April 26--Covid 19 It is getting ridiculous

This has been a crazy week with people protesting the stay-at-home orders so they can get haircuts and coloring and of course a President who had a thought experiment about drinking Lysol or bringing UV Light into the lungs.  (Just so you know neither would work even if possible but that is for another time).  There are governors trying to open their states up, some following careful recommendation, others like Brian Kemp of Georgia who can't seem to understand disease spread.   

But what is amazing is how many people defend and spread all kinds of nonsense and fight hard against reality.  Here are a few things I am hearing that really we need to stop.

1.  People who say they had Covid-19 last fall:  Not likely at all for many reasons.  While I don't trust the Chinese government to accurate information what we do know is that the first death recorded was December 10, 2019 at a hospital in Wuhan, China.  We know that because someone broke protocol and told the world and was punished for it.  If you think you had this disease which seems to have come from Wuhan in late November before then I would have to ask is the world is wrong.  Did it originate in your area?  Also where are the hospitalizations and deaths that would have been noticed?  This is a highly contagious disease and has about a 1-1.5% fatality rate.  While I assume that there were cases before the January 24th date in Washington state, I can't believe that we had people walking around all over the country before we had even heard of it from China.

2.  The Flu kills more people than Covid-19 and we don't isolate for that. There current numbers show that  yes,  Covid-19 has killed fewer people than the average year of flu.  But it has only been for 3 months and we have had massive social distancing to slow the spread.  By next week we will blow past the average of flu deaths.  This is more virulent than the flu, it kills more people who get it, it has no medicines to mitigate it, and no vaccine.  

3.  Only people who are near death already will die.  I have heard this from elected officials and from social media.  That some how being young, healthy and active you will be fine.  While most people who die from this virus are old or have complications that is not universal.  Anyone can die from this, anyone, and even if you recover, there are lasting issues that may make you more vulnerable to death in the future.  This goes along with the idea that elderly people are willing to die for the future of their children.  I know a lot of old people, they aren't looking to die of this horrible disease.  

4.  The cure is worse than the disease. This has become the mantra of many who want to re-open the states.  The idea being that the crashing economy and or continued stimulus money will in the long run kill more people than the virus.  The math here is that those that die are a necessary sacrifice to save the financial stability of the country.  This argument is difficult coming from so many who claim to be Pro-life.  One of the arguments against abortion is that a woman's life and economic well-being does not over-ride the life of the fetus.  Funny how those people are now saying people must die for their own well-being.  

5.  The death toll is elevated because all deaths now are considered Covid-19.  This is an amazing conspiracy theory because it suggests that doctors all over the country are violating the law by lying on death certificates.  Somehow this is supposed to be designed to make the President look bad.  One person even argued that no one had died of a heart attack since February.  (I know of someone who did so......)  When I asked for proof I was told to go look for it myself.  

These are but a few of the nonsense that keeps being spread, from government officials, social media posts and repeated in the right wing noise machine.  They are dangerous because they destroy trust in the very agencies that are giving us the information that we need.  They aren't perfect but they aren't part of some deep state attack on the President.  Surviving this will not be easy, our country will suffer, 

many people will suffer in personal ways and a lot of our lives will change.  But we can work together.  Listen to experts, read beyond headlines, investigate claims, and continue to talk to people you trust.  Stay safe and stay home, even if your governor can't seem to understand what you know.  

Sunday, April 19

And so it begins.  Protests sprung up all over the country since Friday, including one here in Indianapolis, attacking state governments and especially governors who have stay-at-home orders.  Many of the protesters seem driven by the Fox News screamers who are calling for the governments to drop these orders, and the President who last week said that he has the authority to override the states (he doesn't) and later said he is allowing states to make the decision.  Claiming he is allowing people to do something he doesn't have the authority over is simply insane.   But what is truly troubling is the number of people who have turned out for these protests who are so wildly misinformed and that that misinformation is being promoted on Fox and other right-wing noise machine outlets and of course the White House.  There is everything from the idea that this is some kind of plot to institute one-world government to it is caused or made worse by 5-G towers the cacophony of crazy conspiracies are coupled with White Supremacist ideology and pro-Trump campaigning.  It is a real toxic bouillabaisse. 

Seriously there were all kinds of things that made no sense, or more precisely made perfect sense in the era we are in.  Some protesters carried Swastika Flags with Trump 2020 on them.  I would comment but what could I actually say about this that doesn't already create scream at you from this.  To promote your candidate you attend a rally that is protesting what you think is an authoritarian over-reach of government, but use the short-hand symbol for governmental over-reach and tyranny linked to your guy.  I think that if you think too much about the level of stupid this is you fall through a wormhole. 

More impressive however were the marchers in Michigan, a state the borders Canada, carrying Confederate flags.  Again carrying a symbol of rebellion over the right to own other people, by law, while protesting laws that limit your activity.  Logic is just not taught well enough these days.

But there were two shining things that came out of these protests that can't be ignored for the sheer privilege and arrogance of many of the protesters.   The first was the number of them who were calling for bars, restaurants and hair salons to be open.  They are basically saying that what they want is the people who normally serve them to come back to work, against scientific advice, because they may have to cook their own meals and let their hair grown or return to its natural color.  I really heard few and saw few signs from people who were calling to go back to work, they were screaming for others to go back to work.  To serve them.  I have little idea how to respond to that beyond telling them to suck it up. 

The other message seemed to be signs that said things like "My Body, My Choice".  Ironic I know.  But setting that aside, their idea was that we should all be able to choose what chances we want to take and that they are willing to risk going out during the pandemic. They remind me of a story, several people escaped a sinking ship only to be strained on a life boat.  One guy, for not reason, started to drill a hole in the bottom of the boat in front of where he was sitting.  The others protested that the boat will flood and sink.  His reply was, "This is where I am sitting, the water will only come in here".   Several people who have challenged the idea that they should be able to take a chance and defied government suggestions and orders have died of Covid 19.  But how many people did they infect?  How many people did they put in danger because they were spreading the virus or using up much needed medical supplies?  The water runs everywhere not just where you are sitting.

These protests are ginned up by a segment of the far right of this country that has replaced science and reality with feelings and anger.  They attack anything that does fit their world view as bad.  They are selfish and arrogant and seem to find comfort in ignorance.  And they have a champion in the White House who has been one of them for his entire life. 

We will remember this time as a time when science stood firm against willful ignorance and down right arrogance.  We will remember this time when some people found a way to work around the necessary restrictions while others complained that someone might know they dye their hair.  (Trust me we know).  We will remember this time when local governmental officials stood against their own party to provide safety for their states while national politicians sat in their mansions and joined the protests through Skype.  The question is will we learn. 

The Crucible tells the story of how one town in colonial America lost its collective mind and killed 20 people for fear of witches, magic and the devil.  How many are we willing to sacrifice this time and will 200 years from now some school children read the play of our time and wonder, just how stupid were they in the 21st century.   

April 12

There is a scene in Mathew Lopez's The Whipping Man, where freed slaves, in the ruins of their former master's home, make a seder in April of 1865.  The slaves, converted to Judaism by the family, used hardtack for Matza and a horse bone for the shank.  These substitutions, while not kosher, express the essence of the ritual and thus what truly is important in expressing ones faith.  There intention was not to destroy that ritual but to celebrate the ancient freedom of the Israelites and the newly found freedom they now enjoyed as the Civil War had ended and slavery abolished. 

Today, the entire world is faced with a danger that is hard to track down and avoid.  We find ourselves in the midst of a pandemic that requires us to remain in physical distance from others and not gather in groups.  This as we too celebrate Passover and the Christian community celebrates Holy Week and Easter.  Over the last several weeks houses of worship have had to modify how they minister to their congregations.  For Jews, a minyan of 10 adults is the standard to do a full service and over the centuries those people must all be in the same space.  Not so long ago the idea of a virtual minyan was considered a horror by many in the Jewish world, but for the last month it has not only been the standard but has elevated people's connection to their faith in many occasions.  Virtual seders have been the norm and we have been invited to come to several.  Faced with the threat this virus we are living with can bring upon us we forgo the normal and create a new way to meet the intention.

For Christians they too have modified their approach to this time.  Catholics have as part of their tradition an obligation to attend church on every Sunday and on many days during the year.  Yet Catholic Church pews were empty today as worshipers sat at their kitchen tables or comfortable chairs and prayed along with their priest on a computer screen.  Protestant churches did the same.  Except for a few outliers.

There is a growing voice led by some on the political right who are using religion as a cudgel to attack Stay-at-Home orders arguing that it is unconstitutional.     Some have even violated the orders and called their congregations together in services.  One such pastor who called Covid-19 a hoax and not dangerous has already died due to complications of the infection.  But more are pushing forward and this morning there were several services held with crowds.  I don't understand and I am not sure someone can explain it to me to the point where I will.  In Judaism one can violate almost any religious law if the results may save a life.  I am not sure about Christianity, but I am sure that that Christians I know believe that putting one's life in danger unnecessarily is an affront to God. 

I find it a little odd that there is an attempt to argue that the closing of houses of worship is a violation of the Constitution.  Every right outlined in the Bill of Rights has limits.  Since the early days of the republic, the rights laid out there were subject to interpretation.   The main argument is that government can't interfere in religious practice.  But the courts have ruled they can, banning polygamy as far back as the 19th century is a prime example.  Here in Indiana some of the same people who are calling out our governor for his stay-at-home order because they think he can't close churches were opposed when a local man started the Church of Cannabis, where smoking pot is considered sacramental.   If the state is allowed to stop adults from choosing to engage in a behavior that harms no one but themselves in a religious context, then they are clearly able to close churches for the sake of the entire population.  But I would argue religion is not the issue here.

For weeks, the President has been more worried about the stay-at-home orders around the country hurting the economy.  As jobless claims rise, as stimulus leads to debt and the realignment of the entire world economic picture is taking place he is saying he wants the country to open up again.  The problem is that he doesn't have the power to do it.  He could order federal workers back to their jobs but he can't tell a governor to lift order.  I think many of the people arguing for the churches to open up have no intention of attending, they just want to force state officials to end our confinement in order to help the President get what he wants. There are enough people whose views of the virus are skewed by the misinformation on some networks and even from the White House that some churches will have full houses.  Last week, when asked if she cared about the virus as she exited a church service one woman said she wasn't because she was "washed in the blood of Jesus" but also that she thinks it is a media hype and not as serious.   Most health officials think that if we went back to normal daily routines it could be devastating to population.  One thing we are seeing in New York, California, and parts of the Midwest is that physical distancing is working.  We are flattening the curve, while we may still see a large number of cases the time it takes to reach those numbers will be longer.  That way our health system is not overwhelmed and over time we will find a workable treatment and eventually a vaccine. When I hear people suggest things like it is okay for older people to die to save the economy or that we are over doing it because those that die were already on their last legs I am not sure how to react.  In both of those cases, the first the Lt. Governor of Texas Dan Patrick and the second disgraced former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly claim a pro-life stance.  To me that is Pro-death if I ever heard it. 

So as we sit in a virtual pew on Facebook live, raise a kiddush cup on a Ipad screen and pray the rosary in a ZOOM chat we are still doing God's work and performing the highest of our religious tasks as human beings, saving God's creatures.  We will see a new way to form our religious communities when this is over.  Perhaps we will find that more people connect more strongly, both online and in real life moving forward.  I don't know, what I do know is that if we stay home, connect using the gift of technology and the power of family we can save lives.  That is the greatest prayer we can offer.  

Covid Diary April 7

Things continue to be weird.  I miss going to work and seeing people.  I miss the simple run to the grocery.  I wonder when I can get my haircut, something I do usually right before Pesach.  Speaking of Pesach, no big seder means that when we started taking the things out we need for the holiday we didn't need to take out much.  No need for 15 place settings for two people.  Everything about this time is strange. 

Things I have discovered however is interesting:

1.  I can go over a week and a half without shaving and well, still can't grow a beard or mustache.  So that answers that.

2.  Watching myself on ZOOM let me know I stick my tongue out and lick my lips a lot.  I apologize.

3.  I would normally watch and read tons of news and sports and since there is little sports news and I am avoiding the news I realize how much time I can wasted each day.

4.  We are social animals and watching the need for connections do work arounds is amazing.  My favorite is the guy who rented a cherry picker to visit his grandmother through the window of her 3rd floor room in a nursing home. 

I am not sure what the future holds.  What I do know is that as a people we are strong and there are many stories of heroes.  After Passover, I will share some.