COVID stupidity in MA

Ha, that's just like Work Out World in Medford. Except there's WAY less light.

 

and 30% more MRSA

 

Duh, it's BECAUSE of the rule that cases are dwindling. If not for patrons purchasing those snacks, half of us would be dead! [/s]

 

They've more or less remained steady in MA. Yesterday we had 12 deaths and 349 cases in our state.

Germany had 1455 cases and 9 deaths yesterday...among 80 million people. Talk to me when we get there.

But I agree, we've been doing well in MA, and this dumb rule should absolutely be reversed. They should focus more on safely opening schools rather than requiring me to order a home made pretzel with my beer while I'm sitting outside by myself.

 

If the whole country was shut down for 6-8 weeks back in April / May and a federal mask mandate was put in place then we'd have an extremely low case count & be able to trace new infections. None of these changes would be needed for restaurants, bars, or taprooms other than sanitizing more and masks. The recklessness of a few as put us where we are in MA, while we don't have horrible #'s right now we do have a constant flow of new cases and people are still dying. I completely agree with the whole "having to order food" crap, at the same time people are so worried about that but we can't even get the schools to open due to the new cases count being too high which brings me back to my initial point ... we had a chance in the spring and we screwed it up, we'll be paying for this into 2021.

 

I don't think they'll change anything until school starts and they see what happens there.

 

The state will not reverse course on this. Baker was clear that the reasoning for the new requirements was to prevent bars from masquerading as restaurants. Bars are not allowed to open until Phase 4. This is the way it is going to be for the near future.

 

Also a focus early on on developing/producing tests and having adequate contact tracing resources.

This was a MAJOR reason Germany squashed this in short order.

The other part is that they can mandate more aggressive shut downs and mask orders than we can in the US. How many people are actually getting fined for not wearing a mask?

Ultimately you're right. We will have this in some capacity into 2021 because it's permeated into society and also because we can't "force" people to follow rules like other countries. So our cases will ebb and flow until next spring when a vaccine is more readily available along with antivirals. Then we'll be ok.

If anything the case load will increase in the next few months, not get better. So they won't loosen restrictions, if anything they'll tighten them.

And they've made it clear Phase 4 will be after an effective treatment and/or vaccine.

 

Great job. Now, because of this law, we actually do have ‘bars masquerading as restaurants.’

Places like The Elks, Knights of Columbus, VFWs, have a bunch of non ServeSafe old guys (some of whom think this is a hoax) cooking and serving food.

 

Yeah but, like... my freedumbs. I blame conservatives who consume "fake news" extremely frequently while saying liberals are the ones who are sheep. I know there are plenty of these people in MA, because nearly my entire family consists of them.

Who could have possibly foreseen establishments finding easy loopholes in this situation?! It's almost like most companies will try to claw at any semblance of "being operational" rather than realize it's not a good idea to keep up the facade and, instead, take the loss for a bit for the greater good of society... because, well... at this point the greater good is the almighty dollar. It's more important than human lives. I'm tired of this stupid world.

 

What do you do for work? How have you been effected by COVID? I wouldn’t ask these questions normally, but your post made me very curious.

 

Not a beer bar per se, but possibly the more noteworthy (?) restaurant to close so far. Tip one out for The Fours.

The Fours Boston is permanently closing after 44 years

 

Ironically the “greater good” of the almighty dollar and human lives are not mutually exclusive.

Unless the virus is under control, the economy can’t full open.

 

I've been working as an essential employee in a federal government facility as a VA-affiliated healthcare worker since the beginning of the pandemic. I don't understand why you're asking these questions.

 

Covid has prevented me from enjoying a beer in a public place since March. I've been working throughout the pandemic but I still avoid going to a beer garden or bar because not everyone is being as careful as possible. If this lasts any longer they're going to have plastic booths installed for each table so people don't cross contaminate.

 

Get Smart was ahead of its time. (Look up cone of silence for you youngsters)

 

No judgement here, safer is always better, but why no outdoor dining/drinking?

This appears to be incredibly safe as long as you’re not within six feet of someone without a mask outdoors for 15 minutes or more.

 

I thought the whole six feet thing was insufficient?

 

One could probably argue that indoors without a mask on, but not outside.

Covid doesn’t spread very easily outside, the outdoor air does a good job of diluting the virus. Now if you have hundreds of people in a crowd outside not wearing masks, that’s an entirely different story.

But you and I are sitting at separate tables outside at a beer garden six feet apart, there’s VERY little chance one of us could contract Covid from the other.

There’s also the real world study going on right now. Outdoor dining has been allowed for months now and we haven’t seen the virus spike out of control in MA, and in fact, outside of RI we haven’t seen it spike anywhere in the Northeast. I’m in Somerville, which is the strictest city/town in MA regarding Covid rules, and even here you don’t have to wear a mask outside unless you can’t maintain six feet of distance.