06-14-2020, 05:06 AM
When I went out kayaking Friday and to the Farmer’s Market Saturday morning, I felt good about the precautions being taken to limit virus spread. Then, Saturday night we got takeout from a restaurant in the city center and were both shocked by what we saw. There must have been two dozen tables outside, with most of them having 4 people at them. This didn’t count others walking down the sidewalk. Really tough to eat and drink while wearing a mask, but I didn’t think the tables were distanced any further apart than any other time of my life. This was just one restaurant of a couple dozen within a few blocks, and other scenes were as discouraging.
After seeing new case numbers drop for weeks in Hartford County, and no triple digit daily case increase since June 2, there were 136 reported yesterday (Sat. 6/13). Outdoor dining opened I believe on June 8. This was the first open weekend, and we are already seeing increases. Maybe when indoor dining opens on Wed. there will be more room to distance between outside and inside, but given no mask wearing, it seems restaurants are gonna be the greatest spread vector we have beyond offices (should people return to them), and other congregate workplaces.
There will be more people under 65 getting Covid and though there may not be as many deaths as a result, the hospitals are still going to get overwhelmed because too many people are not being cautious enough. I don’t know if there will be more shutdowns ordered, but Covid-19 illnesses are still going to be very problematic for economy. We have officially had 1/80 people in Hartford County infected to date, so still lots of dry brush to fuel spread of this virus fire.
Honestly don’t see how college campuses are going to have students back unless they are prepared for mass sickness and students are willing to get sick. This speaks to my greatest concern; the cavalier attitude about the virus when CFR starts dropping. We just don’t know enough about the long-term cost of Covid-19 to population health to be treating it like a flu that goes away and doesn’t do damage beyond initial impacts. This is especially risky for athletes who rely on being able to perform at a high level to earn money.
I’m not advocating for never going out of your house. I was out on Friday and Saturday. But it seems the continuum between stay locked inside and party like it’s 1999, has far too many at the 1999 end and not enough in the middle. This seems like a recipe for even worse outbreak than we have had to date, in most of the country.
After seeing new case numbers drop for weeks in Hartford County, and no triple digit daily case increase since June 2, there were 136 reported yesterday (Sat. 6/13). Outdoor dining opened I believe on June 8. This was the first open weekend, and we are already seeing increases. Maybe when indoor dining opens on Wed. there will be more room to distance between outside and inside, but given no mask wearing, it seems restaurants are gonna be the greatest spread vector we have beyond offices (should people return to them), and other congregate workplaces.
There will be more people under 65 getting Covid and though there may not be as many deaths as a result, the hospitals are still going to get overwhelmed because too many people are not being cautious enough. I don’t know if there will be more shutdowns ordered, but Covid-19 illnesses are still going to be very problematic for economy. We have officially had 1/80 people in Hartford County infected to date, so still lots of dry brush to fuel spread of this virus fire.
Honestly don’t see how college campuses are going to have students back unless they are prepared for mass sickness and students are willing to get sick. This speaks to my greatest concern; the cavalier attitude about the virus when CFR starts dropping. We just don’t know enough about the long-term cost of Covid-19 to population health to be treating it like a flu that goes away and doesn’t do damage beyond initial impacts. This is especially risky for athletes who rely on being able to perform at a high level to earn money.
I’m not advocating for never going out of your house. I was out on Friday and Saturday. But it seems the continuum between stay locked inside and party like it’s 1999, has far too many at the 1999 end and not enough in the middle. This seems like a recipe for even worse outbreak than we have had to date, in most of the country.