The problem is as soon as they do, the rate starts going up because the virus starts to spread all over again. It's a dire situation. New York and New Jersey where I live are starting to open up. We'll see how successful we are. I doubt it will stay down even though we've done a great job really getting the numbers down. Meanwhile, my wife and I are staying protected for the most part although I was out photographing yesterday in a deserted area until another photographer showed up. We're going to wait and see what happens and let others take chances and be the guinea pigs. At our age and condition, we can't take too many chances.
Of course after reopening the numbers would go up. What is important is to plan accordingly, which clearly was not done in several countries. In Portugal, which is considered now by several EU countries as a "red" trafiic light destination (meaning if you come here you need to quarantine once you go back home), the situation is clearly controlled. Even in the greater Lisbon area, where 3million people live, number of new cases is slowly going down. Now we know that the government did not plan very well, because there were not enough people to make the fast enquiries to trace the contacts of infected people. This is compounded by the fact that there are about 100 nationalities living in the area, often in housing conditions that are not good to keep infected people in isolation. The whole problem is clearly more than a health issue: it has social, economic, and work ramifications that need to be tackled by integrated teams. Thankfully, most new cases are assymptomatic, unfortunately we see some come back on caring homes being infected again.
We are now preparing for a possible second wave in the winter, hiring more health staff and even a Portuguese ventilator has been developed and approved by the repsective heatlh agency.
Otherwise, people are enjoying life again, taking the necessary precautions and following the 3 Cs rule: avoid crowded spaces, avoid close contacts, avoid closed spaces. And wear a mask.
