In the late winter, early spring we had no way of knowing how serious things would become with the coronavirus. The CDC was sending out signals, but the administration, and many political leaders, were downplaying the seriousness of the virus. The word at the White House level was that this thing would blow by and be of little consequence. It was looking like social distancing and other recommended measures was going to crush what had been a good trajectory for the economy. We were being fed lies so that everyone would stay at work and commerce would stay on track. This suited Donald Trump and a bunch of his ass kissing sycophants who were counting on him for a republican victory in November. They even went so far as to cease supporting efforts to control the pandemic. Inaction by the federal government is costing lives, many of them everyday.
Now it is four months later and we have lost more than 120,000 lives, and nearly 3,000,000 people have been infected by the virus. (That's what is being reported. The scientists believe that number could be ten times that amount.) No one alive today can remember a worse economic disaster for the country. The numbers have exceeded the great depression beginning in the 1920s. It is a new world and it is going to be a new world order. Millions of people who were wealthy in the past are not going to be in the future. Millions of people who were secure in their jobs, will not be secure in the future. So many of us have worked all our lives to leave something better for the future generations we have brought into this world will be leaving them with crushing tax debt that will make getting ahead so much more difficult. There will be a pre-virus and post-virus world. Those people living in the post virus world will have challenges we cannot imagine.
So, how to be smart. In January of 2020 there may have been ten cases of the virus counted in America. That meant that during that time it was still pretty safe to walk the streets - it would be very unlikely that anyone would run into a person who had the virus. But those ten people brought the virus home and to work and to school and to restaurants, theaters, and other public places. From a base of ten people that has grown to nearly 3,000,000 in less than a half year. So now the odds are so much worse. Instead of ten people walking around with the virus, a statistic that says there is nearly no chance of coming in contact with one of those people (that's one person in 30,000,000 who had the virus back then), there are 3,000,000 people walking around with the virus. That's one in a hundred. (And if the estimated ten times figure is accurate, that makes it one in ten.) That means that every time you enter a grocery store, or go to the beach, or go anywhere, you are probably going to come in contact with someone who is infected. The numbers continue to grow geometrically.
And now that people are tired of wearing masks, and bored staying at home, and sorely tempted to leave the house just to get out, that is a worse idea today than it was ever in the past. The odds are stacked against you. It means the only safe bet is to make fewer trips outside. Have deliveries made to your home instead of hanging out in public places. Wear your mask, wash your hands, and keep your social distance - if staying alive means anything to you.
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