@shoptastic wrote:

....Wear masks, wear masks!

@shoptastic wrote:

Has anyone eaten IN at a restaurant since the phased reopenings across the U.S.?

Really wondering how restaurants are supposed to survive at all? FL, for example, is at 50% capacity.

I've seen analysis that even getting 75% of business back would make restaurants go bust, as they operate on razor thin margins (10% or less). 30% is food costs (which have risen), 30% is labor (which probably has lowered, given high unemployment and offsets the food prices), and 30% if rent/utilities/operating costs. That leaves 10% for profit.

@shoptastic wrote:

Aren't PPP loans for eight weeks only? What happens after that?

At 75% business, most restaurants will go under, no?

@Tarantado wrote:

@shoptastic wrote:

Aren't PPP loans for eight weeks only? What happens after that?

At 75% business, most restaurants will go under, no?

It's been expanded to 24 weeks in recent clarifications for criteria for loan forgiveness: [www.forbes.com]

I can make that assumption, but to say in general that businesses are hit HARD from this? Of course.

@ wrote:

J.P. Morgan analyzed data from 30 million Chase cardholders and Johns Hopkins University’s case tracker and found that lagged restaurant spending predicted a rise in new Covid-19 cases in that state.
In-person restaurant spending was “particularly predictive.” Conversely, higher spending at supermarkets predicted a slower spread of the virus.

@shoptastic wrote:

***eta: Oh, and speaking of secret shopper hidden recorders, that case was captured, because an officer had a hidden recording device! Caught his sargeant/captain (don't know technical term) saying this on audio!

@ wrote:

Winston-Salem, North Carolina — Three members of the Wilmington, North Carolina Police Department have been fired after being caught on video making racist and threatening comments. One said a civil war necessary to wipe black people off the map and he was ready.

@ wrote:

'Maricopa County is recording as many as 2,000 cases a day, “eclipsing the New York City boroughs even on their worst days,” warned disease trackers at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, which observed, “Arizona has lost control of the epidemic.”'

@ wrote:

'The country’s second surge has arrived—and it is hammering states, such as Texas and Arizona, that escaped the first surge mostly unscathed. In terms of new confirmed cases, three of the 10 worst days of the U.S. pandemic so far have come since Friday.'

@Shop-et-al wrote:

Remember the people who thought they should get the disease, recover from it, and build herd immunity before a vaccine is available?

So how many of those people are recovering? And how many are dying?

@ wrote:

"And what I said when I was with you that night, there are more important things than living. And that's saving this country for my children and my grandchildren and saving this country for all of us," Patrick said Monday night.

He went on to say that he didn't want to die but that "we've got to take some risks and get back in the game and get this country back up and running."

The Texas Democratic Party said in a statement Tuesday that Patrick and Gov. Greg Abbott would put Texans at risk to enrich business interests.

"They would see our family members die to bail out Wall Street," the statement said. "The lives of our families, our friends, and our communities have no dollar amount. Texas Republicans can no longer claim to be the pro-life party anymore."

@ wrote:

In one of the most drastic rollbacks of reopenings yet, Arizona is closing bars, gyms, movie theaters and other businesses for 30 days amid a "brutal" increase in Covid-19 cases, Gov. Doug Ducey said Monday.

Water parks and tubing also must also close, Ducey said at a news conference, and events with more than 50 people are prohibited. The pullback comes as the state has seen a surge in Covid-19 cases recently. There are now almost 75,000 reported infections, up from 46,689 cases 10 days ago.

"Our expectation is that next week, our numbers will be worse," Ducey said. "It will take several weeks for the mitigations we are putting in place to take effect."

The largest increase is from those between the ages of 20 and 44 who now make up 22% of hospitalizations in Arizona, Ducey said.

@ wrote:

Resendiz is not alone in facing harassment and assault while working in restaurants during the pandemic. The new responsibility to enforce mandates to wear masks can put employees and other customers in danger.

A man was shot in the parking lot of a Chili's in Forest City, North Carolina, last week following an argument over Governor Roy Cooper's mask requirement, police told WBTV. In May, a Waffle House customer shot an employee at a location in Aurora, Colorado, after being turned away by a cook for not wearing a mask, according to an NBC report.