[Goose]

As much as it seems like poor judgment for Georgia to open gyms, restaurants, movie theaters, salons, and more on Friday, it really will help to have data from a state with a worse outbreak per capita than CA, about what happens when NPIs are dropped too soon.

What worries me is the possibility that decisions like this one are being influenced by political considerations, as the push for reopening seems to come from one side of our horribly divided political spectrum. It's looking like some kind of perverse loyalty test. I'm pretty sure that before 2016, regardless of which party held the white house, decisions would have been made without regard to political affiliation.

I don't believe this "political" in the Republican-Democrat sense. Some states have lots of citizens that believe the risk of COVID-19 is low enough that opening up makes sense. Other states have many fewer such citizens. I am not sure those citizens (both groups) are "correct", but that is the politics that is driving this IMHO.
Don't look now but I am getting a "vibe" from people here in NorCal that things will start to open up in a couple of weeks. That may be wrong, but lots of people seem to feel that is what is going to happen. I really hope that all authorities pay attention to the "phase 1" gating conditions in the Federal plan. It is not clear to me that Georgia meets those requirements, but then I don't know what their tracking and testing capability actually is. We shall soon see.

[Goose]

As much as it seems like poor judgment for Georgia to open gyms, restaurants, movie theaters, salons, and more on Friday, it really will help to have data from a state with a worse outbreak per capita than CA, about what happens when NPIs are dropped too soon.

What worries me is the possibility that decisions like this one are being influenced by political considerations, as the push for reopening seems to come from one side of our horribly divided political spectrum. It's looking like some kind of perverse loyalty test. I'm pretty sure that before 2016, regardless of which party held the white house, decisions would have been made without regard to political affiliation.

I don't believe this "political" in the Republican-Democrat sense. Some states have lots of citizens that believe the risk of COVID-19 is low enough that opening up makes sense. Other states have many fewer such citizens. I am not sure those citizens (both groups) are "correct", but that is the politics that is driving this IMHO.
Don't look now but I am getting a "vibe" from people here in NorCal that things will start to open up in a couple of weeks. That may be wrong, but lots of people seem to feel that is what is going to happen. I really hope that all authorities pay attention to the "phase 1" gating conditions in the Federal plan. It is not clear to me that Georgia meets those requirements, but then I don't know what their tracking and testing capability actually is. We shall soon see.