There is one single most important moment in the life of an epidemic, it is when virality is achieved. They should have known that they only had a few months to prepare.
This looks more like the last stage of a coup. Consolidating power in himself by stacking the courts as his puppets, discrediting belief in the truth by attacking the press as fake and rigging elections with voter suppression. Spreading propaganda and lies while facilitating Russian-aided disinformation on social media. Trying to shut down the postal service which means shutting down voting by mail. Lastly, raising a fascist, well armed militia to stand against his political enemies. The threat to our democracy couldn't be more urgent.
China knew. China told the Administration. We the People knew nothing until our lungs refused to breathe! Until our beds were covered in blood. Until every breath was a reprieve, that you knew could be your last. That this plague is a slow execution. That it is hell.
Mask-wearing alone, though essential, will not stop the pandemic. It has to be part of a comprehensive plan, and it has to be proven in the laboratory as effective. But, even in a detail as obvious as this, there is no plan. Anyone can make and sell a mask.
Chloroquine is a rampant public health problem in India - it is yet another drug epidemic in itself. And it is poised to hit the United States; especially after the American president's endorsement by planetary dispatch.
While Trump may personally fawn over those who have managed to achieve wealth and celebrity, whether in sports, showbiz, business or tech, the low-wage members of those same minorities are seen as little more than indentured servants considered disposable to society, particularly when the denial of financial support from the government forces them back into high-risk service jobs too soon to be safe.
Democratic politicians are giving Trump all the rope he wants - to hang himself. But that is murder.
The requirement of proof of vaccination to be in a public place, a fair and reasonable threshold to protect the majority of people and our economy and society, is very reasonable. And it is a very easy threshold for the unvaccinated to "cure" at no cost. It also allows them to refuse to be vaccinated without endangering those who are vaccinated.