Is it possible that the general population of this planet is so goddamn stupid that they would ingest a disinfectant based on the musings of a delusional old man?
Maybe.
They did elect him after all, and so the most attuned of his base may in fact give Lysol some consideration if they feel a cough coming on. If they do, then I recommend spraying the Lysol into a beer or a glass of water rather than injecting the disinfectant directly into a vein. I think the effect will be similar and that might delay the inevitable long enough to make it to the hospital.
Is it also possible that a segment of the population of this planet is so goddamn selfish, that we’re going to need some variant of Marshall law in order to make them stop gathering in large groups to demonstrate that selfishness?
I hope not, but I think it’s coming to that in the United States and possibly a few other places. Speaking of which, I saw a photograph of more protesters in Michigan. This time though they brought their assault rifles and Trump float to the home of the Governor. All they got was press coverage, and it got me to thinking. What if a couple hundred openly armed black people showed up at the home of the governor of Alabama demanding he repeal a state order? Would they get their pictures taken too and would those pictures be mug shots or maybe even autopsy photo’s?
At first I thought that the percentage of the selfish was low enough to be a mere distraction. I thought that the rest of the world could absorb their selfishness and stupidity in much the same way we do each and every non-covid day. But while shaking your head and muttering a few swear words at an arsehole may have been sufficient a couple of months ago, the potential harm of that same arsehole has increased alarmingly in these days of the virus.
Each time I see another swarm of the selfish in America I can’t help but notice a couple of corollaries. The first is that the majority of this minority appear to be Trump supporters. I draw that conclusion from the signs, hats and t-shirts. But, I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised when their man in Washington is the epitome of their it’s’s all about me, fuck everyone else message. I can’t help but wonder if as they pose proudly for the camera, that they consider the image of them likely isn’t the only thing that’s going to go viral?
The second inference I draw is that patriotism is an odd concept in America. Apparently you can be a twat and it’s just fine as long as you’re carrying or wearing the stars and stripes. Who knew patriotism was so malleable? All along I’d thought being a patriot to any cause meant enduring some hardship or sacrifice for that cause. I could be mistaken but I don’t think a haircut cuts it.
The last thought I have when I watch the patriots gather is a mathematical calculation. I try to calculate if the sacrifice of the many is going to be enough to prevent the folly of the few. It could very well be that the entire social distancing effort is going to end up being a waste of time when this small group have made every effort to keep a platform available for the virus.
One thing seems clear though. People are not capable of isolation for an extended period of time unless one of two things happen. Either they’re forced, or they truly understand and agree with the need. Obviously some people will never agree and need to be beaten with bamboo sticks or arrested. But the vast majority will comply if they’re properly convinced. That convincing can happen a couple of ways. The first way is you or a family member dies. That’s pretty convincing.
The second way is you somehow receive a message that scares the shit out of you without grandma lying tits up in the corner. That’s where the media comes in handy for giving us this day, our daily dread.
Except Fox. Fox doesn’t come in handy for pandemics. They seem to favor scaring people about other things like immigrants or liberals. To be fair, I think Fox might be trying to assist in their Foxish way by call it the Chinese virus. The label adds a xenophobic flair to the disease and makes it easier for their viewers to pay attention to than biology.
To further assist with the taming of the few, I have a suggestion. Perhaps we need to change the media messaging to reflect what I think is going to be the eventual reality. We aren’t going to develop a vaccine quickly enough to restore our pre-virus lives without a substantial death toll. The isolation we’re currently enduring is designed to control the pace of death and not to prevent it. We need covid facilities separated from the hospitals and we will need to transfer people to these Neo-sanatoriums as soon as they’re symptomatic and require care.
I don’t know what to do with the people that are symptomatic but can still breathe. Recent events would suggest that leaving the decision to self isolate to each individual isn’t going to work very well.
We don’t have enough testing, and so it looks like asymptomatic people aren’t going to be tested. So it appears we’re headed toward a herd immunity regardless of preventative measures. All we’re doing is controlling the pace of transmission so we don’t crash all the hospitals and kill a good chunk of the nurses.
The narrative needs to shift away from vaccines and disinfectant cures, and focus on the mortality rate and how we’re going to deal with the sick. We’re not going to be able to stay in the house for a year and wait for the vaccine so this approach seems prudent.
So. it comes back to the mathematics of testing. If the death rate is 3.5% of people who test positive then we can’t properly prepare ventilators, adieu I-pads and grave markers without some calculus of what 3.5 represents. Is that number going to be three million Americans and three hundred thousand Canadians, or will the percentage drop after everyone is eventually exposed and we sort out who’s resistant and immune?
So, why are we doing so poorly with the testing? It appears we possess the science, but we’re sucking in distribution and availability. This lag doesn’t make any sense to me, and I’d hoped the Americans in particular would see an opportunity to develop and market a test as a potential money maker. Not quite the pharmaceutical windfall a vaccine represents but still, there’s a few dollars to be made I would think.
Testing of every living breathing person is going to give us our true numbers of the very ill and subsequent mortality rate. Once we have that rate we can calculate a number and plan accordingly for ventilators, ppe and staff. Without that number, we’re going to constantly be readjusting our needs as one outbreak after another continues to pop up two weeks after another parade of the patriots.
Maybe we can transfer staff and equipment from the hospitals to separate facilities that house only covid patients. From the look of things, we won’t need to build any actual structures. We can just re-purpose all the old folks homes as it looks like they’re going to have all kinds of vacancies.