It’s day 43 since I began observing Governor Evers’ “safer-at-home” order (although technically he only issued it 42 days ago). Things change quickly and events that happened just a few weeks ago seem like another life. So I thought I would memorialize where I think things are at right now. A few weeks, months, or years from now I might be glad I did.
COVID-19 cases appear to be slowing in New York. The rest of the country is a different story. Here in Wisconsin cases–and deaths–are still climbing. And yet many states are beginning to reopen at the behest of their governors. None of them currently meet the federal government’s guidelines for doing so. In all cases, their cases are climbing and not declining.
I think the real issue is that the reason we all stayed home for six weeks was to give the government an opportunity to mount an effective response to the virus. Nation-wide testing, contact tracing, and isolation is what keeps things under control. If you have these, you could begin to lift restrictions on people. Problem is, our government did not do this. It squandered the opportunity that we paid for with our jobs, businesses, and homes.
Why? I strongly suspect that there’s a very simple reason. President Trump does not want the “numbers” to go up. No testing, no numbers. Yes, this is absolutely going to blow up in his face (and in ours) but I think he’s just that selfish and just that stupid. Get the economy going again (as he thinks this is what will help his reelection), but don’t do it safely with testing and so on because that costs money and worse it makes it look like the infection rate is soaring. Which it is in most of the country.
Consider this. Trump and his White House test everyone who enters and everyone who works inside. I can only assume anyone who tests positive is turned away or sent home to isolate. See? They do know how to keep people safe. They do have a plan for that. It’s just that this plan, as Chris Hayes pointed out tonight, doesn’t involve you or me. Trump really is that callous and selfish. His White House flatly says that testing everyone is “nonsensical.”
Then there’s the meat processing plants. They are major sources of outbreaks all across the nation. But Trump has ordered those that have closed to reopen. He has deliberately not mandated that they engage in rigorous testing for employees, that being the only safe way to reopen. Again, why? Fear of “the numbers?” Callous disregard for human life? Selfish interest in how a meat shortage might affect his reelection? I could make the case that it’s all of these.
Meanwhile nursing homes, prisons, and other places where people live in close proximity to one another are also hotbeds of infection. What’s being done? Is there any national response to this? Not as far as I can see. The CDC is MIA.
State and local governments are going broke due to lack of revenue. They aren’t allowed to deficit spend and certainly can’t print their own money. Either the feds bail them out or they’ll go bankrupt.
At least 30,000,000 lost their jobs over the last six weeks. One assumes most of them can’t pay their rent or their mortgages.
Businesses, especially in the restaurant industry, have been decimated. Many will not make it through this.
And the federal government response to the states, businesses and people who are hurting badly has been mostly bullshit. Those few business who got Payroll Protection Program money are going to need more soon. And many didn’t get any in the first place because the system wasn’t robust enough to handle all applicants. Nor was there enough money to go around. Likewise the increased unemployment benefits. And the stimulus checks.
And so we prepare to reopen. The virus is ascendant. Testing is woefully inadequate. Relief for people and governments and businesses has been pathetic.
The worst is yet to come. More than 70,000 Americans are dead. In two months. They say now it’ll probably double by August. I expect the economy will not roar to life over the summer. People aren’t stupid. (Well, most of them are not.) They aren’t going to the mall or to the movies or to their favorite restaurant any time soon.
And, realistically, a vaccine may be a year away. Or two years. Nobody knows.