Get vaccinated

 In a comment on a Washington Post article, the person wrote that the rest of us shouldn't try to impose vaccination on a "small minority."  I commented that 33% of the population is 109 million people.  That's not small ("As Omicron Spreads and Cases Soar, the Unvaccinated Remain Defiant," New York Times).

Chart from Statista.

Hospital systems and public health departments never thought they'd have to plan for 33% of the population actively refusing vaccinations in the face of a pandemic and the consequences that would result--an overwhelming of ICU and emergency care departments.

The hospital systems in the Cleveland region put an ad in the Cleveland Plain Dealer calling on people to get vaccination ("Ohio hospitals urge COVID-19 vaccinations in powerful ad," NBC Today).

It's hard to say what's going on with the virus.  Omicron appears to be better at evading the power of the vaccine unless you are boosted ("Omicron is a game-changer for Covid-19 vaccines," CNN).  It's much more contagious, but less deadly.  Even so, people who are vaccinated are much less likely to experience severe symptoms, the need for hospitalization, or the likelihood of death.

I am totally unable to process how 33% of the population could be so fundamentally bad at calculating risk.

A net assessment from New Statesman is pretty bracing

"Why this crisis is a turning point in history," by John Gray

The era of peak globalisation is over. An economic system that relied on worldwide production and long supply chains is morphing into one that will be less interconnected. A way of life driven by unceasing mobility is shuddering to a stop. Our lives are going to be more physically constrained and more virtual than they were. A more fragmented world is coming into being that in some ways may be more resilient. ...

The task ahead is to build economies and societies that are more durable, and more humanly habitable, than those that were exposed to the anarchy of the global market.

[This] does not mean a shift to small-scale localism. Human numbers are too large for local self-sufficiency to be viable, and most of humankind is not willing to return to the small, closed communities of a more distant past. But the hyperglobalisation of the last few decades is not coming back either. The virus has exposed fatal weaknesses in the economic system that was patched up after the 2008 financial crisis. Liberal capitalism is bust.

With all its talk of freedom and choice, liberalism was in practice the experiment of dissolving traditional sources of social cohesion and political legitimacy and replacing them with the promise of rising material living standards. ...

The pandemic has abruptly accelerated geopolitical change.

In contrast, the advance of East Asia will surely continue. The most successful responses to the epidemic thus far have been in Taiwan, South Korea and Singapore. It is hard to believe their cultural traditions, which focus on collective well-being more than personal autonomy, have not played a role in their success. They have also resisted the cult of the minimal state. It will not be surprising if they adjust to de-globalisation better than many Western countries.

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Among others, quite a term, the era of "the minimal state."

Eviction during pandemic: National Multihousing Council recommends suspending evictions

The Washington Post has an article, "Facing eviction as millions shelter in place," about eviction actions during the pandemic.  Although many communities are mandating a stop to evictions.

(WRT commercial properties in DC, according to the Washington City Paper, in the DC area "Some Landlords Say They'll Help Tenants With Rent. Others Aren't Saying Much.")

There have been cases of severe tone deafness on the part of some landlords ("LANDLORD SAYS RESTAURANT INDUSTRY TENANTS BETTER ASK PARENTS AND RELATIVES TO PAY THEIR RENT OR RISK 'AGGRESSIVE' ACTION," Newsweek).  The opprobrium in response led him to backtrack and resign from his operating responsibilities at his firm.

And an acknowledgement, although not by the Trump Administration, that recently announced HUD initiatives don't pertain to renters ("HUD, Fannie, Freddie suspend foreclosures, evictions during outbreak," Politico).

That being said the National Multifamily Housing Council has recommended to its members to suspend eviction actions that may result from income loss as a result of the pandemic ("Apartment Industry Committed to Supporting Residents Impacted by COVID-19") and they have come out for financial support to renters ("NMHC Calls on Lawmakers to Provide Direct Financial Assistance to Renters").

Yes, you can say it's because of optics or self-interest, but it's important nonetheless.

"The receipts" on Fox News: coronavirus as hoax versus a real concern

Washington Post video editor JM Rieger created a video with before and after video from various Fox News on-air personalities calling covid-19 a Democratic Party anti-Trump hoax versus a crisis.

-- "Sean Hannity denied calling coronavirus a hoax nine days after he called coronavirus a hoax"

Quotes exemplifying political leadership, or not

From the 2017 March for Science protest.

From Franklin D. Roosevelt’s first inaugural address in 1933, at the height of the Great Depression:

“So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is … fear itself.”

Winston Churchill in 1940, as the United Kingdom military retreated from France (Dunkirk), brought back to the UK in large part by citizen boaters, with the fear of a Nazi invasion:

“Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.”

And President John F. Kennedy, during the Cold War between the US and the USSR:

“And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.”

JFK also created the Peace Corps...

President Trump:

"No I don't take responsibility at all."

WRT President Trump's overall statement, it seemingly isn't really problematic. He doesn't take responsibility, stating that the government is incapable of creating lab tests quickly in extranormal situations, that you need the private sector to do it ("I ran the White House pandemic office. Trump closed it," Washington Post.

That's not true. Other countries and other government agencies like the World Health Organization developed tests and systems just fine.  Although others did not.

Charlie shares with us a great article from the Financial Times, "Containing coronavirus: lessons from Asia," although because it is an article normally behind a paywall, it might not work.

It discusses best practice response by Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

Because these countries dealt with SARS and MERS, they maintained epidemic response systems which were allowed to atrophy in the US.

The piece cites a medical journal article on the Taiwan response to Covid-19, "Response to COVID-19 in Taiwan: Big Data Analytics, New Technology, and Proactive Testing," Journal of the American Medical Association.

Digital advertising promoting positive health behaviors to ward off Coronavirus

A coronavirus public service announcement is displayed on the scoreboard prior to Inter Miami and D.C. United playing at Audi Field on March 7, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images). 

 Since this photo was taken, professional sports leagues have suspended their seasons, and events of this size in stadiums and arenas have been banned in most major cities across the US and increasingly in other countries.

A billboard on the A194 in South Shields warns motorists of the symptoms of coronavirus and gives advice on what to do if they feel ill

Coronavirus campaign by the British government on billboards in Wood Green, north London Matthew Chattle—Barcroft Media via Getty Images. "Government coranavirus ad campaign to take over TV, social media, print and and billboards," i news

An NHS coronavirus information sign at Heathrow Airport in London today; Heathrow said the number of passengers travelling through the airport fell by 4.8 per cent year-on-year in February due to the impact of coronavirus.

Highway message board in Southern California.  Photo: Getty Images.  

Munich airport: The sign reads "Wash your hands, keep a distance, cough into your elbow."

A billboard advising people to be responsible and stay home is seen at the almost empty Preciados Street, due to the coronavirus outbreak, in central Madrid, Spain, March 14, 2020. AP photo?

A billboard near the Crosstown Expressway on Friday, March 13, 2020, displays information about the coronavirus and the hotline set up by the City of Corpus Christi and local health district. (Photo: Courtney Sacco/Corpus Christi Caller-Times)

The Outdoor Advertising Association of America has developed a set of open access public service messages on Coronavirus in standard digital formats.

Lamar Advertising is one of the firms participating in the OAAA program.  

Vaccine for me (my country only, the US), not for thee: President Trump edition

Northshore School District, which includes Bothell High School north of Seattle, announced it was closing its entire district for up to two weeks.Credit...Lindsey Wasson/Reuters

At some point I'll write about the coronavirus and the implications it raises concerning universal health coverage, public health, public administration, and government competence in the face of an anti-government neoliberal philosophy.

I am flabbergasted that President Trump is trying to buy a German pharmaceutical research firm working on a coronavirus vaccine with the proviso that any vaccine produced would only be for the United States ("Germany tries to halt U.S. interest in firm working on coronavirus vaccine," Reuters; "U.S. Offered ‘Large Sum’ to German Company for Access to Coronavirus Vaccine Research, German Officials Say," New York Times).

It reminds me of the movie, "Head of State" where Chris Rock runs for president (not a great movie).  His opponent is known for the line:

God Bless America.  And no place else.



This from an administration that failed to create a working lab test ("CDC coronavirus testing failure is a national outrage," San Jose Mercury News) and has vaccine research facilities that appear unable to address the current contagion ("Federal vaccine development sites ill-suited to counter covid-19 epidemic," Washington Post).

I'm surprised that Jared Kushner ("Infighting, missteps and a son-in-law hungry for results: Inside the Trump administration’s troubled coronavirus response," Washington Post) didn't reach out to Elizabeth Holmes  ("Elizabeth Holmes' peril: Is Theranos founder facing ruin?," SJMN) for help on the testing side!

Suzanne and I are pretty different.  She has a sour  view of the community side of things, and generally doesn't believe that in bad times people will come together.  I am more optimistic, believing in the potential for community and connection even if it happens so rarely, and our elected officials aren't particularly great when it comes to vision and striving for better.

But in the vein of Suzanne, movies like "Right At Your Door" and "Contagion" challenged my thinking.  Both movies show outcomes and community and herd behavior that are pretty terrifying.

I was joking with her earlier today that the cable channels should be showing these movies on repeat.  Then again, people don't need to get ideas.

It's bad enough that supermarket shelves of toilet paper, rice and beans, and water are stripped bare.  What's wrong with tap water and do you really not have enough toilet paper stocked up otherwise?

PBS has provided open access to the American Experience episode on the "Spanish Flu" epidemic of 1918.  I guess one of the only reasons I know about it is because fiction writer John O'Hara wrote a bunch of stories about it, he being the son of a doctor active during the epidemic and a few decades ago I read a bunch of his books.

Right now, Covid19 disproportionately impacts the elderly.  What happened with "Spanish flu" is that it mutated between the first wave and the second, and became particularly virulent for young adults.

This NYT piece allows you to model various scenarios in dealing with Covid19.

-- "Opinion | How Much Worse the Coronavirus Could Get, in Charts"

Given that our health system has limited slack capacity in hospital beds generally and ICU beds specifically, a large marginal increase in demand in periods of already peak demand will swamp the system. That's what's happening in Italy ("Coronavirus: Italy records 368 new COVID-19 deaths - largest number in a day," SkyNews). To extrapolate, Italy's population is about 20% of the US.