By Eric W. schoen
‘There you are
Looking just the same as you did last time I ‘saw’ you
And here I am
Close to getting tangled up inside the thought of you…
Looks like we made it
Left each other on the way
Looks like we made it
I truly think so today
Now Thank God You are there, everywhere
And all I could think was yes, we made it!
We borrow a little touch of the great Barry Manilow this week as we get ready to open Westchester and the Hudson Valley. Will we act like the idiots who invaded the Lake of the Ozarks last weekend and played on top of each other like some weird kind of orgy?
Will we stand on line on top of each other on a cloudy day? When it’s cold outside in the month of May on the Jersey Shore just to score a beach pass? What will make us feel this way?
Will we violate all the rules that got us to this point? Social Distancing, staying 6 feet away from others. Wearing those stupid annoying masks that help us and those around us stay safe. Washing our hands constantly with soap and water. Using that ‘icky’ hand sanitizer when we can’t get to the sink. You can wear plastic gloves but remember touching numerous surfaces with the same gloves just spreads the virus to other surfaces.
Speaking of other surfaces, why is it taking the CDC so long to determine how long the Coronavirus can live on the surfaces we touch? Or how long the virus is in the air and lives with droplets coming from our mouths?
Eating foods that help keep our immunity system strong. Following the advice of our doctors to drink plenty of liquids with a particular interest in drinking hot and warm beverages that work to kill the virus in our throats as the virus hates heat. The list of vitamins and supplements to take is there: C, D, E, Zinc, Probiotics. I’m no doctor and you don’t have to be one either.
Not falling to ‘quackery’ by consuming large quantities of sauerkraut, kimchi, medications our government tells us do not work or can cause serious medical reaction including death. And certainly not consuming Lysol or other disinfectants that can cause serious injuries to our bodies and death.
We eagerly wait for our elected officials to get together and Let the health authorities lead the way and tell us what to. Sadly it’s all about politics when it should be about people. The camera ops with elected officials handing out food to those in need have become obnoxious. There are plenty of community based people that would do a better job distributing donations. The electeds should be trying to get us more food and money to help us.
The first phase of recovery is more symbolic than substantive and unless you are intimately involved you won’t realize it. Startup of Construction, so critical to the economy; manufacturing to bring more product on the market and restart of the wholesale supply chain.
The last item in the first phase is select retail, mainly curbside pickup. What this means for you and me I don’t know. Can we order beauty products from let’s say Ulta and pick them up at the store? Slinky gowns from Victoria’s Secret for store pickup? Order jeans from Macy’s and pick them up at the store. We will wait for our great retailers to define this.
It doesn’t mean hair cutting but with use of masks, gloves, capes and sanitized utensils I hope this is on the horizon. I still won’t be able to enter Burlington Coat Factory or Marshall’s to snag a bargain. But when we can, I hear from around the country sales are going to be big.
As I told you last week and the nose swabbed Governor showed you, there is plenty of testing for Covid 19 available. Westchesterites need to take advantage of it. That was the main request all along from our electeds, we need more testing! it’s free of charge and in the case of antibodies simple to do. Though not Hollywood style, you get a ‘swag’ bag with protein bar, bottle of water and important information.
So friends, our local world as we knew it is finally getting back to normal. It will still take some time and whether we like it or not some work on our part. We don’t want to screw it up and go back to square 1. Please, please don’t be like the jackasses throughout the country who didn’t follow some basic, simple rules, some like hand washing that we should have been doing since 1st. or 2nd grade.
Yes, we’ve got the whole world in our hands!
Reach Eric Schoen at thistooisyonkers@aol.com. Follow him on Twitter @ericyonkers. Listen to Eric Schoen and Dan Murphy on the Westchester Rising Radio Show Thursday’s from 10-11 a.m. On WVOX 1460 AM, go to WVOX.com and click the arrow to listen to the live stream or download the WVOX app from the App Store free of charge.
