Urge to Re-open vs Safety

Here in my little corner of Upstate New York, people are certainly trying to figure out how to go back to some kind of normal in their lives. As I've mentioned before, I am a highly compromised and vulnerable person at 76 years of age and diagnosed with Pulmonary Fibrosis and Emphysema. I've been self isolated from the beginning of this Covid-19 crisis except for two instances of going out to get necessary blood tests.

Yesterday I ventured out for the first time for a car ride with my wife and was really surprised to see all of the activity around town and at Mennonite greenhouses that dot the area. People are clearly feeling antsy and are trying to move Spring along just a little faster and my sense is that most are trying to do it safely. We didn't stop anywhere on this ride but just wanted to get out and take in some sites around the area.

Governor Cuomo has indicated that our regional area of the Finger Lakes is able to reopen cautiously as of May 15. People seem to be moving forward even faster than that. It seems that once you release the brake or as he says open the valve, all hell is ready to break loose and honestly it will be very hard to close things down again unless the consequences are truly dire. So it seems that concentrating on safety is the best all of us can do and yes, that safety includes factoring in the people who are out there not following safety procedures.

Of course all of this would be easier if the Center for Disease Control would issue clear guidance on best practices for various types of businesses and entities. Everyone would be served by this - businesses, government, educational and health facilities, churches and the public at large. That really shouldn't be too much to ask of the federal government or of our state or counties.

In the absence of CDC guidelines on re-opening, it seems to me, that most of the precautions we all need to take are common sense:

• We should continue to wash our hands and use hand sanitizer often and between stops at stores or other places we visit.
• We should really measure some of our stops based on density - you know, how many people are at a particular location.
• We should understand that part of the density issue an be measured by noise factors. If there's loud shouting, cheering, people talking over one another, we're probably in too dense an area. 
• We should continue the social distancing guidelines and wear masks or face covers.
• We should listen to public health officials. They know the issues and follow science and data. Basically, we can trust them to have our best interest at heart.

That's it. We are in this together and we have to depend on each other. I'm not interested in admonishing or giving the non believers a hard time. I just want to see us get through this. So as you go about your business, be safe and stay safe and treat each other with respect.