Coronavirus Diaries

Man they are tough - you should be able to sit in your own car - the only splatter would be in the car.

Even though local cafe has chairs outside - they can't have anyone sitting inside but nothing is stopping them from being outside (except it is a bit cool and windy today). As long as they are 6 feet from the door for those coming and going.

50m is a bit more than 164 feet. I don't know how tough the local municipalities's law enforcement agencies or handling this or if its even done by the police.

Yeah that is why I said right outside the door - like at the strip malls - you could be within that many feet sitting in your car enjoying your steak and cheese while blasting the music. No danger to anyone. And then wham! Slapped with a ticket.

I would think the police would not think it worth potentially collecting corona virus from you for a ticket.

To prove it - I am going to travel to Germany and just do that.

You can't generalise such - what I wrote above is just about the state of Lower Saxony. And even there, it is handled differently from municipality to municipality.

We have the same regulations in our state, I only just now noticed.

Well then I am coming to Lower Saxony!

This is the best I have seen.

My daughter had a picnic yesterday - she had a socially distancing picnic with her boyfriend - both with gloves and masks on.

I asked her how they ate with masks on!

Of course they lowered them when they were eating.

It helped her emotional state which has been fluctuating up and down.

I told her this weekend she could pick one of the colleges she is interested in and we can visit - of course we cannot do a real tour - but we can drive around the campus and the area - one thing is has to be within two hour drive as we may not be able to find a bathroom!

Trying to have as much "normal" things as we can and still accomplish some things.

I scored today!

We again found ourselves running low on TP -- probably enough to last us a week or so, but with 4 people in the house - I did not want to run out. A manager at Target clued me to - to come when the store opens as they restock at night. Well with the old folks having an hour headstart on me - I got there 5 minutes before it is supposed to be open for the general public - I figured 55 minutes is enough for them and broke the rule and went.

Nothing - not one piece of tissue left. I am thinking I am going to storm some seniors home and see their house filled to the rafters with TP.

So later I went online - everywhere out of stock. Some like Target say they have in store only but I am wise to this as I have been fooled before.

Check some other places ones you typically do not shop for TP - found one - and it actually told you the approximate amount they had in the store - one was really close but it said they only had 6-7 left so I figured I would be too late for that so I went to the one 6 miles away which said they had 10+ in stock plus others that were not the store brand.

Score! I got to buy two of the last packages of the good stuff - extra soft Quilted Northern. They had lots more of the store brand but I was actually able to get some that I would buy in normal circumstances!

Crazy days when you are happy about getting TP of one of the brands you prefer.

Husband is back in the office.

State had just declared this week that everyone must have face coverings in public. Went to the grocery store - had a small line, at the front of the store was the sign saying you cannot enter without a face covering per governor. Guy in front of me had no covering. Some other guy just walked in ignoring those in line .... store employee did not say anything to either one.

To be honest I don't blame him --- he probably gets paid very little --- why chance an idiot hitting him or causing any other sort of violence.

Everyone else was patient and polite.

Saw this the other day on facebook - had my daughter read it as she is finishing her junior year in high school - hoping that another teenager might have a bit more impact on her than someone like myself in trying to grasp all that is going on.

When she finished reading it (and surprisingly she read the whole thing as usually she ignores me on alot of stuff) I asked do you think she got an A on this assignment? My daughter said yes - she certainly deserves one.

https://www.boston.com/culture/coronavirus/2020/05/07/georgetown-high-school-senior-shares-message-for-underclassmen

My name is Cassandra and I am a senior at Georgetown High School, well I was, I guess. This pandemic kind of ruined everything and I speak for myself, but I’m sure others can relate, I took for granted everyday life. I took for granted being so busy and forgetting to eat dinner or telling my friends to hang out and not having to think twice about it. I wish somebody told me to not take life, and especially senior year, lightly. So this is what I’m going to do for [those of] you listening. Whether you’re a junior, freshman, or just started middle school, I’d like to give you some advice, some I wish somebody told me sooner.

I am not sure how to start because honestly I don’t have much to say. But I address this mainly to underclassmen, especially juniors. Being a senior is weird. It is a year you look forward to since day one. Especially the sports seasons, graduation, and prom. I can’t explain it but doing something for the last time, there’s a very different feeling associated with it. It’s almost like you prepared in your mind the day and feeling of your last pep rally, soccer game etc. But the feeling at least for me, was not real until it happened. And sometimes, you can’t experience everything you thought you would. So my advice to you: Go watch that basketball game, walk through those halls to your next class like you will never get to again, because honestly you really never know. I advise you to learn to love chemistry class, and calculating the square root of an imperfect number. Because I am sitting here on April 21, 2020, in quarantine, twenty minutes after hearing my last day of high school was March 13, and the things I’d do to go back are unreal.

When I was a freshman my mom told me it goes by fast, I did not believe it for even a second. I really underestimated the time I had left with my best friends. It was not until my last soccer game, when those final three whistles blew and I thought to myself, ‘my mom was right.’ (Not really a surprise there.) But she was right. All those soccer games I played throughout my life, suddenly came to an end because those final three whistles at the end of the last season game said so. I never thought I’d say this but I miss the sprints and three-mile runs. Who knew I’d miss something that in the moment, I couldn’t wait to be over?

To my soccer teammates, my heart aches for those of you who are missing your spring sport season because of all this chaos. But I just wanted to say thank you for being my very best friends. Play every game like you’ll never get to again. Do everything you possibly can to score goals and stop the other team from scoring. But most of all, be kind to each other. I wish you all the brightest of futures and I’ll be on the sideline in the fall to watch you win.

And I guess it’s true, you really don’t know what you have until it’s gone.

A 20-year-old American man tried disguising himself as a cleaner to cheat coronavirus border controls in Germany so he could see his girlfriend, police said Tuesday.

Lovesick American dons cleaner costume in bid to visit girlfriend in Germany

True love knows no bounds obviously has some limits.

That's sweet in a weird twisted way.

I had forgotten this - when we went and did our social distance visit to my mom - she told me about her neighbors two doors down. Apparently they do not care about this virus at all - they have regular parties all the time with many many people over.

I first hand saw this while I was there. People were driving up and walking over there no masks or anything. The worst of it is they just walked through the guy next doors yard without a thought. My mom told me they often times just park in his drive way as well.

There are some people that will just do whatever they want no matter what.

So now I read in an article that in MA that there are certain cities (the smaller cities) that have a higher rate of COVID than other communities.

As stated from the article - "Chelsea, Brockton and other smaller Massachusetts cities continue to have the highest rates of coronavirus cases."

One of which is where my mom lives. I know personally that these cities mentioned tend to have a high rate of immigrants - I would even say many illegal immigrants. I know the home I mentioned that holds all these parties are immigrants which from my knowledge are legal.

Do you think it is because these communities have a high amount of immigrants that they have higher rates ? Are they less informed? Is it a language or cultural barrier?

I have done volunteer work with undocumented immigrants (many of us find that using the word "illegal" to refer to a human being is offensive).

Undocumented immigrant often work in the service sector. They are caring for children, working in restaurants. This brings them into contact with a lot of people. Add to this the fact that they are generally working low wage jobs and receiving zero social support... it is simply impossible for them to stop working.

Social distancing is part of White privilege. If you are a middle class White lawyer or account manager or marketing person... working from home is really not a problem. And even if you lose some work, you have savings and will be fine. For these low wage workers, working from home is not possible, and neither is simply staying home. If these immigrants don't work, they don't eat.

If you are self-isolating from home, enjoy your privilege. Not everyone has that luxury.

Really?

This article "... examined the number of months that a family headed by someone of “prime working age,” between 24 and 55 years old, could continue to self-fund its current consumption, presuming the liquidation of all financial assets except home equity, if the family were to lose its income—a different way of looking at the emergency question. He found that in 2013, prime-working-age families in the bottom two income quintiles had no net worth at all and thus nothing to spend. A family in the middle quintile, with an average income of roughly $50,000, could continue its spending for … six days. Even in the second-highest quintile, a family could maintain its normal consumption for only 5.3 months..."

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/05/my-secret-shame/476415/

Now granted I do not know how many other people are having parties - why is this house having parties during social distancing? Is it lack of knowledge, not caring..something else? This particular home - they own their own business - doing plumbing. Many of the legal or documented immigrants I know that are friends seem to all have their own small businesses, including some services like restaurants, plumbing, floor work, electrical and masonry.

I can see the service side of the industry - but restaurants are closed?

Speaking of restaurant - small businesses - the local pizza place we like is owned by an immigrant from Greece. I went yesterday to get a calzone - and even though our governor said that everyone needs to wear masks - the owner and his worker when I went to pick it up - neither was wearing a mask or gloves. I was....

So I am curious - is there something cultural or just mis-informed?

And my husband has to go to his office - they required starting this week.

He also lost his part time job due to the COVID. So although I do have (and I am certainly thankful) get to work from home - my husband doesn't and we have lost part of our income - due to his part time job and due to his job is partly paid via commission. We cannot get compensated for this with unemployment. We simply need to make cutbacks - not having to drive or pay for public transportation has helped on the expenses.

I am not making this a racial thing or anything else - but the numbers speak - maybe it is simply that most in these categories are in the service industry.

And my white brother is a nurse working with covid patients - I am sure he would be pleased to see you think he is privileged - I guess being a white will protect him.

Are you really comparing the economic situation of a White middle class family with that of undocumented immigrants? A monthly income of $50,000 is fantastically high for the people you are judging.

Undocumented immigrants generally make far less that $50,000. Not only this but they have trouble getting banking services and credit cards that many White families are now relying on. And most White middle class families have gotten at least one stimulous check from the government.

This has nothing to do with immigrants being "cultural" or "mis-informed" or "ignorant". This has everything to do with White middle class Americans failing to understand that no everyone has the luxuries that they have.

Consider all of the advantages that you have. If I took away

- your bank accounts,
- your ability to borrow against credit.
- your comfortable salary and your ability to have extra for savings
- your right to claim unemployment if you are unable to work
- your ability to work from home
- and your government stimulus money.

You might just find it difficult to practice social distancing as well. How about not passing judgement on people who don't have all the advantages that you take for granted?

No I am saying that the middle class does not typically have a large pot of savings to survive if they go without a paycheck. Many live paycheck to paycheck. What middle class person makes $50k a month? No one I know -

I am discussing immigrants of all kinds and the immigrants I was directly referring and providing examples of are legal immigrants. So it isn't a money thing - that is why I potentially thought it could be cultural.

So why are these immigrants having parties and not isolating (outside of work) or the Greek business owner not using a mask or gloves? He may not be able to socially isolate to keep his business operating, but you would think he would follow the governors guidelines. What does having a party have to do with some sort of luxury they do not have? I honestly doubt they do not have the following or they could not run a business (the Greek pizza guy had no issue running my credit card for example):

- bank accounts,
- the ability to borrow against credit.
- a comfortable salary and your ability to have extra for savings
- your right to claim unemployment if you are unable to work - (maybe this seeing they are business owners)
- your ability to work from home - (yeah because they are running a business)
- and government stimulus money.

Some of these items you listed I do not have myself and many citizens do not have.

As a point - Immigrants are entitled to a stimulus check -

"In order to qualify for the payments, you must be either a U.S. citizen, a lawful permanent resident (green card holder), or a qualifying resident alien. The first two categories are self explanatory. However, who is and is not a qualifying resident alien can get tricky.

The IRS defines a resident alien as someone who either is a green card holder or meets the substantial presence test for the calendar year (January 1 to December 31).

In order to pass the substantial presence test, you must be present in the U.S. for 31 days during the current year, and 183 total days in the past three years. "

Now an undocumented immigrant would not. But you made this about undocumented immigrants - I was discussing all immigrants.

I am not passing judgement - I am simply asking the question to understand. If I was passing judgement I would not ask why? I think it is valid - I think if you care about others you want to know why so you find out how to help.

Why would it be offensive to discuss if something were cultural? It is trying to understand and appreciate where someone is coming from.

You started this discussion by saying "these cities mentioned tend to have a high rate of immigrants - I would even say many illegal immigrants".