Coronavirus in Massachusetts (applying, how much, home)

[robr2]

Originally Posted by lrfox

Yes and no. Yes, it's an extremely nice way to commute with great views and a bar. But that doesn't mean it's not also a viable means of transportation. A coworker from Rockland used it regularly pre-covid. It was the fastest and most economical way for her to get to work. For the people of Hull, it's infinitely faster. I've taken that a few times to visit friends. Beats driving even when traffic is light. The cost isn't too far off of a round trip commuter rail ticket and in my view, anything that entices fewer people to drive to downtown isn't a bad thing. I'm not sure how Lynn or Salem's ferries did, but the centers of those cities have fast commuter rail connections to downtown Boston so I wouldn't be surprised if there was less ridership. For the South Shore, they do make sense.

Why does Hingham have both commuter rail and the ferry? Eliminate or reduce the latter add a stop in Hull on the reduced service.

I wonder if a ferry from Newburyport to Charlestown with a stop in Marblehead would be effective?

[porterhouse]

Originally Posted by BostonMike7

I was just starting to enjoy having the house to myself while I WFH.

Oh man, I had the house to myself for the first time in 6 months the other day. It was heaven.

[Shrewsburried]

Originally Posted by htfdcolt

This all actually makes sense. So, you're saying that shutting down flights to/from China on Jan 29 and to/from Europe on Mar 11 doesn't deserve accolades, congratulations, and a big parade?

It does when it’s an intentional and sincere act of public safety ... and not embellished with ramblings of the “China Virus”.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by Serious Conversation

Exactly.

Locking down Massachusetts in the spring was likely appropriate given the level of community transmission in the area at the time.

I live in a county in extreme northeast TN. I just casually looked at a graph, and I don’t think my county of ~160k had more than ten cases on any one day until after July 4. On July 1, there were only two deaths in the county that I could tell.

Locking us down in early April was pointless simply because there was very little in the way of community transmission at the time.

My county and the next largest county in the area hit a combined 38% positivity rate one day this week. Overall, the 21 county hospital service area is now above 12% positivity, and this includes some lightly populated counties in VA that are doing fairly well. The hospital system is about 90% designated COVID capacity and is cutting back on some elective procedures.

This area should lock down now. It was meaningless in the spring. The “shot was shot” on the previous lockdown. There is certainly no political will to lock down at the state level in TN, and people are just fatigued with it all at this point.

The gates to many areas in the Cherokee and Jefferson National Forests were closed well into June with practically no cases, but jamming in with hundreds of people at Lowe’s was deemed essential. People are going to ignore schizophrenic policy like that.

That misses the whole point of a lockdown. That is by the time (by your measures) you say a lockdown is warranted locally, it's already too late. The point is to prevent it from gaining a foothold in the first place, otherwise you are essentially closing the barn door after the cows already escaped. I could see let's say locking down just NYC after the first 15 cases appeared, but with the delayed reaction we have seen by the time the "hotspot" was realized it already would have spread to 6 or 7 states by then. If we had done a "hard" 2 month nationwide lockdown back in February (along with shutting off international travel sooner), it would likely never even made it to your area of NE TN. Just like those Asian countries (and some of Europe) that had it together, we might have actually had a somewhat normal summer.

[charolastra00]

Originally Posted by htfdcolt

This all actually makes sense. So, you're saying that shutting down flights to/from China on Jan 29 and to/from Europe on Mar 11 doesn't deserve accolades, congratulations, and a big parade?

We shut down flights to China on Jan 29? That's news. Saying it repeatedly does not make it true: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/04/u...trictions.html


For months after the "shut down," people traveled to and from China with 0 kind of screening or followup, besides maybe a temperature check and toothless instructions to stay home.

Hell, my boss came home from an international vacation on March 18 into a packed airport with absolutely no screening or instructions beyond to quarantine for 14 days, but it's not like anyone checked. No contact tracing system was in place yet. She had family to drop off groceries, but if you didn't? Then fat chance you were quarantining. I know I couldn't get a grocery delivery during that time. In most of the country, you still, right now, can't get asymptomatic testing. My parents can't right now in Georgia. In OCTOBER.

A hard shut down should have been put in place until more robust contact tracing, follow up, and support could be offered to people quarantining. That latter part is still spotty across the country.

As others have said, the time to shut down is when there are few cases. New Zealand stayed shut down for weeks after there was no community spread. Western Australia did the same, even blocking people from within Australia from traveling in except for people with specific need, i.e. truckers, doctors. Friends in both countries are posting photos from football games, bars, and concerts. No need for a mask. It was painful temporarily, but they are *actually* able to get back to a relatively normal life.

Of course, that would be harder in the US because we're a huge country and we have leadership who have undermined the severity of it from the beginning.

And now we have situations like what's happening in Salem, Mass where people are flying and busing in from all over the country despite most of Salem's Halloween festivities shut down and the local government asking tourists to stay away. The streets are packed with people, many of whom believe that because THEIR state doesn't require masks it means they don't have to wear them here. It's a mess.

[htfdcolt]

Originally Posted by charolastra00

We shut down flights to China on Jan 29? That's news. Saying it repeatedly does not make it true: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/04/u...trictions.html

I guess my "tongue-in-cheek" didn't show through my remarks. I was agreeing that action should have been taken earlier (Jan 14) and decisively (complete isolation of the US), rather than the porous China restrictions, followed by a whole month of inaction (February), then a very belated shutdown of European travel.

[Urban Peasant]

Originally Posted by robr2

Why does Hingham have both commuter rail and the ferry? Eliminate or reduce the latter add a stop in Hull on the reduced service.

I wonder if a ferry from Newburyport to Charlestown with a stop in Marblehead would be effective?

The Greenbush Line was being planned while I was in college and I remember writing a paper for one of my classes speaking out against it. Some politician wanted it I suppose and that's how it came into existence. There were folks in Hingham that were against it too and to this day it is one of the least ridden lines on our system, even pre-pandemic.

[redplum33]

Originally Posted by msRB311

It's ridiculous to say we'd be in a much better situation if we had shut down in February. WHY?? Our numbers were very low all summer and here we are now again, they are high. Shutting things down can't go on forever.

Also it's complete BS that it's only the SCHOOLS that get shut down, but nothing else. Restaurants arent shutting down, basically anywhere that kids parents work (unless they're a teacher) is NOT being shut down. Sports are still happening. Why is the answer to shut down education? Remote learning is a joke for the younger kids.

Coronavirus is not going away. Shutting down schools is not the answer. I feel for anyone who has kids at BPS. My kids go twice a week and it's a struggle.

I feel angry at this point that BPS is the ONLY thing the city of Boston has decided to shut down.

msRB311, there is community spread in nearly every part of every state in the country right now. Do you know why? Look at the timing of it. It's no coincidence. The problem is the schools (and colleges).

All schools (and colleges) must be shut down. I'm sorry if that inconveniences you but there is no other option.

[porterhouse]

Originally Posted by redplum33

I'm sorry if that inconveniences you but there is no other option.

How much time do you spend on social media? You certainly do seem to have some echo chamber/algorithm driven ideas about things. I mean just look at the statement above, “there is no other opinion”. Really??

[mdovell]

It's almost November folks. Some thought this would be weeks, others months and now...

I'm pretty confident we'll get a vaccine to pretty much everyone in the county by the end of september next year. I say the end because I'm sure there's some remote Alaskan island or place in a native american tribe or Amish that will be harder to find. Thankfully this is also a census year.

Having said this other countries are not going to do as well with this. Like I said earlier we have to bring the vaccine to them. Having testing at airports is one thing but having vaccination would be too much. We can't bring in hundreds of millions of people in to the USA and then send them back.

Any place dependent on large groups of people that either refuse to do things in smaller groups or cannot seem to use the internet are going to eventually fail. I know people in the entertainment industry. There's a bit of a comedy scene in western mass. I know of a guy that just moved to Atlanta and actually is doing well. But if you don't use the internet it isn't going to work. Heck comedy movies hardly exist anymore (superhero doesn't count). Maybe you sell a podcast, a stream a small show etc.

The biggest drop I've seen has been convivence stores and tobacco stores. People might not go out and if they do it isn't going to be in a small place to que up for milk and bread. I still go grocery shopping but it has to be at larger areas. I don't think any business that sells a physical product in an area of 1,000 sq feet or less will survive...unless they have a active social media or online operation. Of course this also means there's chances to turn these around. So as commercial rents drop the minimum grows to accommodate social distancing. Maybe it means subleasing but it depends on the contract.