RTFri, 13 Nov 2020 18:50 UTC
© Reuters / Shannon Stapleton; Twitter / LoriLightfoot
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has announced stricter lockdown restrictions,
telling residents to only leave their homes for essential trips and to cancel traditional Thanksgiving plans.
The stay-at-home advisory, which is similar to lockdown restrictions in major cities that occurred towards the beginning of the pandemic, will take effect on Monday, November 16 at 6:00 am.
Under the
new rules,
residents are not allowed to have guests over to their homes, including family members that do not live with them. People are only allowed to leave their homes for "essential reasons," and the mayor says "traditional Thanksgiving plans" must be canceled.
Any events such as weddings and funerals will be limited to attendances of 10 people or less. These new restrictions will be in place
for a minimum of 30 days, according to the mayor.
Chicago has seen an uptick in Covid-19 cases in recent days, averaging 1,920 cases a day for the past week. That's an increase of 14 percent from the week before when the daily average was 1410. The state of Illinois itself has also recorded two new daily records in cases this week, with 12,702 being reported on Thursday, up from 12,657 the day before.
Overall, the state has recorded more than 500,000 cases and 10,000 deaths.
Lightfoot's strict orders have earned pushback online, especially since the mayor can be seen in large groups over the weekend celebrating Joe Biden's presumed presidential victory.
Comment: Minnesota's governor descended to previously unknown depths of absurd idiocy, urging people to
stop singing, lest they kill someone.
Walz attempted to draw a hard distinction between "fun" vocalizations and everyday vocal drudgery, insisting that "the louder you speak, if you're singing, if you're playing darts standing next to someone in a crowded bar... it seems like these things shouldn't be as risky or elevated, but what we've seen is that they do do that."
"It's certainly not our intention to demonize any industry or any activity," Walz said while doing exactly that. "It's simply important for us to understand...who spreads this thing." The governor announced a limit of 10 people on inside and outdoor gatherings alike during Thursday's press conference, explaining that "just because they're family and just because you know them" doesn't mean any group celebrating the winter holidays can dispense with social distancing and masks indoors. However, he has at the same time suggested enforcement will be based on voluntary compliance: "Obviously, on this issue, we're not going into someone's home and arresting them on Thanksgiving."
In contrast, Mississippi's governor has vowed to
fight a six-week lockdown proposed by Biden's Covid adviser should it come to pass and Biden manages to successfully steal the election.
"We will certainly fight that if it becomes necessary," he said during the livestream. "We as a state are going to continue with our strategy," he said, insisting a strategy "targeted" at hotspots was the only way to avoid extensive collateral economic damage. "The people of Mississippi can't just go home, shut down their small businesses, shut down their restaurants, shut down their gyms for six weeks and just think that you can come back six weeks from now, flip a switch and everything's gonna be fine."
Japan too, despite a surge in "cases," does not plan to institute another
state of emergency.
Germany's health minister
says it's still "too early" to tell how long the current "lockdown light" will last. Ireland is
mulling a "staggered release" of lockdown measure before Christmas, conditional on "getting the numbers way down" - no acknowledgment that they were completely useless to begin with and there's nothing alarming about the current numbers.
Here's just one
example of the cultural collateral damage of unscientific, useless lockdowns:
Vladimir Urin of the Bolshoi Theatre has told reporters that the historic institution, known across the world for ballet and dramatic arts, has lost around 1.2 billion rubles (around $15.5 million) during the coronavirus pandemic. He told Russia's Dozhd TV channel that "these income losses... until October amounted to about 50% of all income that we have."
The director of another famous Moscow theatre, the Lenkom's Mark Varshaver, has also spoken out on the situation facing the arts. Speaking to Russian news agency RIA Novosti, he said that Moscow Deputy Mayor Natalya Sergunina had committed to helping venues meet the shortfall.
"[Sergunina] said something extremely important for theaters: the Moscow government is issuing a subsidy that will fully cover theaters' losses, especially those related to the payment of wages and other issues. She also said that the directors of Moscow theaters may, at their discretion, not play the performance or postpone it depending on the situation and conditions of the theater," he added.
On Tuesday, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin brought forward a series of new measures aimed at limiting the spread of coronavirus. Among them were rules limiting audiences of theaters, cinemas and ballet performances to around 25 per cent of their usual capacity, to allow for social distancing.
I think she would make a perfect specimen.
Do you think Make a Wish Foundation are doing requests? Maybe if I return a positive covid test, as covid is so deadly I can ask them to make my wish come true...
S-)