The Recovery Continues

Although our priests have been predicting this development for a while, the actual announcement comes as something of a shock (click on the image for a larger copy). Although there've been gradual loosenings -- indoor celebrations allowed, then no need for reservations, the choir gradually expanding, nevertheless, pews have still been roped off with six-foot calibrations in the aisles, and masks were required with temperatures taken on entry. No missals, no singing. Last week, one of our pew friends was still wearing two masks, not one, as Dr Fauci had instructed. I'll be interested to see how he responds this Sunday.

California mostly reopened on Tuesday, fully three months after other states like Texas. But it's worth noting that the UK, whose COVID performance has been equivalent to the US after vaccinations, got cold feet over a June 21 reopening and has pushed it back to July 19, although this may not involve lifting mask requirements even then. Meanwhile, Canada lags far behind even the UK, with Ontario maintaining strict limits on "non-essential" retail and even outdoor gatherings.

I think Gov Newsom would have extended COVID controls in a similar way in California had he not been subject to recall. By he same token, I don't think houses of worship would be able to reopen this way without the legal action the observant churches and synagogues brought last year.

But maybe just as significant, reality ride-along police programs are starting to make a tentative return to cable. Body Cam on Investigation Discovery appears to be the first of these, as we saw a new episode this week. Live PD, which was one of the most popular shows overall until A&E was forced to cancel it in the wake of George Floyd, has made no public announcement. Cops resumed limited production last fall to meet contract commitments outside the US but has made no other announcement.

Again, I think the COVID moral panic was directed at the plebs as the folk devils, with the moral entrepreneurs in the political and credentialed elites. The folk devils were the middle and working classes who objected to lockdowns or business closures, resisted masks and social distancing and threatened to hold block parties or family reunions or take vacations, notwithstanding the elites clearly felt entitled to do just those things. The BLM riots exploited the preexisting panic, adding the attribution of racism to whites among the plebs.

The problem for the elites is that as the panic subsides and the plebs is allowed to resume their jobs and the parties, reunions, and vacations -- indeed, to resume watching the police shows -- the country at large is beginning to ask what the fuss was about, as questions begin to come up about how the COVID panic took shape and for whose benefit.

A good example is this week's episode of Deadliest Catch, a reality show that's portrayed, among other things this season, how the COVID panic affected the Alaska crab fleet. (This sort of coverage is rare anywhere.) In this week's episode, Sig Hansen's daughter Mandy, who works as relief captain on his boat, has a false positive COVID test and has to go into quarantine until she can have two successive negative tests. The result is to delay the boat's departure and throw the whole operation into uncertainty until, after two days in quarantine and two negative tests, she can return.

This wasn't scripted, it was just how things happened with the camera watching. The result, with no judgment from writers or producers, was to show the destructive effect not of COVID but of the COVID panic. The plebs has gotten this messsage. It doesn't hurt that Mike Rowe narrates the series. The timbre of his voice alone reflects his underatanding, from bottom up, of how these things work.

I see ads on Facebook for a color-coded bracelet or amulet that lets people make it known what type of interaction they prefer post-COVID -- one color for handshakes, another for hugs, and so forth. I hope this dies a quick death, but it's an indicator of how profoundly the COVID panic affected everyone. There's going to be an adjustment to make in California, but I have the impression that people in Texas and Florida accommodated themselves to the old normal without much trouble.