Today (April 17, 2020) marks the one-month anniversary of living in the New York State leper colony. Non-essential businesses have been closed for a month as of this date because of Governor Andrew Corona's executive order commonly known as the pause order. Yesterday, he extended it for another month (until May 15) and that will mark 2 months of business closure; possibly more if he decides to extend it yet again. Also, as of today the residents of this wonderful state are being ordered to wear protective face masks over our noses and mouth. Somehow this is supposed to slow or stop the spread of corona virus. It reminds me of when I first started flying a twin-engine airplane with deicing boots and hot props. Oh, I felt good about about having them available until the first time I actually needed them and discovered how worthless they really were. The only thing they did was to boost the confidence of inexperienced pilots like I was at the time, and I hope you get the feel-good comparison of how masks make you feel versus how effective they really are. You're probably only fooling yourself.
There are a few things that should be acknowledged at this point:
- The odds of you coming into contact with CV at some point are high
- There is no such thing as a non-essential business
- Don't believe all the data about CV - it's being manipulated
Yes, you are more likely than not to eventually come into contact with CV. The odds are higher in densely-populated areas and conversely lower in rural areas. But one thing is certain: If you think you can hide forever from this pathogen, you are wrong. In some cases, dead wrong ... especially if you have other medical issues. For these people, sheltering and other protective steps are probably not a bad idea. For everybody else, it's overkill.
So what are we doing to ourselves?
Listening to the talking bulb-heads on TV, we're being duped, scared and misled. The daily conferences of the count remind me of 1960s newscasts telling us the number of wounded and killed in Vietnam. That was then; this is now. As Yogi Berra famously said, It's like deja-vous all over again.
In Oneida County where I live, the county executive is on tv every afternoon giving us the grim stats. We're over 200 cases with 4 deaths at this point in time. What's not mentioned is that the 4 had other underlying causes, but they're listed as CV deaths regardless. Bordering counties are mostly far less; what's not mentioned as a reason for OC is that we have a few state prisons here and the families of the incarcerated often move up here (from the NYC metro area) to visit them and at the same time overload our social systems. It is not a stretch to say they are one of a few conduits of CV being in the county. New York City is experiencing hundreds of deaths daily that are attributed to CV. Again, what's not mentioned is that on an average, every day well over 400 people in NYC say 'Oh shit' and expire anyway.
The next point is, the numbers are being skewed. To my surprise, Governor Corona bitched that NY is only getting $12,000 from Uncle Sam for every fatal CV case whereas some other states are getting considerably more per body because ... they have less bodies. So it becomes about money, and when money is involved, all bets are off about the accuracy of the data. At this point, even doctors are griping about the CDC directive to sign death certificates with CV as the primary cause of death, absent real medical evidence.
Meanwhile, the country is headed for recession and possible depression because of these decisions. When people don't work, times are tough. People are being subjected to financial hardship because of the decisions being made in state capitals every day. Some are experiencing extreme hardship because they are in a group that basically lives from paycheck to paycheck; they have no reserves and many are going to really suffer because of this. Two things bear mention here; 1, the class that can afford it the least will pay the most (as it always does anyway) and 2, they are the least likely to be able to upset the applecart in their protest.
When I said above that there is no such thing as a non-essential business, I meant it. Every business is essential to somebody, be it the customer or the business owner. If it wasn't essential to somebody, it wouldn't be there in the first place. The restaurant industry, the sports industry and the entertainment industry are essential businesses, not to mention all the businesses that support them. The airline industry is in shambles; thousands of airplanes are now parked. When this is over, not only will we have to rebuild employment, government will have to retool. Not only are they collecting far less in tax revenue than anticipated, they're also being hit with record unemployment payouts. This means only one thing: Taxes are headed for substantial increases when we reopen the country.
If the Governor can hold daily press conferences with reporters sitting 6 feet apart, then the question begs as to why other businesses, churches and organizations can't do the same. When the list of essential businesses includes liquor stores ... and when elective surgery is banned, but abortions aren't, you begin to see how crookedly stacked the deck is. Add to that the political waiver system (which has been used locally for pet projects)... and again, using the Vietnam comparison, I'm reminded of how tilted the draft system was when I was growing up. If you came from wealth, you went to Harvard or Yale during the war. If you didn't, you went to Da Nang or Khe Sanh.
If the Governor can hold daily press conferences with reporters sitting 6 feet apart, then the question begs as to why other businesses, churches and organizations can't do the same. When the list of essential businesses includes liquor stores ... and when elective surgery is banned, but abortions aren't, you begin to see how crookedly stacked the deck is. Add to that the political waiver system (which has been used locally for pet projects)... and again, using the Vietnam comparison, I'm reminded of how tilted the draft system was when I was growing up. If you came from wealth, you went to Harvard or Yale during the war. If you didn't, you went to Da Nang or Khe Sanh.
If you want a different view of how another intelligent culture is handling CV, look no farther than Sweden. Schools are open, businesses are open and there is very little government interference. Their chief epidemiologist Anders Tegnell has a somewhat different view of epidemic and pandemic events. He's not stupid by any means; he has all the academic qualifications and he knows about contagions. But he is also a realist about the social construct of humans and isn't rushing to judgement on this; nor is he panicking about it either.
Finally, we're being told that every life matters and even one death is a real loss. It sounds great, until you realize the party in control of the state I live in has a different view of life. They don't count the first 9 months of your existence as life, and with that said, I'll leave the reader to decide about the ethics of life and death.
In any event, we're now living in a leper colony of our own construction, and that's pretty sad.
PS: Bill Gates is a jerk who can't even keep his software virus free. Anything this rich toad has to offer as an opinion about pandemics, digital virus certificates, vaccines and the like should have the shelf life of an ice cube in hell.
Finally, we're being told that every life matters and even one death is a real loss. It sounds great, until you realize the party in control of the state I live in has a different view of life. They don't count the first 9 months of your existence as life, and with that said, I'll leave the reader to decide about the ethics of life and death.
In any event, we're now living in a leper colony of our own construction, and that's pretty sad.
PS: Bill Gates is a jerk who can't even keep his software virus free. Anything this rich toad has to offer as an opinion about pandemics, digital virus certificates, vaccines and the like should have the shelf life of an ice cube in hell.
No comments:
Post a Comment