The headlines I read have moved on from coronavirus coverage to other things. With two months to go as we approach a pivotal general election I suppose that's hardly surprising unless you are related to any of the 180,000 Americans who have died so far at the hands of the virus. Not to mention the survivors who are dealing with the several side effects attributed to coronavirus, the neurological problems, muscular weakness and so forth.
The rule in Key West is wear a mask. The only times you don't get to wear a mask is at home or when actually eating or drinking in a restaurant. Bars are closed by state order. And yet even when I set our in the early morning hours. five out of six people weren't wearing masks. I asked one guy why not and he said because no one's around. Oh I said, I guess I'm no one.
Bars may be closed by state order but I guess tasting rooms aren't. Sell food and you are more than a bar and can open, or I guess be a tasing room and you can taste alcohol. The issue comes down to an attitude. Mask wearing is an activity reluctantly agreed to and its not a decision entered into by most people who understand this is the best way to vanquish this wretched pandemic. As long as most people are looking fro ways to a void wearing a mask we can't do much about it.
The city s trying to enforce the requirement but its being treated as a speed limit that is too slow for the road conditions and as long as most people ignore it the net result is mask use is spotty and thus unlikely to do much good in terms of slowing the spread. I guess the hope has to be that tourists will take whatever infection they have or pick up and go home with it. Which to my way of thinking is pretty crappy. We really are not in this together.
I feel like a thief in the night, walking the streets not as I used to just for fun but now I take these pre dawn walks to snatch a moment in the city, to take back my streets and my photos from the unmasked hordes. My wife and I have been locked down since March 15th and it seems stupid to not hold out for a vaccine at this point. I wish masks were second nature, social distancing obvious and hand washing something everyone believed in as a matter of course.
The last message I got from the Centers For Disease Control was to avoid sitting in a. room with strangers, as in avoiding restaurants, and not to fly in commercial aircraft. But virus fatigue has se in and the lessons on 1918 are lost and have bene lost for a while. Now we see people gathering to protest and masks as we have seen are no deterrent to gunfire. I feel in many ways that 2020 is replicating a combination of 1918 and 1968 all rolled into one. Fantastic and besides all that we have no certainty a simple calendar date will turn it all around. With only three months to go till the first snows drive people south I wonder how winter in Key West will unfold. From a distance the social niceties are interesting but when you live them up close they become irritating and unnerving even.
Fantasy Fest is canceled but will attractions re-open? Will cruise ships return? Will winter residents, elderly many fo them and infirm site a few of them, hunger to sit in restaurants and risk infection for a plate of elaborate food and conversation? I will be watching and wondering and asking myself why I feel so alone in my social distancing.
7 comments:
You are not alone. Many of us wonder why a simple thing like a mask brings on so much anger. A lot of people have health issues and would not like to take the chance on not wearing it and catching something. We can pretty much still go out and enjoy life but be more careful.Of course some of the draconian measures being forced on us do not make sense, Which leads to hostilities.You visit a Wal Mart and wish you had a full body condom and a lot of Mom and Pop shops cant open.Some people are taking no precautions at all. I guess ignorance is bliss. We will get back to normal. We just need to keep our heads and work together.
A couple of airlines are being very strict about mask wearing and they have excellent air filtration systems, I personally feel safer on a short flight than I do at an indoor restaurant where many people are maskless throughout the day as they sit and eat.
Thanks for listening to me vent. I guess we all miss our old lives to some extent.
Just to add that you will tend to see more of the people who don't care, than those who do, almost by definition, as those who are cautious just don't venture out as much. And just like the loud screaming child (i.e. the non-mark wearers, non-distancing people) stand out more than the well-behaved ones. So almost by definition the recalcitrants are more visible than the silent (hopefully) majority.
Here in Southern California most everyone I encounter outside is being cautious, fortunately.
If you are elderly and, or sickly, STAY home. I don’t think this virus is going anywhere, any time soon. Hiding in the house when you are young, healthy, and not immune compromised is NOT healthy. Becoming a mental cripple for the rest of your life isn't really much of a life. Something is always lurking around the corner. Hiding from that something isn’t living. Do your very best to take care of yourself.
The thing that gets me is that mask wearing is a sign of respect for others. By not wearing a mask you are increasing your risk of infection to some degree but you are decidedly hurting others. And yet even our leaders who advocate wearing a mask fail viz Nancy Pelosi. I would much rather have seen a firm mask wearing policy from the start and no lockdown which always seemed unenforceable to me. No money means no lockdown. Instead we have the worst of all worlds and endless bickering. When the safe vaccine comes I will be delighted if others choose not to use it. The consequences will be theirs alone to live through.
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