From: Doug Otto
Columbus
To avoid confusion on this subject, I will again declare that the thoughts expressed here are completely my own and are not meant to reflect the position of any organization with which I am or ever have been associated.
As I have offered many times, I see the president of the United States as an incompetent, uncaring narcissist who is unfit for public service. Having said that, I will refrain from discussion of this individual and present a combination of facts, opinions, and suggestions.
Between June 20 and July 6 (16 days) the number of new COVID-19 cases per day doubled from 24,000 to 48,000 nationally. The July 6 count equates to 336,000 new cases a week. If the number of new cases doubles every 16 days, every American will have contracted the virus by Thanksgiving. If we say that the law of diminishing returns will set in at some point, I estimate that the number of new cases every 16 days will increase by 25%. In that event, we will all have it by Thanksgiving 2021.
Currently, we are receiving little leadership from the federal government to prevent this growth. The priority there is to get as many businesses and schools reopened as soon as possible to stimulate the economy. Not a bad thing.
This creates a dilemma. The reduction of the number of new cases and the health of our economy are both urgent goals. To focus entirely on prevention of new cases would leave a huge number of businesses closed and tens of millions out of work. In a short time, we would find ourselves in a deprecation like we have never seen. On the other hand, if we accept that “we just have to learn to live with it”, as the administration suggests, some variation of the speculation I expressed above will become a reality. Obviously, we need to find a way to balance these two priorities.
I admit that I am not smart enough to know what to do. But I do know that this issue should not be a political argument. That means, the officials in the administration and the members of Congress need to grow up and adhere to their oath to serve the Constitution and not their party. If there were ever a time for a bipartisan effort…it’s now.
I don’t know how to get from here to there, but one place to start is to get rid of the open anger and vengeful attitudes that have gotten out of control over the past five years. The tone has clearly been set by the president, and it’s apparent that he will not change.
I believe any change will have to be a grassroots effort. That means Republicans and Democrats, Black, white, and Brown people, college graduates and high school dropouts, elected officials and their constituencies, and especially you and I. Can we start today and see if our efforts might become as contagious as the virus?
