It isn’t, of course. But any strategies to mitigate the spread are pretty obviously no longer operative. In a strange way, hitting that 100,000 number was perceived as some sort of victory margin. We have moved on.
Naturally, the right has seized upon the protests as the sign that all restrictions should be lifted:
These riots are not just about pent up frustration over police brutality and the murder of George Floyd under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer. In part, they’re about a population being locked up for three months while 40 million people lose their employment.
Politicians like New York City mayor Bill de Blasio cracked down on Jewish funerals and schools. They remained silent last night as hundreds of people joined protests which turned into riots in Brooklyn, injuring police officers and resulting in the arrest of several members of the Blac Block anarchist group, antifa.
Mayors in Atlanta and Minneapolis condemned the violent crowds which had gathered by the hundreds to turn on corporate businesses and small businesses alike and even the CNN headquarters building. But what was conspicuously missing from these condemnations were any health warnings that the deadly COVID-19 virus might spread as a result of these outbursts. We saw next to no hand-wringing and finger-wagging from the media or politicians about health concerns amid the riots, as we saw when Florida beaches and Lake of the Ozarks swimming pools started to fill up. If people can gather to torch a Target or an Autozone, why people should not be allowed to gather on restaurant patios and sports stadiums? The protesters have spoken with their feet.
The message is loud and clear: lockdown is over. Even Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is out walking the streets on a beautiful sunny day, broadcasting on Instagram Live without a mask covering her face. If our congressional representatives can stroll freely in the streets without face coverings and the dire warnings of increasing the spread of COVID-19, so can we. Enough is enough.
Token gestures toward the pandemic are still being made. In a headline ripped straight from the Onion, Minneapolis’s flaccid Mayor and Governor are telling people to wear their masks should they go out in public to protest. Thanks for the permission! Closed down bars and businesses have made alluring targets for groups of rioters looking for vulnerable targets. The property damage in Minneapolis is incalculable, and while opening up businesses immediately would not temper the entire mood of the country, it would certainly give the public other options. Give people something to do other than either sit home or join the hoards. Hair salons, restaurants, tattoo parlors, churches, bars, clubs, movie theaters and sports venues — open them all. Public officials have all but unofficially declared lockdown is over. Now is the time to open the country — all of it. End the lockdown. Stop the riots.
The “lockdowns” were already ending so he’s arguing with a strawman to own the libs. But I’m afraid his argument will have some salience among government officials. Trying to contain the pandemic is probably over at this point.
I’m afraid it’s just going to run its course and the best we can hope for is that most cities were able to prepare their health care systems to handle whatever comes next. Younger folks can still get very sick even if they aren’t as likely to die as people with pre-existing conditions and, needless to say, they can spread it to those who do. Hopefully, the fact that people were outdoors, many of them wearing masks, will mitigate the inevitable spike in cases.
What a nightmare.