The official number of Americans sick with coronavirus doubled over the weekend; markets are plunging. There’s a lot to talk about, so here’s a new open thread.
This tweet from Eric Trump really hasn’t aged very well.
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@lilome
Back as a kid and teenager: I’ve been highly focused on making sure I washed my hands above all else: because even in my formative years I knew it was important not to “spread germs” or have the parts of my body that interacted with anything and everything and would touch my face and put food in my person were not dirty or otherwise contaminated. and mind you, I’m not even germaphobic.
This had not changed, even back in Air cadets where I had to crawl around in dirt, mud and sand during obstacle coruses and bush exercises: I could be covered from head to toe with muck and I would be able to tolerate it so long as my hands were squeaky clean. But even the rest of me were clean: if my hands were dirty, it would drive me up a wall and I would go find the closest body of running water and soap I could find and wash up.
The very fact that their are other guy’s who not only ignore and neglect basic hygiene and for the most absurd and even homophobic reasons disgusts me for more reasons than one, especially given how they are so nonsensically afraid of “being gay” or “being seen as gay” from doing basic sanitation and hygiene practice: that they walk about willfully and gleefully as a bunch of bathless groggens that even Pig-Pen of the Peanuts gang would find of questionable hygiene.
@WWTH, Naglfar
Millions will vote for him, but it just takes a few million who actually thought he was an economic genius to stay home to make the difference. Arguably, Bush won in 2004 because the “economy” (put in scare quotes because that term means different things to the elite than the rest of us) was still doing well, despite his Iraq blunder.
It’s tough to spin retirement savings being obliterated.
@Katamount
It’s tough, but if he doesn’t mention it and says the economy is doing great, most of his personality cult won’t do further research to realize he’s lying.
@lilome
I’m a bit obsessive about washing my hands – like 8-10 times a day, not including after going to the bathroom – so I’m not exactly representative of the male half-ish of the population, but since I share public restrooms with the disgusting louts, I can assure you that a sizable chunk of men really don’t wash after going to the bathroom.
I have no idea why, beyond a woefully inadequate understanding of microbiology and immunology. Or possibly some kink involving cholera…
Depend if reality crash into his base or not. Economic crisis often are actually felt by everyone and are less rationalized than institutional racism and sexism.
@Gaebolga
Probably toxic masculinity and a lack of scientific knowledge.
I’ve heard of “bug-chasing” kinks, but never in relation to cholera specifically. Could be a thing, but seeing as cholera is not common in most developed countries and is not fun, I can’t imagine many people are after it.
@Ohlmann
True, but economic crises can also be blamed on scapegoats in order to feed the fire and energize the base. We’ll have to see what he tries to do.
@ JoanC:
I dunno, during the Spanish Flu pandemic, there were lots of people who felt bad for a while, then… didn’t feel bad… or anything else….
I don’t think we have to wait and see… we all know that’s exactly what he’ll do
And the base will eat it up. They will NEVER blame him for anything.
They’re white middle-, working-, and lower-clasd people, as such they’re used to blaming others for their missteps
@gaebolga : probably have something to do with the fact washing hand after each trip to the loo is more a “nice to have” (and a societal norm) than a core hygienic habit in normal circumstance. Of course, when in the middle of an epidemic, perhaps do wash your hands at every occasion … even tho the risk don’t come from your bowel movement.
The actual washing need of the average human (AKA someone who isn’t handling younglings, elders, or weakened individuals) tend to be significantly less than society thinks. While still more than what the average teenager do.
The good thing is that washing too often don’t really have drawback anyway. I never found good, credible source to the often touted claim that washing too often weaken the immunitary system or cause allergies. But conversely, it take a lot more to be an actual health risk than to just look disgusting.
90% of the stuff they’re pushing to keep yourself safe from coronavirus 19 is stuff we all should have been doing already. There have been 20,000 deaths from flu so far this winter in the US alone (according to the CDC).
That massive wave of death happens every year though, so nobody panics about that.
Why can’t we just cancel capitalism altogether? It’s nothing but harmful at this rate. Using it as a metric for anything excuses nothing but some fucked up stuff.
@Ohlmann
I guess it could lead to dry skin, but that’s what skin moisturizers are for.
@ ohlmann
Before access to clean water was common, one of the major sources of B12 was, without going into gory details, the lack of toilet paper and hand washing facilities.
Although personally I’m happy we now have B12 supplements and soap.
My 401k is on fire! I don’t mean it’s on a hot streak; I mean it is literally just a pile of flaming money. Fun.
They’re already seeding the narrative that millions of deaths from covid-19 is what the Democrats want in order to make Trump look bad. So when the deaths happen, they’ll just blame it on the Democrats. His base, who will be looking for a scapegoat anyway, will believe him.
This is how you get pogroms, too.
I’ve said it before: what scares me the most isn’t the possibility of dying from COVID-19, even though as a diabetic I’m technically “at risk” of dying if I contract it. I’ve had two near-death experiences in my life, so if my number’s coming up, I’ll miss Mr. Parasol dreadfully, and I worry about how he’ll deal with it … but it’s not something that’s really on my mind.
What scares me the most is how this is affecting my fellow healthcare professionals, especially those on the front lines. I’m tucked away in a safe little IT corner, but the rest of my tribe is out there trying to keep patients calm, fighting with insurance companies, arguing with whoever is not sharing COVID-19 test kits, holding the hands of the dying, listening to loved ones scream with grief, trying to comfort the afflicted….
It’s so much already. It’s a spreading disaster gleefully widening the cracks in our system: the nursing shortage, the drug shortage, the equipment shortage, the shift from inpatient to outpatient care because it’s “more profitable,” the (obscenity deleted) C-suite peacocks who’ve strutted around giving themselves bonuses and telling themselves that giving staffers cookies is just as good as giving them pay raises, and on and on and on.
It’s been years since I worked in a hospital, but those are my people out there, getting ready to dive into the meat grinder because it’s a calling, because so many of us see our jobs as devoted service to human welfare. I want to rage at those who’ve seen this as an opportunity to make even more obscene amounts of money and place no value on the rest of us.
CNN’s take on all this:
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/09/politics/coronavirus-donald-trump-health-politics/index.html
@Amtep
Yikes. I’m expecting a rise in antisemitism as well, the blood libel and well poisoning myths are still in the public consciousness waiting to float to the surface.
@Naglfar:
Yikes. I’m expecting a rise in antisemitism as well, the blood libel and well poisoning myths are still in the public consciousness waiting to float to the surface.
Which will go nicely with the Sinophobia that’s already hit the fan:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-51456056
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-02-03/fear-panic-around-the-coronavirus-fuels-racist-sentiment
@Nagflar:
First it will be against the Chinese, though. After all, climate change is a Chinese hoax, and doubtless the coronavirus is a biological weapon that escaped from a Chinese lab.
Plus, reading the CNN article @Alan linked to, Drumpf’s been saying that the “average American” is fine. I’m reminded of the statistic that the percentage of Americans who voted for him is the same number as the percentage who don’t have passports. So it’s all those elitist travellers’ fault for bringing it back for them. If they were like proper average Americans who never leave the sight of their white picket fences, we wouldn’t be in this mess. And it will prove West Coast elites’ fault for letting scary yellow people in. There’s a reason (white) history remembers the 1918 outbreak as the “Spanish” flu.
Also, at some point it will be spreading due to Mexicans. I’m not sure how, but possibly because Drumpf and his base can’t tell the difference between Mexicans and Chinese, because of all those movies they’ve seen where the former were used to play the latter.
Meanwhile, the antisemitism will come about firstly out of habit, and secondly by following the logic of the “It’s the Democrats’ fault!” as the claim is made that it’s all spreading to bolster the candidacy of the Socialist Joo Sanders. At which point we’ll have a nice loop back to the China issue: after all, China = Dirty Commies = Socialists = Bernie = Joooooooooozzzzzzzzz. It’s perfectly logical.
And, let’s be honest, that last bit is going to seem to get some support from the fact that a certain type of Bernie Bro is quite likely to make “Yes! The economy’s tanking! I hope this epidemic keeps up so Trump’s incompetence is visible! He’ll never win if too many old white people die!” comments. And the trollier among them will crank that up a notch and make it “Not because his followers will lose faith, but because there will be less old white people.” And then we’re back to Sarah Palin’s death panels and Joooooozzzzz = Nazis.
@Rabid Rabbit
This idea is already circulating. Several conservative pundits online claimed that Chinese people with the virus were sneaking through the southern border. They seem unfazed by the fact that China is not in Central America.
The sinophobia is awful as well. My condolences to anyone of Chinese descent who experiencing racism because of the coronavirus.
I’ve already heard a guy on the bus talking about how Obama worked with China to create the virus. So, I expect that take to work its way up through the pipeline from the right wing conspiracy theory YouTube community to Fox News and GOP talking points.
@WWTH, I believe Alex Jones has been spreading that conspiracy theory.
The coronavirus is exactly the sort of crisis that can be used to cancel (or at least “postpone”) elections.
Note that I am not saying that Trump is deliberately flubbing the response for this purpose. He is certainly evil enough, but it requires a level of forethought and ability to understand long-term cause-and-effect that he is just not capable of, no matter how well Stephen Miller might explain the scheme to him.
@anonymous coward – my sister stole my towel. I had one that was a perfect towel day towel – even had flowers on it, but she liked it and just took it. She hadn’t read HHGTTG at the time and didn’t realise the significance.
I hadn’t heard about the phone santising advice! It reminds me I desperately need a haircut!
I am very concerned about economic impact. As many people have pointed it it will fall disproportionately on the people least able to absorb it.
I also am getting annoyed at people I least expected to be crowing going on about how wonderful it is that the people they least like are getting it and dying from it. Politicians of all stripes, older people, ill people – whoever they don’t rate. Shows a real lack of basic humanity I reckon.
@Allandrel
That’s what I feel is the main thing separating Trump from worse dictators like Hitler or Stalin. Trump is evil, but his own idiocy limits his horribleness somewhat. Which is still little consolation.