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I’m Done with the Lockdown on April 30
In my state, the official lockdown was scheduled from March 30 to April 30. Some cities, schools, and workplaces locked down before that, and many people sheltered in place before politicians ordered it. I’m expecting my governor to stick with the April 30 date, but regardless, I’m done this Thursday.
It won’t change my behavior a great deal since I’m an introvert and homebody by nature. There might not be many destinations for me to visit if coffeehouses, restaurants, and gyms remain closed. (Okay, closed gyms won’t affect my less-than-rigorous exercise regimen one bit.)
I’ll continue washing my hands, avoiding other people, and everything else I’ve done my whole life. I’ve only worn a mask once — a long grocery store visit last week where I didn’t want the employees to hate me — but I don’t see a second time. Masks are annoying and I usually have a coffee cup in front of my mouth anyway.
As you can see, my “being done with the lockdown” won’t affect my life or anyone else’s a great deal. I’m not going to protest, yell, or wave flags. That’s for extroverts. I don’t much care if others choose to keep hunkering down and recommend those sick or at-risk do so.
Ultimately, it’s a psychological change. I will no longer voluntarily lock myself in a cell. I will roam about as I see fit. And I’ll disregard orders to do otherwise.
Published in Economics, Healthcare
Yes officer, that’s Gabriel, spelled G-A-B-R-I-E-L. . . .
This has been heaven for introverts. But we still need to keep the car battery charged.
Oh, you are gonna get it when mom and dad come home!
I could almost say exactly the same thing, Jon. Except I might continue with the mask for now. We’re grocery shopping tomorrow –woo-hoo! and going to BJ’s on Thursday. It’s time!
The toughest part hasn’t been quarantine, but that other people are quarantined with me. I have two teens and daddy needs his alone time!
The great thing about Arizona is that they’ve pushed voluntary compliance over enforcement. When you’re out and about you don’t need to prove you have reasons, etc. A few mayors have been jerks about it, but not my town’s.
Whose yer daddy, now?
The ability to quarantine in the presence of others is the sign of the true introvert.
That’s an indication of a competent attorney general (or county attorney or city attorney). We don’t have that type of thing in Minnesota (well, at least the Twin Cities), but even so local law enforcement has only cited people with the governor created misdemeanor in cases where there were other crimes being charged.
In fairness to your two teens, they probably want their alone time also.🙂
Last week we had some thunderstorms and a coworker sent out an email letting everyone know that there were tornado warnings (which are rare where I live). I replied back, “Good! Now I can tell myself I’m staying home because of the weather rather than the quarantine.” Subtle differences but being able to say, “I don’t want to go out in this weather” is more empowering than “I’m not allowed to go anywhere.”
Yep. The curve is flattened. What more do they want of me???
That was last month’s reason. You can’t expect the same reason to apply to a new month. Times change and we need to change with them.
Bravo! Also, what a lovely photo! My brother lives in Scottsdale and we, swamp dwellers (definitely not of the DC variety but of the South Louisiana and more lately the Florida Panhandle species) that we are, love your Arizona desert! This “mask mania “ is a real pet peeve of mine- I saw a man early yesterday morning walking in a perfectly clear, beautiful morning, amidst magnificent pine trees, not another person in sight, with his face almost covered with a huge black mask! Now I know I’m not the brightest bulb in the lamp, but for the life of me I cannot imagine any reason for that except the purest form of virtue signaling! Here’s to better and more sane times!
Sincerely, Jim
Here in Texas, one of my cousins posted a link to the story on Greg Abbott’s announcement today on relaxing the COVID restrictions, and one of her friends threw an online temper-tantrum, basically saying Abbott’s going to kill thousands of people with his action.
It was an extreme example of someone demanding absolute security in the freedom-vs.-security debate, and I’m sure there are others here, in Arizona, and elsewhere in the coming days and weeks who’ll have the same feeling that no price in terms of jobs and incomes lost and lifestyles affected is too high a price to pay until the coronavirus death toll is down to zero. It also assumes that most people are going to be stupid about their own health, and with only 25 percent max capacity allowed in places like malls, restaurants and theaters, are going to try to get as close to others as possible (and I’d expect that when the restrictions ease, as with the photos from Jacksonville and Newport Beach, we’re going to see a lot of forced perspective camera angles using lenses that bring far-apart things close together to show that people are totally disobeying recommendations and therefore can’t be trusted with their own safety and that of others).
For example:
That’s what I’m expecting to see posted over the weekend — some news or TV outlet is going to use a telephoto lens and take a straight-on shot down a mall corridor and basically make it look like the height of Christmas shopping season in order to push the “People are too stupid to be trusted” narrative, when a side shot or different lens would tell a different story.
Congrats.
That’s what a lot of us have been doing all along. ‘Course, there aren’t many places you can go…
That would be St. John of the Cross
Bravo Mr. Gabriel. I truly hope 300 million more follow your lead.
If the shoe fits . . .
Jon, I have a few questions raised by James Lileks’ post. https://www.coconino.az.gov/AlertCenter.aspx
Jon, regardless of legal constraints, will you be flying for any reason? Will you be going to a movie theater? If open, will you eat inside at a restaurant? Would you be going to Las Vegas for any reason? And would you take public transit?
For the reasons stated by me in my Comment 141 of that post, for the indefinite future, my answers are “no,” “no,” “not yet,” “no” and “no.” On the other hand while I am an overweight 67 year old, you are a trim younger man, so I assume that your choices will be different from mine. And the number of deaths per 100,000 people in my Coconino County is the highest in Arizona at 29 per 100,000 people, far higher any other Arizona county. https://www.coconino.az.gov/AlertCenter.aspx See also https://www.azfamily.com/news/continuing_coverage/coronavirus_coverage/coconino-county-has-highest-covid-19-death-rate/article_02567ce2-7b90-11ea-9ada-bfac49c26bdf.html