Coronavirus in Massachusetts (Boston: appointed, spring break, school districts)

[redplum33]

Originally Posted by yesmaybe

For some reason I thought the curfew meant all stores had to close by 9:30 but apparently not. I went to Walmart last night closer to 10:30 and it was open. Even the McDonalds I went by had cars in line at the drive thru.

Originally Posted by GeoffD

Curfew == "last call" for alcohol, pretty much.

Incorrect, Geoff.

The new restrictions don't start until tomorrow (Sunday).

[yesmaybe]

Up to 1670 in hospitalized now. Comparable to Early June.

[western mass and love it]

Originally Posted by massnative71

Can you explain to me why we should place a higher value on your own credibility (on this anonymous forum), than the people you are accusing of lying?

You don’t have to at all. You don’t have to believe anything I say. Just like I find 90% of the crap people spew on here ridiculous and grandstanding.

[htfdcolt]

Looking more and more likely that a lockdown is coming...according to this article, by Jan 1 (cynical observation--right after the Christmas shopping season). An interesting statistic is cited--Positivity rate among people getting tested for the first time, is up from 10% --> 20% over the past 2 weeks.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/12/...down-by-jan-1/

[porterhouse]

I really don’t understand the January 1st lockdown rumors. I’ve heard it a bunch the past few days, from the same unreliable channels that have been wrong every step of the way. Now it’s in the Globe? Did they just pick up the rumor mill, or was this seeded from somewhere?

If there is any validity to this, it really does fuel the fire that the lockdowns have more to do with PR than anything. If a strict lockdown is needed, and we know this now, why wait nearly 3 weeks to implement? It makes no sense.

[htfdcolt]

Originally Posted by porterhouse

I really don’t understand the January 1st lockdown rumors. I’ve heard it a bunch the past few days, from the same unreliable channels that have been wrong every step of the way. Now it’s in the Globe? Did they just pick up the rumor mill, or was this seeded from somewhere?

If there is any validity to this, it really does fuel the fire that the lockdowns have more to do with PR than anything. If a strict lockdown is needed, and we know this now, why wait nearly 3 weeks to implement? It makes no sense.

I'm a Globe subscriber, but in case you're not, here's one of the sources cited in the article:

More drastic restrictions, if not a shutdown, are coming, or should be, by the end of December, according to hospital leaders and epidemiologists.

“I would be very shocked if there are not more significant rollbacks or closures of the state by Jan. 1,” said Eric Dickson, chief executive of UMass Memorial Health Care in Worcester.

[yesmaybe]

Originally Posted by porterhouse

I really don’t understand the January 1st lockdown rumors. I’ve heard it a bunch the past few days, from the same unreliable channels that have been wrong every step of the way. Now it’s in the Globe? Did they just pick up the rumor mill, or was this seeded from somewhere?

If there is any validity to this, it really does fuel the fire that the lockdowns have more to do with PR than anything. If a strict lockdown is needed, and we know this now, why wait nearly 3 weeks to implement? It makes no sense.

Could be tied to some metric that they are confident they will hit.

[LLCNYC]

Originally Posted by redplum33

Incorrect, Geoff.

The new restrictions don't start until tomorrow (Sunday).

So we're Covid free tonight? Until tomorrow....at 10pm?

These curfews are insanity.

[rach5]

Originally Posted by porterhouse

I really don’t understand the January 1st lockdown rumors. I’ve heard it a bunch the past few days, from the same unreliable channels that have been wrong every step of the way. Now it’s in the Globe? Did they just pick up the rumor mill, or was this seeded from somewhere?

If there is any validity to this, it really does fuel the fire that the lockdowns have more to do with PR than anything. If a strict lockdown is needed, and we know this now, why wait nearly 3 weeks to implement? It makes no sense.

They consider the crucial pre-holiday shopping/economic considerations more important than the health impact. After the New Year, the balance may shift. It's the economy. Obviously - the best of all worlds would have been to lockdown in November in time for a partial reopen in December; also to be better positioned for the inevitable spread from holiday gatherings.

[Urban Peasant]

Originally Posted by rach5

They consider the crucial pre-holiday shopping/economic considerations more important than the health impact. After the New Year, the balance may shift. It's the economy. Obviously - the best of all worlds would have been to lockdown in November in time for a partial reopen in December; also to be better positioned for the inevitable spread from holiday gatherings.

Small businesses unfortunately are left to dry if a major shutdown happened in November. The US was caught so unprepared that our federal, state, and local government levels could not give adequate aid and with major disagreement at the federal level and throughout the country, we will not be receiving adequate aid anytime soon. That is why our businesses are forced to operate just to survive or else they go bust and we'd have yet another wave of angry, unemployed citizens. That is also why the pandemic is acting like a seesaw with regions swapping places in terms of high numbers of cases. In the spring it was the Northeast and California, in the summer it was the South, in the fall it was the Midwest, now it's back to us and California. There has been no nationwide agreement on how to mitigate this virus and no nationwide plan on how to support local businesses in danger of collapse. I agree that the smartest thing to do is act fast with a shutdown but on the other hand how else can we assist our local businesses. My local barbershop used to be thriving before the pandemic but now there's hardly any customer. Most times I'm the only one in there and I can tell from the miserable look on my barber's face that times are really tough right now. We as a nation and society spent too much time not planning the economy properly, instead we continued to milk it as if the good times could last forever, and we reaped what we sowed.