COVID-19

[Rowdy1]

Terrified! I have only one lung that works and both are filled with hundreds of tiny blood clots. I get out of breath just getting dressed.

[awalker1829]

Here in Arizona, the rates are skewed by the low population of some of the rural counties. Since they have lower population totals, the number of cases is resulting in a higher case rate per 100,000 population than some of the most populated counties. Infection rates are increasing again here, but not as rapidly as in the summer. Much of the increase seems to be driven by cases on college campuses.

The big question locally is what the impact will be on the tourist season in Southern Arizona. Our tourist season starts in October and runs through April. So far, the big winter arts and crafts fair that is put on by the local merchant's association has been cancelled as has Tucson's Christmas parade. Personally, I think the season will be much slower.

[Junk Yard Dog]

I see a trend I think in the latest 14 day case maps, for NY state anyways. Cases seem to be going down where this plague first got bad. JYD what is different about Hamilton, Essex, and Heirken counties ? Low population ?

They are far northern NY state, low population. Once you get away from the city's, especially NYC and the surrounding suburbs NY state is very rural.

[steelbuttplate]

Here in Arizona, the rates are skewed by the low population of some of the rural counties. Since they have lower population totals, the number of cases is resulting in a higher case rate per 100,000 population than some of the most populated counties. Infection rates are increasing again here, but not as rapidly as in the summer. Much of the increase seems to be driven by cases on college campuses.

The big question locally is what the impact will be on the tourist season in Southern Arizona. Our tourist season starts in October and runs through April. So far, the big winter arts and crafts fair that is put on by the local merchant's association has been cancelled as has Tucson's Christmas parade. Personally, I think the season will be much slower.

We are a tourist town summer and fall. It's been about half the crowd we've had the two summers before. The passenger train has run but with limited numbers on it, and restaurants doing take out mostly. A few are letting people in. Cabin rental is a big thing here and I think a lot of those people are flat broke. Some probably bankrupt.

[awalker1829]

We are a tourist town summer and fall. It's been about half the crowd we've had the two summers before. The passenger train has run but with limited numbers on it, and restaurants doing take out mostly. A few are letting people in. Cabin rental is a big thing here and I think a lot of those people are flat broke. Some probably bankrupt.

You up near Andrews? One of the more established restaurants here just announced their permanent closure. Some of the oldest restaurants here certainly have the resources to hang on, but a lot of the newer ones don't have much reserve. I'm guessing that we'll see another wave of closings in the first quarter of 2021. There are several large resorts and a couple of guest ranches here. I'm guessing that a lot of snowbirds may stay home this year, rather than risk traveling. Restaurants have reopened their dining rooms here with limited capacity, but a lot of folks are still staying away and doing take out. Downtown is dead on weekends-normally the restaurants would be doing good business. Most of them are either closed or doing maybe twenty percent of the usual business.

[steelbuttplate]

We are a tourist town summer and fall. It's been about half the crowd we've had the two summers before. The passenger train has run but with limited numbers on it, and restaurants doing take out mostly. A few are letting people in. Cabin rental is a big thing here and I think a lot of those people are flat broke. Some probably bankrupt.

You up near Andrews? One of the more established restaurants here just announced their permanent closure. Some of the oldest restaurants here certainly have the resources to hang on, but a lot of the newer ones don't have much reserve. I'm guessing that we'll see another wave of closings in the first quarter of 2021. There are several large resorts and a couple of guest ranches here. I'm guessing that a lot of snowbirds may stay home this year, rather than risk traveling. Restaurants have reopened their dining rooms here with limited capacity, but a lot of folks are still staying away and doing take out. Downtown is dead on weekends-normally the restaurants would be doing good business. Most of them are either closed or doing maybe twenty percent of the usual business.

I live 40 minutes east of Andrews, where the Tuckaseegee and Ooconaluftee rivers run together.

[awalker1829]

I grew up in Chattanooga, Tennessee and knew some of the guys who worked on the Great Smokey Mountains Railroad through my connections. The road I worked for (Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum) had one of two surviving Ks class Consolidation type steam locomotives that the old Southern Railway operated (630). GSMR had the other (722). Both locomotives were built by the American Locomotive Company in 1904 for the Southern and sold to the East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad in the late 1940s. They ran there until the early 1970s, when the Southern decided it wanted the locomotives back and traded a couple of Alco RS-3 diesels to the other road for the steam locomotives.

Norfolk Southern actually owned the two locomotives until 1995 when they shut down their steam excursion program. 630 was given to our road, as it had been in storage there for about a decade and the 722 was given to GSMR. After their shop foreman died, it sat dismantled in their yard and I think it's still dismantled. As soon as we obtained ownership of our locomotive, it was put into the shop for an extensive rebuild. That required fabrication of boiler courses, a new front flue sheet and smokebox, firebox repairs and straightening the frame. Although there were no existing records of the locomotive being in any serious accident, the frame was noticeably bent and had to be straightened to minimize wear on certain components. All of that took something like five years and I would estimate $750k to complete.

As a kid, I also spent a good bit of time in the area. The Unitarian Universalist Church has a camp in Highlands and I attended a number of summer camps there. We'd often go rafting on the Nantahala River, which the GSMR runs along the banks of down near Nantahala. You do not want to fall into that river at any time. Due to the water being released by the dam, the water temperature runs at about 48 degrees year round. You can get hypothermic in as little as five minutes, even in the summertime.

[Darryl]

When I retired a year ago now, I used to purchase 3M N100 disposable paper respirators. I'd buy 3 cases at a time (case is 8 boxes of 20) . About 480 units. It was around $550 which is around $1.15 or so each. I see the same ones now going for around $6.50 each ...plus! Someone is getting rich by gouging. They need to stop this if they want to try and force people to wear them.

Lucky, I have a few hear at the home. But you have to do more then this if you want to keep from getting this virus. Eyes and hands need attention.

We have most of out food and thngs we need delivered to us. We glove up and take it to the garage where it is wiped down and removed from the delivery containers (bags or boxes), then the item inside are wiped down. My wife does something to the items like bread. She puts them in the oven at some temperature. Sorry, I don't know what the temps are or how long. But it doesn't seem to bother the bread as far as freshness and taste goes. So, we do it.

Stay safe and don't do stupid things and we'll all do just fine through this.

Darryl