Please Honor Social Distancing Rules, Even if You Are Skeptical of the Risk
I write this because I have been publicly skeptical of some of the COVID-19 responses. But be that as it may, the decision has been made to go all-in on social distancing. I am fully participating, whatever my personal beliefs are about risk. Our family is staying isolated and wearing masks and gloves when we need to go into a store -- not because we are scared but because we are participating. These sorts of things are much easier to do when everyone else is doing them, and more effective as well.
In places like Phoenix that is lightly hit by the virus and in rural areas where my company operates that have been hit not at all (e.g. zero cases in the county), a lot of folks are not playing along. It would be heartbreaking to crash the economy and double the government debt only to have this thing still drag out because folks couldn't put neighborhood barbecues on hold for a few weeks (yes, I have seen several).
Update from a long-time reader:
The claimed purpose of quarantine is to create a gap in a long line of transmission. While it can be quite effective, the quarantine time does not really start until EVERYONE stops moving around. As long as even a few still move between isolated groups, those groups are not actually isolated at all. This means that failure to self quarantine lengthens the required quarantine period of all who actually comply. I would like this to be over, the sooner the better.
