Post 145 - August 3, 2020

Day 145…

Michael and I are… on vacation!

I am writing this from a bench in a small shady public park just off Commercial Street in Provincetown, Massachusetts. There’s a good breeze coming in off the water and it is a glorious day.

As much as I love New York, and I do love New York, I needed out. We both did. Staying put in one place is not what I am built for. Michael’s Dad and his partner have a ¼ share condo just outside town in Truro. Nothing fancy, but a view of the bay from the front porch. A friend of ours is happily staying back in the apartment with the cat. So, for the next week all of these posts will be coming from the far north eastern tip of Cape Cod.

We were up here on the Cape last summer, although it feels like much longer ago than that.

There’s, unsurprisingly, a very different feel to it this year. It’s far less crowded. There are no dances. People seem more relaxed.

Ptown is EXTREMELY serious about mask wearing. There are signs about it everywhere - far more so than there are back in New York.  You honestly can’t go more than about 20 feet before you see one.

As of yesterday, there have been 1,757 cases of COVID-19 on the Cape. 157 people are confirmed as having lost their lives to the virus. One person died out here yesterday.

On Friday, new travel orders for people coming into the state were put into place. There is an online Massachusetts Travel Form that anyone who is not from a New England state or from New Jersey or New York has to fill out before they get here. Hawaii is the only other state that is exempted. People outside that bubble have to produce a negative COVID-19 test that was taken within 72 hours of arrival and they need to self-quarantine here for two weeks. Failure to comply will result in a $500/day fine.

The Town Manager of Barnstable said that they would continue to follow the guidelines set forth by Charlie Baker, the Governor of Massachusetts. He asked that residents not confront town officials about it. “Arguing with us about it will not result in us changing that position. Please work with us. We are reasonable and we appreciate your continued to support.”

As Dorothy would say, “Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas, anymore.” It all seems so civilized and reasonable. I have yet to see anyone who is not complying. Wearing a mask doesn’t seem to be killing anyone. No idiot with a gun is storming the Town Hall. I haven’t seen them yet, but my sister-in-law who was up here last week says that there are COVID guards in yellow sashes walking around on Commercial Street giving out free masks and information.

We got in fairly late last night, so after we got our stuff into the apartment, we came into town to get a drink. The place that we went to, took our name and phone number when we came in so that they would be able to contact trace in the event of an outbreak.

Imagine that. A sane and efficient way of letting people know that they might have come into contact with the virus so that they can isolate themselves and not spread it further.

On our way up to the Cape, we took a detour to go to our niece’s High School graduation party. She and her family live upstate in New York near Albany.

The party was in an open pavilion on the grounds of a New York state park. There is a New York state rule that prohibits gatherings of more than 50 people so a couple of other tents with tables were set up across the field for the overflow. Of course, it was a graduation party, so everybody separated anyway. The new graduates all ended up in the tents and us less recent graduates stayed in the pavilion.

Political opinions are, shall we say, far more divided in upstate New York than they are down in the city. Even with that, though, the party pretty much followed the guidelines. More people than not wore masks. The younger folk didn’t really wear them with each other, but I noticed that a lot of them put them on when they came into the pavilion with the older people.

People more or less kept in family bubbles. Political discussions happened. Respectfully. I think I managed to actually explain what “Defund the Police” really means to a couple of people. What the heck was anyone thinking when they came up with that slogan? Describing moving some of the responsibilities that currently fall under law enforcement over to social service agencies better trained to deal with them along with some of the funding is not what comes to anybody’s mind when they hear “Defund the Police.”

Our niece is having an interesting time of it. Her graduation looked like no graduation any of us had ever seen. Nothing that is happening to her now is in any way expected. She is heading off to school in Arizona in a week or two.

Arizona is a mess. Governor Doug Ducey is pressing forward with reopening schools for in-person teaching by August 17 despite soaring case numbers.

Even the White House coronavirus task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx is now saying that MAYBE hotspots should hold off a bit on reopening their schools. This flies in the face of everything else coming out of the current Administration. In an interview in the last day or so, she said that she agrees with the CDC Director Robert Redfield that areas with a positivity rate greater than 5% should rely on online learning. Arizona as a whole is currently at 12.9% positivity. In Phoenix, itself, home to Arizona State University, the rate has fallen from 20.3% over the weekend all the way down to 14.3%. So much for following the health care professionals.

If I know one thing it is that you do not discuss parenting with ANYBODY. Whether or not you have kids yourself, nobody wants to hear from you about how they are dealing with their own kids. And, honestly, fair enough. Neither of us said or will say a word.

ASU seems to have a full coronavirus plan in place. Students will need to provide proof of testing negative for COVID-19 48 hours before then will be allowed to move into their housing.  They will all be required to participate in something called Community of Care: Coming to Campus Training. There’s an app that each of them will need to download that takes them through a daily symptom self-screening. In addition, they will each get a kit that includes a thermometer.

Our niece is excited to go. It’s probably a very good thing that Michael and I don’t have kids, because I think we would chain them to a radiator for the next year.

Massachusetts’ positive test rate, by way of comparison, is 2.2% - well below the CDC recommended level. Back in June, the state required schools to submit three separate game plans. One based on students being fully back in the school room, one with a mix of in-person and online learning and the third based on if they had to do a fully online curriculum. They seem to be playing it by ear - trying to adjust as they go.

Massachusetts and Arizona are an interesting comparison because both states actually have Republican Governors.

Governor Ducey in Arizona has sided fully with the President whereas Governor Baker of Massachusetts has often chosen to align himself with the Democratic Governors of his neighboring states. Governor Baker seems far more willing to listen to scientific reason and his state’s low rates of infection reflect that. Arizona’s astronomically high case numbers are a vivid testament to the efficacy of following the President.

Provincetown has always been a remarkable mix of people from every walk of life. As you walk along Commercial Street you see everything from leather guys in ass-less chaps to young straight families with kids in strollers. The beauty of the place is that everyone gets along quite happily. I don’t see a lot of the former this year, but it is, after all still somewhat early in the day.

I think it’s time for a walk on the beach.