Attached photos are from the Republican Office near where I live, and the Trump clothing options are for those who feel their Oompa-Loompa-orange tanned, bleach haired god will allow them to do whatever they want, should they wear something other than a MAGA hat. The clothes were at various stalls in the flea market close to downtown (it's actually closer to the 'hood'). All pictures taken around the beginning of February... right before the full swing of lockdown happened here.
frogwoman - we might have passed the Republican Office, but I don't think we went to the flea market... I know I wanted to take you there at one point. In reference - it's passed the nature center we went to, but close to that area of town.
People
love the MAGA hat - you don't want to know how many people I see a week at my job, who are wearing various incarnations of that head piece (camouflage, US flag, etc).
With all the lists of lockdowns and social distancing, we're now having to go two steps backwards. Just when you thought phase 1 of reopen the state meant something good, it's not. Beaches recently got to open up (figuratively speaking, "in waves") in SWFL but some dumb fuckers from the East Coast and a little more south of me, decided to come this way to troll our beaches. Like someone previously reported about Fort Lauderdale back in April, that was a similar scene in Naples. A little more crowded though. So now there was talk about beaches closing again. Retail stores aren't accepting returns of clothing right now as they closed their fitting rooms for trying things on. Restaurants that rely on buffets or partial buffets are closing. A local salad bar restaurant announced permanent closure last week. Because of the meat shortage, barbecue places have limited items to offer right now. Fast food places are not allowing soda fountain fills... although I was in a gas station yesterday and was able to get myself a cup of hot chocolate... even though they aren't offering coffee, like most places.
All the snow birds that are still here can't go home because no state is allowing any travel - people are being ridiculed and shamed for traveling. So some of my neighbors want to go home to their summer homes. Like my Michigan friends, who usually leave this week, now can't as MI just had a snow storm and since they have to drive, they don't want to risk stopping every couple hours (one of them is 90+ years old). Nor do they want to quarantine for 14 days.
Someone my mom knows, arrived in Florida from Connecticut the other day, and they were treated like criminals. The guy went to the pool in his community and someone asked him where he's been for the last few weeks because no one has seen him. He said he arrived from CT the night prior and he was immediately told to get out of the pool. He was walked back to his condo by the person asking him where he has been, and he was told that he and his wife can not leave their condo for the next 14 days... that means
no unpacking the car,
no shopping for necessities,
nothing. They are being forced to be house bound for the next two weeks.
People are choosing their own adventure with the face masks and gloves, but there are a lot of people who are wearing both when I've gone out and shopped. Yes, I've gone shopping. I also live with my 70+ year old mother, and she goes shopping about twice a week as well. Sometimes she goes with our 80+ year old neighbor... just to get the necessities or be able to get out and pick up some things not on a normal list. Yes, we all wear masks and gloves, and all the shopping buggies are disinfected. My job is half assingly enforcing the masks and gloves rule, but with 1200 employees working for 2400+ residents, it's a little hard. Although, we get temperature checked and questioned when we get into work.
The questions include "Have you been out of the area over the last 24 hours?", "Have you been around anyone confirmed with Covid-19 / Coronavirus?", "Have you been to any of the hot spots such as New York, Connecticut, Cuba or New Orleans this week?", "Are you feeling any of the symptoms?" and much more. It's really a 12 question check, and if you answer 'yes' to any of them, you're immediately turned around and told to go home. Everyone I know have admitted they think it's dumb as rocks because you can lie for all the questions and a single temperature check does nothing to confirm anything.
There are plenty of people who work with my company that are not working because they are part time or on call people. Only groups working are full time people and most got their job descriptions shifted as their job is no longer relevant... like me. I'm doing something completely different. Yet my job said that if you decline doing that new job, they are taking it as you quit, and you will be walked to your car and asked to vacate the premises.
Some of my friends, half I've known for 20+ years, others I've met over the last 10, are out of work. Trying to apply for the dole is moot as they all got denied. One was told she didn't make the required 500 hours of working time from the start of her employment to the time she was told to not come in. Another just started an amazing job and was kept on for as long as possible, but when let go, she too was told similar things about hours worked, although her job has "promises" of rehire.
My area of Florida sucks for work normally during the year - we are seasonal. Basically Halloween (Oct. 31) to Easter (whenever it falls - March or April), the economy is booming because of snow birds - people who "winter in Florida". Once Easter hits, they all go home to their summer places and businesses can go from over 100 workers full time to 20, at best, part time. Once this virus is done, there's no way we can easily recover from it. It'll take years for local businesses to get back to "normal", whatever that will be. I know it'll be like that around the globe, but there are some places that are so reliant on tourists, that they will be the ones hit the hardest.
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