Well, it seems that Americans have voted and the results are in: The coronavirus pandemic is over. At least, it looks that way here in Florida.
The Sunshine State has been "open" for a couple of weeks now. People have been going to restaurants, and the beach like it was last summer. No, it's not exactly the same - there is more social-distancing going on. But people are out and about en masse, which gives the Chicken Littles the heebie-jeebies and sends them into fits of frenzy and panic.
The worrywarts all predicted that the number of new cases here in Florida was headed for a big "spike"... a "surge," and that we were in for a "second wave." Sorry to report, it does not seem to be happening. Statewide, the number of new COVID19 cases appears to be trending down. Nobody is reporting a big increase in hospitalizations, and the FDOH shows the number of deaths being pretty stable.
What? I mean, we were promised that the sky would fall, the world would end...cats would be sleeping with dogs...Armageddon...the whole megillah!
Hard numbers are difficult to come by, because we have no way of knowing how many people have been infected with COVID19. What we *can* say with authority is that, of those who are infected, very, very, very few get sick enough to warrant hospitalization, and very, very, very, very few of them die. It is the Plague That Wasn't. (It will be interesting to come back and revisit this post in a month or two or six.)
Don't get me wrong! 100,000 deaths is a sobering number, that is true. It is worse if you believe that any of them could have been prevented. I still believe that we'll see a total of perhaps 150,000 COVID19 deaths here in the U.S. eventually. And I also believe that those deaths would have happened anyway, Trump or no Trump.
Could it be that all we needed to do was protect the elderly and most vulnerable, social-distance ourselves, wear face masks if we deemed it appropriate, and wash our hands more? Could it be that the whole national lockdown was...you know...unnecessary? It could be! Because - here in Florida, at least - the "lockdown" and "post-lockdown" situations look exactly the same. Cats are not sleeping with dogs.
Shame on us sheep for being scared into believing that the government knew what was best for us. Trust me, it will not happen again.
Who Am I?
- Bob Barbanes:
- A nobody; a nitwit; a pilot; a motorcyclist; a raconteur; a lover...of life - who loves to laugh, who tries to not take myself (or anything) too seriously...just a normal guy who knows his place in the universe by being in touch with my spiritual side. What more is there?
2 comments:
I think the big positive of this pandemic is that it has shown (at least to me anyway) where some of our weaknesses lay and if something truly more deadly were to come along (and it will surely happen someday), I know what I want to do differently to prepare for that.
Our state is currently seeing a second spike in hospitalizations which coincides neatly with the timeline of when our governor started relaxing the rules. Granted it isn't as bad as the first statewide spike but it is trending in pockets that weren't hit hard the first time, my county included.
I certainly didn't see much/any social distancing going on in the photos my (just graduated from HS) granddaughter and her group of friends posted from Panama City Beach this week. Our course if any of them come down with the virus, it won't show up in FL's stats.... it'll be AR, where numbers are still creeping up.
I still refuse to think about the "what ifs". The damage to the economy is done and that can't be changed. Right now my brain is more focused on Minneapolis where my son and his girlfriend live.
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