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Just to put this out there, I am *not* planning to comply with Chicago's new Stay-at-Home Advisory, which, among other things, urges residents to voluntarily:
-Only leave home for essential purposes
-Not hang time at your home with anyone you don't live with
Let me explain...
-Only leave home for essential purposes
-Not hang time at your home with anyone you don't live with
Let me explain...
First of, the city exhorting people not to leave home for non-essential reasons is silly, because it's simultaneously allowing residents to do to totally non-essential things like work out at gyms, get your beard trimmed or nails done, see a movie. I'm not doing any of that.
While I feel for struggling workers and business owners, hanging out at indoor public spaces for non-essential purposes is not a great idea during an airborne respiratory pandemic, when aerosolize virons linger in the air like smoke.
For that reason, I didn't eat or drink inside restaurants or bars when that was an option in Chicago during COVID. (Note that the aerosol issue can be mitigated by good ventilation, masks, spending less time at an indoor location, etc.)
So the city is still letting us do things that I personally don't consider to be worth the risk.
In addition, restaurants and bars are still open for outdoor service, with an 11 PM curfew. That's OK from a safety standpoint, as long as there's good table spacing, ventilation.
In addition, restaurants and bars are still open for outdoor service, with an 11 PM curfew. That's OK from a safety standpoint, as long as there's good table spacing, ventilation.
Granted, some of the outdoor seating situations are pretty sketchy. The rules require tents to have 50% of the sides open, but that doesn't seem to be well enforced. I've seen plenty of setups where the "outdoor" dining is completely enclosed, with little or no safety benefit.
Still, there are plenty of businesses doing a great job with outdoor seating despite the challenges, and I wouldn't hesitate to eat or drink at these places.
I'm not doing much restaurant dining or bar drinking during the pandemic anyway...
I'm not doing much restaurant dining or bar drinking during the pandemic anyway...
...But I wouldn't feel guilty about eating or drinking at a safe outdoor restaurant or bar situation if I wanted to, just because the city is simultaneously urging us to not leave the house for non-essential purposes, while enabling us to do it by keeping these businesses open.
Don't get me wrong, I think it makes total sense to keep non-essential businesses open during the outbreak, provided they can be operated safely, to help workers and biz owners. But @chicagosmayor, if you're going to do that, don't guilt trip us for patronizing them!
As for the Stay-at-Home Advisory's exhortation to never hang out with non-household members at home, there's no way I'm going to comply with that.
Yes, we need to get the word out that people should avoid entertaining indoors, and big indoor gatherings are dangerous.
Yes, we need to get the word out that people should avoid entertaining indoors, and big indoor gatherings are dangerous.
It *would* be helpful to explain that, if you are going to have a couple people over indoors, you can greatly mitigate the danger by opening windows, wearing masks, and limiting the duration of the visit. This is a great explainer of that principal: https://english.elpais.com/society/2020-10-28/a-room-a-bar-and-a-class-how-the-coronavirus-is-spread-through-the-air.html
Personally, I'm generally avoiding hanging out with non-household members indoors.
But I'm sure as heck not going to give up hanging out with small numbers of friends or family members *outdoors* at homes just because the Stay-at-Home Advisory says I should.
But I'm sure as heck not going to give up hanging out with small numbers of friends or family members *outdoors* at homes just because the Stay-at-Home Advisory says I should.
Per infectious disease experts Streetsblog has interviewed, doing things like hanging out on a stoop, porch, or around backyard fire pit with 6'+ distance are a "definitely reasonable" way to spend time with a few non-household members, made safer if you wear masks.
These kinds of private outdoor hangs are almost certainly safer that eating or drinking outside in public, where you're surrounded by strangers, and patrons aren't wearing masks (but, again, that's reasonably safe too, provided it's not crowded, and there's good ventilation.)
As for the Mayor's advice to "cancel your Thanksgiving plans," that makes sense if you were planning a big indoor gathering. Me, I was planning to host a few close friends for dinner, spread out on a big porch with blankets and maybe some kind of heater. I'm not cancelling that.
The bottom line is, rather than urging people to avoid non-essential activities while simultaneously enabling them, and shaming people about visit with friends and family, it would be a lot more helpful if the city spread the word about ways to do these things more safely...
...That is, these rules of thumb for safer hangouts
Small groups > big groups
Outside > inside
Ventilation > enclosed spaces
6'+ spacing > crowding together
Masks > no masks
Quiet talking > loud talking, shouting, or singing
Small groups > big groups
Outside > inside
Ventilation > enclosed spaces
6'+ spacing > crowding together
Masks > no masks
Quiet talking > loud talking, shouting, or singing
