Covid-19: Buckling Down

This evening I received a notice from my Red Cross boss regarding neighboring San Benito County (pop. ~ 60,000): Advisory: NEW EXTENDED AND MORE RESTRICTIVE SHELTER IN PLACE ORDER ISSUED BY SAN BENITO COUNTY HEALTH OFFICER. The earlier order was set to expire in a week; it has now been extended to May 3. And they're buckling down.

As of today, there have been 21 cases of Covid-19 in San Benito County. Compare that to Monterey County's (pop. ~ 438,000)  42 cases.

The basic instruction for San Benito residents (and all of us) is, of course, to shelter in place. But today there was also "clarifying language around essential business and activities, as well as some new directives, including:

• Use of playgrounds, dog parks, public picnic areas, and similar recreational areas is prohibited. These areas must be closed to public use.
• Use of shared public recreational facilities such as golf courses, tennis and basketball courts  is prohibited. These facilities must be closed for recreational use.
• Sports requiring people to share a ball or other equipment must be limited to people in the same household.
• Funerals limited to no more than 10 people attending
• Essential businesses expanded to include service providers that enable residential transactions (notaries, title companies, Realtors, etc.); funeral homes and cemeteries; moving companies, rental car companies and rideshare services that specifically enable essential activities
• Essential businesses that continue to operate facilities must scale down operations to their essential component only"

Okay. That one about funerals being limited to no more than ten people got me. Imagine losing a loved one and not being able to mourn with your entire community of family and friends. But now I see that even the CDC has recommended that funeral directors livestream funerals to reach a larger audience. And, really: of course. A gathering of no more than ten is what we all need right now. A large, huggy, weepy, free-flowing memorial service can come at a later time. When we're all safe.

Here at home, although I haven't noticed any specific directives, we're seeing similar changes coming into effect. Two days ago the playground areas at our local little park were cordoned off with yellow tape. Okay, we reasoned—lots of surfaces to incubate germs. Today, though, the basketball and volleyball courts were taped off. The "shared ball" thing, I'm guessing. Will the dog park be next?

Meanwhile, in neighboring Monterey the mayor, Hans Uslar, said recently about allowable walks, "If you have to drive, you've gone too far." But of course, not all walks—or neighborhoods, at any rate—are created equal. Uslar subsequently backed off. We are still allowed to drive to, say, the beach. We are allowed to park in public lots at the beach. We are allowed to run, walk, bicycle, surf—but always (yeah, even you, surfer dudes) maintaining six feet of separation.

I saw a report today that the San Francisco Bay Area is flattening the curve. This is good. But we need everybody to flatten the curve.

Everybody.

Stay inside. Stay safe. Stay healthy.