For those who were worried about what might happen if this president was ever faced with a real crisis, this is their worst fear realized. You can lie about the size of your inaugural crowd; you can lie about a "perfect" call; you can't lie about a virus that is sweeping the globe and now threatens the population of this country.
As of yesterday, there were 732 reported cases of the Coronavirus - i.e., COVID-19 - in 36 states. I say reported, because thanks to a lack of testing kits, we simply don't know how many people might be infected. It is quite possible that number could be many times higher. And regardless of what the current occupant in the Oval Office keeps insisting, the virus is not remotely close to being contained. In fact, if countries like China, Iran and Italy (where they are now under lockdown) are any indication, we could be looking at a pandemic.
Usually, I'm not one to overreact. But in this case, I'm scared. This virus could be potentially devastating. Consumer spending accounts for two thirds of the U.S. economy. And small business - mom and pop shops, as they are often referred to - comprise a majority of the businesses in this country. A "lockdown" or prolonged quarantine could put many of them out of business. Then there are the millions of people who live paycheck to paycheck and simply do not have the financial means to sit at home and self quarantine for two weeks.
The latest data from the CDC shows that from October 1, 2019 to February 1, 2020, 12,000 people have died from the flu. The previous flu season (2018-19) more than 34,000 people died from it. Given that COVID-19 is more easily transmitted than the flu, its morality rate is roughly twenty times greater and that a vaccine is still more than a year away from being developed and distributed, it is quite conceivable that we could be looking at over half a million fatalities in the United States this year.
Our healthcare system is simply not equipped to handle this crisis. Consider that in the last flu season, 480,000 people required hospitalization to treat their symptoms. The American Hospital Association estimates that as many as ten times that number - or 4.8 million people - might need hospitalization to deal with the Coronavirus. Unfortunately, of the 640,000 or so total hospital beds in the U.S., only 94,000 are in ICUs. Just do the math. It wouldn't take much to overwhelm every hospital in the country.
Now you know why the stock market has taken a dive recently. The Dow plummeted over 2,000 points yesterday and has lost over 6,000 points in the last month, the worst decline since the Great Recession of 2008-09. Investment brokers are famous for two things: screwing people like you and me out of their life savings and knowing when to jump off a sinking ship.
Forget about the politics of this. Nobody comes out smelling like a rose here. Not Democrats, not Republicans, not Vulcans. Yes, shit-for-brains was late to the game. What else is new? And, yes, he still believes it's all about him. This is what happens when you elect an ego maniac with an inferiority complex. Now he's blaming Obama and the media for the nightmare he created. It wasn't Obama who decided to fire the pandemic response team at the CDC. And it wasn't the media who downplayed the health risks and issued a gag order to the medical experts who could've warned people ahead of time.
The effects are already being felt throughout many parts of the country. Restaurants and shopping malls are seeing less and less traffic as many people decide to stay home; universities are closing their campuses and giving their students the option of taking on-line courses; conventions are being canceled; some airports are like ghost towns; and cruise lines can't give away staterooms on their ships, let alone cabins.
Sadly, this is only the beginning. The worst is yet to come. Imagine the sight of hundreds of baseball games being played this Summer in empty stadiums all across the country. Don't think it couldn't happen, because it could. The Summer Olympics in Tokyo could also be postponed or maybe even canceled altogether. Consumers can expect to see shortages at supermarkets as panic buying grips the public. The economic fallout will undoubtedly lead to a recession that could last well into next year.
And as if that wasn't enough to keep you up nights, try this on for size. Trump could use this pandemic as an excuse to declare a national emergency and postpone the 2020 elections. Even if he doesn't, some states - particularly swing states - could restrict access to polling places for "safety" concerns, thus hindering communities of color from being able to vote. And, yes, they'd do it in a heartbeat. Just look at the lines at some polling stations in Texas last Tuesday. And that was for a primary election. Imagine the logjam that'll occur this November in states all across the country.
Scared? You should be. But that doesn't mean we should be paranoid. We may be powerless over the imbecile in the White House, but we're not helpless. There are things all of us can can do to make a difference. For starters, don't barricade yourself in your home. If you're healthy and have no symptoms, go out and enjoy yourself. Continue to dine at your local restaurants and shop at your favorite stores. Take in a movie, even if it's not a particularly good one. Who cares? It's a good way to kill a couple of hours and it'll get your mind off of the disease. Remember, these local merchants depend on our business to stay alive. In the days and weeks after 9/11, many businesses near the World Trade Center went under because people stayed away. We can't let that happen again. And for God's sake, stop hoarding everything under the sun. It's a pandemic, not a nuclear holocaust.
If you're sick, stay home. Do NOT go to work or, for that matter, to the hospital. If you do have the Coronavirus, all you will end up doing is spreading it to your fellow coworkers and to the very people who can least afford to be sick. Remember, since there's no vaccine, any doctor or nurse who comes into contact with a patient who has the virus is that much more likely to contract it themselves. 80 percent of those infected will not experience severe symptoms, so the likelihood is that you'll be just fine after a couple of weeks. If you think you have the virus, go to the CDC website and click on "Coronavirus Disease 2019." There you will get all the information and advice you need regarding this virus. Since a lot of the words have more than two syllables, we can assume Trump didn't dictate any of them, which is good.
The bottom line is don't panic. It's okay to be afraid, but we shouldn't let our fears get the better of us. If we do, then it isn't Trump's who's to blame anymore.
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