Well said. With the holidays coming up, I see two different takes from reasonable people:
We need to sacrifice getting together this year so that we are being as safe as possible to keep everyone healthy enough to still be around to get together next year. We need to be realistic about the risk and how fragile life is.
We acknowledge the danger of this virus, but we are willing to take reasonable risks because we are not guaranteed to be here next Thanksgiving or Christmas, or even guaranteed to wake up tomorrow. We need to be realistic about the fact that life has always been fragile and finite and that the virus is not showing us anything new there. Some important life events, perhaps in a modified way if necessary, can and must go on.
I think these are both valid ways to look at it, and both come with significant but different risks. I hope every family is able to weigh their own risks and do what they feel is right for them rather than it being mandated, as long as it can be done without being dumb and adding a ton of community risk (maybe too lofty of a goal overall). It is a tough tightrope to walk. I have a mix of both strategies in my family, where a smaller gathering is still happening, but one that would have been a little larger has been cancelled. I think the logic behind both is reasonable. Iâm in the #2 camp, but know that those in #1 tend to be smart, caring, and reasonable people trying to do whatâs best.
Really? I know in NJ (which had been stricter than a lot of other places,) the executive order specifically says that once you sit down, you can take off the mask, but if you get up (to go to the bathroom or something,) you must put the mask on.
I have only been to a sit down restaurant once since Covid, but as soon as I sat down, the mask came off. And thatâs how I plan to be at WDW also. I think expecting people to sit at a table with a mask on while waiting for their food is a tad excessive, imo.
Yeah, this seems standard and common sense. Iâm not even sure what my order in WI specifically says on this, but this is the normal practice I follow and would expect others to follow. Itâs up to the restaurant to space tables the right way to further keep risk down.
Now pictures have surfaced regarding Newsomâs attendance at an âoutdoorâ birthday bash at a very, very upscale and expensive restaurant.
He had insisted that the restaurant was following protocols and it was outdoors.
But is âoutdoorâ defined as an upscale garage, basically 3 walls, a roof, and a sliding door that can close and was closed? To me, that is not outdoors. And the pictures show no masks were worn during the mingling and there was no social distancing. There were a number of different households that attended the event that was not truly âoutdoorsâ. It looked like partying during the âgood oleâ daysâ.
He didnât apologize until people found out and asked him about it. But I suppose at least he apologizedâŚ
My family longs for the âgood oleâ daysâ. As you would recall, DD didnât have a college commencement ceremony in June; there was no gathering for celebrations; we having eaten outdoors at any restaurant because the tables lack social distancing; and among many other things, I have been working remotely and DS has been going to college remotely. We were looking forward to gathering in DSILâs backyard (really outdoors) for Thanksgiving lunch with 5 different households, socially distance. With the projected high on Thanksgiving to be around 62 degrees, meeting for Thanksgiving lunch will most likely not happen.
Youâre actually risking more germs constantly taking the mask off to take a bite or sip and then putting it back on than taking it off once and putting it on when you get up to go to the bathroom and/or to leave.
I walk alone, every morning through the cemetery in my neighborhood. It has been a very popular walking area since March. My house borders the cemetery and since we bought the house almost 25 years ago, this has been where we, and all our neighbors walk.
About two weeks ago people stopped wearing/even carrying masks.
I saw you mention that earlier. Iâm not questioning the veracity of your experiences. Just noting that they donât jive with mine. Maybe the difference is the venue, for lack of a better term? I havenât consistently been going to public recreational areas other than playgrounds, so I canât say if the trend you see holds true on my local walking paths.
HmmmâŚIâm glad I found out about the face masks in restaurants thing b/c it led me to actually read the new order from our governor (Maryland). I read in the news that we are required to wear masks outdoors and I assumed that meant everywhere, but it specifically says outdoors where 6 foot distance canât be maintained. To me, that means that we ARE free to go sans mask walking around our neighborhood, which makes me very happy. It seems perfectly safe b/c we have never had since March any time when we couldnât distance from those we see while taking our walks. Also, the Maryland order says that masks must be worn âexcept when consuming food or drink.â I will see if I can find someone official to ask about this, b/c to me this seems to say you have to have the mask on in the restaurant other than when eating (just for Maryland).
This sounds like a lovely area in which to take a walk. Cemeteries can be very peaceful places, with a lot of interesting history to read about on the stones (to guess about). My neighborhood where we take all our walks is just a standard neighborhood built recently. The one interesting thing, other than the architecture, is the fairly wild biking trail that has a little pond in it. We have actually almost never seen anyone else there.
Yes! Once I started genealogy research, I saw cemeteries in a whole new light. Even being there in the evenings isnât scary, anymore than walking down a dimly lit city street at night. Its so interesting. My family has their very own cemetery in the small town that branch is from. It makes me smile when I look at the photos or drive by.
In one city here, on the edge of town they have a resident pronghorn antelope herd. Itâs the weirdest thing. Antelope are so skittish, and have such keen eyesight. But this group of speed goats has figured out it is safest in neighborhoods, and theyâve been there for years. So long, that it has to have been learned by multiple generations of them.
Also, I decided to follow my own advice about the virus primarily being spread behind closed doors, and suggested my adult kids not fly home for Thanksgiving. They were more than happy to jump on that- I think they didnât want to miss the fun but werenât interesting in putting their old mom in the hospital, either. We are planning an extended Christmas holiday, hopefully weâll be on the downside of the new-case curve by then.
Our ICUs are pretty full, but we are still taking cases from surrounding states. The CMO of one of our biggest hospitals has indicated that they are going to cut elective surgery cases by 50%. This is what should have been done last spring- we did NOT need to empty the hospitals. It only takes a few days to adjust the census to accommodate pandemic patients, if even that.
But the hospitals are going to take a financial hit again, anyway. Surgical cases almost always generate more revenue. I hope that all of our facilities can survive the crisis- facilities and practices going out of business due to an epidemic is certainly not something I would have expected.
My dentist wants me to come in for my routine cleaning. I said not unless the hygienist has already had COVID, but of course, they canât tell me that.
It seems perfectly safe b/c we have never had since March any time when we couldnât distance from those we see while taking our walks. Also, the Maryland order says that masks must be worn âexcept when consuming food or drink.â I will see if I can find someone official to ask about this, b/c to me this seems to say you have to have the mask on in the restaurant other than when eating (just for Maryland).
We are planning an extended Christmas holiday, hopefully weâll be on the downside of the new-case curve by then.