Summer is here all right. The days are warm and the nights are lovely. It’s been the antidote to the ‘cabin fever’ many of us have been experiencing over the past few months, this is why we pay higher rents, put up with too much traffic and work to keep our small city unique and enjoyable.
I’ve been out riding my bike a lot these past few weeks. I’ve been cruising through Clover Park and love seeing the families hanging out and socializing. The young boys and girls playing soccer or running around make the park come alive with their laughter. Most people are wearing masks and keeping their social distance even as they try to connect emotionally and spiritually. I am reminded that no matter what, humans will always try to gather and connect. Riding past the groups of 4 – 10 people is a lovely way to be reminded that life goes on. These much needed breaks allow me to get some exercise after sitting in front of a computer all day watching the COVID case count tick up, in spite of the concerted effort by the Prevaricator in Chief and his cabal of sycophantic suck-ups to say it’s not.
It’s one thing to have an honest disagreement as to what individual numbers may mean, it’s understandable that Republicans and Democrats can see two sides of the same coin differently; what I’m concerned about is the way in which the current administration says, with total conviction (a word they are all too familiar with!) that there is NO COIN. I’ve been a divorce lawyer for 20 years, I am highly experienced in how two people see the same facts and come to radically different determinations. But this denial of the facts is simply incomprehensible to me.
Maybe it’s my professional experience that allows me to read the news, listen to the politicians and discern what we have coming down the pipe, after all that’s kind of what I do in court with the judge and opposing counsel. Then again, it’s not exactly rocket science to listen to the Governor as he explains as the numbers tick up, the restrictions will tick up. I don’t have to be a paid professional futurist to listen to Mayor Garcetti to understand that when he says public health demands masks and if we don’t wear them, there’s a return to a Stay At Home order coming.
This weekend as I was walking dogs with my friend on the bluffs over Santa Monica beaches, it was obvious that there’s a high level of non-compliance with the wearing of masks. The sand was pretty packed with people. The science is clear that there is a lessened exposure rate when in the open, and that there is a higher infection rate as we socialize more, go to open restaurants that are open on Main Street and in general try to live our “normal life” as if it wasn’t happening in the middle of a pandemic.
The ‘not accepting the reality’ is what allows the rate to continue to increase, and that will burden the hospitals and medical system to the point where the Mayor, and likely the Governor, issue renewed Stay At Home orders. It’s not a mystery, it’s coming. I know that the orders are not fun, but hey, we’ve been through this before. Maybe this time we can cut the infection rate down faster, and not have to stay locked up so long.
There’s good news on the vaccine front out of England, it looks like their efforts are proving effective. I imagine we’ll have a few more announcements like that over the next few weeks from other studies. I just hope that people don’t take it as a blanket reason to stop doing the basics of personal hygiene, masks and some social distancing until we have a lower infection rate and the hospitals have caught up to the need. Good news has a way of causing us to let our guard down, just like when we re-opened the state and boom the infection rate increased.
When the next lockdown comes, and I’m guessing it’s gonna be tomorrow or Thursday, let’s hope it work better and with less panic buying than the last time.
David Pisarra is a Los Angeles Divorce and Child Custody Lawyer specializing in Father’s and Men’s Rights with the Santa Monica firm of Pisarra & Grist. He welcomes your questions and comments. He can be reached at dpisarra@pisarra.com or 310/664-9969. You can follow him on Twitter @davidpisarra
