Montreal transit use is way down
Transit app has published numbers showing the decline of transit use under COVID-19’s heavy manners. STM use is down 79% as of today, March 19 and Exo trains and suburban transit a little more.
Grocery stores have reduced their business hours.
The Journal reports that someone diagnosed with COVID-19 visited the NDG library earlier this month.
Foreign students have been asked to leave their Concordia residences within four days.
Lots more to come. Funny how being home is making me more busy.
dhomas 13:21 on 2020-03-19 Permalink
Is reducing business hours really a good idea, though? The stores are already pretty packed with people stocking up. Reducing business hours will mean more people in the stores at the same time. This makes it difficult for social distancing.
Alison Cummins 15:39 on 2020-03-19 Permalink
I’ve been counting things again (my absolute favourite pastime).
The last two days have averaged 128% increases. (March 18–19)
During the previous four days, the average daily increase had been 145%. (March 14–17)
The four days before that, 135%. (March 9–13)
For the nine days before that, the average daily increase had been 123%. (February 29–March 8)
So it looks like we may have gotten over some kind of hump.
Kate 15:51 on 2020-03-19 Permalink
Alison, you might be interested in the numbers Hugh McGuire crunched on the same topic. Update: Hugh published a link to his spreadsheet on Google Docs.
Anon88 15:54 on 2020-03-19 Permalink
I’m pretty horrified looking out my window this afternoon watching people strolling down Monkland as if it’s a holiday..really really hope it’s not a broader public complacency (especially with NDG library news)
dwgs 16:16 on 2020-03-19 Permalink
There are more people than usual walking around, I see that as a positive, as long as you are outside walking at a distance of a few meters from anyone.
Blork 17:28 on 2020-03-19 Permalink
I agree with dwgs. People walking around (but maintaining distance) is a good thing. The alternative — everyone cooped up for weeks — would result in people cracking up and doing completely stupid things, or having mental breakdowns. Going for a walk is a nice, safe way to keep your head clear.
Meezly 17:48 on 2020-03-19 Permalink
Thanks for the numbers, Kate et al.
@ Anon88 – even the Bay Area’s ‘shelter-in-place’ orders, which are currently more strict than here, consider outdoor activity as ESSENTIAL:
“Engaging in outdoor activity, such as walking, hiking or running provided that they maintain at least 6 feet of social distancing.”
https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/17/us/shelter-in-place-coronavirus-trnd/index.html
Raymond Lutz 09:06 on 2020-03-20 Permalink
Il y a un joli simulateur online de vitesse de contagion VS confinement sur le site LeMedia (allez au bas de la page pour modifier les paramètres)
https://www.lemediatv.fr/emissions/le-fond-de-linfo/coronavirus-macron-a-t-il-choisi-de-laisser-mourir-les-francais-st8-Yg2BSDWB7dcMPMW6sA
And anyone else saw that flawed Reuters dispatch about SARS-COV-2 claiming “New coronavirus can persist in air for hours”? The original article (10.1056/NEJMc2004973) used 5 μm aqueous droplets for their study but they fail to mention at this size it takes less than 1 second to dry out, even in 90% RH! (10.1016/j.jaerosci.2017.10.009 ). As I wrote on my mastodon account:
Si on ne vous tousse pas dans la face, vous êtes OK (tenez-vous à une distance de 2m). Vous n’êtes ni malade (pas de symptôme) ni immunodépressif? Ne portez pas de masque, c’est inutile et même plus risqué: les gens masqués ont tendance à se toucher plus souvent le restant du visage.
PS: Use sci-hub.tw to resolve the mentioned digital object identifier (DOI)
Ephraim 09:44 on 2020-03-20 Permalink
Went to the grocery store… they don’t get it yet. And they better get it soon… too many people at a time. It’s a quick way to end up with one case and having to contact all the clients… and you really don’t want to be in the news as an epicentre. Or worse, have the government go to decree, like in Italy… 6 people in the store at one time.