Not My Phase 2

May 10, 2020

Well, darlings, here we are.
Last Monday, the Italian government officially started what they called Phase 2 of Lockdown, meaning more factories could restart and more businesses could reopen shop. This, of course, doesn’t apply to education. Restaurants could also reopen, if only for takeaway, and we were able to have sushi and pizza, this week. No, I don’t mean together, you savages.
It also meant that you could go visit your relatives, provided the family reunion doesn’t include more than two people. This, of course, doesn’t include friends. And we would also have a full house anyway.

You can go out to exercise, but you can’t seat on a bench unless to regain your breath. And you can only go out wearing a mask.
I happened to mention that we didn’t have any masks to the guys of the Japanese restaurants we share the courtyard with, the night I ordered sushi, and they gave us a gift bag with a bunch of the surgical kind. They were sweet.
Still, I haven’t been out of the house since the end of March and this week didn’t change that.

And it’s not just because I’m still waiting for my masks to arrive from Etsy.

I guess I’m not comfortable with the general guideline “we have to re-open economy and everything is going to be all right, but people will be dead if you meet in groups of three”. I would be far more comfortable with the guideline “you have to keep working and if you don’t need to get out of the house to do it you fucking stay put”. I guess it’s not that catchy.

Our major flew off the handle, this week, at the news Phase 2 has been interpreted as a get-out-of-the-house ticket. I recommend it even if you don’t speak Italian, if only for the tone. Auto-translated subtitles are pretty accurate.

I see that the world seems to be going through similar struggles and I thank my friend Alexine for recommending the best insight I have seen so far on this topic.

SURE, THE VELOCIRAPTORS ARE STILL ON THE LOOSE, BUT THAT’S NO REASON NOT TO REOPEN JURASSIC PARK
by CARLOS GREAVES

So that’s it. That’s me. Still teaching online. Still staying at home. I’ll meet my friends when the government allows it, and not by some loophole or by pretending we’re twice-removed cousins. And it’s not because I’m worried about myself. I don’t give a fuck about catching the virus: it’s most likely that I already went through a mild version of it. I just know that if we relapse we’ll be fucked for good. Our economy will be fucked. Our youngsters will be fucked. People who need to get out of the house to make a living will be fucked.

What’s up with you, people? Are you (sigh…) staying alert?

#Fuck

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