Visiting the website for Cambridge MA led to this list, that defines the applicable outdoor areas:
The order applies to everyone over five years old “without limitation, when on, in or about” public places, defined as:
Sidewalks
Streets
Parks
Plazas
Bus stops
Non-residential parking lots and garages
Any other outdoor area or non-residential parking facility which is open and accessible to the general public.
It doesn’t seem like your ride would require a mask, apart from the time on a public road. And that seems like something the authorities would let slide, unless they wanted to nail you for some other reason:
Residents are reminded to serve as positive community role models by wearing their masks during this order. The Cambridge Police Department will be focused on educating violators and may issue warnings to those residents who do not cooperate. For those who willingly refuse to comply, they may be subject to a $300 fine. There will be a one-week grace period to allow time to comply.
Re: Cambridge/Somerville, as I read it, if you rode a horse in a park, or on your own land where the building has more than 2 units, that would be prohibited. Not that there’s a lot of riding going on in Cambridge, bu other towns may be adding similar restrictions.
Yeah, nobody is following up. Cases listed as “Resolved” on Worldometer account for 19% of the total cases in the US; the other 81% are listed as “Active.” This might have been plausible at the beginning of the outbreak, but it isn’t now.
Note that all 46 of the US cases from the Diamond Princess cruise ship outbreak back in February are listed as “Active.” It’s certainly possible that there might be a few of them still in a hospital somewhere, but it’s wildly implausible that none of them have recovered by now.
Ohio has 0 listed as “recovered” for example. Although I know some people who had it (confirmed by testing) who are now all better. I’m sure they are just counted in active cases. Due to there not being nearly enough tests we’re not doing re-tests here to determine if the person is now technically “recovered.”
That means a third of the cases in the world, and a quarter of the dead, are in the US. I mean, we all think that China, etc. are probably undercounting, but… still.
Every number on that Worldometer site (or any other site that gives Covid counts) is an undercount, except (probably) number of tests (those are more likely to be padded). That means number of cases, number of deaths, and number recovered. The number of active cases is a computation based on undercounts (# cases - (# deaths + # recovered)), so it’s totally wrong; just ignore that column. The ‘serious, critical’ numbers have, I expect, absolutely no relationship at all to reality, so ignore that column too.
Well, sure, I misspoke a bit as everyone is (as you’ve said) undercounting. But if everyone were undercounting by about the same (percentage) amount, you’d expect the fractions to work out the same.
But what I meant was that there are probably some countries that are undercounting substantially more than the US, so it’s very likely the US in reality has less than a quarter of the total deaths. But it’s still rather sobering to look at.
While cases are massively undercounted in the third world (because most are not doing any significant amount of testing), if you just look at the western, industrialized countries I expect you will find in a few months that the proportion will be much higher for the U.S. This is because other that the U.S. those countries have decided to get the pandemic under control.
In contrast what do you see happening in the U.S.? In my state packing plants are the number one problem (second is nursing homes). So what is Trump going to do about this?
[ul]
[li] It’s been two weeks since the relaxation of the lockdown rules and there don’t (yet) seem to be any negative consequences. The daily number of new cases and the replication factor have not increased. The federal, state, and municipal governments will therefore be pressing ahead with their plans to further loosen the restrictions:[/li]
[list]
[li] From 1 May, there will no longer be any restrictions on leaving one’s home. (Until now, one could leave only to go to work, to go shopping, to help those in need, and to exercise.)[/li][li] From 1 May, public gatherings of up to 10 people will be permitted, or up to 30 in the case of funerals. These restrictions will remain in place until at least 30 June.[/li][li] Public demonstrations and protests will also be allowed, though subject to special rules that the government is still formulating. (Police in Vienna have already received 15 requests for demonstrations on 1 May. The proposals come from a variety of groups, including the anti-lockdown group whose demo last Friday was cancelled, though not all of the proposed demos have anything to do with the pandemic.)[/li][li] From next week, children’s playgrounds in Vienna and Innsbruck will reopen.[/li][li] From 15 May, cafés, bars, and restaurants will be permitted to open for table service, albeit only between the hours of 06:00 and 23:00, and with a maximum of four adults (plus their children) per table. Tables must be separated by at least one metre. There will be no bar service; venues must seat all customers at tables. Customer-facing employees must wear face coverings.[/li][li] From 15 May, outdoor zoos can open, subject to social distancing restrictions.[/li][li] From 29 May, hotels, tourist attractions, and recreation centres (including indoor and outdoor swimming pools) can open, subject to social distancing restrictions.[/li][/ul]
The vice chancellor cum sport minister says that irrespective of any further loosening of the lockdown measures, the general one-metre social distancing rule will likely remain in effect past September of this year. This would necessarily exclude the possibility of most contact sports.
[li] While the government has no plans yet to allow movie theatres to reopen, the theatres themselves have presented proposals for seating arrangements that would ensure patrons maintain at least one metre distance from one another.[/li]
[li] When the lockdown was first introduced, police nationwide were issuing 1000 citations per day to lockdown violators. Lately that number has fallen to 100 citations per day. It will likely drop off even more from 1 May with the further loosening of the lockdown rules.[/li]
[li] Contrary to renewed fears that it would be made mandatory for everyone, or for those wishing to attend public events, the use of a cell phone tracking app remains voluntary. [/li][li] Current statistics: 15,286 confirmed infections, 569 deaths, 12,580 recovered.[/li][/list]
That’s right; the time-lag aspect of this particular virus is playing havoc with the human tendency to expect ‘right now’ results. But for almost any change in our conduct, whether good or ill, we won’t see a movement of the numbers for two weeks or more.
He seems to think the primary problem is liability, and that exempting them from liability will make the whole problem go away. As if the only problem with having your workers die were that the survivors might sue.
I don’t see how he can order individual workers to show up. He certainly can’t order them not to get sick.
