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Mar. 17th, 2020 04:21 pmOK, some explanation on that last post:
I am angry and sad because, as I've said before, I don't see any likelihood that, when the Governor's ban on all gatherings in MA expires on April 6, the situation will have changed appreciably.* Thus, unless Baker's sole goal is to buy some time in which to get something (testing?) in place, he will then extend the ban.
Now that in itself rubs me the wrong way, because if he knows that, he ought to have the guts to be honest about it. But that's a minor detail.
If the ban is extended beyond April 6, church services for the Triduum and Easter will not be able to happen.** And... look, those are THE great festivals of the church year, and you CANNOT have Easter, at least in any sense that is meaningful to me, without those services. Easter Vigil, in particular, is the service I would still need to go to if I was an atheist.
And no, doing them online does not cut it either. Forget about the digital divide, this is when "the Church invites her members, dispersed throughout the world, to gather".
So I'd already be angry and sad. And uncertain: if this happens, do I follow the edict? Do I technically follow it and ignore its spirit and drive up to Maine or somewhere? (Assuming services are even happening there.) Do I find some sort of illegal underground church service?
(I'm leaning toward option 1, but I am being entirely serious: these are options I'm considering.)
But here's the thing.
Say Baker extends the ban on gatherings. Say we get to...I dunno, the end of April. That gives us a full six weeks, so beyond the usual incubation period for COVID-19. Okay, actually, I can see that making sense - with no new cases, we would have stopped the disease, for the moment - but that only works if everything works perfectly. (Well, or if there's a working vaccine widely available by then, but the odds against that are astronomical.) Otherwise, we still have some unknown and unidentified segment of the population of the Commonwealth walking around, carrying the virus.
What does he do at that point?
Extend the ban? Until when? Assuming we successfully flatten the curve but don't get rid of the Coronavirus in the US, the peak number of cases is predicted to come in fucking November. Can we shut down the state for that long? I would say No: that will put us beyond The Economy Tanks straight to Societal Collapse. We can stay locked up inside for six weeks, but if it turns into six months...people will not, indeed cannot, deal with that. Mass disregard for the law would be the best scenario.
Or would he relax it?
That might make sense. But in that case, I and everyone will ask, "Why couldn't we have done that sooner?"
----------
Weather, incidentally: it's been more seasonal this past week. Date #2 commented on Sunday that while it was chilly, it was still above average for the time of year, but that night featured a hard frost, and it snowed (briefly and damply) this morning. And it is currently $%&^* freezing in this apartment.
* Which in one sense, I suppose, is the goal...
** Legally.
I am angry and sad because, as I've said before, I don't see any likelihood that, when the Governor's ban on all gatherings in MA expires on April 6, the situation will have changed appreciably.* Thus, unless Baker's sole goal is to buy some time in which to get something (testing?) in place, he will then extend the ban.
Now that in itself rubs me the wrong way, because if he knows that, he ought to have the guts to be honest about it. But that's a minor detail.
If the ban is extended beyond April 6, church services for the Triduum and Easter will not be able to happen.** And... look, those are THE great festivals of the church year, and you CANNOT have Easter, at least in any sense that is meaningful to me, without those services. Easter Vigil, in particular, is the service I would still need to go to if I was an atheist.
And no, doing them online does not cut it either. Forget about the digital divide, this is when "the Church invites her members, dispersed throughout the world, to gather".
So I'd already be angry and sad. And uncertain: if this happens, do I follow the edict? Do I technically follow it and ignore its spirit and drive up to Maine or somewhere? (Assuming services are even happening there.) Do I find some sort of illegal underground church service?
(I'm leaning toward option 1, but I am being entirely serious: these are options I'm considering.)
But here's the thing.
Say Baker extends the ban on gatherings. Say we get to...I dunno, the end of April. That gives us a full six weeks, so beyond the usual incubation period for COVID-19. Okay, actually, I can see that making sense - with no new cases, we would have stopped the disease, for the moment - but that only works if everything works perfectly. (Well, or if there's a working vaccine widely available by then, but the odds against that are astronomical.) Otherwise, we still have some unknown and unidentified segment of the population of the Commonwealth walking around, carrying the virus.
What does he do at that point?
Extend the ban? Until when? Assuming we successfully flatten the curve but don't get rid of the Coronavirus in the US, the peak number of cases is predicted to come in fucking November. Can we shut down the state for that long? I would say No: that will put us beyond The Economy Tanks straight to Societal Collapse. We can stay locked up inside for six weeks, but if it turns into six months...people will not, indeed cannot, deal with that. Mass disregard for the law would be the best scenario.
Or would he relax it?
That might make sense. But in that case, I and everyone will ask, "Why couldn't we have done that sooner?"
----------
Weather, incidentally: it's been more seasonal this past week. Date #2 commented on Sunday that while it was chilly, it was still above average for the time of year, but that night featured a hard frost, and it snowed (briefly and damply) this morning. And it is currently $%&^* freezing in this apartment.
* Which in one sense, I suppose, is the goal...
** Legally.
