Contagion: Random Thoughts

  

   Opening Up the Economy:  We are trying to open, to come out of the lockdown, to get the economy moving, and return to normal.  Different states and municipalities are taking different approaches and moving at different rates to open based on how much the pandemic impacted them.

There is no clear-cut path on how to do this.  The news media is not much help.  As our President is pushing this, MSNBC believes it is the most irresponsible policy ever implemented in the history of mankind.  Fox News takes a completely opposite stance in their support of his efforts.  The truth is somewhere in the murky middle.

We have to do something.  We have to begin to see how to bring the economy to life again at some point.  Otherwise, we risk jeopardizing the food supply chains.  That would be a game changer for sure. To what degree might this happen?  In what time frame?  No one can predict.

On the other hand, if people are out and about patronizing stores, restaurants, and other businesses, there is some real risk that the incidence of Covid-19 cases may spike up again.  No one can state to what degree this will or will not happen.  We are simply going to slowly and cautiously emerge and see what happens.  The precautions vary across the country but are mostly in line with The White House and CDC Guidelines for Opening Up America Again.

We are moving forward and shall see how this turns out.

People are getting Cabin Fever:  People are tired of the isolation.  They are tired of the lockdown.  They are tired of being cooped up at home.  If they are not working from home, they are bored out of their minds while being scared of their finances.  People working from home and managing their children’s remote schooling are run ragged. 

 People want to get back to what is or was normal.  Most of us are behaving ourselves and generally following the protocols.  In several states, there have been protests against the lockdowns.  They are claiming that their freedoms have been curtailed and enough is enough.  In a recent Michigan demonstration, the protesters were armed and entered the state capital building.  Also in Michigan security guard was murdered for having turned away people from a Flint Family Dollar Store for not having a mask as required by state law.  What is going on in my home state?

Around here, in the North Shore suburbs of Chicago.  We are still in lockdown officially, but the lockdown is a bit more relaxed with each passing week.  When I have the occasion to drive around (note that I used a whopping three-eighths of tank of gas in seven weeks), I see more and more people out driving each time I am out.  The parking lots of the grocery stores are almost as full as they would have normally been.  If the weather is good, many people are out walking, running, or biking.  As of this month, we are supposed to all wear masks in public.  This past weekend on a Saturday drive, I saw a policeman, unmasked, talking to a driver he had just pulled over.

Murder Hornets?  Are you kidding me?  On top of all this, a leading news story earlier this year was that Asian Murder Hornets have been spotted in the Pacific Northwest.  Like the Emerald Ash Bore before them, these invaders hitched a ride with some of the millions of containers that make their way from China to us.  They are the size of my thumb, one of these sting multiple times and packs like seven times the venom of our pedestrian American hornets.  The kill fifty people a year in Japan.  Furthermore, the live off of honeybees and could decimate that already fragile and vital part of our agricultural chain.   

On the positive side, per the New York Times, they fry ‘em up either larva or adult and eat them in Japan.  With hot sauce?