Questions
By Hank
Silverberg
We are in
month three of the pandemic. We are all getting tired of staying home and social
distancing. Add that to a lack of any clear policy from the President of the United
States and the Federal government he can apparently not direct.
Here are
some questions you should be asking at least once a week under the current
circumstances. I will give you some answers and you can see if you agree or
not.
1) Are you staying home and why?
For me this
is a simple answer. Yes, I have been staying home. My only excursions out (except
for the back yard) have been some walks around the block and some harried masked trips to the supermarket. Why? Because all the science, yes I wrote SCIENCE, indicates that social distancing is
an effective way to keep from getting Covid-19, and from spreading the virus to
others.
2) What is the government’s role in my
life and the lives of my family?
The United
States Constitution says the government’s job is to protect the general welfare of
the people and to provide for a common defense. That’s defense against a
foreign army or a deadly virus. So, I do not think the government setting up
TEMPORARY restrictions on my movement threatens my liberty, as long as they give
us good reasons to do so. I wear a mask
because the SCIENCE tells me it’s the best way to protect me and my neighbors
from getting the virus.
3) How long can I stay away from work
and still have food and shelter?
For me it
hasn’t been so bad. I have retirement income and a part time job (teaching) I
can do from home. But for many Americans things are getting critical. They live
paycheck to paycheck and for 20 percent of the work force, that pay check is now
gone. For others who have been able to put away some money, their savings accounts are shrinking fast. The unemployment rate is now the highest since the depths of the Great
Depression of the 1930’s. The
government’s $1,200 check was nice, but it doesn’t go very far. It’s less than
one month’s rent in much of the country. Food banks are running low on
supplies. The federal government needs to step in and help the cash strapped
state and local governments provide services. Sure, we will pay for it later,
but what’s the alternative? Let people starve or go homeless?
4) When can we reopen stores and
other businesses and will it be safe to use them?
The science
says it is NOT safe to go back to business as usual right now. In places where they have
already partially done so there has been a spike in new Covid-19 cases. Most of us can
understand the frustration of those people out there protesting. People want to
go back to work and earn an honest living. But they are being egged on, and in some cases paid, by conservative agitators who see political
gain from the appearance of rebellion. But the pandemic is all about
science, not politics. It will be interesting to see how many of those people
out protesting the lock-down end up sick with the virus.
Many
companies are trying their best to stay in business with the new restrictions.
At Wegman’s supermarkets, there have been lines with waits as long as
a half hour at times to get in, as the chain
tries to limit the number of people in the store. Many other businesses now require masks to enter. Frankly, both are reasonable under the circumstances.
5) Should we believe what the White
House is saying—that it’s safe to reopen in some places?
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| (Warning sign, Chatham, Cape Cod-Rusty Watson) |
The movie
“Jaws” comes to mind. The original version, not all the sequels. The President
reminds me of the Mayor in that movie who didn’t want to close the beaches for
economic reasons, relenting only after a
few people were eaten. And then he kept pushing to reopen the beach before the
killer shark was caught. To finish the analogy. My view-- it’s
NOT safe to go back in the water yet!
The President also continues to play politics with the facts and people's lives.
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As for the
above tweet, I looked it up. In the past four months, as of Sunday, there have
been 79,707 deaths in the United States from Covid-19. That’s more deaths than
U.S. troops killed in Vietnam and the 19-year-old War on terror, combined. Here are the FACTS: From April 2009 to April 2010 there were
12,469 deaths in the U.S. connected to the H1N1 flu outbreak, to which the President referred in his tweet.
The response was immediate with the
United States mounting what the CDC describes as a complex, multi-faceted and
long-term response.
https://www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/2009-h1n1-pandemic.html So, once
again, the President lies for political purposes.
6) Why are there spot shortages of
things like meat, hand sanitizer and toilet paper in supermarkets?
Charmin and Lysol are still being produced. In fact, the manufacturers are working overtime to meet high demand. In some cases, it’s simply a transportation issue. They can't get the products to the stores fast enough. There
are also shortages of other products because the ingredients come from outside
the USA. In many cases the component parts or chemicals come from China.
With meat,
pork and chicken, it’s all those processing plants closing down because their
employees are getting sick. The pigs and cows are sitting on the farm with nowhere to go. The Wendy’s restaurant chain even ran out of hamburger meat. It’s clear SCIENCE that
when you work shoulder-to-shoulder with little protective gear in an industry
that deals with food, that ANY virus or bacteria is going to spread
faster.
8) How did the virus start and can we
blame the Chinese?
All evidence
points to an origin in China. It is not clear when the Chinese government first
knew about the virus, if it escaped from their lab in Wuhan, or if they covered up the first batch of illness. If you are surprised by this, don’t be.
It is, after all, a Communist country not known for being open with information and without a free press to protect the public. It’s not the first time the Chinese have lied for
propaganda purposes, and it won’t be the last. What you should be concerned
about is how OUR government and particularly our President, reacted to it.
Intentionally or negligently, the response was too slow. And then once the spread became
critical, Mr. Trump and his minions continued to lie or not care about the distribution of respirators, Personal Protection
Equipment and possible treatments. Now the President is trying to blame everything on the
Chinese. That is political, and not science and it’s something voters should
remember at the ballot box in November. Fact: sure, it started in China. But our government, led
by the President’s disdain for scientists, failed to act at the beginning when
the virus was lethal but not yet a pandemic. Please don't forget that.
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| (The outbreak began in Wuhan, China) |
Finally, on
this topic, I am annoyed at those folks who blame the media. In most cases,
with the exception of Fox News, the media has been very responsible in its
reporting. Yes, there have been some mistakes. But that happens on occasion
with 24/7 coverage of a big event. And this one has been four months
long. Bottom line: you don’t blame the
messenger for bad news You blame those
responsible for ignoring the warning signs or spreading disinformation intentionally.
You probably
have a lot of questions of your own on all this and I would love to hear from
my readers what you are thinking. (see comment section below.) I will have
plenty of time to read your responses because for now, I am staying home and the teaching is done for a few months. .
And then
there is this:
We’ve all
been warned about scams connected to the pandemic. Some of them are quite obvious
and I have a hard time understanding how anyone would fall for them. But they do. Also, many companies have produced new products to help with fighting the corona virus.
You’ve probably seen the ads for masks or gloves or even homemade hand
sanitizer. If the price is reasonable, then okay, buy if you want.
But this one caught my eye. The Consumer
Federation of America and several
lawmakers have criticized Frontier Airlines for proposing to charge an extra
$39 on a ticket to guarantee you will have no passenger near you or in the
middle seat as a “Social Distancing” measure. Many other airlines, hurting for
customers are doing that automatically for no extra fee, and in some cases they are even offering passengers free masks.
Frontier dumped the idea after some rapid criticism from the CFA and some
members of Congress. But shame on
Frontier Airlines for even suggesting it.
Meanwhile,
as we all shelter in place and worry about exposure to Covid-19 at the
supermarket, the Trump administration is continuing it’s almost four-year-old
battle to wipe out Obamacare.
The President said last week that his
administration will continue to back a lawsuit filed by Texas and several other
Republican controlled states that is now before the U.S. Supreme Court. They
are trying to kill the landmark 2010 law
again. The reasons are pure politics since the high court has already ruled that the law is constitutional. Almost 12 million Americans still get health care coverage under the
Affordable Care Act. Trump has long promised to find a substitute, but one has
never even been proposed. Attorney General Bill Barr, who usually does the
President’s bidding, had recommended backing out of the lawsuit, but Trump
rejected that advice. A few of my friends have compared what's going on to the Bill Murray classic movie "Groundhog Day," where a TV weatherman has to live February 2nd over and over again
in Puxatawney, Pennsylvania. If you remember, in the end he learns new talents, falls in love and gets the girl before February 3rd finally arrives. Let's hope this nightmare we are now in also has a happy ending.
As usual, I will end my blog with some entertainment. Since we are all stuck at home and can't travel to Paris, click on the link https://www.youvisit.com/tour/louvremuseum for a virtual tour of the Louvre.
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| (The Louvre Museum) |
(If
you are looking for some more entertainment during social distancing, my novel
“The Campaign” is for sale online at Amazon . It's not fake news, it's
fiction!
Or
at Barnes and Noble https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-campaign-hank-silverberg/1126429796?ean=9781647532185
"The Campaign" is available in hardcover, softcover and
E-book. You can get a signed copy at a reduced price by emailing me directly
at HankSilverberg@gmail.com for instructions)
(Your
comments and suggestions are welcome in the section below)
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