Today (28 April 2020) I had to venture out, and what I saw appalled me. Traffic was still not heavy, but it was a lot heavier than it should have been. It also seemed that I was the only one wearing a face mask. I saw people in vehicles (I know that you don’t have to wear mask as long as you stay in the vehicle, but how many of those people were carrying mask with them to wear when they reached their destination), on the street, in businesses and even waiting for buses, all without masks. To me it was an indicator that the people I was seeing did not care if they were carriers of the Covid-19 virus, and were willing to spread it to others, just so they did not have to wear a mask.
I understand the desire of people to get out of the house, see friends, do the normal things we all did before the Pandemic hit. Unfortunately, the Pandemic is NOT OVER, and stopping the precautions prematurely, will surely backfire. I hope I am pessimistic, but I am looking for a strong resurgence in the Covid-19 infection rates in the near future, because of the premature stopping of the precautions.
Our Neighborhood has a large percentage of seniors, who are more vulnerable to serious complications if they contract Covid-19. We still do not know enough about Covid-19 to deal with it as we would other diseases. We do know that it is highly infectious and easily transmitted. We know that wearing face masks helps protect others if we are unknowing carriers of the virus, by keeping the virus in our coughs and breathing from traveling far enough to infect others (hopefully).
Please do not listen to the politicians, who want to please their supporters by declaring that it is OK to stop the precautions we have been taking, even though it is these same precautions which have helped slow the spread of this disease. Listen to the scientists who are recommending caution and saying that if we are not careful Covid-19 infections will come roaring back and more will die. This is shown historically during the 1918 influenza Pandemic. Seattle and San Francisco relaxed restrictions after the Armistice that ended WWI. That resulted in a 2nd wave of infections which destroyed many more lives. Don’t let this happen to us.
My wife commented that resuming normal life too soon is like sending all the firefighters home as soon as the forest fire is beaten down. Experience has shown that hidden hot spots can easily reignite the fire and unless precautions have been taken to keep firefighters on hand until it is certain that the fire is completely out you have to fight the fire a second time.
