The US is in the middle of the first wave of Covid19
It's not a "second wave" if the first wave doesn't end.
This photo was taken by travel writer Mark Baker (@markbakerprague). From him: Life in Prague is slowly returning to normal, as locals and a few tourists mingle on the city's Old Town Square early Friday evening, June 26.
This newsletter is produced w/ Zach Peterson (@zachprague).
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There is no “second wave” of Covid19 in the US. A second wave implies that there was a first wave that came and then ended.
That’s not what’s happened, and it’s not what’s happening right now.
As Europe reopens in what appears to be a very responsible fashion (most of Europe, anyway), US states like Texas and Florida - states that rushed to reopen because they took a deadly pandemic as an afront to the accumulation of capital and the very essence of The Republic itself - are seeing surges in case numbers.
Read this piece from Max Nisen (@MaxNisen) in Bloomberg. The headline gets it exactly right - it is HORRIFYING.
Two charts from the piece really tell you all you need to know. This one is actually heart-breaking.
The numbers for Arizona, Florida, California, and Texas are simply mind-blowing. There was no good reason to re-open the way so many places did, and we are paying for it - dearly.
The second chart from Max’s piece:
These two charts are an indictment of American leadership, and the buck stops at the White House. The failures of Donald Trump and Mike Pence during this pandemic are numerous. Their enablers and excuse-makers - specifically, Republican governors who followed blindly (a handful cared about their residents more than they did about party loyalty), and the 88% of Republicans who still support them - include some of my friends and my relatives.
Many states were happy to reopen after simply "bending the curve" — that is, slowing upward growth and ensuring spare hospital capacity. These states went on to expand economic activity at an elevated plateau with lots of ongoing transmissions. In contrast, European countries mostly waited to reopen until they crushed the curve or reached its far slope, with substantially lower incidence or dramatic reductions in viral spread. In fact, public opinion polling in early June showed that a lot of Europeans thought they were re-opening too quickly.
Now, things in Europe are returning to something near normal, but adorned with a mask. In the US, every at-risk, immunocompromised person now faces perhaps several more months of risk. It’s awful, and a moral failure.
- Sree
Read Something
🦠 Misinformation and outright deception are playing a huge role in the Covid19 pandemic in the US. Now, there’s some initial research to prove it. Christopher Ingraham (@_cingraham) takes a look at three different studies looking at conservative media and irresponsible reopenings in the US. Read it @ The Washington Post.
🚔 This is not an easy piece to read, but everyone should read it. It’s a very challenging read.
Watch Something
This clip from CNN’s Jim Sciutto needs no intro or explanation.
Listen to Something
It’s tough to know where to even start with this, but one thing is clear - people are falling prey to rampant misinformation about the Covid19 pandemic and it is absolutely bringing out the worst in many of them. Listen to the podcast from Johns Hopkins from the tweet below, and check out this list from Business Insider of organizations helping healthcare workers with food and much more.
Odds & Ends
🗞 My Sunday #NYTReadalong, executive produced by Neil Parekh (@neilparekh), where we read the print NYT out loud every week, 8:30-10:30 am ET: This week’s guest is Pawan Dhingra, a professor of American Studies and Faculty Diversity and Inclusion Officer at Amherst College, and author of "Hyper Education: Why Good Schools, Good Grades, and Good Behavior Are Not Enough." Watch live or later on FB. Last week’s guest was Tom Jolly, Print Editor of the NYT!
The Readalong is followed 11 am-noon ET by a new medical show I’m co-executive producing with surgeons Sujana Chandrasekhar, M.D., and Marina Kurian, M.D., called She’s On Call (watch live or later).
The Sunday #NYTReadalong is sponsored by Muck Rack, Magic Bus USA and Strategy Focused Group. Interested in sponsorship opportunities? Email sree@sree.net and neil@neilparekh.org.
🎧 Every Saturday, I host a call-in show on WBAI 99.5FM (@wbai) - "Coping with Covid19" - focused on being helpful, hopeful, and focusing on the pandemic's effects on society’s most vulnerable - the workers, the poor, the marginalized - and talk to ordinary citizens & experts on how we can emerge stronger.
Listen live Saturdays from 12-2pm EST, or later. And, of course, call in or tweet questions for us using the #wbaisree hashtag! Listen to an early episode here!
📺 A reminder to watch my Daily Global Covid19 Show. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll learn something every time. We’ve had 100+ shows and 200+ guests. Check out the archive and please subscribe to my YouTube channel. And/or sign up for my WhatsApp alerts list (it’s not your typical WhatsApp group, just a text when I’m live!). We are in partnership with Scroll.in, one of India’s best news and culture websites.
Recent highlights:
Sapphire, whose novel became Oscar-winning “Precious” (she’s newly on Twitter!)
Dr. Keiji Fukuda of HKU, former pandemics expert at WHO & CDC
👀 Did we miss anything? Make a mistake? Do you have an idea for anything we’re up to? Let us know! Let’s collaborate