Russ's Ravings: Movie Theaters! Indoor Dining! No Thanks!

Editor's note: The following is Patch Field Editor Russ Crespolini's, hopefully, weekly column. It is reflective of his opinion alone.

On Friday, after long last and one false start, indoor dining was allowed to resume again in New Jersey along with movie theaters and other venues at 25 percent capacity as we slowly recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

For those of you who don't know, I love dining out. Look up at my photo, you can tell. I love sitting with friends and family, and eating a wide variety of our favorites in area restaurants.

I also adore theater and the movies. Going to the latest comic book movie with my buddies, assigning the seats ahead of time to put the most volatile next to one another and then standing in the parking lot afterwards debating are some of my best memories.

This combination is one of my favorite things to do with my mother as well. Grab lunch or dinner and disappear into movie theater for a couple of hours of escapism.

And looking at the schedule, it looks like there is a new comic book movie, "New Mutants" for us all to see this weekend.

And I have two words to sum up my feelings: Hell no.

I am just not convinced that we are in a position where it is safe. Because there is too much wiggle room in the mandates.

Let me give you an example, early on in the pandemic Governor Phil Murphy's administration and the Department of Health issued a mandate about how COVID-19 positive patients should be returned to long-term care facilities.

The order dictated that those returning should be kept in separate floors or wings and not intermixed with COVID negative patients. The same was said for staff. Nursing home staff needed to work in cohorts and not be mingling between COVID positive and COVID negative residents and colleagues.

Guess what? Not everyone followed the mandate.

Some did. Many did in fact, and some who couldn't, asked for help and DOH assisted in relocating people. But some did not. And that contributed to more than 7,000 deaths in long-term care facilities.

So now, we are in a similar situation when it comes to dining and theaters. I am positive there are many owners and employees who will do everything right, and make sure the tables are separated and staff are masked and the ventilation is up to spec.

But there will be many, who won't.

They will let it slide when a cook in a back kitchen lets his mask become a chin strap at the end of the day. When a server comes back from a quick smoke break and doesn't wash her hands, when an usher forgets to put on gloves when they are cleaning the theater.

And that one mistake could be catastrophic.

I know many of the comments I am going get. And I understand them. These businesses have been through a nightmare above and beyond what many have. Their livelihoods were stolen. Their dreams pushed to the brink by a deadly pandemic that turned their eateries into potential spread vector hot spots.

They were given a potential opening date but then the spot positivity, rate of transmission and hospitalization caused that July date to fizzle like a defective roman candle. Many have gone belly up, many others are on the verge.

And the constant, inane messaging we received from Murphy didn't help either.

"We'd like to get to that, by the way, sooner rather than later. We're not talking about forever and always here. Our hearts go out to these businesses that have been absolutely crushed by this pandemic."

Rinse. Repeat. For months.

We were never given a clear target. We were never offered a clear opening metric. And now that we are here, who could blame these businesses if they cut a couple corners to survive. Squeezed in a couple extra people, allowed staff to work with a fever, or ignored the ventilation requirements.

It just takes me walking into the wrong place at the wrong time.

Is "New Mutants" worth dying over?

Probably not. Neither is any meal I can remember having out. Especially because I am considered higher risk.

So while I am taking a hard pass on dining, for now, I know there are many who won't. So for the sake of everyone I am going to ask that you be aware and discerning. Frequent restaurants you know are following the rules and follow the rules yourself.

We are all in this middle of this storm in different board moored in the same harbor. It will take all of us to ride this out.

I'll give you a week to figure out that jumbled metaphor.

Russ Crespolini is a Field Editor for Patch Media, adjunct professor and college newspaper advisor. His columns have won awards from the National Newspaper Association and the New Jersey Press Association.

He writes them in hopes of connecting with readers and engaging with them. And because it is cheaper than therapy. He can be reached at russ.crespolini@patch.com