I shared of the poor etiquette of my fellow passengers at LAX, but the entire airport was packed…I have not seen it this full in over a year. And with California set to fully re-open on June 15th, life is finally returning to normality. This makes me very excited…and very thankful.
Crowds At LAX As California Roars Back
We’ve dealt with over a year of shutdowns, lockdowns, and gradual re-opening in California. While California currently boasts the lowest infection rate in the country, there was a time in which it was the worst.
Like many, I dutifully stayed home for a time, suspended travel, and paused life. I may have resumed it, somewhat, before most, but it has only been in the last couple weeks that I’ve been able to sit down inside a restaurant once again. It was only yesterday that I was able to work out inside my gym instead of outside.
June 15th is still a long way off. There’s still much that could go wrong in the next two months. Indeed, the suspension of J&J vaccines may present a roadblock to re-opening. But I am thankful that people are no longer staying home. The vaccine is not a green light to be reckless, but if we trust in its efficacy (and I do), then the economic cost of pausing life no longer makes sense.
Maybe one day we’ll look back and see that sheltering in place was counterproductive from the start, but it is time to move to the next chapter, and that includes commerce and exploring the world anew.
I don’t think we will ever be able to declare victory over COVID-19. Like influenza, we will see new strains and variations each year…I expect an annual COVID-19 vaccine along with my annual flu shot.
But understanding that life is quickly passing us by, every decision in life is a risk/benefit analysis, we will all die, and that through vaccinations plus proper hygiene we can greatly reduce risk to ourselves and others is an important milestone.
CONCLUSION
There will still be outbreaks. There will be selfish people who do not stay home when they are sick and spread sickness to others. Yes, there will be people who exploit the system to their own advantage, at the expense of others. But this is life. And now we return to the life we have greatly missed.
Flew into LAX this past Saturday night and the prior saturday night. The crowds of people at T7 pick up (lower level towards the inner driveway) were insane. No social distancing, 1/3 of people wearing masks down below their noses. Grateful that i’ve been double Pfizerized. Sheesh people.
You should see CLT This afternoon. On Wednesday, mid-afternoon. It’s nuts.
I was at LAX two weekends ago, and I really got a kick out of how TVs in restaurants couldn’t be on during the UCLA game, indoor dining was open at only 25%, but the bus to LAXit was allowed to operate at full capacity, even with pax standing up.
To be fair, I’m sure that traffic at LAX has picked up greatly in the past month and the airport never really implemented a contingency plan.
The biggest waste of all was LAXit continuing to be enforced as the Uber/Lyft pickup spot even through the most depressed travel of the pandemic…
Thank you for “normality” and not the other awful word that crept into the lexicon after September 11 (~80 years after Warren Harding also made it a thing)
I debated using normalacy. 😉
You said “the entire airport was packed” and then provide only two kerbside shots — neither of which shows particularly horrendous crowding. Come on, Matthew.
Well then you’ll have to take my word for it, though the curb looks packed to me…especially considering it has been virtually empty for the last year.
Are you sure these are not people fleeing California for good? 🙂
@ Matthew — TSA throughputs are still down 41% from 2019 but up 1337% from 2020, so it is part perception and part reality.
It’s not normality. It’s stupidity. The majority of Americans have not been vaccinated but act like they have and that most others have.
maybe …indicate a return to normal crowd levels.
I’d say return to “normal” versus “normality” or “normalcy”. “Normal” works.
I see masks but little or no social distancing (not just in this photo) but in a lot of other places/ photos as well.