Another Saturday Night

The sameness of it all got to me a bit today. I think we were both going a little stir crazy after shopping and walking the dog. It isn’t that we can’t go anywhere. It is just that the restrictions make everything a little less fun. It may be my allergies or something else but I swear the minute I put on a stupid mask, my nose starts running or it itches like crazy.

Looking at our recent numbers, it doesn’t look like the restrictions are going away anytime soon. As other states show a decline, we are seeing a mini surge even with the mask requirements. Because I have time on my hands, I did take apart the numbers a bit. Things are dominated by our area since that’s where most of the people are. But you can see clear trends where parts of the state that weren’t hit hard in April and seeing the biggest increases.

Which just kind of fits what I’m coming to believe which is that the virus is going to do what a virus does. All the lock downs seem to do is delay the inevitable. New Zealand had a few cases after months of no activity and they are scrambling to shut down again. OK, but the virus isn’t going away so what happens when you let people back in.

Our favorite island (Aruba) just had a big surge in cases. I tried to read where it came from but I’m not sure they know. I do think about the people we met down there and hope it turns out OK for them. I see other places in the Caribbean where case numbers are going up. It just kind of shows that even if you try to be careful, the solutions aren’t 100% foolproof. I mean tests do have false negatives and it would just take a few misses to introduce the ‘rona back into an environment.

I’m also convinced that the authorities have focused so much on the masks that it has given people a false sense of security. We were shopping today and the guy behind us got a little too close. They still have the six feet markers on the floor but you wonder how many people just don’t pay attention to that anymore.

And I suspect there are just a lot of people who are tired of this whole thing and just ready to get back to something resembling normality. Again, they may think the mask provides more protection than it does. For example, there’s actually a ballroom dance competition in town this weekend. Not that I would be going because it is outside the world of the Famous Franchise. I suppose they do all they can but I just kind of believe that anywhere you combine close contact with physical activity, you are asking for trouble.

It is kind of like the situation with hand sanitizer. Back when this broke, everyone hoarded and you couldn’t find it anywhere. Then, all the companies saw an opportunity and cranked up production. So the shelves are full of the stuff but nobody seems to be buying. The store we went to still had a sign saying quantities were limited but the shelf was packed with the stuff. We bought one to replace the old one in the car. But how many people have remained diligent about hand washing and the like.

Despite the case numbers, there is actually good news out there. Nationally, hospitalizations have been dropping for almost a month now. Even here, where the counts have been rising, the number of patients in the hospital has been mostly steady. It is also about half of what it was back in April when the first wave hit.

So we just continue to watch and wait. I am facing a decision point on the haircut. Haven’t had one in six months. My hair doesn’t grow anywhere near as fast as it used to but it is starting to annoy me. As an introvert, it might actually be better to get it cut with a mask on – makes it harder to have the obligatory small talk. We’ll see.

I’ll just end this with a little political note. Went down to check if the mail was here yet (its not – we have the worst mail delivery every) and there’s a little thing hanging there from a political candidate for some state office. All it has on the front is her list of issues: public education, healthy economy, fix our infrastructure, increase access to healthcare and reduce costs. Just didn’t say anything about how she was going to go about dealing with these issues. I guess just wave a magic wand and make the roads all better and make going to the doctor cheaper.

There was also a little post it note stuck on the back with what was supposed to be a handwritten message “sorry I missed you” and “signed” by her. Now, if this had been hooked on the front door, it would have been more effective. But since it was down at my mailbox which is a good distance from the front door, you didn’t “miss me”, you didn’t even try to see me. Not that it was her anyway – probably some volunteer flunky out canvasing the neighborhood and dropping these off. I don’t know if this stuff actually works on anyone but it makes me sad to think it might.

Well that’s enough for tonight.