-NYC recorded no covid deaths yesterday. It took 4 months of a hard lockdown, wearing mask, socially distancing, and NYCers freezing in place for weeks at a time.
- the sacrifice meant millions of lost jobs, entire sections of town shuttering, nightlife is non-existent. The loss has been staggering with 1/4 unable to pay rent, people moving out of the city, rent prices plummeting.
- I am happy for NYC...but I also know the rest of the country could be experiencing this right now. The precious economy that ppl care so much about would be in a robust recovery right now. It could've been a win-win for everyone and a point of pride and national unity: we actually beat covid just like China did. Just like Japan, South Korea, Canada, all of Western Europe and so many nations.
If Florida and Texas started a hard lockdown RIGHT NOW, it may be able to get to zero deaths and below 1% transmission by mid-November...when we'll be in the middle of the second wave.
_ i've know ppl who died from covid. But it could've been worse. I know friends who have gotten sick...but it could've been worse. And it can get worse. In a second of relaxation or underestimation.
- social arrogance is a virus. American exceptionalism is a virus. Maybe this is the year we reduce the spread of that too. In the face of a global pandemic we are a laughingstock. We are an out-of-control hospital ICU echoing with the dying words 'I guess it's not a hoax.' We are a morgue filled with body bags that some are still trying to separate into race, class, party affiliation. Even here, some people are trying to separate the dead black bodies that didn't matter at the start of this pandemic from the tragic white bodies falling down now...the ones who protested because they couldn't get a haircut in May or grab a beer in June, are now being fitted for a coffin in July.
-We are living in the cemetery of our follies and hubris. Maybe we will find humility between the gravestones of this year. Humility is the grace note. Humility is the place where spirit can enter. And this country needs a new spirit. We killed the old ones.
- the sacrifice meant millions of lost jobs, entire sections of town shuttering, nightlife is non-existent. The loss has been staggering with 1/4 unable to pay rent, people moving out of the city, rent prices plummeting.
- I am happy for NYC...but I also know the rest of the country could be experiencing this right now. The precious economy that ppl care so much about would be in a robust recovery right now. It could've been a win-win for everyone and a point of pride and national unity: we actually beat covid just like China did. Just like Japan, South Korea, Canada, all of Western Europe and so many nations.
If Florida and Texas started a hard lockdown RIGHT NOW, it may be able to get to zero deaths and below 1% transmission by mid-November...when we'll be in the middle of the second wave.
_ i've know ppl who died from covid. But it could've been worse. I know friends who have gotten sick...but it could've been worse. And it can get worse. In a second of relaxation or underestimation.
- social arrogance is a virus. American exceptionalism is a virus. Maybe this is the year we reduce the spread of that too. In the face of a global pandemic we are a laughingstock. We are an out-of-control hospital ICU echoing with the dying words 'I guess it's not a hoax.' We are a morgue filled with body bags that some are still trying to separate into race, class, party affiliation. Even here, some people are trying to separate the dead black bodies that didn't matter at the start of this pandemic from the tragic white bodies falling down now...the ones who protested because they couldn't get a haircut in May or grab a beer in June, are now being fitted for a coffin in July.
-We are living in the cemetery of our follies and hubris. Maybe we will find humility between the gravestones of this year. Humility is the grace note. Humility is the place where spirit can enter. And this country needs a new spirit. We killed the old ones.
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