Context Is Everything

As I read about the various recent controversies surrounding the pandemic, it has become clear that too many people simply do not understand the importance of context.

Example: There's been a flurry of complaints from Philadelphia residents and especially Philly restaurant and bar owners over a photo of Mayor Jim Kenney dining indoors while he was visiting Maryland's Eastern Shore a few weeks ago...during a time when Kenney said it was unsafe to have indoor dining in Philadelphia. "If it's unsafe, why could you do it?" was the question, calling the mayor out for hypocrisy.

Context: Just because conditions make it unsafe to dine indoors in a dense urban environment like Philadelphia doesn't mean those same conditions prevail at Maryland's very rural Eastern Shore. Philly has 145,000 cases of C-19 and nearly 8,000 deaths. While I could not find data for the entire Eastern Shore, Worcester County's case count is under 700.

I realize that educating people about such things can be difficult, but I would have thought that Philly restaurant owners would be very aware of how different their business model and clientele are from that of Maryland's Eastern Shore eateries.