Provide Support

As of today, my state's alert level on Covid Act Now has gone from red (active or imminent outbreak) to dark red (severe outbreak). People have been begging the governor for weeks to impose more restrictions. (Coincidentally, he just tested positive for COVID this week himself...) 

At a press conference today, he announced the following new restrictions, starting Saturday and running for 3 weeks until January 4:

• No indoor dining (outdoor dining and takeout can continue)
• No indoor gatherings of more than 10 people (how is this monitored and enforced?)
• No outdoor gatherings of more than 50 people (also how is this monitored?)
• Businesses open to the public can operate at 50% capacity (unless already restricted to a lower capacity by a previous order)
• Gyms and indoor entertainment (casinos, movies, museums, etc.) closed
• Pausing all sports for K-12 students; other extracurricular activities can be virtual
• Professional and college sports can continue, but without spectators

This barely impacts me because these aren't things I've been doing for the past 9 months anyway, and I am totally in favor of shutting things down and increasing restrictions until this virus is more under control, but I also recognize that you can't just put people out of work without providing some sort of support. I've already heard from one friend that they're now laid off due to this announcement. All this is going to do is further stratify the people who can comfortably work from home and those who are supported by a public-facing business. Those are the people who've been upset and protesting this whole time, and shutting them down, especially right now before the holidays, is just going to make them more upset and oppositional.