Common sense measures to fight SARS-CoV-2 are back in various parts of Maskachusetts. “Mask Mandates Are Returning to Schools as COVID-19 Cases Surge” (TIME, May 25) says that the good old days never ended in Boston per se:
Boston public schools, for example, have maintained a mask requirement. City health officials said they would recommend lifting the school mask mandate once daily COVID-19 cases in the city fall to 10 new cases per 100,000 residents. The positivity rate currently stands at 54.5 new cases per 100,000 residents.
Neighboring Brookline, however, was briefly mask-free. “Brookline reinstates indoor mask mandate for schools, town buildings” (WCVB, May 23):
The mandate that began Monday requires everyone to wear a face covering over their mouth and nose while inside the library, senior center, all public schools and any other town-owned indoor spaces where the public gathers.
Student Alice Gametchu-Walker said she noticed several of her classmates were absent from Pierce Elementary School.
“I thought it was a good idea because a lot of kids have been out with colds and COVID,” she said. “I decided to keep wearing a mask because I just felt safer wearing it.”
Now that climate change has brought months of brutal heat to Maskachusetts, maybe people could cool off and stay fit to fight off COVID-19 by swimming across Walden Pond? “Massachusetts DCR again restricts open-water swimming at Walden Pond while lifeguards are on duty” (Boston Herald):
Walden Pond State Reservation on Saturday announced that last year’s open-water swimming rules would return, effective Sunday. That means swimming is not allowed outside the area designated by ropes and buoys from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. while lifeguards are on duty.
Open-water swimming is only allowed during park operating hours when lifeguards are not on duty, DCR said in a statement, stressing the policy helps ensure that lifeguards keep their focus on designated swim areas inside the ropes and buoys. The allowed open-water swimming hours are from 5 to 10 a.m. and then from 6 to 7:30 p.m.
“We want visitors to our designated swimming areas to have fun while cooling off from the summer heat, but we also want to stress safety and the importance of taking precautions to keep yourself and your family safe this summer,” said Acting DCR Commissioner Stephanie Cooper. “Our lifeguards are a valuable resource, but we also count on the public to take an active role in watching their children when they are in the water, using caution when swimming at unguarded beaches, and utilizing safe swimming practices to avoid a tragedy.”
In Florida, meanwhile, you can swim in the open ocean when the surf’s up and the lifeguards have put out their red “you’d be an idiot to go out” flags. And, of course, wear a mask at your discretion.
Related:
- They’re back to masks in Alameda County, California (NYT): “Alameda is the first county in California, and the largest jurisdiction in the United States, to issue a universal indoor mask order since the end of the winter Omicron surge.”
“That means swimming is not allowed outside the area designated by ropes and buoys from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. while lifeguards are on duty.”
When did they introduced that strange rule ? I used to swim across Walden at its longest axis. Is it now “illegal” ? What’s the rationale ?
The lifeguards want to “keep their attention” on the cattle within the ropes and buoys, so they cannot be sued if something happens outside the cage.
The days of “use at your own risk” have disappeared; subjects need supervisors, minders and chaperones. I hope they have a mask mandate in the cage.
One thing which is surprising (?) is that the areas of traditional top education are most brain-damaged in the country. Why is it so?
Which brings in another interesting question: where to send children to study? Now, for sure, I don’t want to send my children to Boston or California and such. But where then?
My Alma mater, Rice, is also irredeemably woke by now. Back in the nineties, they were annoyed with the debate about whether to observe MLK day, so they just started the spring quarter after that day!
There is this valiant effort:
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-11-08/niall-ferguson-america-s-woke-universities-need-to-be-replaced
However,I fear it is destined to fail. The left in this country had already decisively won, perhaps by 2010 or so. We reached the point of no return a while ago.
To save some money, the state college seems a more attractive proposition. Why pay 100K to an “Ivy” to have your children hate you as a result ? The same outcome can be achieved much cheaper at any state school.
I have a close friend who put his son through the Caltech physics department. The father and the son have not spoken to each other for two years because the son literally hates his parents for their mildly conservative views.
> The same outcome can be achieved much cheaper at any state school.
My home state is WA, I need to move to get “normal” state school. To be fair, still better than Cali or Boston.
Solving that very same problem now. There appear to be some decently conservative colleges in FL, VA, TX, SC, may be AZ and UT
Funny that right after Elon hauled all his workers back to the office, they were required to wear masks. Either someone on the inside was trying to play up the risk of black plague or in order to get that Tesla logo on a resume, fate is going to put up every obstacle it can.
Florida is not entirely free. We have so many “drink a six-pack and swim the surf” fools that the Sheriff has double red flags for rough days. He arrests fools who go in on those days. Back when I was sailing a 30 footer and dreaming of circumnavigation, the books about it spent whole chapters on how to AVOID the surf. Now people get drunk and dash in naked at midnight.
I swam with long duration dives below the waves in 6 – 7 foot waves storm off Florida coast to impress my kid, something that I learned to do young. Nobody cared that I was swimming in a mild storm. On the same day I was getting calls from back home from family members who urged me to either leave Florida ASAP or hanker down to protect us from an epic hurricane that they were watching on their news channels back home. I had hard time persuading them that all we got were mild waves and darkened sky.
Phil, the pollen has been really nasty here in Maskachusetts the past week. I was tempted to don a mask for that.