COVID-19 - What will the new normal be?

We're likely to have to deal with the effects of COVID-19 for at least another year, if we're lucky.

What will it look like as we try to get back to normal, before we get a vaccine?

CNN is talking about that this morning, and they've mentioned:

  • Waiters with masks and gloves.
  • Disposable menus.
  • Only half as many tables in a restaurant.
  • Staggered school openings.
  • Rearrangement of classrooms, somehow.
  • Lots and lots of testing. (we can only hope)
  • Random temperature checking.

Also:

When will sports return? Or how will they return?

How will commuting be affected? Airlines? Clubs and bars? Concerts?

I'm thinking there might be a market for helmets with full face shields, but that also enclose your whole head. Or is that too dystopian?

sheesh, what a mess.


If maybe just maybe one of the non-vaccine drugs now under review proves dramatically effective at treating the disease, such that hospitalizations and deaths are greatly reduced, it might change the picture. Also, wide spread antibody testing, along with a firmer consensus about the existence and duration of immunity, will allow large number of people to safely get back to normal living. 



I imagine a lot of restaurants cannot make it financially with only half the number of tables. I worry that a lot of restaurants aren’t even going to make it until June. If you have occasion to talk to an owner whose establishment is trying to make a go of delivery and takeout right now, he or she will tell you it doesn’t work financially. 


Lots of houses in foreclosure, more people living together.  Lots of these 'luxury' apartments being built in SOMA will sit vacant.  

On the good side you'll be able to find a parking spot pretty easily. 


Things are grim now, but people do have short memories. I'm guessing that once the numbers are significantly down and the atmosphere of fear abates, many of the most dire predictions will not come to pass. That said, I do fear that many restaurants and other small businesses will not survive.

Also, I don't think there will be one common "new normal." Areas of the country (and the world) that have been most directly impacted by the virus will likely have more of a "new" normal than areas that have been spared.


I don't know if this can be coerced by law but employers who have been able to function via telecommuting should at least be shamed into continuing to do so until thing become truly safe


Heynj said:

I imagine a lot of restaurants cannot make it financially with only half the number of tables. I worry that a lot of restaurants aren’t even going to make it until June. If you have occasion to talk to an owner whose establishment is trying to make a go of delivery and takeout right now, he or she will tell you it doesn’t work financially. 

I applied for the NJEDA Small Business Emergency grant the morning opened and learned this week that the program is oversubcribed so we've been put on the wait list, in case any more money is allocated. Still waiting to hear from the Payroll Protection Program but I don't have my hopes up. My family makes too much money to qualify for any stimulus money from the feds, so we are really on our own. 


My primary income comes from orchid society meetings, and orchid society shows.  Neither is a high priority for the society at large, so I visualize both events remaining banned for the next 24-36 months.

I do not have the reserves to see this through.


tomcat said:

My primary income comes from orchid society meetings, and orchid society shows.  Neither is a high priority for the society at large, so I visualize both events remaining banned for the next 24-36 months.

I do not have the reserves to see this through.

There are many things that aren't a "high priority" to society but they are a high priority to people that like those activities.  Each niche in society will be trying to get something back on track.  If there is demand, people will make it happen.


Heynj said:

I imagine a lot of restaurants cannot make it financially with only half the number of tables. I worry that a lot of restaurants aren’t even going to make it until June. If you have occasion to talk to an owner whose establishment is trying to make a go of delivery and takeout right now, he or she will tell you it doesn’t work financially. 

 It certainly would be difficult to pull off in spaces like the former Abril Cocina. Some places in the City only have two or three tables as it is.


Oh, for the delightful atmosphere of dining out under such circumstances. Sounds incredibly tense. I always wanted my temperature checked before I entered a fine restaurant. Gives a whole new meaning to "Check please!"

Sadly it will be a looooooong time before I go sit down at a bar (and I do really miss my pints of Guinness on tap) or restaurant, barring unforeseen miraculous circumstances. I mean, why the F would I? Certainly not fun AND potentially life threatening? No thank ye.  

drummerboy said:

  • Waiters with masks and gloves.
  • Disposable menus.
  • Only half as many tables in a restaurant.
  • Random temperature checking. 

steel said:

Oh, for the delightful atmosphere of dining out under such circumstances. Sounds incredibly tense. I always wanted my temperature checked before I entered a fine restaurant. Gives a whole new meaning to "Check please!"

Sadly it will be a looooooong time before I go sit down at a bar (and I do really miss my pints of Guinness on tap) or restaurant, barring unforeseen miraculous circumstances. I mean, why the F would I? Certainly not fun AND potentially life threatening? No thank ye.  

Agree. I cook as well as most professional chefs. Going to a restaurant is the nicety of social interaction, the laziness of not cooking and definitely atmosphere. Masks and temperature checks takes away atmosphere and social interaction.

No thank ye, is right.


If we're going to get back to normal, or a new normal, under the guidelines set out yesterday by Trump, how can we do it without widespread testing?   Dr. Birx certainly didn't answer it last night when asked about it by Anderson Cooper and Dr. Sanjay Gupta.  Maybe Dr. Birx can tell me how safe I should feel about going to the dentist or having my eyes examined without the professionals in those offices being tested. 

https://www.cnn.com/videos/health/2020/04/17/entire-april-16-coronavirus-town-hall-part-2-sot-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/entire-cnn-april-16-coronavirus-town-hall/


cramer said:

If we're going to get back to normal, or a new normal, under the guidelines set out yesterday by Trump, how can we do it without widespread testing?   Dr. Birx certainly didn't answer it last night when asked about it by Anderson Cooper and Dr. Sanjay Gupta.  Maybe Dr. Birx can tell me how safe I should feel about going to the dentist or having my eyes examined without the professionals in those offices being tested. 

https://www.cnn.com/videos/health/2020/04/17/entire-april-16-coronavirus-town-hall-part-2-sot-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/entire-cnn-april-16-coronavirus-town-hall/

(You'll have to wear a mask at the dentist.)

 I badly need my eyes examined for new glasses. Someone suggested I go to Walgreen's and buy a pair of off-the-rack reading glasses. I may do that.


The_Soulful_Mr_T said:


(You'll have to wear a mask at the dentist.)


The new normal.  


POLL 

a) Would you go out to a restaurant? 

b) Would you go on a plane? 

c) Would you ride NJ Transit?  



cramer said:

POLL 

a) Would you go out to a restaurant? 

   Too early to say

b) Would you go on a plane? 

       Too early to say

c) Would you ride NJ Transit?  

     Too early to say

 


Maybe. 
Not for a long, long time. 
Only if the other passengers are taking whatever precautions are ordered seriously. (But I am not a daily commuter, so fortunately for me this is not a major consideration, as it is for so many others.)


No to all unless there is some significant change for the better in effective treatment of the virus or it dies down dramatically and stays down for an extended period.


We’re talking once they relax things and there is some strong testing regime in place, yes?

Not now, right?


Nobody knows what the new normal will be. But some things will forever be different. Indoor malls might slowly disappear. Germs phobia will increase dramatically. Shaking hands and hugs or kisses will be ancient custom. Hand sanitizers will be next to the entrance to every restaurant and bar. Farts won’t offend, but Anyone who sneezes or coughs in public will be looked upon with disdain. No more standing on trains or buses, and all public transportation drivers will have to wear masks. Cash tolls are done. We will no longer prefer cottonelle over marcal toilet paper. The price of bleach will never be :99 again. No more self help at the bread bins in the supermarket, buffet style restaurants will close. We will value nurses more than sports figures and movie stars.

Most of all I think a lot of people have gone “inside” since we couldn’t go outside. 


I think the temperature taking  is pretty useless.  Apparently we shed the virus before we are symptomatic and may continue after we are no longer symptomatic. Plus many never run a fever. I watched Chris Cuomo on Anderson Cooper's Town Hall and he said that after 17 days of quarantine from his wife she tested positive. Their symptoms were completely different. He has had constant fever and she only had sinus headaches, lethargy and no fever. They are to stay separated as doctors do not know if he can get infected again. 

As to the 3 questions. No No and No

.I'll enjoy my Corona Light in my hammock.


The new normal: 

"If and when New Jersey schools reopen this academic year, students and faculty should expect to have to wear face coverings when they go back to keep protecting themselves and others from the coronavirus.

At least that’s the way Gov. Phil Murphy sees it.

“I would bet the answer’s yes,” Murphy said Friday when asked during his daily press briefing students will have to don masks upon their return. “We will be masked when kids go back to school.”

https://www.nj.com/coronavirus/2020/04/nj-students-might-have-to-wear-masks-when-school-reopens-murphy-says.html


”We will value nurses more than sports figures and movie stars.”

As they should be.....


cramer said:

The new normal: 

"If and when New Jersey schools reopen this academic year, students and faculty should expect to have to wear face coverings when they go back to keep protecting themselves and others from the coronavirus.

At least that’s the way Gov. Phil Murphy sees it.

“I would bet the answer’s yes,” Murphy said Friday when asked during his daily press briefing students will have to don masks upon their return. “We will be masked when kids go back to school.”

https://www.nj.com/coronavirus/2020/04/nj-students-might-have-to-wear-masks-when-school-reopens-murphy-says.html

How will they do sports? Be wheezing in their masks? What about the inevitable collisions that occur? Or do we change the whole Phys Ed program to socially distanced gymnastics and push ups?


Jaytee said:

Nobody knows what the new normal will be. But some things will forever be different. Indoor malls might slowly disappear. Germs phobia will increase dramatically. Shaking hands and hugs or kisses will be ancient custom. Hand sanitizers will be next to the entrance to every restaurant and bar. Farts won’t offend, but Anyone who sneezes or coughs in public will be looked upon with disdain. No more standing on trains or buses, and all public transportation drivers will have to wear masks. Cash tolls are done. We will no longer prefer cottonelle over marcal toilet paper. The price of bleach will never be :99 again. No more self help at the bread bins in the supermarket, buffet style restaurants will close. We will value nurses more than sports figures and movie stars.

Most of all I think a lot of people have gone “inside” since we couldn’t go outside. 

 I think almost all of this is wrong.  People won't be inconvenienced, whatever the cost.  In 5 years everything will be the way it was, for better or worse, except that every hospital will be well stocked with PPE.


Look at the people in TX this morning, unmasked, uncaring and not even six inches apart, let alone six feet. Multiply them by millions, then factor in people who will get lazy and disregard precautions...and I guess that’s just my long-winded way of echoing what FilmCarp said above. 


It's impossible to make long term projections about what will be normal, for good or bad.  Too many variables at play.  


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