The Big Bang Theory had a recurring character, a likeable dimwit named Zach who was best-known for saying things like, “That’s one of the great things about science—there’s no one right answer.” That’s cute (and utterly false), but in the Time of the Pandemic, in these life-or-death days, being dimwitted (especially intentionally so) is not likeable or useful or acceptable. It’s criminal.
Not everybody is good at math and science. That’s just a fact of life. However, I’ve never understood why it’s socially acceptable to brag about one’s deficiency in that area. (“Oh, I’m horrible at math…giggle.”) It’s like standing up at a formal dinner party and announcing that you have really bad incontinence. It happens, but keep it to yourself (in both word and deed).
It was obvious from the start of this mess that the media would often take the lazy route and just throw a bunch of numbers at the watchers/listeners/ readers. That way, there is something for everybody and essentially nothing for anybody. You give people a smorgasbord of figures and they can pick and choose what they want to bolster their argument or (as is more often the case) to give themselves an excuse to ignore the reality that’s right in front of their faces.
I could spout real (and important) numbers, but then I would be engaging in the same folly I just criticized. More enlightening are trends. There is a figure known as the Effective Reproduction Rate R (sub-t). If it is above 1.0, the virus is likely to spread quickly. If it’s under 1.0, that will slow the spread. Arizona was well above 1.0 when the shelter-in-place order went out. Within a couple of weeks, it dipped below 1.0 and stayed there for the entire month of April. As soon as Doug Ducey opened up the state, it skyrocketed back over 1.0 and stayed there from the beginning of May until the end of June. Last week, it dipped just below 1.0 but as of this writing, that’s been revised to just about 1.0, which means the virus is, as of the Weekly‘s deadline, on the spread.
I highly recommend looking at the website rt.live. You can see the charts and the curves that illustrate how Ducey has failed us, how local leaders have nudged things in the right direction, and (most importantly) how the vast majority of Arizonans are taking this (and each other’s health) seriously and bending this monster to our will.
Not everybody is on board. There are radio talk-show ass-clowns who, like their Lord and Master, are incapable of admitting that they were wrong about the virus. And there is Pima County Supervisor Ally Miller, who somehow believes that wearing a mask can cause cancer from your own bad breath blowing back into your lungs. (She is on her way out; her mind left quite a while ago.)
Sitting through online Mass today, I realized that the gospel about the man who sowed good wheat seed only to have an enemy come along and sow weeds in with the good seed had a modern relevance. The internet can be a valuable source of good information, but it is also a cesspool of ignorance. For every balanced journalistic story about Dr. Fauci, there’s a website that claims that his wife is the sister of Ghislane Maxwell. (Sadly, I’m not making that up.) For every informative Covid-19 website, there are four or five that use racist language to describe a virus that’s definitely a hoax but has killed the same number of people as the flu, except those people aren’t really dead because an out-of-work game-show host knows that the names were made up by the Deep State to hurt Trump’s re-election chances.
Websites like rt.live help us to understand that which we already know in our hearts and minds. It doesn’t take a math genius to know that infections are going to spike a couple weeks after Arizona goes from sheltering in place to opening up bars and gyms. What it does take is someone who is willing to see and acknowledge the truth. The saying that “there are none so blind as those who will not see” has never been more true. The governor of Oklahoma tested positive for COVID-19 a couple weeks after attending the disastrous Trump rally in Tulsa (without a mask) but swears that there is no way he got the virus there.
I take great solace in knowing that almost everybody these days is wearing a mask. None of us enjoys it, but we’re doing it for each other.
I hope that the stores hire gigantic security people to tell the mask-less morons to take their sorry asses on down the road so that the overworked and underappreciated store workers won’t have to. I’d be willing to add a surcharge to help pay for the guards. Wouldn’t you?
These pariahs don’t get the math because they’re too dumb to understand it. And they don’t get America because they’re too selfish to embrace it.
This article appears in Jul 23-29, 2020.
And let us not forget about the nursing homes. 45% of the total deaths came from states that sent their COVID-19 patients back to their nursing homes.I realize that’s just “numbers” but it was also a “trend” followed the the Democratic governors of those states.
If masks work so well we will be able to go to the polls and vote, after we are done protesting and rioting.
There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that “my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.” — Isaac Asimov
The nazi clown mask is as much a symbol of the democrat (née communist) party now as their donkey/a_ss logo. It perfectly represents their need to exert totalitarian micro-control over the masses just like the bolsheviks did one hundred years ago. The democrats are control freaks and they love to goose step around demanding everyone wear this stupid mask forever. Everyone knows it is scientifically and medically useless. Plus the democrat mask mandate continues to gut punch the economy and that is good for the communist obsession to defeat Bad Orange Man in November. With the demo-commies, it is always one hoax after another. This is their third one so far. What a clown show this is and Danehy is head clown.
With a little luck, not tired of winning, will run around with out his mask and catch the covid and enjoy the consequences. He may even die and wont have to worry about the commies or democrats any more. Commies indeed, where do you find one of those? There hasn’t been one in 50 years.
In Miami, you wear a mask when in a public place. Parks, beaches, parking lots at stores, everywhere. Police hand out $100 fines, and they love their new work!
How do people not understand that wearing a mask drastically slows the spread of germs? Other countries grasp this and are controlling the virus much better than the US.
Such ignorance. We need a better leader at the top. Ugh.
I love this. Perfect response to the great unmasked masses running around making things worse.
Henry J, if you’re looking for a Commie, there’s one running around with the virus while blaming it on Republicans. Perhaps he’ll suffer the fate you wish on our President.
Wes S, no one blames republicans for the corona virus; and there is nothing in Jormo’s message to indicate that they wish any particular fate on trump. There may be those who blame the nation’s leadership, which happens to be republican, for the tragically inept and ineffective response to the outbreak, but that is not limited to the far left (which is whom I presume you refer to as “Commie”). Perhaps instead to talking middle school level smack, you could actually read up on the subject. Be careful to avoid sources that ascribe the pandemic to various conspiracies (e.g. alt-right websites like breitbart and the daily wire).
dsimpson. We are victims of the formatting of this forum. I was thinking of Henry J’s post where he uses “not tired of winning”, which I assumed meant our president, since that’s similar to a phrase he uses, without noting that another member of this forum uses that as a screen name. I apologize for the confusion. You mistakenly think that I’m referring to Jormo’s message, so you are equally confused.
Nevertheless, while he says, “While I cannot blame anyone directly for this”, Grijalva (a Communist) goes on to do exactly that with this: “this week has shown that there are some Members of Congress who fail to take this crisis seriously. Numerous Republican members routinely strut around the Capitol without a mask to selfishly make a political statement at the expense of their colleagues, staff, and their families.”
And then picking up from there you go on to blame Republicans for “the tragically inept and ineffective response to the outbreak,…”
In closing I must ask why you suppose that I read alt-right websites. As a matter of fact, I don’t read them, but I sure as hell don’t need you condescendingly telling me to avoid them. And you compare me to a middle-school student? I think you have it ass backwards.
I consider my comments a success when I get 100% “dislikes.”
You just can’t make this stuff up.
This newspaper runs a story with the headline “Pay attention to the trends”.
1. Our R sub naught is the second lowest in the nation. (Source: your website rt.live, evidently, you didn’t read it) R sub naught creates the trend for your state, whether it will be up or down. Above 1.0, your trend is up, below 1 like Arizona, your trend is down. We are second lowest in the nation.
2. Our seven day rolling average of new infections is below 800, down from a peak of 3,600 just four weeks ago.
As a result, our economy is in the top 5 of the nation in Covid-19 economic strength, having lost less than 10% of its jobs and having already recovered 50% of those jobs lost.