Let the record show that while I am opposed to lockdowns, I'm also opposed to the haste with which states are trying to act like everything is fine and dandy https://twitter.com/Motoconomist/status/1253632387268988928

I don't follow the daily US news. If some governor is trying to push for an end to social distancing right now, then fie upon them!

Lockdowns = Bad

Social Distancing = Good

Reading about Georgia "re-opening."

Seems like people are exaggerating a bit. They're allowing businesses to re-open, but still requiring symptom-checking and various other social distancing measures, right? https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/24/us/georgia-coronavirus-reopening-businesses-friday/index.html

Obviously I there's an enforcement issue. You need detailed guidelines on how businesses can appropriately meet the injunction to practice social distancing. It doesn't look like GA is giving that/

Personally, I wouldn't have picked a state as big and with as low of SIP compliance as Georgia as my crash dummy for re-opening. I'd have picked like.... Massachusetts, or maybe Vermont.

I dunno the details of Georgia's case. Seems like they're not giving useful guidance to these businesses on how to protect themselves and their governors. Also theya ren't moving towards centralized quarantine. Also not much movement on masks. Also not much testing.

These are all bad things. I'd focus my critique there. "Under some circumstances we won't arrest you for getting a haircut" is.... actually fine.

I mean heck they're not even removing the SIP yet!

If opening gyms and restaurants causes many cases, there's a huge problem!

Letting restaurants re-open at 50% of normal capacity with staff required to wear masks and no bars or shared tables and no more than 6 to a table: totally fine, why would there be a problem with this?

Randomly dropping a restaurant restriction with no guidance: bad

I dunno which of these better describes Georgia. But I know if letting people get haircuts causes the social consensus in Georgia for distancing to fall apart, then it suggests that America is basically screwed no matter what.

More generally, there's no evidence yet that Georgia has even hit peak deaths. If they decide to tweak their policies, fine. But any relaxed policy needs to come paired with a clear COMMUNICATION that we are doing this NOT because we are out of the woods, but to adjust strategy.

Having now read Georgia's guidelines, GA seems to be doing the very oppiste, and very stupid thing. They claim they're relaxing because of "favorable data." lol. Here's Georgia's daily COVID deaths:

Georgia's governor appears to be communicating to people, not that they're shifting to a better strategy and people need to keep up the good work but be aware of new rules, but rather than it's time to chill out a bit.

IT IS NOT TIME TO CHILL OUT A BIT, PEOPLE.

So, I'm officially ANTI Georgia's re-opening. Not because it's crazy to let people get tacos at their local taco place (it's not crazy), but because the measure is being communicated as a relaxation of control measures, not simply a strategy adjustment.