Covid-19 Restrictions

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Here in the states, the choice has been left up to each state Governor to decide what the restrictions are. I'd like to hear from some other states and countries how crazy or lax it is where you live. I'm just glad beer is still essential in Pennsy

 

I find it odd that people are maintaining "social distancing" in Illinois...except when waiting in line at the grocery store. (infamous Chicago video aside. That was the exception, not the rule).
They'll stick apart in the aisles, but when the line is backed up they queue up like normal. If YOU try to stick 6' away from the person ahead of you, somebody will simply slide into line in front of you, and somebody else will line up behind you, with only the normal shopping cart distance separating you. Those carts are only 3', not 6'.

People are maintaining distance in Sam's Club and Costco (I let my membership of the former lapse as I'm no longer working for them, but my mom still has a Costco card and I go with her as her pack mule as she's still recovering from knee surgery at the start of February), and at the hardware store the two times I've been to the latter (being furloughed, it's a good time to do all the projects I've been procrastinating about).
I haven't been out much both because of the "Stay At Home" order and because I've been furloughed until the crisis is over (no paycheck, no money to spend). Since the start of March I've been to the grocery store about once a week, Sam's one last time, Costco once, hardware store twice, and went for Chinese takeout once when the bottom oven in the double oven decided to give up the ghost and ruin dinner. Looks like we can't get a new one installed until the "Stay at Home" order is lifted, but fortunately the top oven still works.


One other strange thing.
I've seen more people out walking and to a lessor extent riding bicycles since the "Stay at home" order started than ever. It seems more people are walking to the corner shopping plaza (a tiny strip mall) than ever even though only the Walgreens, hardware store, and bakery (the latter at reduced hours) are open. I think the dry cleaners was going to open a week or two ago (I haven't been to the hardware store since the start of the month) with precautions such as calling ahead and having people leave stuff at the door.

In any case, I've done some reading with my Kindle (finished all the paper books and the library is closed, though I could use my laptop to get e-books for free from the library) near the front window and noticed all the people out walking. I did the same when working part-time when I had a weekday or rare Sunday off and did not see nearly as many people even in nicer weather than this.

 

In Belgium, it's pretty strict. You may leave your home for work and shopping only, well, with a few exceptions. But at the same time, walking around and biking is allowed. Doing sports (biking and running) is even encouraged. But gatherings of more than three people are not allowed (outside of families, of course). So basically it means that as long as you don't take your car on the highway (unless you're driving to work), it should be fine.

Lots of people are walking and biking about here (though that's not too much of an unusual thing over here, especially given the nice weather).

Still, read a piece yesterday that said over 60.000 people got fined for not keeping to quarantine rules. That's € 250 * 60.000 as state income, at the minimum.

Other than that, all shops are closed, except for supermarkets, though more shops are gradually being allowed to open. Internet ordering has apparently gone through the roof, and the delivery services have their hands full delivering all the packages everyone is ordering.

Comparitively, it's pretty lax in the Netherlands, and moving around is not restricted much, though no more than 2 people are allowed in a car. Most shops have remained open, but there is a restriction of max 1 person per 10 m2 of shop floorspace (same as in Belgium).

 

I'd do biking, but the parks are closed, and as such there is no place for me to rest. I can't go very far without resting. About 3 miles only. I'm out of shape.
Although even at my best 5 miles was my limit, although the only 5 miles I really remember was mostly uphill (not that great a hill except at the end, just mostly a slight incline. Getting home was MUCH easier even though I was more tied. Not enough of a decline to coast except in a few places, but a slight decline makes a big difference).

 

You are lucky. Mariano's is booked up 2.5 weeks in advance (I haven't checked since before Easter) and the Jewel's delivery service simply said they are overbooked and not taking any orders at this time. I don't think Aldi's has delivery, and Dominick's went out of business 5 years ago. Cub Foods went with the 20th century, and I haven't seen an Eagle since around 1990. Those are all the major chains around here unless you count semi-specialty ones like Trader Joe's or Meijer, the latter of which seems more like the Wal-Mart Supercenter (combo of Walmart and a grocery store).

Honestly, I am unaware if any of the later stores I mentioned deliver groceries. I know Walmart offers to deliver products you order online or you can "ship to store", but I've always used the "ship to store" option and rarely have looked at the grocery section of Walmart. Plus the Supercenter Walmart in Mt. Prospect, while the second closest, is still 5 miles away while I can ride my bike 2 miles to the regular Walmart in Rolling Meadows and there is less congestion as well.

 

Looks like I actually started a decent thread. My work is making us take our earned time off instead of laying us off but it's getting so slow I'm thinking something is going to give

 

Minnesota has been fairly strict. We're just finishing a long but somewhat average winter and just as we're about to let loose with our Cabin Fever we're forced to stay at home for more months and basically miss the lovely spring we're having. Some parks are open for jogging and biking but not much else going on - even my nearest liqueur store is closed for the duration. I don't do a lot of physical stuff after my neck injury so the only out-of-the-house stuff we're allowed I can't do. So far our states statistics for Covid-19 have been very good so I shouldn't complain too much.

 

It was just announced in the paper that the libraries are going to be re-opening the drive-through pickups.

 

I'm surprised people still use those. Reminds me of "The Time Machine"

 

Well, you can essentially get free DVD rentals instead of paying for a streaming service or Red Box. Same for printed books.
Our library a few years ago started also offering electronic borrowing of some materials, which is really starting to catch on since the "Stay home" order started.
Also I wouldn't have been able to afford 1/10th of my game library without the Friends of the Library "Book Sale" that sells books, games, movies, records, tapes, CDs, DVDs, for $1-$2 that people donate to the library.

In any case, being poor I use the library a lot for fiction and movies. More rarely for nonfiction, as most of the time I either need to buy technical reference/tutorial books to update my Microsoft certifications and it usually takes more than a month to study for those exams (long term loan is 4 weeks, short term for new or popular items is 1-2 weeks) or I just search on the internet for nonfiction.

On the other hand, I do have a tenancy to read a book once, then it sits on the shelf until my mother made me clean up the book shelf (shows how long it's been since I bought novels), so I can count the number of novels I've purchased for myself since elementary school on the fingers of one hand unless you count mandatory book purchases for college, then you can add another hand for the lit course.
All of those novels I purchased since elementary school were when I was going out of town, except one that I purchased at a convenience store when my car broke down and they told me it would be 3 hours before a toe truck could arrive due to a ton of crashes on the expressways. This was before I had a smart phone.
Today that last purchase would be unnecessary since I have my fanfic library loaded on my smart phone and keep a dollar store charger in the car, both car and A/C adapters (the latter I've only seen once at Dollar Tree). Yeah, they are only 1A chargers, but enough to keep the phone from dying.

The other big use for the library is a rest stop on my bike where I can rest, refill my water, and read a magazine or something, although this is usually OTHER town's libraries since mine is only 1.25 miles from where I currently live. Mt. Prospect is convenient however. Rolling Meadows library is kinda close too, around the same distance in the other direction.

 

I never thought of any of those choices. I should look into mine, haven't been there in 35 years! One quarter of my state is going from red to yellow but of course that's were no one lives

 

What else is the public library for? Letting you "rent" books, magazines, music, and movies for free. It's a great resource if you don't need the things for more than a few weeks. It takes sharing books and passing them around and turns it into a pool for your whole community.

Yes, you can also borrow music in all forms (sheet, record, cassette, CD) although our library seems to be phasing out records and cassette the way they phased out VHS movies from 2010-2015. I'm pretty sure they haven't added any records in at least 10 years, but unlike the VHS are not getting rid of them either.

I'll admit that 35 years ago the movie selection was tiny and pitiful and my town had the third largest collection and second largest in circulation in the State. They didn't start to rival a small video store (like Suncoast Video) until around 30 years ago after the expansion was built making them #2 in the State (I think Schaumburg has since knocked us down to #3, only 9 miles away), and did not rival a Blockbuster or other larger store until the start of the 21st century.

 

Ok the definition of "essential" stores needs work in Illinois.
I was just doing a couple errands and I took my bicycle.
On my way, I noticed that most places are closed. However, there is one shopping center where my barber is that always struck me as odd. It has a barber shop, a tobacco store, an empty store front that has had several knick-knack stores and a "we buy gold" place over the years but has been vacant since last summer, the American Red Cross, a place that sells motorized wheelchairs and similar equipment for the disabled, a liquor store, another empty storefront that had a driver's ed school until the end of February when they moved (and the "Stay at Home" order came 3 weeks later), and a clothing resale shop.
Of all that, only the tobacco store and the liquor store were open.

It just struck as odd that in the middle of an epidemic for a respiratory disease where "nonessential" places are closed, we have a tobacco store open. I'm not sure if it is defying the "stay at home" order or not, but I can't see how that is "essential" like a grocery store.
So, we can get booze and tobacco, but we can't get a haircut.
Sounds like the hippies were 60 years too early.

 

In the yellow stage now. Places are starting to open, you can eat outside but only 50% capacity which makes no sense! I might go out today and try it out but I doubt it.