2’ is the new 6’ at the Farmers Market

March 21, 2020, 3:20 am 16.1k Views 37 Comments

By an edhat reader

At the Farmers Market in downtown Santa Barbara on a windless Saturday morning, shoppers and vendors were in close proximity to each other and the fresh food being sold there. Although the market had posted Covid-19 warning signs calling for 6’ social distancing, there was no enforcement of that.

By contrast at most local grocery stores, the entrances are blocked by store employees who are gatekeepers managing the entrance of shoppers in line. Their goal is to spread shoppers out and manage the number of shoppers in the store, and presumably minimize the amount of Covid-19 germs airborne.

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37 Comments

  2. Maybe move the farmers market to a bigger open lot or even a park with open space (ortega park has a huge grassy area) to allow the vendors the ability to space out. Don’t close the farmers market as they are a great source of local produce. We need to support our farmers.

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  3. Reality check: Most people who contract COVID-19 will experience mild symptoms and recover completely. The people most at risk are the elderly and people with preexisting medical conditions. Those people should isolate themselves and rely upon social services and the generosity of family and friends.
    The rest of us, it seems to me, are conscientiously trying to practice social distancing, but there are people on this website (killjoys and little gestapo types) who seem to take perverse joy in social shaming people for the smallest infractions. Get a life, people. If you don’t like what you see in public spaces, don’t go there.
    You can live in fear and loathing. Leave the rest of us to go about our everyday lives to the best of our abilities.

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  9. Younger people need to be more aware that Covid-19 can also be serious for them too. See this article which talks about the recent CDC report detailing current US cases: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2020/03/19/coronavirus-illnesses-can-serious-young-adults-cdc-report/2874271001/
    SB County currently has a low number of cases. However, the number can easily balloon if we ignore social distancing advice. About a week ago New York had ~500 cases, but next thing I know they have over 7000, with recent increases of ~1000/day. Their medical arena is facing shortages in every aspect. Our goal is to keep our cases low while we still can, and to do this, people need to start taking this a lot more seriously.

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  10. Yes, millennials can catch COVID-19, and because many of them vape, their lungs are compromised. But according to a recent article in the New York Times, the mortality rate for this age group (to which I do not belong, incidentally) is miniscule.

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  12. Reality is: there are people, and there will always be these types, who think they’re smarter, stronger, **special** and won’t be affected/infected, no matter what the crisis. I sent Edhat an email this morning with a report of people standing hip-to-hip at a yard sale in the 1400 block of APS. Edhat has yet to post my report. If I’d had a photo, I would have asked for that to be posted as well. I am certain some here on Edhat will scoff and sneer and go into their usual “Do we REALLY need to snitch on the ‘misbehavers?'” This deniers mindset is not acceptable. My friend (wisely keeping to other side of the street) walked past the group of a dozen or so bargain hunters, as he witnessed them huddled together inside a small garage. Other people were coming and going. He came home outraged that anyone could be so stupid and utterly irresponsible. It’s not about these types risking infecting themselves; what do we care if it is only them who suffer for their folly? It’s what their hubris means for the rest of us. It’s the consequences of them ignoring distancing and what their foolhardy “we think it’s all a bunch of hooey” attitude toward this pandemic may well cost us all. Did Governor Newsom issue a stay-at-home order on a whim? Do the smart thing: avoid interaction with others as much as possible, stay home if you can, and for chrissakes, do not think for one second that you are immune to this virus——no matter what your age or health status.

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  13. We went to Farmers Market right at opening. I liked that Shu (sorry I do not know spelling) offered a big box of assorted greens, root veggies, and leeks, pre-packed for $30, grab & go style. They had 6-foot spacing drawn with chalk to keep the line distant. Everything is stuff we eat, except some radishes I gave to my neighbor. I saw a sign that Roots was offering boxes too, at a different location. If they end up having to close even market then I hope they still offer the boxes. We took a lot of precautions before and after market but it is still the most exposed we have been since the at-home phase began.

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  18. not even that big of a group either… the edhat commenter pool contains, what.. less than 1% of the people who live here?
    I also took a stroll around town today, many people either do not watch the news or do not think its a risk… barely any “distancing” seen 😉

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  20. I will do whatever it takes to keep myself from getting the virus and bringing it back to the 5 other members of my household. If necessary, I will use my full face HEPA respirator from work to keep my family safe. Those refusing to become ultra cautious now will be the first in line at the triage tents at Cottage, followed by all their friends who did everything to live their lives to the best of their abilities in public. The mask was given as a handout to another family member in SF. My current greatest risk of getting the virus is breathing from someone else at a grocery store. 50% of the infected people in NYC are under age 49 who were not cautious enough when it seemed there were no sick people around them. Good luck Loose Cannon.

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  22. Yes XANTUS and I would hazard a guess that most of the people commenting here are over 50, many of them retired. It can’t be pleasant hearing that they need to self-isolate, until a vaccine is discovered and the virus mutates or dies out. Instead, they want EVERYONE to suffer, the whole economy to tank. Well, as a self-employed business owner, I’m not prepared to go along with this idiotic mentality that everything should shut down. It’s all very well for a bunch of pols, salaried government workers, and wealth retirees to go for a complete halt to the economy, when they’re collecting salaries, pensions, and Social Security, when it’s people like me who are going to suffer the consequences. And the cavalry isn’t coming to the rescue of the self-employed and small business owners, that’s for damn sure. When all is said and done, I’m not prepared to sit back and watch wealthy retirees retreat to your Montecito estates and gated communities, hopping around to your second homes and cruise-ship vacations, acting like nothing happened, while the rest of us pick up the pieces. No way, grandpa.

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  25. It took Italy only 18 days to go from 28 deaths per day to 793 deaths per day (today). Now it’s full martial law for the nation. This thing turns bad fast. NYC is at 20 deaths so far today which is like Italy about 18 days ago.

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  26. I did some scouting while riding my bike for exercise today. Strange to see almost all stores on lower/mid State St closed. Only Yogurtland and the liquor store @Haley/State were open. Very few tourists along the waterfront. Some people were BBQ’ing @Ledbetter but fewer than usual. Similarly few people @Shoreline Park. La Mesa Park was dead. There were normal numbers @Wilcox but everyone was distancing. Similar at the top of Elings Park – only the grazing sheep were not practicing social distancing – baaaahd sheep! 🙂 Oak Park is usually full of people during the weekend but it was a ghost park (one couple playing tennis). I rode by Cottage and saw the big triage tent in the emergency room parking lot. There was one greeter standing at the entrance to the ERoom. Mission Park (aka the Rose garden) was the one disappointment. Lots of people congregating as if there were no pandemic. Also noticed an estate sale as I rode along APS (really?!). Overall a great day to get some exercise and scope things out.

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  27. The Rose Garden MUST be closed. Less than 50% the people picnicking there today were practicing any type of social distancing. How the City could allow this is beyond me. The police should have been there to give these idiots a tongue-lashing separated them or make them leave. It’s unconscionable that these idiots think that what they were doing today will not kill others. Utterly thoughtless.

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  36. LOOSE CANNON, Your comments are irresponsible, presumptuous and insulting. I am far from wealthy, not elderly, and do not own even a mobile home, much less a house or
    “Montecito estate”. I work in the service industry and I have NO family to step in and fund me while we wait this out. I’ll be on unemployment, which barely covers a quarter of my living costs, here in Santa Barbara, where I am a native local, but I’ll be grateful that I am not forced to go into work and be in close contact with all kinds of people, putting my own life at risk. Whatever your walk in life, know that you are NOT immune to this disease, and if you’re putting your financial bottom line above your own life and the lives of others, you are part of the problem.

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