The Wide World of Vox Populi
The people speak…
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1. A St. Louis nurse’s impassioned account of her husband’s work as an ER physician treating coronavirus patients, with an immune-compromised child at home.
A Texas man who describes his painful very early experience with a virus that seems to him like it was the one.
A 74-year-old Iowa man who has for years cared for a daughter whose poor health means she would not survive a coronavirus infection.
A Baltimore couple who had a first child Sunday night and exudes inspiration and the magic of possibility.
And a spirited debate about the risks and necessity of reopening the country.
The first Wide World of News Readers Conversation, featuring contributors from coast to coast, was conducted Tuesday evening.
For me, it was a wonderful opportunity to hear the intelligent voices of Americans who are at once hopeful and uneasy.
A big theme: why can’t government leaders get their act together on behalf of the nation?
We will have more from the group in the coming days, but you can take in their thoughtful thoughts here:
Additional Readers Conversations are being planned now for the weeks ahead. If you wish to be included, please reply to this email.
Major thanks to my colleague Paul Wilke for working side-by-side with me to conceptualize, organize, and produce these Conversations.
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2. Good developments:
* Despite recent history and cruddy personal relationships at the top, Congress and the White House continue to make bipartisan deals at a brisk pace. (But see below….)
* They have been strong bipartisan and public backlashes against wealthy and well-connected enterprises getting government virus money – and they are having an impact. That is good for national morale.
* Some Senate Republicans are part of a bipartisan consensus about forging a larger federal role for the testing challenges.
* There has been relatively little indications or signs of violence in conjunction with the pro-reopen movement or anywhere else in America deriving from conflict over how the country should proceed.
* Lin-Manuel Miranda says his virtual education package, EduHam, will be free to all.
Not good developments:
* “U.S. coronavirus deaths top 45,000, doubling in little over a week - Reuters tally”
* The head of the CDC says the virus’s potential fall wave could be even worse than the initial invasion, in part because the health care system would simultaneously have to handle victims of the regular flu.
* This Politico story by Ben White suggests that Washington’s trillions are no match for the challenges before us.
* So many businesses owned by young people have not gotten SBA loans for which they have applied and are in danger of going under, threatening to discourage a generation.
* One of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s favorite bars – the legendary Coogan’s in Washington Heights – is closing, and sadly it won’t be the last irreplaceable Gotham City or American landmark business to shutter because of the virus.
* Drudge is not alone in focusing more on alarming than on educating.
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3. This
requires a full, adult national conversation, and nothing less.
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4. Cautions that are more than tea leaves for those such as Speaker Pelosi who are eager to move to Phase 4 legislation, including more money for the states and families:
* The Wall Street Journal ed board wants to at least tap the breaks.
* Mitch McConnell suggests in a Politico interview that he wants to stop the car entirely and park it for a bit.
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5. The National Governors Association is expected to issue its own roadmap to reopen, even as its members are divided on what it will take.
The bipartisan National Governors Association was scheduled to release its own plan Wednesday to reopen the economy, and it offers a cautionary note among a number of recommendations.
“Opening prematurely—or opening without the tools in place to rapidly identify and stop the spread of the virus—could send states back into crisis mode, push health systems past capacity, and force states back into strict social distancing measures,” the report states. “This scenario would repeat the negative economic consequences of pandemic response and reduce public confidence, further deepening a recession and protracting economic recovery.”
The 38-page Roadmap to Recovery says governors should continue to request the federal government “rapidly build testing capacity and coordinate distribution to states.”
Tuesday saw more of the same divisions between states (not strictly on a Red/Blue divide, but mostly along those lines) on how much testing and case reduction is needed to reopen.
And more division and debate are on the way soon and for a long time.
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6. Since the presidential campaign is an all-digital affair for the foreseeable future, and since Donald Trump’s digital assets dwarf those of Joe Biden, it is surely true that the flap over how the Democrat should build up his efforts on that front is meaningful.
Politico is the latest outfit to chronicle this simmering story, with a focus on whether Team Biden will hire an outside firm (such as the Mike Bloomberg-backed Hawkfish) or build up capability inside the campaign, where digital hiring has been de minimus.
Broken record* says: While this choice will impact Biden’s chances of winning, the message matters more than the medium, according to the Democrats to whom I speak.
The “Can Biden inspire a movement?” question will be answered by Joe Biden, not by who designs and places his Facebook ads.
*Do many people under 25 get the “broken record” metaphor?
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7. Wide World of News is generally forward looking, but here is some potentially important information from the past that could have implications for the future (at least for historians….).
The first deaths related to COVID-19 were apparently not in Washington State (where a man died on February 29), but in Santa Clara County, California, where officials announced Tuesday that two individuals who tested positive for the virus during autopsies had died at their respective homes on February 6 and February 17.
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8. If you are a liberal or a member of the media who wonders (even if you don’t say it in public) how anyone could vote for Donald Trump, or how Mitch McConnell is allowed to walk the earth, or how folks on the right could possibly think that the media is biased against them, then read this Twitter thread by long-time McConnell adviser Josh Holmes.
Perhaps you will read this and decide you don’t agree with Mr. Holmes. But that isn’t the point.
The point is to get insight into something important.
It would be truly helpful if the country could be significantly more unified in the coming months than it is now.
There is no doubt that Trump and McConnell have played major roles in leading America down the pathway of division.
But if want to better understand why those on the right don’t think that those two men are the only ones with dirty hands, read the thread.
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9. From Clara Health:
As researchers worldwide race to find better testing, treatments, and vaccines, here’s how you can help.
Clinical studies and plasma donation centers need your participation. Whether you’ve been infected, are recovered, or have never been exposed at all - we need you.
Join this free, privacy-protected, public health initiative and let’s end this pandemic together.
Check it out here.
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10. “Park de la Distance,” from Studio Precht, an Austria-based design firm, has come up with one of the first of many ideas for how to build safe and/but fun/useful outdoor spaces.
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11. Pro tip (really a pro tip, from one of the best in the hair business, not from me): If you are, say, hypothetically, a man in desperate need of a haircut but with no way to get one any time soon, you should buy this
For $12 on Amazon, you can go a month or so longer looking…tolerable. If you have never used product in your hair before: welcome to the New Normal.
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12. Speaking of Amazon, when it comes to the Age of Coronavirus…
Lifesaver or mind-blowing, outrageous price increaser?
Discuss (even though the answer is, obviously: both).
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As always, please send me your links, news leads, opinions, analysis, and grooming ideas.
Wide World of News doesn’t happen without you.
Stay in touch and stay safe.
Mark