Easing lockdowns makes daily choices more complicated
Things were so much clearer when just about everything was locked down.
Now, with states lifting their corona virus restrictions piecemeal and according to their own, often arbitrary, timetables, Americans are facing a bewildering multitude of decisions about what they should and should not do to protect their health, their livelihoods and their fellow citizens.
Is it safe now to join the crowds at the beach or eat at a restaurant? To visit the elderly parents you haven't seen in nearly two months? To reopen a struggling business?
In many cases, the lessthan- satisfying answer from the experts is: It depends.
“There will never be a perfect amount of protection,” said Josh Santarpia, a microbiology expert at the University of Nebraska Medical Center who is studying the coronavirus. “It's a personal risk assessment. Everybody has to decide, person by person, what risk they're willing to tolerate.”
Jill Faust, 53, of Council Bluffs, Iowa, said she would hesitate to eat at an indoor restaurant when such businesses are allowed to reopen in her community on Friday.
“We would have to know ahead of time what precautions they're taking,” she said, citing the way some restaurants may rely on limited seating, well-spaced tables, masks for employees and disposable cups and plates. Even then, she said, it might not be worth the trouble.
“Going to a restaurant to me is this lovely, relaxing experience where you can sit with people and relax and catch up after a long day. If your experience is going to be limited by all these safety concerns, why spend the money?” she said.
Such decisions will become far more frequent in the coming weeks as officials in Europe and the U.S. move to reopen schools and businesses. With the crisis ea sing in many places, France, Spain and Greece were among the latest countries Tuesday to announce their roadmaps for starting up their economies again.
As places loosen up, health authorities will be watching closely for any sign of a resurgence of the virus.
On Tuesday, for example, Germany reported
an up tick in the infection rate since some small businesses were allowed to reopen just over a week ago. But it was too soon to say whether the easing of the restrictions was to blame.
Around the world, the number of confirmed infections stood at more than 3 million— including 1 million in the U.S. —and the confirmed global death toll topped 210,000, according to Johns Hopkins University. The true toll is believed to be much higher because of limited testing, differences in counting the dead and government concealment.