MAY 11, 2020: “Back to Normal” will never feel normal again
So states are starting to “ease restrictions”, or end stay-at-home orders entirely. In most cases, there are political reasons for this, but I’m not thinking about that right now.
Instead, I’m thinking about two things:
One, that things are not as far away from normal as they may seem. In my current stay-at-home situation, people are highly encouraged to stay at home unless they need to go out. Like, to the grocery store, the pharmacy, things like that. There is a list of essential businesses that are allowed to keep operating for now.
But it seems people are deciding the definition of “essential” businesses themselves. In the past couple of days, I’ve seen landscapers and construction workers going about their businesses without any social distancing at all.
That’s on top of the Amazon workers, the grocery store employees, the police and fire department employees (who already have a high rate of COVID-19 diagnoses), and liquor store owners who are operating as if nothing happened at all. I know a lot has changed in the past few months… but a lot hasn’t changed.
Second, how are we ever going to do this in a way that makes anyone, let alone everyone, feel comfortable going out again?
If the company I work for opened up the office again and told us we had to go back in, I’m pretty sure I’d resist right now. I mean, just like the government has guidelines (even though they seem to ignore them), I have guidelines too:
- A decided drop in the number of new cases and the number of deaths. I want to have a really good indication that my risk of infection has decreased significantly. Significantly.
- I want to know that my work space is safe, and that the places I go to between home and the office (most notably the train) are also safe to be in.
- In the absence of the above, a clear treatment so I know I can avoid damage to organs or even death should I be infected. Or a safe, effective vaccine. Not going to happen for a while, but I can hope, right?
Look, I’m getting things done working from home. I’m safe. I miss interacting with people in person. But I’m not willing to trade my life for that interaction.
Don’t even ask me how this will all turn out. Guessing outcomes has become a fool’s errand.
Corona Dailies 