Covid-19 pandemic

[ursus arctos]

Having some experience of all three places, there is no comparison between 34C in Valencia and the same figure in Miami or (particularly) Houston

A real difference with the US "Sunbelt" cities is that daily life exists almost entirely within air conditioning. There is very little street culture in Phoenix or Houston (there is more in Miami). And A/C appears to have significant risks (NYC just reversed the planned reopening of inside dining at restaurants).

[Sporting]

Having some experience of all three places, there is no comparison between 34C in Valencia and the same figure in Miami or (particularly) Houston

You should try Khartoum.

[San Bernardhinault]

Do we think that A/C itself has explicit risks? Or just that places that are A/C heavy tend to have lots of people indoors? I've not seen data for the former yet, and imagine it would be hard to untangle the two.

[Amor de Cosmos]

I think that Bedford has a sizeable South Asian population, which seems to be a common factor amongst the majority of the UTLAs listed.

It does, 20% BAME population. The biggest industry is, or was, brick-making. I'm not sure how Covid friendly or otherwise it is.

[ursus arctos]

There is concern that A/C can spread droplets throughout an enclosed area.

https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/sto...-in-the-south/

[Moonlight Shadow]

There is concern that A/C can spread droplets throughout an enclosed area.

https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/sto...-in-the-south/

Which is something companies rushing to bring back people in the office ought to think about....

[ursus arctos]

It is the primary reason why our firm is encouraging people to stay home and restricting capacity to less than five percent of normal.

[Sporting]

It is the primary reason why our firm is encouraging people to stay home and restricting capacity to less than five percent of normal.

Are local coffee shops etc up in arms about this practice?

[ursus arctos]

I'm talking about the NYC office of a multinational law firm.

It's our choice, not a governmental edict.

[Sporting]

Yes of course. But obviously these decisions have knock-on effects.

[San Bernardhinault]

And, as Ursus has suggested more than once already, it's not just his company.

Many large white collar businesses are either not requiring people to come into a physical office, or quite often actively forbidding it. Some are opening very low capacity for jobs that require super-secure internet; or for people who genuinely are unable to work from home. This is kinda fine for the big businesses and it's probably going to last a long time. It's going to screw commercial landlords - to the lament of almost nobody. But is also going to screw the coffee shops and restaurants and all the other businesses that service those white collar companies.

[ursus arctos]

Ah.

The local coffee cart proprietors (individuals cannot afford the rent for a fixed shop) were hurt more when the firm that we contract with for catering opened a full coffee bar with baristas (and rather spectacular habour views) on the 39th Floor. All of that will be shut (as will the industrial coffee machines on each floor), so they may actually make a bit more money from people who are going to the office.

[Snake Plissken]

I can vouch for the views.

[San Bernardhinault]

19 counties in California are reversing re-opening: shutting bars completely; and shutting indoor parts of restaurants, zoos, cinemas and cardrooms (I'm not sure how many al fresco cardrooms there are). These don't include San Diego, but do include literally every other county in Southern California. It's surely only days before SD shuts down again, too.

It's about time.

[Nefertiti2]

https://twitter.com/doctor_oxford/status/1278426270565531649?s=20

[ursus arctos]

Is this a reflection of Wetherspoon's major financial and publicity support for Leave, the Tories' twatitude, incompetence, or all three?

[Nefertiti2]

All the brewers and pub companies have always been Tory

[Patrick Thistle]

All the brewers and pub companies have always been Tory

Working class misery = good trade for pubs.

[ursus arctos]

https://twitter.com/nycsouthpaw/status/1278459866714177543

[Nocturnal Submission]

Phew - relax everyone. Panic over. A very stable genius believes that the virus will "disappear".

What a relief.

[S. aureus]

https://twitter.com/doctor_oxford/status/1278426270565531649?s=20

The treasury tweet appears to have disappeared. What did it say (though I can infer the gist)?

[Satchmo Distel]

You could probably sit outside in Miami for breakfast up to 9am or an evening meal after 8pm. Lunch or early dinner would be inadvisable. However, many restaurants have fans in their covered outdoor seating areas (and heaters for the winter nights) so if you can grab a table next to a fan, and in the shade, you might be OK.

In SWFL, it's really humidity that makes outdoor eating impossible during daylight and not easy after dark. It's like being enveloped in a cloak of hot steam.

I would say that DeSantis's lying about the real risks of indoor dining are a recognition of this.

On the topic of Miami, has anyone seen this bizarre tennis exhibition event that looks like it's being played in a courtyard? Tennis channel are showing it. The netting cage around the court presumably explains why they don't need ball retrieval kids, and they are not using line judges apparently. Sets are decided at 4 games rather than 6:



There has also been a women's exhibition tournament going on in Serbia despite the positive tests in the men's event.

https://www.tennisexplorer.com/easte...020/wta-women/

[ursus arctos]

https://twitter.com/ladyjenkin/status/1278457533376737280

[S. aureus]

Are those virus particles in the drinks on the left?

[S. aureus]

You kind of get used to the climate in Houston after a while, and as long as you're in the shade it's perfectly possible to eat outside even in the daytime in the summer, though it helps if you don't mind becoming rapidly covered by a sheen of sweat while doing so. Frankly you become covered in a sheen of sweat within about 30 seconds of leaving the air-conditioning there anyway. Then freeze your arse off as soon as you go back indoors, as the ac is invariably set way too high. Living there did give me an appreciation of siestas, not that you're allowed them in grad school.