How Is Covid-19 Impacting Life in Your City?

[10023]

Originally Posted by bilbao58

So many younger people don't seem to understand that just by getting the virus, whether they get sick or not, in fact especially if they don't get sick, they are facilitating its further spread. They also don't get that they may not even know they're infected, but Granny will know it when they visit her and she dies 3 weeks later.

That is why you don’t visit granny. And old people stay home from work.

[10023]

Originally Posted by mhays

That wouldn't be enough. The vulnerable old lady's niece will visit twice a week, and bring it with her because she's been in public.

Reduced gatherings and "social distance" are about making sure the niece is less likely to get it and carry it to the old lady.

It's also about slowing the spread so that the health system and maybe a vaccine can catch up before it gets too big.

The problem is not the niece being in public, it’s visiting the vulnerable old lady. Tell people not to visit older relatives. Nursing and assisted living homes should be banning visitors as well.

Originally Posted by JManc

What they're also saying is that you can be young and healthy enough to lick the toilet seat in an airport bathroom and be fine but you can still pass something on to anyone older or immunocompromised. There's a reason why they're shutting down schools and universities...

Then stay away from anyone older. Or rather, older people stay away from the young. Stay home.


What is so hard to understand? You can lock down a whole country, destroy the economy and impoverish everyone. Or you can tell the elderly and vulnerable (most of whom are not working anyway) to stay home and avoid public places and younger people (including relatives), and get through this with much more modest disruption.

[bossabreezes]

Originally Posted by craigs

I live in a Victorian and Edwardian neighborhood. All our kitchens and living rooms have big, front-facing bay windows. I realize this is not your own experience living in a shitty modern mid-rise complex on Van Ness.

Does coronavirus cause aggression too?

[hauntedheadnc]

There are now 12 confirmed cases in North Carolina, in Wake, Durham, Johnston, and Forsyth counties. At the Charlotte Observer, staff has been informed of a possible exposure in the newsroom. If so, that would mean there are active cases in some of the state's most urban counties, home to Raleigh, Durham, Winston-Salem, and Charlotte. Statewide, the University of North Carolina system has suspended in-class instruction. That would include local universities here such as Western Carolina, Appalachian State, and UNC-Asheville. Not sure if that's true for the community college system also. Meanwhile, North Carolina has declared a state of emergency which has triggered the price gouging law. Some stores like Lowe's are limiting purchases to keep people from panic buying.

Here at home, the president's speech last night caused quite a tizzy at one of the hospitals where my husband is doing his clinicals. Patients are cancelling their mental health appointments, the hospital took the batteries out of most of the hand sanitizer dispensers because they can't get refills, and a lot of the staff was talking about going out for supply runs on their lunch breaks. One had already been to Sam's Club before coming in, and reported it to be mobbed. Hand sanitizer is sold out, and toilet paper is getting hard to find. I reassured my husband that I have enough Subway napkins stuffed in my glove box to wipe every ass within a three-hour drive so we're all set for the lean times.

Also, this morning the Tourism Development Authority in Asheville announced they're starting to see large numbers of people cancel their hotel and bed-and-breakfast reservations. Personally, I stopped in at my favorite coffee shop this morning, and the owner told me business is dropping off. Local news is also reporting that nearly every local festival, and galas and luncheon fundraisers for local nonprofits, have been suspended or canceled, while Asheville City and Buncombe County Schools have suspended or canceled a total of thirty-eight out-of-state field trips that had been scheduled.

Edit: God bless the rumor mill. This just showed up on a twitter feed about Asheville news:

[C.]

YIMBY movement attracts strange bedfellows...

[C.]

Originally Posted by C.

YIMBY movement attracts strange bedfellows...

Wait... wrong thread.

[destroycreate]

I work in Advertising and am petrified I will loose my job again. I just started my new job 3 weeks ago and it's been going great, love my team, the culture, everything. But suddenly we are hearing brands we work with can't get product from China, and they have to slash their marketing budgets.

Yesterday, we were all instructed to begin WFH indefinitely (which I guess is good, but doesn't feel reassuring outlook-wise).

[JManc]

Originally Posted by 10023

The problem is not the niece being in public, it’s visiting the vulnerable old lady. Tell people not to visit older relatives. Nursing and assisted living homes should be banning visitors as well.



Then stay away from anyone older. Or rather, older people stay away from the young. Stay home.


What is so hard to understand? You can lock down a whole country, destroy the economy and impoverish everyone. Or you can tell the elderly and vulnerable (most of whom are not working anyway) to stay home and avoid public places and younger people (including relatives), and get through this with much more modest disruption.

The 'social distancing' mode sounds like the only way to keep this thing at bay; look at China. Merely telling the 70's and above or those with illness to stay home while the rest of us goes on with life probably isn't going to cut it .

And it's too late, the world economy is already fucked.

[subterranean]

James Howard Kunstler has been predicting the shale oil collapse for yearssss due to its very narrow price vs. finance requirements. I honestly don't think it would take much to collapse, which is why we are hearing the president talk about a stimulus.

Which is funny, bc, you know, about ten years ago the narrative from that side of the aisle was to let businesses fail.

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by mrnyc

our financial advisor says for aggregated stocks like blackrock or whatever you have the relatively safe way to go is buy now and then monitor and buy in like 10% more week by week.

also, assuming the russians will capitulate on their oil deal walkout soon enough. we know they are at war with the usa and trying to destroy the local shale oil business here, but too much $ is on the table for them to keep fooling around with that.

Interesting article in one of the Dow Jones publications the other day (can’t remember whether the WSJ or Barron’s): basically they pointed out that the Russian plan to get rid of US shale production can’t work because even if they bankrupt the existing companies, the oil and technology will remain and private equity or somebody will pick up the assets for pennies on the dollar and resume production.

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by JManc

The 'social distancing' mode sounds like the only way to keep this thing at bay; look at China. Merely telling the 70's and above or those with illness to stay home while the rest of us goes on with life probably isn't going to cut it .

And it's too late, the world economy is already fucked.

I’ll keep saying we don’t know what’s happening in China as far as the virus goes. We know things appear to be returning to normal because the government is sounding the all clear signal. But consider what America would look like if the government and media just went silent on the subject and began saying, “Just forget it—everything’s OK”. All would quickly seem normal but the spread of the virus wouldn’t change.

Do you know anyone who’s sick with diagnosed COVID? I don’t. If I junked the TV and stopped reading the paper or if they started telling me something different, I wouldn’t know there was a problem.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

I’ll keep saying we don’t know what’s happening in China as far as the virus goes. We know things appear to be returning to normal because the government is sounding the all clear signal. But consider what America would look like if the government and media just went silent on the subject and began saying, “Just forget it—everything’s OK”. All would quickly seem normal but the spread of the virus wouldn’t change.

Do you know anyone who’s sick with diagnosed COVID? I don’t. If I junked the TV and stopped reading the paper or if they started telling me something different, I wouldn’t know there was a problem.

Four of my father's friends were on that cruise ship off Japan. Of course most of us won't know anyone directly impacted; it's 1200-1300 people out of 320 million. In total, about 130,000 have been infected globally.

[sopas ej]

I just learned yesterday that the LA Times Festival of Books, an event we go to every year, was postponed to October, because of COVID-19; it's usually held in April. It's a huge event. They have great author and guest speakers, among other things. Over the years, we've seen speakers like Barbara Eden, Tippi Hedren, and one year Billy Idol spoke about his autobiography, and did an impromptu concert.

And this hits home for me; it really doesn't make sense. According to the article, people are avoiding Chinese restaurants, yet business is up at 99 Ranch and 168 Market because supposedly more people are shopping and eating at home. But uh, you can just as easily get the virus shopping at 99 Ranch or any other Asian market as you can eating at a Chinese restaurant?

From Eater Los Angeles:

Coronavirus Concerns Shut Down Three SGV Restaurants, Others Suffer Plummeting Sales

Drops in business are estimated between 30 to 75 percent, according to dozens of Chinese restaurant owners


by Kristie Hang Mar 11, 2020, 12:16pm PDT


Strip mall with restaurants in San Gabriel, California Shutterstock/Feng Cheng

Asian restaurants, especially Chinese restaurants, across the San Gabriel Valley in the Los Angeles area are reporting significant declines in business as novel coronavirus concerns continue to keep diners away. Many popular restaurants in the area have closed temporarily or even permanently in Southern California’s most populated Asian-American community. The latest affected are Hong Kong-style restaurant Henry’s Cuisine and Cantonese restaurant Top Island Seafood in Alhambra. Both establishments are closed for the next two months due to coronavirus concerns.

Henry’s Cuisine, which has been open since 2015, is a casual cafe known for its affordable breakfast sets. Top Island, which has been open since 2007, was a popular dim sum spot in the morning and an affordable Cantonese seafood restaurant at night. Cantonese/Chaozhou restaurant Seafood Palace in Monterey Park, was a staple in the community, but was forced to close permanently last week.

Although all three restaurants may have been suffering less-than-expected sales prior to the novel coronavirus news hitting San Gabriel Valley, COVID-19 has exacerbated the situation and forced them to close right away, according to a neighboring restaurant owner familiar with the situation who chose not to give their name. The person added, “Owners don’t want to affect employees’ income so they try to stay open as long as they can, but the small mom-and-pops can’t hold on for too long.”

After speaking to dozens of Chinese restaurant owners in the SGV area, they estimate that their businesses are down anywhere between 30 to 75 percent amid the coronavirus outbreak, which originated in Wuhan, China, and has since spread across the globe.

”The business right now is so slow,” said one restaurateur. “Before [the outbreak] it was very busy”, echoed another.

The owners reiterated over and over they believe that concerns over the novel coronavirus spreading across the U.S. have turned people against Chinese restaurants and Chinese-owned businesses.

Arthur Tang, who owns two restaurants in the San Gabriel Valley, Malubianbian and Chengdu Impression, says his overall business has been down at least 70 percent. “Before, our wait time to get in was two plus hours, and now it’s basically all walk-in,” said Tang. In response to the panic, his restaurants are sterilized daily to ease concerns.

“We do body check temperature on every customer to make sure every store is healthy. We’ve also been giving discounts to encourage diners to come in,” says Tang.

Not only are diners are staying away, some restaurants are struggling to get certain ingredients and supplies in from China because many factories are still closed. China mandated factory shutdowns across the country last month extending the annual two week Lunar New Year holiday. Although many of those restrictions have now been removed, leading to a slow return to work for people, many major manufacturers remain closed.

A representative from Bistro Na’s, the only Michelin-star Chinese restaurant in Southern California, says business has been reduced by 30 to 40 percent. She says going forward, their focus will be on delivery. The representative also noted that they have had problems with importing tea leaves from China. Chef Tiantian Qiu, who owns Sichuan restaurants Hip Hop in Monterey Park and Mala Town in Sawtelle Japantown, has been having issues importing peppercorn and other unique spices in from China for her dishes.

Though restaurants seem to have seen a significant decline in sales, supermarkets like 99 Ranch and 168 Market are doing extremely well since more people are choosing to cook and stay in, according to some restaurant owners who did not wish to be named.

Popular SGV dessert chain Meet Fresh also commented that they have lost over 20 percent of revenue since the end of January when novel coronavirus concerns began. Meet Fresh’s representative noted that if the concerns continued, the dessert chain would focus more on delivery in coming months to combat further reductions in sales.

Jocelyn Wong, who manages popular food Instagram account @hangrydiary, noted that she continues to dine out in San Gabriel Valley despite being worried about the virus. “I still continue to dine at Chinese restaurants. I don’t want to see them close, so I dine out a lot as I normally would. Yes, I am concerned, but I pick earlier hours to dine out to avoid the crowds or order delivery if needed,” says Wong.

Uniboil, a hot pot restaurant in Monterey Park, has seen a 75 percent drop in business. When asked how long he would be able to keep his restaurant afloat, owner Alan Pun somberly responded, “Maybe not long.”

Even Din Tai Fung in the Westfield Santa Anita Mall isn’t busy at the moment, with ample room for walk-in diners. The popular soup dumpling restaurant, which used to command large crowds and long waits every day of the week, is only half-filled.

Not all Chinese restaurants are on the brink of closing, but there has been a trend of diners eating out earlier around 5 p.m. versus the typical 7 or 8 p.m. dinner rush. The manager at New Lucky, a Cantonese seafood restaurant in Monterey Park, said that the new trend is that diners start coming in very early and place a lot of take out orders. “Business is still way down, but we’re trying to take it one day at a time,” she said.

And although business has definitely declined across the board, it seems as though more affordable restaurants, with breakfast and lunch deals like Delicious Food Corner, Happy Harbor, and The Bay Cafe, have still been full during peak times. Restaurants that specialize in unique dishes like Ji Rong with their Peking duck also seem to be doing well.


Malubianbian hot pot restaurant in Rowland Heights, which regularly fielded two-hour waits until the novel coronavirus news. The restaurant now accepts walk-ins without any wait time. Wonho Frank Lee

Source: https://la.eater.com/2020/3/11/21175...Z0BuWyz5DExlsY

[sopas ej]

Has anyone else noticed what seems to be a drop in heavy traffic? I have, at least in my area. Could it be the result of this coronavirus paranoia?

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by JManc

Four of my father's friends were on that cruise ship off Japan. Of course most of us won't know anyone directly impacted; it's 1200-1300 people out of 320 million. In total, about 130,000 have been infected globally.

Just my point. In this country or China, we only really know what we are told because we have no way to have first hand knowledge. We may see secondary effects—empty TP shelves, less traffic, somebody taking temps as we go in to work—but those things also depend on what we are all told and if we are lied to everything can seem different.

[homebucket]

Originally Posted by sopas ej

Has anyone else noticed what seems to be a drop in heavy traffic? I have, at least in my area. Could it be the result of this coronavirus paranoia?

Definitely. SF is a ghost town. All the techies are WFH, tourism is way down, people aren't eating out, sporting events suspended/canceled, public events like parades/marathons canceled, etc.

Side note: I wouldn't describe it as paranoia. Shutting down these large events is smart. Hoarding TP and hand sanitizer however would be paranoia. When you clear out the store of hand sanitizer, preventing everyone else from getting it, it just means other people will be more likely to get it, which means you'll be more likely to get it no matter how much hand sanitizer you bathe in.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

Just my point. In this country or China, we only really know what we are told because we have no way to have first hand knowledge. We may see secondary effects—empty TP shelves, less traffic, somebody taking temps as we go in to work—but those things also depend on what we are all told and if we are lied to everything can seem diffetent.

It's the fear of not being in control and one thing we can control is running out and buying stuff for the apocalypse. In three months, these idiots who hoarded toilet paper by the bulk will be giving it away because it's taking up half a closet.

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by homebucket

Definitely. SF is a ghost town. All the techies are WFH, tourism is way down, people aren't eating out, sporting events suspended/canceled, public events like parades/marathons canceled, etc.

Side note: I wouldn't describe it as paranoia. Shutting down these large events is smart. Hoarding TP and hand sanitizer however would be paranoia. When you clear out the store of hand sanitizer, preventing everyone else from getting it, it just means other people will be more likely to get it, which means you'll be more likely to get it no matter how much hand sanitizer you bathe in.

It's a respiratory illness, no? You can lube up with the hand sanitizer, but ultimately you're gonna breathe that virus in, right? That shit don't make no sense!

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by JManc

The 'social distancing' mode sounds like the only way to keep this thing at bay; look at China. Merely telling the 70's and above or those with illness to stay home while the rest of us goes on with life probably isn't going to cut it .

And it's too late, the world economy is already fucked.

Yeah, social distancing is about controlling the outbreak so it doesn't overwhelm the health care system. Breaking the system will be bad for everyone, whether you catch the virus or not.

[hauntedheadnc]

14 cases in North Carolina, mostly in the state's biggest cities. The two newest cases are in Charlotte.

Here, the closest case is about an hour away in Spartanburg, SC.