My extremely quiet street has been volunteered by the local council to be the street they are planning to close off so that neighbors from impacted areas can come to my street and walk without fear of being run over by cars. When I look out the window I see one or two people walking every 15 min to a half hour. When I walk I rarely encounter anyone but when we do pass we are cordial, smile and step briefly into the street empty of cars. But now I see in future that my street will be invaded by most of Los Angeles who have read about this plan in the LA Times, This approach is being done due to other cities doing the same but other cities have miles and miles of streets dedicated to the plan all over their cities. In my city, our neighborhood council volunteered us to be the only set of streets doing this. I have contacted the powers that be. So far the head of the Health Dept has told the mayor it is a bad idea but he and our councilman, neither of whom have volunteered their own streets or the beaches or parks as places to walk, are all for it. So we will see what happens as "How Coronavirus has affected me."

@sandyf wrote:

My extremely quiet street has been volunteered by the local council to be the street they are planning to close off so that neighbors from impacted areas can come to my street and walk without fear of being run over by cars. When I look out the window I see one or two people walking every 15 min to a half hour. When I walk I rarely encounter anyone but when we do pass we are cordial, smile and step briefly into the street empty of cars. But now I see in future that my street will be invaded by most of Los Angeles who have read about this plan in the LA Times, This approach is being done due to other cities doing the same but other cities have miles and miles of streets dedicated to the plan all over their cities. In my city, our neighborhood council volunteered us to be the only set of streets doing this. I have contacted the powers that be. So far the head of the Health Dept has told the mayor it is a bad idea but he and our councilman, neither of whom have volunteered their own streets or the beaches or parks as places to walk, are all for it. So we will see what happens as "How Coronavirus has affected me."

First, that sounds like an AWFUL idea. Who gives someone the right to designate SOMEONE ELSE's property essentially (if the street is where your house is) as a public walking area essentially for others? I'd be mad as heck!

My neighborhood, which is a good one and has lots of spacing is even too crowded for me and my parents to walk in. There are always people running and walking with kids and their dogs. Some more aggressive kids play contact sports. Rather than having to constantly evade people and yell at the kids who are breaking Gov. Northam's executive order, we go to our local elementary school to walk.

If they ordered my street to be a walking haven for other people not living here, I'd get crazy mad and also suggest they go to a park or school with open grounds. Even the community college here has a decent open area (although more people walking than the elementary school).

Also, social media can be a powerful tool to "fight back" if you feel your rights are being infringed upon from that order.

There are miles of beaches just a very short 5 minute drive from where I live that are closed. They should open that up if they want to give Angelenos a place to walk and then have monitors making sure the people there are not breaking the rules by congregating with or without masks. I am not sure social media would help as every other person in the city is probably glad they did not pick their street. My neighbor sees no issue. I on the other hand expect throngs either cavorting or walking nicely and carefully and driving over here, parking and dropping trash and possibly virus in our front yards. So far the health dept is not allowing it. We shall see.

@shoptastic wrote:

Also, social media can be a powerful tool to "fight back" if you feel your rights are being infringed upon from that order.

Unless this is a gated community, anyone can walk there anyway. What I do not understand is why one particular neighborhood was chosen for this [honor; privilege; horror; insurance nightmare; ?] What was their process?

We have these neighborhood councils in Los Angeles and my neighborhood always wants to be the first to help the cause...and there are lots of causes. I support lots of them. I suspect someone on the neighborhood council read about other cities doing this and then looked at the map of our neighborhood and decided that the block I live on and some cross streets were the best area to volunteer to be the first. I doubt anyone who lives on my street was there at the virtual meeting whenever it was. The difference is they are putting up barriers at the ends of the blocks that are closed to through traffic. They still have to allow local traffic to be able to get to their houses so to me it seems dangerous as on the 6 blocks or so that will be closed there are probably 350 houses and people who have to drive to get out of the barriers. I think they may run into someone or else have to drive at 5 mph to get to the end to get out.

@Shop-et-al wrote:

Unless this is a gated community, anyone can walk there anyway. What I do not understand is why one particular neighborhood was chosen for this [honor; privilege; horror; insurance nightmare; ?] What was their process?

@Shop-et-al wrote:

Unless this is a gated community, anyone can walk there anyway. What I do not understand is why one particular neighborhood was chosen for this [honor; privilege; horror; insurance nightmare; ?] What was their process?

True, but still limited and not advertised either. Here in Virginia, Northam's executive order thru June 10 (although, it's constantly changing, so maybe it's shortened or extended by now) says gatherings cannot be more than 10 people and IF you go out to exercise, you MUST social distance with 6 feet of space for non-family members.

People often walk in their OWN neighborhoods.

Even if some place had a huge outbreak of COVID-19 and people didn't feel safe walking there, why the heck would they designate MY STREET! Seriously. Really dumb! Go designate a park or school...or public grounds like beaches that sandyf spoke of. To designate some street is to advertise that to people as the place to go. Even if they could have gone anyways, now you have a specific street in people's minds.

sandyf, for the first time I feel temporarily grateful for the breakwater, poor water quality and no waves at our end of LA county. The beaches here are still closed but even when they open I expect few will choose to crowd our sand.

It is a sad reality that we look at 'strangers' being in our neighborhood as being thoughtless and littering. Can you put your trash and recycling cans at the curb with a pleasantly thoughtful sign inviting folks to dispose of trash and recycling properly?

If I were authorities, I would be looking for many defensible locations where people could safely walk that did not have stores or beaches or parks where folks are accustomed to clustering. Those who do not live in single family homes especially have a need for such space. I would look for a space that allowed adequate social distancing and a nearby place to park. I probably would block off such a neighborhood for a week and then move on to another neighborhood. A pair of officers would be adequate to remind folks of social distancing and keep it orderly.

Would I personally like it? Probably not. I am, for the first time in my life, living on a road over privately owned land that is not built and maintained by government. Every other place I have lived the taxpayers paid to build and maintain the road and sidewalks were either taxpayer paid or a 50/50 cost sharing with the homeowner. As a citizen, I have the right to use any of those publicly funded streets or sidewalks.

Edited to add: A couple of years ago a gated community here complained about the garbage trucks coming through THEIR streets at 7AM. This came after years of noise complaints about police, fire and ambulance meeting the needs of the community with sirens blaring and complaints about school buses "blocking the roads" as traffic had to stop while kids were loaded and unloaded.

County legal teams determined that indeed since the streets of the community were privately owned and their insurance did not extend to private property, henceforth there could/would be no more bus stops for school or public busses inside the community and no garbage pickup. Residents would need to avail themselves of garbage pickup, school bus and public bus from designated streets outside their gated community. Police, fire and ambulance would still have access with lights and sirens as needed because there were no insurance restrictions to operating on private property.

Having to drive to the public road each morning for the kids to catch the bus was "outrageous", as was getting their garbage to the pickup point and picking up the maid who arrived by public bus. They tried to give THEIR roads to the County, but the County would not accept them unless the gates came down and the County would have all rights to the roads--including widening as necessary, lengthening or adding roads as needed to most appropriately handle traffic, etc. After all, if taxpayers were paying for them, taxpayers needed to use them. That was completely unacceptable to the gated community.

Assessments have been added to have community arranged garbage pickup to get the garbage to the place where it legally can be picked up by the County. There were not enough homeowners with children or maids to pass some shuttle service arrangement to get transportation for these folks handled to legal pickup points.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/06/2020 09:01PM by Flash.

Absolutely not true. In fact, about 10 years ago, epidemiologists dug up bodies of soldiers who had died in 1918 and whose bodies had been frozen in the Alaska permafrost layers for 90 years, They extracted the 1918 "Spanish" flu virus. It was active and they were able to DNA sequence the virus.

@Fidobaxter wrote:

Freezing foods kills viruses

anybody know of assignments done by phone or at home Im new to mystery shopping I need homebased biz during this pandemic

Drbones, we are all looking for work. There just isn't a whole lot going on right now. Those of us who have found shops we can do at home don't have enough work as it is so...sorry. I prefer to not share the MSCs who are providing me with a few work opportunities. KEY WORD BEING FEW.

I will say that if you look at the link at the bottom of the page, it will take you to a page with a list of reputable companies. If you take the time to sign up with each MSC, you will probably find a few shops you can do at home. Stay well.

@Shop-et-al wrote:

This is not Michigan. Not even close! But the incident makes me want to write a formal letter to my state's tptb and respectfully demand that they shut down tourism and increase other restrictions until 2022 and be willing to extend the shutdowns longer than that, if necessary. Necessary could reference the MI incident and other developing situations.

The Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island has postponed their opening until 6/21, Fort Mackinac is not opening until at least mid June, and the Mackinac Island Scout Service Camp, operating since 1929 (60+ Girl Scouts and Boy Scout units, a different one each week, that serve the State of Michigan by raising and lowering 27 flags daily, serving duty at the fort, art museum, and Governor's summer home, and doing a service project - essentially the hosts for the state at the various historical sites and museums, President Gerald Ford was in the first group of Eagle Scouts to serve) has been cancelled for this year (my daughter is soooo disappointed, fortunately she has one more year of service). So, I think that Michigan tourism may take care of itself this year. I feel badly, however, for the businesses for whom this is the bulk of their income every year.

And yes, these incidents are not indicative of Michigan, not even close.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/07/2020 06:24AM by KarenMSW.

My bad. I was incorrect. I watched a news program and it was actually that freezing meats and fish kill any bacteria. I thought since bacteria died off if frozen, then the same was true for viruses. So sorry!

Realistically, freezing does not kill bacteria in meats or fish, it only slows it down. If it killed it, an easy way to avoid salmonella in poultry would simply be to freeze it. As a matter of fact, I store my yeast (a bacterium) for baking in my freezer as it take only a few extra minutes to let it thaw before activating it to bake.

Bacteria and viruses are single cell organisms with a cell membrane more susceptible to damage by dessication than by freezing. Thus the scientific concerns about what ancient bacterium and viruses may be unleashed into the atmosphere as the glaciers melt and the tundra thaws. It has been 10,000 years since the tundra formed, so even if our ancestors from 8,000 BC were immune, it is unlikely that immunity has been retained in the human genome.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/07/2020 06:34PM by Flash.

The most horrible part of the article below IMO:

"As plants process less beef and pork, it’s created a bottleneck for farmers and ranchers who have squeezed profits. Some are euthanizing healthy livestock to reduce herd sizes."

That's much worse than pouring out milk at the dairy farms.

[www.cnbc.com]

"Industry analyst Heather Jones said that some meat products will be easier to find than others. Steak, for example, will be in ample supply as fine-dining restaurant sales continue to plummet."

Makes me think of Marie Antoinette for some reason. When the people of France did not have bread, she allegedly said, "Let them eat cake." So if you can't find hamburger, I guess you will have to eat steak.

Just read Souplantation is permanently closing all of its locations. I enjoyed their mystery shops. There will be more.....

Souplantation/Sweet Tomatoes started out SO good and went steadily downhill as menus expanded to include meat. Illinois locations closed a few years ago.
Hotel buffet breakfasts, all you can eat salad bars, Golden Coral are all doomed.

I hate buffets anyway so that's fine by me. Not sure if I'll ever eat at a restaurant again.

@sandyf wrote:

@JASFLALMT wrote:

Not even for online?

My biggest one is Souplantation where I stand to lose almost $150. No they are not at all open and the company was in trouble and had closed many locations. They told me that location was not on the closure list but I doubt any location will open again. Fingers crossed.. I love eating there once open salad places are safe again even on my own dime but that is a long way off. They serve open buffet salad bar. There is little opportunity to do that as delivery. They could have switched to prepared salads to go but they have not. (aka Sweet Tomatoes in other parts of the country. ) My local Chart House has closed for good. The next closest one is a very long drive away and requires me to valet park and pay for that.
I am sure other shoppers have purchased holiday gift cards for shops they do and that were for places they would not want to pay the high prices for out of pocket.

Looks like you’re out the $. Souplantation announced today that they will not reopen.

I got my $1,200 this week.

I spent an hour wringing my hands and moaning about what went wrong..... why do some people have exactly one response pattern? They don't like something; therefore, BLAM! How does this happen?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!

Why, oh why, are some people shooting other people because they don't like the corona mask and closure rules??????????????????????

Anyway, I was encouraged to learn that an asymptomatic carrier who was hospitalized for emergency surgery (but not diagnosed until later) had contact with 28 other people, none of whom acquired the dratted disease. Contact was defined as being closer than six feet and longer than ten minutes at a time. The recommended precautions were taken. Huzzah!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/08/2020 10:45PM by Shop-et-al.

Since the outset of COVID-19 hoarding, I have bought my paper supplies at my local CVS, including paper towels, napkins, Kleenex, and TP. I bought a luxurious 9-roll set of Charmin TP last week for $16. The local grocery store (Food Lion) has not had paper towels or TP since March. I guess most people don't think about their local pharmacies as a source of household items.

I still don't have mine, but your reply gives me hope.

My dogs seem to be entranced by videos of other animals and animation of any kind. I put on Nickelodeon for them a couple days ago and wasn't paying attention to it playing in the background...or so I thought...until I discovered myself humming the SpongeBob Square Pants theme song today. Yes, we've been cooped up for too long.

As a side note, if anyone else wanted to be a trainer at Sea World when they were young, the show "The Aquarium" is wonderful. It features the massive Georgia Aquarium, and every episode highlights the care and environment for a different marine creature

Two of the larger Golden Corral locations in North Carolina announced today that they are closing permanently. No word yet on what will happen to the "next generation" Golden Corral in Morehead City, which opened a year ago with great fanfare over the new Family Table model. Since Morehead City has a significant dependency on tourism, it seems unlikely that the restaurant can survive a huge decrease in local patronage as well.

I do not frequent Golden Corral, but I am sad whenever I hear that a franchise has gone under. Many franchises are owned by holding companies, but a good number are true Mom-and-Pop businesses, where families invested everything they had, and all of the family members have "day jobs." Golden Corral had an outstanding reputation as a franchisor. Entrepreneur Magazine named Golden Corral #1 in the 2019 Annual Franchise 500. If their locations are closing, that does not bode well for the franchisees of less supportive companies.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/09/2020 01:47AM by BlueDev93.

I wrote this in another thread but since this thread is talking closures I heard today that both Shake Shack and Fresh Bros pizza are opening new locations in the LA area, one in Santa Monica and one in Pasadena. That is a real surprise to me when so many others are struggling to just stay afloat.

Temporary closures affect me more than permanent closures do. This small town does not have the named businesses. If we wanted something from those businesses, we had to travel to them or use any online services they had. This might be bad for large, spread out concerns but good for small, local stores. If our local businesses can continue, their invitations to 'shop local' might be more productive now that distant businesses are going away and will not be an option or alternative.

Texas Roadhouse reported being cash flow positive and hiring.

Their to-go business is up big time, while obv. dining in has been crushed.

Too bad I was too greedy and didn't buy their stock after falling to $25. I wanted to buy it at $19/20. Oh well.

a.) has anyone been to Walmart lately?

We heard from a family friend that it's PACKED here!

b.) has anyone noticed higher grocery prices in your areas?