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April, 2020 Monthly archive

Have you seen the coronavirus numbers today from the CDC? Over 800,000 infections (that we know about) and 46,000 deaths. Not to mention the myriad and oft overlooked other afflictions that sufferers endure including everything from ‘covid-toes’ to strokes.

Those numbers are huge and getting huger (is that a word?). Especially compared to 0 where were last year at this time, and every other year before that. So when I hear about a gradual easing of restrictions and politicians speaking about “opening things up”, I wonder to myself, “in what universe?”. Let’s stop kidding ourselves. In order to open back up we need to have the following things at a minimum:

  1. Universally available testing for both antibodies and the virus itself so we know who’s got and has had what.
  2. Universally available personal protective equipment so we can feel safe out in public.
  3. A vaccine, or at the very least, an effective drug therapy to fight the infection.
  4. A solid understanding of the virus’ true penetration numbers in our society.
  5. An executive branch that works better with, and with less acrimony towards our state and local governments.
  6. A sustained negative trend in known infections – we’re not even flat at this point.

Right now, we don’t have any of that stuff. And it’s unlikely, given the flat-footed nature of our national response, that we’ll have it any time soon. Plus, some of these things on our wish list take time. Vaccines need to be developed, tested, augmented, tested again, etc. Many versions fail, and some make things worse. We also have no idea if there’s any immunity for those with antibodies, and if there is, we don’t know how long that will last. We don’t know if the virus will mutate next flu season. We don’t know lots of important things at this point.

When I hear politicians talking about “opening things up” it reminds me of the person who buys low and sells high. We’re not better off than we were 6 weeks ago. About the only thing we’ve managed to do is educate the public, who routinely wear masks and form socially distant lines at the grocery store – at least near where I live. But elements of the public are still lax in their observance. Right now, many states have conservative groups protesting and blatantly ignoring distancing guidelines. Others are fighting for the right to congregate at churches and other venues, public health be damned.

Can anyone here say “second wave” or “latest hot-spot” or “this might last a while”? Because I don’t see anything that would prevent it, do you?

Donald Trump, faced with a spiraling catastrophe that is arguably partly of his own making, has a new approach battling coronavirus. Pretend it’s not really his problem at all and blame as many other people as possible for the failings of the federal government. While America now has the most COVID-19 cases on Earth and the prospect of a quarter million dead citizens, the White House has figured out exactly where all the fault lies. Pretty much with everyone but Trump.

First, the White House is blaming each individual state for not being prepared for a pandemic on their own. ‘The federal government isn’t responsible‘ is their new argument. Trump’s White House is also blaming the Obama Administration, who left office over 3 years ago. Clearly it’s that administration’s fault for the Trump government’s failure to prepare or even notice they weren’t prepared for a challenge. And he’s blaming the Chinese even though we had ample warning of the disease before virus came here and began infecting people. And he’s blaming the impeachment, of course, even though it was over long before March of 2020 when cases went from close to 30 to a quarter million or more.

But I’m not done. There’s more blame to go around. There’s the media for having the audacity to raise the red flag and start telling Americans about a dangerous virus circulating in Asia long before it made it to American shores. Then there’s the democratic party for amplifying those timely and necessary warnings. There’s also the individual governors of states like Michigan and Washington where Trump doesn’t like the person in charge and can’t get over it long enough to help his own citizens. There’s blame for Nancy Pelosi who Trump hasn’t spoken to in almost a half year because he’s, you know, mad.

What a shit show.

But when you ask Trump how much blame is his? None, absolutely zero. How dare you for asking? How dare you for insulting the United States Government with aggressive and treasonous questions, you bastard.