I had to run around Taipei today, leaving my neighborhood for the first time in two weeks. Everything still looks quiet to me. Parking was no problem at all.
I thought it might be the iLearn guy, but he’s not that thin. I bet it’s a friend, though.
Lesson learned: nothing
Have they done that in any of the really badly hit countries? If they’ve not done it there, they won’t do it here, and if they start, you’ll still be down the list a ways.
Presumably the logic is “well, feck it, it doesn’t really matter anymore”.
Which is why, during those previous pandemics, there was no attempt to do any such thing. WW1 was concurrent with the first episode and WW2 was only a decade in the past, in the second. People knew what real problems looked like and weren’t inclined to pour gasoline on the fire.
I had to do an ATM run in the rain because the landlady wants to be paid in cash…
Main road was busy. Places that really have no business being open, like shoe or fancy dresses shops were open, as well as the hardware store, the tea drinks stands, bakery, vet, etc.
The dermatologist did not have a soul yo. That place usually opens at 8am and there is already a line of 20 folk deep. Not today. Nurse was standing in the doorway watching the world go by. Same at the pharmacy. And the ENT.
There were 4 of us at the post office ATM, which is the only one on the block right on the sidewalk, no fancy glass enclosure. We stood generously socially distancing.
I’d say the place did not look deserted…until I contrasted with our humble market. All stores closed. Even on a rainy day you will have people selling stuff for the folks coming back from work. BTW, the only ones out in our 4 block radius were half a dozen speeding scooter food delivery drivers -UberEats and Panda- and a couple office workers coming home. Saw only 2 older ones carrying shopping bags home, let’s give them the benefit of the doubt.
EDIT
BTW have you guys seen the news pieces about disinfecting the bills you get? Some put them in an oven, others spray them in an alcohol mist. What do you think?
What he found was that there was little to support the idea that SARS-CoV-2 passes from one person to another through contaminated surfaces. He wrote a pointed commentary for TheLancetInfectious Diseases in July, arguing that surfaces presented relatively little risk of transmitting the virus
[…]
In fact, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) clarified its guidance about surface transmission in May, stating that this route is “not thought to be the main way the virus spreads”. It now states that transmission through surfaces is “not thought to be a common way that COVID-19 spreads”.
[…]
Studies and investigations of outbreaks all point to the majority of transmissions occurring as a result of infected people spewing out large droplets and small particles called aerosols when they cough, talk or breathe. These can be directly inhaled by people close by. Surface transmission, although possible, is not thought to be a significant risk.
[…]
“It’s become clear that transmission by inhalation of aerosols — the microscopic droplets — is an important if not dominant mode of transmission,” says Marr, who studies airborne disease transmission. Excessive attention on making surfaces pristine takes up limited time and resources that would be better spent on ventilation or the decontamination of the air that people breathe, she says.
TLDR: Wash your hands, but don’t start disinfecting surfaces around you, but rather focus on ventilation and air purification. So I would say don’t bother with money disinfection - it’s mostly useless.
I was talking about this with a friend last night. I’m not sure what you can really expect these small businesses to do when the government itself isn’t willing to take stronger measures to enforce a lockdown (and support them thereafter).
I don’t know the answer, but I don’t think it’s very reasonable to expect small businesses to just voluntarily close down indefinitely (For one month? Two months? Six months?). They still need to pay rent etc.
“Ko described the situation in Taipei as a “stalemate,” in which the virus was being successfully suppressed, but was likely to resurge if current restrictions were lifted. Because a complete lockdown would have too severe an impact on the economy, the most likely scenario is that the current Level 3 alert guidelines will have to be extended until a significant proportion of the population is vaccinated, Ko speculated.”
Well, you can’t have it both ways. Do you want these guys to all shut down and disappear, or do you want them to stay in business? There is no Schrodinger’s Cat middle ground, where they exist simultaneously alive and dead.
It doesn’t work like that. If you tell people they can’t go to work anymore because their work is not “essential”, they can’t buy ji pai in the night market. The ji pai stand can’t pay their rent, and they shut down. Not for a month or two months; forever. The end.
Everything is essential. Nobody is going to work for the amusement value.
Happened to me. It’s not nice to have your business shut down on a whim.