Things might work out fine, but they might not either. Time will tell whether the government have made the right call in allowing some businesses to re open.
May 17, 20202 Hello; If you were to talk to my brother he could tell you how enraged I was over the extended lockdowns and especially over the huge federal deficit spending bills rationalized with the virus. Leaving the spending aside I do have an opinion on the current re-openings.
Near as I could tell around my area the shelter in place and social distancing never much took hold among the population. I concede right away my scope has been limited and it may well be that every where else folks were towing the line on the two items. I am not saying people did not do any of the stay at home or social distancing, because some did around me. Some, but no where near most. I saw too many examples of those not doing either all thru the shutdowns even tho I had reduced my outings many fold.
I do know plenty of people did not wear a mask and still do not. That lots of people did not keep the six feet distance. I just do not know what difference these "violators" may have made. Enough of a preamble, let me get to the point.
I do figure with the re-opening that there will be some increase in the infection rate. I can only guess as to how the rate will change so I will not guess. The virus is still around and data suggesting from 25% to 50% of the infected do not show symptoms suggests as more people get out and about there will be a continued spread of the virus. Some will latch on any uptick in the number of cases actually making people sick as proof we should have stayed in restricted lockdowns. OK, If the number of new cases might somehow be the only thing that matters then those folks would win. I do not see things that way.
I do figure there will be an uptick in new cases and also figure this is to be expected but there is much more in the overall big picture. Perhaps the single biggest item being these lockdowns run the risk of doing more damage that the illness itself. ( I think they already have) Our economic survival is at risk but that is not what I am getting at here. These shutdowns are affecting the capacity of the systems we depend on in our daily lives. Food production may be the bigger of these issues but not the only one. Another simple to understand area is the breakdown of treatment of other medical issues. One being mentioned is how there has been an average of 150,000 new cases of cancer diagnosed each month for a long time and that now many fewer people are getting checked. This implies a lot of folks with new cancers are not going to be diagnosed as early. I for example was supposed to go in for a follow up a couple of months ago. Last summer my doctor decided to do a biopsy which turned out OK, but I have missed the follow up for a time. Heck, I do not know if that doctor has held on to her practice.
So I guess my point is there will be a trade off from these re-openings. Yes it is likely there will be an uptick in new cases but at the same time the other damage from the shutdowns will not continue. I do fear there is already ample of damage in place from the lockdowns we have just been through. I have more to say but will pause here.
