isolationism

So here's how it seems to be working. Authorized by the state government, the counties start to allow businesses to open up - restaurants and bars opening, etc. - and then they wait a few weeks to see if the death rate starts going up. They have to wait because it's a lagging indicator. When it does, for of course it does, they shut them down again. Wait until lulled into complacency, repeat process.

Fortunately it's not much happening in my county, for we have health officers who are taking the pandemic seriously and not allowing these openings, despite receiving abuse and even death threats for trying to protect the public.

We're still pretty shut down at home. I just placed another weekly grocery order for pickup. Usually they miss a few items which they say they're out of though I can find them elsewhere, so I do have to make a shopping trip but it's much shorter and quicker than it would otherwise be.

Yesterday I did make an outing. I took my car out to be serviced. I've had it nearly six months, it just passed a significant round number mileage, so it ought to get a lookover. This is a Hyundai, which I've never had before, so I went somewhere I hadn't been before, the one of the two local Hyundai dealers which does not have an online reputation for shafting customers on service costs. I didn't know what I'd find there. If they were maskless, I was prepared to turn right around and leave. But no, they were stringent on the protocols and I felt content. A little uneasy about waiting there a couple hours for the car to be serviced, and the waiting area was already full of customers occupying every other chair. So I walked over to the sales area beyond it and sat down in one of the chairs on the customer side of the desk there. Nobody disturbed me.

This was near a fish & chips place I'd been to before since the shutdown started, so afterwards I went and picked up my lunch from there. Masked, only one customer inside the shop at a time, takeout only, it was quick and efficient. Drove home, washed hands, carefully removed food from bags, had lunch. It was a level of shutdown I could deal with.

Meanwhile the authorities are worried that Independence Day will produce the same type of mass social gatherings that Memorial Day did. All I can say is, not from us. My usual sole social event for this holiday is attending the annual backyard party of friends whose wedding anniversary it is. Quite some time ago they sent out the notice that, of course, it wouldn't be happening this year. And that's it. We'll be at home this holiday.