Our Government Won't Protect Us From Coronavirus

When my family moved from Pennsylvania to Indiana, we learned about tornadoes. It seemed that at least one day each week in the spring, there would be a tornado watch or warning on the radio. We would hunker down in our basement, and nothing would happen. Eventually, we stopped taking the alerts seriously.

On Palm Sunday, April 11, 1965, the reality of a tornado struck a little closer to home. 271 people were killed altogether, 137 of whom lived in Indiana. Lafayette, where we lived in at the time, wasn't hit, but a couple from our city, was killed. I remember walking by the gas station where what was left of their car was towed. Seeing the damage and knowing that the vehicle had been someone's coffin was a profound experience for an 11-year-old.

By 1974, our family had resettled where I live now, Monticello, Indiana. On April 3 of that year, our town was almost leveled by a tornado. 8 people were killed, property damage was in the millions of dollars. Our whole downtown and many of our schools and houses had to be rebuilt. Since then, there isn't a person living in this city who doesn't treat tornado watches and warnings with respect.

In the recent past, there have been diseases that seemed to herald the end of civilization. SARS, H1N1, Ebola, and the HIV virus all promised and delivered serious health scares. However, those of us who weren't personally affected did not panic. Our friends and neighbors were not dropping like flies, so it was very easy to assume the danger was being exaggerated.

Now, it is too easy to ignore the newest threat to our existence, COVID-19, or as it is commonly known, the new coronavirus. It would be a lot less concerning if our government knew what it was doing, but Donald 1 seems a bit confused about the matter. Knowing what I know now is enough to send me to the basement, philosophically speaking.

I went to the grocery store the other day. I bought enough to feed my cats and me for several weeks. Some think the threat is overblown. However, the whole of Italy is under quarantine, and thousands of deaths have been reported. The stock market is more volatile than it has been for decades. The CDC says that we old folks (over 60) should stay on the ranch. So, if I am exaggerating the danger, I am in good company.

Of course, King Donald, 1, is taking the threat seriously now that it has killed a bunch of people. He gives himself credit for a prompt and powerful response, but, as you can see from the link above, his concern wasn't always that great. He initially assured us that there aren't many cases in the US and that those that did exist were getting all better and would be going home soon. The media is exaggerating the severity of the situation, just to make his job more difficult. In fact, he whined, and I'm not just being snarky, that the Democrats were using the COVID-19 pandemic for political purposes.

There were, according to Mr. Tangerine man, about 2 weeks ago, only 15 cases in the whole country. At the time he said this, there were 60 known cases. At this writing, there are more than 13,677, and the number is rising. According to Lord of the Bronzer, it's all Obama's Fault.

Trump is so on top of the danger that he took time out of his first news conference to express his condolences to the family of the first person to die of the virus in this country. He expressed the view that she was a wonderful woman. This may have given some comfort, except that he was a man.

I wish the president was right when he said that the threat was exaggerated. But he isn't. This isn't to say that we should all be in a panic. But, as of this writing, all 50 states have reported cases. In fact, over 300 people have died, and by the time you read this, many more cases will likely have been reported.

Of course, and as usual, the Ult-Right was throwing gasoline on the flames of fear. From our fearless leader, who said the problem is a Democrat hoax, to ult-righters who think that COVID-19 was developed by a lab in China, the conspiracy mills have been working full throttle.

Rush Limbaugh believes that the effects of the disease are exaggerated by Never-Trumpers. Rush, like the rest of the MAGA heads, feels that poor King Donny 1 is the victim of everything that goes wrong because whether or not it is caused by his stupidity, he'll get the blame.

His fans needn't worry. Donald Trump never accepts the blame for anything. His administration is ill-prepared for the pandemic. But as always, he is more concerned about the economy than about any of us.

According to the red cap brigade, the Democrats are perpetrating a hoax, and coronavirus is nothing to worry about. Thus, the government is ill-prepared to protect us, and the pandemic will probably get much worse before it gets better.
Rush didn't think smoking was bad for you, either. I can remember listening to his show on the way to court before my retirement. One of his favorite topic introductions was, "and I'm holding it right here in my nicotine-stained fingers." I assume he's changed his tune about tobacco, but if he did, it took stage 4 lung cancer to convince him.

Unfortunately, Trump's pronouncements are taken as gospel by his supporters. Since he enjoys considerable popularity among older Republicans, he is possibly misleading and potentially killing the very people who are likely to vote for him this November.