COVID: The Case for Opening Up

What Nations Are Worst Hit By Corona Virus?

From the New York Post and Statista, and obviously subject to change as the pandemic ebbs (hopefully) and some places, and waxes (probably) in others.

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These data are worth seeing because the Trump-hating leftists want to blame COVID deaths on Trump. So of course they report that the US has the largest absolute number of deaths.

But that’s not relevant. Larger countries are going to have more cases, even if the probability of any random person getting the virus is the same. It’s cold comfort that fewer of your countrymen are getting the disease than Americans if more of the people you know are getting it. And if you have a greater chance of getting it.

So if Trump somehow could have reacted earlier and done something to reduce the death count, why didn’t leaders of these European nations act earlier and do something to reduce their death count?

The answer, of course, is that this is all Monday morning quarterbacking, and it took a while for politicians — Democrat and Republican, American and European — to realize the severity of what their countries faced.

These countries are all advanced industrial democracies, so one might ask about less developed nations. The simple answer is that the virus has spread in places with high population density, and places where there is a lot of travel with the outside world. That’s why New York was hit so early and so hard. It’s also why states in the northern Great Plains have been hit less hard.

And, of course, outside the politicized world of Trump hatred — and Trump support — the key decisions have been made by governors and mayors who imposed lock-downs, closed businesses, imposed rules on social distancing, and so on.

Whether those rules have been too strict in some cases — or indeed whether America is opening up too soon — will be a source of continual debate.

Tucker Carlson: Lock Down for Thee, but Not For Me

Milwaukee County: Corona Virus Not Abating

From the Milwaukee County COVID-19 Dashboard, the seven day running average of new cases in Milwaukee County.

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Not good.

The total number of cases in Milwaukee County, as of this writing, is listed as 4,480. Given that the population of Milwaukee County is 945,726, we are far short of having any useful amount of herd immunity.

Of course, that calculus is complicated by the fact that there may be many undiagnosed cases of the virus in the county, and some people may have a sufficiently robust immune system to have fought off the virus without symptoms. Large scale testing has just begun, and will clarify the situation a bit.

Governor’s Order Overruled

The State Supreme Court has overruled the “stay at home” order of one of Tony Evers’ bureaucrats. But in spite of hand wringing from the left (one of Evers’ lawyers fumed: “The court will have blood on their hands and the people of Wisconsin will not forget”) the decision, like Evers’ order, is increasingly moot.

In the first place, local officials can issue their own orders, which take into account local conditions. For example, two Wisconsin counties have zero cases (Langlade and Taylor), and an additional eighteen have five or fewer. Having the same rules for the entire state made no sense.

But in the second place, just because people can do risky things doesn’t mean they necessarily will. I and my wife will remain pretty isolated until the numbers have taken a sharp dive. (Although our wife can’t resist regular visits to garden centers.)

The Resistance

Those who have resisted the lock down, demonstrating in places like Madison and Lansing, Michigan have been vilified by the mainstream media.

But in fact, they have served a very useful function in a democracy, by giving voice to legitimate concerns about the economic and social damage of the lock downs.

It’s not that they have gotten their way. It’s that they have forced a more nuanced set of policies, allowing the opening of economic activity were it could be engaged in safely (stores with social distancing rules in place), but not mass gatherings that expose thousands or tens of thousands of people (Major League Baseball).

Ultimately, American democracy has performed pretty well — but with the normal amount of messiness, partisan bickering, finger pointing and overheated rhetoric. Normal politics under abnormal conditions.

Dealing With Corona Virus