Corona Virus

[balzaccom]

Schmaltz

I just spoke to a ranger friend of mine. He is of the opinion that while these latest storms have added serious snow to the mountains, a lot of what had fallen earlier in the winter had melted and compacted. He's guessing that the base is still pretty light, and will melt out quickly once warm weather returns. The north slopes are still pretty heavy with snow...but south facing slopes will melt out early.

[schmalz]

Schmaltz

I just spoke to a ranger friend of mine. He is of the opinion that while these latest storms have added serious snow to the mountains, a lot of what had fallen earlier in the winter had melted and compacted. He's guessing that the base is still pretty light, and will melt out quickly once warm weather returns. The north slopes are still pretty heavy with snow...but south facing slopes will melt out early.

I meant more in terms of "resuming normalcy". Parks are generally closed right now and travel is heavily discouraged. Mule Days in Bishop is cancelled.

So, I am unsure of what summer (especially June) looks like in terms of the Corona virus and Sierra trips.

[creekfeet]

America is not setup for a long term shutdown. We have, by design, no safety nets or government given health insurance for the masses. Asking the working class to sit things out indefinitely when they were already living paycheck to paycheck, is insane.

On a lighter note, does anyone want to take a guess on when the Sierra will open up this year? I have a Whitney permit for mid june, was hoping to do a Memorial Day trip etc...

I'm operating under the assumption that the national parks will be closed for the summer, and that a closure will mean that all paved roads are gated up, and while trails will technically remain open, trail use will be highly discouraged since the parks won't be staffed by rangers. But obviously there's plenty of other ways to access the Sierra. It's not realistically possible to block access to all national forest land, so I imagine their will still be some Sierra access via national forest roads. However, I'm guessing more popular access points, including the Whitney Portal, will be closed down.

Obviously the circumstances are much different, but I'm looking at government shutdowns as a precedent. During the 2013 shutdown for instance, while SEKI was closed, the national monument that connects the two parks was open. This made it possible to enter either national park, so long as you continued on to the monument. Big Meadows Road, which has multiple backcountry trailheads, remained open, providing easy access to the heart of the SEKI backcountry. While I'm hoping that under a potential closure this summer this would be the case, I kind of doubt it.

[SSSdave]

Just like in all generations, there are a range of individuals economic situations. The ones currently that will be in the most trouble as in other downturns are those at the low end. Some of those are trying as much as possible and doing so wisely. Others though, that tend to be critical targets of those that overgeneralize, are not much different than those in other generations at the low end including my own early boomers. There are several factors that make this coronavirus nightmare worse than during past downturns for those young people at the low end including:

1. Large increase in income inequality so those at bottom struggle to afford basic necessities.
2. Everything today except a few imported consumer goods is relatively more expensive, especially housing, health care, and education.
3. US population has greatly increased due to legal and illegal immigration that competes with native citizens mainly at the low end.
4. Less working class jobs at middle class income levels that saps a person's motivation.
5. Society and culture are much more selfish and divisive.
6. Corporations using technology in hiring are systematically screwing various segments of society.
7. In each decade, increasing numbers of young people are moving further away from the safety net of their parents.

It is true a lot of boomers did have it easy. However just as in every generation, it is a Bell Curve with fair numbers having to struggle and some from very unfair perspectives. African Americans in particular faced huge cultural walls that many in my 60s Counterculture generation helped improve.

After I was discharged from the USAF at Travis AFB during the Viet Nam war I was forced into, I had no housing, no car, a duffle bag with a few items, a deadly serious internal medical issue, family thousands of miles distant, and just $500 of savings, but did have a credible modest military electronics education. After most of a year unsuccessfully getting anywhere in SF with the VA on my medical issue, or being able to find employment, with about $200 left, I took a bus lugging the duffle bag down to Santa Clara.

After making a phone call from newspaper ads, walked with bag a mile from the bus stop, where I got a cheap apartment and within days managed to get an interview and land a jr electronic tech job for $2.86 an hour that I walked a mile to for a year before buying a junker that soon threw a rod. From that point on over about 3 years I studied massive amounts of technical information while living dirt cheap while saving what I could, and finally was able to move into another higher paying job. Unlike the vast majority of my peers living week to week, drinking, drugging, partying, and leveraging loans to fill their residences with all manner of usual consumer junk, like stereo and cool cars especially vans, I never took any consumer loans and still have not to this day. If people simply saved for 3 years living frugally instead of always buying things on credit as Wall Street and Madison Avenue bankers keep pushing, they might avoid being in debt and actually have savings to smooth out unexpected bumps.

A few years later, finally bought a new Chevy Vega commercial wagon for $3000 cash, about all I had, as a dealer couldn't sell it. Before that decade ended was making a solid middle class income, with savings to survive bumps, with solid technology skills because I continued to spend long hours year after year self teaching myself and thus moving to the top while the majority of my career peers rarely lifted a book. So yeah, am a boomer, but my early adult life was a struggle that I succeeded at due to a lot of effort and sacrifice.

[rlown]

Your age shows you as 42. Not a boomer. Might want to update that.

[LMBSGV]

As another boomer, my wife and I have spent most of our lives living on the edge of the poverty line. The big difference for people today is that housing costs have increased by an almost absurd level. My wife and I lived in Fairfax in Marin County and payed $225 a month in rent in the 1970s. Now that same place will rent for almost ten times that amount. However, what people get paid has not increased anywhere near that much. If we were starting out today, we could not afford to live in the Bay Area.

Back in the late 1960s. 1970s, and early 1980s, Fairfax and San Geronimo Valley were relatively cheaper places to live. That is one big reason why a lot of the people who lived in San Francisco and Berkeley ended up moving to West Marin. It was cheaper to live here. Now it’s not. We could not afford our own house if we tried to buy it now. Most of our neighbors, who also have been here for many, many years, are in the same situation.

So the recession caused by the corona virus and the Trump administration’s inept response will definitely more drastically impact people in the twenties than anything we had to deal with. We confronted and dealt with a lot of difficult situations (recession, job loss, eviction, etc.), but it’s going to be more difficult for young people today.

[schmalz]

Yeah, anecdotal evidence is fine and all, but the numbers don't lie. My parents moved to California in the mid 60's. Back then, the UC system was free. You could afford to buy a house out of college. People used to have far more access to the American dream. I am fortunate to be okay, so this is not a woe is me post, but it's important to understand the reality for today's youth.

Let this data sink in for a bit:
https://wolfstreet.com/wp-content/uploa ... geles-.png
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezr ... /kff11.png
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_5BzCtnJ56ws/T ... uition.png

[TahoeJeff]

Trump administration’s inept response

Just what should the administration’s response have been?

[schmalz]

Trump administration’s inept response

Just what should the administration’s response have been?

- Don't disband pandemic response team that was setup for this exact situation.
- Mobilize to get testing up and running as fast as possible instead of pretending like the virus will go away. Same goes for ventilators and other medical equipment. We are way behind on this because of his inaction.
- Enact a national stay at home in early March instead of refusing to take any responsibility for handling the crisis.

Just those 3 things alone would have been instrumental in saving tens of thousands of lives. It would have also sped up our ability to reopen society.

[rlown]

Nothing holding back reopening society. Most won't die.