trying to figure the right tone to very is very hard .....maybe impossible
Some info from small town living......
We have basically stopped doing tests so if you think Aspen is 'safe' because you don't see a large jump in positive COVID-19 tests that is a assumption made on faulty information. You won't see a large jump in test numbers because we are not testing---because according to the Health folks testing is not therapeutic and we don't want to overwhelm the system and we can assume we have community spread in Aspen.
How much community spread? We won't know that because we are not testing. Have a cold and not sure if it's just a cold or COVID-19, I guess assume the worst and stay in your house for 14 days even though you feel fine after 3-5 days. How many of you are going to follow that guideline?
I am a bigger fan of seeing what seems to work. It looks like countries that are testing aggressively are seeing more positive results. The USA has massively shat the bed in terms of testing, and now we are going to pay for it. While health care pros are trying to put a positive spin on not testing (ie its not a treatment) knowing for sure that you need to self-isolate for 14 days is more likely to happen with a positive test result.
Ditto social distancing---do I let my kid hang out with friends? A friend? Well if I know that 20% or god forbid 70% of the town has tested positive I am only going out to buy food every 4 days and then I am taking a 30 min shower and bleaching the car. If the numbers are high, but we don't test to know, then I fear we will kinda practice social distancing but we won't really do social distancing powerfully.
Likewise, the rest of the world might choose to visit Aspen (from as close as Glenwood Spring to the Italian guy at the bar yesterday who had come over from Northern Italy the week before) might give us a wide berth if they know Aspen is a COVID super hot spot. I fear Aspen might have a lot of COVID and we might spread it all over the world. Shoot half the locals have spring break plans coming up---do you really want maybe 500 asymptomatic positive people traveling all over the place? It's easier to convince Aspen to lock down with evidence, and that is number of people tested, and number of positive results from those tests. Without that, or pulling out the national guard to limit Aspen mobility you got the gamut of locals from the family in a Sprinter van heading to Moab to families in their private jets flying to Tahiti.
Clearly you can't listen to or believe Trump. After god knows how many lies and just outright stupidity which also infects those around him, I fear press briefings are only useful to give examples to the kids of SAT words like disingenuous and obfuscation. (psychosomatic is another useful word to define for the kids). What you can and should do is forget what is being said by Trump et al and look at the actions. School closures. Travel bans. Canceling everything from Coachella to taping late night talk shows. Actions speak louder than words, and while numbers can be fudged (WE HAVE MILLIONS OF BEAUTIFUL TEST KITS but we can only run 100 tests a day) the actions tell you what you need to know. Stay home. Keep your kids home. Exercise outside by yourself (not on the ski mountain). Don't eat out. Probably don't even order out. Error on the side of caution because the bottom line is its a freaking pandemic even if the CDC won't call it that. Act as if, and if in 1 month you feel like you where foolish for overreacting that is soooooooo much better than wishing you hadn't let your daughter have 3 friends sleepover and then flew to Hawaii where you were quarantined because symptoms developed 5 days later (of course after you do a group snorkeling trip and where they had a buffet on the dive boat).
this is a really good source--worth the read
this is not a snow day
Be smart and listen to your better angels. We are an amazing country, we have a long history of willingness to sacrifice for the greater good. Let those angels guide you and if I see you while walking the dogs up the pass, I won't pet your dogs----and maybe you shouldn't pet mine.
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