The masks come off

Click: No mask for me

Body Language.

Polls say Americans are still concerned about the virus. 

I don't believe the polls. People are restless and tired of the shutdown. 

They are going back to "normal" and taking their chances.

Fivethirtyeight.com reports that for six weeks Americans have shared the same view on the virus, with 70% concerned about it, 30% not very concerned.

I don't doubt it is what they tell pollsters, but it isn't how they behave. In stores that don't actively enforce distancing rules, most shoppers go mask-less now. That isn't just stores selling farm and ranch gear where maskless faces have always been the rule.  It is grocery stores with older, upscale customers. 

The streets are busy again. My wife got her hair done.

 

CLICK: .fivethirtyeight.com/

Americans have lost patience, and are behaving like they don't think they will get the virus, and if they do they won't get too sick. The freeway accident. We understand the syndrome.

This is an accident on the freeway. We are driving in snowy conditions. Still, we have to get to work or get home. The freeway is the only practical way to travel, so we drive on it. What else???

Snow causes temporary closure of freeway

Going along we notice freeway traffic slows for congestion at an accident scene, and as we creep by we see tire tracks that show a car spun out, rolled over, and hit a light pole, the car totaled, the passenger area crushed. Ugly. Two ambulances are on the scene. For the next mile or two traffic slows to safer speeds, but then one starts getting passed by 4-wheel-drive pickup trucks, then regular cars, then more cars, and soon everyone is driving back at freeway speeds, or nearly so, despite the snow. Even nervous drivers, still shaken by the accident, are forced to speed up somewhat stay with the flow of traffic.

That is what's happening.

Americans are getting conflicting messages. Some official reports say that it is "a dusting of light snow," i.e. that the virus is real, and just a worse version of typical wintry weather. You don't close the freeways for three months for that. Other reports are saying "Breaking News! Mayhem of the freeways."  

President Trump is saying a version of both, reading aloud statistics and reports and having third party experts saying the virus is dangerous, the worst ever. We know he doesn't mean it. It is "teleprompter Trump" the Trump personae who occasionally says--reading deadpan-- what his job requires him to say. The real Trump is when he talks extemporaneously in his natural language, and fights with reporters and refuses to wear a mask. His actual message is that the virus is just typical winter weather, the freeways should be open, drive carefully if you really want to, but drive.

What message do people actually get and put into practice? The message with their own eyes, that hardly anybody gets the virus and dies. 

Most people do not live in or near New York City. People understand New York to be a special case, a contrast to themselves. Most people see the virus as something that happens to other people far away, people with a special case of working in certain factories, or people with pre-existing problems they themselves do not have. After a short period of uncertainty, people have settled into considering it a statistical risk, like any time they get into a car. Sure, some people need to be especially careful and should protect themselves, but otherwise, open up the freeways, go with the flow of traffic, and get back to normal.

Democrats and mainstream media have been telling a story of mayhem on the freeways. It isn't what most Americans see, and even if they do see it, it isn't how Americans want to live. This could be good news for Trump, but not necessarily. 

Democrats don't need to say they were wrong. No need to look sad about success. They could declare victory. But the victory may be temporary. In my community, with masks off, the virus number suddenly spiked, from essentially no new cases for several weeks, to twelve. Democrats need to avoid being the killjoy party. Of course, Republicans need to avoid being the lots of people die party.