Solutions for When You are at the Grocery
By Jeff Thomas
Ok. So, Saturday I was in Lowes. Yea yea, I was actually doing official business. And I, like most of the other customers, was mindful of social distancing. I walked down an aisle and saw two people, who were wearing masks, where I wanted to look, so I waited, more than 6 feet away, until they moved. Then I proceeded down the aisle to look for what I needed.
As I searched the shelves, along comes an acquaintance. I see him frequently, but don’t really know his name. Why did your boy walk up, pat me on the shoulder, extend his hand and effusively start a “How ya’ doing” kind of conversation like this is 2018?
In my mind, corona missiles were streaming from his mouth on a heat seeking mission to my nose. His extended hand was a germ filled bomb. I literally panicked and jumped back and hollered, “Hey man, keep social distance between us.” He was shocked and asked me if I was really doing all that.
At once anger, distress and a desire to educate rushed into my mind. I could only blurt out, “This is about life and death and you don’t have the right to put people at risk with your careless attitude man.” I grabbed my product and went to checkout.
Social Distancing
Despite wall to wall press coverage, some people just are not taking this seriously. Denial, ignorance, or just not fully comprehending, some people are missing the significance of this new norm. Admittedly, social distancing is different and complicated. This vague term needs more definition.
Are you surprised to learn that social distancing is actually a medical term? Social distancing or physical distancing is a set of nonpharmaceutical infection control actions intended to stop or slow down the spread of a contagious disease. The objective of social distancing is to reduce the probability of contact between persons carrying an infection, and others who are not infected, so as to minimize disease transmission, morbidity and ultimately, mortality.
In New Orleans, social intimacy is a part of the culture. People hug and kiss. Often when they meet for the first time. If you see a friend, you better speak or be considered rude. Well there is a new normal.
Being polite is now a cheerful wave. This is necessary to protect us all. We are all at risk. There is an invisible, sneaky and clever enemy amongst us. Some people get no or mild symptoms. Others die. Still the disease is contagious in all instances. Even if you only have mild symptoms that you do not even recognize as the COVID-19, you can transmit this deadly disease to a vulnerable person who might require hospitalization.
If the hospitals are overrun with treating COVID19 victims, then the everyday heart attack or stroke patient could possibly die.
What to Do
“Better to be safe than sorry” and “holler at your boy” are two popular expressions that come to mind now. Combining them make the most sense. Even if you don’t feel bad, stay home as much as possible. (Better to be safe than sorry). And if you have to venture out, and you see a friend, holler at your boy from a distance. Otherwise, your loved one who has a routine emergency room need might become critically ill or even die, just cause you wanted to dap me up.
#Social Distancing
#JUST WAVE
Jeff Thomas
Publisher • Opinion Columnist • Licensed General Contractor • Real Estate Appraiser • New Orleans
Jeff Thomas is the publisher of Black Source Media and one of New Orleans’ most direct voices on civic affairs, economic justice, and Louisiana politics. He writes from the intersection of experience and accountability — as a licensed general contractor,a tech company founder and executive with over 30 years experience, and a businessman who has worked across the city’s civic, media, and construction ecosystems for decades.
His Sunday column covers Louisiana legislative politics, insurance discrimination, housing policy, and the forces shaping Black community life in New Orleans and across the state. Thomas writes in the tradition of Black journalists who hold power accountable without apology — building arguments from data, delivering verdicts from evidence, and speaking to Black New Orleans with the directness the moment demands.
He is also the principal of EA Inspection Services, LLC, a government inspection services company. Black Source Media is his platform for the civic conversation New Orleans has needed and too rarely had.
Selected Articles by Jeff Thomas
Black Neighborhoods Pay the Highest Insurance Rates in Louisiana. Here’s What They Don’t Want You to Know.
They Didn’t Yell the N-Word. They Went to Law School, Bided Their Time, and Rewrote the Constitution Instead.
Vappie vs. Morrell: Why Does Justice Look Different in New Orleans?
The State Has the Money. New Orleans East Just Needs Them to Use It.
The Failure of Mitch Landrieu
Publisher — Black Source Media
Jeff Thomas
Publisher • Opinion Columnist • Licensed General Contractor • Real Estate Appraiser • New Orleans
Jeff Thomas is the publisher of Black Source Media and one of New Orleans’ most direct voices on civic affairs, economic justice, and Louisiana politics. He writes from the intersection of experience and accountability — as a licensed general contractor,a tech company founder and executive with over 30 years experience, and a businessman who has worked across the city’s civic, media, and construction ecosystems for decades.
His Sunday column covers Louisiana legislative politics, insurance discrimination, housing policy, and the forces shaping Black community life in New Orleans and across the state. Thomas writes in the tradition of Black journalists who hold power accountable without apology — building arguments from data, delivering verdicts from evidence, and speaking to Black New Orleans with the directness the moment demands.
He is also the principal of EA Inspection Services, LLC, a government inspection services company. Black Source Media is his platform for the civic conversation New Orleans has needed and too rarely had.
Selected Articles by Jeff Thomas
Black Neighborhoods Pay the Highest Insurance Rates in Louisiana. Here’s What They Don’t Want You to Know.
They Didn’t Yell the N-Word. They Went to Law School, Bided Their Time, and Rewrote the Constitution Instead.
Vappie vs. Morrell: Why Does Justice Look Different in New Orleans?
The State Has the Money. New Orleans East Just Needs Them to Use It.
The Failure of Mitch Landrieu
Hi, Jeff
You, are Spot On! Most people aren’t taking this Corona Virus serious.
Social Distancing is a must if we are to minimize the risk of exposing those who are most vulnerable. In this Day and Time, An Ounce Of Prevention Is Worth A Pound Of Cure!! Especially dealing with the Corona Virus for which at this point there Is No Cure!
I should have used that saying too! An Ounce……Thank you!
Thanks, Jeff. Great reminders and well put. Justice and Beyond meets today on zoom with questions for Jay Banks. All are welcome. Have you heard the one about what to wear to the grocery store? They told me to wear a mask and gloves. But they were wrong. When I got there, everyone else had on clothes. Orissa