This too is Yonkers, by Eric Schoen
We are all eager to get out of the house and resume our lives as they were before Coronavirus came upon us. This will not be like turning on the light switch in your bedroom. A lot of thinking has to come into play, and it has to be done slowly.
I just read an article that Memphis has put the reopening of that city in large part into the hands of four doctors: infectious disease specialist, immunologist, orthopedic surgeon and a pediatrician. They have been meeting through Zoom to provide guidance to the elected officials of Memphis in terms of how and when to reopen this city where music has been created that is such an important part of our lives.
Is that being done here? Are opening plans being heavily influenced by politicians and business people? We all want the economy open as soon as possible but Many non health officials admittedly come to the table with good intentions but conflicting and competing interests that might trigger another outbreak that could be devastating not only to the economy but to the lives of the people of this country
I heard something troubling on the radio Tuesday morning. New Jersey had reopened many public parks over the weekend but bathroom facilities in those parks remained closed. People were leaving human waste in plastic bottles. And deli containers. Disgusting and extremely unhealthy for the public works crews responsible for cleaning the mess up.
The reason why they kept the bathrooms closed was to stop the spread of Coronavirus. Forget about toileting for a minute. Haven’t we heard from everyone involved in the Coronavirus crisis to wash your hands frequently with soap and water. How do you expect one to do this without soap and water you would find in the bathrooms at the park
Continuing with our New Jersey park discussion, how do you expect families probably spending a minimum of 4 hours in a park to exist without toilets?Now you don’t have to be a rocket scientist or someone with a large bladder to understand this. So now they are talking about closing the parks again, screwing the people who pay good tax dollars for an open park so that they will not be faced with this problem.
The person who should be fired here is the person who came up with the stupid idea to open the parks and keep the bathrooms closed. And the talk about getting Coronavirus from a bathroom? This reminds me of people during the AIDS crisis who said you could catch AIDS from a toilet seat or breathing in the air standing while in the company of someone with the disease. Only this time the virus is airborne and you and can catch Coronavirus in the company of someone with an active case.
Look at the many deaths caused by the Federal government telling state health departments that they must direct nursing homes to accept patients with Coronavirus from hospitals. What brilliant scholar with no knowledge of viruses or how quickly they spread came up with that idea. The CV patient gets admitted to the nursing home and the home, often filled with individuals with compromised immune systems and comorbidities becomes a breeding group for Coronavirus.
Our government tells us that if we are going to be within 6 feet of each other to where a mask. Do you see a lot of people out there not heeding this advice? Big shots that pull up in their fancy cars to the 7 Eleven with a Police Society sticker that was bought off the internet and walk in unmasked. There are floor markings every 6 feet telling you where to stand and wait to be called to ring up your purchase, and these idiots ignore everything. Next time someone comes close to you say something. Same thing goes if they don’t have their mask on.
The big thing you hear today is contact tracing. It means that as soon as you know of a person who may have a virus or have tested presumptive positive, you work immediately to first isolate that person so they do not spread it further. You keep them away from other people, and then you work with that person directly to understand who they have come in contact with.
Contact tracers wind up tracking a “spider web of transmission,” following a pathogen like the coronavirus as it spreads from person to person. Each person who’s been infected is asked about their contacts, and then those contacts are approached. I’m no doctor, but I don’t see how it is going to work effectively. The tracer can trace who a person remembers having contact with, but how about those the individuals who walked by the individual. Those that served them at the local grocery store and the many other people they have been in contact with during the day. The medical folks say this is going to work, it’s a technique old as time but I have questions in a big city like New York or even Yonkers how effectively contact tracing is going to work.
Many of us have purchased masks to protect us. We think they protect us, but they are really supposed to protect others from coming into contact with anything coming out of our mouth or nose. Do we know what these masks are made of and the protection they provide. If we bought them for $2 at the 7 Eleven do we know if they are surgical quality N 95 masks or one of the millions of imposters? For the country to open up properly we will all need to know that we are wearing masks that truly can protect us.
Startling numbers the other day. 60% of the people who got Coronavirus were not out and about in contact with others who had the virus but were simply sitting at home as the government told us to do. Which leads me to believe what I have been saying all along. For your psychological as well as physical health you need to get fresh air everyday, exercise to the best of your ability and breath fresh air into those lungs.
When you are in bed in the hospital don’t they encourage you if you can to get out of bed and move around so you won’t catch pneumonia? I’m no medical doctor but I do believe the same is true if you are sitting in the house and not moving around and either going out of the house for fresh air or opening those windows wide to let the fresh air in
How can a store like Target which is allowed to stay open as they sell pharmacy items and fresh food stay open without any problems but we fear opening Macy’s would cause a Coronavirus outbreak. They limit the people they let in the store, monitor the people going to cashiers who have plexiglass covering them, big signs encouraging social distancing, clean bathrooms, someone wiping down the carts after each use and associates throughout the store to help you and gently remind you if you are not following the rules.
Reopening New York State and America is going to take a lot of hard work and thought. Things will have to change. Washing hands? First thing we are taught in school. But I see many people still not doing it.
We’ve come so far. Let’s put our thinking caps on guided by the medical professionals and we will overcome COVID 19. We are New Yorkers. We are Americans. Very Smart, savvy people.
It’s up to you!
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.
