One Right Thing

You need your haircut and your manicures. You need your adult beverages and your nights out.

More importantly, you need to work. You need to see your friends. You need hugs.

I get it. Me too.

So you need to open it back up.

I get that too.

Except why was it closed in the first place? To prevent the spread, right? 

The day our world closed here in California, there was only 0.006% of the U.S. population infected (about 20,000 people) and only 260 dead - a 1% death rate.

Today, not quite 2 months later, we are sitting at 0.45% of the population infected (nearly  1.5 million people) and 88,200 people dead – a 6% death rate .

You do understand that that has been while we’ve been in quarantine, right? But, hey, despite that impressive growth it’s still a tiny percentage of the total population.

I’m speculating, it's true. I’m just spit-balling that once we’re all out there milling around with each other the numbers will grow and the percentages will turn grim. Maybe that's not the case. I'll allow that. 

But could you at least wear a mask for a bit? Wash your hands more diligently? Could you go at a slow pace and test the waters first?

No? It’s all or nothing, is it?

I know. You have your convictions. Besides, you probably don’t know anyone personally with it and the folks over 65 can just stay holed up because they are already retired and have no life anyway.

I get it. I really do.

... I think. (Though I may have very strong feelings about how idle people over 65 are…)

But the thing is, it’s not just retired people. It’s not just our parents and grandparents that we need to bubble wrap and protect. 

It's my kid. 

My kid isn’t safe. My kid could die if she caught this. She almost certainly would. She’s more likely to perish from this thing than your granny, so while you are opening the world back up – before the numbers make any real sense and against the advice of doctors and scientists and experts in the field – well, she has to stay inside watching and missing out until the numbers come down enough for her to be safe.

And the part where you are so very unwilling to practice any kind of caution while at the same time so very willing to dole out tough love on me – or more especially on her – that’s the part that really gets under my skin.

“Tough luck.”

“That’s her lot in life, right? We all got something to deal with.”

“Sucks to be her.”

 “… if you want to stay indoors after this! Trust me... we are all better off without you!”

“No one needs you libtards and your masks anyway.”

Listen, I get it. You’re frustrated and stir crazy and probably getting super low on funds. It makes you angry and a bit irrational. But not everything in the world is about you and not everything is on one side or the other of the political divide. Sometimes it’s not about being loyal to a party or flaunting your perceived power. Sometimes the best way to be a citizen of the UNITED States is to unite to protect each other. Sometimes you should just do the goddamn right thing - just one right thing.

Because sometimes it turns out who you are really at war with is a kid. Just a kid. A kid that was born with something she didn’t ask for nor can control. A kid that would very much like to be an adult someday. It’d be great if you would allow her that opportunity.

So shut up and wear the fucking mask.

The .02%

Hi all,

I just needed to vent a little so I wrote this. For some reason (and I'm not completely clear on what that was) I felt like I wanted to share it with you despite it being such a rough draft.

It is very rough and probably not that well thought out. As most of you know, I have a child with an auto immune disease and the Coronavirus is a huge threat to us personally. I'm not meaning to downplay the severity of it. I also did not acknowledge the fact that at this juncture the goal is to stop the spread of this virus. The alarm is about the spread, not necessarily the few that are affected right now. I understand that. As I said, I'm just venting a bit.

My point here isn't so much that they shouldn't be doing anything about the virus as it is that they are obviously capable of acting. The folks in power have made it clear that they can take very serious measures if they merit the cause worthy. That's where my frustration lies. Why isn't this cause worthy?

So with no further ado:

March 12, 2020
It's becoming epidemic in and of itself. We are all running around terrified about the Coronavirus. The NBA, MLB, NHL and the NCAA have either canceled, postponed or will proceed without audiences for the remainder of their seasons. Coachella has been postponed. SXSW canceled. Universities have canceled the remainder of their winter classes or implemented online only formats. The government has issued a million PSA's: Wash your hands, wash your hands, wash your hands.

TRY to find something on Facebook or Twitter that’s not about this topic.

It’s a pandemic. It’s only going to get worse. People are dying. Pay attention. Fix the problem. Find the solutions.

The numbers so far:

• In the United States, 1,323 people have tested positive for Covid-19
• The current population of the US is approximately 327 million
• 0.0004% of the population is affected by the virus
• The numbers of deaths reported are around 37 (less than 3% of that 0.0004%)

Even where the virus is truly terrible – say Italy for example, we’re talking 12,462 folks with the virus out of 60.48 million people, or .02% of the population.

And everyone – and I mean EVERYone is dealing with this thing. For .02% of the population, Italy has shut down the country. Canceled life as we know it.

For 0.0004% of the U.S. population, Trump announced that the US government has implemented travel bans and tax relief bills and he's addressed the nation several times now and …

And yet…
In 2018, 33,221 people in the US were killed by gun violence. That's .01% of the population. If you include those injured by gun related incidences to the mix, it raises the number to 67,454 or – that magic number of .02%

Last year 15,208 people in the US were lost due to willful, malicious or accidental gun deaths - and that is not including the suicide numbers that were included in the 2018 statistics above. That alone was .004% - 10x more of the US population than this virus is affecting.

And in 2020 already (we’re not even 3 months in!), 7,609 people have perished by gun violence, including 197 children. Let’s go ahead and include injuries to that and it raises the number affected by gun violence in 71 days to 12,569 (with 706 children aged 17 and under). If we assume this trajectory of 177 acts of gun violence resulting in death or injury per day, by the end of the year we can expect 64,762 folks to be affected by this issue. That, my friends, keeps us at that steady .02%.

But what is being done about our gun violence issue in America? What are our fearless leaders doing to protect us from ourselves? Where are the bans? When are the remedies going to be implemented? What are the bills being pushed through Congress at lightning speed?

Well, no. None of that is happening. But we do have their thoughts and prayers.