How Is Covid-19 Impacting Life in Your City?

[Camelback]

Originally Posted by Kngkyle

Because it's still April 2020 in Ontario.

I saw Trudeau traveled overseas, didn't wear a mask and wasn't social distancing at the G7.

He's got cool hair though!


latintimes


vancouversun

The messaging is confusing!

[twister244]

Just took a bike ride from Old Park back to the West Loop.... The city is sooo alive..... Summer in Chicago is amazing!

[hughfb3]

I love the city life in Los Angeles since the 2020 forced people outside. We had a weird ordinance in Los Angeles county that kept restaurants from having outdoor seating if they couldn’t provide an enclosed barrier or partitioned patio.

That ordinance was temporarily thrown out and restaurants have taken over the streets and sidewalks. Santa Monica and Culver City’s main st are both examples of this drastic shift. Contrary to the outside perception of the city, Los Angeles’ restaurants and bars are quite indoor dominant where activity and ambiance is made for the inside. There were always restaurants with outdoor seating but it was always an afterthought to the indoor experience and it was always in a partitioned area usually in the back or something… not street facing.

Now restaurants have outfitted their new sidewalk/street table experience with outdoor music and beautiful lighting for all to see and enjoy while strolling. It has created the most lively atmosphere I’ve EVER seen here and the implications are enormous for reinventing city life and shifting the conversation around public spaces and roadway multi use applications. I think it was the best thing to happen for local restaurants in the long term and for many new restaurants to flourish by using less leased interior spaces for seating.

Also, 2020 had redundant Starbucks’ to close down. So happy about that. They had a Starbucks on every corner here. It was annoyingly hogging up all the corner real estate and blocking local restaurants and coffee shops. Why did we need a Starbucks at Hollywood/Vine and another one at Sunset/Vine 2 blocks away, then more at Santa Monica/Vine and Melrose/Vine? Much too much. I was elated when Sunset/Vine closed.

[the urban politician]

Went to Chicago yesterday. Downtown and Navy Pier were absolutely bustling, crowded. Pretty much felt like prepandemic times.

We would have stayed till evening but out 9 year old wasn’t feeling well so we had to head home early.

[twister244]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

Went to Chicago yesterday. Downtown and Navy Pier were absolutely bustling, crowded. Pretty much felt like prepandemic times.

We would have stayed till evening but out 9 year old wasn’t feeling well so we had to head home early.

I was in Boystown last night and there were girls twerking on top of cars with lines out of every. single. bar......

This pandemic is officially over lol.

[TWAK]

Originally Posted by Camelback

I saw Trudeau traveled overseas, didn't wear a mask and wasn't social distancing at the G7.

He's got cool hair though!


latintimes


vancouversun

The messaging is confusing!

It would be anti-science for him to wear a mask outside, since he's vaccinated, right? We don't want him to virtue signal our President, and he's just following the science like Newsom did at the French Laundry.

[Pedestrian]

Moved

[the urban politician]

^ A US President has to dress boldly, has to convey power. Dark suits always do that best.

Bold tie colors (deep red, solid blue, etc) also achieve that effect.

Trudeau dresses like a weakling, which fits because Canada is kinda a weak afterthought

(....just poking fun...)

[Pedestrian]

^^I copied your post too to the Biden thread.

[Pedestrian]

Masks on, masks off
Bronte Wittpenn, Jessica Christian
CHRONICLE STAFF REPORT
June 19, 2021
Updated: June 19, 2021 3:01 p.m.

In the past few days, people all over the Bay Area — at least those vaccinated against COVID-19 — faced an ostensibly simple choice as they approached the sliding doors of grocery stores: Do they finally shed their masks, as allowed under last Tuesday’s statewide reopening? Or do they keep their mouths and noses covered, still smiling with their eyes?

Turns out, it was a real pickle: a personal health decision involving not only statistics and beliefs but also infinite emotional variables — trauma and comfort, guilt and confusion, familial relationships, self-image, and solidarity with still-masked workers.

To get a snapshot of the Bay Area as it emerges from the worst of the pandemic, we sent reporters and photographers to five grocery stores around the region on Thursday, two days into the reopening. For an hour, the journalists counted customers they deemed to be adults as they exited, tabulating people as masked or unmasked. (Partially masked folks were given credit for intent and counted as masked.) Reporters then interviewed people about their choices.

The consensus: Most people aren’t ready to move on from masks. And their reluctance means there’s no easy way to discern what message individuals are sending by being covered or uncovered. Is that masked person unvaccinated and following the rules? Or is she just being extra safe? Is that unmasked person vaccinated? Or does he not believe in masks or the virus at all?

Even public health experts have mixed views about ditching masks, despite what one Bay Area infectious disease doctor described as a “force field” of protection created by vaccines. Masks are still required in places like public transit, medical clinics and schools and for any unvaccinated people in indoor public settings and businesses.

We picked grocery stores because they’ve been a nexus for masking decisions, with food shopping representing a nearly unavoidable convergence with strangers in an indoor space with sometimes crowded aisles and — often — a face-to-face interaction with a cashier. What we found is a reminder that June 15 was not a light-switch moment but another halting step through a disaster that has changed us in ways we don’t yet fully understand.

What we learned . . . .

LIKE DOFFING ONE’S CAP: For many people, wearing a mask has become a way to show respect, a bit of chivalry in the aisles. That goes double for interacting with shelf stockers and clerks who remain masked.

PIERCING THE PANDEMIC: The unmasked were eager to let their skin breathe, show off a new nose ring, smile, flirt, be seen and demonstrate they trust the science of vaccines.

THE KIDS AREN’T ALL RIGHT: About 48% of Californians are fully vaccinated, but one group remains totally unprotected: children under 12. Some vaccinated shoppers said that the chance they could spread the virus to a child, even if slim, was enough reason to continue wearing a mask in public.

PERMANENT SHIFT? Masks have been commonplace throughout parts of Asia for decades to prevent contracting or spreading illness. Some shoppers asked: Why not embrace this simple health practice for the long term?

POLITICS AS USUAL: For many, going masked or maskless has nothing to do with their politics — but they still worry about the perception it does.

The results:

Rainbow Grocery (an independent grocery co-op in SF's generally liberal Mission District): masked 63, unmasked 3

Rocky's Market (a popular independent store in Oakland): masked 26, unmasked 1

Safeway, Antioch (chain supermarket in one of SF's more conservative exurbs): masked 58, unmasked 13

Trader Joe's, San Rafael (trendy upscale chain of smaller markets selling a lot of "organic" and foody-favorite products in one of SF's more affluent suburbs): masked 119, unmasked 17

Draeger's Market, San Mateo (local chain focused on more affluent suburban locations): masked 65, unmasked 9

https://www.sfchronicle.com/coronavi...n-16258386.php

[dave8721]

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

https://www.sfchronicle.com/coronavi...n-16258386.php

Basically fashion. People will still wear masks because...most people are still wearing masks. People will dress as those around them dress. Generally speaking most people do not want to "stand out" and be judged/looked at. If most others were not wearing masks, those same vaccinated people would probably gladly shed the masks. Thats why it will be a gradual process. I have noticed that here while grocery shopping. It has gone from 0% unmasked to maybe 1-3% the next week to maybe 5% the next week to almost 10% this week. Once it becomes more socially acceptable the masks will start to come off more quickly.

[JManc]

Maybe about 5% of people around here are still wearing masks. Even a lot of store/ restaurant employees have since stopped wearing them. Couldn't imagine having to wear one out of peer pressure as is the case in SF it appears.

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by JManc

Maybe about 5% of people around here are still wearing masks. Even a lot of store/ restaurant employees have since stopped wearing them. Couldn't imagine having to wear one out of peer pressure as is the case in SF it appears.

I will likely continue to wear one indoors in stores as long as it doesn’t get me too many wierd stares and in some places like transit in winter (flu season) forever. Covid isn’t the only disease transmitted by respiratory droplets and I don’t want flu or colds or whatever either, and I just am not that bothered by wearing a mask for a few minutes.

Also, this city is majority minority. We have a large historic Asian community and as long as I’ve lived here I’ve seen mostly Japanese women wearing masks in public (but also some men). It’s just part of the city’s cultural diversity that I think has now shown its value (having obliterated flu last winter).

[hauntedheadnc]

I had hoped that if anything good came out of covid, it would have been the American normalizing of mask-wearing during cold and flu season, the way people have done for decades in Asia.

However, I wonder if all this incessant bitching about other people wearing their masks on their faces somehow causing you some grievous psychic injury will torpedo that. Or, if our resident forumers inclined to wring their hands about what other people are wearing might get so inflamed that they snatch a mask off the face of someone wearing one on public transit this December -- if so, I hope they get a wet, chunky sneeze, heavy-laden with the germs of one hell of a nasty cold, direct to their own personal face as payment in kind.

I mean seriously... Jesus H. You people sound like teen girls in a cafeteria: "Did you see what she was wearing? Like OMG! She was wearing it! She wore it -- right out in public!"

[10023]

Originally Posted by hauntedheadnc

I had hoped that if anything good came out of covid, it would have been the American normalizing of mask-wearing during cold and flu season, the way people have done for decades in Asia.

However, I wonder if all this incessant bitching about other people wearing their masks on their faces somehow causing you some grievous psychic injury will torpedo that. Or, if our resident forumers inclined to wring their hands about what other people are wearing might get so inflamed that they snatch a mask off the face of someone wearing one on public transit this December -- if so, I hope they get a wet, chunky sneeze, heavy-laden with the germs of one hell of a nasty cold, direct to their own personal face as payment in kind.

I mean seriously... Jesus H. You people sound like teen girls in a cafeteria: "Did you see what she was wearing? Like OMG! She was wearing it! She wore it -- right out in public!"

Mask-wearing has always been something that people do in Asia when they feel that they themselves might be sick. It’s not a prophylactic measure that people just do throughout flu season, or an attempt to keep oneself from getting sick (at least it isn’t effective at doing so). Americans are more likely to just take a sick day, whereas the Japanese especially feel compelled to go to work anyway.

I hate wearing masks. I hate what they do to interpersonal interactions. East Asian societies are generally cold, distant and impersonal anyway, so I guess it works for them. It is not compatible with American friendliness and desire to engage with strangers.

It will be interesting to see what happens in Europe. The Brits are a pretty cloistered people anyway, so maybe some of them (particularly the wrinkly old ladies) will keep wearing masks. There’s no way the Spanish or Italians will, god bless them.

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by JManc

Maybe about 5% of people around here are still wearing masks. Even a lot of store/ restaurant employees have since stopped wearing them. Couldn't imagine having to wear one out of peer pressure as is the case in SF it appears.

Increasingly, people in places like SF aren’t very open minded people. It’s all about mindless group think

I’m glad I don’t subscribe to that. Rationality and science matters more to me

[Crawford]

What is the "rationality and science" that suggests wearing masks, even indefinitely, is harmful to human health?

Also, what is the "mindless group think" of some people masked and others unmasked?

[mrnyc]

yeah science, as in the more people who get vaxxed the less we talk about masks. not too difficult.

[hauntedheadnc]

Originally Posted by Crawford

What is the "rationality and science" that suggests wearing masks, even indefinitely, is harmful to human health?

Also, what is the "mindless group think" of some people masked and others unmasked?

Well, you have to remember that peer pressure which induces people to wear masks is bad. Peer pressure which induces people not to wear masks is good.

[JManc]

Peer pressure with masking in general is bad. Either wear one or don't but don't because of group think. Those who opt to wear one should do so out of concern for their own health and well-being (e.g. like Pedestrian) not for appearances. Likewise for not wearing one. I'm vaccinated and I hated wearing them so I stopped....even at the expense of being mistaken for a Trumptard.