Coronavirus in Massachusetts (Boston, Florida: attorneys, top 10, tools)

[Bridge781]

Painters is one thing. A close family member to help with kids so someone doesn’t lose their job is another story. But keep judging.

[BostonMike7]

Originally Posted by porterhouse

We are pretty much in the same situation. It's exhausting but we're getting by and learning a lot about each other. I've become more efficient, that's for sure.

It's disappointing to hear people justifying to themselves letting outside help into their homes for extended close contact with their families before it is safe to do so. It's a slippery slope with cutting corners; like my neighbors who had interior painters in their house for several days (no you're actually not an essential business despite the grey areas in the definitions, and the magnet you had made up for your van). As more corners are cut, I fear it will cost more lives drag this out longer for all of us.

I've said it a few times in this thread, but i'll say it again.

On March 21st or whatever the day after non-essential businesses were forced to close, I got out on the highway at 8AM the next day and it was empty. Not a single car on the road for a mile before me or a mile behind me. GPS showed 17min commute door to door, and was consistently this fast for about 2 weeks.

Yesterday, at 3PM I was driving home and found myself in thick traffic. people were still driving at 60-70MPH, but now all the lanes were full and you have to wait for room to change lanes. It was typical non-rush hour traffic requiring me to slow down in spots to maybe 40-50MPH. Commute was now 25 mins door to door due to increased traffic and has slowly been creeping up. My normal commute pre-Covid is 55 mins on the same route in full traffic.

So despite nothing changing locally in terms of restrictions, people are venturing out more and more. Either a mix of people getting out of the house to go places, or more and more contractors and workers deeming themselves essential (either justified, or gray area) and getting out to get work done.


Lets not lose sight of the fact that MA is the 3rd hardest hit state, with 3 counties in the top 25 in the nation in terms of cases.

[AtkinsonDan]

Originally Posted by BostonMike7

I've said it a few times in this thread, but i'll say it again.

On March 21st or whatever the day after non-essential businesses were forced to close, I got out on the highway at 8AM the next day and it was empty. Not a single car on the road for a mile before me or a mile behind me. GPS showed 17min commute door to door, and was consistently this fast for about 2 weeks.

Yesterday, at 3PM I was driving home and found myself in thick traffic. people were still driving at 60-70MPH, but now all the lanes were full and you have to wait for room to change lanes. It was typical non-rush hour traffic requiring me to slow down in spots to maybe 40-50MPH. Commute was now 25 mins door to door due to increased traffic and has slowly been creeping up. My normal commute pre-Covid is 55 mins on the same route in full traffic.

So despite nothing changing locally in terms of restrictions, people are venturing out more and more. Either a mix of people getting out of the house to go places, or more and more contractors and workers deeming themselves essential (either justified, or gray area) and getting out to get work done.


Lets not lose sight of the fact that MA is the 3rd hardest hit state, with 3 counties in the top 25 in the nation in terms of cases.

Since the closure of non-essential businesses I have seen more Massachusetts cars on the roads in the NH border towns than New Hampshire cars. As New Hampshire also closed non-essential businesses I do not understand what the Massachusetts people are coming here for. I witness this in the heavy retail locations of Plaistow and Salem every time when I go out for food and supplies or go to my work location.

[lrfox]

Originally Posted by porterhouse

We are pretty much in the same situation. It's exhausting but we're getting by and learning a lot about each other. I've become more efficient, that's for sure.

It's disappointing to hear people justifying to themselves letting outside help into their homes for extended close contact with their families before it is safe to do so. It's a slippery slope with cutting corners; like my neighbors who had interior painters in their house for several days (no you're actually not an essential business despite the grey areas in the definitions, and the magnet you had made up for your van). As more corners are cut, I fear it will cost more lives drag this out longer for all of us.

We're in the same boat. We're missing family and friends and we've spent WAY too much together than two people should, but we're pretty serious about isolating. Especially since we had a big scare early in the process. Nobody is coming into our house, and we've had a few people try and justify it. It's just not happening, we're going to ride this out alone.

That said, something is going to have to give in the next month or so. People can only hole up indoors alone for so long and I think, realistically, that we'll see major cracks by the end of May. That'll be about 11 weeks of this. We're already seeing protests in places. There are rumblings and growing frustration here in Massachusetts already. I am all about maintaining the stay at home/isolation practices until there's more certainty that real progress has been made, and in a perfect world, that would be doable. But I also have a job, no kids, and have had COVID hit close to home. Between the massive loss of employment, the potential long-term hits to the markets (especially if you're nearing retirement and watching your 401k take hit after hit), the cabin fever with kids, and the distance from family, I don't think we can reasonably expect that people will comply with these practices for all that much longer. Especially if reports keep trickling in that the virus is much more widespread than initially thought (meaning we have less control over the spread, and it's less lethal than currently believed).

Frankly, the problem with being isolated at home is that unless a family member has a severe case, the daily trickle of numbers is just that - numbers. It doesn't quite register unless it hits close to home. And if people are getting restless, I'd rather see steps taken to minimize the inevitable damage than false hope that people will indefinitely comply with measures and a futile attempt to extend them as-is. No matter where we are on the curve toward the end of May, we really need to be looking at ways to ensure that we can minimize the impact of bars, restaurants, beaches, parks, stores, offices, etc. opening back up again.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by AtkinsonDan

Since the closure of non-essential businesses I have seen more Massachusetts cars on the roads in the NH border towns than New Hampshire cars. As New Hampshire also closed non-essential businesses I do not understand what the Massachusetts people here are coming here for. I witness this in the heavy retail locations of Plaistow and Salem every time when I go out for food and supplies or go to my work location.

More time on their hands, perhaps? Or maybe they feel safer shopping in NH than closer to Boston? Either way it's pretty disturbing.

[mdovell]

I've heard some debates on this. Obviously you can still go outside, there's nothing wrong with that. But if we're talking going cross country and stopping everywhere that makes no sense. If it deals with health and safety I have no issues with someone hiring a contractor. You have a hole in your roof? You need to clean the septic tank? Trees came down ? I get that. You want to go to home depot to buy some balsa wood to make new doll house for a great niece? Nope...sorry. I know some retailers have cordoned off areas of other things to buy because the focus is on living. If a retailer is limited to 200 people they shouldn't have people staring at the TV screens for ten minutes. If you want to buy other things have online pickup. I remember when Best Buy was sold as an experience store. I'm sorry but you can't have people listening to music or staring at a dozen different tv's in the same store as groceries and supplies.

My girlfriend lives in CT and yesterday on rt 83 alone I saw two homes getting new foundations. The foundation problem is pretty significant and for contractors to be told to walk away with homes on stilts would be wrong. Some work still has to be allowed to be done.

[mdovell]

Originally Posted by justyouraveragetenant

No rights being violated here!!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cbkFO6OC3g

Nothing nazi or fascist here.

why dont they just give the guy a mask instead of forcefully removing him from bus?

the best part is one of the officers did not have a mask on. all you people who think people are crazy for worrying about rights being taken away i hope you get your fascist goverment when a cop comes to your house because you put the heat too high and then shoots your dog dead.

In all due respect. Riding any form of public transit is not a right. In terms of giving a mask that might encourage other people to show up and not have a mask. Bus drivers deal with quite a bit of crap even before this happened. Ridership is way down.

Now I know sometimes there can be poorer people that just ride a bus or train as something to do but that can't happen now.

PVTA Home Page

"PVTA Service Update 4-21-20:
PVTA is providing transportation for ESSENTIAL TRIPS ONLY.

PVTA highly recommends all passengers wear a medical or cloth mask to cover their mouth and nose as recommended by the CDC while on board the PVTA.

Riders must be travelling to an essential destination. All riders are required to exit the bus at the end of its route and may not re-board the same vehicle for a return trip. Multiple or consecutive round trips are not permitted and riders who appear to be loitering on the bus will be asked to deboard.

If you have a cough, cold or fever or you are not feeling well, please stay home. Do not use public transportation."

So unless you really need to go somewhere and are feeling fine don't go. Right now public transit is in shambles. Low ridership, employees out and don't even get me started on deferred maintenance.

The two last things I think will come back would be public schools and public transit.

[Bridge781]

VT is starting to relax things on Monday.

[Arya Stark]

Originally Posted by lrfox

Between the massive loss of employment, the potential long-term hits to the markets (especially if you're nearing retirement and watching your 401k take hit after hit), the cabin fever with kids, and the distance from family, I don't think we can reasonably expect that people will comply with these practices for all that much longer. Especially if reports keep trickling in that the virus is much more widespread than initially thought (meaning we have less control over the spread, and it's less lethal than currently believed).

In Massachusetts I am willing to wait until June. But in other states I can't see how it makes any sense to keep people in their homes where they hardly have any cases.

As long as reasonable precautions are taken and everyone is aware that if it starts spreading again, they may have to take action, they should reopen.

I think any state over a certain number of cases should stay locked down until June. Probably the 10 states at the top of the corona virus list.

[porterhouse]

Originally Posted by lrfox

That said, something is going to have to give in the next month or so. People can only hole up indoors alone for so long and I think, realistically, that we'll see major cracks by the end of May.

Agreed. I'd like to see more outdoor recreation areas opened and managed. So many have been closed that we are seeing more people crammed into less space currently. Use police and national guard to manage volume and reinforce distancing. There is some growing evidence that being outdoors may be OK (https://twitter.com/ScottGottliebMD/...402674178?s=20).

If people would do what is needed now, we might get some loosening of some restrictions by early June.