Coronavirus, Idiots, and Students: Life on a Blue Dot in a Red State College Town

There are 132,000+ people in Gainesville, FL. I live in one of the most densely populated areas of the city, where there are dozens of high-rise apartment complexes for students, most housing 2-4 students in one apartment, with sometimes hundreds of apartments per complex. Our zip code has more people than any other zip code in the city, so logically, we have more cases of COVID-19.

How many do we have? As of yesterday, April 7, we have -- wait for it -- 29. Our entire county only has 133, and no deaths. Why is that?

I think the #1 reason is that our county instituted a stay-at-home order when there were only 15 cases in the entire county. The #2 reason is that most of the population of this area is under 30. The #3 reason is lack of testing. Yes, lack of testing. I'm absolutely sure there are more cases in this jam-packed area, but there is no testing in this god-forsaken state, unless you are rich.

Naples, one of the richest cities in the state, had drive-thru testing. The Villages, another rich area, also got testing. Of course, those are two very red areas. Gainesville is a dot of blue in a sea of red, so the inept and ultra-partisan governor of our state has pretty much ignored us.

So, being sensible and knowing that even though we have one of the premier research hospital systems in the state (Shands), our county council knew we would not get testing, so they shut us down.

Then the governor pulled his head out of Trump's ass long enough to ask him if he could shut down the state, and he was given permission, so he did. Only one thing changed. Churches are allowed to have services. They are supposed to adhere to social distancing, but of course, they don't. They pack into the sanctuaries with their children and elderly loved ones and believe God will protect them. But who is going to protect US against THEM?

Luckily, we don't have a lot of churches in our zip code, but we do have the largest shopping center in the area -- over a mile long and a quarter of a mile wide. Butler Plaza has every major type of store that is open now; WalMart, Lowe's, Aldi, Dollar Tree, Publix (2 within a mile of each other -- WTH?), Trader Joe's, Target, and dozens more. Some are shut down, but the many restaurants are still serving take-out and drive-thru. The bus system is still operating, carrying people from all parts of the city here. And that doesn't count all the businesses that border Butler Plaza like CVS, Walgreens, Dollar General and several ethnic markets that are still open.

The average age of infected persons in Gainesville is somewhere in the early 40s. Most of the new cases are in their 20s and early 30s, because most college students are educated fools who are still having parties and running around town in groups. That is fine with our governor, who only banned meetings of more than 10 people in public places.

The good news? Some of the students from the University of Florida and Santa Fe college have already gone home, and most of the others will be leaving in May; earlier this year since there will be no graduation ceremonies.

The bad news is that we seniors are stuck inside until they leave and things calm down a bit. Just like the areas of Florida invaded by snowbirds every year, we live for summer, hot and miserable as it may be.

One more month. Just one more month, if all goes well, and I will be released from my self-imposed prison. Let's hope I make it. I'm not too sure I will.