Distancing is a moving target at this fairly crowded event. Most are wearing a mask. Paul Goldfinger photo. 2/17/21
This sign is quite detailed, but Eileen says that I am the only one there to read it. Blogfinger photo. Click on image to read it.
By Paul Goldfinger, MD 2/17/21.
In Florida there has been a pretty loose effort to do lock downs as well as masks and distancing. Restaurants, businesses, and schools are open, and the Governor here believes that lock-downs are damaging to the citizens. Their results in terms of deaths and new cases are middle of the road.
Despite the signs here, most seem unconcerned, even at this higher risk event. Eileen knew exactly what we needed, and we arrived early before the mobs appeared. But you might be able to discern the line heading left to right–that’s where you get “New York bagels.” Hmmmm! Call me skeptical. So most had masks, but Eileen is in that line, and the folks do crunch ahead.
I tried to distance as I took some photos illustrating some of the COVID ironies. People seem to be disbelievers, and many in the military and elsewhere are refusing the shots. But I don’t know anyone who is refusing a shot if offered. We got out of there pretty quickly. We did not stop to have a coffee and a French pastry, which is our usual routine.
We drove 3 hours each way to grab a 1st shot appointment in Tampa a few days ago. So to actually get the vaccine was a real shot in the arm for our mood. They say that the second shot makes you sick. Another irony.
And then there is prayer: This is the Preservation Hall Jazz Band in New Orleans:
Down in FL until tomorrow. Currently in Tampa. Lots of people wearing masks everywhere I go, but you always see one or two people in a store without one. I don’t wear one outdoors in NJ or here unless it’s a big crowd like your pics, which barely happens.
The main difference between NJ and FL is that those few people in the store without one would be all over social media in NJ, or at least there would be an incident involving a minor quip someone makes.
Down here it’s just a fact of life. Thankfully most of time here is spent outdoors. Time to go home and be forced inside.