The country is starting to believe now. Well, some of them. A few states are taking action, closing non-essential things down. That means different things to different folks, of course. But for some, nothing penetrates that "I am most important in the world and I can do whatever I choose because it's my life" attitude they put on every morning.
I'm not sure if they still believe all the Fox propaganda about it being a hoax, a Democratic plot to destroy Trump and/or the economy, or all the nonsense about whatever spills out of his mouth bypassing everything but his ego. Until just a couple days ago, Fox hadn't gotten the message, but we need to remember it's a foreign owned company. They lie. They spew hate and fear. This is who people trust?
People are starting to behave as though they live in a community, ironically by keep their distance from others in it. It's how we show we care, these days. A morning news clip showed a parade of people in Minnesota driving by a young girl's house with "Happy Birthday" signs because she couldn't hold a party. People are supporting food shelves, shopping for older neighbors, posting videos to entertain others from home. Local and state governments are starting to "encourage" helpful behaviors, a few even closing down with "stay home" orders.
This hurts. Of course. Jobs are lost. Companies shut down, many facing bankruptcy. It doesn't help to stay home except for groceries and medicines if there's no money to buy them with. There's talk of halting evictions, tax payments, utility shut-offs, but it's piecemeal.
Governors are pleading with Trump to help with the need for protective clothing for medical workers, more test kits, ventilators, whatever. He responds with "Find those things yourselves." Information from the top is often inaccurate and usually contradictory. Steve and I found ourselves listening to the head of FEMA and wondering if we could believe a thing he said, then realized it didn't matter because he hadn't really said anything, just a jumble of phrases put together to sound reassuring. Trump calls on old war powers to get things done and we wonder if... no how, he'll misuse them. Will there be inappropriate curfews? Elections cancelled? Press information shut down?
The good news of the day before that he parades before us is proven a lie by the next if not sooner. "We have millions of tests." Lie. "It'll miraculously disappear in a few days." Lie. "There'll be a cure/treatment/whatever right around the corner." Lie. The latest touted possibility of a treatment for malaria working is still just a hypothesis. Yes, the drug does exist, is generally safe. We just have no idea if it works, or if so, on whom, when to be administered in order to work, and what dosage? Months or more will have to pass before we get those answers. Even if tried now, will we know if "cures" are real or just coincidences, an artifact of a selection process unconsciously leaning towards the least ill?
"I accept no responsibility." That one, unfortunately, is true. Hey, even a stopped clock is right twice a day.
The numbers are spiking, obviously due to increased testing, and with that still inadequate, still a long ways from final tallies. Deaths are spiking, with only a few talking heads reminding us that the numbers of deaths run 3 weeks behind reports of cases. Warnings about young people contracting severe cases and even dying are surfacing, contrary to everything that's been told before, but we wonder who's listening? Expectations are that young people sail right through it, just worry about grandparents.
Selfishness is not the only thing playing a role in the spread. Stupidity, plain old garden variety stupidity, still rules. People hoard masks when they only, at best, protect others from your infectious cough and sneeze. They wear those masks for days, then pull them down while they talk to other people to aid conversation. Hospitals, running out, are instructing staff to reuse masks, gloves and gowns to the point where they might as well not exist, bringing our hospitals back a couple hundred years in sanitation. I've often wondered why non-medical, healthy people don't just wear bandanas over their faces like the old cowboys on the trail. They wash easily with detergent and can be reused, for whatever good you think they're doing.
Military medical supplies are not being utilized, new supplies not being made, anywhere near the rate needed. Two military medical ships have been deployed, but one will take a week or more to reach the west coast for use. Those with 3-d printers are being asked to put them into use for ventilators, factories to switch to face masks. Seamstresses are making cloth masks on sewing machines. It's slow.
It's slow.
And Trump is so convinced of his own perfection that he's not pushing hard enough, except perhaps to brace up the big corporations so they can support the stock market... so his cronies can pay megabucks to win him a second term? It's the Republicans supporting the big corporation, hoping we don't notice they've been putting their profits into stock buybacks instead of workers pockets and safety. It's the Democrats who are fighting to ease the burdens to ordinary folks, financially and medically. And now we get the news that (mostly?) Republican Senators have been dumping stocks while talking positive things about the virus, then once their finances are protected, letting their concerns go public. If they can put Martha Stewart in jail for that.... Let's make sure, after the big stuff in done, to investigate those charges as thoroughly as Hillary's emails were, and as often, and as publicly.
Steve tells me he thinks these posts are getting too political. For him. But what's going on IS political. And due to the failures of this administration on all fronts, something as tiny as a virus is jamming those failures down all our throats, figuratively and literally. Because we stayed home - not now when it is mandated, but in 2016 when we didn't bother to get out and vote. We have to do better, all of us, and that's political too.
On the home front, Steve has been coughing lately. His doctor says due to a lack of fever, it's likely just seasonal allergies. Or something. And due to lack of fever, there will of course be no test to confirm. Just sitting home to wait. I, however, woke up this morning with a sore throat and a fever, just under 100. My usual is 97.6.
Just sitting home to wait also. And blogging.
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