Ready to reopen? I’ll be right behind you, watching safely behind closed doors

To all those folks clamoring to reopen the country, I’ll be watching.

I’ll be watching as you head to bars and restaurants. I’ll be watching as you go to shopping malls and send your kids back to the classroom. I’ll even be watching as you visit Disney World.

I’ll be especially watching to see how you feel in a few weeks’ time. I’m curious to know if your willingness to be human guinea pigs has paid off. Or if you’ll ultimately regret your unchecked zeal and feel worse than you do now.

I certainly don’t harbor any rancor. My hope is that you are doing well and haven’t contracted COVID-19. I hope you haven’t spread the infection to vulnerable loved ones. I hope there hasn’t been a spike in new infections, flooding the health-care system once again.

But I certainly don’t have the answer. That’s why I’m gathering data from afar.

You see, I’m not willing to push the coronavirus envelope against the advice of experts.

The nation’s top infectious disease doctors recently testified to Congress that the pandemic is far from under control. They told us what we must still be doing to keep the numbers of infections from gaining ground.

I also watch the news at night and hear that the number of cases is still climbing on the Central Coast and that San Luis Obispo County is telling tourists to stay away to avoid further spread of disease.

So I’m happy to bide my time until local and state officials give me the green light, until they say I’m less likely to get sick or pass the contagion like a baton to someone else.

I understand your need to get back to work. My heart aches for the millions of Americans whose jobs vanished in a blink through no fault of their own.

I also get that life is full of risks. I accept those risks every time I drive my car or hike in the Irish Hills.

Perhaps living alongside coronavirus will be one of those uncertainties I’ll ultimately have to make peace with.

Still, I take precautions where I can. And I make healthy choices wherever possible.

That’s why I’m opting to sequester longer. I have no desire to be the first mouse out of the hole to see if the cat has finally gone.

That’s also why I’m watching you with such interest. Your willful flaunting of the evidence has left me gobsmacked. Some of you refuse to wear face masks.

Others gather in large protests. Still others have continued to worship in megachurches, rationalizing that God will keep you safe.

Now that many states are officially reopened you’ll be able to live normally — at least for a while. And that’s why I’m so curious. I want to see how this massive experiment turns out. I’ll be watching and tabulating my own data.

But I’ll be doing it at home.