WHY ARE WE RE-OPENING ALREADY?
We’re re-opening?! Hooray! It’s all over!
Wait…Didn’t the experts (and Globally Heated) say we would need to do the stay-at-home thing for months? And limit certain activities for a year or more? And what about cases going up? Is it safe out there or not?
Across the country, states and municipalities are “opening up” by relaxing or removing restrictions on businesses, mask use, and large gatherings. But, even as folks seem to be breathing in a big, un-masked sigh of relief, cases in quite a few states are still rising, some (like Florida, Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma, and South Carolina) are rising rapidly.
The percent of COVID tests showing a positive result has increased too, meaning it isn’t just that the US is doing more testing, but that those tests are showing increasing rates of COVID in the country.
And this isn’t a secret.
I don’t know about you, but I have personally seen more and more people going to indoor spaces without masks—especially in certain parts of my home state of Florida.
So why is the US reopening?
And why are more and more people ditching the mask—and social distancing guidelines?
Well, the psychology of denial is deep, but not as hard to understand as one may think. Forbes actually has a decent article describing how stress, prolonged anxiety, and feeling a loss of control can cause people to start to deny the threats causing that stress. Especially when we don’t see the direct effects of that stressor day-to-day, we start to downplay risks in our minds and the denial kicks in.
Another article by Scientific American mentions something called “solution aversion.” Solution aversion basically means if the solution feels more costly or strenuous than just accepting the problem it would solve, we will avoid the solution.
This is fine with laundry. “Oh, I really don’t want to put stuff in the wash today, so I’ll just wear this super uncomfortable shirt from the bottom of the drawer to postpone laundry duty one more day.” However, solution aversion is much more of an issue when something like a pandemic, that can have deadly consequences, isn’t producing a directly visible threat. We start to decide the goofy-looking mask and not hugging our friends is too great a cost to avoid the possibility of something we just don’t see in our day-to-day lives.
There are other reasons too. Some people fought for re-opening for economic reasons. This isn’t really solution aversion, more like the balancing of risk-reward that we do with any hazardous but potentially rewarding task. If your rent is due, and there aren’t adequate safeties in place to help, you gotta try to go back to work.
And finally, there is a component of political and social perception to this whole plague denial debacle. Partisanship means that for some people, not wearing a mask is a statement of “I think this whole thing is just a bunch of people panicking, and I’m not going to participate in that. I believe the president and that this is an overblown political ploy to affect upcoming elections.”
Similarly, there is a thread of “machismo” attached to not wearing a mask.
Some folks see themselves as tough for not worrying about precautions that really protect the rest of us. “I ain’t afraid of no virus!” This may seem selfish (it is; again, masking and good hygiene are as much for the protection of the vulnerable in our communities as they are for ourselves), but it is also deeply linked to the coping mechanism described above.
Stress is responded to by people in myriad ways, and one of them is absolutely this reflex to act tough and apathetic. “Oh, I’m too manly to worry about some virus…” (yeah, usually it’s tied to gender stereotypes too). But this is still a coping reflex by people who are actually a little scared and usually very uncertain. Maybe they don’t understand the science, or don’t want to try to get a grasp on how this could affect others around them. Or they don’t want to be seen as part of the “other side” of their political bent.
Ultimately, the reasons so many of us want to pretend COVID isn’t a big deal are pretty simple. Usually, it’s a stress-coping mechanism. The ol’ Ostrich sticking its head in the sand idiom. But it can also be a “my team versus your team” dynamic, where, by stating I’m not worried about it or it’s all overblown, I’m affirming support for my team. Or, it’s just the risk-reward calculus we do on a daily basis being skewed by the lack of visibility of the virus. We’re lucky, this isn’t a plague with a 30% mortality rate. It’s probably around 1% in the US (varying by age, but still far deadlier than the flu, even for the young and healthy).
But that is still bad.
And even if we are young and healthy and lucky enough not to be in that 1-20+ % who face serious long-term effects (including that symptom of body temp less than 80 F… also known as death), we could still spread it to people that aren’t so lucky.
But if we don’t see the consequences, that mental calculus starts to shift, and the risk of going out without a mask, or having a big party, or going to a theme park starts to seem smaller than the reward of having a beer with friends you can see without a computer screen.
We get it. We all feel it. But the premature opening many states have done, with no plan for good, targeted testing, inadequate contact tracing resources, and poor coordination of masking and other safety regulations is really going to hurt us.
My state of Florida had a miraculously low caseload early on. We were fortunate. But by quickly and aggressively reopening too early, with a poor management strategy, and as a state that thrives on out of state tourism, we are squandering that early good fortune. We are putting our massive numbers of elderly, immune-compromised, low-income, service industry workers, healthcare workers, and other vulnerable populations at wildly greater risk.
And all just because folks up top were too impatient to wait and put in place a real, robust plan.
So, what do we do?
Well, I, personally, am still trying to avoid going out to eat. There is little attention to providing testing or significant PPE to food service workers, which puts them at risk, and makes a major, widespread outbreak stemming from a restaurant or bar very likely. Until there is routine testing for all food service workers, and support for their employers to get PPE and cleaning supplies and guidance on infection control if they need it, I’m trying to keep restaurants and bars a no-go for me unless it is a place I personally know for sure is using outstanding infection control, including masks and good socially distanced seating. And even then, minimizing those outings to reduce risk.
I’m also making sure to wear a mask any time I’m in an enclosed space with anyone I don’t live with. Even if I get weird looks because I’m in a part of the state where most people aren’t complying with masking protocols. Outside, I personally don’t usually wear a mask, but I make sure to stay distanced (I aim for 10 feet) from anyone I’m around.
I wash my hands. I avoid touching my face unless I just washed my hands. I don’t lick items that don’t belong to me (probably a good non-pandemic practice as well…). I wear a mask around others. I try to spend time exercising outside (but distanced), eat healthily, and practice some of that mindfulness Sam describes in her blog next week. Staying healthy and keeping your stress levels low whenever possible will help keep your body ready to fight off invaders.
I also stay informed about the disease. You don’t have to become Dr. Fauci overnight, but knowing the basics can help you make better decisions about your health and safety.
I know this virus spreads mainly through contaminated droplets of people juice (ie: snot, mucus, saliva, or anything else coming out of a human body), so you have to be pretty close or touch a contaminated surface to be likely to get it. Inside, there is less air circulation, meaning you’re exposed to potential contaminants for longer. Outside, dilution from lots of airflow helps reduce risk—but doesn’t eliminate it if you’re close to others…say at a protest or demonstration.
So there are times outside when wearing a mask is highly advisable, and other times—jogging on your own in the park, for instance—when you are probably safe with that mask just hanging out in your pocket in case you run into someone you know and want to chat (and who the f@*k wouldn’t want to chat at this point!). Knowing just a little bit can really help reduce your stress, make good decisions, and keep you and your family/friends a little safer.
Finally, if someone around me doesn’t want to wear a mask, but wants to hang out, I just ask them to remember that even though they may feel safe, I have people I care about that are vulnerable, and I don’t want to take that risk. This usually works and can help derail a political my-side-your-side argument by making it about a loved one’s safety, not a partisan allegiance.
In an upcoming podcast, I’m going to talk more about this idea of applying knowledge to be better at using PPE and hygiene to stay safe. In an earlier episode, The Blame Game, I asked for thoughts and experiences with education and outreach about COVID-19 and hygiene/PPE use. I’ll do that again:
I want to incorporate folks’ experiences and thoughts into this pod, so reach out real quick @globallyheated on Insta or Twitter. Or go old school and shoot us an email.
Until next time, in the name of safety, stay sane folks. And in the name of sanity, stay safe!
