Pandemic: Life on the ground

[Jersey Girl]

Hey Folks I thought I'd bump up this old thread that was intended to be a companion thread to Ms. Jack's "Life under coronavirus", because I think that various sub-topics are being dumped into the Vaccines and Therapeutics thread. It looks like that to me. Maybe we can thin that out a bit.

So...what is going on with you re:pandemic on the ground?

Report from the Homestead

1. Report from the Homestead is right! Spend most of my time right here and thankful for the indoor/outdoor space we have.
2. Back to masking up in public indoor spaces. Don't mind it at all.
3. Walmart still has it's sanitizing/disinfectant stations in place. They ripped up the social distancing markers months ago.
4. Most of the family is fully vaccinated. A couple here are not, others in Florida are not. All back home are vaccinated.
5. Gave up the idea of a UK trip this year. Also giving up on Florida, not just about the Delta variant and Florida's massive stupidity.
6. School year is about to start. The local district has not yet stated the policy on masks so far as I can tell.
7. Local children's hospital is not allowing parents of surgical patients to go back to the preparation or recovery area.
8. The friend whose wife died from Covid is now telling people she died from emphysema and bronchitis, when she had no risk factors according to him.
9. Currently re-stocking the pantry items again. If we don't get locked down, we'll have it to get us through winter per usual.

[Dr. Shades]

3. Walmart still has it's sanitizing/disinfectant stations in place.

"Walmart" = ?

[Gadianton]

Walmart, obviously.

[Jersey Girl]

3. Walmart still has it's sanitizing/disinfectant stations in place.

"Walmart" = ?

Hi honey, you home? Walmart.

[Jersey Girl]

Walmart, obviously.

[Some Schmo]

Walmart, obviously.

I didn't know what "Walmart" stood for either, but then again, I don't buy trash.

[Lem]

Hey Folks I thought I'd bump up this old thread that was intended to be a companion thread to Ms. Jack's "Life under coronavirus", because I think that various sub-topics are being dumped into the Vaccines and Therapeutics thread. It looks like that to me. Maybe we can thin that out a bit.

So...what is going on with you re:pandemic on the ground?

Report from the Homestead

1. Report from the Homestead is right! Spend most of my time right here and thankful for the indoor/outdoor space we have.
2. Back to masking up in public indoor spaces. Don't mind it at all.
3. Walmart still has it's sanitizing/disinfectant stations in place. They ripped up the social distancing markers months ago.
4. Most of the family is fully vaccinated. A couple here are not, others in Florida are not. All back home are vaccinated.
5. Gave up the idea of a UK trip this year. Also giving up on Florida, not just about the Delta variant and Florida's massive stupidity.
6. School year is about to start. The local district has not yet stated the policy on masks so far as I can tell.
7. Local children's hospital is not allowing parents of surgical patients to go back to the preparation or recovery area.
8. The friend whose wife died from Covid is now telling people she died from emphysema and bronchitis, when she had no risk factors according to him.
9. Currently re-stocking the pantry items again. If we don't get locked down, we'll have it to get us through winter per usual.

We're vaccinated here, too, signs on store entrances requiring masks are mostly down, some have a variation on "as per the CDC, those vaccinated are not required to wear masks, all others please wear masks."

The state is recommending masks indoors again for our county, so we take them with us, but so far no restaurants or stores have gone back to requiring it. Luckily for us, there are plenty of outdoor dining locations, which is our preference.

[Res Ipsa]

Neither my county nor my state have re-imposed mask mandates. Masks are still required on buses, but I believe that's a federal mandate. I have yet to enter some kind of commercial space where the employees are not wearing masks. I had dinner in a restaurant last night, and all the staff were masked. I'd guess about 50% of the people who arrived were masked. Some stayed masked unless actually eating or drinking something.

I've gone back to masking in public indoor spaces, which I don't mind at all. I'd estimate voluntary mask wearing at around 33-50% in my area. The social distancing markers are gone off the floors, but most people maintain separation of 3-6 feet voluntarily.

I also mask up for outdoor events that have some crowding. But mostly I just avoid them.

I'm still pretty scrupulous about hand washing or sanitizing when I enter or leave a location, including home. I've cut back on hand washing frequency at home.

Ms. Ipsa starts in-classroom teaching in a month, which I'm not happy about. I do believe masks will be required, which I am happy about. I am concerned that the health of children and teachers is being sacrificed in the name of getting the economy up and running full steam. in my opinion, if pols were really interested in children's well being, they would be taking the necessary measures to reduce transmission rates as far as possible before opening schools. If a state is setting records for COVID-19 hospital admissions, it has no business throwing fuel on the fire by resuming in person school instruction. Checking my county's numbers, new cases per week are growing exponentially as we head toward our fifth peak. Hospitalizations and death remain fairly low and stable for now. My zip code has a high rate of new cases compared to the surrounding zip codes. No idea why.

[Res Ipsa]

Just got a text from my local health district. It describes the current trend in hospitalizations and new cases as “unsustainable.” It requests everyone to get vaccinated, mask up indoors, and to cooperate with contact tracers.

[Jersey Girl]

I just got back from Walmart. Not a lot of people inside and was only there to pick up a few things. Anyway, I did notice an abundance of folks wearing masks inside, myself included. People of all ages wearing masks. Kind of heartened to see that. According to our Governor, 72% of our population is vaccinated. I really need to check on that number as to whether or not it's fully vaccinated or vaccinated with one shot. Anyway...that's where it's at out in the sticks.