With almost two months of 'stay at home' and 'social distancing' under our belts, where do we stand with this virus? Depending on where in the country you are, the level of 'lockdown' you are under can vary greatly. Some states have a bare minimum of social restrictions, and some states have already begun slowly opening things back up. On the other hand, if you're in New York, you need to limit your travel, stay indoors as much as possible, and everywhere you go, you have to have a mask just to go inside. In my county, they've even banned drive-by birthdays, which I have already seen numerous people defying. (Good for them, that's a stupid order.)
It's impossible for upstate to reconcile some of these orders, because most of this affects the NYC and surrounding areas. Only a very small percentage are occurring in upstate, yet we have the same restrictions. As an example, all but 700 deaths have occurred in New York, so while the NYC area has a mortality rate of about 0.89%, upstate has a mortality rate of 0.004%. In my county there are less than 200 reported infections, and 17 deaths. More people died from natural causes today, then have since this outbreak began in my county.
With the advent of serological testing, we are starting to see a clearer picture of where we stand with this virus. Nothing is set in stone just yet, but initial testing shows that infection rates are much higher than previously thought, and that makes the virus less scary than it was in the beginning. More people infected, but the same number of deaths means the mortality rate is lower than originally projected.
More good news has come in the form of a report by DHS scientist William Bryan, which shows that numerous disinfectants can easily kill the virus, and sunlight seems adept at killing it in short order, which means summer should see a large decrease in the number of infected, and should hopefully give us a reprieve from the tight lockdown many of us face every day.
While it's been pretty calm overall, healthcare workers continue to work long hours, and protests are starting to erupt around the country as people grow tired of staying at home, not having a paycheck, etc. So far the protests have been peaceful, but there are rumors they are being funded by billionaires anxious to get the country opened up again.
While it's too soon to tell just when we will begin opening up the country on a large scale, the president is adamant at trying to open up the country as soon as possible. I am fearful of a second wave of outbreaks, but considering how our area was affected, I am pretty confident that we will do quite well without too much worry or a huge uptick in infections or deaths.
Where are you at, and how much of an impact has SARS-COV-2 and COVID-19 made on you your area? Are you for or against opening the country back up? Would you like to see it open sooner or later? Let me know in the comments below.
