Throw a little sweat our way
Ok that’s enough of this pesky social distancing shit, time to get back to the gym!
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp announced Monday that certain businesses in the state would be able to reopen this week in a “small step forward” out of the social distancing measures meant to mitigate the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Kemp, a Republican, said specifically that fitness centers, bowling alleys, body art studios, barbers, hair and nail salons, and massage therapy businesses can reopen as early Friday, April 24.
Because gyms and bowling and hair/nail salons are such vital industries.
Notably, no local ordinance can restrict the openings, which will be implemented statewide.
Goodness, yes, that is notable. It means those pesky big-city liberals in Atlanta can’t have their own stupid Let’s Not Spread Death rules, they have to soak up the death-spreading like everyone else.
“In the same way that we carefully closed businesses and urged operations to end to mitigate the virus’ spread, today we’re announcing plans to incrementally and safely reopen sectors of our economy,” Kemp told reporters.
The move comes alongside similar announcements from the Republican governors of South Carolina and Tennessee after President Donald Trump unveiled new guidelines last week meant to help states loosen their social distancing restrictions.
All very nice except that the virus isn’t using the same rulebook. It doesn’t care that you call it “incrementally,” it just infects anyone it can.
Citing the White House guidance Monday, Kemp said, “We appreciate their leadership and share in the President’s desire to reopen the economy and get Americans back to work.”
In those vital industries gyms and bowling alleys and nail salons.
While the incremental reopenings align with the President’s push, public health experts have repeatedly stressed the dangers of relaxing social distancing measures too early.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert, told CNN last month, “You don’t make the timeline, the virus makes the timeline.”
Yes but Trump.
Wasn’t it the governor of Georgia who, weeks into this crisis, finally clued into the concept of asymptomatic spread? Yeah, I’m gonna trust his judgement.
Not to mention a very late (April 2nd) stay at home initiative, despite his visit to the CDC (March 6th) with Trump for what was essentially a photo op, he “didn’t know” it was contagious from those who are asymptomatic. Yeah right, now the whole of Georgia will be open by April 30th, with some petri dish businesses like gyms open the 24th?
Don’t blame me, I voted for Stacey Abrams, who he essentially stole the election from by throwing out 340,000 votes. Kemp can’t possibly be a bigger corrupt imbecile than Trump, but he’s pretty close.
Get ready for the second wave.
It’s not like asymptomatic spread is something new. This is certainly not the first disease that spreads from asymptomatic people, and it won’t likely be the last…at least, if humanity survives this one.
I guess I might think about putting massage therapists and hair salons into a different category than bowling alleys. It’s certainly been a topic of conversation among my friends and colleagues what we’re going to do with our hair. I was fortunate enough to have had a short cut just before lockdown, but over the weekend I finally bit the bullet, went out to buy hair clippers (not easy to come by at this point, because everyone’s having the same idea), and had a go–it’s not hugely flattering, but I have to say I think I’ve had worse cuts by professionals (and I don’t have to look at the back of my head on a regular basis). But my hair texture is extremely suitable for clipping, I’m happy with a short ‘masculine’ cut, and I don’t actually care that much what I look like, so that was all fine for me–other people have it a lot worse. And we’re still doing video conferencing, and some people are still attempting to apply for jobs, and some people are attempting to do performances from their homes, so it does matter what their hair looks like. And as a friend (with long uncut hair) pointed out the other day, the state of one’s hair does affect one’s self-esteem. I’m not clever enough to come up with safety measures for hair salons, but I do think it’s a non-trivial issue. Same with massage therapy–I’ve been really fortunate that the enforced rest has actually reduced my aches and stiffness, but, it’s been pointed out to me, some people who have lost access to massage therapy have gone back to painkillers, sometimes really powerful ones, and that can’t be healthy for them.
I agree about massage therapists; that’s why I didn’t include them in any of my commentary (aka snide remarks). They’re a luxury for some but not for all, and even when they are a luxury they’re still a useful one. But haircuts? I’m not convinced. I’m also not convinced that self-esteem is a good enough reason to put people in danger.
I would agree with OB on that; of course, it’s easy for me, because I haven’t had a hair cut in years. I wear a long style, and only trim the ends when needed, and I don’t set my hair. I am good with long, straight hair. It’s the only style I’ve found that fits my lifestyle, because it is easy for me to care for without anything needing done but brushing, and pulling into a ponytail for active days. Short cuts were always a hassle for me, because my hair does bad things when short (think Alfalfa here).
But massage parlors…or, for me, physical therapy. It might seem that pain is a trivial issue (and my doctor often ignores it, preferring to deal with life-threatening illnesses such as asthma and diabetes), but it can hamper the ability to do self-care…like brushing one’s long, straight hair with arthritic shoulders. I have been having a flare up, and I suspect that is at least partially psychosomatic because of knowing I can’t start PT right now.
Well, no, I don’t think it might seem that pain is a trivial issue at all! I think pain is about the most non-trivial issue there is apart from death. Some pain can be managed, and how to manage it can be taught, but trivial it ain’t.
Hair, in comparison – yes, sorry, I do think that’s pretty trivial in the context of a pandemic and mandatory stay-home rules. Even people who normally have to look very groomed for work can surely come up with some way to deal with growing hair for now, like for instance just saying first thing “Sorry about the hair but there’s this pandemic thing so I can’t get it cut, now about that [insert online meeting topic]…”
Don Lemon was doing that last night – apologizing for the fro, patting it and saying he keeps pressing it down and there’s this weird thing in the back…