Shanghai Disneyland will close in effort to contain coronavirus

Today is the day that Texas declared its independence from Mexico, so naturally our governor decided that was as good a time as any to throw caution to the wind:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/texas-becomes-biggest-us-state-to...-dhp-feeds

The ICU's in Houston and Dallas are all at or near capacity, so totes makes sense.

Texas would do this just as we booked a quick 2 day trip to San Antonio to visit Six Flags and Sea World in a few weeks... Hoping the parks continue to still enforce the mask policies effectively (I assume they will continue to do so as a chain-wide requirement?).

Really considering cancelling now.

Doubt it. To avoid the thousands and thousands of complaints, daily, if nothing else. I think of how entitled deniers treated Knoebels and there’s your answer. Texas is big.

Welp... Decided to switch our short trip to Orlando instead. Will go Texas later this year (or not) depending on how well they behave. Ha

Because us Floridians are so good at behaving in a pandemic :

I had a trip tomorrow to Vegas for a friends wedding. Woke up this morning not feeling that great so I went for a rapid Covid test. It came out negative but since I wasn't getting any better I decided to cancel my trip. It was nice that I could cancel my hotel the day before and get a full refund, cancel my flight and get a future credit with no fees. One of the few positives from this sh!t show of a year.

BrettV said:

Because us Floridians are so good at behaving in a pandemic :

I think that can be said for anywhere... Haha. But having been to Texas prior, they make me a bit more nervous than those in Orlando ;) Especially with this change taking effect days before we arrive.

We were basically burning airline points anyway that had to be used, so we kind of had to go somewhere. Texas looked appealing until this change literally a day after we booked. We will just go another time when things look a bit better.

Flights to/from Orlando are direct as well, versus connections in Nashville/Chicago to Texas. So less changing planes, airports, etc... Got a bunch of points credited back to my southwest account for the flight change we had one way with them (United the other with the points we had to use or lose, which thankfully no change fee at the moment). The only 'loss' is the Sea World ticket we pre-bought which I am on hold now to see if they will be nice enough to refund (or apply toward Orlando?). But rental car and hotel and all that refunded in full.

It's also been years since we went to Universal/IOA when it wasn't HHN.... So we are overdue to check some things out. Maybe we see you there, yes? Maybe some Mako rides at SWO?

Still want to get out to Fiesta Texas and Sea World, perhaps later in the year. They are basically some of the last parks in the US I really want to get to (and Silver Dollar City, but damn it really is in the middle of nowhere...)

Edit: In good news, Sea World allowed us to apply our money toward San Antonio toward our SWO fun cards. So that's nice.

The anti-mask crowd in Texas is incredibly emboldened after the governor's announcement and they are going to thoroughly drown out those interested in still playing it safe. Some businesses are announcing plans to keep mask requirements, but I think that will fade within weeks.

SteveWoA said:

It's also been years since we went to Universal/IOA when it wasn't HHN.... So we are overdue to check some things out. Maybe we see you there, yes? Maybe some Mako rides at SWO?

Only if we can lick the handrails in the queue first.

So be it!

TheMillenniumRider said:

... I firmly believe that the old white generation needs to go, from government, from society. They created systems which benefit only themselves and they guard it viciously. But good luck pushing all of them out. They are a product of a different era, they lived through segregation, no different than my comment on police and military. People are a product of their environment and training. If we want to solve problems we need to retrain or cut off a segment of the population from society.

If you were to say that you think certain aspects of racism would likely decline as the older generation retires or dies off wouldn't really concern me because many values and beliefs, good or bad, change as generations of people die off as a continual cycle but to actually suggest we remove a segment of the population from society because of their age, their color, and their thoughts not matching the way you think that people should think because they are a product of a past generation is kind of disturbing.

Based on todays Texas announcement I cancelled my involvement in a 3-person Texas roadtrip in two weeks. My good friend is doing this as a sort of last hurrah before his first child is born. (He's been vaccinated.)

I thought he'd be disappointed in me for backing out and try to convince me to stay on. Instead he said "yeah, I don't blame you."

No way in heck I'm going to stand in crowded line with a bunch of emboldened Texans who would laugh at me (or worse) if I had the nerve to ask for space.

By contrast, I just got back from 2 days at HWS/WDW, and have to agree with what was said pages ago (I think by Jeff.) "If the rest of the world was as Covid safe as the Disney Parks, this would have ended already.)

But Six Flags ain't Disney and Six Flags patrons ain't Disney patrons.

Six Flags is still going to attempt to try

This Crow McMuffin is delicious.

DeWine says Ohio can drop masks if we can maintain 50 cases per 100k for two weeks.

I suspect that number was chosen as it will likely coincide with vaccines being readily available. And if that's the case, I don't have a problem with it - it's just another way to keep people invested for the last leg of things without saying the same old ****.

It's sort of what I was saying a while back about it being on the individual once we all have access and not limping along forever. Honestly, I'm impressed that there's already a plan in place to get there without just throwing caution to the wind Texas-style.

Fauci on the other hand says restrictions should stay in place until daily case counts are under 10,000 and "maybe even considerably less than that."

https://keyt.com/news/national-world/2021/03/04/fauci-us-shouldnt-l...low-10000/

Fauci versus DeWine is expert versus politician?

In the above linked article, Osterholm said:

that the more-transmissible B.1.1.7 variant was showing up in between 20% and 30% of the viruses obtained in surveillance checks in states including Florida, California and Georgia. Those figures — just 1%-2% four weeks ago — likely will double within 10 days, he said.

When that variant turned up in 50% in surveillance checks in parts of Europe and the Middle East, “we (saw) a major surge in (overall) cases” — and the same could happen in the US, he said.

“Everything that the governors are doing right now to relax all the public health recommendations that we’ve made are only going to be a major invitation of this virus to spread faster and farther,” Osterholm told CNN’s “New Day.”

Covid and obesity/overweight:

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-obesity/obesi...SKBN2AW1X0

I'm eligible now in Florida, because my BMI is 32 and I have above normal blood pressure. I'm fairly horrified by both conditions, which have gotten worse in the last few months. Regardless, I already have the doctor signature, so now I just need to find an appointment.

I think "overweight" is considered a BMI above 25. I'm in pretty good shape (for an old guy) and my BMI is 24.3. If that is the case then my guess is there are a lot of people who can get a doctor's note now for the vaccine.

Does Florida require a doctor's blessing of your circumstances? Texas is pretty much on the honors system. I know of people like my mother in law that have gotten into hospital based clinics through doctor referrals, but the municipal sites are pretty much a free for all.