number of people and contemplated getting a second so we would be outside no matter what the weather. There was no way this was being held inside, no matter how small the numbers.
D is leaving to go camping with a friend in the Adirondacks next week. They are taking separate tents but I don’t think they’ll be hiking masked. D had a Covid test earlier in the week (negative-results in less than 48 hours at a NY Health & Hospitals site) because her friend is living with her parents and wanted to minimize the risk of going home with the virus after being with D. Friend also tested negative. When we picked her up she sat in the back seat with her mask on and window open since we went upstate to take my mom home after S’s wedding and saw my sisters and their kids, some of whom have not been the best at following the rules and didn’t want to take a chance that we might have picked something up. Now we’re distancing in our house for 24 hours before she heads upstate.
So many decisions, risk assessments, and compromises.
I have already decided I will not be hosting a birthday party for sister in Pennsylvania in November. I feel badly because I told people last year I was going to do it. Zoom for out of state family will have to do and her local friends hopefully will figure out something very small to do for a milestone birthday. I don’t want to do anything that could contribute spread from too many different households gathering for an event.
She went to an indoor birthday event in mid June for about 40 people. Despite the setup for distancing that the vendor tried to set up, people sat too close, ignored spacing issues. No thanks.
@HImom - I follow Hawaii news very closely - I lived on the Big Island in the late 80s (my D was conceived there) and I have a lot of family/friends on BI, O’ahu and Maui. My 2 dearest friends, my D and I can be found island hopping 2-3 times a year. Our last trip was late Feb. In normal times we’d be heading back in Sept/Oct for 2 weeks. We are all missing not being able to come this time. I promise we will come back, with our aloha spirit in tact and eventually life will bounce back. My only hope is that it’s sooner than later. Stay safe!
I think birthday parties are one of those things that really don’t need to happen during this pandemic. Our family has had to forgo a couple. Adults can take it in stride pretty much.
@HighTide2020 I would have thought that too about birthdays until hearing about the 40th birthday party in June. The husband planned it for his wife before the pandemic and followed through, despite the pandemic. People are still having celebrations despite the warnings. The big problems currently seem to result from bars, colleges, etc. but smaller gatherings probably don’t help if proper precautions are not in place.