"Pandemic takes heavy toll on Latino-owned businesses in R.I.; The Hispanic Chamber of Commerce estimates 30 percent of the state’s Latino-owned businesses have closed since the outbreak began" by Edward Fitzpatrick Globe Staff, January 29, 2021
CENTRAL FALLS, R.I. — The aroma of rice, beans, and chicharrons. The sound of live Colombian music and Medellín soccer games on the television. The intoxicating swirl of vodka drinks with gummies and fruit.
Before the pandemic, La Setenta Bar & Grill was filled with life, but for much of the past 11 months, the Broad Street bar and restaurant has been dark and empty – shuttered as the pandemic shattered this 1.29-square-mile majority-Latino city of fewer than 20,000 people.
“It’s sad,” owner Natalia Lopera said. “When you open a business, you want to see it grow and support your family and bring these services to the community. When it closes, it’s like your dreams are destroyed.”
From the outset, the COVID-19 outbreak has had a disproportionate impact on Rhode Island’s Latino community, and as the pandemic’s one-year mark approaches, business leaders say the virus is also exacting a heavier toll on Latino businesses.
Oscar Mejias, CEO of the Rhode Island Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, estimated that 30 percent of the state’s Latino-owned businesses have closed since the pandemic began. While there is no official tally and some places might reopen in the months ahead, he fears that up to 25 percent of those businesses will remain closed for good.
“Latino business has been horribly affected,” Mejias said. “It is a huge topic here in Rhode Island.”
Is it?
He noted that most Latino businesses are located in the densely populated cities – such as Central Falls, Pawtucket, and Providence – that have been hardest hit by COVID-19.
The state does not track how many Latino-owned businesses have closed, but a total of 1,721 business entities “dissolved” in 2020.
In Central Falls, Lopera is doing her best to be resilient.
Born in Colombia, Lopera, 33, moved to Central Falls 2-1/2 years ago from Revere, Massachusetts. She said the business was doing well, attracting more than 100 people per day, but when the pandemic struck Central Falls, she felt she had to shut down.
At one point, she and her daughter tested positive for COVID-19. She said they lost their sense of taste and smell, but they did not have a fever and were not hospitalized.
So you had a cold?
I mean, c'mon!
That's exhibit A as to why I wanted to take today off. One can only stand so much of this insulting garbage.
Lopera said she received $2,000 from the government during the “pause,” but she has lost a lot of money and could go bankrupt if the business remained closed much longer.
In the last few weeks, Lopera has begun opening La Setenta on a limited basis for meals. She said she is glad that on Friday Governor Gina M. Raimondo lifted a COVID-related curfew that had forced restaurants to close at 10 p.m. on weekdays and 10:30 p.m. on weekends, but she noted the bar area must remain closed because of state restrictions; meanwhile, the state has begun providing vaccines to Central Falls residents because the tiny city is the hardest hit area in Rhode Island.
“I know people are getting the vaccine,” Lopera said. “That is good. We are coming back to a normal world little by little, and I hope one day we are free again.”
That is where the Globe left it, too, just so you know.
"Pandemic pushes people out into the cold ‘no matter the weather’" by Laura Crimaldi Globe Staff, January 30, 2021
It’s a lifeline. It’s a necessity. It’s the best relief, and at this time of year, it’s bitterly cold.
An outdoor escape provides an antidote to the pandemic’s harsh prophylactics of isolation and quarantine, but now requires extra layers of defense against Greater Boston’s frozen winter.
Where is that damn global warming, 'er climate change, when you really need it, huh?
On Saturday, the pursuit of that powerful medicine led to scenes of dogs chasing a ball on a snowy beach in Revere, a surfer riding the waves off the coast of Lynn, and a marriage proposal in the Boston Public Garden.
“There’s no day like the present,” said Mathison Clore after he proposed Saturday morning to his girlfriend, Kelly O’Keefe, on the picturesque pedestrian span in the Boston Public Garden as their families watched from a distance.
Mathison Clore kneeled while proposing to Kelly O'Keefe on the bridge at the Public Garden. Clore said it was a cold day to propose but, "there's no day like the present." (Craig F. Walker/Globe Staff).
Literally a staged photograph, and that is all I ever get in the Globe -- staged and scripted narratives passing themselves off as real.
While the happy couple and their families only stayed outside for about 20 minutes, even short outdoor trips offer physical and emotional benefits, said Dr. Darshan Mehta, medical director for the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital.
“So at least when we’re out, if we’re walking in the city, you’ll at least see other people, and we can still have conversation,” Mehta said. He advised dressing in layers and covering exposed skin to prevent frostbite.
The city of Boston on Saturday declared a “weather emergency” due to the cold and opened a dozen warming centers. The cold weather is expected to last some days, with a storm coming in Monday.
The weather service forecast called for temperatures to bottom out at about 5 degrees before sunrise on Sunday. The high temperature could reach to only 27 degrees in the afternoon, forecasters said.
On Revere Beach, three friends found relief from the wind by standing in the shadow of the Shirley Avenue Bath House.
“We were adamant about getting out here no matter the weather,” said Roger Perez, who was joined by Casey Billings and Kim Neidermire.
Before Saturday, the group had last been together in August when they enjoyed a “perfect Massachusetts summer day” in Eastham.....
That is when I came in out of the cold.
Honestly, I feel sorry for sad sacks of shit like that, living in perpetual fear.
Afraid to leave the house?
I haven't felt like that.
Then it must really be cold!
They tell you to get out there, and then when you get sick it's COVID:
"
The state is expected to officially open a mass vaccination center at Fenway Park on Monday, as it begins making doses available for people age 75 and older in a bid to protect some Massachusetts residents most at risk for contracting COVID-19. The expanded vaccination effort comes after the state reported 3,957 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 87 new deaths Saturday. A reporting issue involving laboratory results led to lower than usual totals of molecular tests and new cases on Friday, the state said on its website. Winter
weather could potentially interfere with vaccine distribution. A storm forecast to begin Monday afternoon and continue into Tuesday could bring up to 6 inches of snow in Boston, with more expected in western parts of the state. Dave McGillivray, who is helping to coordinate logistics for vaccination efforts at Fenway and Gillette Stadium, said Saturday that
officials are monitoring the weather. They anticipate keeping vaccination centers open and are
working on the proper way to reschedule anyone who cannot come in for a shot, he said,
but amid efforts to step up vaccinations, the state’s tally of COVID-19 infections grew to include 73 inmates who tested positive last week at the Norfolk County Sheriff’s Office facility in Dedham....."
I have to tell you, sometimes I think God is working in his mysterious ways.
That encompasses page B4 today, and oddly enough the above would also be a Next Day Update, and it is now become clear to me that they are setting up mass vaccination sites up for forced vaccinations.
I had to go to the K section to get this lone NDU:
Quite a 180 from yesterday, huh? "People are organizing to hit silver hard Monday to get even with those who stole the election. I kid you not. They are going to bust the $30 silver barrier by all buying in at $35. Once that happens, the price may go to infinity and beyond. The goal will be to put the banks under. Yes, that will lead to economic disaster but it absolutely will fry the living hell out of the fraudsters who stole the election. Americans are PISSED and are basically saying that if they are going to steal the country, it might as well be wrecked. It will make no difference to us anyway, other than it will all start sooner than THEY wanted.