The latest wave of vaccine optimism receded a bit on Tuesday as the reality of fresh lockdowns across the US damped the mood and sapped some of the market’s joie de vivre.
California yanked what Governor Gavin Newsom called “the emergency brake,” after daily cases in the state doubled over ten days, the swiftest rate since the onset of the epidemic. The majority of California’s large counties will be compelled to close indoor dining. Emergency healthcare facilities are in the process of being reopened and residents are strongly encouraged to avoid holiday gatherings that include people from outside their households.
In a truly unfortunate misstep, Newsom attended an outdoor dinner party at the French Laundry on November 6. The gathering “included people from several households,” The San Francisco Chronicle said. Technically, the event didn’t violate state rules, but as The New York Times notes, “the governor’s attendance undermined the spirit of restrictions.” Newsom apologized.
In addition to California, New Jersey is moving to limit get-togethers starting Tuesday, New Mexico is locked down, and even Iowa and North Dakota have instituted mask mandates. Over the weekend, Washington State introduced highly restrictive new measures that went into effect on Monday. Michigan also announced a three-week partial lockdown.
The US is averaging more than 150,000 cases per day. 1 million new infections were recorded in the first 10 days of this month alone.
“The whole country is on fire,” Ellie Murray, assistant professor of epidemiology at the Boston University School of Public Health, told Bloomberg, which notes that America’s average new-case count for the past seven days “has jumped 37%… the fastest at any point in the US since late March.”
Scott Atlas, Donald Trump’s controversial coronavirus “adviser” who has no professional experience in dealing with infectious diseases and no training to speak of in epidemiology, encouraged Michigan residents to “rise up” in the face of the state’s latest containment measures. “The only way this stops is if people rise up. You get what you accept. #FreedomMatters #StepUp,” he tweeted.
He later said he wasn’t attempting to incite violence, but Stanford, where Atlas is a senior fellow at the school’s Hoover Institution, was having none of it. “Stanford’s position on managing the pandemic in our community is clear. We support using masks, social distancing, and conducting surveillance and diagnostic testing. We also believe in the importance of strictly following the guidance of local and state health authorities,” the university said. “Dr. Atlas has expressed views that are inconsistent with the university’s approach in response to the pandemic.”
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who was the target of a ridiculous (if highly disconcerting) kidnapping plot by right-wing militia tied to previous virus containment protocols, said Atlas’s tweets “actually took my breath away.”
Earlier this month, Atlas appeared on Russian state television to deride lockdowns in America and implicitly criticize Anthony Fauci. America’s public health experts are “killing people with their fear-inducing shutdown policies,” Atlas told RT, a Kremlin-backed news channel. Atlas later claimed he was “unaware [RT is] a registered foreign agent,” an implausible assertion to put it mildly.
“Irresponsible” isn’t the right word for Atlas. Neither is “reckless.” Atlas’s behavior is both, but more than that, it’s just bizarre — plain weird. Hospitalizations in the US are at a record and Atlas, a doctor, is advising Americans not to follow mandates issued by elected officials acting on advice from health experts.
This is the surreal reality facing the US as the country looks ahead to Thanksgiving and Christmas. The Trump administration is still generally refusing to work with the President-elect’s team to coordinate a containment strategy, leaving Joe Biden’s virus task force (comprised almost entirely of experts and credible public health officials) to backchannel and craft their own plan.
Vaccines are coming, yes, but the logistics of the rollout mean widespread availability isn’t expected until late Q1 2021 at the earliest. And then there’s the Herculean task of getting a skeptical, divided nation vaccinated.
Financial assets (and here I just mean stocks) are looking the other way. Pay no attention to that flaming country.
Some doctors once promoted smoking to ease morning sickness.
Atlas sounds like one of those.
If tRump fellow travelers aren’t getting an assist from Putin, then I’m the King of England.
We need a little more investigative journalism into Atlas’ background. Anyone?
To look on the bright side, the crisis in the hospitals is forcing Republican state administrations to follow the science. However, I am just waiting for the first Republican governor to reject all common-sense methods to limit the spread, and to call for a day of prayer that God would deliver his state from this scourge for having rejected Trump, God’s anointed messenger.
This is America, a violent and loathsome country.
Decisions were made and a lot more people are just going to have to die. More are going to have to spend their winter depressed. People living lives of utter despair will want to kill themselves.
What else did we expect from ourselves, that we would do what was in the best, collective interest of the people of our nation? We are living in a period where some are actively trying to culturally remove empathy from the population. Imagine!
All the while, the people who have elevated status, who work tirelessly toward and have voices that want a better America for all, never really seem to ever control the messaging, never able to penetrate the ignorance.
To runamok; I’m sitting here asking myself why they can’t control the messaging. Is it because of some dark side of human nature, because this is America where critical thinking is not important for a large swath of the population, or something else. How does a guy like Atlas get a voice beyond one day of misleading and dangerous comments. Can the situation ever be changed without understanding causation or is this ‘Groundhog Day’ forever. Is this what makes the market unpredictable except those instances where random chance shines the occasional light. Sorry for so many rhetorical questions.
Current messaging on issues like the pandemic and many others is clearly inversely proportional to reality, yet there are many reasons why it is difficult to break through it. These include unity of voice, ceding issue framing to the voices of unreality, lack of effective/charismatic messengers, the ability to construct strong, persistent and emotional appeals, organization and planning, funding, and a willingness to be direct with language and take the gloves off (not physically). Further the voices of unreality have an enormous head start that has to be overcome. There is also the issue of the readiness of the audience to hear and believe a new and realistic message. Poor and poorly funded media/ and journalistic practices create further obstacles and abet those already in existence. I am sure there are other reasons. Here are a couple of links that offer an excellent explanation of several important pieces of this puzzle. https://billmoyers.com/story/new-podcast-the-shadow-network/ and https://upine.medium.com/the-vast-reach-of-right-wing-disinformation-fbcee2715db7
Despite these challenges breaking through is essential and IMHO must be a major focus of the Biden administration and all others who value reality and the prevention of autocracy.
Here is one modern version of the Hippocratic Oath which Dr Atlas may or may not have taken. Someone should ask him.
I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant:
I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow.
I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures [that] are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism.
I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon’s knife or the chemist’s drug.
I will not be ashamed to say “I know not,” nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient’s recovery.
I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. If it is given me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not play at God.
I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person’s family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick.
I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure.
I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm.
If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life and art, respected while I live and remembered with affection thereafter. May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help.
What can one say, other than it’s a wholesale institutional failure. Part nihilistic, exploitative ruling class that recognizes the powers of propaganda and conspiracy theory. Part incompetently paternalistic technocracy (CDC unwittingly started the anti-mask movement in February). Part idiocracy of slaves to secular religions that keep them in chains, and now literally kill them for profit.
Even though Newsom urged Californians not to travel out of state, evidently at least a half a dozen California lawmakers could not resist the all expense paid trip to Maui ( Fairmont Wailea) for a four day conference that started Monday– sponsored and paid for by the Independent Voter Project.
Topics of discussion included “ how to safely reopen amid Covid-19”.
Do as I say….not as I do.
LOL