Muh Muh Muh My Corona (virus)

People need to be around other people, especially children.

 

The second wave is inevitable. We cannot remain locked down until fall in hopes of avoiding it. We can only take what measures we can to mitigate it. That's why concerts, full-fan sports and other gatherings are probably a no-go for the rest of the year. But we cannot stay in complete lockdown throughout the rest of the summer.

 

Your barber sucks at actual haircuts.

Or you’re bald.

Or you’re just an idiot.

 

I'm gonna go with No. 2.

 

Of course not. And everyone in power knows that. We literally cannot; American people won't stand for it. I figured June 1. I think it'll be earlier in a lot of places.

Again: just wait about about 45 days - perhaps not even that - when it becomes clear that higher ed is going to get slammed by this harder than just about everybody. Wait until the discussions begin about bringing back 1 million international students - including 370,000 from China - and how important it is universities have in-person classes. (For the room and board, of course.)

The political tune will change. Fast. Most journalists will just shrug, too. All the energy expended on shaming people for walking around parks and having playdates will be exhausted by then, I'm guessing.

 

Once again, the polls directly contradict this position. People support the lockdown measures, which even in the most stringent states, like here in Mass., are very far from a total shutdown.

 

Operation Fuck It is sure to be a smashing success.

 

To both of your points, there will be some self-policing involved here. I think a lot of people will choose to spend more time at home even if things are opened up. A lot of people were homebody introverts before any of this started, so there's not a huge change there.

I can only speak to my state, but in Northam's presser on Monday, before he talked about any specifics related to a phase one re-open, he emphasized the point that we are not in the clear and that if any re-opening is going to stick, social distancing and masks are going to be part of it.

 

It actually might be, unfortunately.

There is a good discussion to be had in this post, though, if anyone had any real ideas or answers to the questions lying within it.

What profound changes could/would work -- beyond living in masks and gloves indefinitely? How can we do things besides "touchless"-ly, "contactless"-ly, and all the pretend-contact ways depicted in all the supposed-to-be-inspiring TV commercials about our "new way of life in these uncertain times" that I ought to post on the "Commercials That Get On Your Nerves" thread at this point?

I remember early on in this thread someone posting about how we aren't made/built for this, and really, socially, we're not. I haven't shared a proper hug or kiss with even family members in three months now, and constantly signing "I love you" and kissing the windows and computer screens separating us is not really, um, cute/fun/satisfying or inspiring anymore. What will happen to the social aspects of society that could possibly be considered better if this goes on indefinitely?

We are in the process of creating a society of people with nothing to do, no purpose, and, for many, literally no reason to get up in the morning.

How do we create a society where, perhaps, money is not needed, so that this question of health vs. economy might actually not have to be posed, run into, and solved, at every turn. Can we do that, a la a Star Trek-ian type world?

How do we re-engage schools, really, instead of having reams of only half-engaged, distracted students, frustrated, more-put-upon teachers than ever, and parents who don't have to try to pretend to be teachers?

Because these are the kinds of truly profound changes we're really talking about. It's not a matter of just, "How long can we stand being cooped up in our nice houses when we'd rather go to the beach instead?"

 

One hundred percent correct.

This CNBC poll is an amazing glimpse of how even red-staters are not completely convinced it's safe to resume normal life yet...and the blue-state numbers tell me pinning hopes on Main Street to bring us out of this soon-to-be-depression is foolish:

https://www.changeresearch.com/post/states-of-play-battleground-wave-4

 

I appreciate I can write punky things at times, but I mean this sincerely:

1. The majority of Americans do support the lockdown.

2. On the matter of something like a lockdown, if it were 50/50, everything would be wide open. 50 percent is representing, like, 160 million people.

3. I think there are people who say they support the lockdown because it's the right thing to say and think as they go to the Home Depot twice a week, the grocery store twice, their mom's once two weeks ago, their best friend's for just a half-hour, takeout 3 times a week, a walk every night, of course, the gas station, the office just to get something, oh, and, they saw their friend getting takeout at another place so...