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Opening Up
Penna Dexter
The air is leaking out of the bubble of frustration we’ve all been living in. There’s a national sense of relief as states and localities announce they’re relaxing lockdowns, quarantines and social distancing standards. We’re anxious to jump back into normal life, but also cautious – a bit hesitant.
Now that Americans are getting a few more opportunities to try to work again, shop again, pursue recreation in public, and even have elective surgery, some of us are choosy about which of these opportunities to pursue. Political commentator Ben Shapiro wonders if we haven’t gotten used to the feeling of safety we’ve acquired. Or worse, “perhaps we, as a society,” he speculates, “have so fundamentally altered our own perception of risk aversion that we aren’t willing to leave our houses unless the risk is close to zero.”
Lots of governors are saying this is the attitude Americans over 65 or those with certain underlying medical conditions ought to have at least until Phase 3. Stay home. Stay safe.
But Americans are wise to remember what the lockdowns were for — to flatten the curve. We’re going to see second-wave spreading of the virus. Ben Shapiro points out that, “When we emerge from our homes, we will pass the virus to one another again.”
Americans are doing what Americans are supposed to do. They are assessing risks and benefits and, as the government decides less and less for them, they’re deciding for themselves what is best to do and not to do. We’ll get help from President Trump’s three phases of guidelines that are based on how each region of the country does when people start to emerge into society. And more testing will help.
Of the plans to open cities and communities, New York Times columnist Ross Douthat writes that each “will be its own unique experiment, with confounding variables of climate, density, age, and genetics that are nearly impossible to model.”
Lord give us wisdom, boldness, and grace.
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