We’re so done with COVID! (COVID’s not done with us)
Don’t know if you’ve heard, but COVID is over. Overheard from a woman on a Burbank to Vegas Southwest jet. “I’m stimmied, vaxed and waxed. Got $1,400 burning a hole in my pocket. Baby needs to play!” I call Las Vegas the ground zero COVID test city as no other city is so reliant on tourists. The Las Vegas pool parties are back with wall-to-wall millennials crowded in a pool. Las Vegas Boulevard and Fremont Street are jammed-packed every weekend with people partying like its 2019. Corporate America is pushing back hard against COVID protocols. MGM Grand Las Vegas wants to reopen for conventions if people had their vaccine shots, take temperatures, wear masks and socially distance. Not sure how that’s gonna work out with thousands of folks crammed in a ballroom, eating, drinking and talking loudly while the pandemic still rages.
It’s not just Vegas, it’s everywhere. The beaches and amusement parks in SoCal and Florida are getting crowded again. MLB’s Texas Rangers just had 38,000 fans at their season opener. Spring Break in Florida had huge crowds as millennials think they’re immune from COVID. Florida has re-opened (not sure if they ever closed) with their bars and restaurants filled with people, most not wearing masks. If I run into one more person who just got back from a week in Mexico because “they let us drink, dance and party all night long down there” I’m gonna puke.
All the while we’re approaching almost 10% of the U.S. population having contracted COVID. We’ve got over 561,000 COVID deaths so far and no one cares. Michigan now has higher COVID positivity rates and higher hospitalizations than April 2020 when they had a “shelter in place” order (it wasn’t a lockdown!). To put things in perspective, on April 3, 2020, Michigan peaked at 1,953 new COVID cases and we had to “get this curve under control.” Friday they had 7,834 new cases, and everyone just wants to get life back to normal again. Ain’t no way a Democratic governor is doing another “shelter in place” order as the Second Amendment enthusiasts will gather with their assault rifles and threaten another Insurrection Day at 50 state capitals. You think Gov. GQ is going to order another shelter in place? Just the opposite. California will be opening back up on June 15, whether or not you’ve had your two vaccine shots. Bars, restaurants, churches, sporting events, indoor crowds all open for business. The Supreme Court just struck down a California ruling on home-based bible studies and prayers sessions, which will lead to churches hiding behind the First Amendment reopening with their singing choirs, pandemic be damned.
I don’t know about you, but I believe in science. When I read the Johns Hopkins Medicine update talking about the new variants of coronavirus I pay attention. First we have the B.1.351 from South Africa, then the B.1.1.7 variant from England. Both of these may be more deadly than the original coronavirus and both are now spreading in the U.S. This should be telling us to get vaccinated, wear a mask, stay six feet apart and avoid indoor crowds. Instead many are doing the opposite.
I know, I know. Dr. Fauci has flip-flopped his recommendations on more than one occasion. The Scarf Lady is gone. Many people who got their vaccinations think that COVID doesn’t apply to them anymore, so why bother wearing a mask? Bars in Eureka are packed again from early morning hours on as everyone is sick and tired of these COVID protocols and just wants to live their normal lives again. I will say that the bar patrons did observe six-inch social distancing and most had their masks on, just down around their necks. It’s hard wearing a mask while you power drink and talk loudly in tight indoor quarters.
You think Gov. GQ is going to order another shelter in place? Just the opposite.