Listen very carefully to Governor Northam’s introductory remarks during his weekly coronavirus press conference on Wednesday, April 15. They are positively chilling.
Here are excerpts:
“When people say we have to stop what we’re doing and get back to normal, they’re wrong.”
“I want everyone to know these sacrifices, that you have made, have been necessary. And they are helping. They are slowing the spread. They’re giving us time to plan and prepare.”
“We need to be clear. Things are not going back exactly like they were before. Together we will figure out how to build a new normal. Right now, that new normal will probably look like covering your face, spending more time at home, tele-working if you can, continuing to use social distancing, and to stay away from large gatherings.”
“We all will continue to weigh what we want versus what we need. .… The way forward will be deliberate and it will be careful.”
Does that sound like the Governor will be lifting restrictions on our movements on June 10? If our “new normal” is going to be covering our faces, spending more time at home, tele-working, using social distancing, and staying away from large gatherings, what is going to change?
And how is the Governor going to define what it is “we want versus what we need?”
Finally, in response to a question about returning to “normal,” the Governor said, “Until we have a vaccination, it’s difficult to say we’re going to go back to a totally normal life.” Until we have a vaccination? Next year? Maybe?
I don’t know about you, but I sense a chill wind blowing in the land of Liberty.
