Expectations Over the Next Few Weeks
I expect the Governor and her Executive Committee who are looking at how and when to open Alabama’s economy back up, will rely heavily on the "Guidelines for Opening Up American Again" published by the White House and the CDC. Here is the link for those Guidelines. As a result, based on our numbers, I am thinking the State will adhere to the State Health Order currently in place through April 30th, but I don’t know that for sure. I do expect the Governor to BEGIN lessening the restrictions and limitations imposed by the latest State Health Order as of May 1st. By that, I mean that I expect most businesses and recreational areas that were closed to be allowed to re-open, but with limitations and restrictions for social distancing and the like. That and the date of May 1st is just an educated guess on my part at this point.
As I see it, the restrictions and limitations imposed on us were all about trying to control human behavior to help stop the spread of the virus, and many of our businesses were just an unfortunate casualty of that, as were some public recreational areas. Most should be allowed to re-open, as I have always believed that most businesses could have stayed open and operated safely to avoid spreading the virus. Without question, most could have operated just as safely as any big box store, grocery store or pharmacy, but because they were not deemed to be selling “essential and necessary” items, they were closed in an effort to control human behavior. It is time for them to re-open if they can do so pursuant to the Guidelines.
But, even when we start to open back up our State, this is not over on May 1st by any means, and we still need to encourage and have people continue to be smart in their behavior and practice social distancing and the like, and especially from those considered to be part of our vulnerable population. The vulnerable population needs to continue to shelter-in-place as much as humanly possible. Alabamians have always risen to any challenge that faced us, and no doubt we can do this, Alabama!