Briefly in Book Seven: Reconstruction 2020

Iowa is still seeing an increasing number of C19 cases. New cases admitted to the hospital every day. In her daily briefing, the Governor said that we don’t expect to see the peak of this until the end of the month. Meaning, that our government expects to be getting more and more new cases in the next few weeks. And yet we’re still on target to “Open back up on April 30th.” I know that it is best to play things by ear and we don’t want to extend things too far out in case of good news or miracles. But if you’re already saying that this thing is going to get worse and worse as the end of the month approaches… wouldn’t it make more sense to already declare closures will extend into May? They don’t even have to be that far into May. Pick a date between Star Wars Day and Norwegian Constitution Day for all I care. But one of the things that has made all of this so stressful for everyone is the constant feeling of “Okay, when is this going to change? When do I go back to work? When can I take my child to daycare again? When will I see my family and friends in person?” People are hoping for an end. And telling people that we’ll all have to gear up to get back at it on April 30th… when you damned well know you’re going to push the date back already… seems like adding to people’s frustrations foolishly. If your medical team is already saying “We won’t see the end of this for a while” listen to them!

Oh, another thing semi-off topic but I’ve been thinking about it a lot. NOT joking, honestly contemplating. For agoraphobics is this whole thing making that situation better? Worse? Not affecting it? Because I can imagine scenarios for all three answers. Better because now you’re not “an odd one out” so much. The entire world is trying to stay home and businesses (some) are going out of their way to accommodate the Stay Home environment. At the same time, I can imagine this situation making the whole thing worse as agoraphobia stems from fear, panic, anxiety… and there are a lot of people in the world who are experiencing that right now in ways they couldn’t before imagine. Also, I can imagine this having no effect. I mean, no more effect than it is having on any of the rest of us. I was just… I thought about that this morning and was really curious.