As We Aim To Open Up, Still Many Questions
It is definitely too early to be talking about “opening up” in a public forum. Even still, we as humans are impatient and desperate to return to a sense of normalcy. I won’t get too much into the reasons why I feel it is too early tonight, but there are some really interesting “unknowns” regarding COVID-19. The one thing we do know is our current social distancing guidelines are working.
I believe the current classification of “essential” businesses is drastically unfair. Many businesses that are deemed “non-essential” would pose less risk open than those “essential” businesses like grocery stores, general stores and hardware stores. I do believe this should be looked at and will likely be addressed in phase 1 of “re-opening” the country.
This situation is unique in many ways. Still, it is a “situation” which has “numbers” and “statistics”. Any situation with numbers and statistics can be spun any way someone choose to interpret the data. On one side of the coin, this disease has killed 30k+ Americans, despite the fact most all of us have been “social distancing” and under “shelter-in-place” orders. That right there is alarming. On the other side of the coin, most of those deaths and cases are in large metropolitan areas like New York and our area is largely unaffected by the actual virus itself. There are many factors as to why this is true, most are obvious, but that does not change the risks if an outbreak were to occur.
We cannot open until we have proper testing protocols and a clear plan on how to handle outbreaks. This should be executed on a local level but influenced by state and national guidelines. Outbreaks are inevitable at this point, we must learn how to handle them without shutting down the whole country. Testing will enable this more than anything else.
We can change the rules of our current social distancing guidelines without reopening. We can open up salons, spas and boutiques for example. I think it is a little early to open up businesses that regularly have large numbers of people in them for a prolonged period (restaurants, theaters, sports and events).
I am still rather appalled at the ignorance being shown by the general public and the lack of “thought” people are willing to put into this problem. One way or another, we will get through this. It is sad. It is unfortunate. It is life (for now).
