In the NYT Monday Jennifer Senior paraphrased the British medical journal Lancet, which had, I think, a very important insight:
Two days ago, the British medical journal The Lancet more or less implied that many countries won’t be able to have both a healthy public and a healthy economy at this moment. They’ll have to choose.Yesterday it was apparent that The Don has chosen. He met with business leaders and pronounced that the airline and cruise industries will get federal help: “They’re two great industries and we’ll be helping them through this patch, and so far I think it’s been going very well.” He met with Republican members of Congress to talk about tax cuts and, since Senate Majority Leader Addison M. McConnell isn't interested, delegated Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin to work with the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. No thought from the White House about who is covering the uninsured who get the virus.
Finally, The Don said he wasn't going to get tested, despite contact with people now in quarantine, because “I feel extremely good. I feel very good. ... I spoke to the White House doctor — terrific guy, talented guy. He said he sees no reason to do it. There’s no symptoms, no anything."
After the Prime Minister, Nevil Chamberlain, cut his "peace in our time" deal with Adolf Hitler, Winston Churchill said: “You were given the choice between war and dishonor. You chose dishonor, and you will have both."
With a choice between the public and the economy, The Don chose the economy. And he will lose both.
My thought is that the public has to choose themselves over the economy. And to an extent I think that is happening. Some schools in areas where there has been virus exposure are closing temporarily and opting for virtual classes. I was grocery shopping yesterday and the usual crowd was pretty sparse. Hospitals and nursing homes are discouraging visitors. Of course social distancing isn't across the board, but people are minimizing contact.
ReplyDeleteI don't have a problem with federal help for the airline and travel industries if that means helping their employees survive though a slowdown, rather than recklessly encouraging people to "go ahead and travel, everything is fine!"
I think we have figured out by now that we can't expect wisdom, or leadership, or a good example from the present occupant of the White House.
I have plenty of money to do just about anything I want. A tax break won't motivate me. And, if someone is out of work due to the pandemic, how does repealing a tax on zero help him. Dumb and dumber.
ReplyDeleteSometimes, we just have to face the fact. We're f#&%ed.
It would be nice if Bernie and Joe, in the upcoming debate time, would ditch the usual format and issue some united, coherent suggestions for dealing with corona virus and making some of these points above.
ReplyDeleteBernie lost big in Michigan. Returns that initially gave him four large counties went to Biden once the absentees were counted. We need to make sure Uncle Joe takes his monkey glands and Adderall, and picks a younger veep who can step in with practical ideas and clear thinking when his meds quit working.
One of my nieces and her husband are pilots for United and Southwest, respectively. Last I heard, they were still in the air. Pilots have less exposure than passengers, since they are in an enclosed cockpit. But they still go through airport terminals, eat in restaurants, and use public restrooms. So lots of chances to encounter viruses. They have a couple of grade school aged kids. If their employers are offering any voluntary time off, I look for them to take it.
ReplyDeleteGreg and I were scheduled to fly to Miami and then take a cruise on our favorite cruise line (Oceania) to Barcelona. I'm 79 and a diabetic. I talked with my doctor and he recommended (strongly)that I pay attention to the CDC guidelines.
ReplyDeleteWe were really looking forward to this trip, having always wanted to see Barcelona.
We cancelled today. Discretion is he better part of self-enjoyment.
We will not get a refund but will get a Full Cruise Credit for a year from the date of cancellation. A small price to pay for increased safety.
Bummer about the cruise plans falling through. I hope you and Greg will get another chance to see Barcelona when things settle down. But yes, better to be safe now.
DeleteI am glad you cancelled! Hope you can go another time. Take care!
DeleteDancing seems to be shutting down in my circles. So many dancers are in the susceptible age bracket. Dance businesses are so marginal at best. Hope they survive. I'm still going on a weekend excursion to Connecticut. No crowds.
DeleteWe are planning picnics in the state park. Outdoors, and you can stay big distances away from people (though in spring we're often the only ones there).
DeleteYes, so many businesses are going to be affected. A local knitting store is offering to put project packages together for people and deliver them to their door.
During the subzero snow storms last winter, the yoga studio put up a do-at-home routine in Facebook.
People may get innovative and creative.
Hope people will innovate!
Here's a question for Jim P: How are old people dying of coronavirus in isolation rooms going to get Last Rites? How are churches taking precautions to keep confessionals sanitary during Lent?
ReplyDeleteJean, two great questions, to which I don't know the answers. But I'll try to find out. The confessionals question seems fairly straightforward: have Clorox wipes and Purell in the confessionals, and ask penitents to hand-wash and wipe down at the beginning and end of their sacramental encounter. And ask the cleaning staff to do extra disinfectant scrubbing, however one would do that in a confessional (ours is carpeted; do we need to shampoo the carpeting more frequently?)
DeleteI don't know how the sacrament of anointing, or even daily communion, would get administered in an isolation room, but I can ask our pastor and some folks I know who do hospital ministry when I see them. Katherine, is your husband doing hospital ministry these days?
My husband isn't doing hospital ministry at present, but he does help out with nursing homes and homebound on First Fridays. Up to now he has just taken them Communion, because of course he can't hear confession or do anointing of the sick. They have always told the EMHCs who take Communion to the homebound not to go if you feel at all unwell. I notice for the last couple of years that my confessor doesn't shake my hand when he says "Go in peace" at the end. He used to, but I think it's more about peop!e being paranoid about the scandals than fear of contagion.
DeleteSometimes a family member will take someone who is sick Communion, I suppose that is one way to handle it since they're already exposed to each other.
If it were down to someone needing last anointing and Viaticum I'm pretty sure our priest would put a mask on and just do it.
Why can't they do tele-confession? I thought anyone could do last rites in an emergency.
DeletePeople can make an act of contrition in an emergency. Of course they're supposed to anyway when it's not an emergency.
DeleteThat Jennifer Senior piece that Tom references in his post is an outstanding column.
ReplyDeleteRegarding this:
"Two days ago, the British medical journal The Lancet more or less implied that many countries won’t be able to have both a healthy public and a healthy economy at this moment. They’ll have to choose."
... I'm not exactly sure how that computes. The Lancet article itself doesn't really say that (although it certainly calls for more aggressive responses by national governments than has been seen so far).
Personally, I think it's almost inevitable that the world economy will go into recession (although whether it will be lengthy or short, severe or mild is yet to be determined); the seeds for it already have been sown. And I don't think there is much that a single national government can do to prevent that from happening. We're all too interconnected these days.
I think what we've seen from the president, and Senior's article does a terrific job indicting him on it, are a series of ham-handed and misbegotten attempts to send positive signals to the stock market, because a plunging Dow will imperil his election. He's a dumb*ss. That isn't less true for having been said many times before.
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DeleteCan't be said too often. A travel ban adds exactly how much to our safety, considering the banned travelers would have been tested before they got on the plane and after they got off? But the ban sweetens the narrative that Covid-19 is a Chinese plot, or a Deep State plot (Hannity) or something that went wrong in other countries that are sending it here because they don't think we are strong enough to stop them. On a par with offering Mike Pence as a substitute for widespread testing.
DeleteAnd what the heck is up with this?
ReplyDelete"Just an hour after the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a pandemic on Wednesday, Reuters reported that the Trump White House had ordered federal officials to treat top-level meetings about the coronavirus outbreak as classified, with the adverse effect of limiting how the government can respond to the crisis, according to officials quoted in the report."
"The arrangement prevented information from being shared, and potentially delayed the administration’s response to the crisis, according to the report."
"The security clearances “seemed to be a tool for the White House—for the NSC—to keep participation in these meetings low,” one of the anonymous Trump officials told Reuters."
I heard about this yesterday. My initial thought was that classifying the meetings will keep news orgs at arm's length. I suppose that participants who speak to the media could be branded as leakers and, at least in theory, prosecuted.
DeleteWell, there's this: — A Brazilian official who met with President Trump and Vice President Pence on Saturday has tested positive for the coronavirus, according to Brazilian officials.
ReplyDeleteWhat you are seeing -- professional sports on hiatus, museums shut down, Broadway dark, the stock market losing 10% -- seems to be a sort of collective sigh following The Don's 10-minute ramble last night which showed that there will be no leadership from a POTUS in denial, a VP who prays pandemics away and a Big Pharma lobbyist without a product to sell in the Covid-19 market.
ReplyDeleteLooks like we'll have to get through this without leadership.
Of the 16 cases in PA, 2 are in my county of Monroe. I guess I'm doomed. A couple who are my friends are hunkering down for a month or two, cancelled their european cruise and cancelled their daughter's baby shower. I feel some herd instinct kicking in.
ReplyDeleteLatest word is, our archbishop has "strongly recommended" that the Lenten fish fries be cancelled.
ReplyDeleteCanceling tomorrow's fish fry is under consideration here, too. I don't have a meal planned for tomorrow. I guess we will either starve or bring great joy to any restaurant that is open.
DeleteIt's official. We eat my incredible tuna salad at home tonight. "Incredible," in this case, is not a wholly favorable word.
DeletePersonally, Tom, I go for pizza on Lenten Fridays. Not a sea food fan.
DeleteI have a wife. Ergo, pizza no more than six times a year. I did some sensational (this time, it's wholly favorable) salmon last night. Much better than we'd get at the fish fry. But we'd also have beer at the fish fry; that is the trade-off.
DeleteThe archdiocese of Washington DC is closing all catholic schools and suspending masses through the end of the month.
ReplyDeletehttps://cathstan.org/news/local/due-to-coronavirus-archdiocese-of-washington-announces-plans-to-cancel-public-masses-and-close-catholic-schools
Inexplicably, people all over the world are hoarding toilet paper.
ReplyDeleteThe BBC reported yesterday that the UK's main manufacturer of "loo rolls" experienced a 300 percent rise in demand. The factories could not get it to market fast enough.
A friend in Australia said that toilet paper where he lives is now being rationed.
There was no toilet paper at my Kroger store this afternoon. A woman shopper told me she had been to four other stores and it was sold out there, too.
My brother reported this evening that his local Dollar General sold a truckload from the parking lot in his small town in Oklahoma. The store manager didn't bother to put it on the shelves.
"I don't get it," he said. "Coronavirus is a respiratory illness, not explosive diarrhea."
This article purports to explain the toilet paper hoarding: https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/national-international/the-psychology-of-stockpiling-why-people-are-panic-buying-toilet-paper/2324531/
Same here, they are running out of tp. It's irrational. Hand sanitizer is sold out too. I bought some cheap vodka, thinking to make some homemade sanitizer. But I find out that vodka is only 40% alcohol, and it needs to be at least 60%. So don't know what I'll do with the vodka, maybe make some fruit infusions. I have a recipe for Irish Cream, made with vodka and Eagle Brand milk.
DeleteI guess you actually can make sanitizer out of isopropyl alcohol, but they are sold out of that, too. Besides, it smells nasty. I've read that soap and water works just as well.
On March 22 we had planned to go to Omaha for our middle granddaughter's first Communion. It's a big parish and they split the group into a morning and an afternoon Mass. Now I wonder if they'll cancel it for the public. Guess I'll mail her gift down ahead of time in case they shut down the whole works. I've been alive 69 years, and can't remember a disease shutting down the country. They probably should have when the measles were going around prior to the vaccine being available. That's my benchmark for feeling totally rotten. There were people who died from complications, especially if they caught it as an adult.
They still say this thing may be 10X to 30X more lethal than the flu. Spread seems to have slowed in South Korea and the People's Republic.
DeleteLatest seed of a conspiracy rumor going around. Dean Koontz wrote a book in 1981 called "Eyes of Darkness". The sivietss developed a viral bioweapon sealed Gorky-400. In the 1991 edition, following the fall of the USSR, he changed it to China and it was called Wuhan-400, having been developed in Wuhan, China.
Katherine, got my vodka in case.we.run out of sanitizer.
DeleteYeah, the Dean Koontz Conspiracy. My brother alerted me to that last week.
As Jack noted last week, we are hampered by the dithering and failure of our tests, and by the confusion sowed by Trump.
I want one daily report at noon from the CDC and the state health department through the emergency broadcast system. I want all politicians to STFU.
I've read some Dean Koontz, but not that particular one. I also read the Andromeda Strain; I guess at least this bug isn't as lethal as that.
DeleteIn the checkout line at the grocery store I heard some people muttering, "It's all the media's fault! We wouldn't have all this exaggeration if it wasn't an election year."
I thought, "So all these Asian and European countries aren't having an election. Are they exaggerating too? "
Just shows the deepness of programming of this cult. I would be tempted to start coughing to see how deep is their faith in Fearless Leader. How bad and lethal this virus will eventually be may depend ultimately on the efficacy and organizing activity of governments. This may turn out to be an experiment with government as the variable. We'll see how our Trump-weakened government stacks up.
DeleteStanley, I bet if you started coughing you would suddenly get lots of space. Even if they were wearing a MAGA hat.
DeleteAnother weird thing people are buying the stores out of; rice. Not instant rice, plain old regular long grain. There is short grain left, but it is marked up about double in price. I was doing a little shopping for basic stuff, that you could put in soup or use as a side. But guess it won't be rice.
DeleteKatherine, it's a problem with conflicting info, State and national agencies advise stocking up for everything from a two- to eight-week quarantine. One of the cancer patient advisories was to have a three-month supply of meds. I expect chemo shortages.
DeleteI also think the way mortality rates are reported needs to be changed. Yes, covid may be 30x more fatal than flu, but that means 3 in 100 people. It's probably higher in older people, but we don't know how much more because of poor testing.
So far I'm just keeping a normal supply of food on hand, with maybe a little extra cushion of frozen and non-perishables. Also buying extra for the food pantry as a Lenten practice. But I'm one of those weird people who actually likes grocery shopping. I just don't like putting it away afterwards, which is why I don't shop in quantity. Since I retired it is a chance to get out and about, and get a few extra steps on my FitBit. If we actually start having corona cases locally I will rethink that strategy.
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