So, Gov. Holcomb announced that Indiana is starting to re-open on Monday. Restaurants will be allowed to open at 50% capacity, non-essential retail as well. Remote work is recommended at offices but not required. Religious services won’t have any particular restrictions, and social gatherings are to be limited to 25 and fewer. Old people (65 and older) are to remain sheltered and hope they can somehow stay away from all of the newly infected people in their community. The roll out is very muddled and abrupt. Announced on a Friday afternoon to begin on Monday morning. Social distancing requirements are still supposed to be observed, but that’s somewhat lost in the mix. If the idea is that — for example social gatherings of 25 people or office work is permitted but only if a distance of 6 feet apart is maintained, that message was absolutely lost.
It feels a little like we’re giving up on the war against COVID-19. We closed down, hoping we could beat it, but our will is weak, so we’re giving up. The metrics look quite a bit worse than when we shut down. With lock down precautions in place, 600 Hoosiers per day are being reported infected and 50 – 60 per day are dying. Opening up, the rate of spread will get worse. About the only metric I heard the Governor mention is that we’ll probably have enough hospital beds for the sick and dying. Best of luck paying your hospital bill. What did we gain by the lock down? If this was the plan, seems like we could’ve just gone ahead and gotten sick 6 weeks ago.
That’s how it feels anyway. Maybe — hopefully — I’m completely wrong. There are definitely plenty of people who sincerely want to do the right thing but are hurting economically. Their anxiety is only increased by the lack of a clear mission and lack of a clear strategy. Nationally, the message is bipolar at best. The federal government pushed it down to the states. At the state level, it felt like Gov. Holcomb was doing his best; but now he’s punting.
Maybe he doesn’t see any way to hold out politically or financially while we get mass testing and contact tracing infrastructure in place, let alone develop a vaccine or medical treatments. It’s that much harder to hold out without support from the national government. One day, President Sundowner is agreeing that this is a big problem; the next he’s urging insurrection. We’re all in the same pool, so citizens can be excused if they wonder what good it does for them to be in the no-peeing section when their neighbors a few states over are in the I.P. Freely section. The pressure to cut and run will become even worse as this turns into a locality-by-locality patchwork. I don’t have any military training, but I’m enough of a student of history to know that the mass fatalities usually happen when an army breaks. Every-man-for-himself is a recipe for slaughter. The force that remains cohesive even when the battle looks futile is probably going to fare better.
As for the mutton-heads (or virus sympathizers, if you prefer) who don’t care about any of the nerdy, scientific mumbo jumbo about rates of transmission, case fatality rates, incident fatality rates, etc. — they just want to get back to free refills and professional haircuts — these are your fellow citizens who would sell you out to the enemy in a war. “I don’t care if an air raid does come, who are you to tell me to turn out my lights? Black out orders violate my rights! Enemy bombers probably won’t hit *my* house – I’m willing to take the chance, never mind the increased risk to my neighbors. Besides, the Germans aren’t so bad. Actually, some of the houses they’re bombing were a little rickety anyway.”
And, finally, a note about that J.D. Salinger quote I like to dredge up from time to time: “The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.” It seems to me that the sorts of people who like to talk a lot about toughness, maybe dying heroically for a cause, standing up to their oppressors aren’t willing to do the less glorious, emotionally difficult work of living humbly in a way that helps us ultimately in this struggle that is claiming more lives than most of our wars. At 67,000 American lives lost in the last two months, the body count is already past what we lost in Vietnam, Korea, the Spanish American War, the Mexican American War, the War of 1812, and the American Revolution. We’re approaching 50% of the U.S. Army combat deaths in the Civil War and have surpassed that number for World War 1. We’re averaging a 9/11 every two days. So, this struggle is every bit as costly as our other fights in terms of lives lost. Are war deaths more valuable than other deaths?
Like I said, I’d love to be wrong. But, at the moment, it feels like surrender.
I’m glad that someone finally said it. Maybe they did and I just haven’t seen it, but you are right on. The “strategy” to re-open seems terribly Darwinian to me. You know the rules if you want to live, but then there are the ones who value “escape” from their homes more than being safe, or are just too narcissistic to believe that they aren’t immortal. When the remnant witnesses the horrific outcome, it just may be a sobering lesson for them to stay put and remember that dangerous viruses don’t seem to care what you believe or who you are. I’m afraid that in rural Southern Indiana, where few people think they should wear masks or gloves and you need to stand close to everyone, there are a number of people who will push those limits and when the one or two infected ones join the party, that will set fire to the area. Today, in Medscape, it was suggested that the outcome in rural areas will be uneven because some refuse to learn that they are not so special as to be excluded from disease and possible death and just may go to Walmart or Rural King and infect or be infected. This “ain’t over until it’s over.”
Kudos Doug. Why can’t we wait another three weeks until the numbers look a whole lot better? It seems like we are asking to have a second wave in a few months simply because we don’t like being told what to do. Hopefully citizens will continue to stay home and shelter in place without the government needing to tell them to do so.
I thought he was going to announce that things would start relaxing on May 15, that relaxation was contingent on the rate of new cases slowing, and the rules would be better articulated. For example, in Stage 2 and 3, masks are “recommended.” In Stage 4 and 5, masks are “optional.”
Nail. On. Head. Thank you for writing this. Tippecanoe County is very luck to have you
This. Brilliant.
The fact that trump will use the COVID-19 respose(s) looks to me like a Republic that is in dire need of a change in the party in the Whitehouse and Senate. If trump is soundly defeated, perhaps spines will regrow in the back of Republican leadership. A trump win will take a grease the wheels on the road to kakistockracy.
Corruption is one of the things that is most corrosive to a democracy (or a Republic).
I see it the same and I too hope you are wrong.
Doug, I found this paragraph I copied to have the most challenging information in it. Indiana is still seeing increased cases and, obviously, deaths. I don’t know if anyone agrees that we have “flattened the curve” Up to this point Governor Holcomb was getting my approval for his handling of the COVID-19 CRISIS in Indiana. I was encouraged that Indiana was in a regional arrangement with several surrounding mid-western states, but I wonder, now, if Indiana is abandoning that measured response.
It feels a little like we’re giving up on the war against COVID-19. We closed down, hoping we could beat it, but our will is weak, so we’re giving up. The metrics look quite a bit worse than when we shut down. With lock down precautions in place, 600 Hoosiers per day are being reported infected and 50 – 60 per day are dying. Opening up, the rate of spread will get worse. About the only metric I heard the Governor mention is that we’ll probably have enough hospital beds for the sick and dying. Best of luck paying your hospital bill. What did we gain by the lock down? If this was the plan, seems like we could’ve just gone ahead and gotten sick 6 weeks ago.
The “having enough hospital beds” seemed like moving the goalposts. Maybe I wasn’t paying enough attention at the outset, but an increasing number of COVID-19 cases with enough beds to hold them didn’t seem like the metric for re-opening at the time we closed down.
What changed? Pence came to town. That’s what happened. Thanks for saying what needed to be said.
And everybody knows that is true. Papa Pence came to town to let Gov Holcomb know that he is not allowed to stray from official federal directives.
Thank you for saying this more publicly. Part of the stated goal of the governor was to follow the CDC guidelines and the evidence. CDC guidelines dictate there should be a decline for 2 weeks. We haven’t had that.
The other thing that he said is that “we are better off safe than sorry.” Opening up as soon as possible, is not the same thing as ‘better safe than sorry.’ This is especially true in the absence of regular widespread testing. It was only 5 days ago now that they allowed people who were not showing symptoms to even be allowed to get tested. In short, it feels like we’re flying blind into a storm with numbers that should not be relied upon when testing is inadequate.
That’s not the only problem we still have. I have two sisters who currently work in the health care system and both have not had adequate PPE for the duration of this pandemic. Beyond that, there is a general attitude I have personally observed among friends and neighbors that are not taking the virus seriously – and that’s WITH the stay at home order in place.
As I watched the announcements on Friday, I couldn’t help but be reminded of all the times I had seen people coming and going within six feet of each other, delivery people who rolled their eyes at me when I asked them to set the food on a chair outside my door and insisted I not sign the receipt, the teenagers ignoring police tape to play basketball at a local park, and the bikers gathered at the gas station near my house. I’ll say it again, people in Indiana are ALREADY not following stay at home orders.
They are admittedly a minority, but with restrictions loosening, I’m very afraid that those people and anyone teetering on following the guidelines will only hear “IT’S OVER! BACK TO NORMAL”
At least they’ll be able to get their hair dyed. I’m sure they’ll look simply fabulous in their coffins.
The major themes I heard from medical professionals discussing the criteria for re-opening were a massive testing infrastructure, comprehensive contact tracing, and the ability to isolate or quarantine known and suspected cases. Sufficient PPE was not discussed as much but was maybe taken as a given.
I’ll have to say that the people I came into contact with mostly have been taking this seriously, but the Governor’s message will certainly undermine that. His message was filled with caveats, but without clear instruction about what you can and can’t do, I think those caveats will mostly be ignored in favor of a sense that it’s all better now.
It’s simple.
Goalposts: moved.
Reasons: issue fatigue, impatience, governor’s big-biz tilt.
Unmentioned: Complete caving to the nursing home industry on reporting requirements. The gov’s lame excuse: our existing regulations are sufficient.
File under: “whistling through the graveyard”. Literally.
Cross-file under: Education crisis coming soon–how do seniors graduate with three months of their final year incomplete? How do we promote all students to next level in the fall? How do we EVER expect teachers to be properly compensated, and give them guidance for advancing students in this brave new world?
It’s always harder to plan for Thursday when Christ’s imminent return is on Wednesday.
One Benghazi death is worth roughly 1,500 deaths by any other cause.
Where do I start, how about with the abhorrent tweet by Trump, This has nothing to do with the post but I had to get it out there. Once again Trump’s mantra which is ‘ It’s all about ME!’
Mr. Bush published a video message on Saturday urging unity amid the coronavirus’ outbreak, which received 4 million views on Twitter as of Sunday morning. Bush’s video clip was exactly what a strong leader would put out on the internet that would lift up the nations spirits. But Trump tweet hits a all time low.
“Oh bye the way, I appreciate the message from former President Bush, but where was he during Impeachment calling for putting partisanship aside. @foxandfriends He was nowhere to be found in speaking up against the greatest Hoax in American history!” Mr. Trump tweeted.
Absolutely appalling if anyone with brains who votes for this pinhead ought to be deprogrammed by being forced to listen to podcasts from the NY Times and the Washington Post. Then see if they can deduce that. Fox News is the biggest propaganda machine ever created for the Republicans in modern times. If that don’t work muster them into the peace corps and send them along with their kids to Turkey. Then let them hang out with the 3.5 million Syrian refugees, letting them sleep in sparkling clean tents and eat excellent food provided by the Turkish Government. I wonder how long it would take for them to surmise that they don’t need to drink the Kool Aid. Hmmmm I can dream can’t I !!!!!!
I think Gov. Holcomb caved due to the many states that were opening for business and deduced that we better follow the pacesetters and open Indiana up. Throw in the demonstration in front of his residence and he probably concluded ‘Shit this is a Republican state why are they boycotting me? I better start the ball rolling since I certainly don’t want to see another demonstration, It won’t look good on local or cable TV not to mention downtown at the State House’..
Testing, testing, testing that is all I heard at the beginning of the pandemic. I was watching the local news about the second week of the pandemic and there was a spokesman from Roche Diagnostics in,Fishers, stating they had a 1/2 a million test kits in their warehouse. They ended up going overseas to South Korea, Italy, etc. When Trump approached two drug (to tired to look up their names) companies and told them they were going to produce testing kits for the good old USA they told him NO!!!! They had to many orders from our allies and they weren’t going to cancel them. Instead of invoking the War Time Act he backed down like a sniveling neutered dog. Instead lets invoke the War Times Act to make sure our meat packers keep churning out the pork and beef in unsafe conditions. No problem letting the workers catch the virus and spread it all over town.
I truly hope that the citizens of this Indiana realize that this crisis is not over, How many lives will be lost before they wake up. I watched a interview on the Daily Show and Trevor was interviewing the Dr Fauci of Switzerland and the doctor said that the government wasn’t worried that they had a much higher death rate then the surrounding countries. A CNN report stated people only got pissed when they lost a loved one or a friend. No kidding!,Lets hope the USA doesn’t adopt this policy when we can’t eradicate the virus. If Trump’s still in the White House it is a distinct possibility.
Will the government tell us ,’Staying virus free is your problem and don’t come crawling to us when you get infected and you better have insurance cause were not paying for it’.’ .I honestly am not ruling this scenario out.. I think that if we can’t control it (Fauci states 100 percent it is coming back in the fall, if it ever leaves) the Feds might say it’s better then having millions unemployed. If we don’t find a vaccine this scheme may come true then,God help us. I know your a atheist Doug so you might say ‘Lets hope it doesn’t come to pass’.’. Or as Bill Cosby would say,”I know there’s a God because when the ground shakes everyone looks up.”.
If you multiply the number of deaths by 50 people that the dead person knew (50 per person I would guess is a low number) times 80,000 deaths nationwide you get 4 million. This is the number of relatives, friends , and work colleagues that are grieving the ones who have past away. A staggering number.