In This Together

Everybody’s going to feel the effects of this one. No border wall could protect us from the Covid-19 corona virus pandemic.

It has finally arrived. We are in a crisis at a time the country is not in capable hands. We have a president who has openly refused to accept any responsibility and a Republican Party that loathes government intervention and public healthcare.

So far, Republicans are essentially obstructing legislation that provides for free coronavirus testing, paid emergency medical leave, extended unemployment insurance, food assistance, and help for health care workers.

Trump wants to cut funding for the CDC, and in his revenge-fueled obsession, did his best to destroy every measure undertaken by President Obama.

“When Bolton became Trump’s national security adviser in 2018, he quickly moved to disband the White House National Security Council’s Directorate for Global Health Security and Biodefense, which President Barack Obama set up after the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak to lead federal coordination and preparation for disease outbreaks.

In April 2018, Bolton fired Tom Bossert, then the homeland security adviser, who, the Washington Post reported, “had called for a comprehensive biodefense strategy against pandemics and biological attacks.” Then, that May, Bolton let go the head of pandemic response, Rear Adm. Timothy Ziemer, and his global health security team. The team, the Directorate for Global Health Security and Biodefense, was never replaced.”

How did our "not-racist", “Disaster President” respond when questioned about this by a woman of color?

PBS reporter Yamiche Alcindor asked Trump if he took any responsibility for dismantling a key pandemics response team in 2018.

Trump: "I just think it's a nasty question ... I didn't do it. We have a group of people ... You say we did that, I don't know anything about it."

Sadly, this pattern of lies, irresponsibility and incompetence has been the norm.

Trump Feb. 26: Vaccine "sooner than expected"

Dr. Fauci Feb. 26: Vaccine a year out

Trump Feb 27: "The 15, within a couple of days, is going to be down to close to zero"

Public health authorities ten days later: 550 US cases in 34 states and DC

Trump March 4: According to his “hunch”, the World Health Organization mortality rate is a “false number”.

Dr. Fauci March 4: Mortality rate higher than the flu

Pence March 5: Not enough tests

Trump March 6: "Anybody that needs a test gets a test"

Trump: “I don’t take responsibility at all,” for the administration’s lag in rolling out coronavirus tests.

The World Health Organization developed a coronavirus test protocol that the Trump Administration declined, offering no explanation. This resulted in delays.

(Meanwhile, South Korea, which discovered its first case around the same time as the United States, has reported having the capacity to test roughly 10,000 people a day since late February.)

The Disaster President didn’t want infected cruise ship passengers to come ashore because he didn’t want the “numbers” of confirmed cases to go up.

Politico reporter Dan Diamond told NPR host Terry Gross that, based on his own reporting, Trump “did not push to do aggressive additional testing in recent weeks, and that’s partly because more testing might have led to more cases being discovered of coronavirus outbreak, and the president had made clear — the lower the numbers on coronavirus, the better for the president, the better for his potential re-election this fall.”

His March 11th Oval Office address to the nation was a sedated muddled mess, needing retractions and changes. The next day the Dow Jones took a 10% deep dive and nobody was reassured all was in good hands.

And still we are told. "It's a very contagious virus, it's incredible, but it's something we have tremendous control of." 

No, we don't. Mar-A-Lago has become a viral relay center.

This is not the time to let the Fool decide.

Being of the age that puts me in the most threatened demographic, I tend to be somewhat philosophical about this COVID-19 pandemic. While I'm not living in fear, I want to live. And I know what we can do about it. We can mitigate the rapid spread of the virus so it doesn't become a "Coronapocalypse".

We need to put forth our best efforts to wash our hands, avoid crowds and shaking hands, and keep a safe personal distance when possible. Social distancing is not social isolation. Call friends and family. 

Keep up with physical activities including exercise and routine household chores. Find pleasant distractions for entertainment. We found a jigsaw puzzle can be a nicer alternative than focusing on TV news. Catch up on books, movies, and music. Keeping positive and embracing humor are important psychological and physical defenses.

I'm lucky to have had a job that practiced sensible precautions with transmittable diseases. I volunteered to tend to AIDS patients when others got spooked.

But this virus is far more contagious. As we are increasingly aware, the effects will be felt by all of us, whether we contract it or not.

This viral pandemic needs to be seen as a wake-up call. Modern societies and many of their leaders have largely grown comfortable, arrogant and complacent. 

We will lose people. Many more will die. Our social lives will be disrupted. Our economy will take a severe blow and a lot of people will lose jobs and livelihoods. It is that serious. We need government, and we need honesty, competence, and accountability.

Maybe this mess will prompt us to learn the lessons of a crises that few of us in our part of the world have experienced.

One change immediately visible is the progressive motto, “We’re all in this together” is being uttered, even in the Trump White House. Welcome to socialism, boys. 

One thing is certain. Capitalism is not going to save us. The sacred every-man-for-himself delusion of the almighty “free market” will fail, or make things worse. Already we have jerks price gouging hand sanitizer and disinfectant materials.

I'm hoping the silver lining to this crisis will be a more open attitude, respecting science, and understanding the need for socialized public health. Mother Nature is showing us she can cull the herd anytime. That is reality. Global warming is also a reality, and will likely be our next catastrophic event.

The warning bell is ringing, we all need to take responsibility, and we ARE in this together.