Here We Go Again...

So today the governor of Washington State basically announced "lockdown 2.0 lite." Stores were out of toilet paper before he'd finished the press conference. Seriously. The governor was still speaking when I did my usual Sunday Costco run, and there was a sign out front saying they were sold out. I've given up attempting to understand. I presume that people are predicting that another full "stay at home" order is on the horizon. But even during the last one, people could still go to the store. Maybe eating the stuff keeps one healthy. It makes as much sense as anything else.

Maybe the stuff's been made anti-viral when I wasn't looking. I can't think of a better explanation.

But it seems odd. Broadly-based restrictions are a very blunt instrument for dealing with this situation. And it's not as if there wasn't any indication back in the Spring that the onset of Fall would lead to a rise in case numbers, people have been predicting this more or less from the get-go. So... why hasn't there been a more calibrated plan put into place? Why is the state still responding as if it knows nothing about who may be ill and who isn't? Are we really still in a place where state health officials are playing it by ear?

Not that I have any insight into the process, but it seems that various sorts of enforced "social distancing" are the only tool that anyone has in their toolbox, and it will stay that way until a vaccine comes along. Maybe that's the only tool that would have ever been available, but it seems strange that "you're not allowed to have people from outside your household in your home" is really the best we can do at this point.