This summer Ill be travelling to Boston and going through crowded airports and planes. I will test to make sure I don't have COVID when I visit my parents not out of concern for myself but for my parents. Yes they have been vaccinated but they are in ill health and elderly, they can't get COVID.

But you know there are reasons and valid reasons to get tested, people have different situations, different health issues, and different personalities regardless. So why ask?

Normally I'd agree with you, but a small number of paranoid germaphobes have decided to make their fear about COVID everybody's business, and it's been going on for years now, even after an effective vaccine.

So yes, he and anybody else are within their right to wonder why healthy, vaccinated people keep testing themselves over and over for a virus that is effectively the glorified common cold at this point.

You (not you personally--figure of speech) made it our business. So now we wanna know why the hell mostly healthy and vaccinated folks keep testing themselves all day long and bumping up the case numbers everywhere

Yep - I agree here.

I think for people that have an office to go to, and enjoy going in a few times a week, will go.

I still maintain my hypothesis that companies like WeWork stand to benefit in the long run from this. Give your employees a membership, and they just come into collaborate when they need. Instead of leasing an entire floor plate, you just rent conference rooms or offices when you need them.

They don't like the restrictions...
It's the same folks over and over whining about other people getting tests or wearing a mask.

Whether people want to get tested is their business. Mind your own business and enjoy your own life. Like the mask debate, about 10+ people here will argue about this forever and ever. It's weird.

It’s very unlikely that with an asymptomatic infection you would be shedding enough virus to endanger even your elderly parents. Viruses trigger things like coughing and sneezing for a reason - evolution has selected for this as a mechanism to spread themselves.

I could see this argument if the loss were a toaster oven.

And also with people so fanatical against testing or anything COVID I am most certainly not going to take their medical advice

Yeah, go show em, be a rebel and test yourself for Covid! :cool:

I am totally cool with that, but then using this logic:

No mask mandates anywhere public--it's MY business
No vaccination mandates--it's MY business

Let people decide what to do, and hope that they follow the most medically sound advice.

Just to have them at hand. I have a very big basement so they can be stored there so when the plague causes these things to jump to $20 a piece, I can save money that way. Hey!... ya never know. Get it now while its free.

Plus if I have a sniffle, quick test... badabing badaboom, if positive, I get 5 days off work paid. So no complaints. Even if no symptoms or feeling fine, but still positive, 5 days off sounds nice. They don't need to know.

Yeah, that's not how it works for me. If I test positive (which I never will because I don't test myself for foolish colds that I'm going to recover from) I don't get 5 "paid" days off. I get paid based on volume of work, not by day, so I would simply be losing income.

Of course, I follow common sense and stay home when I'm sick anyhow (remember when we used to do that?) so it's never been an issue--and it never will be.

wrong thread

Memorial Day weekend is coming up. Should skyrocket with that BA.2.12.1.

https://aws1.discourse-cdn.com/busin...d16268a9a.jpeg

Does it really piss you off that much I'm making sure I don't transmit COVID to my parents? Come on how is this even a human trait to make fun of people that want to protect their parents?

Unfortunately a big part of the acceptance of lockdowns/isolation is that a large segment of society thinks “cool, I can get paid to sit at home and watch TV”.

There was a funny meme that came out when the British government, in order to encourage people to get tested, offered them £300 (or something like that) for a positive test. The idea was allay fear of losing income, but the perverse incentives were obvious:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EsV9TVdXIAEC8je.jpg


(it’s based on the “Stay Home, Protect the NHS, Save Lives” slogan that they had)

I did the same whenever I visited my mother in 2020. But that was before vaccines when it was really a pandemic.

The question I will always ask is, at what point do you intend to stop doing this? And note that “when there’s no Covid anymore” is not an acceptable answer (in this case the answer is actually “never”).

The dead horse that I keep beating is not about people’s individual risk tolerances. People can take whatever precautions they want, as long as they don’t expect others to change their behavior like a certain forumer. But the fact is that we are “there” with Covid, wherever there is, and that’s an objective point that we can debate rather than a personal choice that there is no point in debating.

Yeah, not enough people around here are taking the long view. I figured it would be pretty obvious to people that there is potentially no end in sight to this paranoid behavior. But then, most people don’t really think things through.

No, I don’t care what you do, I just demand that your fears be your fears.

I’m fed up with policy makers trying to turn your fears into my headaches.

You're asking the wrong question. The question you should be asking is why isn't it as easy to test yourself for other contagious viruses as it is to test yourself for COVID? If I had a quick and easy way to test myself for the flu or common cold virus before I went and infected a bunch of other people, I would do that.

This would cost money (regardless of whether it was out of pocket, or part of your tax burden or insurance premium), and that cost would be unjustified and wasteful.

We actually don’t need to know whether people are asymptomatic carriers of mild diseases, and the whole testing program is at this point simply a profit driver for diagnostics providers.

I don't see any reason why most people need to test themselves for common respiratory viruses at home. What difference does it make? You still have to rest, take decongestants, perhaps keep a distance from others, and wait for your immune system to take care of the problem.

Well, people actually do die from influenza, not to mention the productivity losses from people missing work due to illness. If we had a way to minimize outbreaks of even mild illnesses, the economic efficiency gains should make it worthwhile.

I disagree with this. That would only be true if this “way to minimize outbreaks” didn’t have costs, economic or otherwise, of its own.

Wearing a mask on public transportation and in all crowded indoor spaces forever would not be worth, even if US flu deaths could be cut by 90%. Not even close.

Interesting study on WFH preferences here in the UK. It seems that since people have started going back to the office, preference for working from home has increased. :haha

https://www.ft.com/content/9d481954-...3-608ce316eca2

As the article points out, it will be interesting to see what happens in a less favourable economic environment and labor market when employees have less leverage.

Just spent 1 week in NYC. Everything seemed to me to be completely normal, which caught my surprise. All if the melodrama about how far the city has fallen and is "dead" or "never coming back" seemed to be complete BS. I'm sure it was rough during 2020/2021, but it appeared completely fine now.

Hate to admit it, but LA/SF/Seattle feel far more depraved with lots of in-your-face squalor and sketchballs by comparison. I feel much more unsafe at night walking on my own in LA or SF than I ever did in NYC. It also didn't seem particularly dirty.

Glad to see that our nation's most iconic city is doing pretty well all things considering. The only noticeable change was that NYC felt less 24/7 than it used to be - many restaurants were closed by 10pm.

NYC isn't back to pre-pandemic normal, but it's definitely far more active than a year ago. Bars and restaurants are booming, along with other social venues, but everything else is still lagging. There is still noticeably less vehicular traffic on most days. Subway ridership is also still way off.

My parents went to NYC in 2019 and went back again the first week of April with my gf and I. I'd never been but it was busier than I expected. According to my parents, it was busy, but not as busy as it was in 2019 for whatever that's worth?

Toronto is starting to feel that crush again too - the commuter flows out of Union are starting to look like a crush of people like it was pre-covid. Still not nearly as many people overall, but it's not dead like it was last year.

Flew to Switzerland from the UK and finally there were no masks on board. So nice.

Spain still requires them and when I went a couple weeks ago I had to buy an N95 at the airport duty free. Not only is that basically theft (compelling me to purchase something that I don’t want or need), but people who say wearing a mask is no big deal have lost it. I hadn’t worn one in months and that thing was so damn uncomfortable. I could feel the straps on my ears for the rest of the day.

I was in Toronto the last week (wedding and business), and it seemed pretty "normal". I was expecting a slightly more muted situation than in U.S. given Canada's greater Covid precautions, but never masked the entire trip. I stayed in Yorkville, and it was actually packed last weekend. And the lakefront was pretty crowded. I think the nice weather played a role, though.

I'm still not clear if masks are required in Uber and transit facilities like Union Station, but in any case, there was minimal compliance.

A few differences - the office buildings I entered were ghost towns, which isn't the case in the U.S. anymore. Maybe WFH or Hybrid is somewhat more common? Also, the underground PATH network still seems like a weekday ghost town, and is frequently disconnected, with buildings shutting down connections, making the network less than useful. The financial district is still really quiet, even on Monday/Tuesday.

Public transit is the only place masks are still required, but compliance is maybe in the ~60% range in my experience.

Definitely fewer Canadian companies mandating full returns to the office at this point. Especially in Downtown Toronto as the summer starts and anyone senior is basically posted up in Muskoka from Thursday to Monday.

Are people still pretending to give a shit about covid?

It is ironic that it wasn't mass vaccinations, declining hospitalizations, or general apathy towards restrictions that finally ended the non-stop Covid coverage. All it took was a little revival of Cold War geopolitics to end the global fixation on Covid.

I don't think anyone's pretending anymore. I think at this point we've basically diverged into two camps: the majority who don't give a shit about Covid or about pretending to care about it; and a minority who have essentially become (permanently?) more risk-averse and hypochondriatic - who very genuinely do still give a shit.

There are also a whole bunch of people on both sides of the debate who have built careers or followings for themselves on the back of Covid (or opposition to Covid-related policy), who have a vested interest in keeping the music going one way or another.

People still are complaining about the restrictions...
Why can't they move on? Don't tell me they will be whining about it for years to come!

I’m pretty sure I called this in mid-2020.

My free Covid tests via the US Gov came in today. :happybirthday:

Going right into the basement corner next to the spiders for use in the Fall if needed.

It's all the Monkey Pox these days and the inflation virus. That was like soooo 2019 gurlll. The only people that seem to care are the Chinese. Few cases and whole regions locked down, but in America, eh... folks don't care.

Fortunately the pox isn't rampant and hopefully by some draw of luck it won't mutate. Won't want to see a "How Is Monkey Pox Impacting Life in Your City?"

At least people looked good with a mask on because it displayed their eyes more, but with the Monkey Pox, the scabs and lesions don't look good!

It would be extremely off message for them not to. During the pandemic half the people enjoying “work from anywhere” freedoms were staying in Airbnbs.

New York to end 2.5 year old mask mandate for riders on public transit:

As several of you know, I travel the country extensively for the work that I do. ATL-BOS flights yesterday and both airports Logan and Hartsfield-Jackson I'd estimate about 10% wearing masks. The nice thing is, nobody seems to pay it any attention. So if you're comfortable wearing a mask, by all means do it. Personally, I stopped as soon as mandates were dropped.

Fairly similar to the attitude on NY transit nowadays. Most people don't wear masks anymore, and nobody cares if you do or don't.

About damned time.

Cayman Islands dropped all Covid entry requirements. Unvaccinated can go without a negative test, for instance. It's 2019 entries down there.

It will be nice when the US and Canada drop all vaccine and/or testing requirements for entry. Now that we know that the vaccine has waning efficacy, why can I go to Canada now because I was vaccinated in April 2021, but someone not vaccinated can get in at the same time? What would the difference be between being vaccinated in April 2021 and not being vaccinated if someone wants to go to Canada in July 2023? Why do I need a negative test to (re-)enter the United States by a plane, but don't need any test to (re-)enter the US when driving over the border?

São Paulo dropped today masks requirement on public transportation; starting tomorrow

Only in hospitals and health centres they will be still required.

Last month, the federal government dropped the requirements for flights.

---------------------------------------

The 7-day average deaths stand at 245 in the US and 94 in Brazil. Both countries in a downward curve and both are very good on tracking Covid deaths: excessive deaths matched perfectly with the announced Covid deaths.

At this level, Covid doesn't impact death rates in Brazil anymore. In the US, they still do.

Covid is basically a thing of the past in Portland but the wfh pajama revolution is picking up steam. Big ticket foreclosures are on the horizon also. Downtowns flagship Hilton is being foreclosed on and put up for auction. Wowzers! Honestly most of downtown looks pretty good but the businessy part of the core is doing pretty bad and hotel bookings are in the crapper. We have the third lowest office attendance record in the country. :(

Liberal west coast politics and mandates during the pandemic absolutely decimated our downtowns and business centers. SF, LA, PDX, and Seattle seem to be doing horribly in their downtowns collectively, we're not even close to seeing pre-pandemic office commuters. There's just no way it's untrue. I wouldn't be surprised if the downtowns in major cities of the South or more conservative states are doing better...I would imagine WFH is less encouraged in these places and therefore more white collar folks are giving life to their city centers.

Some phone company is measuring CBD pings to represent pedestrian activity. Portland. SF and CLEVELAND are the bottom 3. Thats amazing. :( salt Lake City is the go getter. 155% cbd activity. Even more people than pre covid. Jeez. I don't want to be mormon.

That's odd. Downtown São Paulo is booming more than ever. New residential towers popping up everywhere, new restaurants, bars, nightclubs opening almost at daily basis. The energy is amazing.

The downside is, homelessness, that increased a lot. Criminal activity as well.

Seems to be the exact same case with Austin. Downtown San Antonio is booming as well but nowhere near the homeless problem of Austin.

Interesting that places like Texas/Florida/Nashville/Charlotte/Phoenix are booming right now, while the west coast and parts of the north east *seem* to not be doing so hot. Big policy failure in a lot of states/cities.

Anyone on here know how Orange County/San Diego area have fared throughout this?

It's still wild to me that places are just now dropping mandates... Texas hasn't had anything in over a year and a half LOL.