Covid and how it impacted society

 

The other night, I met a friend who told me about how things are going at her job.  Although everything is OK on the surface, there is more going on than anyone would want to admit.  And this got me thinking....

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As of the time I'm writing this entry, we're about 2 years into the pandemic. Although the worst of the pandemic related disruptions are behind us, the ripple effects continue to this day. At the beginning, the government was sponsoring PPP loans to keep people "employed" when there was no economic need for  businesses to employ them. If a business took out this type of loan, it had to meet some strict requirements and then apply for PPP forgiveness of the loan later on.  One problem - no one knew how long the pandemic would last, and many small businesses couldn't afford the risk that they would be able to employ these employees at the end of the loan's term. (This is how I remember things, small business owners may be able to better clarify things here.)  America's "unlivable wage" structure combined with Federal Unemployment Insurance subsidies made it a better deal for many small business employees to leave the workforce and take the time off to develop skills for better paying jobs. In the case of one business I'm acquainted with, the business owner had to lay off it's one employee. The owner of the business was doing double duty for 18 months while the "ex" employee was taking advantage of government largesse - and I can't blame the employee for doing so.  Yet, more people needed this money than not, as they had no jobs to go to (think of restaurant staff) and no way to get new ones.  It made sense for these people to develop skills for new jobs with better wages and more stability.

Over time, things evolved into a "new normal".  Most of us got used to wearing masks in public spaces. Most of us got used to social distancing.  And most of us got used to the safety protocols needed to help slow down the spread of the pandemic.  Many businesses started opening up again, albeit in new ways. Restaurants developed new take-out models, and employed some of their former wait staff as kitchen employees for the duration.  Others created outdoor dining spaces. And still others were allowed to operate indoor facilities with reduced capacity. Yet, many cherished places continued to close, as they could not get enough business to pay their bills.

Eventually, the needed vaccines were developed, and things changed for the better.  Once enough people became vaccinated, we continued our evolution to a "new normal". Many businesses that had shut down due to the pandemic reopened.  In my case, I took my first cruise in 2 years at Christmastime. Yet, I noticed that things were different.  Fewer people were on my cruise than I expected. And this is typical - many people are still afraid of catching the virus, even though they have been vaccinated.  (I can't blame them, as I lost my dad to the virus in the early days of the pandemic.) Yet, with the symptoms of the virus in the vaccinated being much less severe than in the unvaccinated, I see the risks and severity of getting sick as that of catching a non-Covid flu.  Many of us are tired of having to think of the virus, and are finding ways to live our lives again.

And this sets the stage for the continuing ripples of the pandemic.  The friend who discussed her job with me noted that her boss was not in the best financial state.  Year to year holiday sales were still down, as many of his customers were not gathering in large numbers anymore. He was surviving, but slowly hemorrhaging money - especially, as he bought out his former partner just before the pandemic struck. The owner enjoys running his business, but his Covid-19 depressed financials may force him to close the business and put my friend out of work.  Many small businesses are hurting, as they can not generate the revenue to pay workers, or to pay workers enough to stay on their jobs.  Increased demand for workers have caused people to jump to better paying and more secure jobs.  They have learned their lessons from the early days of the pandemic, and do not want to be at risk again from a next pandemic.

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As for me, I've noticed that when I pass through Grand Central Terminal, that many dining venues have closed. Not only do people want to avoid eating at the terminal due to the virus, but people have no places to sit down and enjoy their food. Until recently, the magazine/newspaper stand at Grand Central wasn't open when I was there.  Not enough people were taking the train into NYC to justify keeping the place open.  But now, things are opening up again, and I am looking forward to an excuse to eat at the Oyster Grill again.

Yet, things have changed quite a bit.  Not only do I have to show that I have been vaxxed and boosted before entering a NYC restaurant, museum, or theater, but I have to pull out government id to prove that the vaccination record is mine. It's a small price to pay for "normalcy" in the new normal.  

There is a point where enough people have been vaccinated in society to allow for a herd immunity. Those of us who have been vaccinated paid the small price to allow this to happen.  But most of the unvaccinated people are freeloaders.  Their selfish interests have made it harder to attain this herd immunity.  And with their insistence that they remain unmasked in places where immuno-compromised people may be only helps to make things worse for all of us.  The new normal has shown us that there are a large number of people who don't give a damn about others - and who will hurt society rather than make small sacrifices to improve it.

I could go on and on.  This post was intended to be a short one discussing my friend's job and how Covid-19 affected it.  But things often change when I start writing an entry....

 

 

I went to temple today, and I'm not even Jewish

 

I made a joke with several of my friends that it's been a couple of years since I've been to temple, so I decided to go today.  What I included in the message was a picture of the Temple of Dendur at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met).

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Earlier this week, I made arrangements to meet RQS at the Met for an afternoon of wandering around the museum.  This was going to be a fun day, as she hadn't been to the Met in years, and I hadn't visited since before the pandemic.  And one could easily spot some of the changes made at the Met if one had visited it before, such as the elimination of a public dining area.  More importantly, if an exhibit required that people enter a small space, that space was closed off to prevent people from contaminating each other within a small space.  

After 3 hours at the museum, we were both getting tired of walking around the museum, so off we went to the Nom Wah Tea Parlor.  This was my first time back there in 2 years, and the place felt a little bit more airy - as if a table or two had been removed.  So we sat down and enjoyed a nice Dim Sum dinner, exposing RQS to new tastes in Chinese food.  And all too soon, it was time to leave.

This was a nice day out, but I'm a little leery about telling her about my bi-gendered nature.  Yet, it's something I'll have to do soon.  

Keep your fingers crossed.

Bahamas Cruise - Day 1 (Embarkation)

 

I've recently hinted that I was going away on a cruise.  Sadly, there was no way that I'd consider writing about what happened in real time.  There are still too many people who'd figure out where I live and burglarize the place.  So, there is a longer than usual gap between the time I sailed on this ship and the time you'll read about my exploits.

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Day 1 - Embarkation.

It's been over 2 years since I've gone on any vacation.  So this trip would be both a chance to relax and a chance to see what has changed to keep passengers safe when cruising on this ship.  This would be a "new" experience for me, as I am accustomed to getting on board the ship "late" and leaving "early".

My scheduled arrival time at the pier was at noon.  So, I worked my times backward and decided that I had to make it out of my house by 9:15, so that I could catch a 9:45 train into NYC.  One problem - the cab service I usually use wasn't picking up its phone. I ended up having to call a cab service in Ossining (one town over from me), and deal with a man who didn't know the way to my apartment complex.  Luckily, he was nearby, and I told him how to reach my place with a few minutes to spare before my train.

I had time to kill when I reached NYC, so I looked around Grand Central for a few minutes.  One of the things I was looking for was a place selling OMNY cards, but none were there to be found. (I'll have to search around the GCT area for OMNY cards the next time I'm in the area.) Then, I killed more time by finding an unofficial place to sit, as the official waiting area wasn't yet open. Eventually, the clock struck 11:30, and I made my way to the cab stand to make it to the pier.

 

Once at the pier, I was directed to a station at Pier 90.  This was the place where NCL had contracted with another firm to do their Covid testing. The antigen test was not as accurate as the PCR test I did the previous Thursday.  But it showed the result I needed - NEGATIVE.  I was cleared to go, and given a pink band to indicate that I passed the test.  Now, I was off to Pier 88 to check in for my cruise.  At Pier 88, I was checked in and on the ship in 10 minutes.  So, after 30 minutes of arriving at the cruise terminal, I was onboard and in my cabin.

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The first subtle difference I noticed on the ship was that everyone was wearing wearing face masks. Although the card-key was still being used, the cruise line was also working with facial recognition technology when getting on and off the ship.  Since I mentioned the card-key, I might as well mention that it was always used in Tap-and-Go mode.  One didn't have to swipe their card-key to enter a cabin. One simply tapped the card-key on the door's reader, and you'd be able to open the door.

Another difference is the lack of selfie stations.  When I last cruised on the Norwegian Gem, there were several places around the ship where you could have your picture taken with a Norwegian Gem background and send it to your friends as free advertising for the line.  In the places where those stations were once found were holiday decorations.  Although the selfie machines could come back, I doubt they will.  They create a sanitary problem, as these stations are operated by direct finger contact.

A welcome change to standard operating procedure was the lack of a formal muster drill.  Instead of marching to a muster area with a lot of other people, one watches a safety presentation in the comfort of one's own cabin.  Once the video is viewed, one checks in at the muster station for a quick presentation on how to use a "Mae West". And that's it.  It's much easier than before, and much more effective.

I expected to see the serve yourself buffet replaced by a buffet where servers would put the foods you select onto your plate - as has been done by other cruise lines.  This limits the possibility of an infected passenger contaminating the food which others may eat.  I was appalled by seeing one teenager take his water carton, and refill it by putting the nozzle inside the water carton.  This is against the ship's rules, but the kid didn't care.  It was too inconvenient to refill the water carton another way.  Sadly, the buffet is one area where the cruise line could implement higher standards of hygiene.

 

Even though I expected to see a relatively empty theater, I was still a little bit surprised.  Based on what I saw, I think that the ship was sailing at 30%-40% capacity.  Although it was nice to have a little more personalized attention, I miss the energy that larger groups generate.  Yet, right now, I was glad not to be sailing on a crowded ship.