Every year when flu season begins, it begins on the coasts and densely populated areas. Every year it is at least 3-6 months before flu hits rural America. It has to do with population and migration/travel of people. Covid 19 is following the same pattern. Don’t believe the panic the media and politicians are spreading about rural cases. Mainly, it’s garbage. The virus is behaving as all viruses behave.
It finally hit the area in which I live. Is there mass death and hospitalization? No, there is not. There have been a few people who have gotten fairly ill and a few who had to be hospitalized. For the most part, people either have mild cases or no symptoms at all. School and mass shutdowns are completely unnecessary. The school my son has attended the past five years had an outbreak. It closed for two weeks and reopened. Honestly, I don’t think there was any reason to close the school for two weeks. Close for a couple of days and disinfect the school. Quarantine the people you know were exposed and everyone else could have continued as usual. My son’s current school has had no cases although the high school has had a couple. One of my son’s friends’ family had Covid 19 and was one of the cases in the high school. His friend didn’t ever test positive and didn’t miss school. His friend was at our house. Are we sick? Nope. There is a good chance we will get Covid 19 along with a lot of other people. Do I want to get sick? No. But I’m not stopping my life for a virus. On the other hand, I am practicing social distancing. We have avoided large crowds and eating out. We do the same during flu season every year when possible. I don’t like getting sick.
Masks do not stop a virus. They may or may not slow the spread. Nothing stops a virus except a vaccine once it is endemic in the population.
Middle of the Muddy Road 