Have you heard the news? Georgia is re-opening! That’s right – my great home state of Georgia, which is also home to Sport Dork International Headquarters, will allow certain businesses, including gyms, hair and nail salons, massage therapists, bowling alleys and tattoo parlors to re-open this Friday. And we’re following that up with restaurants resuming in-house dining next Monday!
Have you made your tattoo appointment yet? I’ve been eyeing a COVID-19 tat for over a month now, and you better believe I’m going to be at the front of the line! Plus, what could be better than risking contracting COVID-19 while getting a COVID-19 tat? I’m also curious about the massage situation – will there be a COVID-19 massage listed on the menu of services, right above Swedish and Deep-Tissue? I’m just impressed that we’re finally leading the nation in something. We may be 46th in testing and 39th in healthcare, but we’re #1 in re-opening!
As expected, the freak-out factor over the Governor’s recent announcement has been spectacularly high, with people concerned that businesses opening too soon could result in a second wave of infections. I have to say, I’m as concerned as the next guy about another spike in cases, but I’m having trouble understanding the amount of hand-wringing that is going on over the Governor’s announcement. Unless I’m missing something, this isn’t a mandate. The Governor isn’t telling businesses that they HAVE to re-open, and he’s not telling people that they HAVE to go out and visit businesses that are open. Nobody is telling anyone that they HAVE to do anything, which is kind of one of the great things about America. He’s simply allowing businesses to re-open, if they’d like, and allowing people to frequent those businesses, if they’d like, subject to a number of requirements intended to minimize the spread of the virus.
Each of us as business owners or patrons has the ability to make a choice – something we’ve long valued in this country. We each have the ability to weigh the risks associated with our actions and make a determination about what course of action is right for us. For example, I had a heart attack last year, so I will not, in fact, be visiting my local tattoo parlor on Friday, or getting a massage, or a haircut, or bowling a few frames, because even with precautions in place, the risk for me personally is too high to feel comfortable engaging in them. But if I were in my 20’s or 30’s, and I didn’t have an underlying health condition, I would likely be more than willing to get out there and take advantage of a few of those services knowing that not only is my risk of infection relatively low, but even if I do get infected my risk of hospitalization and death is extremely low.
It’s a concept that we seem to have lost touch with for some time now, and it’s called assumption of risk. In the legal world it means to assume the known risks of a course of conduct, and in the everyday world it means that with every action we take, we acknowledge that there are certain risks associated with that action when we take the action. It also happens to be wonderfully relevant to the situation we currently find ourselves in. If you’re not comfortable with the risk you associate with going to the gym, don’t go to the gym! If you’re not comfortable with the risk you associate with going to the salon, don’t go to the salon! Depending on your risk profile, which not only includes your age and your health condition, but also includes your overall risk perception and risk tolerance as an individual, you may or may not make the decision to go get your haircut. Am I going? No. But does that mean that others shouldn’t be able to make the choice to go? Absolutely not. Each of us should be able to make that decision for ourselves, and I don’t for a second begrudge someone who makes the decision to go while I have made the decision not to.
A couple of months ago we had no idea what the risks were and no idea what the repercussions of failing to take precautionary measures were, so no one could possibly make a coherent argument in favor of each person assuming the risk as they see fit. But that’s no longer the case. We know infinitely more today than we did a short time ago. We know who is at the greatest risk of being hospitalized or dying from the virus, we know more about how it spreads, and we know that wearing masks, washing our hands and not touching our face significantly reduce the probability of spreading it. Each of us – businesses and patrons – are now in a much better position to assess the risks of engaging in certain behaviors and to decide whether to move forward.
Some businesses may not be comfortable with the risk of opening or their ability to maintain a safe environment for their customers, while others may feel good about it and move forward. And some customers may feel comfortable with the measures in place at one establishment but uncomfortable with another. A few hours ago I got an email from my hair salon (yes, I go to a Salon, don’t judge) announcing that they are re-opening and outlining about fifteen different precautionary measures they are taking to be able to operate as safely as possible. The list of measures includes all of their staff wearing masks and a requirement that all clients wear masks as well, in addition to reducing the number of employees and clients in the store to maintain social distancing as much as possible. It’s a great example of a business taking safe reopening very seriously, which they have a strong incentive to do, since no business owner wants to be held responsible for an outbreak of Coronavirus cases or forced to shut down again because employees or customers have been infected. It also highlights the fact that the state’s reopening is unlikely to be some kind of free-for-all shit show that many people seem to envision.
I’m well aware of the counter argument to my ‘assumption of risk’ position, because it’s been all over Facebook, Next Door, Twitter, etc. “It’s not just you assuming the risk, Sport Dork! If people run all over town getting massages and tattoos and haircuts and go bowling and to movie theatres, they may be spreading the virus, and then those same people will go to the grocery store or other essential businesses and spread it to me while I’m just trying to buy food for my family to survive!”
While I can appreciate the concern, I have two problems with this objection. First, if you’re wearing a mask, washing your hands and not touching your face, your risk of contracting the virus is extremely low. So even in this hypothetical where thousands of irresponsible fellow citizens are gallivanting around the city recklessly bowling, watching movies and massaging each other and then descending upon you and other ‘responsible’ citizens at the local Publix, if you’re wearing a mask, not touching your face, washing your hands and wiping down your groceries, you’re likely not going to get this thing. Whether 20% or 80% of the people in the store have it, if you’re doing the things you need to do to stay safe, you’re simply not likely to get it. How do I know this? Here’s a long, but great video from an ICU doc on the front lines in New York City that will tell you everything you need to know (the 18:56 mark addresses going to the store). Second, in all likelihood, those people running around engaged in all those non-essential activities aren’t going to be spreading the virus like wild fire, because as I highlighted above, businesses that do re-open have every incentive to make sure that customers are behaving responsibly. Coronavirus isn’t good for business, and neither are videos on social media of customers running wild through businesses that are failing to maintain a safe environment.
So we know that each of us can decide whether or not to visit a business and risk exposure. And we also know that if we do venture out, we can substantially prevent contracting the virus by taking certain precautionary actions that are completely under our control, which means that we each have the ability to minimize our risk of transmission. If this is the case, why are so many people so angry about Georgia allowing businesses to re-open? What is it about the idea of some people exercising their free will in a way that looks different from others exercising their free will that makes people so angry? If you’re someone who finds yourself getting really angry about the prospect of all these people running around town and going to these re-opened businesses, you may want to ask yourself this question – Am I truly concerned about contracting the virus, or am I really just upset that someone else is willing and/or able to assume more risk than I am, and as a result is doing something I wish I was able to do? Am I really just angry because if I choose not to do something, I don’t want anyone else to be able to do it?
Okay, gotta run. I’m going to be late for my massage appointment.