Are you still planning on snow bird to Florida this coming winter?

[Amethyst]

We wear a mask when we must go out, because it's all we have.

I don't kid myself that it makes going out much less risky (especially since so many people in our area, including lots of old people, still refuse to mask up). A small risk reduction is better than none.

 

[Dtail]

We wear masks for any indoor setting, but not while just walking outside and certainly not for Pickleball.

 

[calmloki]

We were in a store for food yesterday and walked through the coffee grinding area. Gal got big eyes and pointed out how obvious the smell was. Point being that if we could smell the coffee that micro-atomised Covid-19 were probably just as capable of going through our masks and up our noses. Yike. Clinging to the idea that maybe infection is based on "virus loading", or how much Covid one snorts.

 

[simple girl]

Many national grocery chains are requiring masks starting tomorrow, so even in states without a mandate, grocery shopping seems much safer. This is quite a relief to me.

+1

I'm sooooooo relieved, too.

 

[Winemaker]

We were in a store for food yesterday and walked through the coffee grinding area. Gal got big eyes and pointed out how obvious the smell was. Point being that if we could smell the coffee that micro-atomised Covid-19 were probably just as capable of going through our masks and up our noses. Yike. Clinging to the idea that maybe infection is based on "virus loading", or how much Covid one snorts.

I mentioned this back in early March. Working in dusty atmospheres underground, I chose to wear a respirator. One can "smell" what is in the air be it coal, rock, or tungsten carbide dust. The harmful dust is the respirable type, and it is decreased in a respirator but not eliminated. If you can smell anything, I doubt if will stop a .12 micron virus. But after countless chest X-rays, I have no traces or proof of any black lung disease, despite being in a dusty atmosphere for most of my adult life.

 

[Sunny]

We were in a store for food yesterday and walked through the coffee grinding area. Gal got big eyes and pointed out how obvious the smell was. Point being that if we could smell the coffee that micro-atomised Covid-19 were probably just as capable of going through our masks and up our noses. Yike. Clinging to the idea that maybe infection is based on "virus loading", or how much Covid one snorts.

What type of masks were you wearing? If just cloth they don't really protect you all that much...cloth masks protect others from you spreading it.

If a KN95 or N95 mask I wonder if they were fitted correctly. I've always used a smell test to determine if my mask was tight enough, and the method has some validity: https://www.osha.gov/video/respirat...ng is a,leakage into the respirator facepiece.

 

[JustVisitingThisPlanet]

We were in a store for food yesterday and walked through the coffee grinding area. Gal got big eyes and pointed out how obvious the smell was. Point being that if we could smell the coffee that micro-atomised Covid-19 were probably just as capable of going through our masks and up our noses. Yike. Clinging to the idea that maybe infection is based on "virus loading", or how much Covid one snorts.

Standard masks apparently are relatively more effective at preventing spreading COVID to others than preventing catching yourself (unless something like N95 class mask). When you cough it keeps the virus reach down to inches rather than spewing out widely 6+ feet. Is why it's important that everyone wears one or it's not as effective to prevent spreading.

 

[Amethyst]

I have a very poor sense of smell, yet I can smell strong B.O. through one of those blue paper masks. They really don't do much beyond catching a sneeze, but that's enough for me to wear one. I keep hoping that if enough people wear masks, it will at least cut down on virus floating around.

We were in a store for food yesterday and walked through the coffee grinding area. Gal got big eyes and pointed out how obvious the smell was. Point being that if we could smell the coffee that micro-atomised Covid-19 were probably just as capable of going through our masks and up our noses. Yike. Clinging to the idea that maybe infection is based on "virus loading", or how much Covid one snorts.

 

[calmloki]

We were wearing the "save other people" blue throw away masks - had a vague hope that they would help at least a little to keep us safe, but maybe it's less than imagined. Sure wish we could all manage to mask up for a couple weeks -

 

[Duke of Sands]

We are snowbirds, have a 5th wheel trailer in a park in Poinciana, FL. We are debating the wisdom of going (usually for 5 months) but, like others, do a good job of isolating ourselves. Still, we're both over 70 so it will take a lot of thought. Luckily we have the option of waiting until November to see what the situation is then, since we can cancel our RV site on short notice cost-free. The alternative is a cold icy winter in Michigan albeit close to family.

 

[LakeRat1]

We are residents of Ft Myers, FL we left first of April (1 month early) to our summer condo at Lake of the Ozarks, MO...... Out plan is to be back in Ft Myers by the third week of September ...... Pretty much it is normal here at the lake / Lake establishments..... Stores etc, people wear masks

 

[bearkeley]

We had a tenant “summer” at our condo in Florida July 1st. They just told us they are going back to PA because they didn’t feel safe with people ignoring the county mandated mask laws. Hopefully things will settle down by the time we go there.,

 

[unclemick]

No.

heh heh heh - pre-virus we Fort Meyered in December and Winter Texaned in February. Now? Post a vaccine might sing a different tune.

Yesterday got word of the double whammy - the neighbors place Hidalgo county got flooded (hurricane) and is one of the hot spots for the virus in Texas. They came back in April. We used to visit at least once every snowbird season.

heh heh heh -

 

[PaunchyPirate]

I'm currently deeply involved in a multi-faceted, snow-bird decision making process with my widowed 82 year old Mom.

She and I are co-owners of her Florida mobile home which sits on a rented lot in a 55+ community in central Florida. She would normally snowbird there from mid-October to about May 1st. We brought her home to Pennsylvania in mid-March this year as Covid heated up.

At this point, we are debating whether she will go back to Florida for the upcoming winter. Probably leaning toward not going at this point.

To further complicate matters, for the last year or 2 she has been trying to decide when the time is right for her to give up snowbirding and just stay in PA full time where her entire family is. She's in generally good health, but occasionally has medical conditions pop up that could worsen and her being solo in Florida with minimal support mechanisms concerns the entire family.

We probably can't sell the mobile home without going down to FL for at least a few days to remove personal belongings and prep the home for sale. We do have contacts down there that would help with the selling process, so we can probably sell it without being there. Plus even though this year may be a Covid wash, she may want to go back down next year. Who knows.

She hasn't wintered in PA in more than 15 years now and she still drives. So that's another point to factor in. She would need to pay for snow removal at her PA house since I'm not willing to trek across town every time it storms to clean her driveway. She insists that if we bought a snow blower that she could still use it, but I shut down that discussion quickly. She could not. She thinks she could. But she could not.

So, she's also been considering going into an easier-to-maintain apartment. But until she sells the FL place, the budget would be a little tight to pay for both an apartment and the mobile home. Her PA house is owned by me and she only pays her utilities there.

When she no longer needs the PA house, I would sell it as soon as I could.

So.... lots of moving pieces. About every week we discuss it, but no decisions have been made.

We are leaning toward no snowbirding this season, but not selling the FL place until we can comfortably get down there to prepare it for sale (probably not until post-Covid). She will stay in the PA house with paid snow removal.

We'll see where it goes.

 

[audreyh1]

+1

I'm sooooooo relieved, too.

Unfortunately, at Publix it was a request, to “Please wear masks“, not a requirement. I didn’t realize until we left the store and saw several people enter sans mask. Fortunately, while we were in the store everyone was masked.

 

[Dtail]

Unfortunately, at Publix it was a request, to “Please wear masks“, not a requirement. I didn’t realize until we left the store and saw several people enter sans mask. Fortunately, while we were in the store everyone was masked.

Publix is so customer oriented that just would rather avoid any sort of confrontation.

 

[Chuckanut]

Publix is so customer oriented that just would rather avoid any sort of confrontation.

I often avoid confrontation also, like Publix. So, I try to not make snarky comments, shame people or try to provoke a conflict. What's the point? If a store does not require masks they can keep their goods and I will keep my money. It's all rather simple. And so far simplicity is winning.

I think WalMart's decision to require masks tipped the balance big time. Sometime it takes a BIG gorilla to bring order to the jungle.

 

[Aerides]

Mod Note:

Moving this thread to the Covid subforum since that seems to be fully creeping into this topic.

Please stop with the "death-metrics" and home-grown math on Covid - this forum is not the place for such arguments, and posts will be deleted.

 

[Badger]

I have lived in Florida since 1961 and I don't feel comfortable with people's behavior anymore. Usually in the summer we take off for Maine or Canada but not this year. If New Zealand would allow us in we would "Snow-Bird" there.


Cheers!

 

[rjk514]

Keeping this alive...were waiting as long as possible ,(probably till end of August) to decide to go but also feel the need to notify the condo owner that we might not be coming for this winter, to give them the opportunity to rent to someone else ...My guess is due to the virus, lack of testing, no vaccine, and amoun
t of hospital facilities, also health insurance companies not covering the virus if traveling... that a lot of snowbirds will back out for this coming winter...could be a ghost town in Panama City Beach, Fla ....thoughts....

 

[RAE]

For what it's worth, modelers at the Univ. of Central Florida are predicting that the number of positive cases of COVID in Florida will decline quite a bit between now and December. Here is the link:

http://www.cs.ucf.edu/~lwang/COVID-19/

Of course, like all models, the projection is only as good as the data and assumptions plugged in. It will be interesting to see if this does happen.

 

[RAE]

Keeping this alive...were waiting as long as possible ,(probably till end of August) to decide to go but also feel the need to notify the condo owner that we might not be coming for this winter, to give them the opportunity to rent to someone else ...My guess is due to the virus, lack of testing, no vaccine, and amoun
t of hospital facilities, also health insurance companies not covering the virus if traveling... that a lot of snowbirds will back out for this coming winter...could be a ghost town in Panama City Beach, Fla ....thoughts....

I'd be very surprised if areas like Panama City Beach are ghost towns this winter. There might be a small reduction in snowbird visitors, but there are still plenty of people who absolutely do not want to spend the winter in the frozen north (I am one of them). I can socially distance just as well down there as I can up north, as our Florida house is outside of a smaller town, and we have few neighbors. I may change my habits somewhat compared to last winter (fewer and smaller social get-togethers, for sure, and preferably have them outside), but I can live with that. Much of my time is spent kayaking, fishing, hiking, and I generally do those things either alone or with DW. I'm not too worried about it.

 

[rjk514]

You probably should think about....what happens if u get the virus while there...the locals are not crazy about snowbirds in their communities consuming supplies...the $$$ hungry will welcome you but the others.I know how I might feel if I were in their shoes...how is the medical community prepared, etc...If we don't see a marked improvement with the status of this bad boy...there are a lot of considerations....not an easy I can do the same there as @ home....larger home up North compared to the size of a condo if you plan on hunkering down..etc....just sayin...

 

[rjk514]

one other thing..our Canadian brothers, might not get insurance or even be able to come into the US.....thus the ghost town reference....

 

[RAE]

You probably should think about....what happens if u get the virus while there...the locals are not crazy about snowbirds in their communities consuming supplies...the $$$ hungry will welcome you but the others.I know how I might feel if I were in their shoes...how is the medical community prepared, etc...If we don't see a marked improvement with the status of this bad boy...there are a lot of considerations....not an easy I can do the same there as @ home....larger home up North compared to the size of a condo if you plan on hunkering down..etc....just sayin...

Well, everyone has to make their own decision about this, based on a lot of factors. In our case, we own a small house down there, in a semi-rural area (not a condo in or near a city). We spend a good percentage of our time outside while there....recreating, working on the house/yard, etc. We don't socialize much, and will probably do very little socializing this winter, other than maybe a very small outdoor gathering now and then with a few close friends. We cook virtually all of our meals at home. We don't plan to go to any bars. We don't attend church services.

So, other than a weekly brief trip to the grocery store (and I could even order groceries online for curbside pick-up if I want to), I really don't expect to have a lot of contact with others. If I stay home in the frozen north, I will be mostly indoors all winter, which may actually be a greater risk than if I head to our place in Florida (especially if relatives or others decide they need to visit us).

So it all depends on your individual situation. I've assessed the risks for our situation, and in my mind they are not so great as to cause us to cancel our winter plans. You may arrive at a different decision, and that's fine.