Buses letting people on by back door?
I’m on a 55 bus in which the driver has taped off the front door section & is only letting passengers board via the back. Anyone else see this today?
Also was thinking: this is the first time I’m encountering a crisis my parents did not. I had older parents and whatever happened they could always counter it with “the Depression… the war…”. But they never had a “pandemic” card to play.
david100 17:35 on 2020-03-16 Permalink
Well, the San Francisco Bay Area has just ordered a total lock down like Legault has been suggesting he wants. How long until we think it happens?
JaneyB 18:13 on 2020-03-16 Permalink
SF’s ‘shelter-in-place’ order is basically what we’ve already got. You can go out for necessities and walks while keeping the social distance but otherwise, stay home. Meanwhile France is going to deploy 100,000 police to help the Français stay home. Apparently Parisians at least had moved from the shut restaurants into social groups in parks. I, like many now, am spending too much time online lol.
Kate 18:18 on 2020-03-16 Permalink
JaneyB, we can still go to work. I am still going to my job (which is far from being an essential service) because I want to get paid. Lots of folks must be in the same boat.
JP 20:43 on 2020-03-16 Permalink
My mom described the bus thing too.
Re work: My parents don’t have work-from-home type jobs. They work in textiles and shipping. They’re quite robust, but given that they’re in their 60s, I do worry a bit.
david1000 20:45 on 2020-03-16 Permalink
The restrictions in SF bar people from “non-essential” work or activities – huge difference from what’s going to in Montreal.
Aside from the money situation, staying home is pretty great. Even though I can work remotely, with these extra nights, the plan is to finally work on some research and cookbook translation I’ve been unable to find the time for until now. Never waste a good crisis.
Kate 20:48 on 2020-03-16 Permalink
JP, the STM is not describing the bus thing on its site. I have a feeling it’s the union that’s circulated the idea, not management.
Meezly 21:36 on 2020-03-16 Permalink
Our parents did have to deal with measles and polio, both of which had waay higher mortality rates than covid-19. I hope a certain subsection of society will have a better appreciation of vaccinations after all this!
Raymond Lutz 21:45 on 2020-03-16 Permalink
“France is going to deploy 100,000 police to help the Français stay home” Ceux qui suivent le gouvernement Macron s’engouffrer depuis plus d’un an dans un fascisme mou ne peuvent que sourire à la lecture de cette phrase.
Kate 22:26 on 2020-03-16 Permalink
Meezly, you’re right. I also forgot about tuberculosis. I remember my mom talking about how they would come to the huge factory where she worked with a portable x-ray machine, and every time, a certain number of people would be shipped off to a sanatorium in Ste‑Agathe. It could take a year to recover from TB and I don’t know how people paid for it, because this was before socialized medicine.
Polio was also a major nightmare I managed to forget about.
I’m not sure measles is more fatal than COVID-19 but then we may not know exactly what the numbers are on that, till later.
Uatu 08:53 on 2020-03-17 Permalink
This is also happening on the 45 express bus to Brossard. It’s probably a union thing to keep drivers healthy so they don’t have to be replaced. And let’s face it, they do come into contact with a lot of people who are within the 6ft “social distance” buffer zone…
jeather 09:17 on 2020-03-17 Permalink
Measles has a higher death rate, but polio absolutely did not. The mortality rate for the paralytic form was high, but less than 1% of people infected had the paralytic form. (One major difference is that polio hit mostly children — but that’s because the adults had it already, of course.)
Ephraim 10:03 on 2020-03-17 Permalink
Measles has a very high R value…It catches like wildfire. Polio left a lot of people disabled. I’ve known a few people with two different leg lengths caused by polio.
jeather 12:07 on 2020-03-17 Permalink
Both measles and polio are terrible in multiple ways. But polio has a lower mortality rate than Covid-19, because it has a very very high rate of asymptomatic infections (75% ish, with another 20% with just minor symptoms). Measles is also terrible because it lowers your immune system long-term and also you lose immunities you already had before you got measles.