CO-rona-VI-rus D-isease

May 14, 2020

 





Van



It is raining, finally. After a drought that saw the island of Key West receive little to no rain over the past few months, basically during the entire time we have been on lock down due to the Covid 19 pandemic, the skies have opened up this week and the rainy season as it were has finally arrived. We have been hoping for rain for weeks and this week brought nice long rainy days that are nothing if not a change in pace from what we have been experiencing.

Sammy



The rain has not really limited us all that much from the limited schedule that we have been living during the shelter in place order, it is just a tad too cool to use our new pool and walks have been limited to walking our dog Jack. On the plus side, we are getting in a lot of binge watching of TV programs with the Showtime series “Homeland” the latest to captivate us. I know we are late to the party as the show just finished its 8^th and final season, but we generally don’t watch a lot of television so being isolated inside is allowing us to catch up on shows we have missed.

 





The pandemic continues to rage, though we have settled into a sort of rhythm to pandemic life, balancing work, time at home, time walking or exercising, communicating with friends and occasionally braving the real world to do grocery shopping. Which in itself is a surreal experience. Everyone is required to wear masks or face coverings, aisles are all one way to encourage social distancing and the number of people allowed in stores at any one time is limited. We tend to seek out off hours when there are not many people shopping.

Martina 







Unlike early in this situation when there were numerous product shortages including paper supplies like toilet paper, paper towels and tissues as well as bleach, cleaning supplies and hand sanitizer among others that were impossible to find due to hoarding, the stock at local groceries at least are back to mostly normal and all products can be acquired generally. People here, unlike some we have seen on the national news are very compliant about wearing masks and following guidelines so far. 

 



Patience is beginning to run thin and the pressure is mounting to continue with the gradual reopening that has been underway in Florida since last week, even though the overall numbers in the country and state continue to climb on a steady and upward trajectory. 







To date there have been 1,384,930 confirmed cases with a tragic 83,947 deaths in the United States, numbers that are leading all the other countries as far as cases go. Locally the numbers hold steady today at 95 cases in the county with 39 in Key West and 3 deaths confirmed to be Covid-19 related.





For the first time here locally, a protest was held- organized by Ed Swift, the owner of Historic Tours of America which runs the tourist dependent Conch Train and Trolleys. The protest, just a couple of blocks from our house drew about 80 sign holding residents, many employed by HTA and other tourist industry folks demanded that the roadblock checkpoints that have been keeping non-residents from entering the Keys come down and that hotels here reopen to welcome back tourists.





Ed Swift

I disagree with their feelings, at least at this point, but I can understand the hardships that many here in this tourist fueled economy are facing. Businesses continue to fail and a ton of people are out of work, but sadly the virus is still out of control, especially in the counties that are just north of us, Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach which all remain hotspots for the virus.









If I felt I could trust people to do the right thing and safely practice the guidelines set up by the Center for Disease Control, I might feel better about reopening sooner, but people around the country have proven time and again that they simply can’t or won’t abide by them and so I am afraid the best and safest course of action is the status quo.

 





During this time, without the crush of tourists and no cruise ships in town, a group of locals has formed to reimagine what Key West’s future might look like, that maybe the constant chase of tourist dollars at all cost might not be in the best long term interest of the island and they have begun an on-line discussion group to explore other possible futures including limiting the size and scope of cruise ships that utilize Key West as a Port of Call. They have begun circulating three petitions to get referendums on the fall ballot that would limit cruise ships. Kathy and I went over and signed the petitions and will be interested followers to see if they can get the ballot initiatives passed. 

 



 





Finally the creative people on Stock Island created yet another scavenger hunt this past weekend, this one was a Mother’s Day graffiti search with clues leading followers around Stock Island to check out the many creative murals that adorn the walls of many local businesses there. I dodged the raindrops and headed over on Sunday to check out and photograph the walls. It was another fun diversion from the monotony of social isolation, one that could be done without really interacting with others at all.