What does everyone think of the new normal (covid related)

[JAMIESMITH]

I hate it. I'm paying a fortune for private school because our public schools have lost their minds. I'm working less hours, so making less money, but at least I still have a job.

The new normal for us is the same old same old. Restaurants open, shopping open, no mask requirements in our area, kids go to school etc. etc. I can live with it lol

Winder, GA

Are there any houses for sale in your neighborhood? That sounds wonderful!

 

[goodeats]

I'm greatly concerned about the future of public schooling in California. There is no way elementary or even junior high students should be learning "virtually". The public schools are at least on a hybrid schedule, but that means my kids only go 2 1/2 hours a day and wear masks, no recess, no specials, etc. The private schools are open almost as normal. No Covid outbreaks either.

We are a physically active family - hiking, mountain biking, skiing, beach, etc. As long as we can keep doing those activities our life is fairly normal. We didn't go to the movies that often or out to restaurants. We are lucky to live in Southern California where outdoor dining can be a thing year long. I prefer to shop in person though for groceries.

 

[DLgal]

But wouldn’t part of that survival be to not eliminate potential customers? If a business is struggling they should be doing things to encourage more sales not eliminating them.

Going cashless eliminates weekly (or more) trips to the bank to deposit the cash. It eliminates the risk of having cash on site (less risk of being robbed). Going cashless makes running a small business much easier.

 

[DLgal]

I'm greatly concerned about the future of public schooling in California. There is no way elementary or even junior high students should be learning "virtually". The public schools are at least on a hybrid schedule, but that means my kids only go 2 1/2 hours a day and wear masks, no recess, no specials, etc. The private schools are open almost as normal. No Covid outbreaks either.

We are a physically active family - hiking, mountain biking, skiing, beach, etc. As long as we can keep doing those activities our life is fairly normal. We didn't go to the movies that often or out to restaurants. We are lucky to live in Southern California where outdoor dining can be a thing year long. I prefer to shop in person though for groceries.

Our district in Southern CA has elementary kids K-6 in person daily for full days, on a traditional model. They still have lunch, recess and specials. There is also an option for hybrid or distance models that parents could choose if they weren't comfortable with full days. Hybrid here for Middle and High school is 2 full days in person, but no lunch on campus. Instead, they shortened the day and kids get out 50 minutes earlier than usual and have lunch at home (or pick up a to go box from the cafeteria on their way out).

California has numerous school districts and they are all doing something different, it seems. Some sort of across the board approach would be nice. And I can't believe that the states blueprint for reopening restricts schools from opening in the purple color. That is criminal, in my opinion. Schools can be reopened safely. This is one part of this situation that I find completely unacceptable. All schools should be open to all students who want to go.

 

[BadPinkTink]

Going cashless eliminates weekly (or more) trips to the bank to deposit the cash. It eliminates the risk of having cash on site (less risk of being robbed). Going cashless makes running a small business much easier.

exactly, it also eliminates the till discrepancies, either accidental or on purpose. It makes the book keeping and accounting department more efficient, as cashless transactions can be traced far easier than cash transactions.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Going cashless eliminates weekly (or more) trips to the bank to deposit the cash. It eliminates the risk of having cash on site (less risk of being robbed). Going cashless makes running a small business much easier.

Electronic aspect has risks too. From transaction fees, to systems being down to even take payments, to data breaches, to the machines themselves (which if they get used enough break down after a while) etc.

exactly, it also eliminates the till discrepancies, either accidental or on purpose. It makes the book keeping and accounting department more efficient, as cashless transactions can be traced far easier than cash transactions.

It also has the risk of people running someone's card for the incorrect amount or for someone else's check.




No method is going to be perfect. Both come with downs sides and up sides.

 

[Lumpy1106]

California has numerous school districts and they are all doing something different, it seems. Some sort of across the board approach would be nice. And I can't believe that the states blueprint for reopening restricts schools from opening in the purple color. That is criminal, in my opinion. Schools can be reopened safely. This is one part of this situation that I find completely unacceptable. All schools should be open to all students who want to go.

Responding to your post only so I can repeat what you said - LOUDLY. We are seeing so many states dial back what is open except for things that are essential - and schools ARE essential and staying open! Meanwhile my kids are losing 6 MONTHS and counting of any sort of quality education. What's worse - they are the lucky ones. They have the technology, their own laptops, a fast, reliable internet connection, a quiet room and parents that can push them. The school district just keeps blabbering on about equity metrics - like that means anything other than they are all failing to get an education equally. Ugh - just open the schools already.

Back to the OP though;
THE GOOD;

• Everything is cleaner. We've suffered from nothing more than allergies since March.
• Less traffic
• Real home offices - I like working from home, but then my office was an "open office" and I hated that, so this is much better
• No commute
• healthier - I have time to exercise (and do) every day.
• Saving money - we eat out 1/3 as much as we used to

THE BAD;

• Masks
• Paranoia - really hate crossing the street every time a see a stranger
• Working with other people - no, Zoom and Teams does not count!
• No team sports for adults - I really miss the guys I used to play soccer with every Sunday

THE TRULY GOD-AWFUL;

• REMOTE LEARNING FOR MY KIDS!!
• No kids sports
• No family gatherings - cancelling Halloween is one thing, Thanksgiving and Christmas with the extended family though? That's not right (but the right thing to do unfortunately).
• All the dumb, government imposed restrictions based on nothing more than fear. Disneyland - enough said.
• No end in sight...That's maybe the worst thing. Give me a light at the end of the tunnel and I can endure anything. There's no light here - just the color purple, and I'm really starting to hate the color purple.

 

[DLgal]

Responding to your post only so I can repeat what you said - LOUDLY. We are seeing so many states dial back what is open except for things that are essential - and schools ARE essential and staying open! Meanwhile my kids are losing 6 MONTHS and counting of any sort of quality education. What's worse - they are the lucky ones. They have the technology, their own laptops, a fast, reliable internet connection, a quiet room and parents that can push them. The school district just keeps blabbering on about equity metrics - like that means anything other than they are all failing to get an education equally. Ugh - just open the schools already.

Back to the OP though;
THE GOOD;

• Everything is cleaner. We've suffered from nothing more than allergies since March.
• Less traffic
• Real home offices - I like working from home, but then my office was an "open office" and I hated that, so this is much better
• No commute
• healthier - I have time to exercise (and do) every day.
• Saving money - we eat out 1/3 as much as we used to

THE BAD;

• Masks
• Paranoia - really hate crossing the street every time a see a stranger
• Working with other people - no, Zoom and Teams does not count!
• No team sports for adults - I really miss the guys I used to play soccer with every Sunday

THE TRULY GOD-AWFUL;

• REMOTE LEARNING FOR MY KIDS!!
• No kids sports
• No family gatherings - cancelling Halloween is one thing, Thanksgiving and Christmas with the extended family though? That's not right (but the right thing to do unfortunately).
• All the dumb, government imposed restrictions based on nothing more than fear. Disneyland - enough said.
• No end in sight...That's maybe the worst thing. Give me a light at the end of the tunnel and I can endure anything. There's no light here - just the color purple, and I'm really starting to hate the color purple.

I agree with your entire post.

But get this...my sister lives in San Francisco. Home of the elusive Yellow Tier. SF Public schools are STILL not open, with no near term plans to do so. What the heck is even the point of this color system if in the LEAST RESTRICTIVE tier, officials are still not allowing everything to reopen? This just shows the massive flaw in the application of the "equity metric." SFs ACTUAL infection rates mirror OCs, based on per capital rates. The virus is either under control or it isn't and granting counties lower tier status based on some arbitrary equity metric doesn't tell the whole story of what is happening in real time.

 

[KittyKitty]

if I didn't show her the menu, order for her, and pay on my phone, she would've just left.

You're a good daughter/son!

 

[KittyKitty]

if I didn't show her the menu, order for her, and pay on my phone, she would've just left.

You're a good offspring!

 

[Kittyblue]

You're a good daughter/son!

daughter, and I was too hungry to go somewhere else

 

[Kittyblue]

Wonder what they would do for someone who has a flip phone and no way of viewing or paying on a phone. Or someone who only has cash, no bank account, no credit cards, no way to pay on their phone.

That's why they warned us up front, so we had the option to leave. That's the only restaurant I've encountered here that is completely online though. Many have the QR menu and prefer card payment over cash, but they'll take both.

California has numerous school districts and they are all doing something different, it seems. Some sort of across the board approach would be nice. And I can't believe that the states blueprint for reopening restricts schools from opening in the purple color. That is criminal, in my opinion. Schools can be reopened safely. This is one part of this situation that I find completely unacceptable. All schools should be open to all students who want to go.

Our county districts rushed to begin phased in opening once we hit the red tier. It's my understanding that even if we go back to purple (which we are supposed to do tomorrow) the schools will not have to close again. They will only have to close individual classrooms/schools/districts depending on covid exposure and cases at the school sites.

 

[Lumpy1106]

I agree with your entire post.

But get this...my sister lives in San Francisco. Home of the elusive Yellow Tier. SF Public schools are STILL not open, with no near term plans to do so. What the heck is even the point of this color system if in the LEAST RESTRICTIVE tier, officials are still not allowing everything to reopen? This just shows the massive flaw in the application of the "equity metric." SFs ACTUAL infection rates mirror OCs, based on per capital rates. The virus is either under control or it isn't and granting counties lower tier status based on some arbitrary equity metric doesn't tell the whole story of what is happening in real time.

Safe to say, it's not working. 41 counties now in purple;
https://covid19.ca.gov/safer-economy/

 

[DLgal]

Safe to say, it's not working. 41 counties now in purple;
https://covid19.ca.gov/safer-economy/

LOL. They just threw that equity metric right into the ether.

 

[tinkerdorabelle]

• All the dumb, government imposed restrictions based on nothing more than fear. Disneyland - enough said.

Dumb? Can't think of a place easier to transfer something like Covid than a place like Disneyworld. Talk about dumb, my brother and his GF went to a casino recently thinking it was safe bc it is now open, and brought home Covid to themselves and my 93 year old dad. Maybe they needed some restrictions and they wouldn't have done it, along with common sense, I told them it was a bad idea. So that's why we need intelligent gov restrictions. They all still have it, my bro and SIL running almost 105 fevers, luckily my dad did not, but right now he is in the hospital bc he had beginnings of pneumonia. Just so tired of dumb. So is that fear mongering??
SMH

 

[GreatLakes]

Safe to say, it's not working. 41 counties now in purple;

Actually we can't really know if it is or isn't working because we have no placebo. Without precautions it is likely there would be more counties in purple and more sickness, lasting negative health effects, and death.

It is easy to say the current precautions aren't working because it is still bad but it isn't that simple. Without the precautions like mask wearing, reduced capacity, DL being closed, and so on thing would have very likely been much worse.

Dumb? Can't think of a place easier to transfer something like Covid than a place like Disneyworld. Talk about dumb, my brother and his GF went to a casino recently thinking it was safe bc it is now open, and brought home Covid to themselves and my 93 year old dad. Maybe they needed some restrictions and they wouldn't have done it. They all still have it, my bro and SIL running almost 105 fevers, luckily my dad did not but right now he is in the hospital bc he had beginnings of pneumonia. Just so tired of dumb. So is that fear mongering??
SMH

I don't think any vacation destinations should be allowed to open yet. Not Disneyland, WDW, Universal, casinos, none of them. The best way to spread a virus is to get a bunch of people together from all over the country and then let them all go back home.

And no one tell me WDW isn't spreading COVID around the country because there is absolutely no contact tracing so of course no outbreaks are attributed to WDW. That is not the same as being caused by WDW. That is like saying a murdered didn't kill someone because they weren't caught.

 

[Lumpy1106]

The data supports that Disney is doing what it takes to keep it from spreading there. The data (from other states) supports that the schools are likewise not spreading COVID. Both are closed in CA though (so it's really not spreading there), yet the Casino is open? My point exactly. I understand we need to sacrifice, but the sacrifice has to be based on something and it has to have a positive effect. It's not.

You know what else the data supports? That remote learning is a complete failure - yet we are still doing that too. Frankly I'd rather all the schools were just shut and we pick back up when the schools can ALL be open - just take the year off. Not because of COVID though (but believe that if you want) - how are kids in LA county, that has been shut from the start ever going to catch up to the kids in all the other states where schools are open?

 

[Jimmy Mouse]

Well, that explains it.

how so?

 

[Jimmy Mouse]

I hate it. I'm paying a fortune for private school because our public schools have lost their minds. I'm working less hours, so making less money, but at least I still have a job.



Are there any houses for sale in your neighborhood? That sounds wonderful!

Actually yes. One 3 doors down just sold for $329k but there are 3 on the other side of our neighborhood from $229k - $279k

 

[Dznypal]

Someone asked earlier about what to do with masks when we’re out of this mess. At first I was going to have a huge bon fire but the girl that cuts my hair said to use them
In the bathroom. I like thst idea better. A new type of toilet paper