Why do I wear a mask when I’m in public? Basically because I’m greedy.

I miss going out to dinner with friends. I miss going to watch Brighton Lacrosse in spring. I miss Friday lunch and a movie with my wife. I miss being able to schedule surgeries to help my patients who are in pain (although we’re starting to do a very select few). I miss lots of things.

So far, Utahns have been very good at “flattening the curve”, but more importantly, getting R<1 (see previous post). It’s been hard to do as a society, and involves closing schools and business and staying at home, but it has worked. With the “loosening” of restrictions yesterday by Governor Gary Herbert, the hope is that we can keep R<1 so that we can continue to open society up more and more.

But it will take effort from everyone. If any one individual thinks they don’t have to follow precautions because they “will be fine” individually, they are actually correct. HOWEVER, if EVERYONE doesn’t follow precautions, things will take off again and we’re going to have to go back to more and more restrictions to save lives.

This was me today on a trip to Home Depot. I was encouraged that 50-60% of people in the store were following precautions, but it was somewhat discouraging that the other 40% weren’t. I just hope that we don’t get a rebound in 2 weeks from this and have to go back to where we were.

So for MY sake, please follow precautions – wear a mask in public, wash your hands, avoid large groups, etc. I want to get back to a “normal-ish” life, but it will take the help of everyone in Utah. It will also HELP everyone in Utah.