WA governor just extended stay at home through end of May.

[Totem Polar]

Imma gonna go nuts.

Somewhere, back in that forever-long C19 thread, I noted that we would be seeing a shift away from "we need to stay at home to avoid overwhelming our hospitals" (a good thing) to "we need to stay at home until a vaccine is developed so nobody, anywhere gets sick." (Perhaps not as good, IMHO.) Opinions can and probably will vary on the prudence of the current tack, but it’s clear that the narrative has changed—regardless of how one feels about it.

Mrs Sidhe and I had a chance to chat directly with our ID guy here on Wednesday evening, so I can report directly that, as of a couple of days ago, there is literally no wait time whatsoever in our ERs and urgent care places, and 14 people hospitalized for C19. We clearly have surplus capacity at the moment in my region.

This is in no way meant to minimize the C19 issues faced elsewhere. I’m just reiterating that different regions have differing challenges around this pandemic. I already know—directly—of two *extremely* popular local restaurants that won’t be coming back after the initial shutdown. There are a bunch of layers to this onion, and I’m a bit concerned that the east side is, yet again, only seeing Seattle’s layers.

I dunno. Maybe I don’t understand the problem. I do know that our hospitals are empty. We’ve got a *pile* of available beds. Data point of one city, sure, but that’s the way it is, as of 2 days ago. And we are looking at another 7 weeks of this, minimum, before we even get to an allowed 50% capacity re-opening for our area service industries.

Imma gonna go nuts.

[Duelist]

Sorry, man. Closing local non-chain businesses permanently is one of my main worries about all this. On top of guys like you and my cousin who maybe starve for not being able to go out and perform.

[Casual Friday]

It will be a miracle if the gym my family attends for BJJ and Muay Thai survives. His rent and insurance is quite high which has never been an issue when people were paying tuition. There are a couple restaurants and other small businesses that will not be returning either, and probably many more that I'm not privy to.

I would not be surprised if Inslee were to extend it further.

[MickAK]

I would look at legal options for challenges. There is a middle ground between calling the virus a hoax and blindly giving the government a blank check to restrict free movement based on medical professionals that by definition will look to the worst possible outcome. Think of it as good practice for the next, potentially more serious epidemic.

[RevolverRob]

It's frustrating, but the numbers are just now starting to level off in most places. Suggesting we're at best 15-days away from having relatively safe interactions and realistically 30-days from having a safe level of full blown shelter-in-place orders reduced.

I know no one wants to read RevolverRob's "I told you so" - So, I'm gonna phrase it this way - from the outset of inducing social distancing measures, it was very clear the initial blast would be 90-days of extensive social distancing. Followed by ~45-60 days of orders lifted. Followed by another 90-days of restrictions. Because of the lag time of the virus each leveling off of infection rate needs 15-days to evaluate if it is a true leveling of the climb.

Trump declared a state of emergency not even 60-days ago. If we get out of quarantine for June 1, we'll be doing slightly better than we thought.

Bear in mind, eventually the infection rates will reclimb.

And I know this can be really frustrating when on a local level things seem "controlled". But the reality is...it isn't just about a single locality or region. As soon as the governor looses Portland - what's the first thing that is going to happen? Those people are going to flood out into the city and out of it and traffic will increase every where, particularly with summer approaching. All of the sudden local regions can become infection hotspots faster than someone can blink, because where the virus was present in high abundance it has now be transported to areas of low abundance.

Leveling the curves off in the major areas benefits the less populous areas even if it seems like it doesn't. Because when the big cities empty, and they will, chances are reduced of them bringing it to your doorstep.

We're in probably the most difficult part of this process...we've done the work of adapting our culture substantially, but we haven't get reached the "benefits" stage of it. Worse when we're all back in quarantine in August or September...we'll have to do it all over again.

[Joe in PNG]

The problem is that it is more about "Muh Authoritah!" for some people.

It's a representative republic democratically elected- the elected public servants would do well to remember that, and treat their fellow citizens with that in mind.

The high handed assumption that being in office makes one a Prince of Noble Blood, or a Commissar really needs to go away.

Yes, the general deplorable public will make stupid errors and act on them- but that's freedom for you. The people will cooperate if they see that it is to their own interest, but they are not patient. If the petty tyrants in office try to push this too far, it will not be a pretty end.

[AKDoug]

Imma gonna go nuts.

Somewhere, back in that forever-long C19 thread, I noted that we would be seeing a shift away from "we need to stay at home to avoid overwhelming our hospitals" (a good thing) to "we need to stay at home until a vaccine is developed so nobody, anywhere gets sick." (Perhaps not as good, IMHO.) Opinions can and probably will vary on the prudence of the current tack, but it’s clear that the narrative has changed—regardless of how one feels about it.

Mrs Sidhe and I had a chance to chat directly with our ID guy here on Wednesday evening, so I can report directly that, as of a couple of days ago, there is literally no wait time whatsoever in our ERs and urgent care places, and 14 people hospitalized for C19. We clearly have surplus capacity at the moment in my region.

This is in no way meant to minimize the C19 issues faced elsewhere. I’m just reiterating that different regions have differing challenges around this pandemic. I already know—directly—of two *extremely* popular local restaurants that won’t be coming back after the initial shutdown. There are a bunch of layers to this onion, and I’m a bit concerned that the east side is, yet again, only seeing Seattle’s layers.

I dunno. Maybe I don’t understand the problem. I do know that our hospitals are empty. We’ve got a *pile* of available beds. Data point of one city, sure, but that’s the way it is, as of 2 days ago. And we are looking at another 7 weeks of this, minimum, before we even get to an allowed 50% capacity re-opening for our area service industries.

Imma gonna go nuts.

My dad just flew down to his house in East Wenatchee. He's 75 and there's no telling him what to do. I drove him to the airport this morning (a two hour drive). He wasn't very talkative, but one point he did make was that he figured he only had another decade on this planet left and he wasn't about to spend 10% of it sitting in the house. He's planning on golfing on the 5th. My mom stayed home, and he'll have two quarantine in Alaska for 14 days when he gets back in two weeks. As soon as that's done they're going to fly back down and drive their spare car back to Alaska.

[idahojess]

Here is an example of the nonsense that's going on in Washington State (because I think people who don't live here are not aware):

I'm sure most carwashes in the state are open, but this business, Brown Bear Car Wash, had the respect/foolishness to ask the State if they could be open, because the list of essential services allowed to occur is pretty damn vague. The answer: nope, you're not essential.

Brown Bear Car Wash is currently shut down due to the stay-at-home order in place across Washington state. You can grab a coffee, stop by a pot store to pick up weed, and get a burger on your way home, but you can’t wash your car in a drive-thru.

“We’ve contacted Inslee’s office directly, been in contact with his special assistant, and the response has been dismissive,” said Lance Odermat, vice president of Brown Bear, on the Dori Monson Show. “They don’t want to hear the reasoning or logic, and we have been told that we are to remain closed under no uncertain terms.”

https://mynorthwest.com/1847157/brow...e-thru-closed/

Many of the restrictions on businesses in this state don't have any relationship to social distancing, limiting gatherings or protective measures (which I'm not disagreeing with). The essential/non essential list of businesses is just picking arbitrary winners and losers, and I have a feeling it's politically driven. But it may just be pure incompetence combined with layers of risk-averse, elitist technocrats.

The number of conflicting proclamations, and subsequent "interpretations" of proclamations, is creating something that starts to look like decrees from a Regent.

For example, read this gem, from this week, which "clarifies" which construction is allowed, in case you were foolish enough to think you could undertake any construction, as long as you followed safety rules and had hand washing available: https://www.governor.wa.gov/news-med...ion-activities

Inslee actually has the audacity to say he's working on a plan to allow drive-in church services by mid-May. What the heck is there to plan? You actually have to jump through hoops just to buy a new car in this state, by showing that you work in a "essential service" and don't have a car. Imagine being a car dealer.

https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/car...BFKSAGO3N6EF4/

But maybe, just maybe, by mid-May such risky behaviors will be allowed.

By mid-May, Inslee said, he expects the state will have protocols to allow retail shops to offer curbside pickup, along with auto sales and car washes – all with some restrictions. The state also will allow “drive-in spiritual services” with one household per vehicle.

https://www.spokesman.com/stories/20...iness-closure/

Fortunately, on May 5, we will allowed to golf (I don't), fish, and hunt, because, no shit, we were forbidden from those high risk activities since March.

We best not complain.

[TheNewbie]

Much of the country has given in to hysteria. The virus is a real threat, but so is the response.

I feel terrible for both the victims of the virus and the victims of the response.

[Stephanie B]

Sorry, man. Closing local non-chain businesses permanently is one of my main worries about all this. On top of guys like you and my cousin who maybe starve for not being able to go out and perform.

I also worry about the chains, where the franchisors may look on this as an opportunity to get rid of a bunch of franchisees.