Love in the Time of Corona, Update Eight: The Resurgence

Image Credit:  Fortune Magazine

My state -- adopted state, I should say -- of Texas is now in the news, along with several others, due to a disturbing surge in the number of cases of Coronavirus.  Simultaneously, my native state of New York, after having spent weeks as the hellish epicenter of this pandemic, seems to be a making a nice recovery.  I only hope they can sustain it, or at least hold on for as long as it takes the scientists to come up with a vaccine for the damn thing.

Why the spike in cases here?  Many are second-guessing the governor, saying he re-opened too quickly.  Others almost seem to blame the "Come and Take It," rugged individualism attitude they perceive Texans to have.  As one friend in New York jokingly said to me on the phone recently, "What is it with you people? First it's 'you can't take my guns,' and now it's 'you can't make me wear a mask.'"

If I had to pick one or the other of these two theories, I'd be more likely to pick the former, just based on my own personal experience.  The people I see when I'm out shopping seem to be using an abundance of caution, as far as masks and social distancing are concerned.

However...upon saying that...I recall that just after Governor Greg Abbott reopened the state, I did see a noticeable, if brief, rise in the number of shoppers without masks.  Apparently, that may have been enough to cause this frightening "spike" we're currently in.  So I suppose the correct answer to my multiple choice question on why we are in this predicament might just be "(c) All of the above."

Most recently, Abbott has tightened things back up.  While not fully "locking down," he has put restrictions back on bar and restaurant owners, who were already suffering.  

I feel for them, and for all of us.  Even the most reclusive among us are longing for things to go "back to normal."  (Though I don't think "normal" will ever look the same again.)

But as Brooklyn's own infectious disease expert Tony Fauci put it, the best and fastest way to do that is by continuing to stay home as much as possible, and to maintain social distance and wear masks in those instances when necessity forces us to venture out into this scary, new world.