Portugal just dropped its indoor mask requirement, but still requires them on public transportation and in taxis. I am going next week (and renting a car).

Quebec still has mask mandates and Ontario still has it for hospitals (understandable given the disease still physically exists tbh) and Transit.

For Ontario they expire June 11th, and suspect they will actually expire then.

I was in Florida a few weeks ago and coming from Ontario, probably one of the COVID-strictest places on the continent, it was a... change. It really felt normal.

Restrictions are basically entirely gone here now and don't seem to be coming back, but many people are still wearing masks everywhere and I have family members who still get very freaked out by COVID positive tests, etc. It was odd going to Florida where it basically felt like 2019 other than maybe 1 in 100 people in the grocery store wearing a mask.

I think the only place in NY that still has a mandate is public transit, which means the rule is now arbitrary and stupid. Yesterday I was on a subway car with about 20 people (thus fairly empty) and 90% of the people weren't wearing a mask. But mask usage is typically close to 100% when the cars are crowded.

I was going to say the opposite in that I now notice very little difference traveling between Toronto, New York, and even Texas (where I was two weeks ago briefly).

This time last year, going to Miami felt like visiting a different planet. Now, there seems to be but a few holdouts still living in the 2020/2021 mindset.

Very few wearing masks here and most of them are probably retired tourists; Mildred and Stan (who miss their grandkids back in Cleveland) but need a few days to get shit faced by the pool, lay out in the sun and eat shitty overpriced seafood. Those folks..

Yeah, it's closer to 40-50% compliance now. I didn't wear my mask for the first time yesterday, mainly because I was only going two stops anyway. We don't need to wear a mask anymore in the office, and maybe 15% still wear them. So it feels natural not to wear masks in other situations.

Apparently this BA.2 is spreading in PA but I don't think anybody cares. Rarely see folks wear masks. Which is good because it will spread quicker. Something like 85 percent of the population had one dose and about 70% fully vaxxed... so we should be good.

Warm weather is out so nobody cares anymore here.

Portland still has a few mask stragglers. Covid has killed the downtown economy tho. So many empty storefronts. :( Wfh has crippled civic culture. Way to go introverts.

Somewhat predictably, Manhattan seems to be entering a boom. Many of the storefronts that were emptied out by the pandemic are now under renovation.

I'm surprised it's down to a few 'stragglers' there. I'd figure there would still be quite a few..

Looks like SF is taking another pandemic-induced remote work office draining hit.

425 Market pictured in the middle.

https://images1.loopnet.com/i2/BKOHw.../112/image.jpg
https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/425-...o-CA/16847513/

https://techcrunch.com/2022/04/27/pa...ncisco-office/

^Wasn't Elon just telling everybody to get back to the office? That's ironic.

But....but.....but.....but......

Is it safe to get together again? I hear that case levels of the common cold are rising!!

We still have.......

.....wait for it....

....wait for it....

....wait for it....


COVID

CONCERNS!!!!!!

:haha::lmao:

He only bought Twitter as far as I know, not Paypal. I suspect he'll move Twitter HQ to Austin though.

He founded PayPal.

I don't think it's concerns for Covid though. I think people just don't want to go back to the office and a good portion probably don't need to be.

Nah. Portland is 50 percent midwesterners. Its way more conventional here than most residents want to admit. Shut in kids seem to be wearing masks the most.

I don't think he's been involved with it for several decades at this point though.

If everything can be done on the computer and the company can save money with less people at the building...they are gonna do it. Consider the savings for the government too by having people work from home.
For TUP it boils down to jealousy, while others will worry about the urban fabric, transit usage, and people walking around downtown. Which is ok...this is an urbanist forum!

I think many of these companies are doing it to get better leases.

People are mentally ill at this point. Period.

A performance of Moulin Rouge in Chicago was canceled 2 weeks ago because ONE FUCKING GUY tested positive for Covid.

My neighbor's kids, who found babysitters, were having a date night to go to it. Their whole night got screwed over a glorified common cold.

When I found out I was like

BUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!! what a bunch of knuckleheads. I would NEVER buy tickets to a show in dipshitterly land. I used to do shows in Chicago all the time. My money stays in my wallet now, until the mental fuckery ends. Let them cancel shows, piss people off, and just go bankrupt.

I will not support any private institution that won't wake up from this nonsense. I love having money in my bank account--maybe I will buy another sports car :tup:

^^^^

I agree with that last point. GT3 it is! :cheers:

Anyways, car fantasies aside... yeah at this point, its a mental illness. At least for anybody vaccinated or not so out of wack that the wind can kill them.

Nobody has gotten sick at my work. Ever since the masks when away. The plague has done its sweep and this new variant doing work by silently getting folks more antibody's. Could be seasonal allergies or some sniffles that go away in a day because one is vaccinated. Either way, enjoy the sunshine and your sweet ride.

Its hard to gauge how serious ppl are going to react about actual infections going forward. Its pretty much reliant on cdc and osha standards at this point. I actually just spent a week at home because I tested positive. I dodged covid for two years and then my gf went to NY and got sick when she came back. She works at a hospital so they have to test for it. I ended up getting roped into it to and tested positive. I basically had allergies all week and sat on my couch.

I will completely ignore CDC travel advisories going forward, of course. I’ll look at reports and empirical data to decide whether there’s a significant risk of catching whatever it is, and enough risk if I do catch it to care.

I remember saying to a friend (early on) “it’s not like this is malaria”, and she just said “oh I’ve had malaria twice, it’s not actually that bad” (she’s a wildlife photographer who also does conservation work in Africa).

The biggest scandal of this whole thing is that they duped people with working immune systems into thinking that Covid was dangerous, and the next biggest is that the rules in place (whatever they were at whenever time) treated everyone equally rather than reflecting risk profile.

^ Covid IS dangerous to unvaccinated, unhealthy, and elderly people—relatively speaking.

But details and nuance are not something that humans take to well. As evidenced by all of the stupidity that persists today

The paradigm shift continues.

https://apnews.com/article/technolog...fcdff6ef4ed06e

larp and blithe nonsense. :rolleyes:

This truly is the biggest silver lining from the whole pandemic. I'm currently shopping around for a new job, and the majority of all of them are remote. I'm not even mildly worried about having to move anywhere for a job anymore.

Well, unvaccinated and very unhealthy and/or elderly. It’s still not dangerous to unvaccinated people with no health issues (old age is a health issue), especially not the latest variants. And vaccinated old people are as safe as they’ll ever be.

Since vaccination is a choice available to everyone, this simply isn’t a thing anymore. People who want to make things like masks on public transportation permanent need to be resisted strongly.

I'm not sure I agree based on the once healthy friends and co-workers I have who are suffering effects of long covid long after they had the virus. Something like 10-40% suffer at least one lingering symptom (breathing and heart issues, brain fog). I'm getting my second booster tomorrow (just turned 51) because I have a wedding, a commencement, and some vacation traveling to do this summer and, as a runner, I value my lungs too much to take a chance on long covid.

By the numbers, Portland which is basically all of Multnomah Co is in a bad way. We've only recovered 58 percent of all pre pandemic employment. The other two counties that make up the metro area are basically back to pre pandemic numbers, with 85 and 93 percent of their jobs. Its been a bumpy ride for the central city and we're far into the woods still. Im torn. If I stick it out, I might go insane here. If I leave that means doomsayers win. I don't think all the wfh ppl have considered the civic domino effect their choice is going to have. I guess the next time they go downtown to see the sights, and all the sights are out of business they'll know. Oh yeah and the downtown Apple store still has a 20 ft riot fence. The fight for the heart of Oregon voters is on too. The governor's race is insane. There's like 40 candidates. Its turned into a progressive vs moderate showdown. Get yer popcorn. I suppose if there is a saving grace, our reputation as a city of neighborhoods seems more cogent than ever. People are really coming out droves to patronize their local businesses. Most of the popular neighborhood strips have fared pretty good.

I’m actually going to Portland for the first time in August. We’re staying downtown at the Porter. I’ve never been to the PNW so I’m really excited.

How is NW 23rd street doing? I thinks that's the street. Years ago I stayed at a hotel near Portland State Univ and walked somewhere and caught a train to NW 23rd. Stunning was the whole experience.

^^^23rd and 21st are both looking pretty good. The pearl is fine too. I was just up there a week or two ago. Lots of foot traffic which makes me hopeful. Barely any vacancies at all. Downtown south of Burnside and east of Broadway to PSU is spotty. Lots and lots of vacancies but hopefully that changes as offices start bringing ppl back. Even city employees haven't returned which seems ludicrous to me. Most of the protest scars have been cleaned up and there aren't alot of boarded up windows. Smashed windows was last years favorite tiktok fad. Old Town is scary as fuck for the uninitiated. Keep your hands and legs inside the vehicle at all times! They estimated there were 700 tents in old town during their last point in time survey. Not 70. Seven hundreddd. That so bad.

Are they introverts if they still come to the city on the weekends? People aren't filling up office towers so restaurants who lived off that business are struggling. But if you can survive without that and live for the weekends, many of these cities are packed more than they were pre-pandemic. Folks just don't want to go into the office but they still want to hang out. This is what San Francisco is like right now and DTLA from what I've noticed. I'm willing to bet most cities are this way, even ones open during the pandemic like Atlanta. Gotta find a way to repurpose many of these office towers. Perhaps new permanent residents in these office conversions will help the businesses that relied on office workers from those same buildings.

Finally got back to the States after contacting covid on vacation in Australia. Our new reality flying overseas is that you may not be able to go on your vacation or you might not be able to return.

I am 52 but physically fit and healthy along with being vaccinated and boosted and still got pretty sick. I was actually a little concerned that things were going to continue to get progressively worse and paxlovid was not available in Sydney.

Fortunately I finally tested negative and was able to come home but still have a cough and shortness of breath more than two weeks later. I certainly do not want to get sick with this shit again. I am not sure what variant I had but it better offer me protection from this new one affecting NY right now. For me this was worse than a bad cold.

^ Meh, doesn't sound that bad to me. I've been that sick before a few times.

Certainly nothing worth imposing criminal lockdowns and unnecessarily harsh metrics over.

I agree. I am not advocating lockdowns or mask wearing or anything. That would all suck.

I am just saying that I got sicker than I expected and it is a real drag with overseas travel. I am glad I didn't tell the airline I tested positive because then they won't let you fly for 11 days even if you test negative. I just extended my stay 7 days and fortunately tested negative in time for the new flight. Nevertheless it was an extra 2K in hotel and $700 for dog sitting so it was an extra expensive trip.

^ I hear ya.

Yeah, that's why I don't fly overseas. Until the world gets past the mental illness that is COVID, I'm not going to bother.

What's your definition of "getting past" Covid? I'm flying to Barcelona tomorrow and all it took was a few minutes to put my vaccination data into their travel form.

I'll probably spend more time filling out the customs sheet on the way home.

Well it’s the testing requirements that are a pain. You don’t need a test to return to the UK anymore, so there’s no risk of being stranded abroad. It’s really the US requirement to test to enter that’s an issue for Americans who want to travel overseas.

Then again, if it’s a self-administered lateral flow test, you can mitigate the risk by just not really swabbing the inside of your nose. It will probably still show up if you’re really sick and shedding lots of virus, but there’s probably less chance of a false positive or picking up a very low viral load.

What’s really stupid is countries (as I mentioned Portugal is an example) that still require masks in specific settings, like public transportation. What exactly is the point of requiring them there, and nowhere else?

Testing for travel should end for fully vaccinated people, because that is the best protection. Needing testing seems to undermine the vaccination.

I was/am against showing vaccination to get into businesses in my own country, but I am fine with showing proof of vaccination to get into another country because I am a guest in that country. It's not much different than vaccination requirements for other diseases.

Another question is, when does proof of vaccination get dropped? Will I have to show a raggedy CDC card in 2027 to get into Canada or the Bahamas?

I'm flying to the US next week and was pretty surprised to discover that I still need to provide a negative test to do so. It sounds like a rapid test is acceptable though - any idea how that works? (ie. can I literally just hand them a negative test with no further context or information required? Seems unclear from the CDC's site)

It should end for everyone. There's no real point for it anymore.

typically you need an "official" rapid test administered by a professional who can "vouch" that it was indeed you who took the rapid test.

Silly, but still relatively inexpensive. More so just annoying.

Apparently the Leafs are going to Tampa today for playoff games and are bussing to Buffalo first to avoid the requirement and the risk of a player getting kept behind because of a positive test. You don't need a test to drive across the border.

The ironic thing is that the US actually has stricter border controls than Canada as of April 1 - both still require you to be vaccinated, but the US requires a rapid test for flying now while Canada no longer requires testing for vaccinated travelers at all.

Go to a pharmacy and get a rapid test for travel - you can book it online for Shoppers / Loblaws by entering your travel info. Whether or not they actually ask for the test is a crapshoot. My wife didn't get asked when flying to California for work a few weeks back, nor did friends going to Florida (less surprising). If going through customs at Pearson they'll ask there, you just need the proof of negative.

A pretty pointless use of $40 all in all, but at least fairly quick and painless.

At least for the US, getting past Covid should amount to treating it like the flu.

Stop everything. Testing, talking about it publicly (let medical professionals discuss it, but stop reporting it on the evening news as if it’s supposed to be newsworthy), all mitigation measures, etc.

The only thing that should be emphasized is vaccination. Everything else has been, and will be, a waste of time and more harmful than good.

^ I say the above because the silly media has made so many regular people scared out of their minds of this virus despite vaccination and boosting.

Americans can’t think straight so I still have all these people calling me with “I tested positive for Covid, what should I do?” It’s a daily face palm moment for me because it’s like re-teaching grown ups what to do when they have a cold.

And stop testing yourselves! Stop the Covid testing.

Thanks for the info. Was hoping to be able to just hand them a random negative rapid test and not have to waste 30 minutes and 40 bucks, but oh well.