Now that the pandemic is surging again, we must look at why the U.S. is doing so poorly. Trump is obviously a big part of it. It is too exhausting to go over all the things he has done wrong. But what about the country as a whole? How many of us are not doing the three things that would be most helpful: frequent hand washing, social distancing and wearing masks in public? I think I would have to give Americans a failing grade overall. After what we have gone through and still going through, there are still many Americans who argue about beach closings, larger gatherings, and wearing masks.
We are doing worse than all industrialized nations. Europe was in the same trajectory as us three months ago. They have bottomed out in cases while we are rising again. When China got things under control in Wuhan, people say that we can't do what China did. We are a democracy and we can't lock everybody in the house like China did. Well, Europe is free and they got out of trouble and are banning us from going there now. We are nine times bigger than Canada but have 27 times the number of cases as Canada. Why is this?
It seems that Europe, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand have followed the Asian examples and doing a much better job of social distancing and wearing masks. There have been some exceptions like when Liverpool won the Premier League championship, masks and social distancing went out of the window for a day or two. But for the most part, there are little arguments about using masks or the rights of individual to not listen to medical advice as is the case in the U.S.
Part of the problem, of course, is Trump and the extreme right in this country. But other countries have conservatives also. But those conservatives still follow the science. Like the opposition in Canada is agreeing with the work of the health department there which is run by liberals. So now all these countries are opening up and businesses are returning while we are shutting down again.
Starting with baseball in Asian to now soccer in Europe, professional sports are returning to many countries. We are supposed to start soccer, baseball, hockey, and basketball this month. Football, both NFL and college, is on schedule to start on time. But I have my doubts. Given the rising cases, I don't think the sports leagues are going to be able to finish their seasons, even if they start them. I hope I am wrong. But if I am right, we have nobody to blame but ourselves for not following science and the examples of other countries.
Friday, July 03, 2020
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Let's just say that some Americans are too stubborn and selfish to become part of the solution. Instead, these people are part of the problem. If Trump led by example and wore a mask instead of politicizing mask wearing, we might have lower numbers. If he had supported shutting things down, we might be in a better situation. However, I will say that the protest probably didn't help things either. I'd like to see the stats to see where these spikes are coming from. We know in Michigan that there was a big spread from people who went to a bar. These people were selfish and drove from other cities to party and drink and not social distance.
ReplyDeleteIt's a bad attitude and hey, I understand the pent up frustration. The argument that people who are afraid should stay home, doesn't make sense because people who get it don't quarantine and spread it to others. The herd effect hasn't been proven to work with this virus, so it becomes a viscous cycle.
We hear there may be a shot at some point, but how many people will take it? People don't get flu shots now. Will insurance or the government pay for the shot? Will it be rushed because the government wants to get the economy back running?
-LBOAYM
Yes, a lot of people in the country is selfish. You can say that in Asian countries, due to the dense population, people tend to work for the common good. So you don't see protest about wearing masks. But in New Zealand, which is sparsely populated, people are not only obeying recommendation that you wear mask and social distancing, there are people who call in a hotline to complain about others who are not following the rules. The result is that New Zealand is completely opened up. By working for the common good, they have done much better than here.
ReplyDeleteI see Chestnut won the hot dog eating contest for the 13th time. I wonder why we haven't heard from Trump about this. After all, eating is his favorite participating sport and I am sure he wants to brag about anything where America comes out number one!