May 18, 2021

"Public Health Madison and Dane County announced Tuesday that after the expiration of the current COVID-19 public health order, no new ones would be issued."

So even though Dane County is one of the most-vaccinated counties in the U.S., we need to wait until June 2nd. They can't just put out a new order and free us from the restriction? Like the old order deserves to live out its life unmolested?
Posted by Ann Althouse at 12:52 PM

6 comments:

Ann Althouse said...

A reader named Chris writes:

"The county leaving the last two weeks of restrictions in place is like eating the last piece of cherry pie, even if you’re already stuffed. It tastes good, and it’s easy to rationalize."

I don't know if that's a good analogy, but it's a funny analogy.

The idea that some people are wearing masks with the enthusiasm of pie-eating is... thinkable.

By the way, the most delicious food I ever ate was cherry pie — homemade pie from someone who had their own cherry tree.

5/18/21, 2:28 PM
Ann Althouse said...

“Mike of Snoqualmie” writes:

"I did the weekly shopping yesterday and visited my doctor. None of the three stores (Cash & Carry, Costco and Safeway) were requiring masks. Safeway had turned their “Masks Required.” Sign around so it was showing the generic covid information. At the doctor’s office, no one said anything about my maskless face until a tech said something. Only then did I put a mask on. So, ignore the mask nonsense, and only mask up if someone makes an issue of it."

Oh, I can't do that in Madison.

5/18/21, 2:44 PM
Ann Althouse said...

Lucien writes:

"Could it be municipal virtue signaling? It wouldn’t do to seem eager to remove restrictions."

Something like that.

Maybe it's something like a strip tease. You have to take it off slowly and have plenty of time to think about what it will be like when it's off.

Or it could be that they know some people are afraid or resistant and they want to give them some lead time to adjust.

5/18/21, 2:53 PM
Ann Althouse said...

GPM writes:

"Brookline Mass., one of the most supposedly liberal towns but clearly to anyone who knows a town with one of the most authoritarian and repressive governments in the country (I live half a block from the border, in the relatively gloriously free city of Boston), surprisingly decided today that they will follow the state decision to end the Covid madness as of 5/29. Don't know why we need to wait another week and a half, but OK.

"More to the point, I was truly surprised that a big chunk (maybe a third?) of the (fairly large number of) people I saw while walking a block and a half home after dining out in Brookline weren't masked. A huge change from everything before the last day or so. Probably didn't hurt that it was sunny and hit 80 degrees today.

"The preference cascade has perhaps begun. Would explain the CDC flipflop: Without denying other, possibly political considerations, they realized that lots of people were going to just start ignoring the non-science they've been peddling.

"Remains to be seen how the local business will react."

5/19/21, 6:51 AM
Ann Althouse said...

Mary writes:

Itotally understand the frustration of having to wait, but I think it might be to let businesses get a grip on how to handle the no-mask situation.

Here in Oregon the state is going by the CDC recommendations, and businesses are making their own mask rules as to what they deem safe. Which can backfire pretty bad. Here’s an amusement park Enchanted Forest in Oregon that was going to open on Saturday, they said to provide your vaccination card to enter without a mask, or wear a mask if you’re unvaccinated. In less than 24 hrs of selling out tickets, It seems they got threats to the point that they had to close and aren’t opening now.

There is a serious problem with people that refuse to get vaccinated and also refuse to wear a mask. I had my second vaccination a little over a week ago, and I want to go out without a mask where it’s appropriate, I kind of feel like if they want to risk their own health there is not much we can do as a society to change that.

One more reason to wait until June 2nd. It’s barely been a week since 12-15 year olds can get vaccinated. My husband and I were in the park over the weekend and saw a family, adults wore no mask, the kids did wear masks. So if you wait a couple weeks then most of the family can go out maskless together.

I still can’t believe how masks became a political divide during a pandemic, and globally too! We’re supposed to be the smart species, right?

My main concern is the damage to local businesses, so if the extra 2 weeks allows people to adjust and avoid behaving badly, that might be helpful to businesses.

It really is hard to get masses of people to behave well!

5/19/21, 6:55 AM
Ann Althouse said...

LA_Bob writes:

There may indeed be some practical reasons for the selection of peculiar and delayed "opening dates". But they tend to strike me as some sort of theater from the bluer state and local governments. "We've cared for and protected you for over a year now, and we deem it safe for you to venture forth and play once again to your hearts' contents. Never forget how much we did for you."

Nothing offends "benevolent" authoritarian leaders (I'm looking at you, Governor Gruesome. And you, Governor Whitmer, and you Governor Cuomo...) than free-range subjects.

5/19/21, 11:07 AM

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