The Bug and The Loons

Contrary to the preening and prattling we get from our political leaders, finding the answer to making our way out of the Covid-19 mess is NOT just a matter of “following the science.”

SCIENCE tells us we aren’t going to have a vaccine we can use until this fall – at BEST – and with the time it’ll take to get enough people immunized it’ll be spring before we can say there’s no major worry about contracting the bug.

THAT’S science. And it’s completely, totally impractical in a real world that somehow still must get moving again to keep people alive financially. Like it or not, the economy IS a factor and there’s a legitimate debate to be had how to save both lives AND jobs.

The “right” answer is normally found somewhere between the extremes. And somewhere between the loons on one side who want to open up, party on and take our chances and the loons on the other side who say everybody ought to be locked down until the end of the year and beyond, there’s probably a sane, balanced strategy.

One good indication that you’ve found than sane, balanced strategy is if BOTH sets of loons are mad at you.

Governor DeSantis looks like he’s found that niche. NOBODY’S happy.

Which means, he’s probably on the right track.

We’re slowly re-opening the state; the Governor let barbers and hair salons open up this week, today said that on Monday gyms can re-open with safety measures, and restaurants we HAVE allowed open at 25% of capacity can now go up to 50%. Movie theatres – not yet. Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties get to start opening a little next week, too. We aren’t caving in to the :open it all” crowd, nor are we panicking and keeping the whole state cooped up.

I’m inclined to be nervous about the Miami corridor – they’re still a “hot spot” and the new-case curve down there hasn’t shown the downward trend the rest of the state has. The percentage of tests given that turn out positive is still higher than elsewhere, too. But Florida has a surprisingly good “track record” so far compared to the rest of the nation.

Consider; we’re the third most populous state in the USA. Yet, in terms of confirmed cases of Covid-19, the midday report today has us at NINTH in total cases. And in mortality rate, in a state with the highest concentration of high-risk old folks, we’re ELEVENTH. Losing 1,875 of our fellow Floridians to this thing is 1,875 too many. But we’re “punching above our weight” in terms of limiting the impact of this thing, and because what we’ve been doing seems to be working better than other states, my instincts are to trust DeSantis’ instincts and reactions as we go forward.

We’ll find out if we’re being too ambitious in a week or two if the testing shows us that a higher percentage of tests come back positive. If there’s a substantial spike, I hope the Governor will hit the “pause” button on further openings. But for the moment, he gets my benefit of the doubt.

First, because the numbers say we’re doing it better here than most other states.

And second, because all the loons are mad at him.

What Do You Think?