Haiku for You
Coronavirus
Do not let it defeat us
Honor all heroes
* “Clap for our Careers”: The weekly applause that takes place across Britain at 8 pm every Thursday to show appreciation for all those, including health care workers, helping to keep the country functioning.
* China has announced a plan to test all residents of Wuhan, the city where the coronavirus pandemic began. It will take about 10 days. Wuhan has 11 million residents.
* Deign to dine out? Be careful. Bring a mask and a catheter.
* Speaking of masks, Mitch McConnell would actually look better in one.
* Unemployment statistics showed that 2.98 million people applied for unemployment benefits last week. That’s down from the high of nearly 7 million. For context: The previous, pre-COVID record for jobless claims was 695,000 (1982).
* “Once on board and off the gate, the face covering policy will become more lenient.” That’s from an American Airlines memo to its pilots. How reassuring.
* “I think in any individual instance, you’re going to see people doing things that are irresponsible. That’s part of the freedom we have here in America.” That was HHS Secretary Alex Azar, rationalizing–if not enabling–life-endangering, counterproductive behavior during a pandemic. It’s part of the double-edged sword of freedom we’re known to wield–and celebrate on bumper stickers–in America. It’s how we defend assault weapons, for example, in the context of cherry-picked, constitutional freedoms.
* As of last week, Hillsborough had tested 2.45 percent of the county’s 1.4 million residents.
* A special place in hell: For Ponzi schemers creating a wave of fraud during a pandemic.
* No one envies Dr. Anthony Fauci and other public-health experts who have to tolerate and placate the misinforming manipulator-in-chief. Fauci is still there because he’d rather save lives than face–while hoping that “First do no harm” doesn’t morph into a hypocritical oath.
* According to scientists, the genetic structure of the novel coronavirus rules out laboratory manipulation.
* For now, the semi-annual Florida Bar Exam, scheduled for July 28-29 in Tampa and Orlando, is still on. Not everyone, to be sure, is comfortable–even with six-feet distancing and masks. Variables such as queues, breaks, bathrooms and hotels are understandably in the conversation. Wonder if legal waivers–this is, after all, a bar exam–are also part of that conversation?
* It was awkward and unfortunate, but not unnecessary. The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s deputies had to break it up a sizable ad hoc gathering of high school mourners–for a fellow Riverview High student who had died in a car accident–because it violated social distancing guidelines. Too bad public safety had to be imposed in such an emotional context. This wasn’t a stay-at-home protest or a flagrant flaunting of public safety. But the deputies did their job in this sometimes unfair new normal.