Our French Polynesia wide WhatsApp group recently provided these stats:
USA cases: 1,187,804, new 27,000, deaths 68,589, recovered 178,263.
World cases: 3,560,000, new 81,000, deaths 250,000, recovered 1,153,071.
Comparing the US against all other reporting countries in the world, regardless of poverty level or population, one thing is abundantly clear: WE’RE #1, WE’RE #1, WE’RE #1!
The true numbers are certainly a lot higher. Poor access to reliable test kits, an abundance of symptom free carriers, those who had a mild case of the virus and were never diagnosed (I thought it was the flu) and the elderly or infirm who’ve recently died of multiple complications disguise the true impact of the virus.
Does it really matter?
Was Nathan Hale the guy who said “Give me liberty or give me death”? Our president lives in his own bubble and seems to have always leaned towards keeping the economy ticking while for the most part state governors and local authorities have leaned towards sacrificing short term economic goals to limit the spread of the virus. For a while Trump seemed to cave into medical advisors and perhaps political pressure from his own party, but now he and some Republican governors are beating the economy drum while other state governors and many local officials (mayors, etc.) continue to urge caution. Civic leaders farther down the ladder are more accountable to local voters – their “bubble”. This push me/pull you dynamic defines American politics, but as Senator Sam Ervin once noted, “all politics is local”. The US economy has taken a shellacking in the past few months and states are probably asking for federal relief dollars. Those dollars have to actually come from somewhere, and if the federal government just keeps printing money our grandchildren will get stuck holding a larger bag than we’ve already dumped on them.
In a year or two we can assess how deaths and permanent disabilities caused by Covid-19 stack up against the usual suspects; flu, household accidents, suicides, automobile accidents, mass shootings. Maybe it’ll just look like a bad flu season, or it may look like a national disaster. One can accuse our Twitter-in-Chief president of betting his approach supports his reelection hopes, and there is certainly evidence that some Americans have had enough of the self-isolation. The natives have gotten restless. Trump’s base would vote for him regardless of the outcome, so maybe he’s betting that undecided voters will be supportive of his approach by November. Everyone dies anyway but survivors still need to make a living. One can accept death and move on or feel bitter and vindictive.
One’s attitude may depend on whether one is a fatalist or wants to be protected from all the evil out there. After 9-11 Americans voluntarily surrendered much personal privacy in the hopes the government would make them feel “safe”, an idea that’s pretty easy to manipulate people with. Covid-19 is one of those nebulous things that is hard to get one’s head around, and probably pretty easy for a politician to dodge the bullet, and it will be interesting to see which party has the upper hand in November. The Republicans may end up as the macho “damn the torpedos, full speed ahead” party, while the Democrats could get painted as the “nanny state” sissies. For me politics is a “pick your own brand of crook” spectator sport but given the challenges of absentee voting in our state, we might not even get to make our own voices heard.
Here in French Polynesia it looks like the virus is contained and may possibly be eradicated. New Zealand and Australia are aiming to be in that club as are most countries in-between, the larger area now being referred to as the “South Pacific Bubble”. Our bubble includes sandy beaches, coconut palms, pretty reef fish and the occasional obnoxious shark, but I’m tired of the remaining restrictions. Someone turn the wind machine up to 16 knots, I wanna go kite boarding!
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