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Thread: Coronavirus and The Tourist Town

  1. #1
    Senior Member SiouzQ.'s Avatar
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    Coronavirus and The Tourist Town

    Our governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham, announced yesterday that retail will start to open tomorrow (Saturday May 16) but under strict guidelines. Everyone must wear a mask in public or private spaces and capacity will be at 25%. Many gallery and shop owners up here in Madrid seem to be of the mind to wait two more weeks before they open just to see what happens, to see if there is a significant uptick in the infection rate. My bosses at the gallery are okay with this plan to stay closed two more weeks.

    My significant other is very leery of me going back to work at all because he is afraid (as a 35 year long Type I diabetic) that I will bring the virus home. I am too, but I miss working and I want to be working for my income! My bosses have been kind enough to pay me for the last two months; I do still caretake the gallery and have my studio in the back, but they cannot keep paying me for much longer without the gallery bringing in income. I guess we all need to wait these two weeks before we make any sort of decision about being open. The gallery feels crowded when there are 10 people in it, so I guess 25% capacity means no more than three people in at a time, but as the sole person running it, it might be hard to "crowd" control and keep the door handles clean and ask people not to pick up bunches of stuff if they have no intention of purchasing, all the while hopefully ringing up sales...

    Here's what I think will happen starting on Saturday: a bunch of people will come up from Albuquerque, chomping at the bits for something new to do, going in and out of places that have opened up. Hopefully they will have masks on but there are always those people who think they are an exception to the rule. Since so many people have lost their jobs there may not be that many sales of non-essential items, but rather people just looking for entertainment for the day. We call them lookie-loos. I really don't want to risk getting the virus due to people just looking and not buying!

    I do commend our governor for the excellent job she has done right from the get-go; the last thing New Mexico could possibly handle is the health system getting overrun with very sick people. The Navajo Nation is having a really terrible time of it. Decent, consistent health care can be such a difficult thing to get already in this state during normal times.

    So, two more weeks. I can sign up for unemployment if the owners need to lay me off. The hard thing is my jewelry sales will be WAaaaay down for a long time, I bet. I don't need to produce anymore for the galleries right now so I am just kicking back and making stuff just for the fun of it while my supply of silver lasts and trying to heal my wrists. I am not going to be investing in any tools or equipment for quite a while.

  2. #2
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    SiouzQ - These are hard decisions to make in hard times. Wishing you the best of luck and hoping all turns out well.
    To give pleasure to a single heart by a single act is better than a thousand heads bowing in prayer." Mahatma Gandhi
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  3. #3
    Senior Member JaneV2.0's Avatar
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    I read that Doctors Without Borders came to help the Navajos. It's shameful that our own government didn't.

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    Senior Member catherine's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by SiouzQ. View Post
    The hard thing is my jewelry sales will be WAaaaay down for a long time, I bet. I don't need to produce anymore for the galleries right now so I am just kicking back and making stuff just for the fun of it while my supply of silver lasts and trying to heal my wrists. I am not going to be investing in any tools or equipment for quite a while.
    Do you have an Etsy account?
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    It would be a hard decision while living with a compromised person to go out in public. There are no doubt a lot of bored, looky-loos with no intention of buying anything. I hear they go to the big box stores just for something to do. Hard decisions these days.

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    Senior Member Teacher Terry's Avatar
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    Ireland has donated a lot of money to the Navajos because during a famine they sent money to them. My sister saw it on the news. Really sad our country isn’t helping. All our festivals are cancelled for the summer. I wonder how many tourists we will get. My husband will be working in a big city in California.

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    Simpleton Alan's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Teacher Terry View Post
    Ireland has donated a lot of money to the Navajos because during a famine they sent money to them. My sister saw it on the news. Really sad our country isn’t helping.
    The US Government has allocated $600M for Covid aid within the Navajo Nation.
    "Things should be made as simple as possible, but not one bit simpler." ~ Albert Einstein

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    Senior Member bae's Avatar
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    My tourist-dominated community is about to get swamped.

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    Quote Originally Posted by bae View Post
    My tourist-dominated community is about to get swamped.
    Good luck

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    Senior Member catherine's Avatar
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    The lodgings in our tourist-oriented area can open May 22, but we have a 14-day quarantine for out-of-staters, which should essentially keep business out.
    "Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it--every, every minute?" Emily Webb, Our Town
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