Posted on 03/20/2020 5:58:04 AM PDT by Kaslin
"It's a war," says President Donald Trump of his efforts to contain the coronavirus pandemic, and likening his role to that of "wartime president."
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo welcomed the president's claim to his commander in chief role in the crisis and his resolve: "The president and I agreed yesterday... we're fighting the same war -- and this is a war."
Some measures already taken do call to mind actions in wartime.
Commercial airline flights have been reduced or canceled. Schools have been closed. Universities have shut their doors.
Where Ford, Chrysler, GM and other great auto companies shifted production to jeeps, tanks and bombers in 1942, U.S. auto factories have today been shut down to prevent the spread of the virus.
Bars and restaurants are being closed.
This month, millions of Americans will be added to unemployment rolls, and millions of senior citizens and elderly have already followed government directives to "self-isolate" or "shelter in place."
There is talk of quarantines lasting not days or weeks, as Americans knew in the days of measles, mumps, chickenpox, scarlet fever and polio, but months.
While a new social solidarity and spirit of self-sacrifice seem to be manifesting themselves in this pandemic, can it endure?
Is the country prepared for months, or years, of social isolation, if that is what is required to win this war?
It is a question that needs to be addressed.
Consider. The Chinese government, whose word is admittedly suspect, claims to have achieved a deceleration in the daily number of new coronavirus infections. The South Koreans say they, too, have broken and reversed the momentum of the spread of the virus.
On March 3, the number of new cases of the coronavirus reported across South Korea was 852. On St. Patrick's Day, March 17, exactly two weeks later, the count was 85 new cases, a plunge of 90%.
South Korea appears to have "flattened the curve."
We Americans, however, are far from that.
Exactly how far behind South Korea we are cannot be known until more tens of thousands of Americans are tested, and we learn how many cases of the disease are out there undiscovered and unreported.
But whatever the success of Asian nations in containing the virus, are we politically and socially able to impose the same draconian measures?
Ordering people to "shelter in place" in their own homes, not just for days or weeks but months -- can this be done in a free society, as it can be done in the surveillance state of Communist China?
Can mayors and governors of beach towns along the East Coast from Maine to Miami, and the Gulf Coast from Florida to Texas, keep tens of millions from gathering on beaches this summer?
Last week, we saw college kids cavorting on Florida's beaches, despite warnings that any one among them infected with COVID-19 could transmit it to the rest, leading to grave illness and, in some cases, death.
Moreover, they could become carriers of the disease to parents and siblings. They did not seem to care.
As Prohibition proved, Americans are a rule-breaking people.
Scores of thousands are injured in auto accidents and thousands killed each year from driving under the influence of alcohol, despite tough laws against drunk driving.
Since the 1960s, laws against the use of marijuana, cocaine, heroin, fentanyl, have not halted the rampant ingestion of illegal narcotics and dangerous drugs.
We are endlessly admonished that climate change poses an existential threat to the planet. But have the elites who profess to believe this given up flying in private jets? Have Americans given up their SUVs or ceased to heat their homes with oil and gas?
Are parents going to be able to confine to their homes children whose lives are built around friends on playgrounds? Is the crowd on Martha's Vineyard going to give up socializing to prevent the spread of the coronavirus?
In the '60s, we were told that the correlation between cigarette smoking and lung cancer, emphysema and heart disease, is absolute. Yet 34 million Americans continue to risk shortening their lives by smoking.
Seniors and elderly, among whom the mortality rate from the coronavirus is the highest -- 15% of those over 80 in one estimate -- may shelter in place for months.
But if, in diverse cities, minority communities come out for block parties in summer, are we going to have the police march them back into their homes? Do we have enough cops for that?
A prediction: The longer the orders to shelter in place and self-isolate remain in force, the greater the probability they will begin to be ignored and people will take the risks to end their isolation and be with friends.
Will Americans suffer in social isolation, inside their own homes for months, while a state-induced Great Depression washes over the land?
My guess is that many will rebel.
Y2K (we're domed)
As Prohibition proved, Americans are a rule-breaking people.
Ah no, Americans break STUPID rules.
I agree.
The thing is all around us.
Pat, as always, makes excellent points about the American spirit and its indomitable will, but I think he is failing to take account of the epidemic’s timetable.
Prediction. In two weeks, when CV victims are dying in makeshift medical tents, not many people are going to be planning their trip to the beach.
If this hysteria triggers a Great Depression, many of will not have homes in which to isolate ourselves.
Both Hitler and Hirohito thought the American People incapable of fighting a prolonged war.
“As our Revolution proved, and thank God for it.”
We are nothing like our founding fathers. They would have went to war over the income tax.
“So how many dead would be enough for you? How many dead would there be without these containment efforts?”
The flu has already killed about 40,000 in this country this season alone. Why nothing from you about that?? This virus has only killed 10,000 world wide when the WHO estimates between 250,000 and 500,000 die worldwide from the flu.
You are sheeple: Easily gaslighted into believing this crap and will accept any and all draconian communist measures.
Clinton, Bush and Obama. And if I see another political tweet from Hillary I'll need to be restrained from my keyboard.
Wait until the Soros-Clinton-NWO cabal manages to shut down the internet. Then all hell will break loose. Thats the only thing that’s keeping this together now for the secular world.
Buchannan has a way of commenting on how things are without taking a stand or offering solutions. What do you really think, Pat? If you think we need to be more obedient sheep — going into war mode and relying on the politicians and who they choose as experts — you need to come out and say so.
Again, the flu is endemic. it can’t be contained, only mitigated.
The Wuhanic Plague was containable, but China blew it and now containment efforts will only slow it down for a while, hopefully buying us time for countermeasures.
How many would be dead without those containment efforts?
You guys that think soon we’ll be a full blown communist dictatorship after this is over are the real sheeple. These restrictions are temporary and only an idiot thinks they will last very long, even if the virus does its worst. Gaslighting each other and denying math and science. Foolish.
How many people do you think will now work from home permanently? How many people do you think will finally pull the trigger on homeschooling? How many people will now go for their job of choice rather than the one they were stuck in? The result of this is going to be to clear a lot of dead wood from the lane. Yeah, there is and will be turmoil, and too many dead, but you should embrace it and move the things that support Conservatism forward instead of whining about it.
Wuhanic Plague - I like that!
I’ve noticed the 15 days is always 15 days, every day. LOL. What was the first day again? I’ve been inside since Sat, only walking my dog. No shopping, no driving.
So I’m in the Bay Area with the “shelter in place” early order. My pool servicing guy already announced to me that he is “essential” because if algae were to grow in pools then there would be an even “greater health problem.: :)
Never mind that I have chlorine tablets I could throw in my pool myself. I told him OK. He is in the backyard only anyway.
Still, yes I see lots of open rebellion from small businesses like that. Why are dry cleaners and marijuana clubs “essential”? I’ve never been to either in my life.
“South Korea appears to have “flattened the curve.””
Yes, because they found out that the vast majority of the actual viruses they recorded were NOT the Novel Corona Virus.
Town Hall need to do their homework.
In the USA? This will be stopped. It will not be a long battle.
Thank you. Too scary for some, but it is what it is.
Turn OFF the TV.
Solved problem.
Meanwhile, the RATs are only for short-term gain...
Chuck Schumer: ‘This Administration Took Far Too Long to Wake Up to This Global Crisis’
“These restrictions are temporary”
No, they are permanent powers now. Before all this, no one in their right mind would allow the government to selectively close businesses due to the flu.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.