Capitalism is a Terrible Religion: COVID-19 vs. Cash Flow
The rush to re-open society as COVID-19 cases continue to rise in 22 states and California is just about the stupidest choice out there. Hospitalizations for the coronavirus reached their highest levels yet in the pandemic in Arizona and Texas, and Missouri reported its highest single-day case totals over the weekend.
And “re-opening” is primarily being done for the worst possible reason, namely to accommodate financial difficulties caused by health related restrictions on activities.
This gets to the heart of what is wrong with things. The sanctification of the pursuit of wealth is destroying our society and our planet. Short-term financial interests have become the yardstick by which progress is measured over the past 40 years.
The point of view that says massive health consequences are an acceptable cost is the dominant narrative, with the degree of human cost being a minor variable.
This is some sick stuff. Only a fraction of those infected with COVID-19 will die, a slightly larger number will require intensive care, and some people will just feel like crap for a couple of weeks. So that's okay?
In the meantime, there is a crime wave of phony cures, treatments and protective gear scams in progress, and most of the perpetrators will never face consequences.
When you’ve got the President of the United States hawking (ineffective) malaria medicine and cornering the market on protective gear so it can be resold at a profit, it’s little wonder that scam artists are inspired.
At a national level, the President admitted to a CBS News correspondent today that his quip at the Tulsa rally about slowing down testing for the coronavirus wasn’t a joke.
From NBC News:
"Testing is a double-edged sword," said Trump, who added that the U.S. has conducted 25 million tests. "When you do testing to that extent, you’re going to find more people, you’re going to find more cases, so I said to my people, 'Slow the testing down, please.'"
https://twitter.com/weijia/status/1275422015059615750?s=20
While Anthony Fauci and other officials told Congress this morning that they'd seen no orders to slow testing, the administration was moving on other fronts.
The Trump administration is ending funding and support for local COVID-19 testing sites around the country this month, as cases and hospitalizations are skyrocketing in many states.
The federal government will stop providing money and support for 13 sites across five states which were originally set up in the first months of the pandemic to speed up testing at the local level.
Local officials and public health experts expressed a mixture of frustration, resignation, and horror at the decision to let federal support lapse.
History will show the prioritization of economic interests over the welfare of the people has been the fundamental concern of the executive branch since day one of the pandemic.
A racist narrative (Kung Flu) and a testosterone-driven belief in invulnerability (I don’t need no stinkin mask) are all just part of the same picture.
https://twitter.com/realTuckFrumper/status/1275466542055071747?s=20
On Sunday, Democratic Senators Chuck Schumer of New York and Patty Murray of Washington sent Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar a letter stating that the Trump administration has "still failed" to distribute more than $8 billion out of $25 billion appropriated by Congress in April to expand testing and contact tracing.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also hasn’t seen nearly $4 billion for surveillance and contact tracing at the state and local levels and tribal territories, they said, and little of $2 billion set aside for free testing for uninsured people has been disbursed.
Jacksonville Florida, the site of this summer’s Republican Convention, has stopped releasing data from local hospitals about coronavirus data.
Here in San Diego, things are looking bad: case counts and community outbreaks are up. Our neighbors in Arizona, a prime source of local beach tourism, are getting sick at a rate that threatens to overwhelm their hospitals. And they're coming our way.
Yet we have County Supervisor Jim Desmond saying he wants this week --with “appropriate controlled safe gatherings--” to re-open churches with no capacity limits, street fairs, playgrounds, wedding receptions, hotel meetings & conferences and team competitions.
San Diego County health officials reported 302 new COVID-19 infections on Monday, raising the cumulative total to 11,096 cases, while the death toll remained unchanged at 338.
The 302 new cases represent the second-largest increase since the pandemic began and 5% of the 5,831 tests reported Monday. The largest increase in cases came on Sunday, when 310 tests, or 7% of that day's tests, were reported as positive.
"The message here is very clear," said county Supervisor Nathan Fletcher on Tuesday. "The dangers from coronavirus are real."
A correlated increase in hospital stays, ICU visits and ventilator usage has not occurred, likely because they are lagging indicators and are likely to increase if the number of positive cases continues to rise.
The myth being promulgated by governmental enablers of profit over people is that the rising numbers are not concerning because increased testing is responsible.
Testing is not a double-edged sword. It's not a sword at all. It's an instrument to find and try to contain the virus. It is basically the only tool we have absent a treatment or a vaccine.
https://twitter.com/RzstProgramming/status/1275462682334785537?s=20
Let me make it perfectly clear: the federal government has the tools to mitigate the effects of limiting contact between humans.
In fact, for the most part, it has for the past two months. But the pressure to resume “business as usual” has led to accelerating the time tables for reopening.
There will be a high human cost as the nation gets “back to business;” and they don’t care.
Capitalism is an economic system that's gone on hyperdrive since the end of the cold war. It's become a dogma packed religion for way too many people.
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