This Is Next!

In case anyone still believes the status quo always remains the same, these past few days have slammed the door on that notion.

Coronavirus has undoubtedly changed the future of cruising, at least for the next month.

On Friday, I shared that some cruise lines would suspend operations temporarily due to Coronavirus concerns, but now essentially all cruises have shut down until April 11, and some longer than that.

Virgin Voyages, which I had just mentioned specifically last Wednesday as being geared to a younger cruise market, announced it would delay its inaugural voyage until August!

It seems all the major cruise lines will be requiring anyone aged 70 and older to get a letter from a doctor to take a cruise.

Many people have asked me if this age restriction is permanent, and while I don't know, I think it might be.

However, just as closing the borders stopped this virus from spreading as quickly as it might have otherwise, it is true that people boarding cruises potentially come from all over the country and world, and so it is harder to track subsequent contacts, so if they need to do this in the short term, actually a low season price-wise, so be it.

Last Wednesday, I was in Big Sky, Montana, where life seemed pretty much normal, but hearing from our son that things were getting crazy in the Los Angeles area didn't stop us from returning back to Redondo Beach.

It really is very odd in Southern California, although as my old Air Force buddy Larry Jaramillo liked to say, California is the "Granola State," chock full of flakes and nuts.  That's become increasingly true in our state capitol and big cities.

Going to Smart & Final for our usual daily shopping walk has been interesting to say the least, with "city folks" swarming in like locusts to fill shopping carts with toilet paper, disinfectants and canned goods.

We nonetheless had no trouble buying fresh produce and some meat for dinner, though admittedly the first two days, I bought thin-sliced pork chops and then frozen chicken because there was no ground meat or boneless chicken breasts, which are the centerpieces of more common meals for us.  We eat very little pre-processed food.

Yesterday, Smart & Final had a new hire manning the door to limit the number of shoppers, and while the delay of a few minutes was at first annoying, it turned out that instead of the panicked buying inside the store, it returned the shopping experience to the usual relaxed pace we're accustomed to finding.  S&F even had both ground turkey and fresh boneless chicken breast.  One of our regular cashiers, Seth, recognized us as "loyal customers."

This weekend, Central California Congressman Devon Nunes said people should stop all this hoarding and instead go to restaurants where entrepreneurs still needed to make a living, but earlier today, I learned that Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti banned all restaurants, bars and nightclubs in his city from opening.

Governor Gavin Newsom said we must "prioritize our focus...prioritize our homeless."

Big city mayors have been closing schools, despite the fact that children don't seem to be in any real danger from Coronavirus.  Closing schools does, however, create problems for families with children.  

Who can they turn to for help watching children?  Grandparents.

Who is the highest risk group?

Senior citizens.

And now California Governor Gavin Newsom has directed that anyone 65 and over should not leave home.

Fortunately, he did not make that mandatory subject to fines or imprisonment, or I wouldn't be able to take my normal walk along the beach.

It does seem to me that this has all gotten a bit crazy, because every year we have cold and flu season.  It is true that some people don't survive it, and the numbers are somewhat shocking, especially compared to deaths by Coronavirus so far.

Will this be the norm every year?

No!

You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time.

Enough of us will stay sane, and we'll be back to the "status quo" with perhaps some modest improvements before you know it,