The beginning of Phase 2?

It seems like a lot of places are beginning to test opening up again. China has listed restrictions for awhile now, though we hear suspiciously little about them these days. Italy looks to be moving from the strictest quarantine to the type of stay-at-home orders the US is doing. Georgia (the state, not the country) is worryingly opening before they've even 'flattened the curve'. Florida beaches are opening, prompting a local lawyer to haunt the beaches in a Grim Reaper costume. My state's governor is talking about a phased reopening beginning in a couple weeks.

I'm both ready for this to happen right now and thinking this is way too fast. I worry places will begin opening up before there are good procedures in place, causing a rise in outbreaks. I worry that places opening will put people who are not ready to open at risk because they can't afford to go against the reopening orders.

I call myself a cynical optimist. I hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. The optimist in me is hopeful that we've done enough to mitigate the worst of the pandemic, so that a slow, careful reopening will be just the thing. The cynic in me knows that while a person is smart, people are stupid and once you have a hole in the dike, the whole thing will spill out. I'm fully expecting there to be another, probably worse, wave in the fall or winter.

Not that we can afford to stay-at-home for much longer. A horrific economic depression will kill people just as surely as Covid-19. It's that awful balance of 'for the greater good' and 'no man left behind'.