SAFETY
Wear (designer) masks, watch for viral fraud Do we need more who went on to drama in 2020? become scientists, Nope, I’m good, chemists, and thank you. doctors, who will At the onset save our fannies on of COVID-19, this COVID-19 mess. formerly known The pandemic as the coronavirus, also brought to light formerly known as the fantastic job “That Flu Thing,” nurses, techs, and we said, “Boy, those other hospital staff STAY SAFE Steve Rose is a retired Chinese have a real do each day. They Sandy Springs Police problem over there.” are truly deserving Captain, veteran Fulton Pretty soon it was, of our admiration County police officer and freelance writer. He is the and respect. Instead “Uh, oh, my trip to author the book “Why Italy doesn’t look of going into what Do My Mystic Journeys so good,” and then, Always Lead to the Waffle you already know, House?” and the column “No baseball? What courtesy of the “View from a Cop.” the &#%$* is going on nightly media here??!!” broadcasts of doom I have a great admiration and gloom, let’s switch gears for those nerds in school that and look at … the upside? wore the plaid shirts, pocket First, masks. Who knew protectors, and geeky glasses, masks would be a thing?
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Designer masks? Of course. I can’t wait for the Oscars when Giuliana Rancic, covering the Red Carpet, asks, “Who did your mask?” I hope they suggest that we all don lab coats so we can wear the mask, gloves, and coats. We’ll all look like Doctor Kildare. (If you don’t know who that is, stop reading.) Mask envy. Those looks you get at the grocery store when you strap on your disposable mask and have to stand six feet from the lady with the multicolored, multidesigned custom mask she got online a week ago. Don’t think I didn’t notice the snobby look. I have to be honest about the six-foot-distance thing. I like it. It eliminates the personalspace problem some people have. Some still do have it— the guy in your face, talking about whatever non-interesting topic he’s going off on. Now, instead of stretching your spine backwards to avoid it, you simply say “Six feet pal.” Elbow greeting? Jury is still out on that. I will say that food delivery has picked it up a notch. Even those restaurants who once shunned delivery now embrace it and, happily, improved it. Thanks to food-delivery services, you now have access to a $20 meal that now costs
$45, but they bring it to you. Win, win. No need to change out of your sweats. We need to prepare for the future. Depending on who you ask, in nine months I’m predicting an increase in babies, rehab, and divorce. I’ve done numbers one and three, so…
What did we learn? I think we’ll all take hygiene and caution more seriously even after we overcome COVID-19. You cannot help but see how this could have severe, as in world-ending, effects if we don’t continue the work to prevent it, or the next one. Growing up in the 1960’s, we were taught the end of the world would be by nuclear devastation, but soon realized we’d survive it if we could just get under our school desks. Realistically, a pandemic a hundred times worse than COVID-19 is scary stuff and conceivably have the ability to wipe us out, desk or no desk, if we don’t do those little things each day. That said, we need to
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