just gonna do a big dump of replies I was working on as the last thread closed:
and yet, according to data, "small gatherings" like restaurants make up only 3% of known spread in places like LA
Meanwhile:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/11/10/coronavirus-restaurants-gyms-hotels-risk/
This chart shows the link between restaurant spending and new cases of coronavirus
100% capacity I thought all service industry type businesses were restricted to a certain percentage of capacity?
There is no cap on capacity for restaurants, cafes, pubs and bars, as long as there is a 2 metre distance or appropriate barriers between dining parties.
COVID-19 information : guidance for restaurants, cafes, pubs, and bars - Open Government
That hasn’t changed under the new restrictions, they are just requiring the six people per table be from the same household which I can only say: good luck with that one.
I have repeatedly offer to find and post the studies for you today and every single time you’ve rebuked it. Now you’re wasting someone else’s time asking for it? And you were calling me a troll earlier?
Yeah, because what you’re trying to show me has nothing to do with what we’re talking about, which is how many cases in Alberta are coming from any given setting, which is data that you cannot provide because it does not exist.
It’s so amazing to see these people that have been saying “listen to the experts” for months now saying that the experts are wrong because it in a small way goes against what their beloved political party leader is saying. Can we label them as the new Covid deniers now.
Nobody has said this. You just can’t stop making shit up.
Stoneman said:
Bars have open and stringent conditions and protocols they must follow regarding masking (when there is movement), social distancing, hours, etc and are very easy and transparent to investigate. Do private gatherings have any of this to monitor behaviors?
And without any data whatsoever, we have no idea how effective those measures are, and any policy created in the absence of that data will be more less faith-based.
I really did not think “hey it would be nice to have some data on where these infections are coming from so we can see if the policies being implemented that affect all our lives are actually going to make a difference” would be such a controversial take but here we are!
Bellagiobob said:
They've tried not to discriminate between private indoor gatherings and restaurants/bars. Both have similar restrictions. Both are limited to immediate household members only, or if single, two additional people.
I guarantee virtually no one in the industry is going to enforce that “6 people from the same household” rule in bars and restaurants and any server that tries would probably get canned for costing their boss money.
Directly from the enhanced public health measures webpage:
Maximum of 6 people from the same immediate household at a table and no movement between tables.
Thanks for confirming that prior to today, there were no restrictions on movement, which is exactly what I said.
By the very spacing of their tables due to social distancing, their capacity has been reduced to about 50 % in some cases.
But that was not a legal requirement before. If a place had a capacity of say, 50 people, and could rejig their layout to ensure there was 2 metres between parties, they could still by law have 50 people in the place. Also, what the capacity is matters: the Common in Edmonton for example has a capacity of 150, so at 50% that’s still 75 people (plus staff) breathing the same air, yelling, and drinking.
Harpoon:
Yeah it’s hard to believe that there are people arguing long and loud for things to be locked down while at the same time questioning the idea that private gatherings are the biggest culprit in spreading this virus. When you are at the office, grocery store, mall, you are presumably wearing a mask and not talking and laughing loudly .... and in two of those three situations you are probably walking around and not staying in one closed space for a long time. When you are at Bob’s place to watch a game you are presumably not wearing a mask because you are filling your face with food, beer/weed. You are laughing and talking in a closed room with people outside your immediate family. I mean it’s a no brainer to assess which type of behaviour is more risky. Not to mention that going to the store/work is kind of necessary while celebrating Suzy’s birthday with the neighbour kids is kind of not. Nonetheless we will still have some folks saying they contact tracing doesn’t show that definitively’ or they data doesn’t support that notion’.
Again, since it needs to be repeated over and over again, no one is questioning that private indoor gatherings don’t present a high-risk environment, but the absence of data showing exactly how much means you’re relying purely on guesswork when imposing these types of restrictions and hoping they stick.
The questions I have are around the arbitrary nature of the measures being put in place without any data to support them where some activities deemed high-risk (like having a couple of people over) are being drastically curtailed while other non-essential large indoor gatherings in churches, bars, restaurants and casinos (where large numbers of people gather and eat and drink and yell and sing) are allowed.
At that point it looks less like mitigating the spread of a contagious disease more about not pissing off the ruling party’s core constituencies.