Texas and Florida reversed course and clamped down on bars again Friday in the nation’s biggest retreat yet as the number of confirmed coronavirus infections per day in the U.S. surged to an all-time high of 40,000.As a nation, we had had some success in flattening the curve. That is until the scientifically-illiterate politicians, almost all of them Republicans, in states such as Texas, Florida and Arizona, paid more attention to the Trumpist ideology of ignorance than to actual scientists.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered all bars closed, while Florida banned alcohol at such establishments. The two states joined the small but growing list of those that are either backtracking or putting any further reopenings of their economies on hold because of a comeback by the virus, mostly in the South and West.
Health experts have said a disturbingly large number of cases are being seen among young people who are going out again, often without wearing masks or observing other social-distancing rules.
This wasn't hard to foresee. Flattening the curve took social distancing, avoiding congregating in large groups and wearing masks while out in public-- all things that the Trumpanzees refused to do because Bunker Boy denigrated doing those things. Because our Stable Genius in Chief believed that the virus would magically disappear in April because it would be getting hot out.
As I type this, it is 109degF in Maricopa County, Arizona. 85 in Houston. 86 in Miami. The CDC is forecasting that the pandemic will have killed 150,000 Americans by the middle of July. The EU is planning to ban travelers from the US because we don't have this shit under control.
What is the response of the Trump Administration?
Pence recommends prayer.
“I’d just encourage every American to continue to pray,” Pence said Friday during the first White House Coronavirus Task Force briefing in weeks (Trump stopped them in late April, tweeting they weren’t worth the time anymore). “Just continue to pray that, by God’s grace, every single day, each of us will do our part to heal our land.”That's pretty weak sauce, about what one would expect from the Administration of Bullshit, Lies and Prayer.
Instead of coming up with plans, Trump and Pence veer between blaming other people, saying that it's up to the governors to fix the pandemic, offering prayers and making the taking of concrete measures to stop the pandemic into yet another culture war. Measures such as social distancing, not congregating in large groups and wearing masks in public brought out the entitled white people with their rifles, screaming "muh rights".
This is why I despair for our nation. We have an entire political party and large numbers of peolpe who believe that science and facts are subservient to ideology. Such thinking is why Germany wasn't a powerhouse in physics for decades after 1933 and why "Soviet biologist" was an oxymoron.
If we are going to make policy decisions based on ideology instead of facts and science, then we are far down the road to becoming a banana republic.
Allow me to add:
ReplyDelete1) Morons retweeting stupid videos claiming (falsely) that mask usage endangers you due to CO2 retention.
2) Weasel Governors doing shit like issuing a “mandatory mask” order that places the onus on businesses and enforcement on local police.
3) Idiots like the Mayor of Colleyville, TX. He has announced they will NOT enforce the Governor’s mask mandate, and that tonight’s concert and fireworks show will go ahead, masks NOT required.
4) People and groups on Facebook providing fake, official looking ID cards that state the bearer is exempt from wearing a mask.
And kids in LA and in the sunbelt running wild, as kids will. Quarantine is like, so boooring...
ReplyDeleteAnd likely the kids bring it home to grandpa and he's the one in icu. Oops. Sorry gramps. Hey, I'll inherent his boat! Thanks gramps in heaven.
I despair completely. I live in a tourist town in southern Utah for 40+years. Our guests are not wearing their masks! Maybe about 50 % of them. They are not keeping their distance. It is as if they have no consideration for themselves or others. I wish they would just stay away for a little while longer. Zion will still be here, but if these fools behave this way, they will go back to wherever the Hell they come from and leave us with our dead and our grief.
ReplyDeleteThe Northeast is looking like Europe as far as the curve goes, and the South is beginning to look like Brazil.
ReplyDeleteOur numbers are climbing in California, but they were low to begin with and the governor has reimposed the stay at home order for the southern counties that had the worst growth.
Maricopa county is experiencing numbers worse now than anything NYC saw at the top of its curve.
Went to town for groceries today and pretty much everyone was wearing something over their faces and keeping their distance, with a few exceptions, and just generally acting like that's what you do now.
I know we're California, but Oakhurst is pretty far out in the sticks, and there are plenty of MAGA and KAG stickers to be found on the cars, so perhaps there's some hope?
-Doug in Sugar Pine