[burger]

I am just stunned when I read some of the stories in the media this week.

People testing positive for COVID in late June suspect their exposure may have happened when they went to a bar, or a graduation party, or a gym with hundreds of people at the indoor events, obviously without masks.   

How could people think those activities would be a good idea?

These new COVID patients often say things like they thought it was over, or they didn't think things would open up if it wasn't safe.

Yikes -

These few got sick, but they were in places with hundreds of people so they were not the only ones thinking COVID was over.

If that surge in activity was common in the USA then economic hiring news released today seems logical.   However, it seems unsustainable with COVID still in our communities.  Q3 could be miserable for economic data and COVID cases.

I'm not surprised at all people thought it was over.  Most people pay little attention to the news or get their news filtered through social media.  When they heard "bars reopening," they got the signal that it was okay to hang out with their friends and families again.  People were not getting clear signals of the need to maintain distancing or wear masks.  If you can drink in a bar, surely it's okay to go to that graduation party, right?

That's why closing the bars and restaurants again was a necessary correction even if there wasn't a ton of transmission happening in those places (though see this https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/30/us/michig...index.html).  Ditto for closing the beaches this weekend.

People basically stopped being scared of the virus.  I think the only way to change that is to reimpose some of the restrictions that worked the first time around.

[burger]

I am just stunned when I read some of the stories in the media this week.

People testing positive for COVID in late June suspect their exposure may have happened when they went to a bar, or a graduation party, or a gym with hundreds of people at the indoor events, obviously without masks.   

How could people think those activities would be a good idea?

These new COVID patients often say things like they thought it was over, or they didn't think things would open up if it wasn't safe.

Yikes -

These few got sick, but they were in places with hundreds of people so they were not the only ones thinking COVID was over.

If that surge in activity was common in the USA then economic hiring news released today seems logical.   However, it seems unsustainable with COVID still in our communities.  Q3 could be miserable for economic data and COVID cases.

I'm not surprised at all people thought it was over.  Most people pay little attention to the news or get their news filtered through social media.  When they heard "bars reopening," they got the signal that it was okay to hang out with their friends and families again.  People were not getting clear signals of the need to maintain distancing or wear masks.  If you can drink in a bar, surely it's okay to go to that graduation party, right?

That's why closing the bars and restaurants again was a necessary correction even if there wasn't a ton of transmission happening in those places (though see this https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/30/us/michig...index.html).  Ditto for closing the beaches this weekend.

People basically stopped being scared of the virus.  I think the only way to change that is to reimpose some of the restrictions that worked the first time around.