The plight of small businesses has been especially concerning during this pandemic, but I've even seen larger chains closing locations. Many former business locations are now empty with "For lease" signs in their place. Some of the chains may have been going this way anyway as physical retailers have been losing business to online shopping.
The smaller businesses that seem to be surviving are those that have been able to adapt to the current circumstances -- restaurants that offer delivery and take-out, small retailers that have begun to sell things online, and classes and services that have been able to take their lessons and services online.
Also troubling are the workers who end up laid-off and without income as these businesses struggle.
It is my hope that when this pandemic is finally over that many small businesses that were forced to close due to loss of business will be able to restart again if they wish. The costs to start up again may be too much for some. I think it would be especially great after all this is over if there is some kind of stimulus or grant for small businesses that closed during the pandemic to help them start their businesses again.
@michele-b I see it everywhere also. I don’t understand what people are thinking. A co-workers daughter has covid and they live together. That would mean quarantine for most, if you read the guidelines. Some people don’t feel it applies to them. They are out and about. Just because you’re outside doesn’t matter. You still come in contact with others. I can’t believe the way people think. It makes me angry and sad. It also makes me shutdown. I have to go into work but stay in my office and away from everyone. Hang in there. There will be light at the end of this train wreck.
I only heard from her a few days after our session, and she said she was feeling better every day. We have another distance session on the 19th; right after Jupiter and Saturn enter the Aquarian door (oh boy).
Today I walked by a quiet little business corner. Normally in pre pandemic times it is filled with a coffee place, a few restaurants, non chain, service oriented places, an animal day care, small shops and so forth. 8 have closed and 7 remain open of the places I walked by. I am actually the revolving sushi place is opened. I mean, revolving sushi is the point, indoor eating for sure. Their hours have been cut back a lot and I guess people are doing take out but still. I think after Christmas a new huge wave of restaurants and retail shops will be closing.
There will be some who will survive by being creative and I cheer them for their ingenuity. Others will not be as fortunate.
When we all finally re-surface after the Covid Wars to survey our altered surroundings, there will be much to take in. We will have changed and our environment will as well.
I hope we finally deal with the inequities which have stared us down and demanded our attention. We may all be fighting the same war but the battlefield weapons we have at our disposal are different. Some have tanks and others have rocks. Some have armor while others have t-shirts.
And for goodness sakes, fully fund our schools and provide internet access and devices for all students to learn from and do research and assignments on. Technology now must be seen as a basic need in today’s world and going forward, just as a textbook. The gap between the haves and have nots has been blown wide open and we must stop the bleeding!
Just witnessed the best conversation ever in a gas station. 2 guys go in with no masks and guy in line speaks up.
Guy in line-Do you mind wearing a mask around me? Thank you
Maskless guy 1-Aww look. Another liberal communist scared of the flu. Im not letting you take my freedom. F**** your mask.
Guy in line-Actually I'm a pulmonologist.
Maskless guy 2-Just because you're a doctor that looks at a**holes all day you think you can force your communism on everyone.
Guy in line-Im not a proctologist. Im a pulmlnologist. Im the guy that will keep you alive when you get covid
Maskless guy 2-whatever its just a flu and you're in on the hoax
Maskless guys walk out. I bust up laughing behind the doctor in line.
Doctor-I hope those idiots have good insurance. At least I'll get paid when I see them again
Me-Well he was right. You do look at a**holes all day. A**holes that refuse to wear masks and make your life a lot harder.
Doctor laughs and thanks me for having a mask on as we walk out. Before door closes, I hear the gas station attendant bust up laughing.
I had a patient with a toothache. Her mother was with her and going on and on about Covid being fake news, lies, “I hate wearing a mask” - on and on. I was giving discharge instructions to her daughter and said the only way to resolve this problem is to have that tooth pulled. So the mom pipes up and says, “We can’t make an appointment because of Covid.” ????? ???
A new study shows you can get covid 20 feet away in five minutes indoors in a restaurant. South Koreans have a remarkable covid tracing system. Using the tracing data and cameras in a restaurant to determine where people were sitting and who got infected, they found that a person infected some people in a restaurant because the air conditioning system emitted air currents that carried the airborne droplets from that person to everyone sitting along the path of the currents.
A droplet has enough of a viral load to infect you. Anyone not sitting in the path of the air-conditioning current did not get infected.
So five minutes in a restaurant where people have to remove their masks to eat can do it even if you are sitting 20 feet away.
I would never eat in a restaurant these days.
But if anyone wants to see how where you are sitting can infect you, examine this diagram. The red dots were all infected. Person (B) at the top right infected her companion (D) and then two others (C) and (A) even though Person (A) was 20 feet away all because the air conditioner (blue square) sent an air current towards (B) which bounced off the wall and carried Person B's droplets to C and A.
I've gotten some intel on the phases for vaccination in my state from two different sources - it looks like it will shortly be announced that the field of education will be included in the first wave of vaccinations here, which -- if everyone is going to continue to push for in-person instruction, is how it should be.
According to my brother, this means while doctors are still in line ahead of me, I'll be getting my two shots, 21 days apart sometime in January of 2021 assuming the supply projections he's seeing hold (and there's no guarantee there) I'll happily let you all know if I grow an extra head (aside from the other two -- see the Aliens thread if this doesn't make sense to you) and how badly the Bill Gates tracking chip disrupts my home wifi signals.
I jest on the last part - Honestly, I'm kind of excited to be able to stop playing "Is it a cold, or is it COVID?" whenever one of us gets an illness like the one that took us all down briefly this past week.
The interesting part of this is the conversation my wife and I had after I gave her the news. We both recognize that -- in the short term, nothing changes. We get the vaccine, we'll still be wearing masks in public, getting takeout, etc. The twins won't be changing their routine of only going to school and coming home -- we won't be taking them to stores, or dropping them off at Grandma's for the weekend (at least until Grandma gets her vaccinations) The part that's missing is the unease. It'll mean we can work at our schools without wishing we were teaching from home and/or wondering and worrying when we'll be closing down next. After nine months of extreme uncertainty I think that'll be the most welcome part of the relief.
The Washington Post has a great article and video about virus droplet spread. A high tech camera is used to show how the virus can spread through the air with and without masks.
It is pretty interesting.