10,000 More

Incredibly, another 10,000 Americans died this week from Covid19. And, bizarrely, the overmatched narcissist tacitly in charge decided that a new three-pronged strategy should be deployed. 

Prong One: stop the damn testing! When we test, we find people who have the disease. If we don't test we won't find people with the disease.

Prong Two: stop counting all those who have died from the disease! That tens of thousands have died makes the President look bad. A lower number will make the President look good?

Prong Three: start opening up the country! Sure, the scientists who warned that hundreds of thousands of Americans could die if we didn't adequately implement controls to stem the disease think that this is suicidal. But, a desperate man is willing to gamble the lives of even more Americans in the naive hope that the economy will magically revive. 

The economy will not magically revive. And, in all likelihood, the economy will not survive another round of the coronavirus running rampant and unmanaged across the nation. 

All of this is insane. And exhausting. 

We are not rising to meet this existential challenge as well as we might. Talk about an understatement. No country has done worse in acting to staunch the virus. It's appalling, and tragic. 

I feel so lucky that no one I know or love has been stricken. But, I have a growing fear that this is all borrowed time. I have a new supply of disposable masks to help ensure that I don't infect anyone. I only hope my fellow citizens will take the same simple action. 

There were more stories from around the country this week, with photographs, documenting that an alarming subset of citizens won't act to help one another stay uninfected. It's a level of hubris that's hard to fathom.