There are a lot of places that have basically no restrictions in place: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/states-reopen...

As was pointed out to you yesterday, with actual data, people are choosing to spend less time at bars, restaurants, sporting events, large gatherings, etc. They're doing so because they view Covid as a risk, and one which they can help mitigate for themselves and others by taking precautions.

The notion that it's the restrictions themselves causing the change in behavior just doesn't seem supported by the data.

No. There are a bunch of states with no restrictions on restaurant capacity -- Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Idaho, Kansas, Maine, Missouri, Nebraska, South Carolina amongst them.

I don't disagree with this. I'm pointing out that there are many places with very few restrictions, if any.

Because the leaders of states with restrictions view their role in keeping the populace safe differently than you do, and believe that lives are being saved by restricting restaurant capacity. I understand that you disagree, but there's plenty of evidence out there suggesting that such indoor settings have been 'super spreaders.' I don't think this is an easy answer.



Adding to the complexity is that the risk is not solely limited to those who choose to eat in a restaurant. It extends to everybody they come in close contact with afterwards.

I think this is a really difficult policy decision being informed by data and insight that's consistently changing, just like the virus itself. I think it's incredibly easy for people who don't make difficult decisions to second guess those made my others, but much harder in practice.

I've had to implement Covid policies for a large population of front-line workers. There are basically no good options. Two of my wife's colleagues died of complications of Covid. These are very difficult decisions with real impacts and basically the only thing I know with any degree of certainty is that people like you -- who insist they know all the answers -- do not.

I didn't suggest it isn't acceptable to question those decisions. I just stated it's really easy to do so, and much harder to devise actual policy given the difficulty of the situation.


You're right. You didn't. You just acted like the sort of person who thinks he does.


Nobody claimed otherwise. And yet, you've ranted about this very point in very weird ways for 25 posts.

That still does not negate my point: there are many places with very few restrictions.

You think the restrictions are unnecessary. You also think the case numbers are overstated, and that the disease isn't as deadly as reported. Many, many people -- including the majority of people in a position to make related decisions, disagree.

So what next?

Lifted what regulations? From where I sit there are no states without some type of restrictions on bars, restaurants, sporting events, schools and large gatherings. Does it not bother anyone that here in Ohio NONE of these mandates have gone through the elected legislature? They have all been issued by one office holder.

Is that one office holder listening to the experts (DeWine) or is that one office holder not listening to the experts (Trump)?

You must have slept through government class when dealing with powers of the executive branch

I get you’ve seen School House Rock, yet that’s a bit over simplistic of the real world.

Is wearing a mask shoveling snow overkill? Yep. Does it matter even a little bit? Nope. There's no enforcement, no repercussions for choosing not to comply, and frankly, the Venn diagram of people who think this is a violation of constitutional rights and people who are ass**les is basically a single circle.

For the life of me, I will never get over how much whining people did about masks. The message from Governor Murphy is basically "Be considerate of your neighbors" and a big chunk of America won't stop crying about it. Me? I just wear a mask. Why? Because it's super easy to do, I have no reason not to, and it's the decent thing to do. I do it doe the exact same reason I give up my seat to the elderly on the subway, or hold the door open for people. Common courtesy.

I mean, I guess instead, I could march on the capital, plot to kidnap the Governor of Michigan or whatever, and stamp my feet so everybody knows how smart I am. But I'd rather just participate in society like an adult and do all the very tiny, easy things I can do to try and put Covid behind us. Even if their efficacy is questionable.

I guess that may be a big difference between many of us. Many of us think we were a better county when those actions were frowned upon.

There may be an Ohio Governor come along someday who circumvents the Legislature with a mandate you don't support.

I don't remember marching on the Capitol or being involved in a plot to kidnap anyone.