Greater Good Outweighs Individual Rights With COVID

I think we are two months into Coronapalooza. I've grown accustomed to waiting in line outside a grocery store until waved in by someone, usually a police officer. Instead of walking up to neighbors, I'm talking to them from across the street.

I'm paying some attention to the news. I see the numbers going up and down. New cases. Deaths. I'm social-distancing and doing what I can to help flatten the curve. It's rough for you and for me. It's rougher, I'm sure, for some than it is for others. Everyone is dealing in the best way they can. I'm still waiting for my child's baseball season (I was supposed to coach) to start.

There are a lot of people in the news who are pushing for businesses to reopen, especially golf courses and hair salons. I understand their need and frustration. This is their business. Their livelihood. There are people who are marching and protesting. They want to return to their normal lives. We all do.

Governor Charlie Baker has allowed golf courses to reopen with certain conditions and restrictions. Proponents of hair salons reopening are seeing this as a reason their hope should be fulfilled. My opinion is that both should remain closed. Golf courses are large and it is easy to social distance outside but what about inside the pro shop? What about the chance you are taking in the off chance you come into contact with someone. You take the same chance when you are at the grocery store, I know, but you need to go to the grocery store. That is a chance you actually have to take.

There have been protests throughout the country. People want to go back to their daily lives. We all do. Unfortunately, Covid-19 and how it can be passed does not allow that. People who attend the protest and do so without a mask are exercising their right to assemble. They are also risking exposure to a potentially deadly illness and also putting their families at risk. This is not the right thing to do as we try to let Covid-19 run its course. It only prolongs the situation we are in and pushes an unknown end further back.