NY, NJ & Connecticut shut bars, restaurants & movie theaters

amother

Mon, Mar 16 2020, 8:09 am

Coronavirus outbreak spurs New York, New Jersey, Connecticut to shut bars, restaurants and movie theaters

Governors in the nation's largest metro area have collectively decided to shutter bars, restaurants and movie theaters in an attempt to stem the growing number of coronavirus cases.

The governors of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut said that they are working to limit crowd capacity for recreational and social gatherings to 50 people starting at 8 p.m. on Monday throughout New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/cor.....aters

amother

Lavender

Mon, Mar 16 2020, 8:13 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

I’m wondering if take-out food is safe. My ds got some sushi to take out yesterday and he got nauseous after! Maybe they had old fish, no delivery

Amarante

Mon, Mar 16 2020, 8:40 am

amother [ Lavender ] wrote:

I’m wondering if take-out food is safe. My ds got some sushi to take out yesterday and he got nauseous after! Maybe they had old fish, no delivery

The virus is not food borne so eating food is not the issue. The virus is transmitted either through the air when you breathe air that has the virus OR because you have touched a contaminated surface and then touched your face because the virus enters through the mucus membranes of the nose and eyes but is not the kind of pathogen that survives the gastric juices - or at least that is the best current medical advice.

This is why WASHING HANDS thoroughly and cleaning surfaces is critical to try to keep healthy.

You have to wash with soap because soap actually has a quality which breaks down the outer layer of the virus and effectively makes it unable to attach itself/replicate. I am way over simplifying this but washing hands properly is your best defense - hand sanitizer if you are not near soap and water.

Sing Happy Birthday or some equivalent length song twice when you wash your hands and really make sure you wash all over including back of hands.

And since I remember threads in which some people have one communal hand towel, I would suggest that you use paper towels to avoid contaminating through towels used by multiple people.

ETA - The reason why restaurants are closed is because people would be in an enclosed space with larger numbers of people so it is likely that you would come in contact with someone who is infectious. Takeout is limiting your exposure to people since you are only interacting to pick up your food. Also you are not likely to come into contaminated surfaces that you might if you are physically eating in the restaurant - imagine that a person sneezes or even breathes and your table and chairs would be contaminated. If you are only picking up food, you can immediately use hand sanitizer when you get back to your car or be extremely careful about touching your face until you have the ability to wash your hands. If you are seated for a longer period of time, chances increase that your hands become contaminated and then you touch your face.

I have read that this is a good time to carry paper towels or use tissues when opening doors or pressing elevator buttons. Or use your pinky or elbow to press a button if possible.

amother

Ecru

Mon, Mar 16 2020, 9:07 am

Hoping that's not going to include things like the local pizza stores - I'm running out of places to take a family member with autism whose program is closed because of all this.

I figured he'd come with me shopping, we'd go to the library, go out for lunch sometimes...I figured as long as we aimed for off times (like a 2pm lunch instead of 12pm) there wouldn't be that many people around.

Libraries (Jewish and regular) both announced yesterday they're closing, restaurants today, hope the stores stay open...I don't want him just on the computer all day for the next 2 weeks :-(

carnation

Mon, Mar 16 2020, 9:32 am

amother [ Ecru ] wrote:

I'm very against spending much time on the computer. But I started reconsidering now. Perhaps this is one time in history when our kids should spend more time using computers and watching videos.

Amarante

Mon, Mar 16 2020, 9:34 am

amother [ Ecru ] wrote:

Your local pizza shop can sell pizza to go but not to eat in the restaurant.

Depending on weather, it is fine to do outdoor activities as long as you avoid surfaces that might be contaminated in a playground for example. But there is lots to do outdoors which enable you to get out of the house safely.

amother

Brown

Mon, Mar 16 2020, 4:19 pm

amother [ Ecru ] wrote:

Daven it's only two weeks. DeBlasio is talking about till June.

amother

Magenta

Mon, Mar 16 2020, 4:42 pm

carnation wrote:

I'm very against spending much time on the computer. But I started reconsidering now. Perhaps this is one time in history when our kids should spend more time using computers and watching videos.

Me too.

And I also have an ASD kid. I am aware of how much deprogramming we will need to do when this is all over.

Pick a nice day, get the pizza. And bring it to a park to eat. If it's unfamiliar, drive past it a few times beforehand and point it out as a place where people take food to eat and can also run around.

amother

Ecru

Mon, Mar 16 2020, 9:29 pm

Squeezed in a quick pizza store run with him after the regular supper rush, so at least he will feel like he held on to his routine for a bit longer (we usually do that once every week or so, so that buys me a bit of time).

The store told me it's take out only starting tomorrow.

LOL, I'm going to see how many errands I can stretch out over multiple days. Instead of five places to stop in one day, we"ll do two a day and try to space things out so that they take a bit longer.

Also picked up a new puzzle today, maybe that"ll distract him a bit.

Wonder how this will work for all the moms who normally send their kids to eat out pizza right before Pesach?