COVID19: Case Counts, Frustration, Back to School

Yesterday, Tennessee had 799 new cases of novel coronavirus. The day before that, the number was 986, and before that, it was 800'ish. We've had, I think, two separate days with more than a thousand cases each. 

Different kinds of businesses in the state keep opening to customers - some with restrictions and limits on occupancy and some without. Restaurants are supposed to be operating at maybe 50% of what is normally allowed, but I think some are pushing the envelope because they need and want the business, and people are more than ready to give it to them. 

More and more frustration with the situation is building, and without clear orders/requirements to wear masks or to limit shopping and other outings to essential business only, some states, like Tennessee, are struggling to get ahead of spiking numbers of cases. "Flattening the curve" is still weeks and an atrocious number of preventable infections away. Unless folks start taking this pandemic seriously, we may not get to that point. 

Many counties, including DeKalb, are planning to start school as usual in August, but nobody seems to have a clear idea of what's going to happen or how it's going to look in practice. From what I've seen on social media and in the news, the people in charge of coming up with a plan haven't been and aren't listening to teachers, focusing instead on doing whatever is necessary to stimulate the local economies which pay the bills and make-nice with the loudest, meanest, most oppositional parent voices. 

As a non-parent, some say I don't have a dog in the race, but I'm a property-owning tax payer, and while my sister and nieces aren't part of the school system here, they are very involved in the school system where they live, so yes, I do. Sis teaches, and Lu and Bea are both students. Wanting them to be safe and expecting the safety of people just like them to be the priority isn't selfish, and none of us - NONE of us - should expect anything less. 

My blog readership is tiny, but I'm thinking about writing a letter to the editor, and this is a good place to practice.

Click on this link to reach the Tennessee state website to see each day's updated case count, recovered, death, and number of tests performed. It is updated at 2:00 p.m. daily.

https://www.tn.gov/health/cedep/ncov.html