I bet you’re all wondering how New York City is doing…

Whether or not you are, I’m going to tell you.

Virus wise…we are holding tight. Low infection rate. People being discharged. Very flat curve.

As for learning to live in the time of COVID…

How do we visit something?

Reservations are key. When I go to the museum or the zoo or the Highline, I must register in advance because there are very strict 25% occupancy rules. I went to the Met on Saturday. I booked my 11am ticket about five days before. I’m a planner and even that seems crazy to me…yet, I do it. At the zoo, there are no same day, ticket counter ticket sales. None.

This is not a good time to be spontaneous.

To do something in NYC right now requires forethought.

Are we wearing masks?

I haven’t been to the outer boroughs much, but in Manhattan, most people in my area are wearing masks. We are required to wear them indoors. Even outdoor spots like THe Highline and New York Botanic Garden (which are outdoor venues) require you to keep your mask on at all times. If you walk down the street, most are wearing masks.

What this means is that except when I am in my apartment, I am wearing a mask. When I do laundry I wear a mask. A mask is the most valuable thing I own now (if you saw Manhattan real estate prices you would totally get this)

Now, I said I wear a mask. And I did say that most are wearing masks.

Yet…

Subways and Busses

The MTA (metropolitan transit authority) have now instituted a 50$ fine for anyone on mass transit who is not wearing a mask. Which probably means there are mask evaders. The problem with this is that in order to fine someone, you must be able to give them a ticket. In a system where many people are fare evaders, I am 99% sure this will never work, because in order for it to work, people must respect the laws…

See the conundrum…

For now, as the transit system is probably only operating at 25% capacity, it will not be too much of an issue…

But at some point things have to go above 25% capacity…

Things are meant to run at 90% to full capacity. That is the economic model. But this is just a piece about how we are doing COVID wise…the economy piece will come eventually…

Mentally

Those of us left in the city are trying our best to remain positive. Or reading up on how to be a hermit. There are two distinct types of people: the ones that shut the elevator door in your face and the ones that hold it open for you. The ones that yell at the supermarket clerk for being out of haloumi, and the ones that go out of their way to thank the workers.

NYC has become it’s own little version of red state/blue state, and the two groups can’t stand each other…

If you divide, who conquers?

The News According to Bill Gates

In an interview with Chris Wallace, Gates stated that the earliest thing will go back to normal will be 2022.

2022

How are we doing?

I have no idea.

65 thoughts on “How You Doin’”

  1. Chicago is similar. As you mentioned, there are people who are still being courteous and holding doors open and helping and there are others that look at us like we are going to INFECT them at amy moment. However, I’ve found in shopping for anything that while people have their masks on, many of them do not do the social distancing, instead they are even arrogant and pushy — get out of my way type of feeling.

    You are RIGHT, our mask is the most important thing right now. I’m sad not to wear my lipstick.

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    1. FYI — I’m getting that FLASHING YELLOW again. When I went to SEND this message, my entire message turned YELLOW and FLASHED 3x as if the WordPress monitor is CHECKING my message for key words, who knows, before ALLOWING it to send, i.e., I’m being CENSORED?? WEIRD

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      1. Technically, each building has the right to have their own elevator policy. It depends on how many elevators. Our policy is if you don’t want to share you need to wait. Think of it like this. I live in a low floor so I usually take the stairs. Except when I have things, like laundry. Technically, I could not be able to get on an elevator for a while if people kept getting on the higher floors and didn’t let me on. If the elevator gets to my floor, coming down, if they don’t want to ride with me, they are supposed to exit the elevator

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      2. LA described it perfectly. It’s not about one person or family per elevator. I work for a Hospital, it would take forever to get anywhere if you had only ONE person per elevator. The Hospital has put THREE BIG YELLOW dots on elevator floor, so that you could have 3 or a few more socially distanced people on an elevator at once. Like LA said, if you don’t want to ride with other people, then you can wait until there is an empty elevator. It comes down to how people feel about the situation.

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      4. I guess that makes sense. I’m seldom where I need an elevator. I had to go the hospital for an X-ray last month and the sign says to wait if someone is already on. They have 4 elevators and only 4 or 5 floors so it didn’t seem like a big deal.

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      5. Different from two elevators and nineteen floors, where one elevator is shut down part of the day to take care of building maintenance issues, or deliveries, or individual apartment work.

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      6. Very different. And from what I could see they were all running. I walked up the stairs to see the doctor, but then took the elevator from her to X-ray because it’s a different set of stairs to them in the basement.

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    1. I always question those who have a fiscal interest in something. Not saying he’s wrong, just looking at the issue from all angles. People make irrational decision when it comes to guilt and fear

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  3. We are in North Carolina for the Fall. It is a mask mandated state and I seldom see someone in a store without a mask. The same when we were in Florida where mask mandates are on a county or city level. I prefer social distancing and hand sanitizer over masks and if I had to choose between mask and sanitizer, I choose sanitizer. Homes are not staying on the market long in Florida. A friend sold her home in The Villages in one day. My husband has been housebound for a month so we haven’t been out except for doctors and groceries but from what I have seen in both states people are going on with living their lives. Mass transit isn’t an option on a large scale and I think being able to control ones transportation environment makes one feel safer to resume life. Lots of kindness such as opening doors in public places.

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  5. I’m keeping to a fairly tight bubble, ordering supplies, cooking at home ( although if outdoor dinning is available we try and eat out on occasion), i walk through neighbor and food shop, most everyone I know is masking but it’s disturbing to see all the used masks thrown on the ground? I don’t get that? They’re not cigarette butts? C

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  6. Glad you are out and about and able to enjoy some of what NYC has to offer, even at 25% capacity. Your photos provide vicarious pleasure. I am envious! Still locked down here in the greater LA area. I could go dine outdoors or get my hair cut, as both are available with restrictions, but I haven’t dared to yet. And sadly, I think it will be 2022 before we do.

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  10. In Toronto the politicians are punishing the ones who obey the protocols by restricting them further.

    On the other side of the coin, restricting the businesses or people frequenting them will impact us economically worse than it already has.

    There are no easy answers.

    I believe 2022 won’t be back to how it was before but rather, a new way of living since much of what we did until March 2020 won’t come back the same for beyond 2022 if you ask me.

    I’m ready if/when the politicians reduce their grip on power and instead educate and promote proactive living WITH the virus methods.

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  11. We are still wearing masks in public, especially in stores – mandated. Our cities are closing some streets certain times of the day to allow outside dining. I don’t wear a mask when I walk the dog in our neighborhood. Happily I am picking up some transcription work from people who are learning how to use Zoom for interviews. One such was a study about women having babies during a pandemic. Very interesting. It is keeping me hopeful that I can continue to work.

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  12. Thank you for the update, LA. It is not so easy to find updates on how things are going in your part of the world these days. Daily numbers were previously front page news. Now you have to really dig for the information. Much the same for our own country. I wonder if this is preparation for times to come?
    Hats off to you, Petal: you are navigating the crisis beautifully:)

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  13. We are still wearing masks, social distancing and things at 25% capacity. Massachusetts has seen a bit of a rise in cases after the labor day weekend, but I suppose you need to expect that as we had people here ending their summer vacation with parties! With so many colleges in the area that are doing at least partial in person classes, we have an influx of students from all over. I will say that the college where my husband works is doing a good job with testing and so far we haven’t heard of large off campus parties like they have found in Boston. Group of college students having a party at a hotel, well, they were thrown out of school and not given their money back.

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  17. The rates are going up again here, but we are entering the cold and flu season, the rules that are being put into place now make no sense, (you can’t have people round to your home, but you can go on a hunt or Grouse shooting), so it’s only to be expected and I think anyone who is surprised by this is not living on the same planet as the rest of us. A pandemic is not going to go away after a few months, I think Bill is being a bit optimistic saying 2022, I don’t think life will every return to the way it was.

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      1. True, I just wonder how long the human race will go on, after all there’s no touching between people who don’t live together and you can’t move in with anyone you don’t live with now, I dread to think, I am pretty glad I only have a few years left. 🙂

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  18. Still no mask mandates in Iowa and our Curve is nowhere near flat. Some stores and restaurants have mandates but don’t necessarily force them. Most people in the city seem to wear them but in the rural communities it is a rarity to see people wear one and I am often the only one around with one on. I know a couple of people who have been made fun of for wearing on or mask shamed. I am very frustrated but continue to wear my mask, social distance, dine outside only at places with a mask requirement and shop only at mask mandates places.

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  19. I was curious as to how long the Spanish flu pandemic lasted 100 years ago to see what we might expect. It lasted two years. It was clearly a different time but I would think spread was easier to contain then. Maybe Bill Gates knows his stuff. I also don’t understand people who claim they won’t take the vaccine when it becomes available. What’s wrong with our world?

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    1. The reasons I’ve been given are: can’t take because have autoimmune disease, too rushed, gen if perfect will still only be 50% effective due to nature if COVID. And to be fair, this is a seismic shift in how things work. Things will never be what we thought of as normal again. We need to start adapting to what the new world order is

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  20. I know I’m going out on a limb here, but I don’t really consider Bill Gates to be an expert on pandemics or society in general. Computers, yes, the man’s a genius with the bank account to prove it. But I don’t really listen to what he says about a virus.

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      1. And two other things: it’s a silly question, because it’s all a matter of how you define “normal.” After 9/11, some things changed forever, but other things went back to the way they were before. I think we’ll see that again. Sure, it may be 2022 before we have gatherings of thousands of people, but I honestly don’t think we’ll be limiting businesses and venues to 25% that long. I don’t think we’ll need to. And secondly, I had someone comment on my blog a couple of months ago that he fully expects a vaccine very soon which will solve all this, because Bill Gates said that in an interview. So even if we are taking him as an absolute authority, he’s saying different things at different times. End of rant….can you tell of sick of this virus and its restrictions already? LOL!

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