The Governor of the State of Florida announced over the weekend the Re-Opening of the state under a phased plan. In mid-April he empaneled a Task Force to come up with a plan for the re-opening. Early last week they issued to him the report which was then published on the Governor's web page. Over the week end the Governor issued a new Executive Order, 20-112, allowing businesses to begin re-opening. The problem is the EO does not align with the Task Force Report and nowhere is it clear how or what portion of the Task Force Guidelines must be adhered to and implemented.
There is no criteria given as to how those businesses allowed to open and those not were selected. It seems total arbitrary. As an example, restaurants are now allowed to open at 25% capacity but should follow social distancing guidelines. The patrons obviously will not be wearing masks while eating. Does this mean only two people per table and the table must be six feet wide? Or, if you have a party of four do you sit at separate tables still six feet wide. This does not make sense, a big part of the dining out experience is the conversation. Screaming across the table will only spread the virus should a person be infected but asymptomatic.
While the skincare and waxing salon down the street, that normally sees clients by appointment and in a one on one setting, one client and one esthetician in a closed room where all tools, utensils, and other implements are either discarded after a single use, or are sanitized prior to their next use, remains closed. The salon/spa is deemed a non-essential business still.
There has been much talk of contact tracing. Which of the two businesses is in a better position to provide the information needed for contact tracing? The restaurant that is not taking customers by appointment only or the salon/spa that has every client fill out a consent form prior to their service? The restaurant where there may have been various staff and other customers in the premises being served at the same time or the salon/spa where only the client and the esthetician were in contact?
For any re-opening or end to the lockdown to be effective and helpful it cannot be this arbitrary. The guidelines should be clear and it should be all aspects of society, businesses and schools. We do not deserve to be treated as children of a nanny state. We are all much more intelligent than government is giving us credit for. Let's end the lockdown and get everything back in service.
Many will clamor but what about a resurgence of the virus? How do we get rid of any microbial, bacterial or viral disease? Through immunity. Immunity can be acquired in two ways. First through infection and recovery. Second through a vaccine developed for that purpose. We will not survive a lockdown that lasts until there is a vaccine. The stay at home orders, lockdowns and shelter in place orders were never meant to eradicate the virus. They were meant to mitigate the overwhelming of the medical faculties and professionals. It was never meant to keep people from getting infected or prevent deaths. Without immunity people will continue to become infected and people will continue to die. Let's not pretend otherwise.