Jerseygirl

The border between Canada and US will remain closed until 21 July.

Much of the Greater Toronto Area is still under lockdown.

Kooky.

King County, Washington State, is currently in a modified phase 1. We've applied to go to phase 2. WA case numbers are going back up, we've regularly had 12,000 people at protests and allegedly 60,000 at a silent march last Friday. Progressing to phase 2 makes no sense to me.

macliam

There have been no cases reported in our municipality and few in the region; The whole south of Portugal has (until now) escaped the levels of infection in Lisbon and further north ..... and Portugal has had far fewer cases than Spain, even allowing for the huge population difference. How long that will remain the case now that tourism is being opened in the Algarve and people are travelling within Portugal is the question.

The friends she has visited have been isolating the same as she has.... and the restaurants have removed every other table and use masks, etc. Quite how you man a charcoal grill in a mask, I don't know.....

BristolUK

So at dinner tonight my SD says "if I come down with any symptoms, lock me in my room."

Apparently a colleague was greeting people upon entry to the store and a guy came in with a couple of other people, one of whom coughed. The guy said "she's been doing that for hours and she's from Campbellton" - otherwise known as the Covid-19 capital of an otherwise almost free from active case province.

This was relayed to my SD some time later and she immediately said the colleague should tell the manager.

I can't believe the greeter didn't report it straight away. The guy should have been asked to leave and maybe police called too.

It's very likely a joke. But people have been charged for stuff like this and in other cases stores have closed for cleaning.

What if it's not a joke?

I'm tempted to report it via crimestoppers but if anything happened to have it investigated - store CCTV check, police interview etc - there could be confidentiality implications for my SD.

This is where you need a union so a delegation could go to management.

Steerpike

What is this 'greeter's role at the store? It's not like the Walmart's here where they pay some poor soul to do nothing but 'greet', is it?

At my local grocery store the other day, there was a kid with a clipboard (and no mask) calling to everyone who entered and asking for donations for some cause (support our football team, or some such nonsense). I thought to myself, what an idiot for doing this under current circumstances, and how many people will be unnecessarily exposed if they do go and engage with him.

People ...

BristolUK

Not normally no. It's just one of the new procedures to go with the distancing, screens for cashiers, detailed screening and temperature checking of all staff etc. Some greeting is now done by regular staff.
That's crazy. In normal times there's a lot of that but usually on premises. Even if outside I'm surprised the store is allowing it.

As a comparison the German football league (playing with no spectators) - and the English Premier League is about to follow suit - they have actually dispensed with ball boys/girls. Why have more people than necessary? Instead, they have increased the numbers of spare balls around the pitch and they just pick up the nearest one to avoid a delay. That store should adopt the same idea for non-essential bodies.

I seem to recall Js saying that Walmart in his area don't have the greeters now. Perhaps because they are not essential?

kimilseung

I think during lockdown I have become a minor shopoholic. I am not bankrupting the family or anything, But I do find myself looking forward to Amazon deliveries, I have a minor project going on in my office/computer space, and I find myself researching, buying and installing little bits of kit. Just when I think I have got my space just as I want it, I go online again and look fro the next little addition that can improve it. It gets bought, I anticipate its delivery, I. set it up, and off we go again. We are talking items from between a couple of hundred dollars and a handful of dollars. As I say not a financial concern, But I did decide to not buy somethings this week and make use of pieces of wood I have in the garage.which did as good of a job, and will be fun to finnish myself with tools. Just wondering if anyone else has experienced any new behavioral issues such as this.

Jsmth321

The Wal-Mart in Vancouver (we only have 1 location in the City of Vancouver.) seems to have replaced their store greeter with a 3rd party security guard, some greet where others just stand there doing nothing, but then they are security guards not greeters. When my wife worked at a Wal-Mart in another city, the greeters were all older or disabled, they just greeted mostly, one lady sat in her wheel chair, she was funny, but she couldn't do a whole lot due to age and lack of mobility but as she said gives her some extra gambling money and out of the house a few times a week. But that was pre-COVID.

Now Wal-Mart does seem to think everyone is 5'5 are shorter, about as tall as one can be and still actually get any kind of protection from the plastic shields they put around the cashiers. Almost seems the floor workers are at highest risk, but they are not surrounded by plastic and have to deal with the masses of customers while cleaning and stocking, should really do all the stocking overnight to minimize staff on the floor and aisles.

Update from British Columbia

- People continue to shop like the world is ending, stores are busy like its Christmas next week, toilet paper is in good supply, but hand soap is becoming more difficult to find, as it cheese, stores either are selling faster than they can stock, or the supply chain is slow.
- 11 new cases announced today, no deaths.

- PPE is wise since the start of the pandemic BC has acquired 5.5 million N95 respirators, 2 million eye protection pieces, 40 million pairs of gloves, and 2 million gowns. Government recognizes that while there was a stockpile of these items in place pre-COVID it is now clear the stockpile was not sufficient. At the height of the pandemic 12,000 N95 respirators were being used every day, compared to 1,800 a day before COVID-19.

- Government says they have learned from this experience, and will create a better stockpile and a PPE testing laboratory is being established in Vancouver to help with that effort.

- There is mention New Zealand has an imported case now as well as a new outbreak in Beijing?

- Health Officer once again reminding people to avoid groups, and that the virus is still a risk, and will continue to be a risk, and while the curve is flat, we are still at risk of seeing spikes.

- Federal Government is extending CERB 8 additional weeks (emergency funding for the unemployed and drastically under employed) of course this extension has led to some interesting debates online, more people against these assistance programs than I would have thought.

BEVS

Two cases in NZ. Both imported from the Covid19 unsafe UK. It seems one may have omitted to state they had a symptom. It is a 14 day quarantine for NZers returning however these were given a dispensation to leave quarantine & travel the length of the North Island because of a terminal parent. Seems the trust there was misplaced as the 2 teenagers with them also went AWOL. The health official(s) involved dropped the ball hee. It should be test quarantine test. No exceptions

moneypenny20

Jacinda's video message admitted as much and said no more dispensation. I like that she doesn't beat about the bush but puts her hands up, admits they made a mistake and explain how they're going to fix it. I imagine whoever cocked up is in serious dodo!

Steerpike

I've been that way for some time, pre-covid, but I guess it's got a bit stronger. I find that I can spend 'not much' and get a real kick! I also do it almost exclusively with tech stuff. And I love that you can research to the n'th degree, having so much time on your hands.

robin1234

There was a video on TfL website about how to make a face mask from a bandana and two of those hair elastics. I found those two products on amazon, different suppliers, and ordered them. One was like £2, the other maybe £4! I ordered them, they came, I haven’t owned a bandana like that since maybe 1968! I didn’t make the face mask yet..

tumbleweedly

I saw that idea about making the mask and made one out of a cotton bandana and two hair elastics for my BH. He wore it when he had to go to emergency for a foot infection two weeks ago and it worked ok but not the not the greatest. So they gave him a few free masks while he was there.

tumbleweedly

We ordered groceries delivered today and the deliverer tried to open our door unmasked and without even knocking.
Thank goodness we had one of the door bolts in as he was breathing very heavy from walking up the stairs. He was a huge black guy. The store has begun using a delivery group called 'shopopop' where people can deliver groceries to anyone ordering. The delivery person has to get a code # or they don't get paid after doing the deliveries and returning to the store. We write the code number on paper and slip it under the door. With all this Black LIves Matter stuff going on, even though I feel like I need to make a complaint on this mans behavior, I know I would if he was white, but I seem nervous about saying anything to the store. All other deliveries over the last month the delivery people have been wearing masks and ringing the bell and putting the bags of groceris nearly right against the door. He had them spread out all over the area, practically blocking anyone from getting up to the stairs to the next floor.

All lives matter!

moneypenny20

I would report it. Maybe he hasn't been trained properly, maybe he's been given a time limit and was struggling to organise himself, maybe he's an idiot but it's not like you're trying to get him fired. If everyone else had been careless it wouldn't be so much of an issue because you'd expect it. He cocked up and there could be serious health consequences to both him and his customers.