Jenny's Story and Some Other Stuff

Whenever somebody around here comes down with COVID our local health department tries to track down all of their recent contacts, and my daughter and her neighbor ended up on one of those lists.  Until recently, they would just advise these people to "self monitor" for symptoms, but apparently now they are testing them all.  I'm not sure if the resulting quarantine was compulsory or voluntary.   A week or two before that, Jennie had been sick for a few days after she got her first COVID shot, but she assumed that was just a reaction to the shot.  She thinks that might be why she tested positive, but nobody knows for sure. 

" That thing were people who died of natural causes were being racked up as corona deaths was popular in Trump world at the beginning when they were denying that there was any pandemic at all, but I know of no cases where it was actually verified." - Uncle Ken

Why would Trump want to exaggerate the COVID death count if he was "denying that there was any pandemic at all"?

The only other store besides Walmart in Cheboygan that had self checkout lanes was Family Fare, and they got rid of them a year or two ago because the software needed an expensive update and the things never did pay for themselves.  Cheboygan got rid of all their parking meters decades ago for a similar reason, they didn't bring in enough money to pay for their own maintenance.  That said, our Walmart was having staffing and supply problems at least a year before the COVID hit the fan, so I take everything they say with a grain of salt.  I just reported what I was told.  

 Actually, the lady who told me about the businesses closing in Petoskey did name several of them, but I wasn't familiar with them and don't remember their names.  If I had known they were going to be on the test I might have written them down.

I agree that our local businesses might find it easier to recruit help if they paid more.  Walmart can certainly afford it, but many of our small businesses were running on a shoestring budget even before COVID.  It was they who took the biggest hit during the initial lockdown while Walmart's business actually improved.  

Any able bodied people on welfare in Michigan are required to either work or go to school at least 20 hours a week.  If they make less money than they would on welfare, the welfare makes up the difference.  People drawing unemployment are required to submit at least two job applications a week, but this requirement is commonly waived when the unemployment numbers are high.  I have never before seen a situation like we have now, with a labor shortage during times of high unemployment.