My home county is exactly the same, except our hospital might be shittier. We all would have died off a long time ago if we had to rely on hospitals like ours. Our tourists usually are just from surrounding areas, come for the day, hiking, swimming and tubing down the river.
Exactly why they told everyone around here to stay the fuck away from your cottages... because the year-round population barely has enough support, and it would fail under the normal tourist load.
I recall a conversation with a healthcare administrator earlier, and how much of the issues you described were previously handled by urgent care, or the "Dollar General" of the healthcare industry and in some areas, pharmacists. COVID and the long-haulers are throwing that particular segment for a loop, especially in terms of planning. That and the aging population in those areas confronting uncomfortable challenges with aging in their homes. I remember this admin talking about planning for closing some hospitals and shrinking others to focus on geriatric care. The light at the end of the tunnel could be the folks moving "back" out of the more urban areas, bringing some weird economic revitalization. If the Biden administration was smart, they would encourage the "work from home" crowd to move out to the rural areas and decentralize some of the cities.
Pulling a California on the entire country? I think you may have a rural folk or two that might be upset at the thought of their heartland being invaded by the likes of them city folk. And what a name to use, “heartland” America is a country born in cities. Ours was grass huts.
Our son reports his college campus continues to see a rise in cases and will be announcing a move to a hybrid schedule.
If they'd slow down and realize they're in a much more relaxed environment and keep their mouth shut with the condescending "This isn't the way we did things where I came from" crap they'd be just fine. Sadly, they never seem to figure this out.
All the coward gentrifiers who fled NYC are now looking to make their way back even if they don't need to. Can't give up that status.
If that be the case that you’re saying, those new people are doing it wrong. I would have no issue with adjusting to that. “Relaxed” is exactly what I want, I certainly wouldn’t want to arrive in that climate only wanting to immediately change it to what I escaped from. Which in my particular case is trashy neighbours yelling at each other all day and night.
I have found the exact opposite to be true. Coming from the city to a rural town, people in rural towns HATE people from the city moving into town even if they are completely chill. They complain about the theoretical idea of people from the city moving into town. It's a hostile environment to come into as an "outsider" regardless of where you came from.
Our area had an influx of retirees from urban areas about 15 years ago, then another migration of city folks over the past year. And I each wave was characterized by the attitude “Oh it’s wonderful here, we’re so happy we’ve moved. Now let’s change everything “. Fuck you.
Those assholes belong in The Villages. Just putter around your golf cart on Ambien, terrorizing other Over-55’ers.
We get new old people all the time. We've always been a tourist and retirement destination. They really jack up our median age in the county, it's 13 years older than anywhere else I checked, 20 years older than cities like New York and Atlanta. We have more antique shops and real estate agents than any other businesses. I don't think our senior citizens try to make this place more like a city, thankfully.
The internet is having a lot of feelings about Biden's latest actions on COVID. I am reminded of an all time great Onion article: https://www.theonion.com/area-man-passionate-defender-of-what-he-imagines-consti-1819571149
I would even wonder if he passed it by the Supreme Court to get an unofficial opinion. Or just called his buddy Barrack, who happens to know a bit about the whole Constitution thing.
yeah there's no chance he just recklessly says this until they've already done the backend stuff to make sure it'll actually work. Trump was an excellent orator, especially for off the cuff remarks, and Biden is the exact opposite of that. So he has to read shit exactly as it was written. He doesn't go off the cuff, which is both a strength and a weakness. I bet this thing has been in the works, in one way or another, since the beginning of the summer. Then it got really serious in the last few weeks, getting an "unofficial" opinion from every person who will be asked to comment on it.
Just when I thought it couldn't get any crazier. https://www.reddit.com/r/HermanCain.../insane_preachers_husband_is_in_the_hospital/
The enforcement of this is really where the decision to rely on paper cards is a cluster fuck. At the same time, there hasn't been much guidance beyond "requirement, oooh boogie boogie". The presumption is there will be a ton of loop holes for people to avoid getting it ....and serious liability for employers if they don't protect their workers. It's odd there hasn't been much noise on major lawsuits against employers that failed to protect their folks against COVID. I know it's difficult to prove at an individual level, but if a few folks pop positive at the same time.... Also, I'm concerned with the long-haulers. Again, 1 in 10 (currently about 4 million people) are experiencing long-term impacts from this virus. If some of that group have medical issues present that costs them their job, and they face treating new chronic conditions without insurance, I would imagine they would turn to litigation to cover their medical bills. Class action lawsuits on this have to be around the corner, no?
Agree with almost everything here. This needs to be litigated out the eyeballs, because right now we don't know who is responsible for what. Are the employers on the hook for a workplace health/safety incident if someone shows up with Covid? What about an outbreak that occurs at a workplace (I'm looking at you, meatpackers)? Maybe the initial person isn't your fault, but the subsequent outbreak is? And what if the outbreak at your site caused a non-employee to get seriously injured or killed (took the virus home and six weeks later grandma has died from it, as an example)? And where do insurance companies stand? Are the responsible to cover any and all Covid-related expenses? I would imagine they've all added, "Covid is a known risk and not covered under this policy" to virtually everything right now; are they allowed to do that? Probably not in a single-payer system, but what about with the private ones? And who DOES pay for the long-haul Covid stuff? My understanding is that the symptoms are super varied and hard to pinpoint with any kind of testing (brain fog, tiredness, easily winded, etc). How do you prove that you have it? The Pharma companies have graciously been exempted from all this; I would expect, at some point in the near-to-mid future, that there will be a MASSIVE lawsuit against the governments for those indemnifications. If the indemnity stands up in court, I think the government is on the hook for injuries as a result of the vaccines. If not, it knocks down the walls and puts it back where it should always have been: with the pharmaceutical companies. And we come back to enforcement: this puts all the burden for this shit on the shoulders of minimum-wage cashiers manning the doors like at Costco. Or an HR department that now has the ability to ask about your medical history and demand proof. I'm more comfortable with a paper card system that you print off from your health care provider; the alternative, folks, is a government-produced app that tracks everywhere you go an feeds it right back to [we don't know]. If the Patriot Act and subsequent actions of the allied governments enraged you, this is worse. It won't go away. It will be the standard required and in five years time there would be a mandated scanner at the door of everywhere you want to enter. The alternative is a shitty, easy to hack paper card system that won't really provide any protection to anyone and will put an undue burden and abuse on already over-stressed employees.