side from a one day blip, Connecticut has seen twenty-one straight days of decreased hospitalizations for COVID-19.
As a state we are soon approaching the May 20, 2020 date for phase one of our state’s reopening, which will include many retail stores, and permits restaurants to provide outdoor serving. (No word yet on opening swimming pools, gyms or team sports). Some are advocating for a broader opening; others are urging the governor to go slower.
Meanwhile in Wisconsin, a judge has ruled their governor exceeded his authority in issuing stay-at-home orders and now the bars in that state are packed with celebrating residents. In the words of the Tavern League of Wisconsin, “Open up guys, it’s time to party.”
Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association are expressing optimism they will be back playing. The National Football League still plans to start its season in September.
While Lebron James and other top basketball players have expressed enthusiasm to get back on the court, a pitcher for baseball’s Tampa Bay Rays, declared he won’t play unless he gets the entire $7 million dollars he is signed for, even if he only plays the planned half a season because, he says, he would be risking his life to play.
Rays ace Blake Snell says he refuses to play for reduced MLB salary
I don’t know about you, but while I would stay out of a Wisconsin beer hall and continue to have my occasional drink from a chair in my driveway, I would not turn down $3.5 million dollars to “risk my life” playing baseball in an empty stadium for a couple months.
Tomorrow, like many of you, I will punch in on an EMS clock, put my PPE on, go to wherever I am called, do my best to stay safe and treat my patients with compassion and dignity and be glad my paycheck is good at the bank.
How this will all play out is anyone’s guess.
In the end it will be up to COVID-19 to be the final arbiter.
