Friday, March 27, 2020

Cat walk survival 101 . . .


Dear you,

Covid-19 exposes our lack of national functionality.  Each state is affected, but each state is also reacting differently.  And as of this writing, apparently Donald is contemplating erasing vigilance/restrictions based on county data, allowing counties within those states to make up their own policy.  Brilliant.  Not.  I am in Walton County, northwest Florida.  To my west is Okaloosa County and to my east is Bay County.  If both of those counties maintain closures (beaches, bars, etc.) but Walton does not, guess what happens?  Walton County nightmare scenario.  Take our normal density during this time of year and multiply that by ______ (pick a big number of your choice). And dress that up with possible contagions.  I am ready and intend to survive, imagining myself cat-walking away from this explosion (A.K.A. the end of the world as we know it) just like the feline featured in the photo above. But that is just me.  What about us? 


What is our national plan of action?  Our up-top leaders have decided we should ______________ (pick a theoretical policy of your choice since there is nothing concrete in the works).



Searching for ways to fill in that blank, I found this in a Vox article by Brian Resnick published 3/26:

“We really do need a Manhattan Project effort to get this stuff in place in really a two- or three-month period,” Jeremy Konyndyk, a senior policy fellow at the Center for Global Development, says.

We need social distancing across the country, and we need to keep it in place for some weeks, if not months, to buy time. If social distancing works, is enacted broadly, and is kept up, the number of new infections could decrease. It would give us a pause in the action, to potentially move on from social distancing to a more targeted pandemic strategy. Right now is the time to get plans ready so when that pause comes, we can make things right.”

Later in that article, experts emphasized how we must expand testing, testing, testing, and more testing.  

That push for testing made sense to me early on.   Weeks ago, at the Panama City Beach CVS on the west end, I was purchasing Kleenex since all the toilet paper in Seagrove Beach was long gone.  During checkout, I asked the cashier if her company would offer testing just like they offer flu shots.  It was crystal clear at that time Donald’s policy was to NOT test and NOT know.  I hoped the private sector would just take over.  The young woman seemed confused by my question and irritated too.  “We won’t do that.”  I let it go.  She doesn’t pull the ultimate CVS strings anyway.


Who pulls those strings?  I guess we all do, if we work together and not buy into this “safe counties” fantasy.  So, as part of the “together”, here is my recommended plan of action:


#StayHome

#TestEveryone

#EmbraceManhattanProjectMentality (It will take time, money, and cooperative effort to perfect the vaccine/cure.)

#UnelectMattGaetz 

The previous hashtag part of the policy is there because as I was typing, my congressman Matty just emailed his constituents about how pissed he is about the relief bill. He is outraged about “bailouts” for the Kennedy Center.  I think he is also irked about colleges (such as Howard) getting some aid.  Apparently, Matty only supports aid for Uncle John’s Burger Shop or his local hardware store or corporations in general.  I have no problem with Uncle John, the hardware store, OR productive corporations.  I love food, tools (well, not really), and being bourgeois, so go with the funding!  However, Matty, you need to know that man does not live by food, tools, and bourgeois acquisition alone.  We need all arts.  Go with the Kennedy Center and education funding too.  And that leads to my final hashtag policy action:


#DefendBeauty

We can do this and we can do it without barbarity.


XO to you, dear you.  I hope you are one of the unvanquished cats strutting away into a new day.

Joyce

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