54. The Explosion

On this day, November 7, when the Election has been called for Biden and Harris by AP—but not yet official by Electoral College vote—and partisans are dancing in the streets or girding for judicial challenges, Covid-19 is absolutely exploding. Yesterday, there were over 132,000 new cases and 1200 deaths across the country; at midday today, we’re over half on both counts, Oregon has upped its daily record to 844, and total US deaths have passed 240,000.

 

In the face of a serious pandemic, the country has for months been politically divided over an issue of public health. The largest of the large events promoted by Covid-19 minimizers was the Sturgis motorcycle rally. South Dakota’s governor embraced it, city officials reluctantly okayed it, and 460,000 bikers from every state poured into it. Covid-19 fanned out from Sturgis, but following the threads—contact tracing—has been virtually impossible. Similarly, there is little hope of contact tracing the thousands who have showed up for political rallies.

 

In the White House, Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, who has eschewed masks and asked aides not to disclose, has tested positive. Meadows, who appeared without mask at the president’s early Wednesday morning briefing, has been at the center of a strategy that downplayed the disease’s seriousness and up-played the president’s quick recovery and personal “victory” over Covid-19. Add known dispersion from the White House Amy Barrett event—e.g. Notre Dame President Reverend John Jenkins, and other known White House positives, including the recent disclosure of five Pence aides, and the understanding of the current explosion comes into clearer focus. 

 

One possibility is that administration officials knew the risks, but believed—rightly—that the election itself would be over before a post-election explosion. They would deal with it in the new political year.

 

Another possibility is that wittingly and knowingly, or unwittingly and with disdain for health officials’ warnings, a large chunk of the population seriously believes that the disease is not that serious, and/or that it will soon be under the control of herd immunity and vaccine. 

 

It is left for the Trump administration in its closing days, and for the incoming administration as it gears for arrival, to assess the current situation honestly, and advise the public cohesively. 

 

It is left for us all, individually and personally, to mind our manners—and our masks!

 

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