Years ago there was a terrible fire at the Our Lady of the Angels school in Chicago which killed over 90 people most of which were kids. Years later a writer interviewed people who had survived the fire and one survivor had gone on to college to become a psychiatrist. This person stated that he had interviewed his classmates who had survived the fire and said that he could not find one person who he would diagnose with PTSD.
We throw arounds terms like "depression" and "ptsd" very loosely now a days in fact it seems to be the newest fad for celebrities to start claiming they suffer from depression. I am not saying no one with Covid-19 is suffering from any of these mental illnesses but going through a tough time does not equal mental illness.
Such events also point out the need for the government to make sure that all buildings open to the public follow construction and safety codes.
It’s not okay to open a church where people come to harm in order to attend it or while attending it. Freedom of religion and freedom of speech are not unlimited under our current constitutional system.
So, health and safety codes that apply to all buildings and enterprises should include measures to prevent infectious disease. That’s why we require clean water flowing to buildings - it’s not okay to have dysentery, typhoid and typhus.
It would not be okay for a church to have poisonous snakes at large on the premises (it’s been tried) nor for a church to hand out free food that was unsafe or contaminated.
It should not be okay to transmit Covid either. The legal and economic mechanisms need to be worked out and hopefully now will be.
There are many other good reasons to have food delivered. There will be seniors who can't manage the grocery runs or cooking. There are new moms who won't go out with their new baby. There are folks who are providing meals for others ... there are as many reasons as you can dream of.
We do have good reasons to support our local businesses. They put money back into our communities and keep local people employed. Yes, the government will provide assistance (depending on which country you live in), but that's usually to make up for the shortfall, and just for a period until the business can get back up and running. Without that support, things can become grim for vulnerable communities.
And yes, I agree with you that the delivery person does matter.
I agree with you. Working in a grocery store is far less safe (for reasons I’ve posted dozens of links about) than working as a delivery person. Stockers in stores are safer than cashiers - but automated cashiers are already a thing. There are other solutions for cashiers, and those should be mandated.
Stockers in refrigerated warehouses and grocery store back areas are very much at risk. There are various ways to curb the risk - but our best hope is a vaccine, as always.
Delivery driving, compared to stocking, is much lower risk. Where I live, the gig economy workers are mostly very young (lower risk). In California, we prohibit some groups (pregnant women, for example) from working some jobs and we require notice of risk for all jobs where a person could be endangered. I suspect we need to do that for CV-19.
Unfortunately, we’ve waited so long to do anything that’s unified, I am not hopeful that we’ll get compliance. But we will get a vaccine - and we have to wait and see whether people will take it.
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