Only this time, there is a wolf.

It occurred to me that a LOT of people didn’t buy the fearmongering that the Media and (to a lesser extent) the Federal and Local governments) promulgated about this current “crisis”.

Thing is, as long as I can remember, there have been warnings about lots of diseases….some were dire warnings of DOOM if we didn’t follow some rules or other. The last  major scare…”Swine Flu”… we were told the SAME THINGS as we were about this current “Coronavirus”….Tens of Hundreds of THOUSANDS! of people were gonna die, there wouldn’t be any medical personnel to take care of the dying and we would’t be able to burn the bodies in pits fast enough…..

Who remembers the millions dead from H1N1? From SARS?
None of us. So when the Real Thing (if this is it) came along, no one, at first believed it.

We had Heard  “Wolf!!!….WOLF!!!” too many times. Most of us simply ignored the warnings. We had heard all the warnings before, and they had turned out to be…..nothing. Less than nothing.

And, while this time it IS serious, we are again being told that THIS time, we are all gonna die if we don’t stay inside and refuse to interact with people for then NEXT 30 days.

Sadly, I thing many people still don’t believe the government nor the media. They’ve lied to and overstated too many times….about many things. Too many things. (Lets not even look at “Global Warming” “Climate Change”…Or AIDS. Both were gonna wipe humanity from the face of the earth).

Look: These precautions are probably a good plan. In fact, lets say that they are necessary to prevent the spread of Covid-19. But lets face it, even now the big 3 news media are telling us that there will be MILLIONS of dead. More sober projections say somewhere between 200,000 and 600,000. Not MILLIONS. Not multiple millions. So, again, in order to have something to talk about, the media destroys their credibility…and in doing so, they take the already mostly-not-believed Centers for Disease Control down with them.

Yes, this is a serious disease. Yes, it affects lots of folks. Yes, we all should take some precautions. Yes, we should limit our gatherings. But at what cost the hype, the fearmongering, the drive for ratings? The breathlessly dramatic recitation of the number of people sick and/or dying? No one in the media has pointed out that of the number of people presenting symptoms (not just “tested”, but actually showing some symptoms….the percentage of people dying is still very low. You’d think, watching the national news, that this is the end of the world.And that is, again, another lie.

And because of the overly-hyped news, as people grow inured to the hype and the dramatic scenes from (a very few) hospitals and the ever increasing predictions of death for all, they will soon begin returning to their “normal” ways….because they simply don’t believe the media even if this time there might be a kernel of truth to what they are telling us. People in the US will put up with some inconvenience. In fact, I believe they will sacrifice a LOT of comfort if they believe there is a good reason for it. But they have been lied to so often, for so long, by the media and the “authorities” that  even if this time it is real, they won’t believe it. And because they Don’t Believe, when it becomes too inconvenient, they will cease to take precautions.

And therein lies a recipe for Bad Things to happen. 

Strangely, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus website shows ZERO people recovered in the United States. Zero.

Perhaps it is simply a reporting issue. Perhaps something more. I dunno.

And, again, that part of me that thinks that Reynolds Wrap is a good fashion choice for a chapeau is trying to tell me something…..
ETA: Others are thinking along the same lines..

ETA2: As of 4:55 pm central time, the US didn’t even have a listing in the “Recovered” column. As of 6:30, there is a listing.

As I said, an oddity.

Happy April Fools day.

No, sadly, the shit you are seeing is real, not a joke.

Am just a bit busy and got nothin’ to say right now.

It was postulated to me that China ALLOWED the Covid-19 Coronavirus to escape it’s borders and deliberately  downplayed the seriousness of the outbreak in order that, while it;s economy would be seriously damaged by the disease and the social disruptions, if it should get into the world population and damage the rest of the world’s social structure and economies it would keep us ll on the same level.

Further, if the schedule was such that China would begin recovering first, then they would have a “Leg Up” on the rest of the world.

I’m not sure that I can buy that, but I did find it disturbing to think about….that people, even the Chinese leadership, might think in those terms.

I suppose it could be that I am naive. 

“Pigs get fat, Hogs get slaughtered”

The DNC types (and, lets face it some RNC types as well) tried to load up the bailout bill with a whole shitload of pork for their pet projects in order to advance their chosen philosophy…

and, had they chosen one or two items, it might be that they had gotten their wishes, and the fight to remove those items would not have been worth the fight or political capital….and they’d have likely gotten that funding for some of their pet projects.

As it was, they loaded so much Pork onto the Stimulus Bill, that it WAS worth the effort to get it removed…

And in doing so, the victory by Trump damaged their cause and their standing with the American People badly.
It backfired.

I’ve been mostly staying at home this past few days.,

“Social Distancing” as it were, with a vengeance.
(I’m lucky that I don’t need to leave the house for anything important, so I haven’t been….)

Anyway, I needed some fresh milk, vegetables and some chips and some cheese and a few other incidentals, so I ventured out to the store.

Wow.
What a difference a week makes.

Firstly, the store wasn’t crowded. The shelves were not fully stocked, but, for the most part, there was  some of everything….although folks that work at the store that I am friendly with told me that they had been told that things were simply not in stock at the warehouse, so expect shortages soon…..

The folks that were at the store were friendly, but were practicing “Social Distancing” People were almost afraid to invade that magical 6 foot envelope. they talked, they just kept their distance,
For the folks that were unable to determine what 8 foot means, there were helpful signs placed more or less the correct distance apart to show people how far away they should stand from each other….lots of  well made very well designed (lots of the nuances I learned about in my advertising design classes long, long ago) signs like that. (More on that later).

Unlike before , people were tolerant and polite. everyone appears to be trying out the new rules. No one is sure exactly what they should do, but at least they are being polite about it.

There is now clear plexiglass (lexan) panels in front of the folks behind the counter, separating the customers from the cashiers…but the folks bagging the groceries have no such protection. Nice idea, but FAIL.

The Starbucks in the outlot of the grocery store had a line of cars wrapped all the way around it. IN fact, one and a half times around it. People , despite the current situation must really need that Carmel Latte Macchiato to survive. (or whatever the hell overpriced and expensive sounding drink they buy at a Starbucks). I would estimate that the wait time in the Drive-Up line exceeded 35 minutes.

For the most part, traffic was about a quarter to a third of “normal” on a Saturday.

A part of me….the part that thinks that Reynolds-Wrap is a fine material for a beanie….cannot help but wonder where those very well made and finely nuanced vinyl signs that were stuck all over the floor came from. Seriously, there were over a hundred and fifty of them in just the one store I went into…and it wasn’t a huge grocery store. (a normal sized midwest grocery store, probably originally built on the 80’s, may have been a Jewel-Osco or Kroger at one time long ago…..I realize that printers can move quickly, but it was almost odd the stickers….as if someone had them ready….and this whole  “Social Distancing” thing is a just an experiment in conditioning of the populace…(much like I sometimes wonder about the TSA). I seriously doubt the effectiveness of the magical 6 foot spacing…either people are sneezing and coughing and putting droplets of mucus out into the air, or they aren’t…and if they are, then we are breathing that, and 6 foot is not enough to keep us safe.

Anyway, that is the report from Northwest Indiana for Saturday, March 28, 2020. 

And it was a dreary, rainy morning.

And it kinda felt like this was the manifestation of the first chapter of a really badly written dystopian science fiction novella …

It was kinda weird.

But then I realized that, while it might be like that in New York, it wasn’t that bad here, where I live.

So I counted my blessings and went on living.

You should too, if you can.

And, a lesson on statistics.

While I believe that most of my readers CAN see things this way, and can understand statistics,  just in case, you should READ THIS. 

As we test for more cases, we find that the rate of death is remaining pretty stable. we find that the rate of people dying looks to be just a bit over 1%. Not that the death of 1% of the Coronavirus sufferers is not tragic…it is. But it isn’t the 10% that the WHO told us might happen.

And, having said that, Aesop has a great commentary on a previous post here as to why that number of people hitting the hospitals is overwhelming their ability to care for these people.

One statistic I DO NOT have, and would like to have, is the number of people with severe cases of Covid-19 that need a ventilator that recover. In other words, if you get bad enough that you need a ventilator, and are placed on a ventilator, what are your chances of recovery? 50%? 20%? 10%? I suspect that people that get sick enough to need  a ventilator may not recover no matter what care is given.  I hope I am incorrect. I simply don’t know, as there is, again, simply no data to be had. It would be a good bit of information to know though.

SO since restaurants are closed, and people can only get food from them via delivery or take-out, in many locations the liquor rules that would “normally” prohibit the sale of alcoholic beverages under these circumstance have been “relaxed”. (and it is a pretty cool world where you can get a margarita DELIVERED to your door, innit?)

Now, if there was a good reason to prohibit the sale of alcohol in such circumstances 2 weeks ago, those same reasons should exist today….right?

Or, if the sale of alcohol is OK in these trying times, then why shouldn’t it be OK 6 weeks or two months from now when this coronavirus crisis has ebbed?

I mean, if we were restricting the sale of alcohol to on-premise consumption for some reason other than to keep the prohibitionist people happy enough that they would stay quiet and now they’ve been told to shut up, then is that a good reason to put those restrictions back when this is all over?

I’m thinking that this is but one example of rules and regulations…laws and ordinances that could be stricken from the books when things get more normal shaped.

Relaxing the rules on when truckers can drive, how long they are on duty? We were told that this was to make us safer on the roads. But have we sacrificed any safety by letting those drivers drive an extra hour or two just so that the shelves of the local supermarket can be stocked with cereal? With more Toilet Paper? With Frozen orange juice?

I could bring other examples to this, but at some point it becomes redundant.

And, again, if our government can still make the wheels turn and the busses run on time and the water flow and such with only “essential personnel” in place, then do we really need all those other people in those offices eating up tax dollars? Yes, those offices probably DO need a few more than those few working today, but do we really need to have the other 50-75 (or more) percent of the staff that is currently “Sheltering in Place” if they are able to accomplish their duties right now?

When this is all over, we should push for a closer look at ALL the laws that were relaxed for the “emergency” and see if we really need ’em. And we should seriously look at cutting staffing in local, county and state office, much less the Federal ones.