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: