Covid-19 Restrictions

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If the US is anything like the UK on this, you don’t need to enter the PIN on every transaction.

Supposedly it is every so many transactions you need to enter the PIN, but I’ve never had to enter it doing a contactless transaction.

 

Here for security it requires a PIN for every transaction. Unless you are using it as an ATM card, then you only need to enter the PIN once per session.
Although I don't think I've ever used the debit card twice in a row at the same store since getting the new contactless card.
I've done that a few times when I'm going to get a prescription at Jewel/Osco, then gotten food. However those are at different registers and back when I was in high school and community college they treated Osco as practically a separate store rather than a department. Ironically, even though I helped install the registers they are using back in 2018, I don't know much about the POS system or if Osco is still operating that way. I was just a temp and pretty much only worked on the hardware and followed a setup script.
I can't think of any other places save the rare time where I forgot something or there was a mix-up and they had to do the transaction again, but all those required the PIN every time.

 

I had something like that happen almost exactly a year ago, except that we found out the guy had COVID the Monday after Thanksgiving.
They immediately sent everyone home, as in less than 20 minutes after the guy called and said he tested positive the place was locked up and strongly advised we all get tested while the place was quarantined for 10 days, then we came back and had to put on masks and gloves and disinfect everything.

We were imaging computers in close quarters, and they just said "hook everything you have up to the network so they can use it remotely as fast as possible, then get out of here and quarantine yourself until your test results get back.

 

apparently not, they just sprayed the forklifts down and called it a day. My main concern is he has liver cancer and this might hit him HARD! A great worker, joking all the time. Hope I see him again.

 

Ben, the guy that tested positive right after Thanksgiving never came back. It was a temp job from Nov2-Jan29.
Originally the contract was supposed to end right before Christmas, but they extended it another month to compensate for the 2 week furlough and losing a worker. We're not sure why they didn't hire another temp but we think it had to do with rescheduling issues and they just figured spreading it out over more time would be better.

 

I heard from somebody that in Florida they are ignoring masks entirely.
Here in the NW suburbs everybody is wearing masks, but a lot of people aren't doing social distancing.
Waiting in line at the checkout today at both Walmart and the Jewel (grocery store) the person behind me ignored the markings on the floor and got right behind me like it was 2019.
Is this like people in traffic not respecting the "two car lengths or two seconds, whichever is greater" following distance rule or people just not caring about the social distancing thing?

Although I admit, I kinda made that mistake myself when looking at the 1/2 off Christmas candy at Walmart. I was paying too much attention to the items on the shelf (it's typically a mess as they toss all the similar candies together) and not looking where I was going, and apparently somebody else was doing the same thing and we bumped into each other on accident.
We'd been on opposite ends of the aisle but didn't notice when we met in the middle.

 

Well, masks are coming off in schools.
https://www.dailyherald.com/news/20...red-pritzker-plans-state-supreme-court-appeal
The governor was thinking of removing the mask mandate at the end of the month anyways, but I haven't heard anything further about it.

I just have one thing I don't understand. Here's a link to the current district handbook for my alma mater.
https://www.d214.org/cms/lib/IL5000...4_student_and_parent_handbook_2020-21_V8a.pdf
The current dress code revisions were written 20 years after I graduated, and there are some slight revisions from what I vaguely remember. It no longer explicitly says anything about skirt length, just that "short skirts" and "short shorts" are not permitted.

Still, if they can legally require students to cover their midriffs and their thighs, why can't they legally require students to wear a mask to cover their mouths and noses?

 

Funny thing is, at least some minor good has come out of COVID.
Restrooms are now being cleaned regularly. The restroom on the Metra trains in Chicago (or at least the Union-Pacific Northwest line) used to be horrid pigsties. Since the pandemic started they have been spotless. Many other places had nasty bathrooms that made many people in Chicago and the suburbs abhor using public bathrooms. Now they are almost all spotless.

Also a lot of other diseases such as the normal flu are at record lows because of people taking anti-COVID precautions.
I'm not saying the good outweighs the bad, just that some good has come out of it.

 

Around here most places just decided to shut their public restrooms down. Very frustrating when you realize you REALLY gotta go potty.

 

I think there is some regulation on requiring restrooms which is why they don't shut them down.

Most water fountains are still shut down. It limits my range on a bicycle as I can no longer count on replenishing my water supply from water fountains.
In fact, the first time I saw one turned on was this summer at a company called "eBryIT" that had strict vaccination requirements when hiring but had virtually no precautions once we got to work.
They had temps in relatively close quarters around card tables setting up Chromebooks for schools that waited until the end of July to order (because they don't get their budgets until then, with some having deferred payment until August). I was surprised to see one of the regular employees stop and drink from a water fountain, I hadn't seen one turned on in 2 and a half years.

 

Well around here most of the ones I've tried to get into were permanently closed. Grocery stores; shopping stores; many other places have simply locked them up. At least that's where it was six months to a year ago. I would hope that this has reversed with many covid restrictions being lifted. As far as I know restrooms were conveniences that public places could open if they wanted to; or keep them for employee use only in the past. I do know some stories like my favorite gaming shop has opened it's restrooms again now that they are open for indoor gaming again.

 

According to Illinois Code, certain entertainment facilities, restaurants, and bars are required to have public restrooms.
https://ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs3.asp?ActID=1521&ChapterID=35

 

Yeah I don't know what local code is; most places had public restrooms for customer convenience. Covid made it so that they closed most of them for customer safety and a mix of employee safety and employee convenience so they wouldn't have to basically stand outside the door to wait for a customer to leave and then done a full sanitizing. For instance I've been going to Best Buy less and less often because their item selections have gotten worse and worse; the floor employees that actually have any ability to help are fewer and fewer; and they've been cutting every corner they could including shutting down their restroom. No reason to bother shopping there when I can get the same product for about the same price online and get it delivered to my door unless I'm too impatient to wait a few days.

 

I do go into Best Buy, but only because I use the "Ship to Store" to avoid shipping charges.
The only other time I actually shopped at Best Buy was when a relative's hard drive crashed and they needed me to get their computer operational ASAP so they could finish a presentation for work.
I went to the nearest store that sold hard drives, bought a new hard drive, installed it, and got their Office 365 going.
Say what you will about Office 365 and OneDrive, it meant he was able to get back to work with that minimal setup to meet his deadline in a little over an hour (it still takes time to reinstall Windows and install drivers for his printer and camera, as well as making sure Teams, Chrome, and Office were ready to go), although it took me much longer to get his PC back to where he wanted (games, local data, Firefox, other applications), I did that on the weekend when he didn't have a deadline hanging over him.

 

Yeah I probably won't stop going altogether while they are still open; but they seem like they are trying to have less and less reasons to go as their departments are getting fewer and fewer and they are filling the extra space with household appliances like dishwashers. If I'm in the market for something like that I'll arrange to have it delivered and installed professionally from a company that specializes in that sort of thing so I don't have to deal with the hassle.

Otherwise as far as covid goes; about the only other changes I've seen is that almost everywhere has put up plastic windows so employees will be less at risk of possible infection. And some employees at a variety of places are still wearing masks. I've had my full four shots and the only time I've had to get my card out is for my dentist.

 

The COVID card now seems to fit in with a driver's license and social security card, along with a drug test: Documentation needed for employment.
That's the only time I've been asked for it, but I don't go out much since I've only had temp since COVID due to being poor and trying to pinch pennies.

 

Yeah I'm in much the same boat. I'm trying to survive on Soc Sec Disability after a life-threatening injury that precludes me from going back to work. I spend most of my time either playing with 3D digital art of RPG characters and stuff; or playing my plethora of games I've purchased over the years. With Covid restrictions easing I've started running a Star Wars RPG face to face with some friends I used to play with pre-Covid.

 

Luckily, I haven't seen anything even close to resembling a Covid restriction in months. If I had to guess I'm pretty sure the data is going to say that everything we did was pointless and the damage we did to children (primarily) and to the economy (secondary) will haunt us for years if not decades.

 

It seems that only medical establishments are requiring masks now, and only food and medical related places have employees using them.
There are still signs in the stores about social distancing, but nobody is following it anymore.
I've only been asked for my COVID vaccination card when starting a new job, along with copies of my driver's license and social security card (and usually a drug test).
Hand sanitizer is still available just about everywhere, and all the restaurants still offer takeout but just about everything else seems to have mostly returned to normal.
Oh, quite a few stores still have the curbside parking space to pick up online orders, I suspect those are going to stay along with ALL restaurants offering takeout.
Oh, and traffic congestion is back to ~95% pre-COVID levels .

One other COVID measure that is extremely local is that my hometown is making it's "Alfresco" semi-permanent. The decision was made last year. What the "Alfresco" is is basically closing several streets in downtown Arlington Heights to allow the restaurants that are concentrated in that area to serve customers outdoors on the streets and sidewalk. The streets are now pedestrian only from May-September.
It seems everybody likes it, so they voted to continue it semi-permanently last year, although with a slight tax for the restaurants as there are some expenses.