The coronavirus visits the White House – Overview of the results of Trump’s COVID policies – Biden’s reaction – Minneapolis City Council – The pleasures of autumn weather and scenery – Evening statistics
The Internet is abuzz with the news that Donald and Melania Trump have tested positive for the coronavirus. They will be in quarantine for 14 days. I am sorry for her – but with regard to the President himself, I have little sympathy. His heedlessness during the past several months has been a death sentence to thousands and has been the cause of disabling many more for life, and I am vengeful enough to hope that his infection may have long-term consequences. It is quite possible that such hopes will be realized, for he does has certain risk factors, chiefly his age and his tendency towards being overweight. He has already developed symptoms that are described as “mild” and has checked into Walter Reed hospital for a few days. However his illness turns out, he will be prohibited from active campaigning for the next two weeks and will in all likelihood be plagued with fatigue well into November, which is bound to lower his chances of being re-elected.
There is in addition a certain appropriateness to this event, which is the outcome to be expected from his continual disregard of the CDC’s guidelines towards COVID prevention. Last night he said that “the end of the pandemic is in sight,” only to discover shortly afterwards that Hope Hicks, one of his closest aides, tested positive for the infection, thereby bringing the disease into his innermost circle. Trump and his aides have consistently ignored the recommendations for social distancing and the wearing of face masks; and during the Presidential debate this past Tuesday he frequently mocked Biden for following them. Since the President has come in close contact with a large number of people on his staff, they all will have to be monitored (and in all probability quarantined) as well. “The President takes the health and safety of himself and everyone who works in support of him and the American people very seriously,” White House spokesman Judd Deere said to reporters. Well, we know that the first part of that statement is true: he certainly attaches the utmost importance to the health and safety of himself. Whether he is capable of displaying the smallest degree of solicitude for the health and safety of anyone else is, to say the least, debatable.
If I sound rather callous about the President’s prospects, there are a few consequences to bear in mind about how his policies have affected the country at large. It is true that our position is slightly better now with respect to other nations that it was previously; but that is not because there is any marked degree of improvement in our own status but because other nations have also been deteriorating. Our death rate from the virus is now about 2.8%, which is certainly a significant decline from what it was three months ago, but it is still on the high side. Over 2¼% of our population has been infected already; this figure threatens to be doubled by the end of the year. We still account for over 20% of the deaths from the virus worldwide and for over 32% of the cases currently active. The only countries whose population is over 10,000,000 that exceed our incidence rate are Peru, Chile, and Brazil. By way of contrast, Nigeria – whose population is comparable to ours but otherwise is not a country known for its wealth or its advanced medical system – has an incidence of 284 COVID cases per million of its population and a death rate of 5 per million. I have noted in previous entries how many leaders in Third World countries such as Malawi, Malaysia, and Vietnam have taken the threat of the virus much more seriously than our government has, and that their efforts to contain the virus have had a great deal more success. Even an inhabitant of countries such as Mongolia and Cameroon has a better chance of avoiding infection than the average American, and a better chance of surviving the disease if he gets infected. Such are the results of the manic behavior of a President who has been continually at odds with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – an agency specifically created to safeguard the health of our citizens – and who has consistently thwarted efforts of the more responsible of our state governors to impose restrictions that offer a chance of containing the virus.
Joe Biden has a more forgiving nature than mine. With that fundamental decency that characterizes him, he was among the first to send his wishes for Trump’s recovery. Unfortunately he has started to lessen the pace of his own campaign on that account, taking down all ads that say negative things about his opponent. I think that that is unwise. It should be possible to express sympathy for a man on a personal level, and at the same time to remind the public that this very same man is largely responsible for the havoc that the virus is wreaking on our country.
Another set of oblivious politicians have come to regret the consequences of their reckless irresponsibility. The Minneapolis City Council, after having unanimously voted to defund the city’s police, have now reversed themselves after a surge in carjackings, robberies, assaults and shootings, asking “Where are the police?” Medaria Arradondo, the police chief, didn’t even bother telling them that their own vote to defund the police was the primary cause of this sorry state of affairs; he merely told them that more than 100 officers have quit or taken leaves of absence, more than twice the usual rate.
Amid all of this upheaval the day was quite placid on a personal level. The results of my own COVID test that I took on Tuesday came back today, and I tested negative. I was not seriously worried, but I did want to get some confirmation that I had not exposed myself during my return from Maine via airplane, particularly as I am going to be in a house full of friends this coming week. In the afternoon I went to my father’s gravesite in Falls Church. The gravestone was completed recently, so I went there to see it and to take a photo of it that I could distribute to various relatives.
The gravesite is about 8 miles from my house and the day was so beautiful out that I walked instead of driving there. The weather is something to savor after the long and sweltering summer. One is continually reminded, in the suburbs at least, that the area was originally forest and that the areas that have been carved out for setting up our dwellings can readily become forest again after even a short period of neglect. Trees are the dominant feature of the landscape, even from primary traffic arteries. The autumnal colors are just beginning here – not as brilliant as those in Maine, of course, but still it seems a providential arrangement that the timing of the leaves’ transformation coincides with the mellowness of the October sunlight, so that the changing hues appear at their most intense saturation.
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 34,817,610; # of deaths worldwide: 1,032,709; # of cases U.S.: 7,549,299; # of deaths U.S.: 213,523. Amid all of this concern over the President’s health, I feel bound to point out that over 50,000 other Americans contracted the virus today as well, and that over 850 have died from it.