Wednesday, April 22, 2020

To have a Memorial Day of remembrances and new beginnings we must remain scientifically steadfast

Less than a month ago, in a March 29 post here Memorial Day 2020 - A Day of New Beginnings?, a hope was offered:

    Hopefully, Memorial Day 2020 will not only be a day of remembrance for those lost in wars plus those lost in the 2020 Covid-19 Pandemic, but it will mark a week of new beginnings. Hopefully, new cases will have become minimal permitting many states to soon lift business closure orders and "shelter-in-place" orders for people under 65 (but not "safe distance"rules).
    ...This all assumes that the peak caseload in most of the United States will occur shortly before or after Easter Week. Hopefully this timeline is not full of wishful thinking....

The following is a ray of hope based on an daily updated data graph in an article in the New York Times:

Indeed, the peak for new cases of Covid-19 appears to have occurred around Easter Week and that New York Times article notes: "Even as new hospitalizations in the state slowed and the period of explosive, day-over-day growth in case numbers seemed to be ending, familiar routines remained a distant vision."

It has been suggested that "money is more important then love" to Americans. And indeed our state and local leaders are facing protesters demanding the lifting of the Great Economic Lockdown of 2020, that impairment to their freedom of movement and freedom of association in order to earn and spend money.

So now in many states and locales it appears that politicians are responding to that idea by lifting many restrictions within shelter-in-place orders. The infamous Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick yesterday called for the reopening of his state and the country late Monday, restating his mantra there are "more important things than living.”

It is, of course, too soon and that natural human interaction which will result will simply stop the progress on the graph above and increase deaths.

Simply, if we cannot have a Memorial Day that not only involves remembrances but offers new beginnings, we will have confirmed that money is more important to too many Americans than love of their family, friends, and coworkers.

What will be interesting is the extent to which using the map below one will be able to see which color the states that lift restrictions too soon and see increases in new cases and deaths:


Still it is reasonable to have hope that Memorial Day 2020 will not only be a day of remembrance for those lost in wars plus those lost in the 2020 Covid-19 Pandemic, but it also will mark a week of new beginnings, at least for those of us who in a state where the leadership eschews denial and believes in science (the press conference begins at 3:36):

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