Key West has always been the escape destination. This is where people come to live for a brief while south of reality. These days the escape from reality seems more important than ever for some, perhaps for most visitors. This is supposed to be the weekend of Fantasy Fest and supposedly there are people in town determined to pretend the canceled carnival is still happening. Most of from Tampa, a place where the word "superspreader" new to our collective vocabulary, may not yet have taken root. It will if enough of them have showed up.
I see two key Wests these days more starkly defined by clothing than ever, which is funny as the Key West I preferred was the one where outward signs of status or wealth were pretty much ignored.
Perhaps it takes local lungs to be immune to heat and small pieces of cloth combined. Perhaps it takes immunity to the news to travel for sheer fun these days.
I find myself slightly astonished by the numbers of people prepared to eat in restaurants, gather in groups and act as though Covid 19 is a live or die proposition. I have no desire to imperil my helath at this late stage, and when you've been intubated once it isn't an experience you are anxious to repeat let me assure you.
Yet when I went to pick up food to go the restaurant tables were crowded and the diners were mask free. I salute their escape from reality. At the supermarket on an early morning nearly deserted shop a few select items are as usual in short supply. In preparation for the second wave of coronavirus we stocked up on toilet paper. I wonder what we will miss this time around and nearly run out of?
8 comments:
Actually, the efficacy of mask-wearing is of yet scientifically unproven with the only large scientific study (the Danish one) currently being withheld from release with the authors hinting that their findings are inconvenient to the status quo. But uncertainty and dissention isn't popular simply because it doesn't compare with the false safety of mass conformity to an arbitrary standard.
False and misleading
I'm not leading anyone anywhere. I photograph what I see and I see people not wearing masks. Ask yourselves why we are where we are and why Asian countries where they apparently have massive lungs and breathe easily through masks have the numbers they have. Draw your own conclusions and behave accordingly. I think for myself and I encourage you to do the same.
Why is wearing a mask such a big deal? Nobody said its a cure all, but it certainly helps. Some of us have health issues and are more susceptible to catching anything than others. They dont want to stay home if they can venture out safely. I do understand its hard for some to wear a mask if they are working a physical job in heat and humidity but thats the exception not the rule. Going into a Wal Mart without a mask is foolish and putting people at risk, especially the employees. That place is a petre dish. If we all work together we can move forward and eradicate this virus.
Thank you Michael for a "mask dose": of REALITY!
I am tired of the virus but I really am depressed by the cruelty and selfishness this disease has permitted among our fellow Americans.
I hope next year we can start healing our country and return to values where we are in this together with different ideas and goals perhaps but where we can move forward guided by the least radical among us.
I don't get the fuss over wearing/not wearing a mask. Health care workers and people in various industries work with their mask on day in day out in order to protect themselves and others.
These dasys mask wearing has become a common curtesy, a gesture of awareness, and honestly I don't mind people keeping their physical (not social) distance.
With numbers on the rise all over the world I wish everyone: Keep well and take care.
Thank you. We stay isolated and wait for it to pass. A little temporary boredom in isolation seems a small price to pay for long term health.
Post a Comment