For the past month, most of the country has been under some sort of stay at home Order. Nobody liked the idea, but by the end of March over 30 states had issued some sort of stay at home Order. Another 10 states issued a stay at home Order in the first week of April, and the rest (except for South Dakota) have issued similar restrictions, without explicitly calling it a stay at home order.
It should be noted that many states issued Recommendations, prior to issuing their stay at home Orders.... and if people had taken the recommendations seriously, and complied with the recommendations, arguably the Orders would not have been necessary.
But people didn't. They continued to flock to beaches, to parks, to campgrounds. They refused to wear face masks. They refused to engage in social distancing. And frankly, if someone isn't willing to do something as simple as wear a non-medical face mask, or stay 6 feet away from me.... I don't trust them to Wash Their Hands for 20 seconds, or bother to carry and use hand sanitizer.
So, since so many people acted like misbehaving children who insisted on testing the limits, on reaching their toe out to that line, or even blatantly stepping across it, we found ourselves in a nation of Stay at Home Orders.
Although some states took some restrictive actions as early as the second week in March, the earliest Order was issued by California on March 19th... less than 6 weeks ago. Over 40 states issued their Order 5 weeks ago or less. Doesn't seem like that's a very long period of time; I go 5 weeks between hair cuts, and I know a lot of people who go much longer. But apparently 5 or 6 weeks is an intolerable length of time for some.
So now we've got major pressure by many groups, to lift the restrictions. 'After all', some of them argue, 'it's turned out to be not as bad as we expected.' And the people making that argument can't seem to comprehend that perhaps it's BECAUSE of the restrictions, that the death toll is not as bad as we feared.
But I'm straying from the point I want to make.
In response to -- well, a number of factors -- several politicians have made the news in the past week, because they are lifting the restrictions. Not gradually, not phased in, but in a willy-nilly fashion. We've gone from "We recommend social distancing" to "Stay at Home (because you wouldn't follow the recommendation)" to "Let's all get tattoos and new haircuts".
Las Vegas Mayor Goodman offered up her city as a control group. No, I'm not paraphrasing, look up her interview with Anderson Cooper. She talked about control groups and placebos and argued that there have been viruses in Vegas for years, and concluded that the city of Las Vegas could be a contol group.
Governor Kemp of Georgia said "I think our citizens are ready for this. People know what social distancing is." This is notwithstanding the fact that Georgia has one of the highest tallies of confirmed cases in the region, even while the percentage of people being tested is one of the lowest in the country. Apparently, many Georgia citizens DO understand what social distancing is, and there are a large number of small businesses -- beauty salons, restaurants, theaters -- which are allowed to open, but have chosen not to.
So that brings me to Devil or Hero.
IF the Las Vegas control group, or the lifting of restrictions in Georgia results in a large increase of Covid-19 cases, and Covid-19 deaths... people will view Goodman, and Kemp, and others like them, as Devils.
IF the Vegas control group, or the unrestricted citizens of Georgia do not show a large increase in cases and deaths, I'm quite certain there will be some ... perhaps many.. who will point to Goodman and Kemp and shower them with words such as 'brave', and 'courageous' and 'leaders'. And even Hero.
But, you see, in my opinion, to take risks with other people's lives, does not make you a Hero. It makes you a Devil.
I understand, they call them calculated risks. They don't see them as unnecessary and unreasonable risks. But when you listen to experts.. true experts... and you look at the data... I don't see how these risks could be considered necessary or reasonable. It's one thing to risk oneself, and another thing to risk others.
And for those who think I'm overreacting, let me share an interesting little tidbit with you.
Notwithstanding the fact that the Governor of Georgia has decided it's safe to get a haircut, or a massage or tattoo, or attend the theater, as long as precautions are taken ... that same Governor continues to keep the Governor's mansion closed to tours. Earlier this week, phone calls to the tour office were met with the response that .. No, tours could NOT be scheduled... after all, there was a pandemic going on. At this point, phone calls are met with a recording, directing people to check out the virtual tour of the mansion online, as all public tours of the mansion have been cancelled until further notice.
No question in my mind. Regardless of the outcome, Goodman and Kemp should never be called Heroes.
