Parsing Out Dystopia: Passing 50,000 Dead

April 24.

It took America 5 days to add another 10,000 COVID-19 deaths. So, the death rate seems to be slowing somewhat compared with last week (down to about 2,000 per day from about 3,000 per day). So far, the rate of new cases has not reached the original peak, which is what we want to see. But there may be trouble ahead. Several states are (in varying degrees) cautiously "reopening" parts of their economy starting today.

Georgia seems to be one of the more controversial ones. The number of infections in Georgia are still rising. But Governor Kemp does not think that matters. For some reason he thinks if we just let social distancing ease a little bit then, apparently, the virus won't notice. It seems a bit like saying if you open the door slowly enough the monster in the room won't completely maul you. Makes sense, right?

Uh, no. Where is the virus going to go? Everywhere. So as people move around in greater numbers, more of them will become infected. We will likely see the numbers in Georgia and perhaps other states surge. Just because New York has (hopefully) passed its peak does not apply to the rest of the country. Our nation's large geographic distances have actually helped us keep the virus isolated in different regions so far. But, on the other hand, this also means that the peaks for this pandemic will come to different states on different dates. And reopening the economy too soon or too fast will only see larger outbreaks. Why? Because the virus is still everywhere. Waiting.

Even Trump does not like Kemp's plan to reopen the Georgia economy. Actually, truth be told, Trump is just being Trump. He could care less about how Kemp or anyone else reopens. His real beef with Kemp dates back to Kemp's appointment of a senator last November that was not Trump's personal preference. We all know by now when Trump's advice is not followed to the letter, he will lash out at any republican as much as a democrat. Trump is for Trump first. Any action outside his wishes is viewed as disloyal and will draw his unending wrath. Trump's criticism of Kemp's reopening plan has little to do with the plan and everything to do with what Trump perceives as disloyalty.

Jennifer made the observation that the reopening plan in Georgia's case at least, and maybe for other states as well, is not intended to reduce the threat of infection. Rather, the goal is simply to not overwhelm our hospital capacity. Everything hinges on the ability of our hospitals to keep up with whatever demand is created by new cases. By slowly reopening the economy, everyone knows we will see an increase in cases. The hope is that the rate of increase will be manageable. I guess that's the most we can hope for in the absence of a national lockdown or an established protocol for treatment or a vaccine.

Beyond all that, Trump yet again proclaimed his level of idiocy to the world yesterday during one of his eternal and by now quite pointless virus press briefings. He seriously advanced the notion that bleach could be a cure for those infected with the virus. (The longer the man talks the dumber he sounds and these briefings have been going on a loooooong time now.) Later in hindsight, no doubt after his science advisors (who are constantly at odds with the amateur "cheerleader") had pointed out how harmful his suggestion would be, he claimed he was speaking sarcastically. Watch what he said. It is obvious he was serious. He has tried to pull this crap before. When the man looks stupid even to himself he pretends that his stupidity was intentional sarcasm. It's Trump's modus operandi.

This is the single stupidest thing any politician has said during my lifetime. This is not "fake news" by the "liberal media." See how Fox News covered this disaster of a presidential presentation. Trump clearly was not being sarcastic. He clearly is lying to us, again, in an attempt to "respin" his idiocy as humor. He clearly has no clue how to lead this great nation in this enormous crisis. He is unfit to serve.

Apparently, Trump is at last becoming aware of how stupid he is sounding in these long briefings. Today's briefing was, magically for the first time, cut short. Knowing full well that he is over his head, he apparently is being advised behind the scenes to stop rambling and keep the briefings, well, brief. Let's see if it is possible for this lunatic to muzzle himself.

I have historically been no great fan of Joe Biden. The guy says stupid things. He is a gaff machine. He loses his train of thought. (See here and here.) He might even be senile. But I'll be damned if he's ever said anything as stupid as what Trump has said regarding "bleach is a cure" for COVID-19 and re-opening the economy "by Easter." Not only is Trump way out of his league with this crisis, he tries to push his idiocy over on us as sarcasm. He lies. Frankly, I'd rather have a bumbling senile guy in the White House than an habitual idiotic liar. What a perfect choice for our new dystopian reality!

Here's something else I am pondering. Why does America talk about "reopening the economy" and not "reopening our society"? Quite obviously, consumerism is so ingrained in our pathetic materialistic lives that the economy is our society. A huge aspect of dystopia is the functional nature of consumers and the blurring of cultural actions with monetary ones. Money becomes the basis for culture and, thereby, impoverishes us all the more.

Anyway, here is a sampling of charts from Johns Hopkins detailing the number of new COVID-19 cases in a few select countries...

Confirmed new cases in the United States. Notice that so far we have not exceeded the previous daily peak. It will be interesting to see how this pattern holds up as several states relax social distancing.

China. Notice they are still dealing with a few hundred new cases every day. I suppose this is the best we can hope for in the US as well. It is widely believed that China lowered the official number of new cases as the pandemic peaked there.