Hits and Misses
MISS: Staying home has given people time to do things they have otherwise been putting off, like clearing out their closets and gathering together unused items that had been cluttering up their abodes. People shouldn’t be dropping any of it off at thrift stores, though, because those stores are closed like all other non-essential businesses across Pennsylvania. That hasn’t stopped some folks who are impatient, painfully dim-witted, or some combination of the two, from simply dumping their goods outside thrift stores. KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh showed images this week of a sea of items haphazardly strewn around the St. Vincent de Paul store in Coraopolis. Most of it will be rendered unusable because it has been sitting in the sun and rain, and will have to be tossed in the trash. This has happened elsewhere, too. One Salvation Army official pointed out to the Chicago Tribune that “the idea that people would leave donations in front of our closed donation sites for the masses to pilfer through could in fact enhance the spread of the virus.” If you were thinking of leaving something outside a thrift store, don’t. Just don’t. It can wait until this is over.
HIT: Last month, Gov. Tom Wolf issued an order for all non-essential businesses to close, and it appears that the message is finally getting through to the remaining holdouts. On Tuesday, Pennsylvania State Police only issued three warnings across the commonwealth to businesses, the smallest number since March 23, when the enforcement effort began. State police are also emphasizing that the stay-at-home order means people should not get in their vehicles and go places other than the doctor, the grocery store, pharmacy or other places that have been deemed crucial to our health and welfare. That means even Sunday drives are out, though police are not setting up roadblocks or pulling over people to ask where they are going. The more we follow these directives, the sooner we’ll be able to reopen all businesses and take Sunday drives to our hearts’ delight.
HIT: That the coronavirus and the shutdowns that have accompanied it have been a source of extreme anxiety to people around the world is not news. Is there anyone out there who is not looking forward to a stress-free trip to the grocery store? There have been a few silver linings, though. Those lucky enough to be able to stay home have been able to get to books that have long been on their nightstands, or start to watch some of the programs that have been taking up space on the DVR. The fact that work and commerce have also been curtailed has had some environmental benefits. Some locations have seen drops in air pollution, and the beloved canals of Venice, Italy, have become cleaner. “If we can think about how to prepare for climate change, maybe there will be a positive outcome to all this,” according to Chistopher Jones, lead developer of the Cool Climate Network, a research group based at the University of California-Berkeley. “We can help prevent crises in the future if we are prepared. I think there are some big-picture lessons here that could be useful.”
MISS: At a moment like this, most of us are concerned about things that are entirely earthbound, namely our health and the health of loved ones. But it hasn’t stopped President Trump from lavishing attention on things that are, at best, tangential. The Guardian reported that Trump recently signed an executive order asserting American rights to mine for minerals on the moon. “Americans should have the right to engage in commercial exploration, recovery, and use of resources in outer space,” the order says. This is a fight that should have been pushed back to another day – or century.