Covid-19 Restrictions

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Here in Boston we have a similar thing. It only caused problems in the North End (AKA where all the Italian Restaurants are) because the roads were already very narrow. The only downside we had is you really had to park quite far away. The positive was, so much more nicer without cars everywhere.

 

The fortunate thing is that there are 3 public parking garages in downtown Arlington Heights that are fairly near the "Alfresco". Besides, around Y2K they changed the parking on the streets to parallel park (and put in two of those parking garages) so there isn't much parking around those restaurants anyways without using the garage. They don't have a lot of room for parking lots in the downtown section, which has always been an issue, and I'm just surprised they only put the parking garages in during the '90s (one in the late 1980's, the other two about 10 years later, though not at the same time, practically in succession close to Y2k).

 

Wow! 2 and a half years and this thread is still running. All I have to say is I never got the vaccine and never got the disease. Just another form of the flu that got over exposer

 

Yep, over exposure is why we had to take such drastic measures to contain it.
I worked a temp job for a hospital last year upgrading computers, and they took COVID very seriously even when there were no visitors due to the pandemic and it was only employees.

 

Well, three and a half years and most anti-COVID measures have been rescinded. Even at the hospital, while the staff are all wearing masks, the people checking into the emergency room are NOT. Before they were either required to wear masks or given masks at the door. I was just there because my mother had a scare and they thought she had a stroke (turned out to be a UTI causing disorientation and dizziness).

However, COVID has had some lasting effects.

• Restaurants almost universally have outdoor seating now, as well as take-out available on request, and/or a sign for a take-out counter. That wasn't universal in 2019 or even at the start of March of 2020 (though take-out was available at every restaurant that wanted to stay open at the END of March).
• My home town actually got something good out of it. They call it the "Al Fresco", and they close down a couple streets in what is essentially restaurant row in downtown and allow the restaurants to set up outdoor tables in the streets for half the year from April to October. It's now become a semi-permanent thing because everybody liked being able to dine outside in the warmer weather.
• Bathrooms are the cleanest I've ever seen. The no longer let them get to be such filthy pig sties.
• Water fountains are coming back, but some were never designed to be shut off the way they were during COVID and they couldn't turn them back on, so the businesses just leave them nonfunctional. Some from surprising businesses like Macy's (at least the one at Woodfield Mall).
• Most places have removed the "social distancing" markers, and most others that still have them people just ignore them when waiting in line.
• Remote work has become far more common than it was in 2019, but traffic is more or less back to normal. You'd expect all the remote workers to have lessened the amount of traffic on the roads, but the Kennedy is back to the same old jam. Of course it's still Construction, we haven't quite gotten to winter yet (and there are only two seasons in Chicago. Winter and [road] Construction.).
• Schools no longer have snow days. They have remote learning days instead. I'm sure generations of schoolchildren will say thank you to COVID for this. Now they no longer have to endure a day off from classes and homework to play in the snow .

 

My FIL died of Covid.

I did A LOT of research on the subject since then and found some really remarkable data.

For example, the mortality rate of covid is not well understood -- there are so many people that get covid that simply do not have ANY symptoms. But for those that have it bad nearly 50% of covid patients hospitalized DIE. The percentage drops to ~25% for the vaccinated but if you are vulnerable it is absolutely devastating. Hopefully with the latest treatments the mortality rate is lower but still, if you are bad enough to need hospital care the odds are not in your favor. Anyone at risk for bad Covid should get vaccinated.

 

My data is from earlier this year and last year. I just looked up data for the US and death rate is approximately 8-10% of the hospitalization rate -- that's still quite high. The tables don't break down vaccinated versus unvaccinated.

 

Well, COVID is back but the world isn't going as nuts over it.
It's striking close to home for me. Christmas was canceled on my mother's side of the family because my aunt Mary's adult daughter came home for Christmas and started feeling ill and got tested for COVID and came back positive. She found out Dec 23.
Then I found out on the other side of my family my uncle in Florida had COVID and my cousin in Denver had it.
I'm glad I got my booster shot at the start of December.

 

Yup, it's back. Found out today my cousin in Florida just got it. They can take that vaccine and shove it up their ass! My girlfriend had a brother die, sister on death bed and another sister not far behind. All 3 from cancer and guess what? They all had the shot

 

Well, even if they did, it's not something we'll see the effects of this quickly...

 

I've had covid around three times now. The first time (right at the onset of covid, around March-April 2022), my symptoms were a persistent high fever and labored breathing at the end right before the fever finally broke. My sense of taste (especially for anything salty) was actually amplified so I could barely eat, and I was so weak after the symptoms finally went away that even after a week's worth of recovery walking a mile was agony.
The second time I got covid (after I got vaccinated), I just had the sniffles and some mild coughing. By the time I got covid a third time (had one booster), I just had a mild throat irritation.

The shot was never meant to protect people from getting covid, that much as obvious for us (I worked at Walmart at the time, and as "essential workers" working for the company who helped disseminate the vaccine in the first place we had first dibs after all the elderly/vulnerable had their turn). We noticed that our coworkers were still getting sick after getting the vaccine except the symptoms were much less severe.
I have always tried to point that out when I was around people who tried to demonize folks who wouldn't take the vaccine - they're risking their lives, not yours, so unless they're being stupid about it (being aggressively anti-vax, maliciously trying to get other people sick with their overblown symptoms, etc) then just respect their decision.

 

Thank You, Never had a Flu shot or will take this one!

 

I've gotten a flu shot every year since the year after they came out, and the only reason I didn't get one then was because I couldn't find a place to get it. My mom did, but she worked at a school and the staff was given an option to get a flu shot on Opening Day from the school's nurse.

The reason for that was I always seemed to get sick every year when I was in school, often the flu or strep throat. The flu shot helped prevent me from getting the flu again after having had it over half a dozen times.

 

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention my girlfriend has been sick for 3 days and I still feel fine