# Am I missing something here? (re: reopening of bars, etc... now)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-missing-something-here-re-reopening-of-bars-etc-now/922356>\
**Category:** The Quarantine Zone\
**Tags:** covid-quarantine\
**Created:** [October 6, 2020, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-missing-something-here-re-reopening-of-bars-etc-now/922356 "2020-10-06T17:27:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 871

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**Author:** ![SayTwo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e56c9b/32.png) [@SayTwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SayTwo)\
**Post date:** [December 5, 2020, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/am-i-missing-something-here-re-reopening-of-bars-etc-now/922356/871 "2020-12-05T13:37:49Z")

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> [@Joey\_P](#):
>
> You have to take into consideration not just how strong the shutdowns are, but how seriously the public took them. You could have a state require every single civilian not leave their house for the next 4 weeks, but if they all ignore it and go about their business it’s not going to make a difference and the headlines reading “Shutdowns proven ineffective as cases rise in [state] despite 100% closure” would be very misleading.

I’m going to leave you on your own with all the seasonality stuff, because I never ‘claimed’ anything, and you know it. I said it was my take. I am more than well aware that it is (self-evidently, or tautologically, or trivially even) not yet provable that the thing is seasonal (or not!).

But this response, above – it’s just having the cake and eating it too. My contention is certainly not that there is something about the virus that can help it spread even if every person stayed inside their own homes all the time. My contention is that shutdowns do not successfully reduce spread, probably precisely because there are enough people who _cannot_ stay inside their own homes all the time. Now, that seems like a reasonable enough objection, if we’re trying to figure out what basket to put our mitigation eggs in. Saying that a strategy that seemingly can’t be followed would work if it could only be followed – well, that’s not a place I’d feel comfortable placing those eggs.

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