I live in Oregon.
For the last two weeks, ending today, the state has been under a freeze order by the governor which essentially acted as a shutdown. That freeze has made it very difficult for most businesses I service to operate in any meaningful way except if they can offer some form of takeout.
Some, like pizza places, are set up for takeout. Others, like bars, not necessarily.
But since the machines I collect from, service and repair, are inside, where customers have only been allowed to pick up their takeout orders, I haven't had a lot to do over the last two weeks.
I worked less than ten hours last week (and also got paid eight hours for the Thanksgiving holiday), and so far this week, I'm just over five hours.
Starting tomorrow, a new phase of restrictions begins, based on what's happening in each county.
Right click on the above image to see a larger view of it.
For the next two weeks, at least, 25 out of Oregon's 36 counties are considered areas of extreme risk for contracting the COVID-19 virus. If you look at the left 25% of the map, you'll find where the vast majority of Oregon's 4.2 million people live, with the greatest portion of that squeezed into the upper left quadrant (basically the red counties).
This includes the greater Portland metropolitan area, and Salem, the capital of Oregon.
The other three fourths of the state is primarily high desert, with wide open spaces.
This next image, cropped from the one above, gives you an idea of the area I cover within six different routes. As you can see, the majority of them are in the extreme risk category.
The two that aren't are still considered high risk, which allows for a few more things to happen, the most significant being indoor dining of up to 50 people, or 25% building capacity, whichever is less.
There are more caveats with those provisions, however.
Groups can consist of six people total at any given table, but only from two households. So, a family of four and the grandparents, good. Three couples, probably not, unless at least two of the pairs are living in the same household. Six friends, six different living locations, forget it.
How that's going to be policed, I don't know. I guess everyone is on the honor's system, or else, the brunt of it will fall on the business to make sure people are following the rules. So, taking down people's names and addresses?
Forget that. I won't be dining in anywhere, anyway, but even if I wanted to, I'd be turned off if I had to give away personal information.
Right click on the above image to see a larger view of it.
Above is the risk chart in its entirety, outlining in pretty good detail what can and cannot be done. I'm sure there will be some business owners still wondering what they're able to do, but for most, it's pretty clear.
As you can see, when it comes to Eating and Drinking Establishments, the extreme risk counties aren't allowed any indoor dining. In their wisdom, however, health officials are allowing outdoor dining for up to 50 people at any given time.
Because who doesn't want to eat outdoors in the Northwest December-February?
There are plenty of places that are colder than Oregon during the winter, but with the cooler temperatures here also comes more winter storms. Plus, it gets dark fairly early around here. So, the summer outdoor areas businesses carved out of street side parking during the late spring and summer to accommodate customers will have to be covered, lit and potentially ventilated, to first coax customers to stay and then provide some semblance of safety.
None of that, though, will help me do my job.
Before the freeze, I was just getting back to more or less normal hours. It took until September to get there, though.
Now, I'm starting over again, with no practical end in sight.
I'm sure someone is hoping and believing that these restrictions will help curb the virus, even though, to date, most of the state has been under limitations most resembling what is now called the high risk level and we're still over 1,000 cases a day.
Frankly, I'm not holding my breath that this will end soon.
In the meantime, we'll make it through. My wife's had plenty of work during this time, and while it would be foolish to say it won't happen, the chances of her losing her job because of the restrictions going in place is less than most.
In my case, there's unemployment compensation to possibly re-establish, and hopefully with a larger benefit this time since I have more quarters worked under my belt, and I will probably continue to look for something else. Just what, I'm not sure of.
So, we're doing okay into the foreseeable future.
If nothing else, there will be more time to post.
HIVE is welcome to take off at any time, though. People seem to be comparing Bitcoin to 2017, and that happened to be a pretty good time for STEEM. It would be nice for that to translate to HIVE. There's been some movement, but nothing to get too excited about yet, I don't think.
All images courtesy of the Oregon Housing Authority.
