Getting quieter

They’re closing the borders with Mexico and Canada tomorrow. My periodontist just canceled my oral surgery next week — what a surprise. From a personal standpoint it all seems sort of less dramatic than I expected, maybe because I don’t know anyone who’s gotten sick yet. And I work from home so my life hasn’t really changed. I’ve been posting lots of updates in the Lincoln Squirrel (latest closure: playgrounds) but that’s slowing down now that basically everything has been canceled. One thing I notice this week is that there are zero traffic stops in the police log. I wonder if people are driving better (certainly way less cars on the road) or the cops just aren’t bothering. I read that in Philly, they were told not to go after minor crimes fir the time being. Sort of makes you wonder if they’re spending the time training on how to fight looting and bury bodies.

At this point I have to think that this semi-lockdown is going to last for many months. As soon as they lift it, there’ll be a lot more cases until a vaccine is widely available. Knowing Americans, people are going to start ignoring the social distancing thing out of sheer boredom. They’ll certainly want to venture out and socialize once the weather warms up, which it’s already doing. And then there are the people who are already ignoring the warnings, like Fox News types who think it’s all a Democratic hoax, and young adults who think they’re invincible and are partying on during spring g break. But the ski areas, bars and restaurants are closing, so that might put a bit of a damper on things. Prediction to be filed under “Duh” — booming sales of booze.