With our fearless, feckless leaders out and about, trying to convince the American public that the COVID-19 pandemic is really winding down and we have little to fear, it’s not difficult to understand their motives.
These are the same people who brought tax breaks for corporations, awarded multi-billion dollar bailouts to companies and allowed huge corporate chains to exploit a loophole in the PPP fund, depleting it in record time, leaving actual small businesses in the lurch. Let’s see how long the new appropriation will last, eh?
These same people are advocating for the meat-packing industry to be considered essential – and even invoked the Defense Production Act to underscore the executive order – when the state health systems are still in bidding wars for PPE. Which, by the way, US manufacturers are selling overseas. There’s something not quite right about this.
Yeah, so the latest excuse for the lack of protective face covering during the veep’s Mayo Clinic visit yesterday was he “wanted to look them in the eye.” Excuse me, but the last I checked, protective face masks only covered the nose and mouth. Since when have they covered the eyes? Did he think he was going to play hide and seek with the patients? Or pin the tail on the donkey? Oh wait, he’d be the one getting pinned. Or maybe he misunderstood the purpose? He then went on to explain that he and his team are tested daily for COVID-19 and they are all negative; he was not at all concerned that he could be a carrier. Okay, and he’s not at all concerned that he himself might pick up a loose germ or two between tests?
Every time I sit down to write about what is on my mind these days, it just comes out as angry. Hey, I am not excited about another month of quarantine, either. I am very concerned about the 22 million people who are collecting unemployment – how long will they be able to? And what jobs are actually available to them? I am frightened for the people who have to go back out on the front lines every day, with no safety net. I am both afraid and impatient for school to reconvene. I am especially concerned for the invisible: whose ranks have most likely swelled beyond our society’s capacity to help.
And you know what? The arrogance and privilege of high profile people doing the exact opposite of what respected, knowledgeable health officials recommend just pisses me off. Because the motive is to provide cover to the same ilk who want to protect big business at the expense of people. At all levels.
So, yeah, there’s still some fallout from the face mask debacle.
Stay safe and stay home. And if you can’t stay home, cover your damn face.