Maine is reopening!

[Kae]

Frankly, I think this is the way to reopen states. Base it on population density. There's always a balancing of risk in anything. In Virginia, we have had relatively few cases, and they have largely been in nursing homes. Meanwhile more people are signing up for unemployment every day, and small businesses are getting crushed.

I am truly sorry for the people in hotspots like NYC. But if the more rural parts of the state reopen, at least you'd get some income, which in turn pays taxes, which in turn could help the bigger cities at least a bit.

I can agree. But it brings out a lot of grey areas. It's tough all the way around. But in the Salon case, you would be penalizing the owner and staff of a larger salon. The owner can't help that they have had a successful business. Same for all businesses.

 

[NYCgrrl]

Frankly, I think this is the way to reopen states. Base it on population density. There's always a balancing of risk in anything. In Virginia, we have had relatively few cases, and they have largely been in nursing homes. Meanwhile more people are signing up for unemployment every day, and small businesses are getting crushed.

I am truly sorry for the people in hotspots like NYC. But if the more rural parts of the state reopen, at least you'd get some income, which in turn pays taxes, which in turn could help the bigger cities at least a bit.

I think the smaller places already started opening but I was only noting that some colleges had never closed.

 

[Wendy5055]

Here in CT we have Stay Home Stay Safe orders until 5/21. CT colleges may open online in the fall...it's all still up in the air around here. Although we follow within approximately 2 weeks behind NY.

Personally, I've had a niece just recently (last week) diagnosed with COVID-19 and two sister in laws (and my brothers) had to self quarantine because a co-worker contracted COVID-19 and sat next to them where they work. A family friend passed away just this week from COVID-19 leaving her mother behind who is now infected with COVID-19.

Not to be a "chicken little" but I don't trust the re-openings at this point and will continue to practice self distancing and wearing face masks and gloves because it's highly contagious. I started wearing gloves and masks before everyone else and will continue to after everyone else.

That said, I know people are weary of wearing face masks and social distancing...I just think of my 78 year old mother who cannot count on others to be socially responsible. I wear it because I want others to be safe and and I want my own family to be safe just as much as I want to be.

 

[3threebabies]

Here in CT we have Stay Home Stay Safe orders until 5/21. CT colleges may open online in the fall...it's all still up in the air around here. Although we follow within approximately 2 weeks behind NY.

Personally, I've had a niece just recently (last week) diagnosed with COVID-19 and two sister in laws (and my brothers) had to self quarantine because a co-worker contracted COVID-19 and sat next to them where they work. A family friend passed away just this week from COVID-19 leaving her mother behind who is now infected with COVID-19.

Not to be a "chicken little" but I don't trust the re-openings at this point and will continue to practice self distancing and wearing face masks and gloves because it's highly contagious. I started wearing gloves and masks before everyone else and will continue to after everyone else.

That said, I know people are weary of wearing face masks and social distancing...I just think of my 78 year old mother who cannot count on others to be socially responsible. I wear it because I want others to be safe and and I want my own family to be safe just as much as I want to be.

I don’t think you are a chicken little at all, but Fairfield County is baring the brunt. Just as most of the country is unlike NYC, it is also unlike CT and especially the Gold Coast. You are making a wise choice for yourself and family as is Lamont for CT at this point.

I don’t believe that much of the country needs the same restrictions as NYC and CT. I did not say no restrictions—less.

 

[Colleen27]

So maybe they need to relax the restrictions for smaller salons and barber shops. That one you go to sounds huge! The one I go to is literally about 400sq feet. It's a tiny house that was converted into a salon. It has one main room, a side room like a kitchen and a bathroom. The staff is 3 people (husband, wife, one more hairdresser). It would be very easy for him to control the environment and he is willing to go to one client at a time. That should be permitted.

I keep hoping my state will do this. Not so much for myself - I haven't had my hair or nails done professionally since my wedding, 18 years ago! - but because my daughters both could really use haircuts and their styles are more complex than I'd be willing to attempt myself. They both go to the same salon which, at peak capacity on a Saturday, is three stylists and a manicurist plus the four customers they're serving. Most of their employees only work a couple-few days a week, though, with Saturday being the only day with them all on duty. During the week when we usually go it is just two stylists available. It would be very easy for them to maintain spacing between each employee/customer pair, by leaving an empty station between the two who are working, or even to stagger the stylists' hours to go to one customer at a time.

Frankly, I think this is the way to reopen states. Base it on population density. There's always a balancing of risk in anything. In Virginia, we have had relatively few cases, and they have largely been in nursing homes. Meanwhile more people are signing up for unemployment every day, and small businesses are getting crushed.

I am truly sorry for the people in hotspots like NYC. But if the more rural parts of the state reopen, at least you'd get some income, which in turn pays taxes, which in turn could help the bigger cities at least a bit.

The risk there, though, is that if services and stores are available in rural areas that aren't available in the city/suburbs, some people will travel to get what they want rather than wait for their area to reopen. That's a big part of what led to the crazy-busy beaches in cities and counties that have allowed them to reopen while neighboring areas have kept them closed, and it would likely apply to other reopenings as well. If someone can drive 30-45 minutes to a more rural area and go to a restaurant or get their hair done or whatever thing they're missing most right now, some will do so... and in the process, increase the odds of spreading the virus to those areas.

My state is looking at a regional reopening plan now and it'll be interesting to see how they manage that concern. Frankly, economic and cultural forces will likely limit contact between the hardest-hit areas (which are predominantly urban and poor) and the reopened tourist areas that haven't seen many cases, but there are enough relatively affluent suburbanites who are a possible bridge between the two that I can't imagine how it will work unless it comes with stricter limits on travel between closed and open regions. And selfishly, I hope it doesn't come to that because we are up north now, will go home next week for my husband's birthday and stay through mother's day for distanced visits with my mom and MIL, and plan to come back up after that to ease the pressure of being cooped up in a house that really isn't big enough for everyone to be home at the same time.

 

[HeatherC]

I actually think if they open up certain sections of a state people will just drive to those locations since they are now open and will offer more options.

 

[Kae]

I actually think if they open up certain sections of a state people will just drive to those locations since they are now open and will offer more options.

That could be true

 

[leebee]

You aren't really close to either state then, being an hour away from both. It's the population up in the border towns, all along the edges that are used to traveling into other states to do simple things like grocery shopping. Most of my hometown goes grocery shopping in NH. Kittery, ME is a major outlet destination in the area. If that opens up, there could be more shoppers from NH and MA than ME. That's the way it usually is when we go up on a weekend.

@DisneyOma, @MICKIMINI I see you get it. My family is in York, ME, my sister's shop is in Portsmouth, NH. The majority of people in the area go grocery shopping in Portsmouth/Newington, NH- and often the parking lots are full of cars from Mass, too. Heck, in "normal" times we'll go to Byfield, MA for BBQ for supper, or to Newburyport, MA for buck-a-shuck oysters; it's only about a 30 min drive. People in the area honestly never think about which state they are in, they just go about their everyday lives.

The summer in the southern Maine coastal towns is CRAZY-busy. We joke that it's quicker to walk along Rt 1 by the Kittery Outlets than to drive, but it's true. On a summer Saturday, it takes 90 minutes to make the 60 minute drive from my old hometown in MA to Maine, and the grocery stores will run out of chicken and corn by 3pm; after all, check in time for weekly cottage rentals is around 4pm, and everyone shops in Portsmouth on their way north. Wait times of an hour are not uncommon in the restaurants in Portsmouth, Kittery, and York. Day trippers from Mass are just as common as weekend/weekly visitors. I don't for a hot second think the 14 day at-home quarantine requirement is going to stop people from coming here on their vacations; how can this be enforced/proven? The Maine seacoast towns are going to be inundated with tourists from many states. I understand the governors are trying to save the economy, and with VT and ME phasing in "opening" I don't think NH will be far behind. However, while it's encouraging to think that small businesses (retail, restaurants, hotels) will be able to reopen rather than "go under," everyone is very, very nervous about what opening to interstate tourism will mean for the spread of the virus.

 

[PollyannaMom]

In a 1:1 situation, if both people are wearing masks and the hairdresser washes their hands before each client, how it is dangerous at all? I really don't understand the salon restrictions, to be honest...

I think it's because the client can't really wear the mask properly while the stylist is lifting and cutting sections of hair. - The straps go over your ears or even behind your head with some types, so they would get in the way.

 

[DisneyOma]

Leebee, I know that place in Byfield, yum!

 

[Searc]

Here in wi dog groomers can open soon. Hair places can’t. Nice the dogs will look better then their owners

They opened Wednesday (the day you posted this).

 

[TLSnell1981]

Maybe because hair cuts are a little more important for grooming than manicures? Most people can cut their own nails. Very few can cut their own hair.

Whoa! Way more to a mani-pedi than “cutting nails”. Just sayin’...

 

[Wendy5055]

I don’t think you are a chicken little at all, but Fairfield County is baring the brunt. Just as most of the country is unlike NYC, it is also unlike CT and especially the Gold Coast. You are making a wise choice for yourself and family as is Lamont for CT at this point.

I don’t believe that much of the country needs the same restrictions as NYC and CT. I did not say no restrictions—less.

Looks like we are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel! Restrictions are going to be a bit lighter in a couple of weeks.

 

[DLgal]

So then it should be ok to keep large Cities shut down and open smaller cities within a state?

I think so. One of California's counties wants to reopen. It is located at the far northern edge of the state and is pretty isolated. Only 9000 residents in the whole county. Zero covid19 cases and zero deaths so far. They want to reopen. California is a HUGE state and it doesn't make sense to make sweeping rules when there is so much variability.