General Covid-19 comments

[cpaharley2008]

When I first experienced South Dakota Badlands and started return trips out west I would be regaled by stories from locals. The population density on the east side of the big river is totally different than the western side. Stories about opening and closing hours for customers and the corner shotgun takes place of the sheriff 250 miles away. Everything is measured by time vs distance. You go 2 hours north and turn right in lieu of 3 blocks and turn left. People shop for a month at a time out there vs having weekly pizza delivery convenience. In Montana it was not uncommon for new homeowners to die from starvation or cold trying to escape from their snowbound home on 30 acres, 30 miles from the store, up in the mountains. Metropolitan eastern areas seldom become snowbound but 12-18 feet of snow in the mountains will stop anyone who is not prepared for it. Treat the virus the same way, stay away if possible.

[gabeck]

I don't suppose it occurs to people who are lucky enough to have a summer home in a tourist area could be expected to consider bringing there groceries/supplies under these circumstances. This is not a normal time, and it is widely reported that people are in a hoarding mood.

[Vermilye]

Originally Posted by Iowa Dave

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I’m sure there are hundreds of pockets of “get away” secondary residences throughout the USA and Canada. And it’s understandable that full time residents in these areas are scared and don’t want new “carriers” arriving in their towns. Those non residents are scared too. And they pay taxes and support a lot of these areas in the good times. Once they are socially distant in their vacation homes, cabins and self contained RVs. I doubt they are that big a threat if they didn’t come in already exposed. Condos, high rises, not so good. I can see both sides and I think there are two sides to this dilemma. Comments?
Iowa Dave

I posted this in another thread, but it relates to this one.

My brother is a builder who lives & works on Nantucket Island, a small 10 mile by 15 mile island 35 miles off the coast of Cape Cod, MA. It is a vacation paradise, with many New Yorkers owning 2nd homes on the island. They have a little over 11,000 full time residents, and a summer crowd of 60,000+. They have a 19 bed hospital.

Construction has been stopped to prevent workers from coming to the island each day on the ferries, but flocks of New Yorkers are coming to their summer homes. The island has the ability to support the summer crowd - one of the largest grocery stores in the state that is stocked by multiple full sized semis arriving daily (during the summer) on the ferries, but if the hospital fills the only practical alternative is to helicopter patients to Boston. I had this done in 2010 to the tune of $13,000.

Should the island be able to refuse vacation home owners? Tough call. As Dave noted, they are tax payers & owners, however if the pandemic reaches the island, the hospital will quickly be overwhelmed with little alternatives. As of today, there are five confirmed cases on the island.

[Iowa Dave]

Originally Posted by KarenH

I am ashamed to admit that when I heard about Doig's death in 2015, my first thought was that there would be no more books from him. Dancing and English Creek were his two best in my opinion. A wonderful writer.

From a different vein, but still very readable, for Father’s Day, my oldest daughter got me this copy at a book signing when she was getting her PhDs at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. Vacation criss-crossing of the great state of Montana and it’s history was a little more real after I read this one.

The passage in English Creek regarding the impending fire season and the account of the demise of the Selway National Forest led me to dig out this porcelain on steel sign I had obtained many years before. Corroborating documentation allowed me to date the sign to no later than 1934. The Selway was dissolved after a devastating fire season by the spring of 1935.

I might have time to read it again
Iowa Dave

[padlin]

Originally Posted by Vermilye

Should the island be able to refuse vacation home owners? Tough call. As Dave noted, they are tax payers & owners, however if the pandemic reaches the island, the hospital will quickly be overwhelmed with little alternatives. As of today, there are five confirmed cases on the island.

Read this in the last week or so. This is the 1st couple paragraphs of the story... Original link at the bottom (Mar 17)



NORTH HAVEN, Maine — As the coronavirus spreads, people can’t be blamed for wanting an island hideout. But one island in Maine has made it clear: Visitors are not welcome. “People who do not reside on the island full-time may not travel to the island due to the significant increase in risk associated with the transmission of COVID-19,” the order states.
Exempted from the order is travel for “essential purposes” — that includes health care providers, the order said.


https://nypost.com/2020/03/17/maine-...irus-outbreak/


Also in the Bangor Daily News if you don't want to take the Post's word for it.


https://bangordailynews.com/2020/03/...d-19-outbreak/

[SamIam]

Dr. Spock had the answer.
In The Wrath of Khan (1982), Spock says, “Logic clearly dictates that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.” Captain Kirk answers, “Or the one.”

[MyronL]

This morning here in central New Mexico (about 30 miles east of ABQ) I went to the local super market. There was a major rash of binge buying a couple weeks ago but traffic today was quite light.

With notable exceptions, shelves fairly well stocked. Still no paper products or disinfectant but a shipment of potatoes must have just come in so I grabbed a bag. The ATM machine finally got restocked with twenties. I got some, but who’s using cash anyway? The bank is closed. So, I think, is Colorado.

We feel a hair luckier than most to not be in the path of the thing but taking no chances. Nineteen deaths out of 513 cases are predicted for us --so far. That sounds optimistic. Front page story today of an elderly couple who returned on a flight from NYC at the beginning of the month and then tested positive. They claim to have beaten the virus. Travel is clearly the best conductor.

I wanted Nancy to cancel her hair dresser appointment but she refused. That raised some ire. I wore a mask to the grocery store. Nancy’s hairdresser gave her two. This week the governor announced a statewide ‘stay at home’ order. I can do that.

[SamIam]

If there’s one thing people agree on it is this: We can’t do this forever.

The nationwide shutdowns, the home quarantines, hospital shortages, layoffs, deaths and infections. All seemingly without end. So what exactly is our next step?

A difficult situation with no easy answers.

[thoer]

Originally Posted by SamIam

If there’s one thing people agree on it is this: We can’t do this forever.

The nationwide shutdowns, the home quarantines, hospital shortages, layoffs, deaths and infections. All seemingly without end. So what exactly is our next step?

A difficult situation with no easy answers.

My next step is going to be the same as it has been, follow the instructions and advice of medical experts.

From what I can tell, this virus is here for the long run and ultimately it will take a vaccine to let us "win" long term, but that is most likely still well more than a year away. The "win" we are going for right now is to flatten the curve, trying to make sure that the numbers of cases requiring hospitalization stay below hospital capacity and those cases serious enough to require ventilators don't grow larger than the available ventilators. The tragedies in Italy show what happens when the curve is not successfully lowered.

[Iowa Dave]

My take is about the same as yours Eric. For me, retired and without medical skills
and hearing no request for assistance using the skills I do have, my course of action is patience and listening to the professionals with their measured advice. Basically, Shelter in place old man. For those with skills, a necessity to leave the house for work, or to assist others with skills they possess then the course is action with extreme due diligence. Without interference, I could shelter out here for a long time, longer than any pandemic has gone on in the modern age. I suspect many others can too.

So what is the course of action? Listen, learn, shelter or help if feasible. Dream of better times and keep my hands washed. I’ve eaten pigeons and drank rainwater. More than once. I’d hate to be a wild hog or a javelina in Texas about now. Focus on one day at a time.
Iowa Dave

[cpaharley2008]

Well get used to it for 30 more days, Trump just announced stay in place until april 30th....

[Mike Lewis]

Similar to Jon's story:

Several years go I was waiting for the ferry at Orcas Island to take me back to the Washington mainland. There was a delay of some kind, so while we were waiting I struck up a conversation with a woman who lived on Orcas part-time. Her other home was in Bellingham. She told me it cost $10,000 to fly a patient out of Orcas to a hospital on the mainland, and that island residents had set up a fund to cover this transportation. I wonder how this will work out now?

[cpaharley2008]

Exclusivity is expensive....

[mtnest]

Ditto what Eric said. -Tom

[MyronL]

I would never eat a pigeon.

[steve dunham]

Just a reminder , for those of you that have local elections in the near future , remember to apply for an absentee ballot before it’s too late
With some states voter ID laws this may be more difficult so start early

[Jim Bennett]

Originally Posted by MyronL

I would never eat a pigeon.

When I was a kid we had pigeon stew a few times. The heads, feet, innards and skin were removed and they were thrown into the pot. We had to remove the bones as we ate. I remember it being very tasty.

To catch them, we waited until they were in a granary, went in close the door and netted them at the end of long sticks.

[EdColorado]

Originally Posted by MyronL

I would never eat a pigeon.

Would you eat a squab?

[Iowa Dave]

Originally Posted by MyronL

I would never eat a pigeon.

My dad and a friend would put fresh batteries in their trusty rayovac three cell flashlights. They would make arrangements with the foreman of a a local elevator called Wilder Grain to meet at the main building about an hour after dark. They would climb a vertical ladder to the catwalk in the top of the elevator and shine the birds, depositing them into a couple of gunny sacks. Back home, my mother would have scalding water going on the downstairs “canning stove” a three burner Roper. My mom would spend the next day working the dressed pigeons up. That night, returning from school, the house was filled with the wonderful smells of a lovingly prepared pigeon noodle soup. And we thought we were kings and the luckiest kids on Young’s Hill. Flannel shirts, gravity heat from the coal converted furnace and a bellyful of soup, What more could you want?
Iowa Dave

[cpaharley2008]

Gives a whole new meaning of eating dog food during the depression era......