To Chicagoans suffering from social distancing fatigue: Hang in there

Fellow Chicagoans, can we not be stupid about this?

Not to sound patronizing, it’s just that we’ve seen how New Yorkers have behaved, and New Yorkers are supposed to be sophisticated, right? Yet no sooner has New York begun to reopen, as the spread of the coronavirus has waned, that many New Yorkers have begun to chuck the basic rules of pandemic safety — wearing face coverings and social distancing.

New Yorkers have been crowding outside bars and restaurants like college kids on spring break.

If New Yorkers can be this stupid, who’s to say Chicagoans can’t be just as stupid?

Starting Wednesday in Chicago, bars and brew pubs will reopen their doors, and on Monday the city’s Lakefront Trail will reopen. The bars will be limited to outdoor service, like in New York, with tables set six feet apart and no more than six people at a table. And, in the stern words of Mayor Lori Lightfoot, everybody on the lakefront — bike riders, runners, walkers and Rollerbladers — will have to “keep it moving.”

Social distancing fatigue

Truth is, plenty of Americans have been ignoring the rules of social distancing all along. But most of these people, like that state representative from downstate Illinois, Darren Bailey, never took the science of the coronavirus seriously to begin with. Even as people in nursing homes were dying, they held fast to the view that the pandemic was little more than a lefty scare.

A face mask, to their thinking, was a sanctimonious liberal fashion statement.

We’re more concerned now about all those people who did not sleep through science class — who understand the very real danger of the coronavirus — but are beginning to burn out on all this stay-at-home stuff. They know they should keep wearing face masks and all, but they’re suffering social distancing fatigue.

Those are the folks rubbing shoulders outside bars in New York, and they’re the ones who could make a hash of Chicago’s own efforts to reopen safely. They’re not stupid; just normal.

To all those fellow Chicagoans, we say: Hang in there.

Get out and enjoy the city. Jog the lakefront path. Get a curbside beer. Support your local businesses.

But, for your own safety and that of everybody you encounter, stick with the social distancing. You will not be alone.

Americans remain wary

Nine out of ten Americans still are wearing a mask in response to the coronavirus, according to a new survey conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago. Sixty-three percent of Americans say they have canceled or put off social activities, and 75% say they’re still avoiding public or crowded places.

An overwhelming majority — 83% — say they continue to keep at least six feet of distance when outside their home.

The good news, that is to say, is that it’s still cool to be a responsible adult. The equally good news is that social distancing really does work. On Monday in Illinois, which has been among the most diligent of states in responding to the pandemic, there were 473 new infections — the lowest daily number since Gov. J.B. Pritzker issued his first stay-at-home order on March 20.

Vaccines in the works

This can’t go on forever. Everybody knows that. The economy can’t be allowed to drag on in low gear indefinitely and social distancing fatigue will reach a breaking point. But scientists around the world — those data-driven experts disparaged by the likes of Darren Bailey and Donald Trump — are said to be making progress on a vaccine.

One vaccine developed by a Massachusetts biotechnology company, Moderna, will be tested on at least 1,000 people in Chicago beginning next month, and on more than 30,000 people nationwide, Brett Chase of the Sun-Times reported on Monday. Several other vaccines are being rushed to human testing, as well, as part of a U.S. government program called Operation Warp Speed.

With luck, an effective vaccine could be approved for use sometime next year.

The most foolish thing we can do until then, as a city and nation, is to let our guard down.

It is inevitable that social distancing efforts will ebb and flow as other considerations, such as the health of the economy and spikes in new cases of the virus, come more or less into play. But to simply abandon the best guidance of medical science would be to guarantee a raging return of the coronavirus, as parts of the country already may be seeing.

Trump’s betrayal of his fans

To that end, it was the height of foolhardiness, even cruelty, for President Trump to schedule a MAGA rally for Saturday in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The rally is to be held indoors, where the virus spreads most easily. Those who attend will, on average, be older, as Trump supporters tend to be, meaning their risk of actually dying from COVID-19 will be higher.

And Trump has got them well trained to believe that all this mask-wearing and social distancing is kind of a joke.

These are the Americans Trump claims to love.

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