A coronavirus headache

   Everyday it’s something. 

   It’s those people who keep going out and getting together, putting themselves, their loved ones and the rest of us in danger of getting the coronavirus, not to mention extending the time that this stay-at-home business, at least in some areas including here, will go on.  It’s that some of those people who are going out are protesting the stay-at-home orders with American flags, Make America Great hats, assault rifles and signs like, as mentioned in a recent Los Angeles Times article, “Sacrifice the weak – save Tennessee.” (“Weak,” to be perfectly clear, means the elderly, the disabled – like me.) It’s the stories that keep coming out about how much the Trump administration knew early on about the coronavirus and didn’t do anything about it. 

   Everyday it’s something that makes me angrier and angrier.  Not the best thing for staying stress-free and healthy! As if all this isn’t maddening enough, it’s now becoming clear that all this, and especially Trump and his administration’s bumbling, has left us in a gigantic mess, a gigantic hot mess. 

   Yes, all the talk now is about opening up, about lifting or easing the stay-at-home orders and letting businesses, schools, churches, etc., open, about going back to business-as-usual, going back to normal. Yes, we all want to get back to normal, back to how life was just two months ago when, as we were lead to believe, COVID-19 was just something happening in China and we carried on business-as-usual. We all want to not be saying this, as surreal, as nightmarish as it is.  I know I do.

   But – really?  How will this all happen, as much as we want it to happen, as much as I want it to happen?  How will we get back to normal?  Or can we? 

   It’s a lot that has to happen. And there is talk that it may not all happen, at least until a vaccine is found and distributed – not for another year at the very least.  It is said we’ll be wearing masks and not shaking hands and hugging and not going to large gatherings and concerts for quite some time.  

   But that’s the easy part.  Even not hugging! Yes, we talk about opening up, going back to business-as-usual.  But, as much as we all want this to happen, how will it happen? 

   I won’t even begin to get into the weeds on this.  I’ll just mention a couple things that I have been wondering about and that have been given me enough headaches. 

   Okay. When the stay-at-home order is lifted here in L.A County, there will be people who will be raring to go and plenty of others, I suspect, who will be wary.  Will the latter be penalized for not wanting to go in to work or miss out in other ways?  What about stores that open and find that people aren’t flocking in?  Will they still be able to receive aid? 

   By the way, our stay-at-home order here in Los Angeles County is scheduled to end on the 15^th, but, with the way things have be going on with infections and deaths here, I won’t be at all surprised if they’re extended to June 1 or later. 

   And what about colleges?  Should Fall semester be online?  What if some colleges are online and others aren’t? For example, what if I was in Georgia, where everything may be open, and a student at Pomona College here in Claremont, which may choose to stay online this Fall?  I suspect I’d be pretty pissed, especially with what I’m paying.  Conversely, what if I was a kid here in Claremont and didn’t feel comfortable going back to school in Georgia? Is it possible for some students to be back on campus while others keep taking classes online? 

   See what I mean about getting a headache?