Shut down and shut up!!!

"Well, tomorrow night the state of Minnesota goes under a modified house arrest. Some of our fine restaurants, which have been hanging on my their fingernails, will not survive. Some of our health clubs will not survive. Thanksgiving is a scrub, and the way it looks, Christmas will be also."

Hello? Is anyone out there? I am trapped in Minnesota, the land where (per Garage Logic), " absolutely nothing is allowed." Starting tomorrow night, it will also be the land where "absolutely nothing is open." The Governor has joined some other blue Governors in this country, and told folks it is time to act like Herman's Hermits - again. And just like with the last shut down last spring, this respiratory disease has caused a run on toilet paper. Why? Who knows.

Here is the bottom line, coming from someone who knows nothing. All the preventative measures this state has taken since the get go, may have helped - or may not have. When I look at the current spike, every metric which has been measured has been surpassed - by a lot. That being the case, I have talked to NOBODY to date who thinks this four week shutdown will bring our positivity back to 5%. As my doctor told me last summer when I ask him about this virus, his words were, "there is no stopping it now."

Somebody told me lately that we should be more like New Zealand. Shut everything down, 100%. No working, no shopping, no school, no nothing. Heck, that worked for a very small, socialist country like New Zealand, why not here? Quick answer - it will wreck this country. We are not New Zealand. Maybe wreck our country for good.

Here is the bottom line. Experts who are doing "contact tracing" for those who have become infected, have a real dilemma. About one third of those infections came from somewhere or something unknown. They have clue on these folks became infected. My thoughts? As long as that third remains unknown, we don't know if the Governor's shut down will help us or not. 

I know this will piss off the anti-vaxxers, but I will say it anyway. We need to start vaccinations sooner rather than later. With two of the vaccines having a 95% effectiveness factor, it is time to start letting our first responders and care givers get the shot. Mayo Clinic right now has hundreds of staff members who are either infected, or on quarantine. Why? Bad PPE? Nope. It is thought these staff members got infected in the break room, when they took their N95 masks off to eat or drink. Hopefully, once they get the vaccine, that problem should become much less. 

Once this pandemic is over, and it will be over some day, I hope some of the Wizards of Smart are able to write volumes on what we all did wrong. We have learned a lot from Covid - 19 and the mistakes we have made. Unfortunately, that learning has come at a great cost. Over 11,000,000 of our citizens infected, with 250,000 dying (to date). We have to get smart, and fast. Why? Bill Gates is already talking about a Covid - 21. 

Well, tomorrow night the state of Minnesota goes under modified house arrest. Some of our fine restaurants, which have been hanging on my their fingernails, will not survive. Some of our health clubs will not survive. Thanksgiving is a scrub, and the way it looks, Christmas will be also. The good news? It will be 55 degrees today. Not bad for late November. That is all.