The ninth wave

Rick Griffin

Wave after wave, each mightier than the last,

Till last, a ninth one, gathering half the deep

And full of voices, slowly rose and plunged

Roaring, and all the wave was in a flame...

The ninth wave - Lord Alfred Tennyson

Our nation is having the strangest conversation right now. To open or not to open, that is the question? Will the economy cease or will the microbe bury us?

The answer is breaking down on fairly predictable lines, Republicans say "get back to work, there will be collateral damage and deaths but the alternative is worse." Liberals are tending more with "let's trust the doctors and epidemiologists and open when they say it is time after adequate testing." Count me as a guy who wants to hold out a little longer and make sure things are safe before I pop out of my cocoon but I may end up being outvoted.

I received this letter today from a longtime friend and business partner, an older fellow:

From The New York Times:

Is Our Fight Against Coronavirus Worse Than the Disease?

There may be more targeted ways to beat the pandemic.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/20/opinion/coronavirus-pandemic-social-distancing.html?smid=em-share

Robert,

Good insight from someone with broader understanding of the problem.

I don’t know why you quote all the nonsense in your blog…the answer is some where in the middle of these extremes.

You are damaging your own health…where is Uncle Norm when you need his reason?

At this point we are on a reasonable trajectory. J

I read the link and it makes some good points but unfortunately many of the author's positions have not held up over the month since it was written. There were only two hundred dead at that point and he thought we were going to get more of a pass.  765,915 confirmed cases today, about 35% of the world's total and 41,124 deaths, sadly, we weren't so lucky. Dead as my Uncle Norm.

Part of his supposition was that the young would be spared. Turns out that wasn't true either. A five year old girl died of Covid-19 in Michigan today, from a rare form of meningitis. It is an equal opportunity oppressor. In my county the twenty to forty group is getting hit very hard. What is young anyway? But there is a mode of thinking that says gramps and grandpa have enjoyed their ride and now it's time to step aside for the kids. Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick is of this school.

The virus is still largely unknown but we do know that it is wreaking havoc on kidneys, livers, lungs and hearts. Cytokine storms are destroying immune systems. And we don't know if it will come back seasonally, there have been many reports of people being cured and than coming down with symptoms again.

I guess I need to make a point. And the point is, it is well and good to talk about a targeted opening but on whose back shall we place the target? The old, the young, the infirm? Who? At the Smithfield Plant it looks like the minorities are taking the brunt of the casualties and reportedly working inches from each other. Perhaps they are judged expendable?

How do you target a microbe anyway? Very tiny little buggers. If you ask for volunteers and people willingly take one for the team and offer to be guinea pigs, how do they know that they themselves will not inadvertently infect others they come in contact with? Others that might not be quite as interested in stepping forward and becoming martyrs for the economy and re-election.

There was a huge rally in Encinitas yesterday, "open the parks, open the beaches." According to the newspaper, few wore masks and fewer still were adequately social distancing. A cynical person will say, go ahead kill yourself if you wish, but that's not the way it works, they take others with them. Normally I would say, grab your guns, exercise your personal and religious liberty and rights to congregate by all means. Just don't take me with you.

There are a lot of people smarter than me out there, please tell me how this targeted opening thing is going to work? Or do you just let the wave hit all of us and see who is left standing at the end? Is that the plan? And are you going to volunteer?