Covid Chronicles – The Holiday Edition

With about two weeks left to Christmas and the inevitable third wave or fourth depending on who is counting.. again we had Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, Labor Day and Thanksgiving. We we warned repeatedly during each to stay long and distant and while Covid spiked in some places it declined in others and round and round we went bringing us all back to ground zero with the same hysterical warnings, the same threats, the increasing numbers of hospitalizations and deaths which have never stopped while all the world’s a stage and we are all players in this macabre scenario that reminds me of the Jerry Lewis telethon of my youth, with the never ending pleading, begging, and tears just to remember the ones being lost to a disease that could be cured. That is what we need America, a COVID telethon! Dolly Parton would be the perfect host as she is already a winner in the Covid Chronicles donating a cool Million to Vanderbilt one of the hospitals working with Big Pharma on the vaccine.

And that is where we are America the roll out of vaccine number one to hot spots in America. Undoubtedly Jared Kushner who really showed his talents and gifts for crisis management during the nascent days with the PPE and Ventilator distribution issues will perhaps hopefully take a backseat on this one and let professionals take over to distribute the drugs to those in need. Remember those days with naval ships arriving in ports, field hospitals being erected in convention centers and the charity tents in public parks? Good times folks as those numbers of cases handled and the outcomes are still in question and the costs have yet to be fully explained on how and why many hospitals remained under utilized while others were maxed out with portable tents in parking lots and refrigerator trucks for the dead left on side streets by dumpsters which became a rather significant marker to explain how we were handling Covid in Phase One.

We have had several months to improve and centralize communications, to figure out how to educate and operate schools, how to handle crowd control and compliance and yet we have done fuck all nothing other than posture and threaten. It is working out great, or not.

The issues of self responsibility continue as now violence has begun on the streets over the failed re-election of the Dr. Frankenstein who has no interest in the continuing crisis and once again Governors are assuming control, co-opting Igor for their own agenda and like the media whore he is he simply pipes in supportive yet cautious remarks which mean nothing except to remind everyone to mask up. I recall that same messaging from him back in the 80’s, no love without a glove or something like that. While I do respect Fauci I feel he is not who we need to reach a younger and more diverse audience especially faces of color and those who are not well into Science. This has been another of the more insidious issues using Fauci and Birx two white Seniors to somehow communicate to the Tik Tok age and find a voice in those larger at-risk groups that are not old folks. Fauci’s recent affirmation with Big Daddy Bully Cuomo to close restaurants with no data to back this up is again another issue across the country in California that evoked the same mandate. There is so little real contact tracing and tracking that few believe indoor dining is the cause and reason behind the uptick when the last stat mentioned by Cuomo was that 76% of the cases were tied to “small gatherings.” Okay so they were where? Homes or in a public place or again the big perp – Churches – where they can no longer mandate closures on thanks to the Supreme Court. Again, here is where religious leaders would be an effective messengers to talk to those about how one can still be a participant in a religious community without the need to congregate in a specific place. But nope, crickets.

So we can keep schools open despite the fact that few educators wish to keep open but the consultants and policy wonks and those parents who hate caring for their kids see otherwise. The constant citing of statements like “falling behind” or the “lost generation” have been used to somehow validate that opening schools and allowing full attendance is the key to something, that something again seems economic in value and not about health and safety of those who work inside said buildings, you know the Teachers and Admins as well as all the other back of the house players who keep schools operating. You know that village thing.

I have always thought it was odd that the only data we ever hear are the positive cases, the number of hospitalizations and deaths. We have no idea how many are tested a day, what the status of thier case was/is and the number of recovered. Europe does provide that but even ages, gender race are not given. If we had a robust contract tracking and tracing we would but we don’t. Jared get on that you must have time on your hands.

The overwhelming failure by our Government be it on the Federal or State level is quite clear and it is why there is little compliance and at times sheer confusion as to what the current protocol is to be on a daily basis with now the incoming Administration adding their two cents further confusing and infuriating the Trumptards.

As for the media they do their best to further lend a voice not needed to the din with their endless stating conflicting studies and data that have not been vetted and tested to the level that should be before reporting. Facts matter and the most bizarre story was one in The Washington Post about South Korea finding a patron who contracted Covid in a restaurant with limited exposure of a scant 5 minutes from another seated over 23 feet away. Really? Of course that story was a rewrite of an LA Times story. No mention in either about possible extenuating circumstances or full examination of the strain verifying it through DNA testing and complete tracking/tracing of all the participants movements, their exposures to others? Wow that South Korea is amazing that is K Pop level shit right there. Or not. The article had no South Korean sources other than a person NOT involved in the study.. okay then. As for the American scientists and doctors contacted had doubt, one saying this:

“The problem that you tend to have is one of missing information,” says Richard Martinello, an associate professor at Yale School of Medicine and a specialist in adult and pediatric infectious diseases.“They may know well what happened within that restaurant,” Martinello adds, “but they don’t know what happened on the sidewalk outside the restaurant. They don’t know what happened back in the kitchen at the restaurant. There are so many other aspects,” including the fact that one in five people infected with the coronavirus will experience no symptoms, but may still spread the virus. But then again there is a story there that will scare the shit out of everyone and in turn validate the latest round of closing just restaurants, but not anything else. I see said the reporter who upon examining his credentials I see his was one with regards to restaurant reviews not science or foreign reporting including failing to list the CDC’s findings on indoor dining. Good job, I like BimBap too!

And if you question any of this you are labeled “histrionic” as that is the man’s way of saying to a woman, “I don’t like what you have to say, it confuses me.” Ah yes my menses is the problem, shame I don’t have menses anymore. The lack of true effective communication is a bigger problem than Covid at this point and it contributes to why few are truly grasping the urgency. And that many rely upon “social” media for information, shame that social distancing can’t be applied to that as well.

I read this report in of all things USA Today about the failures of the U.S. Government from the very early stages of this disease and how the haphazard manner of coordination and control led to what we are now dealing with. There is no way of knowing if better management could of stopped or offset this entirely but there are valid issues surrounding the death toll that clearly is related to this issue.

This says it all:

The virus shouldn’t have been able to sneak up on the United States. The world’s most powerful nation, historically among the most successful at stymieing infectious illnesses, had ample lead time during which the deadly pandemic was rampaging through Asia, and then Europe.

But in an early vacuum of leadership at almost every government level, with the message from the White House that the virus was not anything to worry about, Americans unwittingly spread the lethal virus to loved ones and strangers alike.

The U.S. squandered its early advantage. Roughly one year after the virus first came into existence, the country has suffered a loss of life far worse than any other.

I have written much about Covid and kept up with many studies, theories and stories about the virus, its transmission and the issues about vaccines and efficacy. I am over Fauci but I have been for a long time frankly and would like to see new faces (not celebrities there Cuomo but actual medical professionals) who could message more effectively than another aging white man, second wave fast approaching, January 20th. I also would like real information, better and more comprehensive data in which to understand the who/what/where/when/why. Shouting out numbers like I am in Vegas is not working for me and it is not improving my histrionics in the least. There is no cure for that apparently either.

Stand Up Sit Down

Fight fight fight as the cheer goes.  Here is the real problem facing the American public, the willingness to do so.  The first week panic buying, hoarding and purchasing guns set the tone.  The tone that as Americans we know fuck all what to do in a crisis but go its about ME ME ME!

The endless mythology about Americans includes such Unicorns as Meritocracy, the Paul Bunyan up by the bootstraps or the concept of the American Dream or the national ethos of our society and of course the generous spirit of the people.  (The author of that piece alone says it all, Bennett was and is a fucktard of high order)  And now that is a perfect trifecta of bullshit.

We can now say sitting atop our pile of toilet paper and snacks that we are not the stereotype or prototype of goodness and perfection that we present to ourselves.  No, we are all assholes.

The below is an excerpt from a paper on the concept of American liberty.  It is from a conservative view natch but in reality aren’t most “liberals” really conservatives who like Gay and Black people, in small situations, largely confined to sports or the arts but aren’t they?

Abstract
Through publically agreed laws that correspond to a common set of public restrictions, the ‘people as a sovereign body’ serves to protect against violations of individual liberty and despotic power. Where no such common body exists, individuals are deprived of this protection. In such cases, individuals must obey without liberty, while those in power command under a state of license. Neoliberal theorists maintain that any common personality, with its corresponding set of public and arbitrary positive and negative restrictions on liberty, undermines individual liberty. Neoliberal theory only allows for private restrictions on liberty. Against these neoliberal assumptions, we argue that rejecting public restrictions on liberty does not promote individual liberty. To the contrary, it creates conditions in which free individuals become servile and political inequality becomes entrenched, where citizens are divided into those who obey and those who command. Tracing the consequences of neoliberalism, we argue that unless we take seriously both the people as a political category and the right to equal and reciprocal coercion, individual liberty will be at risk. The article argues that neoliberalism ultimately leads to the total exclusion of certain citizens under the veil of full liberty. With the vanishing of the people’s will comes the utter disappearance of certain citizens, who live in a spontaneous society as if they were stateless or lawless persons. To better understand the connections between the rejection of the concept of the people, private restrictions on liberty and the fostering of the servile citizen, this paper considers the political philosophy of Hayek and Nozick. It also considers key ideas from Locke and Kant—theorists who, despite the differences between their philosophical perspectives, and despite the fact that they both provided crucial inspiration for Hayek’s political economy and Nozick’s libertarianism, stressed the protective role of the people with regard to individual liberty.

Now we elected Trump, most of our States are governed by Conservatives with many States super majority ones where the Legislature is about a single color and that usually is the one of blood and it will take massive amounts of blood shed to change this dynamic anytime soon. Americans are not liberal in any sense of the word.   Is Sanders a liberal? Yes and it is why he would never be President as much like the deep in woods Conservative he is true blue.  No compromise, none.  Who is like that? Mitch McConnell.  The only difference is one is in power and one is not.  I am more afraid of the Jowls McConnell then Bernie any day but America the ignorant sees it different.  Americans are ignorant and arrogant traits shared by Jowls and that crosses the political spectrum.

I was concerned that because of Bernie’s incalcitrant strident nature little would get done and then I realized Trump is exactly like that and equally stubborn and unwilling to change or budge, the difference is that beneath it all I actually believe Bernie gives a shit, which Trump does not. And his missteps and miscalculations cost him and now we have white Obama only older and less charismatic.  Again I never thought Obama was a liberal man no, he is definitively a neoliberal as described above.    We are fucked either way in  the upcoming election.

But the reality is that we have to actually look to the more “less” liberal countries to understand how to handle the Coronation Virus as it will be a coronation in the upcoming election.  The reality is that we are now in 9/11 years and how do we change our way of thinking to adjoin with the reality of what it means to live in less realized Democracy, which for the record we have been for a decade.

The New York Times did an outstanding job explaining the trajectory of what we need to do to handle this and this is just one of what is more to come in the age of environmental meltdown and our   global economy.

They made some points that only a few days ago I had shared with my only person to person contact the Baristas at my coffee shop.  I said it will go on through May and into June and that we will have civil unrest, I predict around the end of May, by Memorial Day as the weather clears and that will be just over the two month mark where many are now unemployed and been housebound for over 60 days; Along with the added mixed messages and the endless trolling on the internet with Russian bots stirring the shit so expect a Charlottesville in a city with a well established Chinatown such as San Francisco or New York, even Seattle as that was the first city with the noted outbreak.  But yes it is coming and it is here. 

The next borders will be closing state lines and yes indeed Florida has declared mandatory quarantine for any resident from New York or New Jersey entering the state.  How that will be enforced and secured who the fuck cares, I knew that was coming once the local cities in New York and Jersey said to the rich folks, stay the fuck away from your second home.  And sure enough Westport, Connecticut is now ground zero there tied to a party from a wealthy woman and her international guest list.  Again I called it – rich white people problems.  And you thought those spring breakers in Miami were the virus whores. Wrong again.  Idiots yes and they will spread disease but they will also do so in STD’s.

And to do that we are going to have to start tracking people and that is not going to go over well but in a moral panic there is no better time in which to do it.  It is coming, it is here. 

So lets get out of here well, Jesus better take the wheel or not. I had said that many of these outbreaks were tied to the incest communities that I call religious sects or cults. as well they are just that. Yes including South Korea, I just thought that boy band was annoying but I recall the group marriages and shit of my youth.  They are all the same with the touching, the tribal nature and the endless bullshit that somehow makes them think they are exempt as Jesus is their savior and what-the-fuck-ever they believe that is all bullshit.  They actually think they are an “essential service” as this idiot did in Mt. Juilet just outside Nashville.

And as already mentioned Ohio has already found ways to stop abortions, Kentucky voting and now add another state to the right wing oppression virus, Texas, as it too is stopping abortions under the guise of elective surgery.  I have said that if one thing conservative religious kooks love is getting up into that vadge however necessary.  I used to say that in Tennessee endlessly and again proven not wrong.  But then again Texas get up into the anti vaxx crowd, they are the problem. But hey you old people you can die the Governor has given yyou permission to do that to save the economy. 

Bill Maher was joking, or not, that if the election was held and Trump lost he would not leave but hey what happens if they decide to forestall the election.  There are already issues surrounding voting and we have this Wartime President with all these powers. Hmm makes you wonder.

But let me ask the most critical question:  Who are “essential workers?” Well that is now going to include all food service workers, from Grocery Clerks, to Barista’s to anyone who handles both food and medicine. So that would include UPS/FedEx/USPS, Uber and others who are delivering all of this to us in lockdown who can afford to be in lockdown while this shit is going on.  They are all going to need to be thought of differently as then what when its over? Really?  Really?

I said to my wine vendor (between coffee and booze I do my part) that out of this will rise a new power broker, the small business that kept going during this shit and if they let this slip out of their hands cause the gloves were slippery they are making a mistake. The Dry Cleaners/Laundry, the Baker, the local Pharmacy and of course our Bodegas and small restaurants that pivoted so well to keep employees working and food being served are going to be a powerful force to reckon with if they choose to unite and demand change.

If not expect wages to fall again to 2008 levels and the excuses by big business about the closures, the endless bailouts to the big companies as they have the lobbyists patrolling the grounds of Congress like a virus waiting to attach to an unsuspecting Congressperson.  Where is the Small Business Association and the local of Chamber of Commerce when it actually comes to representing and voicing the concerns of those who are the ones they are supposed to be caring about.  Funny if same small business folks hit their meetings up and joined and starting changing that dynamic once meetings are allowed.

So you have a choice, to stand up or just sit down on the couch and stream something as Netflix, Hulu and Amazon are cleaning up in this crisis without ever getting up off the couch.

So I leave you with actual data and stats about Covid and compare it to other viruses with often worse outcomes. So wear a mask, gloves, stay at least 3 feet away and if you are sick with anything stay the fuck home and monitor your temp and in turn if not sick clean your house you have time and hoarded supplies so there you go.

And again change in behavior and in turn personal responsibility will do wonders on both health and mind going forward regardless.