While the Donald Trump unreality show continues this week, we learn that a post office in Colorado that had acquired a brand-new sorting machine that took months to install was ordered to dismantle it by Louis DeJoy, and thrown into the dumpster—not put into storage, but just thrown away. Postal workers at the site now have to do all the mail sorting by hand. Is that not a waste of money and person-hours that DeJoy and the USPS board claims they want to clean-up? Is this their new “business model” for “efficiency”? If we needed any more evidence that something foul is in the air, there you have it.
But there is something else foul going on, and it is the kind that costs thousands of lives just to insure the political survival of one man. The CDC, having been previously forced to abide by limitations on how it collects COVID-19 data by the Department of Health and Human Services, has now “quietly” updated its virus recommendations about who should be tested. Now, anyone who has come into contact with a person who has tested positive for the virus do not need to be tested themselves if they show no symptoms. Contact tracing is an important tool in keeping the COVID-19 under control, and this “guidance” goes dangerously against that. The real experts on virus transmission have stated repeatedly that the most dangerous time of person-to-person transmission is when an asymptomatic carrier comes into contact with others, and this new “guidance” flies in the face of that reality.
This policy clearly is aimed at reducing the number of positive tests for Trump’s political benefit, since people who have come into contact with infected persons are more likely to be infected themselves than those who have not. The CDC has “referred” all media questions about this change to HHS; this clearly indicates that political forces are at work, since all of Trump’s cabinet appointees are do-nothings who only serve his interests and those of the extreme-right. We can presume that CDC officials prefer that a Trump stooge do all the “explaining” for a policy change they do not themselves approve of—or at least we hope that is the case.
Meanwhile, out in the real world, there continues to be “confusion” about what people are supposed to be doing to keep themselves and others safe. I was sitting near the front of a Metro bus last week when a disturbance broke out near the back of the bus. The bus driver halted the bus at the next stop, and over the loudspeaker implored the combatants to abstain from further disruption, but to no avail. My careful observation of the situation revealed the following: two individuals, one an older man, another a teenager, appeared to be having a serious disagreement with another individual. The disagreement, it seems, was over the fact that the older man and the teenager were not wearing masks as was required on the bus, which was stated explicitly on screens on both the front and back of the bus, as well as the public service message occasionally broadcast during the ride.
The older man was clearly taking the lead, with the “kid” a supporting player. The older man wanted to “fight” for no other reason that he felt that no one had a “right” to tell him what to do. The driver’s exhortations were going nowhere, since those two principle disputants—the older man especially—were clearly itching for combat. I mentioned to the driver that these two were not wearing masks; the driver said he “didn’t care” about that, he just wanted to stop the “fight,” to which I had to advise him that was what the “fight” was about.
While the driver was “discussing” the matter with the disputants, It became apparent that despite the stated bus policy that everyone must wear masks on the bus, the driver was treating the person who was being physically threatened for pointing out this policy as being “equally” culpable, and it angered me even more when a woman told that person that he should move if he had a “problem”; this caused me to call out that it was the two non-mask wearers who needed to get off the bus. Instead, the driver “persuaded” the two to move to the front of the bus, which I obviously found to be a disturbing prospect—especially when the “kid” sat right behind me when there was plenty of other empty seats elsewhere to practice the proper social distancing. I demanded that he “get away from me,” which kind of scared him and he moved a few rows back, next to the older man.
This “solution” to the problem didn’t stop the older man from continuing to threaten violence for anyone who had the nerve to tell him to wear a mask; when I again reminded the driver of the mask rule, he belatedly replayed that public service announcement stating all passengers on Metro buses are required to wear masks, which of course had no effect. Everyone else had to learn that the older gentleman was just out of jail on parole, probably for assault or armed robbery; I suspected that the “kid” was probably his son. And you want to know what is wrong with this country when you have “parents” like this teaching their kids how to “behave” and not respect the rules—if it isn’t white nationalists teaching their kids to be Nazis, it is this on the other end.
Of course, we can’t always depend on the “adults” in the room to give us proper guidance. On another Metro bus, the only person not wearing a mask was the driver, a white female. I asked her why she wasn’t wearing a mask as required, and in a grumpy tone she told me to mind by own business. Offended by her tone, I told her that it was “my business” if her refusal to obey the rules in a closed environment made me or other people sick. My assertion apparently took her by surprise, but she had a rationalization handy, probably supplied by some right-wing source on how to make an anti-government statement: she asked me if I had heard of the HIPAA law, which states that people do not have to divulge the reason why they are not following health guidelines. I told her that I was aware of the law, and that I also knew that people cannot arbitrarily quote it as an excuse to avoid doing anything they don’t want to do. In any case, so much for the “adults” providing “guidance” during times of pandemic.
And we are just talking about an environment where people are explicitly told to wear masks or they will be denied service, and even those who are supposed to enforce the mask rule don’t always follow it themselves. We hear about stories everywhere people declaring it is their “right” not to wear masks, even in conditions where social distancing cannot be done. We see videos of crowded airplanes where people can’t just “leave” a bad situation. This past June two women got into an argument over one not wearing a mask on an American Airlines flight; when a flight attendant finally “intervened,” a wrestling match broke out, before the woman not wearing a mask was escorted off the plane. How she was allowed to get on the plane in the first place was not explained, since the airline had a policy about not allowing any passenger on the plane without a mask; American Airlines had in fact banned right-wing activist Brandon Straka from flying on its planes after he had refused to follow “stated policy and crewmember instructions” during a previous incident.
It can get crazier, of course. In Marin County, Florida, sheriff Billy Woods forbad all deputies to wear masks, and any employees or visitors wearing masks in his office were to be escorted off the premises. There have been a few examples of “justice,” however; in Arizona, Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb, an avid Trump supporter and opponent of mask-wearing, did himself become ill after being infected by the COVID-19 virus. It is remarkable how common sense is thrown out the window just because some people just do not want to be “told” what to do, because it is their “right” to do whatever they please. People do have the “right” to get sick or even kill themselves because of their stupidity, but they don’t have the “right” to pass it on to other people.
The fact is that once you get used to the idea of wearing masks, it becomes second nature, like wearing clothes or putting a hat on—and it helps to save your life. As many have pointed out, it is the “patriotic” thing to do, if you care about the “health” of the nation. Unfortunately, a lot of people care more about themselves than the country—and it all starts with that fool in the White House, who has shown not one once of true leadership during this critical time.
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