So this is how I see it. I crazily volunteered to fill in on another vessel early this month because their regular guy had a family emergency & I really don’t know when I’ll return to my normally assigned ship because it is out of the country & no one goes in or out.
A coworker & myself are due off next week. We both plan to quarantine when we get home because neither of us want to get our wives & kids sick. They’ve been quarantine at home for 2 weeks already. He has an infant at home less than a year old. He plans to go to his small cottage on the water & live by himself for 2 weeks. His wife & parents already separately stocked up the place the best they could. Without a doubt, some of his cottage neighbors who don’t have anything better to do, who don’t know a single thing about him or his scenario will be just as panicked & rejecting as those in your community. They’ll want him to go back to the ship which would be impossible or to his primary residence that he hasn’t been to in 2 months.
As for me, I plan to rent a car & take a very long, nonstop road trip to get home. No coronavirus airports for me. If the stories in the media & on social media are true, I will get pulled over. Hopefully I run across decent, brave, understanding people on my trek & not the panicked rejecting ones that I expect. I’ve only known my neighbors for 3 years during good times & I’ll see how they’ll handle me living in a popup doam tent in my screened in back porch for 10-14 days. I won’t touch my family until I’m sure it’s safe. Except for solitary jogs on the hwy shoulders that never had anyone on them before I won’t leave my house. If I had any empty investment properties I would stay in them but everything is full. If my neighbors turn out to be panicked, rejecting & non-understanding it will still be okay. Some people can turn nasty quick in desperate times. I guess I try to see things from others viewpoint because often times it’s me out of the flow.
Only a small proportion of our population live in apartments. One author described NZ as "the quarter acre pavalova paradise ". Moving to a holiday house is banned because it places limited hospital facilities under pressure. The authorities have set up centres for quarantine and catering is supplied. I wonder if the employer could be made to bear the cost of quarantine. I have just been reading of an Australian in Melbourne who is in a government requested hotel under police guard for his quarantine period. All the hotels are empty anyway.
Tourists are no longer welcome in the tourist province of Zeeland in the southwestern part of the country. The Province’s Safety Board will impose a ban on tourist night accommodation from this Monday noon “in view of the limited size of the care capacity and the acute shortage of GPs.” This also includes holiday homes.
Second home owners residing already there are sent home. Quite a few owners fled earlier from Amsterdam which is a hotspot in the pandemic and that import presents a threat.
About 2-3 weeks ago I got a call from a tenant on the Outer Banks. Said business was booming, all the food places were full, and traffic was almost like summertime. A lot was due to “Extended” spring break with the schools shutting down. I told him that was crazy. 2 or 3 days later the whole county shut down, to the angst of the rental companies. Police are checking at the choke hold bridge for “Visitors” and turning them away. My tenant’s business (Charter fishing) was shut down as non-essential. Another tenant called me a few nights ago, he is hunkered down and as a quite sociable guy is hard for him to tell even his neighbors to to stay away. As an out of state owner I am restricted as of now to visit my properties which I pay taxes on. I am fine with that. The community has only a 19 bed small hospital. If that shit breaks out down there it will be a nightmare.
Reading all this a thought popped into my head: I wonder how much of a factor AirBnB was in the spread of this disease during the pre-symptom phase. I’ve stayed in a hell of a lot of cheap hotels and motels in my day and even the cheapest showed and smelled the signs of some kind of disinfecting between guests. I doubt that many of the private home and apartment rentals got that level of treatment. Probably pales into insignificance compared to the giant incubation pods provided by the cruise ship industry but an interesting speculation nonetheless.
When I saw Dare County setting up checkpoints I thought that was the smartest thing I’d seen lately from NC. Why anyone who might already be infected but not know it would want to evacuate to a sand bar with a miniscule hospital was beyond me.
So, went for my ENG1 today.
Due to living out in the boonies there are no Approved Doctors available locally to do it so went to Poole, as usual, a 110 mile round trip (yes, I know, not that far in all your big countries).
Anyway, being mindful of not having a crash and tying up the emergency services unnecessarily, I proceeded with caution whilst keeping a proper lookout at all times, by sight and by sound etc.
Anyway, both sat navs (always have a back up, it’s good practice) diverted me from my usual route so presumed that there were roadworks or similar on the usual route.
Followed new route and just out of the next town came to a grinding halt due to there being a crash up ahead.
This tied up 3 ambulances and 2 police cars.
As I passed there was a car with a fully smashed in front end and 2 fully armed Royal Marines standing close by…
Whilst we live fairly close to Salisbury (remember that? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poisoning_of_Sergei_and_Yulia_Skripal) and Porton Down (busy bees at the moment: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porton_Down) it unusual for members of Her Majesty.s Armed Forces to attend car crashes.
Anyway, that is why you shouldn’t travel because when you fuck it up you tie up other assets.
Tengineer1, those people were not “Evacuating to a sand bar”. They were there because most had paid well ahead for the seasonal spring break vacation. Caught in the middle by an unforeseen debacle. Having just a hint of what was about,they should have stayed home and sought refunds. Dare County, which usually bows down to that industry, took a stand in these trying times. For once,I am aboard with their decisions. I hope and pray that this virus thing is not there, but common sense tells me that it is lurking. I hope my friends will be ok on this sandbar that has a population of over 30 thousand people and over 250 thousand during the “Season”. 19 beds sir, not good .
Good point Hornblower. I only leave my hut for a very short drive to get fresh fruit and veggies. In and out .My freezer is kinda full,and TP not an issue yet. My neighbor is a hair person,but her arms are not 6 feet long. I have told my son, who works at the port, stay away. My cable is payed up, my dog and bride are by my side. About the best I can do.
I could travel to Oxford to check on my boat but should !?
It is 37 miles away on reasonable roads, usually an absolute max of 1 hour each way.
Is it necessary that I do this journey?
It is 58 years old, made of wood and part of the National Historic Ship Register and I can’t get hold of the marina owner.
But is it that important that I should take a normal risk in abnormal times?
It is bloody important to me, especially as I am trying to get it into a decent condition to sell.
Ironic that now that I have a bit of time to care for it (the main reason for selling is the lack of time) I can’t actually get to it.
No typo, she is a sweet heart, but says no contact or haircuts for the next month. Watched me weed wack yesterday and asked how I was doing, at a distance. Hope all take this as serious as us young folks do.
I do have some very interesting neighbors. The hairdresser on my right, on my left is the helicopter guy that participated in the muffed Iran rescue. A few houses down the football and basketball coach for my son who works for NASA. Also a highly skilled nurse a few houses down that made things a bit easier when my son needed brain surgery. Sadly , I can only talk/communicate with them by phone or at a distance. Tough times, but we all get it. Friends for life, I don’t want to lose them. Most worried for our nurse friend.
There is 1 case in Dare county. It’s an individual from outside the county which is the reason it is not reported as a Dare case. Some people did make a run to get in after the announcement to close the Wright Memorial bridge was made and before the actual closure.
I have an acquaintance who is a scallop boat captain. He left this morning for NJ to meet with his 6 man crew, get the boat ready and head out. Like any resident, he can leave the county and return. He’ll be coming back home in 3 weeks after his trip; there are cracks in the dam.
Lee; is that, cracks in the dam or cracks in the damn something or other?
3 weeks away with the virus and then bring a mutated version of it back.
Utterly brilliant thinking.
Was not aware of that. This could manifest itself unfortunately. Scallop dude should be wary and concerned. Perhaps we have similar acquaintances, it is a small world down there. I hope they shut it down in time. Be safe Lee_Shore.
