Covidiocy

So how are the "open" states doing in regarding to covid-19? Let's see: the top five hospitals in Mississippi have run out of ICU beds. The twelve busiest hospitals in the Houston area are outright telling ambulances "Don't bother bringing people here." Florida continues breaking its own in-state covid death records (meanwhile, Walt Disney World re-opened today. New recommended ad slogan: "The most magical place on earth, and a good time that is to DIE for!")

The only way we can safely even TRY to get most of the economy back on track is for everyone to practice certain safety measures – namely masks, distancing and sanitizers – but of course, a lot of people who oppose the lockdowns are ALSO opposed to the simple measures we can take to safely operate without them. 

 

Here in north Georgia where I currently have the misfortune to be, after the first lockdown ended, my husband and I tried, very cautiously, to do some “non-essential, just-for-fun" money-spending things -- those of you who know me may recall what a hardcore thrift shop/flea market/overstock outlet addict I am -- ordering carryout from certain restaurants, doing our bit to help the economy …. and then we went back into quarantine after the local cases kept rising, our own county keeps breaking its own previous records, and FAR too many of our fellow shoppers refuse to wear a mask OR stay the hell away from us. 

 

Oh, and remember when I said “we bought carryout from restaurants?” One of our favorites had to shut down for a couple weeks after one of its employees tested positive. How the hell can we have a functional economy when businesses have to keep closing on the grounds “Oh shit, our place of business is currently crawling with pathogens and we have to sanitize EVERYTHING before we re-open?” And the One Simple Trick that would enable us to have at least a semblance of a normal economy until medical science figures out a way to get a handle on this virus -- wear a mask in public, while practicing certain social-distancing guidelines -- is also the one thing which the Hardcore Heterodoxy tribe refuses to do.