Sunday, May 3, 2020

The View from the Hermitage, Day 49

Forty-nine or seven squared or I've been doing this now for seven--count 'em!--seven weeks. Seven weeks into the future would be June 21, or 11 days past the end of Virginia's current stay-at-home order otherwise known as Executive Order 55. Older son seems to think that we'll still be staying at home here in Virginia then. I admit I have no idea at all. On March 16, when I started this blog series, did I think I'd be typing "Day 49" as part of the title? Honestly, no, though I probably should have seen the long-term potential. If I did I did not take it seriously.

The news remains centered on the economics of the pandemic or the aftermath of covid-19 cases or the lockdown. How does someone say good-bye to two elderly parents dying two days apart, not to mention pay for two funerals? A teacher in Northern Virginia organized a parade to take 28 students in a two-year AP program the special sashes they would have worn over their graduation gowns. Is it reasonable to think there might be a vaccine ready before 2021? Missing are the detailed descriptions of life and death in a hospital or the toll the pandemic has taken on first responders and health care personnel. Numbers and descriptions that might scare people into obeying lockdown orders are much less prevalent now than they were three or four weeks ago.

What is the likelihood that one of the reopened states has to issue new stay-at-home orders, and what percentage of citizens would obey or flout them? If I were a betting woman ... but then I'm not and given how accurate my prescription seven weeks ago was, I see not betting on this as the sensible course.


1 comment:

Janet said...

Given that some outraged person in Flint, Michigan, was so incensed at being asked to wear a mask that she spit on the guard, went home, and a family member returned to argue with and then shoot the guard to death, I don't see this next stage proceeding prettily.

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