There is a big difference between how HIV (AIDs) and Covid -19 are contracted.
HIV is not an airborne disease. One cannot catch it from a sneeze, or a cough. With Covid -19 you can. The primary method of transmission of HIV from one person to another is through sexual intercourse, followed by the exchange of bodily fluiids directly into the bloodstream. That's not likely to happen on a crowded beach, or inside a bar or restaurant crowded with people. However, with Covid-19, the evidence
is showing that when folks don't practice social distancing guidelines, the number of Covid-19 cases skyrockets. There is a big, big difference between these two diseases.
Also, even during the height of the AIDs epidemic, hospitals were not overrun with AIDs patients as they are now with Covid-19. We didn't see scores of refrigerated trucks being brought in to act as temporary morgues. But we are certainly seeing that now with the coronavirus.
In addition, there is no comparison between the sheer number of Americans who are dying from the coronavirus than have ever died from AIDs. For example, the Centers For Disease Control (CDC) reported that in 2018, close to 13,000 Americans known to have been diagnosed with AIDs died. It is uncertain how many of this number had actually died from AIDs itself. However, even if we assume that all of them died as a direct result from AIDs, that number, as tragic as it is, pales in comparison to the number of Americans that are projected to die in 2020 of Covid-19, which currently stands to be in excess of 200,000 lives. That's quite a big difference (13, 000 v 200, 000+).
Also,when the AIDs epidemic began, there was a lockdown of sorts. Bathhouses were off limits. Elective surgeries were temporarily halted until the nation's blood supplies were deemed safe. People were urged to avoid any activities known to increase the risk of catching AIDs. Unfortunately with Covid-19, the general population is at a much higher risk of becoming infected due to its much higher degree of transmissibility.
I too, am "dying" to get back to bowling but I'm not willing to become infected with this virus and risking passing it onto my family and friends. That would be a much worse death. We are still learning about this terrible disease as time goes on, but in the meantime, the evidence across the country shows that when we practice social distancing, wear our masks when in public, the rate of infections goes down. It's not perfect, but until we get a vaccine and effective therapies to better fight it, we are stuck with what we know is working so far.
If we are concerned about the future of our local bowling establishments and our economy in general, as we all should be, we need to heed the advice to the medical professionals. The sooner that folks come to understand this, the quicker we can return to SOME semblance of normalcy. Otherwise, the deaths will continue to explode, our hosipals will be overrun with Covid-19 patients and more businesses will be forced to close.