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COVID-19 and the ‘No Trust’ Election
When I read commentary in local matters associated with the COVID-19 epidemic, I am struck by the total breakdown in trust of authority. Our county was doing a pretty good job of communicating information about the local epidemic but lately, as cases rise again, they have failed in basic communication of relevant information. Or, when they provide relevant information, the actions of authorities seem to ignore the fundamental realities to which such information points. This is a breach of trust, and the consequences flowing forward are unclear.
My county is imposing greater restrictions than previously: in-person church is being banned again; masks are supposed to be worn in outdoor restaurants except when consuming food, masks are to be worn in extended-family gatherings. Mind you, I don’t think masks have become more effective than before. People who were exempt from wearing masks are now asked to weak face shields with cloth lining.
My county continues to deny that any recent rise in cases could be in any way related to BLM protests. They now say that outdoor church attendance and protests can be conducted using the same social distancing rules. Nice to hear that the Progressive God and the Judeo-Christian God are being given parity. (I am not intentionally omitting any other belief system; it’s just that my familiarity with how those practices have been affected in the age of COVID is limited.)
So here is a sampling of local response to these new restrictions. I wrote:
The number of infections per se should not be concerning, but increases in “hospitalizations” should — assuming we have the answer to the following questions:
1. How many of the hospitalizations are due to COVID-19 symptoms?
2. How many of the hospitalizations, if any, are persons infected in Mexico and presenting themselves in El Centro for care and transported elsewhere in California for treatment?
3. How many of the hospitalizations are for patients who have been admitted for reasons other than COVID-19 symptoms (e.g. trauma, other disease) but who have tested positive for COVID-19 without currently presenting symptoms?If #1 is all or nearly all of the 68 currently listed as COVID-19 hospitalizations then there is cause to believe that CCC is having more severe illness than previously, but if any substantial number of hospitalizations are due to #2 or #3 then CCC is not experiencing a greater epidemic than earlier.
Also, 62/88 (70%) of COVID-19 deaths are amongst residents of long term care facilities. This does not appear to be the result of church attendance and family gatherings.
Note that none of the data the county is providing differentiates between community-spread and imported disease and hospitalized “from” COVID versus hospitalized “with” COVID. It seems that these are important distinctions in the data if you are forming public policy — particularly limiting individual rights.
Others have commented:
Chester July 10, 2020 at 3:58 PM
Seriously???!! How stupid do they think we are???? Family gatherings and churches are the ones that caused the surges? And not the thousands of protestors that were screaming, yelling and spitting on people while they broke into stores downtown without wearing masks….hmmmm…yeah, you’re right … it must have been my church where all 100 of us are wearing masks and sitting six feet apart … yeah, right!Vindex July 10, 2020 at 4:01 PM
[The county health officer] is either skewing or misreporting the data. Time to recall Dr. F. He is either incompetent or misguided. Most outbreaks that are deadly are in nursing homes not family or religious gatherings. Look at the data! His death rate number excludes asymptotic carriers which some epidemiologists estimate at 25%. He is either again — incompetent or misguided. Time to take his power away!Anonymous July 10, 2020 at 4:12 PM
At this point I don’t believe anything they say.L0L July 10, 2020 at 4:31 PM
All of their data they are using should be public, from day 1. They use public funds they have no right to conceal ANY DATA they are using to make decisions. They must provide the data and where it came from, the methods they used to extract that data and how they came to the decisions they’re making.When this is over, we need to eliminate the county health officer. We don’t need centralized health control. It’s BS.
luvmycats July 10, 2020 at 5:12 PM
You cannot count the nursing home patients in your percentages statistics. This is incorrect logic. It is like putting the Covid Virus in a petri dish (the nursing homes) & wondering why the replication of the virus is so virulent. Everyone sick, frail & debilitated & you throw a virus into the mix??? That is definitely not a fair assessment or comparison, but, there is no logic to what those in “power” with this virus are doing.Toni July 10, 2020 at 5:14 PM
https://thepoliticsofduh.com/2020/07/09/are-deaths-coming-from-south-of-the-border/Sancho Panza July 11, 2020 at 12:36 PM
Thank you for the link, Toni! Very interesting correlation…RANDOM TASK July 10, 2020 at 5:16 PM
Nightmare in New York: How Covid-19, BLM protests and a liberal mayor are turning the city into a no-go zone as murders skyrocket, shops are looted and 500,000 middle-class residents fleeoh and coming soon …..illegals will get your social security
and be able to vote to eradicate you freedom in america ….RT July 11, 2020 at 9:09 AM
Couple that with the 600% increase in firearms and ammunition sales….i think people are seeing this coming and heavily preparing.Gone July 11, 2020 at 11:44 AM
I want to thank Nancy Pelosi for our stimulus check. I used my money to add new firearms to our household. I wanted to support my local business.
If my county is at all representative, a great gulf is growing between common folk and leadership. Not all, certainly. But it doesn’t look trivial. When the boot comes down the first time there is shock and grumbling. When it comes down the second time, well….
November is coming. If Blue State trust is fractured what will the results be?
Published in General
I’ve been praying you are right. I see Boots coming down hard all over the place and don’t think it’s COVID related. (PA not opening until there is a “viable” vaccine? Fines for no masks and declining to play Tracer-opoly?) I don’t actually think there will be much of a dent in firmly Blue states. I pray for the dent in the previously purple and doubtful and perplexed red areas. I continue to be astonished at how many supposedly intelligent average individuals are entirely cavalier about ruining the livelihoods of their fellow citizens. I surmise that they are still comfortably within the HAVE group (and are able to get their hair done) and don’t see themselves as ever becoming among the HAVE NOT.
Your analysis is spot on! When this all began, people were desperate for information. Over time, we’ve come to realize that there is contradictory information out there–are people supposed to pick-and-choose what they want to believe? I suspect that at some point, people will simply give up on trying to figure out what is true and close their minds, or they will become angry and have a tantrum every time new information comes out. I’m somewhere in the middle; I’m always curious about the latest nonsense that’s put out (yours is not nonsense, Rodin!) and then move along with my life, using my own judgment. It’s kept me sane so far!
I think there will be GOP gains in the house in California in November.
in Los Angeles more than half of cases and deaths is Hispanic
Churches are not essential.
Looting is essential
I think that it has been insane to give BLM a free pass.
That having been said, I also think that Trump is going to be blamed for our pathetic response to COVID-19.
Once again, what Confucius said.
“Hold faithfulness and sincerity as first principles. . . . When you have faults, do not fear to abandon them.”
And that other anecdote about how a society needs trust even more than food.
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If he is blamed, I think it will be because people either do not understand or do not want Federalism.
Both can be true right? Trump will be blamed. It’s probably being reflected in some of the polls for the election now. And people will fixate on Trump because they may not even know their governor’s name.
To be fair, I have no problem believing Trump may have been chaotic in his interpersonal dealings with the governors, but it seemed he put people in place to ramp up supply chains using a public-private partnerships, which worked. I wish he had done this earlier. He should have. I don’t think he, or any president, really thought about the CDC but the CDC dropping the ball with contaminating test kits was really the major X factor that set us on a particular path dependent response.
Regarding federalism: the under-remarked aspect of Trump’s response makes me think on the balance it is a win for conservatism and republican form of government: he led by deregulating and assisting states. He resisted the urge to try and just run companies using the defense production act. That showed a good conservative instinct. He had nothing to do with NYC not shutting subways and he can’t close or open a state. He has nothing to do with Florida’s or TX’s or CA’s increase in cases.
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There is no doubt that people do not understand or do not want federalism. And when they find out what it is, they will understand it and want it even less.
I think that is unfortunate, but even here on Ricochet we had some people hating on the latest Supreme Court ruling on federalism. That was the Indian Reservation version of federalism and not the one built into the Constitution, but the same principle holds.
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Wow. I’d like to read the deleted comments. They must be doozies.
@flicker, not really. Just a heated disagreement that we mutually decided to back away from.
I really appreciate the great work that Rodin has done with COVID-19, and this disagreement detracted from his great work.