D.C.'s hosting of the Navy's Blue Angels and the Air Force's Thunderbirds -- and the enormous crowds that came out to see them -- is the latest example of people coming to terms with the fact that they'd rather put their health at risk than follow safety guidelines.

Here's the scene from the National Mall at our country's capital Saturday -- thousands of people swarming to one location and standing incredibly close to each other (many without masks) just to get out of the house and experience a taste of normalcy.

This weekend's ceremony was to honor essential workers and health care providers on the front lines fighting COVID-19, but the mere act of having this awesome flyover might've been counterintuitive ... as you can see not many people are practicing social distancing.

We've been seeing this day in and day out across the country -- folks disregarding the stay-at-home orders and heading out in public, many of whom do it defiantly and unsafely.

While it's easy to criticize a lot of these folks for putting their (and others') health at risk just to catch some rays -- the reality is becoming more and more apparent ... a lot of these people have it rough, and are just trying to cope. This is a complicated situation.

The fact this is happening in D.C. is especially telling, because health officials there say the coronavirus infection rate may not have even peaked.