I read this article from the Nashville Business Journal. The statistics are staggering. Everyone is suffering, no doubt. But Nashville has been hit particularly hard! We're a tourist city you know! And the bachelorette party capital of the country!
Nashville has endured the steepest drop in consumer spending of any major metro area in the U.S. during the Covid-19 crisis, according to a new data tracker developed at Harvard University.
As of April 30, that spending had fallen 46%. Nashville's decline is more than twice the 21% drop seen nationwide.
The numbers are striking but not particularly surprising, given how the pandemic ravaged the city's tourism and restaurant industries, which are reliant on travelers and consumer spending.
Big blows lurk — such as the absence of CMA Fest (canceled) and Bonnaroo (postponed), both of which were supposed to occur in June. On the other hand, downtown's largest hotel plans to reopen on June 11, and more restaurants are staffing up as they gradually add more service.
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Antonio's--one of our best Italian restaurants (even though a bit pricey) has closed permanently. Sad, because we do not have that many really good Italian restaurants here. Some would disagree with that statement, but when you grow up in St. Louis, nothing compares to those Italian restaurants. Sooo many are ALL sooo good! And cheap! We definitely do not have that here. Plus, they do not have toasted ravioli, provel cheese and salads with lots of "stuff" in them!
Lastly, I came across another article spelling out the risks of certain activities.
1. A BYOB backyard gathering with one other household: low to medium risk.
2. Eating indoors at a restaurant: medium to high risk.
3. Attending a religious service indoors: high risk.4. Spending the day at a beach or pool: low risk (with social distancing)
5. An outdoor celebration such as a wedding with more than 10 guests: medium to high risk.
6. Using a public restroom: low to medium risk.
7. Letting a friend use your bathroom: low risk.
8. Going to a vacation house with another family: low risk.
9. Staying at a hotel: low to medium risk.
10. Getting a haircut: medium to high risk.
11. Going to a nightclub: high risk.
12. Going camping: low risk.
13. Exercising outdoors: low risk.
14. Boating and fishing: low risk.
15. Kissing a bunch of random strangers in bars: highest risk of all!
There's your public service information for the week!!
I did smile at number 15 - but I guess if the bars aren't all open that narrows down the risk of it happening!
ReplyDeleteIt feels like we are all now expected to calculate how much risk we feel comfortable taking and I feel like so long as I am outside (not kissing a stranger) the risk is pretty low. Also if I am only mixing with people I know and who I know have not been taking high risks themselves, that's not too unsafe either.
Makes me wonder how much money Disney are losing over all this!
We are way behind you on moving on from lockdown and at the moment restaurants are only offering take away food so hard to know which will survive. I hope the independent ones come through this, but it's only us customers that can help with that by supporting them once they can reopen.
You know the biggest issue I have with going out and about? Our public toilets are not open and as cafes etc aren't either, there is nowhere to 'go'! Men have life so much easier in that respect!!!
We are not going out into crowds of any size. But I did let a non-family member inside the house this week, to have our piano tuned. He's an older gentlemen and calls when he is going to be close by. Since it had been 3 years since the piano was tuned I thought it was time. I also thought that he could use the supplemental income. We were both masked and I left him to his work, so it was very low risk. It will be nice for the piano to be in tune, should daughter come home for Father's Day.
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