"NH is open for business, but it’s far from normal" by Naomi Martin and Gal Tziperman Lotan Globe Staff, May 15, 2020
MANCHESTER, N.H. — Stores and hair salons opened across New Hampshire this week to a trickle of customers, venturing out warily after weeks of lockdown. The coronavirus pandemic has largely spared the state, despite its proximity to the Boston-area outbreak, but the mood was anything but triumphant.
Malls were mostly empty, and main streets were far from bustling. As New Hampshire’s economy gradually awakens, residents have tiptoed back into public life from a pandemic that has killed 151 people in the state, about three-quarters of them residents of long-term care facilities. In comparison, Massachusetts has lost an estimated 5,592 residents to the virus.
What did they do right that Baker did wrong?
Despite the low level of infections and deaths, Governor Chris Sununu has urged caution as the state begins what his office calls “Stay At Home 2.0," stressing that the virus could easily spread quickly without proper vigilance. He has reopened industries in phases under tight safety restrictions to draw people back to work in a state where an estimated 20 percent of the workforce has become unemployed.
On May 4, the state’s hospitals, which never came close to capacity during the lockdown and lost tens of millions of dollars in revenue, returned to treating patients who needed heart operations, spine surgeries, joint replacements, and other key procedures. At Catholic Medical Center in Manchester, patients are now escorted to their destinations to avoid accidentally ending up in a COVID ward.
We have been HAD!
Stores and hair salons opened Monday, with mandated face masks and social distancing rules. Next Monday, restaurants will be allowed to serve outdoor diners at 50 percent capacity, with 6 feet between tables.
It’s unclear when indoor dining will be allowed, which has ruffled some eateries in northern New Hampshire towns with relatively few infections and chilly weather in their forecasts.
“As someone who used to own seven restaurants in the mountains, I get it,” Sununu said this week. “Nobody understands the economic impact out there more than I do — it’s what keeps me up at night," but “we have to be sensible,” he added. "If we rush to appease one part of the state or one constituency, we really put everyone else at risk.”
This criminal tool doesn't understand $hit, and when did Don't Tread on Me become Be a Sheeple.
Across the state this week, people seemed in no rush to shop. In Salem, just across the Massachusetts border, a few people, many wearing masks, milled around The Mall at Rockingham Park, minding signs to keep their distance from one another. Most of the cars parked outside a Dick’s Sporting Goods had plates from Massachusetts, where only essential stores, and no sports shops, have been open since March.
Massachusetts is slated to announce its reopening plan Monday. There are no restrictions on Massachusetts residents traveling north to shop or get a haircut, although businesses may choose to turn away out-of-state customers.
I'm waiting with bated breath, can't you tell?
Oh, right, the mask!
Farther up Interstate 93 in Concord, the Steeplegate Mall was nearly deserted. A hair salon open inside posted extensive guidelines on its Facebook page: Only cuts and root coloring touch-ups. No blow-drying. No taking off your mask, even if no one’s around.
That last sentence is a test of your abject, on-your-knees servitude.
The state’s reopening appears to mostly follow federal guidelines that say states should only relax restrictions once hospitals are far from full and cases have declined for 14 days, the time it can take for undiagnosed cases to emerge. The state, which has tallied 3,299 confirmed cases, hit its peak of new daily cases on May 1 with 164 but has since seen a largely downward trajectory.
Several health experts and business leaders alike said that with the contagion seemingly under control, it made sense for New Hampshire to reopen businesses now, at least slowly.
My wallet will stay closed, thank you.
“It was time,” said Dr. Keith Stahl, chief medical officer at Catholic Medical Center. “You can only keep a society suppressed for so long and you have to start considering even some of the mental health issues that can come with social distancing. ... We had good indicators that we weren’t going to get the tsunami surge of COVID.”
The governor’s plan seems sensible, Stahl said, but its effectiveness will hinge on people’s behavior. He urged continued social distancing, face masks, and hand hygiene. “If people do that, we will be able to coexist with COVID until the vaccine comes around," he said.
It's like these sick f**ks are reading from script no matter which state you live!
Of course, not everyone in the “Live Free or Die” state agrees with Sununu’s timing or approach. In recent weeks, protesters repeatedly gathered at the State House demanding the lockdown be lifted. On Saturday, more people plan to demonstrate against the governor’s 10-person limit on gatherings, saying it infringes on their constitutional right to practice religion in larger groups.
That's more like it, and I'm sorry I got the slogan wrong.
In response, Sununu said he wanted religious groups to be involved in crafting guidance on how to safely operate houses of worship in the future, but that the state “of course” has the legal ability to protect public health during a crisis.
Time to TAKE HIM to COURT!
“Some of the initial spread of this virus was done in a community setting, in a church, that was very unfortunate,” Sununu said. “Religious leaders I’ve spoken with across the state have said they want to get it right and go slow.”
They should be demanding their First Amendment and God-given rights now.
The restrictions have been tougher to swallow in New Hampshire than in more densely populated states like Massachusetts, in part because of the small number of cases and the lower risk, said Sharon McDonnell, an epidemiologist at the University of New Hampshire.
“It’s frustrating and I don’t blame folks,” she said. “People in rural areas are watching the cost of the economic collapse and the job losses without any of the feeling that ‘the people I know are sick.' ”
However, the state must recognize that an outbreak could explode at any time, and that New Hampshire may have not seen its worst yet, she added.
I'm sick of the jerk job, too.
Policy makers must weigh the trade-off of more infections, illnesses, and deaths, with allowing economic activity to resume. Testing is crucial, she said, to guide whether it’s wise to loosen restrictions.
“There is no ‘safe’ here, there is only ‘the best we can do,’ but to me, we’re not at the other end," McDonnell said. "We don’t know where we are.”
Fills one with confidence in their judgement, huh?
On Wednesday, Sununu said the state had tested 2,000 people the previous day, and so far had tested roughly 3 percent of the state’s population. Anyone with COVID-like symptoms can receive a test.
“We’re on a pretty good track there,” he said. “We’re not at the point where we can test anybody and everybody. … We hope to get to that point. I can’t tell you when that’s going to be.”
These guys keep tipping their hand regarding what their real pans are and for whom they front. He should be in jail for what he is doing up there.
The state has told restaurants they may use some public outdoor areas for tables to increase patio dining. In Concord, several eateries will use parking spots on Main Street to add three to five more tables.
How many residents will be evicted to make room for them, and where will they go, a COVID CAMP?
“What remains to be seen is whether folks are feeling confident to go out in public again,” said Tim Sink, president of the Greater Concord Chamber of Commerce, who plans to dine out on Monday. “As cabin fever continues to settle in, we’ll see more and more people coming out, but it’s a slow and very cautious reopening so far.”
You guys can $hove it for having gone along with this fraudulent $cam-demic.
Tourism is New Hampshire’s second largest industry, and rules for reopening hotels and vacation rentals still haven’t been announced. Even so, Sink said he approved of the cautious pace of resuming business.
“The worst thing that could happen right now is that we’re sloppy about this and we see a resurgence," he said. "Then we’re back in lockdown mode.”
I $ee a $inking economy in any case.
--more--"
Did you know the NH legislature is the third largest in the world, and to adhere to social distancing it will meet inside the UNH hockey arena?
Someone should put them all on ice, metaphorically speaking.
Then they can slide down and enjoy some Ma$$achu$etts tyranny:
"Baker, promising ‘cautious and careful’ reopening plan, already guarding against criticism" by Matt Stout Globe Staff, May 15, 2020
Governor Charlie Baker on Friday announced a one-day extension of his nonessential workplace closure, which was set to expire at midnight on Monday, to align with the release of his road map for easing restrictions on businesses amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
WTF?
What difference is a DAY going to make?
What a mind-f**k asshole is he!
Like a DAY is going to change the situation any.
He is just setting the stage for a further, summer-long lockdown.
Facing a wave of questions about how he’ll reopen Massachusetts’ economy, Baker also offered a sweeping defense of his “cautious and careful” approach, arguing that the dearth of reliable information about the novel coronavirus demands it.
Killed the economy of a dearth of data, so WTF?
His remarks at a State House news conference Friday were all the more notable for what they lacked: details of his plan. He promised that on Monday he will flesh out what to date he’s only described as a prolonged, four-step outline, but he appeared to be readying for an expected onslaught of second-guessing, as progressive lawmakers called on him to extend a stay-at-home advisory and conservative legislators demanded he reopen the state sooner.
The phased approach he is following is the plan developed by the American Enterprise Institute, and it is phased in evil.
“This is our idea of having the best shot we have at continuing to make progress and not giving the virus a chance to get back out of the barn,” Baker said Friday.
Baker sidestepped a question on whether he’d extend a separate statewide stay-at-home advisory for residents, which is also slated to expire Monday, and despite repeated questions about how the state’s plan would look, he’s offered little insight to key questions.
Baker has defended that tack throughout the week, saying while he’d love to reopen businesses immediately, a full-scale return to normal life would be “incredibly irresponsible.” Thousands of workplaces deemed nonessential have been shut in Massachusetts since late March, and, “when people say to me, ‘You’re not doing enough,’ my answer to that is I want to be able to have open businesses and progress on coronavirus in the fall,” Baker said. Public health officials say a second wave of infections could await the country, he added, and Massachusetts residents have sacrificed time with family and the comforts of normal life for too long to step backward now. “Despite the tragedy that’s just everywhere, it’s a really impressive story so far,” Baker said, "but it doesn’t end until we get through the fall.”
Forget this summer, and that means HIS STRATEGY has UTTERLY FAILED with he CRYPTIC COMMENT!
Tragedy everywhere, but an "impressive story so far?"
That is something a liar would say, as if he were in on the "drill!"
Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh, who said Friday that he is willing to reopen Fenway Park and TD Garden for games with no fans allowed, also emphasized caution is key. “We simply cannot afford any unnecessary setbacks,” Walsh said at a separate news conference. “If we come back too soon, there will be a second surge.”
He is adamant about the non-negotiable conditions: no fans in the stands, so you won't have to worry about your seat, and that guy is going to destroy Boston because his head is so far up globali$t a$$.
You can't say they didn't warn us about the continuing drill meant to restructure society, though. This state sucks and its leadership is evil.
Baker’s stance has done little to quell growing frustration. Some Republican lawmakers and groups have urged Baker to join other states in easing restrictions now. On Friday, a half-dozen Democratic legislators called for exactly the opposite: extend the stay-at-home advisory until at least the beginning of June.
I'm with Democrats on this. A reopen insures a second wave, as does a continuing lock down so.... damned if you do, damned if you don't.
In their letter, the lawmakers argue the “raw number” of daily coronavirus cases remains too high, and testing isn’t widespread enough. The state reported Friday that the death toll from the coronavirus outbreak had risen by 110 cases to 5,592, and the number of confirmed coronavirus cases had climbed by 1,239 to 83,421.
I've become convinced that they are simply making the numbers up per the Event 201/Johns Hopkins/Rockefeller simulations -- although that does not mean people are not dying or, even worse, being neglected and even murdered.
It's all the captive populations and useless eaters for the most part, have you noticed that? Be it the health army (as workers are being laid off), the military, nursing homes, prisoners, undocumented workers, homeless, etc, the subject populations are not "free" -- insomuch as we have "freedom" these days. What it means is we have yet to be ensured by the health mafia that has risen to prominence.
It marked the 12th consecutive day of decline in new cases, when measured by seven-day rolling average. “We want to be conservative and careful and cautious with respect to the way we do this," Baker said.
Rolling average, huh?
UGH!
For others, that cautious communication has been the problem. With May 18 long looming as the order’s expiration date, confusion has proliferated among business owners about what day they should actually plan to unlock their doors again.
See: 21st-Century Office
“Business owners need to know what the reopening plan is in Massachusetts,” said state Representative Carmine Gentile, a Sudbury Democrat, who pointed to long runways of information other states, such as New York, have provided. Governor Andrew M. Cuomo offered a broad look at his strategy for reopening 11 days before his order lifted, including with timelines of when it would be reevaluated. “Waiting to tell us on Monday or even Sunday would be too late,” Gentile wrote on Twitter.
I thought Baker was in the seven state consortium and yet everyone is going their own way (or in lockstep by the designed metrics of the simulation and CDC)?
Somerville Mayor Joseph A. Curtatone announced Friday that the city’s state of emergency will continue beyond Monday and the suspension of all city-sponsored or permitted events will extend through the end of the year. Smaller events may be reconsidered if conditions improve, and city officials have not issued guidance for school-sponsored activities and programming from the city Parks and Recreation Department.
Meanwhile, Rhode Island will stay in the first phase of reopening its economy through early June, Governor Gina M. Raimondo said Friday. It doubles the time between stages so health officials have enough time to evaluate the effect of loosening restrictions, which included lifting a stay-at-home order, allowing restaurants to offer outdoor dining with limits, and letting nonessential retail stores to open, also with restrictions.
See: Rhode Island’s Reopen
As Massachusetts awaits Baker’s decision, some potential contours of his plan have trickled out. A subcommittee under his reopening advisory board created a set of draft recommendations for reopening beaches, such as initially limiting parking lots to 50 percent capacity and keeping 12 feet of distance between groups of beach-goers.
Swimming and surfing would still be allowed, but other beach games, including volleyball, football, or bocce, would be prohibited under the proposal. Face coverings will also still be required.
Face coverings at the beach and in the heat?
That's INSANE!
You will be breathing in your own CO2 when you need oxygen!
How many people will be keeling over this summer from lack of oxygen in conjunction with the 5G?
Even a slap in the face will be unable to save you.
The draft plan, however, didn’t emerge from one of Baker’s daily briefings, but at a Yarmouth Board of Selectmen meeting, where local officials held a lengthy debate about them Tuesday and posted a copy of the recommendations. The subcommittee, called the Outdoor Recreation Working Group, included representatives from the Baker administration’s Office of Coastal Zone Management, as well as the Trustees of Reservations and Cape-based officials such as Brian Carlstrom, superintendent of the Cape Cod National Seashore, and Barnstable Town Manager Mark Ells, according to the documents presented at the meeting, but how many of those recommendations will ultimately make it into formal guidelines on Monday is unclear.
Baker declined to say Friday if his plan will include specific guidance for beaches, even as New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Delaware announced they’ll open their beaches for Memorial Day weekend. Baker’s office also did not address whether Baker was considering the specific proposal. Carlstrom said Friday the guidance was “all draft and is still under development.”
The recommendations were quickly met with consternation on several fronts: Local legislators bemoaned they were released publicly at all ahead of the administration’s formal announcement. “It created a whole world of confusion,” said Representative Sarah K. Peake, a Provincetown Democrat.
Yarmouth officials, hungry for some direction from the state about how to prepare ahead of Memorial Day weekend, questioned if they could even enforce the rules as proposed.
“I’m not questioning the underlying advisability of it from a public health point of view, but we can’t diagram out the beach, so that every person has a 12-foot plot. Somebody comes and sits in the middle of those people, what are we going to do?” Michael Stone, the selectman board chairman, said in a phone interview Friday.
Arrest them!
Daniel Knapik, Yarmouth’s town administrator, said regardless of whatever version of the plan emerges Monday, he hopes Baker gives local officials flexibility to adjust them to fit their individual needs.
“What we would like to see, more than anything else, is latitude to local boards of selectmen and boards of health to make judgment calls,” he said.
“In Boston, people think the lights just come on down here,” Knapik said of summer prep on the Cape. “It doesn’t work that way.”
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Stay away from the Cape this summer (turns out last summer wasn't very good, either).
Related:
"Governor Charlie Baker plans to reopen parts of the economy, perhaps starting as early as Tuesday, but what exactly that means for businesses is so far anyone’s guess. Some restaurateurs aren’t expecting to welcome back diners that soon, while other business owners, from merchants to dog groomers, are preparing to open that day, hoping they have guessed right about anti-virus guidelines the state may issue. One thing is for sure, confusion reigns. Antoine Abeddy, owner of Date & Time, a watch and jewelry shop in Sudbury, has been tuning into Baker’s daily news conferences on TV to look for clues. The jeweler has polled his peers on what might happen....."
That is when I lost my appetite for that article, and Massachusetts needs to focus on coronavirus data, not dates to reopen the economy because timetables will need to be calibrated and continually adjusted, based on evolving COVID-19 public health data, and a “set it and forget it” approach will be ineffective and dangerous.
Also see:
"Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida said he is expanding the reopening of the state’s economy starting Monday, allowing gyms to restart and more traffic at stores and restaurants. Retailers and restaurants will be able to operate at 50 percent indoor capacity, up from 25 percent, DeSantis told reporters Friday in Jacksonville, Fla. DeSantis also invited amusement parks to submit reopening plans, though he wouldn’t predict when he would approve such a step."
Can't open up the amusement parks:
"Areas in the United States that do not adhere to any social distancing policies face 35 times more cases of the novel coronavirus, according to a study published Thursday in a peer-reviewed health-care journal. The study, published in the journal Health Affairs, looked at the policies mandating social distancing, and found that the longer a measure was in effect the slower the daily growth rate of COVID-19, the virus’s disease. Researchers from the University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, and Georgia State University looked at confirmed coronavirus cases in the United States between March 1 and April 27."
I no longer believe evil liars or the pre$$ that peddles them.
"A barber in New York who spent weeks giving haircuts in defiance of the state’s lockdown order recently tested positive for the novel coronavirus, according to health officials. The Ulster County Department of Health confirmed that a barber shop operating “illicitly” in the city of Kingston, N.Y., had an employee test positive this week, prompting concern that anyone who recently got their hair cut at the establishment may have also become infected."
Of course someone tested positive in that case. Anyone who dissents or casts aspersions on this fraud (the basketball player, BoJo, Rand Paul, etc).
A rally organized by Families for Justice as Healing took place at MCI-Framingham on May 3. (Blake Nissen for the Boston Globe)
It's obviously a staged protest serving the agenda, and the Globe covered all three of them while thousands demonstrate against tyranny all across this country.
Of course, letting all the convicts out is intended to sow societal chaos and make room for those who fail to consent to the new global order.
"Stocks capped another wobbly day of trading on Wall Street with modest gains Friday. “Investors are really torn,” said Chris Zaccarelli of Independent Advisor Alliance. “There’s one camp of thinking that it’s always darkest before the dawn, and the other camp is thinking this is just the tip of the iceberg.”
Want to go shopping?
"When shoppers venture out, what will be left?" by Ben Casselmanand Sapna Maheshwari New York Times, May 15, 2020
The coronavirus pandemic dealt another crushing blow to retailers in April. Now the question is what the sector will look like as the economy reopens — and how much permanent damage has been inflicted.
Retail sales fell 16.4% last month, the Commerce Department said Friday, by far the largest monthly drop on record. That followed an 8.3% drop in March, the previous record. Total sales for April, which include retail purchases in stores and online as well as money spent at bars and restaurants, were the lowest since 2012, even without accounting for inflation.
Some of the declines in individual categories were staggering. Restaurants and bars lost half their business over two months. At furniture and home furnishings stores, sales were off by two-thirds. At clothing stores, the two-month decline was 89%. Increased sales from online retailers didn’t come close to offsetting the downturn elsewhere.
April could prove to be the bottom for sales. The March figures were helped in part by panic buying and stores were generally open for the first half of the month. Most states have begun to lift barriers to commerce and movement, and many economists expect spending to rise in May as people venture out, but in contrast to the nearly vertical drop, any rebound is likely to be gradual. Big states like New York and California remain largely under lockdown, and businesses face significant restrictions elsewhere. Even as businesses reopen, there is no guarantee that customers will return in numbers previously seen.
I know a lot of things I will no longer be spending money on.
“It’s probably fair to say the worst is over in terms of a collapse, unless there are waves of new outbreaks,” said Jim O’Sullivan, chief U.S. macro strategist for TD Securities, “but how fast does it come back? The short answer is none of us really know.”
The second wave of infections and death is coming.
Surveys show that many Americans still fear the virus and are wary of crowded places. Epidemiologists and public health officials say those concerns are well founded. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious-disease expert, told a Senate committee this week that rushing back to normal life could “trigger an outbreak that you may not be able to control.”
Even if Americans feel comfortable returning to stores, they may not have as much money to spend, since millions have lost their jobs.
May not, NYT?
“Consumers are definitely feeling anxious about the future,” said Jay Sole, a retail analyst at UBS. “Whether it’s the pandemic, which is making people hesitant to go out in public to crowded places, or they’re worried about their jobs or the state of the economy going forward, people’s willingness to spend has declined.”
There are signs that the downturn has left lasting scars on a retail industry that was already struggling. J. Crew and Neiman Marcus have filed for bankruptcy protection, and other big retailers like J.C. Penney Co., which employs nearly 85,000 people, are expected to follow.
The future is not so bright anymore, even for the well-to-do.
Small businesses are being hit even harder.....
They will no longer exist.
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Related:
"The pandemic has forced retailers to quickly adapt to a fully digital environment and speed up some investments that may have otherwise taken place over several years, said Joel Bines, managing director at AlixPartners, a consultancy and restructuring firm. That goes beyond their website operations to online ordering for curbside and store pickup, appointment shopping, partnerships with Instacart or Postmates, and other initiatives, he said. “Anything that puts digital into the transaction — that acceleration is a direct result of this,” Bines said.
Like I have said, COVID is providing cover for things the people would never accept were they not in lockdown and being pimped fear by the pre$$.
Still, for all the grim economic news, there are hints of a rebound as retailers race to resume business with masked employees, plexiglass guards and hand-sanitizer stations. Macy’s and Gap Inc. are among retailers that have announced aggressive plans to reopen stores in coming weeks, as has the Simon Property Group, the nation’s biggest mall operator.
Data from Placer.ai, a company that uses mobile phone data to analyze foot traffic, shows that activity has picked up, although it is not close to levels before the pandemic. “There are so many unknowns still, but we’re definitely seeing things trending back toward normal,” said Ethan Chernofsky, vice president for marketing for Placer.ai. “There’s a potential light at the end of the tunnel.”
These guys are either delu$ional or paid to $hovel $hit.
Some companies are easing into the reopening. American Eagle Outfitters, the teen retailer that also owns the underwear chain Aerie, hired a medical director in mid-March to advise it on bringing employees back to its stores and Pittsburgh headquarters, and has reopened more than 200 locations this month. The company has viewed online purchasing and pickups at stores or outside malls as a good transition for consumers wary of the full-on mall experience, said Andrew McLean, the company’s chief commercial officer. “We’re finding that’s a great gateway into retailing for consumers who might want to get out and see the mall but aren’t necessarily there yet from a safety standpoint,” he said.
I saw the mall.
Well how was it?
I don't know, I didn't go inside.
At some point, they won't be letting you in because the empty malls are perfect for extermination camps. Stores have the metal gates on them and everything.
The retail collapse is both a result of the economic crisis and a major contributor to it. Plunging sales mean less tax revenue for cities and states, delayed rent payments for landlords, and lost business for manufacturers, trucking companies and thousands of other businesses. More than anything, it means lost jobs: The nation’s second-largest private-sector employer, after health care, the retail industry cut 2.1 million jobs in April.
Healthcare workers are being furloughed and laid off as well!
Angela Sherbanee was caught in the first wave of layoffs. She worked at Dylan’s Candy Bar inside the Mohegan Sun casino in Connecticut; the casino closed in mid-March, and the store along with it. She has been out of work for close to two months. “It’s very scary right now because I don’t know how the casino is going to open back up,” she said.
Sherbanee, 55, is technically on furlough, but she is skeptical she will be able to return to work soon, if at all. One of her daughters, a college student who worked part time at a Levi’s outlet inside a different casino, has been told that her own furlough will turn into a layoff at the end of the month. The only member of the family who is working is her younger daughter, a high school senior employed at a pizzeria, where business is booming amid the lockdown. “Who would’ve thought that the 18-year-old who’s working at the pizza place is an essential worker?” Sherbanee said.
Yeah, WHO would have thought it!?
She is obviously out of step with the American people.
The drop in consumer spending might have been even steeper had it not been for the trillions of dollars in emergency funding approved by Congress. Credit and debit card transaction data analyzed by economists at Harvard and Brown universities shows a significant increase in spending in mid-April, when $1,200 stimulus checks began arriving in bank accounts. “That’s the stimulus doing what it’s intended to do, providing a little bit of a lift to households,” said Robert Rosener, senior U.S. economist at Morgan Stanley.
Un-f**king-believable.
Pos pre$$ implying that the $timuloot that went to well-connected intere$ts and concerns while quoting a banker who benefited is beyond the f**king pale, even though April "could be" the bottom.
Expanded unemployment benefits have helped soften the blow for workers who have lost jobs — at least those who have been able to file for benefits. Researchers at the Brookings Institution estimated this week that unemployment insurance replaced half of lost wages in April.
I $uppo$e I $hould expect such disingenuous shit-shoveling from the NYT at this point.
For Laura Campbell, a manager at Half Price Books in Renton, Washington, being laid off was an emotional blow but not, at least in the short term, a financial one. Because of the extra $600 per week being paid to unemployed workers right now, Campbell — who uses plural pronouns — is making more than the $16.05 hourly wage at the bookstore. “I have been able to pay off two credit cards,” they said.
Books are finished, and I'm sure the banks are happy!
Still, the experience has exacerbated Campbell’s long-standing concerns about the future of retail. Even before the pandemic, workers often asked one another how long the business could continue in the Amazon era, and while not expecting physical retail to disappear overnight, Campbell doesn’t plan to wait to find out: They will start a new job at a local tech company at the end of the month.
Lucky her!
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I thought we were all partners:
"Partners HealthCare hit by steep loss in face of pandemic shutdown; The state’s largest hospital system, and largest private employer, says revenue is declining steeply, but expects a rebound before end of the year" by Larry Edelman Globe Staff, May 15, 2020
The state’s largest hospital network on Friday detailed the initial toll the coronavirus pandemic has taken on its finances. The prognosis: The pain may last for months.
Partners HealthCare, the parent of Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women’s hospitals, reported an operating loss of $178 million in the fiscal second quarter that ended March 31, before the COVID-19 crisis reached its peak. The loss, its first since the fourth quarter of fiscal 2017, compared with an operating profit of $107 millionin the year-earlier period. Revenue was little unchanged at $3.43 billion as expenses climbed 9.5 percent.
The company, which is rebranding under the Mass General Brigham name, said in a statement that based on results from March and April, it expects to lose $400 million a month in patient service revenue, which accounted for nearly two-thirds of all revenue in the first half of the fiscal year. How long the revenue losses continue depends on when it can resume elective medical procedures and outpatient care, when and whether demand for services returns to normal, and other factors, Partners said.
They don't want to care for us, and I don't want them caring for me.
“Like everyone, we are waiting to see what the governor says Monday,” said Peter Markell, Partners’ chief financial officer, referring to the expectation that Governor Charlie Baker will lay out his road map for getting the economy going again, and not extend the state’s restrictions on nonessential businesses and stay-at-home advisory, now set to expire on Tuesday. “We’ll see what we can start doing that we couldn’t do before,” he said in an interview.
The state’s hospitals are losing $1.4 billion in revenue each month, the Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association told the Globe earlier this month, and are projected to lose $5 billion in revenue through July. The health and human services providers jettisoned more than 100,000 jobs in the past eight weeks, or more than 15 percent of the labor force, as most elective and outpatient care was curtailed.
How can that be during the health crisis?
COVID was a COVER to SHED WORKERS who will NO LONGER BE NEEDED, huh?
Markell said Partners, the state’s largest private employer, had not laid off or furloughed any of its 78,000 workers, and has told them their jobs are secure at least through June.
And after June?
Separately, three of the state’s four top nonprofit health insurers — Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, Harvard Pilgrim Health Plan, and Tufts Health Plan — reported operating losses in their first quarter that ended in March, while Fallon Health posted a drop in operating profit. All the companies said the impact from COVID-19 on their finances was limited to the tail end of March.
“There was some impact in claims volume and premiums, but not what we anticipate going forward,” said Michael Carson, chief executive of Harvard Pilgrim.
The insurers are bracing for increases in claims, as people who put off getting care during the pandemic return to their doctors, as well as declines in revenue, as laid-off workers lose coverage and employers struggle to pay premiums.
What makes them think we are going to return to the doctor?
“We’re waiting to understand the full picture for the second quarter,” said Andreana Santangelo, chief financial officer at Blue Cross Blue Shield, the state’s biggest health insurer. “The full year is quite unknown and will be extremely volatile.”
The insurers’ first-quarter profits were affected by hefty assessments under the Affordable Care Act. The payments, which are annual but were waived in 2019, are used to finance policy subsidies and expand coverage. At Blue Cross Blue Shield, the ACA assessment came to $101 million. At Harvard Pilgrim it was $34 million.
The resumption of non-COVID care is expected to be a slow and gradual process. Partners is hoping to get patient services revenue back to normal levels sometime between the end of September and the end of the year. “The wild card is how are the patients going to respond to coming back," he said. "We don’t know.”
Their plan for normal levels is when the second surge is expected, so forget it.
At the same time, Partners and the rest of the state’s health care industry must plan for flareups in COVID-19 cases.
To be used to impose lockdown in selected areas and test, true or not.
Markell said Partners decided in March to reduce capital expenditures by $550 million, or about half of the planned spending for the year. It has also frozen administrative hiring and taken on short-term debt to give it more financial flexibility. Cash on hand dropped to $233 million in the quarter from $512 million a year earlier.
Partners got a boost after the end of the quarter when it received $1 billion in accelerated Medicare payments and $314 million in grants from a federal relief program.
Markell said Partners was thankful for the government grants and the advance on Medicare payouts.
“We are hoping that turns into grants, too,” he said.
They got a goddamn bailout, can you believe it?
--more--"
Related:
Doctors lambaste federal process for distributing Covid-19 drug remdesivir
It took them ten days to get it into print?
Time to head to the tip of the cape:
"Provincetown, the country’s unofficial LGBTQ summer playground, faces a unique challenge this year; What makes the resort town special also makes it vulnerable to coronavirus" by Christopher Muther Globe Staff, May 16, 2020
Provincetown isn’t a place known for social distancing.
People flock there from all over the country and the world to be a part of a summer-long party. It’s one of the premiere LGBTQ tourist destinations in the United States, and it swells with music, parades, sweaty clubs, packed restaurants, and a central thoroughfare that can get so clogged with pedestrians, cyclists, and runners that it’s difficult to stay six inches apart from others, let alone six feet, but what makes Provincetown so successful is also what makes it vulnerable to the coronavirus. That threat holds a special danger because the average age of residents is close to 60 and many are immuno-compromised.
Locals understand the risks, but tempers are flaring over how best to reopen the town, or if it should open to tourists at all. The most popular theme weeks and events (Women’s Week, Family Week, Bear Week, the Provincetown Film Festival) have all been scrapped in an effort to curtail crowds, which balloon to 50,000 during the height of the season. Just this week, the town’s biggest event, Carnival, was canceled by the Select Board, to the relief of many and the secret chagrin of others, but the rest of the plan for how the summer will play out remains a question mark as the town waits for reopening guidelines from Governor Charlie Baker, in addition to suggestions from a local task force made up of Provincetown business owners, town officials, and medical advisors. As of May 14, there were 41 cases of COVID-19 reported in Provincetown.
“The balance is to figure out how you are going to be busy enough to stay economically viable but slow enough to maintain safety precautions,” said Rob Anderson, who owns the Canteen restaurant with his partner, Loic Rossignon, “and nobody knows what that balance is. If we, as a town, don’t decide and strictly enforce what it is we want to see, we could be left with a real health emergency.”
Or not, and I really don't care. I know the Globe does.
Anderson has been offering his take on how the town should reopen in Facebook posts. He and other business owners are growing anxious as Memorial Day approaches and the town has yet to issue health and safety guidelines.
“When the governor eases restrictions, it means you’ll have a lot of people from Boston saying, ‘Let’s take a drive to Provincetown,’ ” said Patrick Patrick, owner of Marine Specialties, a military surplus store and head of the town’s Chamber of Commerce.
Anderson has already seen this happen. On a recent warm Saturday, a crowd of day trippers congregated outside the Canteen’s pick-up window, some not practicing social distancing or wearing masks. He said several customers became belligerent when they were asked to follow safety protocols.
There is fear that some businesses will rush to open without a fully developed plan in place, hoping to make the most of Provincetown’s short summer season. Given the risks, longtime resident Myra Slotnick has been vocal in her belief that Provincetown should be closed to tourists this summer.
“It is my position that minimizing the number of people who come here will minimize the transmission of the virus,” Slotnick said in an e-mail. “I believe that only residents of Provincetown should be allowed to be here this season. Second-home owners, who are residents, make up 70 percent of the town. That is already a lot of people coming from all over the country. Key West has closed its doors to all but the locals, and so should we.”
What a piece of work is Slotnick(!). Her tribe wants to keep people out and segregate, yet wants to let the undocumented slaves in to do the dirty work (it's the hand Kushner in the crime bill, the immigration deal, the so-called peace deal, etc).
Weighing heavily on Slotnick and many others is the memory of the AIDS epidemic, which took a heavy toll on Provincetown. Per capita, Provincetown has the highest rate of HIV infection rate in the state. The arrival of COVID-19 could prove particularly deadly to those with HIV and AIDS who are not on an antiretroviral treatment.
Fauci minimized that at first before stealing research and giving it to a friend.
Some are hoping for an ultimate throwback summer. Without the parties and heavy drinking that have dominated in recent decades, this summer could emerge as a reset and offer a serene, sentimental quality that hasn’t existed in Provincetown in years.
The lack of rowdy drunks is a good thing.
“I’ve been coming here since the late 1970s,” said Anthony Fuccillo, director of tourism for Provincetown. “Hopefully this summer is going to be what it was like 25 years ago. People are going to come here to heal.”
PFFFT!
In addition to disagreements among year-round residents, those who own second homes say they are also feeling tension. Some said they faced hostility from locals when they left their city homes in March to escape to their Provincetown vacation homes. There was talk of slashed tires and fights, although most of the talk appears to be unsubstantiated, blustery claims on the town’s contentious community Facebook page.
“I came here in March and was distressed by the us-versus-them, anti-second-home owner sentiment in some segments of the community,” said one man who asked that his name not be used. “I initially got mad, but then decided a better response would be to prove myself a part of the community, so now I do grocery [runs] and run errands for the elderly.”
You reap what you sow, elitist scum, and the gay thuggery is quite a spectacle!
The us-versus-them talk became so prevalent that Provincetown Select Board chairman David Abramson issued a statement that the town was welcoming of second-home owners, but Abramson added that those who have underlying health issues may be safer if they stay home.
Another member of the tribe.
“We are also a rural, coastal town that has a community health facility that works well for a small community, but will quickly reach capacity and get overstressed if the virus is not contained,” Abramson said in his statement. “We all remember the AIDS crisis, and let’s remember we were known as a town that helped and cared for others. Don’t let fear divide us,” but the central issue remains having a plan in place for reopening to tourists, one which allows for some consensus between businesses and residents. That may be easier said than done in a small town filled with larger-than-life personalities and clashing opinions. Actor and playwright Ryan Landry often refers to it as “Problemstown.” A look at the bickering on the town’s community Facebook page shows that Landry is only half-joking.
The eliti$m is really sickening.
Last month, the town manager created the Provincetown Recovery Coalition to formulate a plan for reopening, with a broad range of interests represented on the board. Patrick, an eighth-generation Provincetown native who is a member of the coalition, said there has been pressure from businesses to offer a plan quickly, particularly with Memorial Day weekend approaching, but without guidelines from the state it’s been a challenge.
“To some people it looks like the town’s not doing anything,” he said, “but, in fact, everyone is working overtime and planning for a number of eventualities, but you can’t put out 10 different plans for 10 different eventualities and not expect people to get upset or confused.”
About 80 percent of Provincetown businesses that responded to a survey from the Recovery Coalition said they plan to open this summer. The same percentage said they have a plan in place to communicate changes to customers.
Meanwhile, tourism is seemingly in a holding pattern. Provincetown is a place where people come year-after-year. Many book their accommodations long in advance to ensure they have a room during busy theme weeks. At least one hotel owner said many of his regulars have yet to cancel, but they are keeping close tabs on what’s happening in town.
“A lot of people really love Provincetown, with or without Carnival and other big summer parties,” said David Bowd, founder of the Salt House Inn. “I think everyone understands that it will be a little less frantic summer here, but we’re not seeing a huge shift in anything right now. Everyone is waiting to see what happens, and keeping their fingers crossed for the best.”
Not me.
--more--"
Running with a mask on is one of the most counterproductive things you can do, idiot -- especially when there is no one within 50 miles of you!
WTF?
"State reports 113 additional deaths due to COVID-19; 5,705 deaths in Massachusetts have been attributed to the virus" by John Hilliard and Abigail Feldman Globe Staff and Globe Correspondent, May 16, 2020
Notice the phrasing, deaths attributed to the virus! Doesn't mean they died of it, just that it was attributed to be the cause. How deceptive and deceitful.
The number of Massachusetts deaths from the coronavirus ticked up Saturday, along with new cases of the disease, as Governor Charlie Baker remained mum on new details about his plans to gradually reopen parts of the state’s economy shuttered by the pandemic.
He better extend the lockdown another day then.
While business operators waited for word on when they might be able to reopen their doors, protesters angered by the governor’s moves to temporarily close businesses and keep people at home demonstrated near his Swampscott home.
GOOD!
The state’s health department reported 113 additional deaths due to the coronavirus, bringing Massachusetts’ total to 5,705 people who have died from COVID-19. There were also 1,512 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the state’s total number of confirmed cases to 84,933.
Whatever.
Meanwhile, the state’s seven-day rolling average of positive tests, a figure closely watched by health officials, remained steady at 12 percent of all tests given, according to state data.
A total of 12,410 new tests were reported Saturday, bringing the state’s total to 448,089.
On Friday, Baker said he was taking a “cautious and careful” approach to reopening the state’s economy, which has been largely shuttered for weeks due to the pandemic. He extended his nonessential workplace closure, which was due to end Sunday at midnight, through Monday, when an advisory board is expected to present a report on reopening the state, but Baker has not released specifics of his plan, which will follow a four-step outline that categorizes stages of reopening as “Start,” “Cautious,” “Vigilant,” and “New Normal.” He hasn’t said which businesses will be allowed to open first, and how long each stage could last.
The “New Normal” huh?
I turned into the section to find this:
Protestors gathered outside of Governor Baker's home on Saturday afternoon to push for a reopening of the economy and an end to the current restrictions (Erin Clark/Globe Staff).
Everything looks fine, except when you look closely you see some 2020 Trump shit.
We are being given a false choice, a devil's choice, with false friends.
Police Officer Ashley Send handed out face masks during a community initiative on Saturday (Erin Clark/Globe Staff).
That's the soft police state.
His handling of his reopening plan has been questioned by both business groups and progressive lawmakers — the Boston Chamber of Commerce has pressed for more details on how it would work, while a group of Democratic state lawmakers called on him to extend the stay-at-home advisory.
There is defiance in the air!
In Swampscott on Saturday afternoon, a few hundred protesters gathered near Baker’s house to demand the governor reopen the state immediately. The protest was organized by Super Happy Fun America, the same group behind last year’s Straight Pride Parade in Boston and a May 4 protest outside the State House, according to Detective Sergeant Jay Locke, a Swampscott police spokesman.
I'm glad they are demanding their God-given, Constitutional rights, not begging for them.
State Police, Swampscott police officers, and members of a regional police response team were at the scene, Locke said.
Police officers could be seen standing between Baker’s home and the demonstration, keeping protesters from standing directly outside the house. Roads to the area were also blocked by police.
“There were no public safety problems or arrests,” according to David Procopio, a State Police spokesman.
It's a thin blue line.
In a Facebook statement, protest organizers said they were continuing their fight against tyranny.
“The people will not be terrified into giving up their freedom in exchange for a faux security,” the statement said. “The politicians, bureaucrats, and media remain gainfully employed while they callously dismiss concerns about the impact their decisions have upon our jobs, wages, and well-being.”
Many of the protesters were not wearing masks, despite an order from Baker for people to cover their faces to limit the potential spread of the coronavirus. Very few of them stood more from a foot from one another.
See: Silence is Security
Several brandished American flags and wore Trump/Pence hats and shirts. Dozens of local officers and State Police troopers stood around the perimeter of the protest and blocked off nearby streets.
I'm starting to think we need Pence now; he certainly won't allow the Mark of the Beast like is Trump.
One woman, a New Hampshire resident who travels to Massachusetts each week to protest, encouraged members of the crowd to write to their representatives. “We’re not taking it anymore,” she said. “They work for us.”
It's a good idea, as is suing your governor.
In a statement Saturday, Baker spokeswoman Sarah Finlaw said the administration is thankful for the individuals, businesses, and organizations that are playing their part to stay home, stop the disease’s spread and protect at-risk populations. She added: "The Administration is working to return to a new normal as safely and as soon as possible.”
F**k you and your "new normal."
Other officials, including Boston Police Commissioner William Gross, echoed calls for the public to follow health orders and continue taking steps to prevent the spread of COVID-19. In East Boston, Gross helped hand out masks to residents Saturday as the department distributed masks to anyone who needed one.
Boston police will continue handing out masks while on patrol, Gross said, plus Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh has allowed the commissioner to create a community engagement bureau to work with residents during the crisis. “We’re all doing our part to make sure we’re all COVID safe,” Gross said.
Time to close this down.
On Friday, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Edward J. Markey, along with US Representative Lori Trahan, called on federal prison officials to immediately implement widespread COVID-19 testing of all inmates and staff at Federal Medical Center Devens in Ayer.
They also said inmates who are vulnerable to the disease and do not pose a risk to the public should be released into home confinement as soon as possible, according to the lawmaker’s May 15 letter to Michael Carvajal, the director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
What is f**king wrong with Democrats?
The facility provides specialized or long-term medical care to inmates, and also has an adjacent minimum security camp, according to the letter.
One inmate at the facility has died, while at least 10 prisoners and two employees there have tested positive for COVID-19, but those numbers, they said, “may dramatically underrepresent the true toll of the disease if BOP has not tested all individuals and staff at FMC Devens.”
It's always the same old goddamn line!
Meanwhile, the state’s social distancing and stay-at-home advisories continued to affect many springtime activities, including college commencements.
On Saturday, Hampshire College held its 50th commencement over Youtube and Facebook, while Babson College offered a “virtual degree conferral” video through its Facebook page.
--more--"
This photo was not included in my printed paper:
Johanna Marie Keefe, left, Elsa Marie Keefe, center, and Jessica McGovern held signs during a protest outside of Governor Baker's home (Erin Clark/Globe Staff)
Like those signs and looks!
Also see:
"Officials cautiously eased more restrictions Saturday on eateries, shops, and outdoor venues as they tried to restart economies without triggering a surge in new coronavirus infections, but the reopenings came with new rules designed to curb the spread of the disease — another indication that the familiar ways of dining out or watching sporting events are gone for now. Public health experts warn that the pandemic, which has killed more than 88,000 people in the US and 300,000 worldwide, could pick up again if precautions are not taken or officials move too quickly to get people back to work....."
Related:
"Should the NFL season begin on time, Joe Buck — Fox Sports' lead play-by-play announcer for football — believes we might be looking at a campaign without fans in the stands. In an interview with SiriusXM's Andy Cohen, Buck said that Fox is exploring a few routes to provide for a more normal viewing experience should these fan-less games come to pass. "There's probably going to be a season in doing games with no fans, which will be difficult," Buck said. "I think Fox and these networks have to put crowd noise under us to make it a normal viewing experience at home. When pressed by Cohen, Buck said he was certain crowd noise will be added to potential broadcasts without fans, and went as far as to say "I know they'll do it" and that it's "pretty much a done deal." Buck also said the network is looking into ways to at least simulate a packed house for viewers at home. "On top of that, they're looking at ways to put virtual fans in the stands, so when you see a wide shot it looks like the stadium is jam-packed and in fact it'll be empty," Buck said....."
I'll pass on that.
