Encountering COVID restrictions while traveling

[Calaverasgrande]

Just getting ready to leave NYC. Since it turned into "better get the sleeping bag out tonight" weather.
Wondering if there are COVID restrictions in place as you travel into certain states?

Mostly wondering about rest areas, cafes and restaurants. As those are the places I like to make use of facilities.

Here in NY we have 'Excelsior Pass'.
An App to display CDC vaccination and test status. You have to show this pass or your actual vax card if you want to dine in at a restaurant or workout at a gym etc.

 

[WanderingRose]

I have just traveled home from NY after being there 5 days and experienced no difficulties.

Few places requiring masks, but I wore one anyway if I was going to be in a place longer than a few minutes.

It just seems wise to keep a mask handy and to protect yourself.

 

[wayne49]

Varies from state to state, I would think.

Earlier this year the rest area in Nevada on US-95 near the California border was totally closed down. In October it was open with no signage visible from the highway of bathroom restrictions.

I had just stopped a few days ago at the rest area between Yuma and Gila Bend on Eastbound I-8 and there was a sign saying that the rest rooms were closed.

At the end of October, I was at the I-8 Rest Area west of Yuma in California and there were no signs of restrictions.

Back in July, the rest area at Crestview (north of Mammoth Lakes) on US-395 in California had no restrictions.

In August, Millers Rest Area on US-95/US-6 west of Tonopah, NV had no restrictions. Same deal at the rest area on US-95 in Amargosa Valley, NV.

Pretty crappy deal to restrict bathroom facilities at rest areas.

 

[maki2]

No problems in Arizona. Some facilities such as a medical clinic require masking. A few stores now and again ask you mask. The only time in the last 6 months I have shown my vaccination card was last week when I got my booster shot so they could add it onto the card.

 

[cyndi]

I recently traveled from New England to SC to AZ. Off the interstates and in the south, on secondary highways found lots of dining rooms in fast food restaurants closed as were the rest rooms. Once on the interstates that wasn't a problem.

 

[bullfrog]

Was in Grand Junction Colorado for the last few days, wore a mask inside buildings and crowded areas as they still have crowded hospitals and plenty of places to be exposed. Most store clerks and a few people were wearing masks along with me but no closures that we found.

 

[Calaverasgrande]

general impression is that NY and CA had some of the more restrictive mandates.
But then having lived in both those states and some of the "flyovers", I know stuff gets reported more in NY and CA because thats where the huge media empires are based.
I'll see how it works out.

 

[Cammalu]

I’m giggling and giggling about this post. As I read the first post right underneath it was this ad. I thought someone had posted it as a response to COVID restrictions then I realized it just one of the ads I get using tapatalk.

 

[Calaverasgrande]

Well in NJ and PA I'm the odd man out with a mask on.
Nobody has said anything about CDC card or anything.
Getting a few stares even when I go in Home Depot etc.
Did see a mask sign at a cafe near Rutgers, but only a few people in there wore them.
I'll see what it's like in Delaware and Maryland tomorrow.

 

[user 423]

No problems in Arizona...

No problems with proof or masks,etc but we now have  the highest rate in the country:

https://www.12news.com/article/news...erage/75-cdfe9f82-2e57-4eb6-b5e4-57446b8953f7

I'm in Sierra Vista and in the stores only about 1/3 of the people wear masks. I think it would be less than that except for the fact that the population here has a higher percentage of older residents who, like me, prefer to protect themselves.

There are no state or local mask mandates and I've noticed lately that some of the stores where I shop have removed some signs. The ACE Hardware store had been very strict for the past year or more but not now.

 

[wayne49]

At the bottom of the article, the last sentence:

"According to the CDC, Arizona is one of 41 states with a "high" transmission rate."

Highest in the nation, with 40 other states in close contention.

 

[Calaverasgrande]

So far Delaware and Maryland are about the same number of masks, not masks on people as in NYC. A lot less signs and stuff about it than in NYC though.

 

[Calaverasgrande]

North Carolina is more similar to New York than the previous two states I came through.
Been here about a week and the mask enforcement seems the same as NY. There are hand sanitizer stations in most large stores.
A lot of the restaurants have plexi shields for employees.
Some places have slightly snarky signs about 'complying with the state mandate'. It appears there was some legislation or something last summer that kind of put it's foot down about indoor mask wearing.
NC is definitely a purple state. With Raliegh-Durham-Chapel Hill having a college town feel.
But there is also a lot of typical southern town here as well. (I'd almost say performative southern in some ways. IF you are from the South you might now what I mean).

I'm trying to get some work done on the van before I head west.
Interested to see what Western NC is like, and then Tennessee and Georgia are like in this regard.

 

[Calaverasgrande]

One cool thing I've noticed in a few stores and restaurants is a metal hook or lip on the bottom of the door so you can open the door without touching the knob. At first I thought it was some country ass thing to clean road apples from your boots. But then I realized that they were in bathrooms where you wouldn't be doing that. Like at a restaurant.
And I also so a few people using them to open the doors.

 

[crofter]

@CG what is purple??

In southern AZ the locals are careful about masking and sanitizing cart handles etc. Entry areas to stores are still being sanitized. In spite of all this effort, I expect Omicron variant to be here soon, if not already. I stayed away from the turkey gatherings just in case & Getting my booster next week.

Hordes of Winter Visitors display their usual snotty/ agressive attitudes about everything including masks. The nice winter visitors go unnoticed, and are probably staying home. On the positive, we still have TP and paper towels.

The rush of Winter Visitors gets here January 1 so will see how that goes.
-crofter

 

[user 423]

@CG what is purple??

Mix red and blue. Purple.

 

[wayne49]

No US state is just red or blue, they are all shades of purple.

 

[wayne49]

Not true of all southern AZ.
Yuma, Ajo, and Buckeye, exhibited mixed behaviors.

 

[user 423]

"Not true of all southern AZ.
Yuma, Ajo, and Buckeye, exhibited mixed behaviors."

Same here in Sierra Vista area. Lots of people being pretty careless.

BTW Crofter:  Both Tucson and Sierra Vista are further south than Yuma so saying you're in southwest Arizona would be more appropriate

 

[crofter]

Sounds like you are telling me that my blather is incorrect. Could be true.

I had quit wearing the mask and was getting the look, so I started masking again. Plus I know a sick person.
-crofter