Alpha8472 wrote: ↑November 21st, 2020, 4:07 pm
California ski resorts have no restrictions. A friend of mine said she was going to Lake Tahoe and the mountains yesterday. The ski resorts must be packed today.
There are actually a lot of restrictions at CA ski resorts. Most resorts opened this week or will open next weekend. Some like Northstar are on a "reservation" system. Bars and indoor dining areas are closed or "to go" only. Common areas in the lodges, etc. are either closed or at very limited capacity. Some resorts are not allowing walk-up ticket sales (you either buy your pass in advance or you don't go) to try to control capacity. The few resorts open today were not by any means packed. Next week may be a different story, to the point the capacity limits the resorts have established allow.
The bigger risk I see for ski resorts is the risk of COVID among the staff members. Ski resort staff often live in close quarters in dorm-like housing units at or near the resorts. Have a COVID outbreak among your staff, which is already tough to come by for a ski resort, and then what?
My mistake. I think that the problem is that there is a lot of misinformation spreading around regarding ski resorts. There are a lot of people who think that ski resorts are not subject to COVID closures which is why so many people are flocking to the ski resorts once they heard that a curfew was starting this weekend.
Ski resorts are really going to be hotspots for COVID cases. The employees will be spreading it to customers and then the customers will spread it once they go back home. It is going to be a mess. The scary part is that when you are in your hotel rooms, could the coronavirus be spread through the ventilation systems? Those people on the cruise ships caught coronavirus due to the air conditioning systems recirculating the air between rooms.
Golden Gate Fields Horse Track is home to 400 groomers and trainers who live and work at the horse racing track. Two hundred out of 400 workers have tested positive for coronavirus. They live in crowded conditions above the stables and you can see them when you drive down the freeway. This is very similar to the living conditions at ski resorts. That is a 50 percent positivity rate. Can you imagine that every other employee is carrying the virus? Capacity limits and restrictions for customers will do nothing if the employees are not subjected to capacity limits on their living conditions.
Alpha8472 wrote: ↑November 21st, 2020, 9:45 pm
My mistake. I think that the problem is that there is a lot of misinformation spreading around regarding ski resorts. There are a lot of people who think that ski resorts are not subject to COVID closures which is why so many people are flocking to the ski resorts once they heard that a curfew was starting this weekend.
Ski resorts are really going to be hotspots for COVID cases. The employees will be spreading it to customers and then the customers will spread it once they go back home. It is going to be a mess. The scary part is that when you are in your hotel rooms, could the coronavirus be spread through the ventilation systems? Those people on the cruise ships caught coronavirus due to the air conditioning systems recirculating the air between rooms.
Golden Gate Fields Horse Track is home to 400 groomers and trainers who live and work at the horse racing track. Two hundred out of 400 workers have tested positive for coronavirus. They live in crowded conditions above the stables and you can see them when you drive down the freeway. This is very similar to the living conditions at ski resorts. That is a 50 percent positivity rate. Can you imagine that every other employee is carrying the virus? Capacity limits and restrictions for customers will do nothing if the employees are not subjected to capacity limits on their living conditions.
There is a ton of misinformation. The resorts have communicated their rules to those on their e-mail lists, social media, season pass holders, etc. General public is unaware and is going to be in for some real surprises when they go to the ski resorts expecting a similar experience to previous years.
It is really no different than the restrictions on retail stores, restaurants, etc. that many people have been surprised about. But you don't drive 2-3 hours to get to a retail store/restaurant. A lot of people are going to be very surprised. Indoor dining is closed around the CA side of Lake Tahoe again while the NV side is open without restrictions; the restaurants in CA are enforcing the rules, some have set up outdoor dining again with heaters etc.,; people are surprised and caught off guard.
Let's just be honest about this and I know I'm outside the lane here but so be it. Places like restaurants, ski resorts and even small shops and such should NOT even be open in some areas right now and the govt. on the national level really needs to step in again and help get these businesses and their employees through this. And let's look at it from a customer's perspective as well. Why should I pay top dollar for an experience that, due to current circumstances, is by necessity not going to be what I'm used to? Who the heck is going to want to go to a restaurant to eat outside in what amounts to a plastic bubble? Even with being allowed to open to generate some revenue, it's probably not going to be enough to keep the doors open for a lot of these places long-term. I'm quite surprised it hasn't been mentioned on here but here in NYS, movie theaters were allowed to reopen not so long ago with strict limits. Two theaters (one each in the two largest malls in the Albany area) have shut down again due to lack of business. This health emergency is a national emergency which does not respect state borders (or international ones for that matter) and as such needs a coherent and consistent national response.
TW-Upstate NY wrote: ↑November 22nd, 2020, 1:19 pm
Let's just be honest about this and I know I'm outside the lane here but so be it. Places like restaurants, ski resorts and even small shops and such should NOT even be open in some areas right now and the govt. on the national level really needs to step in again and help get these businesses and their employees through this. And let's look at it from a customer's perspective as well. Why should I pay top dollar for an experience that, due to current circumstances, is by necessity not going to be what I'm used to? Who the heck is going to want to go to a restaurant to eat outside in what amounts to a plastic bubble? Even with being allowed to open to generate some revenue, it's probably not going to be enough to keep the doors open for a lot of these places long-term. I'm quite surprised it hasn't been mentioned on here but here in NYS, movie theaters were allowed to reopen not so long ago with strict limits. Two theaters (one each in the two largest malls in the Albany area) have shut down again due to lack of business. This health emergency is a national emergency which does not respect state borders (or international ones for that matter) and as such needs a coherent and consistent national response.
Exactly. The lack of government assistance is forcing these businesses to fight to stay open and disobey government restrictions.
TW-Upstate NY wrote: ↑November 22nd, 2020, 1:19 pm Why should I pay top dollar for an experience that, due to current circumstances, is by necessity not going to be what I'm used to?
You got me on this comment. Going even more off topic- what is this tele-medicine thing? Video call with a doctor? They don't even check your weight and blood pressure. They charge you the same fee as if you went in person yet it takes them less time (takes you less time too) and you get less service. I guess they have to pay some money for the video program, etc. as a cost to do this service...
Hotels are doing this too- same prices, fewer amenities.
I know these businesses are having trouble staying afloat with the restrictions and losses in customers but there are a lot of examples out there where we pay old prices but get a lot less "experience" than we got pre-COVID.
veteran+ wrote: ↑November 24th, 2020, 7:33 am
The telehealth issue is a necessary evil right now but..................
You are spot on with your observations and I would go further.
Just about every business is using this Covid thing as an excuse to categorically and quantifiably deliver less. Even their attitudes have gone sour.
I suspect many are fattening their bottom line as well.
And to carry it further, when this is eventually over (and who knows when that'll be) a lot of the practices that were adopted out of necessity will no doubt stay in place.
TW-Upstate NY wrote: ↑November 22nd, 2020, 1:19 pm Why should I pay top dollar for an experience that, due to current circumstances, is by necessity not going to be what I'm used to?
You got me on this comment. Going even more off topic- what is this tele-medicine thing? Video call with a doctor? They don't even check your weight and blood pressure. They charge you the same fee as if you went in person yet it takes them less time (takes you less time too) and you get less service. I guess they have to pay some money for the video program, etc. as a cost to do this service...
Hotels are doing this too- same prices, fewer amenities.
I know these businesses are having trouble staying afloat with the restrictions and losses in customers but there are a lot of examples out there where we pay old prices but get a lot less "experience" than we got pre-COVID.
They don't charge you more for a telemedicine visit, in many cases it's around a $25 copay (or free on some plans) vs. $75+ to go to a drop in urgent care clinic for basic care needs.
There was some emergency provision put in place by both federal and state regulators to temporarily loosen telemedicine reimbursement rates and procedures due to the pandemic, but that may change once this event has subsided.
I will agree that it's been frustrating to stay in a mid-level hotel that traditionally has served a hot breakfast to find them only offering dry cereal, yogurt, cheap packaged danishes, juice, etc. at the same room rate as before.
In California, ICU beds are running critically low. The state is implementing closures depending on the region of the state. In the next few days, certain regions will close outdoor and indoor dining, bars, wineries, hair salons, nail salons, tanning salons, zoos, aquariums, museums, playgrounds, etc. Restaurants will become take out or delivery only. Stores will have have to limit capacity to 20 percent. The restrictions have already begun in some counties ahead of time. A friend of mine went to TJMaxx and waited for over 30 minutes in line trying to get into the store. He became frustrated and left without ever getting to shop inside. He went to Walmart and the line to get in moved much faster. These stores are losing sales and losing customers left and right. The enforcing of capacity limits is inconsistent. Is there a police force that enforces capacity limits or is it all unenforced?
Some bars have become creative in recent months by converting to restaurants that serve food. If they serve food they were allowed to stay open. In some cases the bar would just serve a small cup of french fries and call themselves a restaurant.
Now it is going to be very uncertain for bars. I have seen some bars already completely closed. I have also seen some bars defy the 10 PM California curfew and stay open past 10 PM with outdoor dining and outdoor maskless dancing. There are hair salons that were open until 10 at night or later with people desperately getting their hair done on Friday night before the closures start. Some county closures start on Sunday. I also saw some massage parlors that were obviously still open late at night with tons of cars and customers defying curfews. How do you enforce all of this? If the laws are broken left and right then people will stop obeying every other law as well.
