Shanghai Disneyland will close in effort to contain coronavirus

The running joke in this part of the country is that the people in charge of the Chick-Fil-A drive through at lunch should run the vaccine distribution.

Happened in South Carolina:

https://abc7.com/chick-fil-a-coronavirus-covid-vaccine-drive-thru/10215701/

There are a lot of people out there who have transferrable skills, many of whom are not real busy at the moment. We've got experts at all these things...logistics, traffic management...when we need to build an ad-hoc hospital at a moment's notice, why not call on a bunch of roadies to make it happen? Got a drive-through bottleneck? Grab the people whose business it is to deal with precisely that problem.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I stayed at a holiday inn express last night, what can I do to help?

That doesn't have quite the credibility of being able to flash your ACE membership card.

RideMan said:

There are a lot of people out there who have transferrable skills, many of whom are not real busy at the moment. We've got experts at all these things...logistics, traffic management...when we need to build an ad-hoc hospital at a moment's notice, why not call on a bunch of roadies to make it happen? Got a drive-through bottleneck? Grab the people whose business it is to deal with precisely that problem.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

This COVID absolutism piece in the NY Times today is a perfect summary of the bulk of this thread.

That's messed up. We've been walking outside, maskless, in our neighborhood from the beginning, including down the wide walkways that are spread out in the area. People on bikes and joggers are not wearing masks, as I would expect, and I doubt very much anyone is getting infected this way. With greater density at a theme park? Sure, require masks. Obviously do it inside. But the science has been pretty consistent about this from the start.

If I was in college and had to follow these rules (and pay for the privilege) I'd be taking a gap semester/year faster than you could say "I feel safer at Disney than at the grocery store"

Yeah but college is where the dry humping is.

For me it's the fact they won't let you go outside for a walk. That was a lifeline for me last April and May when work was closed.

"It's sliders all the way down."

So since we routinely see organizations and other entities ignoring the science when it comes to cleaning, thus wasting resources, or banning activities that pose no threat, does the dilute the message when they attempt to set regulations that actually work?

I am in the camp of shut down the theater and the pleasantries that get us nowhere. I really wish there were businesses or entities that would run a national ad that says something to the effect of when you come for a visit wear a mask, but don’t expect us to do any extra cleaning outside the norm because that does nothing but waste time and energy.

Also, side note, what’s with some of these restaurants charging a covid tax? Anyone run into that? Speaking of taxes, lots of revenue lost for cities and governments, think we will see massive uptick in various violations that weren’t of huge concern before? Taillight out, exhaust, plate covered, tint, etc?

TheMillenniumRider said:

I am in the camp of shut down the theater and the pleasantries that get us nowhere. I really wish there were businesses or entities that would run a national ad that says something to the effect of when you come for a visit wear a mask, but don’t expect us to do any extra cleaning outside the norm because that does nothing but waste time and energy.

I am too, but to quote Agent K from Men In Black, "a person is smart, people are dumb."

The backlash and outrage on any store, amusement park, restaurant, or business that did that would be enough to potentially close them. As much as I disagree with the sanitation theater, it falsely creates a sense of security and for some states is what has allowed businesses to reopen. It gives the illusion of safety, and for the masses that may actually be enough reason to keep doing it in the short term.

When they announced their fist batch of Early Action decisions in December for the Class of 2025, University of Massachusetts Amherst noted that they had a record number of Early Action applications. So apparently there wasn't a shortage of people totally fine with the school's Covid response.

https://www.umass.edu/admissions/student-blog/2020/admissions-psa-e...-decisions

There is a broad spectrum of approaches that colleges have taken. Pretty sure people should have no problem finding one that they like.

In conversations with many parents with kids starting college last fall and starting college this fall, I know there are a lot of people who not only are willing to tolerate rules like those in place at UMass Amherst but who demand them. Several people I know have had kids cross colleges off their list because they didn't think the college was taking Covid seriously enough. Some went the other way and looked for colleges with less restrictions. Others took gap years (though tendency is those kids are from "rich" families). Different strokes as they say. Reason why colleges come in many different shapes and sizes.

In some ways it's also a form of virtue signaling. It's really hard to show customers how much testing you're doing, how you're give employees paid time off when they're sick, how you require masks in break rooms and off hours, how you stay distanced, etc. It's really easy to pull out a bunch of Lysol wipes and wipe down some high touch surfaces every hour and that's a highly visible way of communicating "We're a clean and safe place." Maybe we should start a trend of publicly declaring five minute handwashing breaks every hour. It's just as visible, more effective, and less intrusive.

TheMillenniumRider said:

Also, side note, what’s with some of these restaurants charging a covid tax?

Most restaurants don't have the margins to survive with the additional operational costs brought on by the pandemic, so it's not surprising, especially at 25% capacity or whatever.

I'd go even further if I were a restaurateur, since it seems there's more than enough demand to eclipse the supply at reduced capacity. Charge a $50 fee just to walk in the joint, and you'd likely still have customers lining up. People gotta eat.

You should apply for CEO of Cedar Fair, you are obviously qualified.

Fortunately for CF, understanding the basics of supply & demand isn't sufficient qualification for running the company.

Have read about businesses charging covid surcharges but haven't been to any that are. Seems like it would be better to just increase your prices. Fewer people will notice a price increase than will notice the separate surchange. And if they say anything you can tell them its because of additional costs associated with covid. Customers who would have an issue with that were likely going to have an issue with the surcharge as well. And when covid costs are reduced, you still have higher prices but the surcharge would be expected to be removed.

I feel like some place I regularly order online from does a $1 covid surcharge. I guess it's not Grubhub or Uber Eats or someone else would have mentioned it.