Morning statistics – Potential meat shortages – Trump puzzled at failure of anti-biotics to counter-effect a virus – Gerald Glenn – Trump vs. Fauci – A dangerous precedent – Evening statistics
Today’s statistics as of 7:00 AM — # of cases worldwide: 1,859,011; # of deaths worldwide: 114,979; # of cases U.S.: 557,590; # of deaths U.S.: 22,023.
One of the largest pork processing plants in the country has been shut down because more than two hundred of its employees have fallen ill. This episode will have a significant impact on our meat supply. Even though I don’t eat much pork myself, it will affect me and others like me; if the supply of pork goes down, people will be turning to other meats and the surge in demand will cause shortages of these as well. Fortunately I have several vegetarian dishes in my repertoire.
Trump’s displays of ineptitude continue to amaze me and, in all probability, the world at large. Recently he made a speech describing COVID-19 as a “brilliant enemy” – as if it were a hostile nation with whom we are at war – and lamented that it is impervious to anti-biotics. Of course, since it is a virus, anti-biotics will not be of much use in treating it, but he doesn’t appear to be aware of that. And people made fun of Gerald Ford and George W. Bush for their malapropisms! They are geniuses in comparison with this man.
Bishop Gerald Glenn conducted church services in defiance of the restriction of gatherings of more than ten people, saying that “people are healed” at his church and that he provided an essential service because “I am a preacher – I talk to God!” He held his last service on March 22nd, contracted the virus shortly afterwards, and died a week after it was diagnosed. Had he torn himself away from his Biblical studies to have a glimpse at the classics, he would have realized that hubris is inevitably followed by nemesis.
The blunders of Trump are reaping what they have sown. A member of the crew of the USS Theodore Roosevelt ship has died of the virus. Trump has publicly quarreled with Dr. Fauci and is now trying to back-pedal and to pretend that he has no wish to deprive Fauci of his post. I suppose that even he realizes the amount of outrage that would result if he engineered firing Fauci (he cannot do so directly, but he could request the Health and Human Services director to do so – just as he technically is not directly responsible for the firing of Captain Brett Crozier but made use of Thomas Modly as his catspaw).
I’ve had speculations about life in future even after the virus recedes. These stay-at-home orders are necessary, and yet – it is a little frightening to realize the degree our government can meddle with our daily lives. Is it possible that an enterprising demagogue will take advantage of a future crisis of similar magnitude to control our movements and nudge the direction of our country into a police state? Something similar, it may be remembered, happened in Germany less than a century ago.
Today’s statistics as of 10:00 PM — # of cases worldwide: 1,918,855; # of deaths worldwide: 119,588; # of cases U.S.: 581,679; # of deaths U.S.: 23,604. It does appear that the number of new cases and of deaths is decelerating, but we are a long way from reaching negative deceleration as yet.