How is the corona virus affecting you?

Went to Walmart today (been going there a lot more since the pandemic started). I noticed they've loosened their restrictions.

There used to be three to four people at the entrance, half-heartedly policing masks, counting people (I think), and sanitizing carts.

One person today, just the usual greeter, and I think they may be done with sanitizing carts and leaving it up to the shopper. Also, they used to have one-way shopping lanes, and it looks like those stickers have all been removed.

I'd also say mask usage is dropping again, maybe 70% of shoppers making the attempt.
 
Yorky said:
I worked for 6 months on a pipeline project which "skirted" Blackpool in '72. I think I've only been back once and I didn't stop the car.
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I rode the wooden roller coaster in Blackpool. Yes, I was scared but I had to do it. I found it 20 years outdated. The town that is. I bought some rock for the kids.

Russ
 
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TastyReuben said:
It's why I absolutely despise the term "settled science." Science, by its very nature, is never settled. It's merely a reflection of what we've figured out based on the evidence we have so far.
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Well, I'm pretty sure Gravity is settled science. :wink:

CD
 
TastyReuben said:
Went to Walmart today (been going there a lot more since the pandemic started). I noticed they've loosened their restrictions.

There used to be three to four people at the entrance, half-heartedly policing masks, counting people (I think), and sanitizing carts.

One person today, just the usual greeter, and I think they may be done with sanitizing carts and leaving it up to the shopper. Also, they used to have one-way shopping lanes, and it looks like those stickers have all been removed.

I'd also say mask usage is dropping again, maybe 70% of shoppers making the attempt.
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They have dropped the entrance procedures here, too. Sanitizing carts has always given a false sense of security, IMO. You are going to touch all kinds of things inside the store, not just a cart. I sanitize my hands when I get back in my car. And, the one-way stickers were on the floor, and hard to notice when you are looking for items on shelves. I have to admit, I went the wrong way often, because I just didn't notice the one-way stickers on the floor.

Mask usage is still at or near 100-percent in Frisco, TX, from my observations. Restaurants are where mask usage gets iffy, since you can't eat or drink with a mask over your mouth.

CD
 
TastyReuben said:
Went to Walmart today (been going there a lot more since the pandemic started). I noticed they've loosened their restrictions.

There used to be three to four people at the entrance, half-heartedly policing masks, counting people (I think), and sanitizing carts.

One person today, just the usual greeter, and I think they may be done with sanitizing carts and leaving it up to the shopper. Also, they used to have one-way shopping lanes, and it looks like those stickers have all been removed.

I'd also say mask usage is dropping again, maybe 70% of shoppers making the attempt.
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Things went this way in the UK about three months ago, when infections rates dropped to their lowest point. One way systems disappeared, strictly controlled entrance measure went. You now have to sanctities your own trolleys and baskets, but all shops still have hand sanitisation stations at entrances. At the height of restrictions most supermarkets would limit the number of customers in store, and their would be lengthy queues outside, everyone distancing at 2m. Now the queues have gone (with one exception, to be covered later), partly because panic buying has (or had) stopped, and partly because many people decided they didn't like the shopping experience any more and switched to on-line shopping. Supermarkets have experienced a huge surge in on-line shopping, most recruiting thousands of new employees as pickers and drivers, and the stores generally seem as quiet as when the numbers were controlled.
 
rascal said:
Over there you buy a stick they call rock, it has Blackpool written through it. Brilliant really.
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Blackpool-stick-of-rock-009.jpg
 
Whilst most organisations are having to adapt in order to survive during covid affected times, others are using the pandemic to their own advantage and to accelerate changes they were pushing for anyway. Amongst those organisations are banks. They have been trying to reduce their real estate holdings for years, forcing more and more customers into online banking, or call centres. Whilst other organisations are having to adapt to accommodate customers, the banks are doing the opposite, actively taking measures specifically designed not to accommodate customers. Most of the banks in my local town used to be open 6 days per week, and generally between the hours of 09:00 - 16:30. Now, most only open five days per week, and the opening hours are down to 10:00 - 14:00. The only places you will queues outside are the odd tiny sandwich shop (that can only accommodate 2 customers at a time), and every single bank. Unlike at supermarkets, the queues outside banks show no sign of reducing though.
 
rascal said:
Over there you buy a stick they call rock, it has Blackpool written through it. Brilliant really.
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My mate Norman got the Title Mad because working for a big rock maker in his School hols he wrote Fxxx Blackpool through a number of miles of rock. All was not lost as they sold it cheap to Romania. I was quite impressed with Norm because he spelled it correctly. NB this was before smell checker.
 
epicuric said:
Whilst most organisations are having to adapt in order to survive during covid affected times, others are using the pandemic to their own advantage and to accelerate changes they were pushing for anyway. Amongst those organisations are banks. They have been trying to reduce their real estate holdings for years, forcing more and more customers into online banking, or call centres. Whilst other organisations are having to adapt to accommodate customers, the banks are doing the opposite, actively taking measures specifically designed not to accommodate customers. Most of the banks in my local town used to be open 6 days per week, and generally between the hours of 09:00 - 16:30. Now, most only open five days per week, and the opening hours are down to 10:00 - 14:00. The only places you will queues outside are the odd tiny sandwich shop (that can only accommodate 2 customers at a time), and every single bank. Unlike at supermarkets, the queues outside banks show no sign of reducing though.
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I visit my Thai bank twice/year. December to renew my deposit account (I'm locked in for 12 months) and May to obtain a letter from them to prove to Thai Immigration that I have sufficient funds to stay another year.

I have never visited my UK Bank (initially RBSI in Jersey, now Natwest Intenational in Isle of Man) in the 25 years that I have had an account.
 
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epicuric said:
Whilst most organisations are having to adapt in order to survive during covid affected times, others are using the pandemic to their own advantage and to accelerate changes they were pushing for anyway. Amongst those organisations are banks. They have been trying to reduce their real estate holdings for years, forcing more and more customers into online banking, or call centres. Whilst other organisations are having to adapt to accommodate customers, the banks are doing the opposite, actively taking measures specifically designed not to accommodate customers. Most of the banks in my local town used to be open 6 days per week, and generally between the hours of 09:00 - 16:30. Now, most only open five days per week, and the opening hours are down to 10:00 - 14:00. The only places you will queues outside are the odd tiny sandwich shop (that can only accommodate 2 customers at a time), and every single bank. Unlike at supermarkets, the queues outside banks show no sign of reducing though.
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We have banks on every steet corner. But, they all offer drive through banking, so you can do most transactions without leaving your car. It has been that way for decades, in the US -- nothing new with Covid. If there is a line/queue at a bank, it is a line of cars at the drive through lanes. I can't remember the last time I was actually inside a bank. In fact, I do about 95-percent of my banking transactions online. If I have to deposit a paper check/cheque, I use the drive through.

CD
 
Our goverment has issued a ' strong recommendation' to wear face masks in public buildings, but says it can't enforce them. I will comply though, I want to protect myself as much as possible.

If this doesn't work they will install a curfew, which scares me as I've had to drive to hospital at night a few times without warning .
 
Windigo said:
Our goverment has issued a ' strong recommendation' to wear face masks in public buildings, but says it can't enforce them. I will comply though, I want to protect myself as much as possible.

If this doesn't work they will install a curfew, which scares me as I've had to drive to hospital at night a few times without warning .
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In Texas, it is not a recommendation, it is an Executive Order. Businesses can tell you to leave, and you could even be arrested if you refuse to leave. That's the only way masks work -- if everyone has to wear them in public places. It is like stop signs and speed limits on roadways, they don't work if they are just "recommendations."

CD
 
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