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More bars and restaurants shut for the winter
By adamg on Wed, 12/16/2020 - 11:26am
Boston Restaurant Talk updates the list, starting with Cityside in Cleveland Circle.
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Comments
“We’ve tried nothing and we’re all out of ideas!”
“Baker and Walsh can’t order restaurants to shutdown, it will put people out of work!”
Well, whatever it is that we are doing now is putting a hell of a lot of people out of work, too. Baker gets to run his next election saying he was hands-off on a second shutdown and we get stuck with shuttering businesses and uncontrolled Covid spread.
”But the informal gatherings!
Shelter in place/stay at home orders had a big impact in the spring.
“But some people will just ignore the orders and go to their friends’ homes anyway!
So what? That means nothing will be lost by at least trying it out. Worst case nothing changes, best case many people adhere to the orders and we see improvement.
ned.flanders.parents.gif
Courious
How many paychecks have you missed/lost this year to COVID. If ZERO, than you're speaking from a position of privilege and need to take a step back.
Laid off since March.
How many checks are people missing from each of these permanent closures/“hibernations”? How many restaurants that are still open are at full employment? How many tipped workers still working are earning the same as they did same period last year?
The argument that “less restrictions = saving jobs” is half-assed and becomes weaker and weaker every time an independent business “chooses” to close. (By choose, I mean “is coerced”.)
Our current course of action is failing at “saving jobs” and is propagating uncontrolled spread; call me crazy for considering that unacceptable and demanding better from our government.
Better mousetrap
Many experts have called for full shutdowns but for short, fixed amounts of time. Real shutdowns: No take-out, no delivery, and no in-person transactions of any kind except supermarkets and pharmacies.
The idea being there's less pain, more compliance, and less virus transmission if everything is closed for 10 days instead of a mix of restrictions that have no known end. Basically, put the entire state into quarantine to reduce the spread considerably as everyone stays home. Think of it as a COVID circuit breaker.
Psychologically, people are more willing to accept staying isolated when the duration isn't opened ended.
Outside of the full shutdowns periods restaurants and other businesses can remain open but at lower capacities.
Yes to a circuit breaker
I remember at the beginning of this whole thing there were many of us who said “there’s plenty of economic scholarship that shows that tight restrictions and making truly tough, aggressive decisions at the beginning of pandemics, no matter how sharp the pain, shows time and time again that it has better long-term public health outcomes and economies bounce back far quicker”. But then people like the dearly deleted Stevil (rest in virtual peace) would argue, due to his expertise in personal finance, “that can’t possibly be true; we should adopt the Swedish model”.
Countries such as Australia and New Zealand that did the difficult but right things from the beginning are now almost back to normal. Australia recently went 10 days with zero community spread. It reports single-digits for new daily cases, same as New Zealand and many other Pacific nations. Australia is back to music festivals and New Zealand has been back to school for months.
This is to say we had good evidence as to what to do at the beginning of the pandemic and now we have real-time, concrete examples of how aggressive control of a pandemic reaps quicker economic rewards, yet we are stuck in a “Waiting for Godot” time loop with Vladimir Baker and Estragon Walsh repeating the lament “nothing to be done”.
Yes, I accept that the Feds’ malicious inaction feeds local leadership a poop sandwich of making truly difficult choices, but a.) their jobs, and leadership in general, literally require difficult choices and b.) I refuse to accept that the only reasonable choices that can be made by local leaders are the relatively liassez-faire choices made by Baker. Walsh has made a more aggressive decision, but has followed Baker’s lead on restaurants thus far in December.
So yes, I would fully support a circuit breaker. There are rumblings that Washington may pass relief today (I’ll believe it when the checks clear), we are going into Christmas “break” for many, and January is a useless month in the restaurant industry any year; perhaps the coming weeks are ripe for circuit breaker conditions.
Island nations not the best comparison.
Australia and New Zealand are not the best comparison being that they are island nations. New Zealand has 4 international Airports, and only 2 of those see much traffic. They have no land borders and a population smaller than MA.
The US has about 90x the population and 104 international airports and 50 states without borders, all of which have different rules and regulations. Europe also has a similar setup, with open land borders, and for the most part has fared worse than the US. Especially in the countries with harder lockdowns and mask mandates like Spain, Italy, UK, France, Belgium.
Oddly the places with no lockdown (Sweden and Belarus) or minimal lockdowns and low mask usage (Denmark, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Netherlands) have all done far better.
Germany seems to be an example of a place where hard measures were a little more effective, but they seem to be catching up quickly right now. They have also had major protests there far larger than any Australian music festival.
Its also worth noting anecdotally, that Woodstock was held here during the last substantial Pandemic in the US. The Hong Kong flu killed 100,000 in 1969, but guess what, its one of those things that happens. We were just a little bit more informed, educated, and self sufficient back then. We certainly werent stupid enough to ruin the lives of the healthy and destroy our children's education. Now we have pharma marketing controlling everything the media says, creating fear. Much in the way 9/11 convinced people they were scared of the terrorist muslim boogeyman, and got them to cheerlead the patriot act and removal of many basic human rights to privacy and frredom. Covid is 9/11 on steroids. 50,000 medical professional and scientists have signed the Great Barrington Declaration. Yet people still get their news off facebook and twitter and pharma funded media.
100% self inflicted wound
These closures have nothing to to with Covid and everything yo do with our response. For clarification look no further than places that didnt close like Belarus or Sweden. Mostvof Scandanavia, in fact had minimal lockdowns and very little mask wearing, yet doing miles better than the US.
Do you disagree?
Money vs Lives
This is what we're talking about.
We are discussing the merits of lives vs money. You cannot put a price tag on life.
This is why we suck as a nation, we're more concerned about losing money than we are about lives. No compassion, no caring.. just
MY BUSINESS IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOUR LIFE, I HAVE A RIGHT TO STAY OPEN.
No different than the maskholes who refuse to wear a mask.
Our society sucks so bad.. so so bad. This pandemic has made it very clear where we suck.
Cybah
Man, I hear the same same pessimism and distress in my inner monologue as you express in many of your recent comments. I’m glad you say those things out loud. Thank you.
It does suck and you have a right to feel as angry as you do. But I, for one, hope the bastards don’t grind you down. And I think there are others here that agree. Remember that a vaccine is close; while not a miracle drug to cure society, it is something we can all look forward to.
Because
Because after a year of this garbage, we haven't gotten any better, we've just gotten worse. It's time to stop sugar coating things and say what we're really feeling.
We really do suck as a nation. I'm just being truthful. Even the vaccine I'm not excited about. First off, it doesn't fix how awful we suck as a nation, but also:
"In the spring, WWE wrestlers were deemed "essential" by Florida so they could still perform. The WWE is owned by the McMahons, who have donated millions to GOP causes." (source)
This means WRESTLERS will get the vaccine in Florida before others. Sure we're not florida, but I have lots of at risk friends in Florida who won't get this before WRESTLERS.
Its all great now that front line people are getting it, but the next phase.. once again the rich and connected will get it first. I have other examples.. my twitter is full of them with the tag "we suck".
And its not just this.. go read about heard immunity and how our own Gov't pushed this. Yep they are gone (but not without a fight, as seen today). We're just disgusting.. and it's time to stop pretending that we're not.
As far as me. a visual description of me lately can be see here. I also picked up some headcold/chest cold thing, so I've been sicker than a dog. (and yes, a covid test says its not covid). And I'd love to know where from.. I don't go anywhere. Its also been a joy trying to be see IN PERSON cuz no doctors office wants to even come near you with anything respitory.
Yeah just not in the best of spirits these days. Ho Ho Ho!
My business is more important to ME
Than your life. It my life and my livelihood. By all means, keep yourself locked away, that your decision.