Pandemic Pennsylvania, a personal journey: Day 72-ish
As of yesterday, May 22nd, this is how the official map of Pennsylvania stands with respect to phased "reopening".
I'm in Montgomery County, near the center of that block of red counties, bottom right. We had the dubious distinction of being the early peak point of verified infection for the state, when back in early March we had more than half of all such official cases in the state. As such, we were the first county to have (mostly voluntary) restrictions strongly suggested by Governor Wolf on March 12th.
By one week later, the mixed results of the request and the rising threat led to more forceful, and then broader restrictions.
This past Friday, May 22nd, the governor updated the reopening plans, such that out county will be transitioning to Yellow come June 5th. (Presumably this will be up to revision if an upswing in the infection/hospitalization/daily death toll manifests.
An updated, interactive map can be seen here. (This will open as a new tab, so it won't close this blog entry.)
I'm trying to step myself through the details, and to come to grips with what, if any, changes the shift from Red to Yellow will mean for my workplace.
The guidelines as laid out are considerable.
As I understand it, the social distancing and other safety protocols will remain in place, along with the directive for any who can work from home to continue doing so. As I understand it, the wearing of masks in any location where other people are will continue to be required. That's an important point for me, as my lab staff is fully comfortable with continuing to wear masks indefinitely (as in, until a vaccine is developed and thoroughly distributed) and will feel, frankly, threatened if attitudes become lax and people from other departments, entering the lab area and related areas, stop wearing masks. Honestly, as I read the default CDC recommendations and state guidelines, there's a good case for saying all of this will continue to apply even at such time as we might transition to (the rather misleading) Green.
So, for now, I'm continuing to gather information and to formulate the arguments for continued safety. Someone else's impatience, even boredom, with safety protocols shouldn't be allowed to impact any of this. If nothing else, I'm going to lean hard on the infection protocols that would result in having people sent home and full sections of the building closed for at least 24 hours, followed by a thorough disinfecting. Fear of loss of the ability to continue working should help to protect us even in the face of hubris, recklessness and people getting their infotainment via Fox News and voices from the political right.
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