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We Should Never Return to “Normal” After COVID-19
A dangerous virus will happen again. Why not be ready for it?
It seems that the pressure to reopen the economy is building. Unless there are strong indications that it is not safe to do this, I suspect that states will soon allow businesses to return to something approaching normalcy.
Most of what I’ve read about that has officials assuring us that precautions will still be in place. They expect that employees will be wearing masks, that retail stores will need to control occupancy numbers for both employees and customers. The fear, of course, is that COVID-19 will flare up again.
I have yet to hear anyone propose what I think should be quite obvious: we should never stop wearing masks in public. We should be observing social distancing guidelines wherever possible. Barriers and shields should remain in place to protect employees and employees should have frequent, mandatory hand washing ”breaks” at every place of business.
Does this sound ridiculous? Is it overkill? A paranoid abundance of caution, perhaps?
I don’t think so. We will have another pandemic. Disease experts say that pandemics are likely to come more frequently as the planet’s biodiversity shrinks. Keeping our current…
