Encountering COVID restrictions while traveling

[Calaverasgrande]

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

Ideally yes.
But in reality a lot of states are more red or more blue.
A lot of the South is very conservative. But the college towns and such are 'liberal enclaves'.
Richmond VA, Chapel Hill NC for example.
In both those states recent elections had surprising GOP wins. But the cities I mentioned have areas indistinguishable from Berkeley CA.
Only a few states are right in the middle.
Pundits like to call those battleground states. I bet residents of those are pretty weary of campaign mailers.

As far as Omicron variant. Everything I have read points to the news about it being hysteria. First off, it isn't from S Africa. They just happen to have a very good epidemiology lab there due to all the trouble SA has had with AIDS and Ebola. So it was isolated there first. It has been detected many other places.
Second, all reports say it is less severe than other variants, with different symptoms. The problem lies in the possibility that current vaccinations may not work for Omicron.
Which really sucks for van dwellers like me that rely on public restrooms and cafes a lot.
If this hysteria keeps up I can see another wave of public business restrictions.
And I really hate using my porta potty.

 

[WanderingRose]

I don’t necessarily see public concerns about the omicron variant as hysteria, really, tho there could of course be some of that.

Dr. Fauci has expressed concern regarding the high number of mutations with this variant, perhaps increasing the level of transmissibility.

But, it’s still new in this form and precautions will undoubtedly change.

I, personally, will continue to mask in public places, keep/use a supply of hand sanitizer and practice social distancing.

The pandemic is not over, seems the bottom line.

 

[crofter]

Omicron variant is reported to be mild, so how would you know you had it?
-crofter

 

[flying kurbmaster]

I don’t know how true this is but apparently the flu of 1918 mutated to a form of the common cold which is still with us, but fairly mild, perhaps this the beginning of the end.

 

[MotorVation]

I've been fully vaccinated with Moderna including the booster and a flu shot about two weeks ago.

I was on the road when all the lock-downs and restrictions were in place in early 2020. I was still able to buy food and gas, do laundry etc. There wasn't much food on the shelves and no toilet paper but I survived. There were times when I was the only passenger vehicle on the highway. Just me and the trucks.

Come hell or high water, I'm heading back to the desert in the next week or two. Covid or no Covid. Restrictions or no restrictions. Bring it on. I'm going. Did I mention variants? Screw the variants too.

I had to go in Harbor Freight (Florida) today to get a new 12 gauge extension cord. Aside from the employees I was the only one wearing a mask.

 

[gizmotron]

Omicron variant is reported to be mild, so how would you know you had it?

There's a big third eye that appears like a tattoo in your forehead, between your eyes.

 

[bullfrog]

I have lived in one of the most isolated areas of the country for several years now. When I go to town a few times a year I always avoided people as much as possible cause it never failed if I didn't I would get sick because of lack of previous exposure. With Covid around I just haven't gone except to get vaccinated and it has worked well for me so far. Planning to travel south this year so with new variant I'll be wearing a mask keeping as far as possible from others unless they are known to be healthy and vaccinated and doing a lot of sanitizing. Not really different than in past years except for a mask. There are positives and negatives to being a hermit.

 

[Calaverasgrande]

Traveled through PA twice in the last week on my way out to my sisters and back down south.
Not a lot of masks or covid restriction notices. Western PA especially.
I'm in Maryland again right now and people really don't care about masks here.
I'm always surprised when customer service employees don't wear masks.
Not that I 'require' it of people who serve me food or coffee, but I'd be masked head to toe if I was interacting with 100s of people a day.

Got my booster last Tuesday, was just checking the healthy NY website to see if there were any testing places near my sister's place and decided to check for boosters while at it. Found an appointment for 5pm that day so jumped on it.
They even gave me a huge bottle of hand sanitizer for free after the ***.
Not sure about other peoples experiences, but I found this vax pretty mild compared to my second shot of Moderna.
Apparently it's half the dosage of the first and second shot. Like 50mml vs 100mml.
I was just really tired and slept 10 hours, then 8 hours the following day. On the 3rd day I was back to my regular 6 hours.
No chills, nausea or headache at any point.
When I got my second shot it laid me up for a weekend and I had the chills really bad. Remember wrapping myself up like a burrito in a comforter and binging some TV show or another.

 

[MGfromBC]

Here in British Columbia it took us 3 months to drop from 750 new cases per day to 350 per day. We just went back up to 750 in 3 days. Two highways are still closed from storm damage a month ago. Its snowing like mad on the other 2. I think I'm going to be spending some quality time with the TV over the Holidays. Merry Christmas.

MG

 

[GoingMobile]

I'm caught between 2 extremes. I have a job teaching in Mississippi, where many people ignored the pandemic up until the moment they died from it. The governor says prayers for the state, but is very hesitant to initiate any preventative measures for fear of not being seen as conservative enough.

I had been able to teach online from California where I'm from for a couple of semesters. Here there are masking mandates in place and most everyone is wearing a mask. You will be asked to put one on if you walk into a place without. The vaccination rate is very high as well.

I'm on medical leave this fall finishing up my van build. I'm supposed to return to in person teaching in Mississippi in the spring. The student population there is maybe 30% vaccinated, the classrooms poorly ventilated. Due to the health issues I've been experiencing, I'm having reservations about returning to Mississippi. The state's healthcare resources aren't that robust to begin with. Not quite ready to retire, but I may have to make that choice soon or face a risky work situation.

 

[Outdoor Grandma]

@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

A purple state is one that sometimes votes blue (Democrat) and sometimes votes red (Republican).

 

[JDub]

The VA, .mil shopping facilities, and .gov buildings still require masks, but they're the only places in Bama that still seems to. Hawaii on the other hand...

Cheers!

 

[Calaverasgrande]

Seeing zero mask wearing or regulations in Alabama.
Outside of store staff who probably have to for the company's insurance.
Roll Tide.
FL Panhandle was same.
I was a little nervous to be honest with so much overt political stuff in some of the stores.
My ace in the hole in that regard is that I am a 'good ole boy' from Louisiana and can bust out the thickest southern accent if called upon.
Still not trying to do a covid trifecta. Twice was enough for me. Masks and social distance thank you!

 

[rvwandering]

I deleted the off-topic and political posts. Please discuss encountering restrictions while traveling. I don't want to close this thread

 

[flaggit]

Our strategy to deal with the pandemic was, and is to travel to Baja California, Mexico. Here if you wanted to go into town or you wanted to go into a store you had to have a mask on, period. Not only that but they would take your temperature at the entrance to each store, they would squirt your hands with a disinfectant and there was a tray full of disinfectant that you had to step through. We took a group of 12 people in RVs with us. Nobody caught Covid. In some towns in Mexico if you weren’t wearing a mask they would arrest you and take you to jail. It was not a political issue, it was do what we say or go to jail. Simple! It’s their culture and their government and we’re in a foreign country as guests. Even though it was announced that the border was closed, it was never really closed. If you were a gringo you could go south into Mexico and if you were a gringo you could easily get back, without tests or passports or anything. Now in Mexico there are some places that are starting to require proof of vaccinations. If you don’t have the proof you don’t enter the facility.

 

[user 423]

^When was this trip taken? Is this current info or from quite a while ago?

 

[Morgana]

My recent (2022) experience from the other side of Mexico -- Matamoros and Nuevo Progreso, Tamaulipas -- was that most people were wearing masks, including quite often outdoors (actually, that's true on both sides of the border), and at least one of the large shops took your temperature and squirted sanitizer on your hands before they let you in.

 

[Calaverasgrande]

For the last 2 months I've been staying at various State and National Park campgrounds. I usually prefer to stealth in towns. But the new Covid surge has caused a lot of businesses to go to take out/delivery only. Which nuked my access to bathrooms and wifi.
In the various parks, which turn out to mostly be USACE land with campgrounds, none of the staff are wearing masks. And only a couple had any signage about covid public health measures.
This is out weighed by the fact that many of them are only 10-20% full.
The location I am at today, I'm the only person using the bathroom facility. All the other campers are in giant class A or C RVs with built in everything. I swear some of them only come out to walk the dog.
Camping like this is costing me a bit. Roughly $170 a week.
Not my intent when I started down this path.
Now that I am going this way I see it has advantages.
It's inherently safer to be in a campground that prohibits alcohol and closes its gates at 10pm.
Not going to get people prowling around my van in the middle of the night or a nightstick tap on the bumper.
Probably going to install shore power and shore water hookups under my rear bumper so I can both take advantage of campgrounds, and preserve the 'stealth' profile of the van.
As far as 'politics'.
Public health and even healthcare are inherently political in this country. Sad as that may be.

 

[bullfrog]

BLM land to sleep on and a National Parks Pass for nearby day use works well in many cases out west.

 

[Calaverasgrande]

Yeah I may make it out west by summer. I'm not crossing the continental divide in winter!