Covid-19. A heads up.

[DesertAlbin736]

Tree,

It was a close call for your PM. Glad to hear he pulled through. Was certainly a wake up call for everyone. We are, along with our Canadian brothers & sisters and fellow Albineers, as always, your closest ally. Yes, life won't really go back to a "before time" normal unless and until testing is fully implemented everywhere including a reliable antibody test and until a vaccine is developed, passed clinical trials, mass produced and distributed. Year and a half minimum for the vaccine if we're lucky they say. A popular catchphrase, "Together, forever, as one".

[DCatSea]

My overwhelming impression is that life will not be "as we know it" for a long time, and that there will be a lot of pretty much permanent changes in our lives, period. I'm not quite sure what these will be yet - more working from home; much less driving; more interaction with neighbors that we've met because they have been walking their dogs and children (at an appropriate distance); a great appreciation of emergency and medical workers and those who we've taken for granted till now - all the supermarket staff, UPS people; Willy the Mailman that we haven't seen for a few days; the Hispanic guy who still delivers our Washington Post every morning before sunrise; the trash guys who have kept at it on schedule; Amazon "fulfillers" who show up for work every day so I can get the stupid things I order the next day (including international to UK); the Ethiopian guys who run the liquor store; and many more - CHEERS!!! Oh and lets not forget the Mums and Dads who are trying to maintain a sense of normalcy at home, while keeping the kids engaged, educated, fed, clean, in bed, out of bed, on -line and off-line and out of my hair.

Kind of makes "not being able to finish my winter refit work" seem trivial - and YES, I've had a few words about not being able to get to the marina to fit my new chartplotter and put a coat of wax on the hull etc. (But I DID go out and fix the annoying little diesel leak that was worrying me - felt guilty about traveling but figured it was an environmentally sound job).

[jleonard]

I'm on the other side of the fence in that I believe life will return to "normal" fairly soon but there will be some changes no doubt.
For example I like the order groceries on line and go do the curbside pickup. Sweet deal.
Might try that at Home Depot as well but now I'm waiting on a free home delivery n several items.
Of course some stuff you just have to go look at of course.
Our county in Fl is pretty low on number of cases. We have still been getting together with our small circle of friends but not anywhere near as often and we do it at our homes.
I'm saving money on restaurants, but spending it on home projects instead.
Would like to see the parks open up again so we can get out of the neighborhood.
Hopefully folks will go back to work soon and start making it back up.
Not sure we'll be able to make it north for the summer, but if we can't I won't cry too loudly except for losing my slip deposit that is. (Albin owners are cheap LOL).
Stay positive and wash your hands before you touch yourself (and maybe after also).

[DesertAlbin736]

Current Florida stats, without comment: Total cases: 21,620. Total cases per 1M population: 1,112. Per 1M population rank vs other states: 21st (nearly in the middle). US overall case average per 1M population: 2,039 Total FL deaths: 633. Death per 1M population: 31 Overall US deaths per 1M population: 104. Obviously NY is by far the worst, with deaths per 1M population at 821 which skews the average, like grading on a curve where the one smartest student in the class gets 98% and the next highest grade is 80% and the lowest slacker gets 60%. Pasco county, FL, population 554,000, is indeed at the low end, 169 cases & 3 deaths.

Arizona is now at 4,234 cases, or 581 cases per 1M population, ranked 35th in cases per 1M. 150 total deaths or 22 per 1M.

So on per million population basis Arizona is in better shape than Florida overall. Maricopa County, population 4.5 million, which covers metro Phoenix market & some adjacent exurbs has 2,264 cases, by far the largest number by county in the state, 505 cases per 1M. Arizona has only 15 counties, most covering large stretches of sparsely populated to uninhabited land (think Monument Valley in the old Westerns) totaling 113,990 sq miles, 6th largest by land area in the US. In fact Maricopa county alone has more than half the total state population and is the fourth largest county by population in the country, and higher population than 23 other individual states. No other county in the state has nearly as many cases as Maricopa County. The next highest number of cases is in Pima County in southern Arizona with 760 cases which includes Tucson & surrounding rural areas down to the Mexican border, a third of the total cases the Phoenix area has. Other counties' numbers range from low of 2 cases up to 410. Even so with some of these lower rankings Arizona is sticking with social distancing, and lately more mask wearing seen in stores.

[jleonard]

And your point to the above?

[Tree]

Guys/gals. Please remember my initial start of this thread isn’t an argument or to divide. It’s a heads up.

The data generally states a multiplication of two after 3-4 days regardless of state or country.

Last thing I want to hear is any AOG members being caught out.

Remember, this disease does not discriminate.

Anyone can catch it.

[jleonard]

[quotePlease remember my initial start of this thread isn’t an argument or to divide.][/quote]

Who's arguing? Not me. Just stating my point of view.

[RobS]

Good news for NY Boaters. See No. 13
https://esd.ny.gov/guidance-executive-order-2026

[jleonard]

CT and NJ as well.
The key word in the CT news release is "allowed" to open. Doesn't mean they have to.
The CT news release did not get as specific as the NY guidance.
Right now our summer marina in Mystic has some strange policies they have created.
Like this week you can only work on your boat before 7am or after 5pm.
Starting next week you can work on your boat between sunrise and sunset.
However you cannot park your car in their lot (that strikes me as very strange). You must park in the street.
They won't work on your boat if you have been working on it within the last 72 hours (I thought the virus stayed alive for 1 week on metal and plastics so why 72 hours).
You cannot go into any of their buildings including the restrooms.

We have pushed our normal launch date back a few weeks into mid June hoping this BS settles down by then. After all if this opening is premature (I think it is) another EO shutting things down could happen in an instant. I don't want to get stuck on the boat in a marina with no restroom all summer. That would not be cool.

[Jack]

At Brewer in Essex CT the rules include not getting closer than 6 feet to their staff, not entering their office and maintaining social distancing on the docks. Odd in that docks are 4 feet wide so you can't pass another boater. Also, they want no more than two people on a boat.

[DesertAlbin736]

Update on our Lake Pleasant Situation: Spoke to a friend who runs a sailboat repair yard up at the lake. Current restrictions are that the lake is open for entry and boat launching from 6AM to 8PM daily. After 8PM all boats have be off the lake or docked in one of the two marinas if staying overnight, either regular slip holders or in transient guest slips. Earlier we'd heard that only full time live aboard slip holders, mostly houseboats, could stay overnight in marinas but now found out that's not so. The launch ramps are crazy busy on weekends with long lines at the ramps as boaters (mostly power) rush to get out on the lake in the AM & rush to haul out before the lake "closes" for the night. There are two launch ramps on the east side of the lake with total of seven usable lanes and another on the west side of the lake with ten lanes and a third small west side three lane ramp at the north end that is closed. No overnight anchoring in coves, no raft ups. Sheriff's patrol boats out and about to enforce the after 8PM closures. Statewide stay at home order currently extends another 11 days until April 30. After that TBD, but the case numbers are still rising and testing is still not available in large numbers so who knows .

Our sailboater cruise mate friends from Flagstaff keep their O'Day 25 sailboat dry stored on its trailer in a mast-up storage yard at the lake during the fall-winter-spring sailing season, then take it back home to park in their yard for the summer and in some years (not this year) take it up to Washington state to do PNW cruises like we do. While the temps here in the lower desert are getting into the 80s & soon to be 90s with lows in the 60s, just two hours' drive away up in Flagstaff at 6,500 to 7,000 feet elevation it's a different story, the nights still dropping below freezing. So within the next few weeks they'll come down, drop the mast on their boat get ready to haul it back 'up the hill'. At that point we may reserve adjoining guest slips during mid week and do one last get together on the lake, keeping our "social distance" of course. Other than that our boating activity is at a standstill for who knows how long, plans for summer totally up in the air. Beyond May it'll be too hot to be out on the lake anyway regardless of whether restrictions get lifted or not. If we do stay home we have our air conditioned house, big screen TV, swimming pool, & jacuzzi. The water in our unheated pool is already up to 80 degrees with a solar blanket cover. For us it's all just a minor but annoying inconvenience, not a real hardship like those who've lost the jobs they depend on to pay bills or others who have to work in healthcare and food service and be exposed to the virus. If anything the hospitals are feeling a financial pinch from loss of revenue due to postponement of elective surgeries.

Our state wide case & death count in Arizona now stands at 4,929 documented cases & 184 deaths, up by 695 cases and 34 more deaths in just the last three days. Of that death count 135 were people age 65 and up and is disproportionally affecting our Native American population. If you'll recall, in my first reply on this subject on March 22nd a little less than a month ago we only had 152 cases. Now we have more than that number of COVID related deaths. However news reports state that we have enough supplies & hospital bed capacity to handle the influx.

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[jleonard]

At Brewer in Essex CT the rules include not getting closer than 6 feet to their staff, not entering their office and maintaining social distancing on the docks. Odd in that docks are 4 feet wide so you can't pass another boater. Also, they want no more than two people on a boat.

those at least make sense

[RobS]

However you cannot park your car in their lot (that strikes me as very strange). You must park in the street.

That one has me stumped......

[Pitou]

Here's a good C-19 map of the USA, county by county nation wide. For comparison, you can roll the map back 30 days.
https://www.wunderground.com/wundermap? ... =covid-map

This virus needs to be respected, but fear cannot lead. Thankfully, my storage yard is open and so is my marina for dockage. For both, offices and restrooms are closed to non-employees. Plenty of yards and marinas in my area are completely closed and chained shut.

[coolchange]

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Lucky me...I can get to the boat and never come close to anyone..then I can go anchor in an alleged Spring salmon run..read, clean up, fix stuff and generally hang out on a boat...I have a head, running hot and cold water, iTunes etc