The flu bug is relentless. There seems to be no stopping the pandemic based upon recent increases in new cases. It’s time for our leaders and citizens to accept that the flu is still a dangerous and existential threat, and to be in crowded places with or without a mask and close to others is foolhardy. It may take longer than expected to silence this menace. Unfortunately Americans are not the most patient lot.

But, cabin fever is overwhelming many. Young and old people are restless and bored. The need to socialize has stirred Americans, and made some careless. They want to go out on the town, drink, dance and talk face-to-face with friends. The problem with all this is that it’s spreading the virus and people are dying unnecessarily. Some Americans are either selfish and/or ignorant.

We also need to decrease the number of new cases before the fall so our children will not be in any danger when they go back to school. And we need to protect older, more susceptible family members and and neighbors.

Similarly, corporations and small businesses are champing at the bit to get their people back on the job. But to do it too early, especially in urban environments, could be a deadly mistake. Why would any CEO unnecessarily put his or her employees in harm’s way if work can be done efficiently from home?

By disregarding the risk that still exists from the pandemic, more people are going to get sick. There will be more suffering and continued calls for isolation. Hopefully, this will not lead to more deaths.

On the last item, I’ve seen little in the press that tells us whether new cases are, in fact, resulting from more testing. I’m not endorsing Trump’s ridiculous comments about the virus or his unsubstantiated optimism. But if you test more, more cases will be found, especially if many are asymptomatic. We need accurate and transparent accounting.

Another stat that is similarly underreported by the press is the number of new deaths. Are they increasing or not? Are young people without pre-existing condition dying? Or do we have to accept that a lot more people will contract the virus, as has been the case with less virulent flus over the years.

I believe it’s true that if young people get the virus, very few will perish. However, vulnerable individuals who come into contact with sick young ones are in serious jeopardy.

Why can’t the greatest country in the world accurately track the stats of a disease and inform the public about what’s at stake? Are we being shielded from the truth? Are we too stupid or immature to handle the reality of this disease? Is there a conspiracy to dole out information in a way that benefits one presidential candidate over the other? Conspiracy theories will abound.

COVID-19 has thoroughly disrupted our lives. The entire world has been turned upside down, as governments and doctors strive to understand and end the pandemic.

Almost everyone is wearing a mask and keeping their distance. But, in New York City, the issues are more monumental than most other places because of the city’s population and proximity. In other words, normalcy sometimes appears to be light years away for NYers. Why is this so?

The people in my area, and even in my building are frightened by potential exposure to the disease. We treat each other like lepers as we dance past each other to avoid all contact. If you get touched or saliva is transferred, you may be infected. One leper fearing another.

The situation in my apartment building includes mandatory face masks, one family at a time in the elevator (I can’t wait to see how skyscrapers deal with their elevator issues), the gym is closed, housekeepers must enter through the service entrance along with construction workers and dogs, delivery men are forbidden to enter the building under any circumstances and so on.

What’s going to happen when the geniuses that lead our country, state and city loosen the restrictions? Will we be ready to put our masks in the closet and begin to have face to face conversations with family members and strangers? I don’t think it will be that simple.

One of the biggest issues in New York City is the transportation needs of millions of people each day. How the hell are subway straphangers going to get to the office if subways remain filthy? I couldn’t think of a worse biohazard than an underground station and a subway car. Why? The riders are packed in and jammed together on platforms.

Is the MTA system going to magically work efficiently in September or December? Are the subways going to be sanitary? Are homeless people going to stop hanging out and relieving themselves on the platforms? Will we again smell urine in a subway station? Of course, we will. If anything, services will be hampered by budget constraints as the City streaks towards bankruptcy.

Back to the office. At the beginning of the day, lunchtime and the end of the workday, people enter and exit the building by the thousand. Millions of people are going up and down elevators across the metropolitan region, maybe 20 or so in each car. If we decrease the capacity for distancing reasons, “rush hour” will be known as “rush hours.”

Have you walked on Madison Avenue lately? Stores are boarded up because of concern about civil unrest. If the mayor gives everyone a green light to open and do business, will the owners and their merchandise be in danger?

Restaurants are scheduled to open as well. How will these places be able to make a profit if only 50% of tables can be used at one time? Margins are slim to begin with in the food business. Forced to work at low occupancy rates will not be beneficial to any company’s income statement.

I’m very unhappy about the way our leaders have kept us informed, or in the dark, about the true dangers of COVID-19. The disease is not a killer like Ebola. From what I understand, the people with the highest risk of death are elderly, and those with serious health problems including auto-immune issues.

Younger people, defined as under 50, are not dying unless they have serious medical conditions. The vast majority of the public should not be panic-stricken about contracting the disease, or at least no more than people worried about contracting measles in the 1950s and 1960s. You can get very sick, but you are not going to die.

So, why is everyone so frightened? Isolation, distancing, face masks, staying at home, working at home, not seeing family and friends are our lives today. Maybe we need to have much more of a young person’s perspective relating to the threat of the pandemic.

 

I’m beginning to suspect that the American public is being duped in a vast political conspiracy orchestrated by the radical media and liberal government officials. These groups are attempting to influence the 2020 elections by twisting the truth and not disclosing important data to the general public. The essence of the situation revolves around the fact that the number of total cases of coronavirus does not jive with the number of deaths from the virus, and so decisions made by the authorities are not appropriate. Let me explain.

The starkest portrayal of this phenomenon is the unbelievable number of deaths that have occurred in nursing homes compared to all other places. When the pandemic spreads to a place populated by the aged, many die percentagewise. The Corona strain attacks people who are medically incapacitated, especially those with respiratory issues, which many older people are prone to have. The first order by the authorities on day one of the virus should have been to do everything possible to protect our senior citizens.

In fact, there are statistics that show that younger people have a very small chance of perishing from the virus, unless they suffer from another illness such as asthma, heart problems, diabetes and pneumonia. Why hasn’t this data been a part of the decision-making process? Would the public have resisted a country-wide lock-down with this information that has recently come to light?

The conclusion that one may draw is that it was utter insanity to shut down our $20 trillion economy when only senior citizens were in mortal jeopardy. The response was over the top. The derivative impact of doing “too much” has been the loss of millions of jobs, the closing of thousands of small businesses and the virtual imprisonment of the American population for several months. The average American lost thousands of dollars because of inevitable furloughs and firings.

Keep in mind, anyone can contract the virus and suffer mightily with fever, aches, coughing and other symptoms. But if you are young, you probably will not die.

It should also be noted that young people who have contracted the virus can carry it home and endanger elderly family members, who are highly vulnerable. This means that the policy to isolate every American over 55 or 60 would not eliminate all deaths, but it would certainly would have decreased the number materially.

You might ask, what is the upside to liberals ramming isolation down our throats? The answer is that they know the prospects of a bad economy will greatly influence the 2020 presidential election. Anything that negatively impacts the economy will very much benefit Biden over Trump.

Real conspiracy buffs might also conclude that liberals want Americans to stay home because it hurts the economy (as indicated above). At the same time, they encouraged black protesters to conduct protests even though most expect to see a marked increase in coronavirus cases resulting from mass gatherings. Once again, civil unrest before the election would be beneficial to Biden.

It’s difficult to fathom a conspiracy that plays life and death games with the American people. But, the truth of the matter is that many influential liberals have twisted or withheld facts in an effort to influence the impending elections. Even bringing on a monstrous recession was not too draconian for some Trump haters.

 

There are still many unanswered questions surrounding the pandemic crisis. For instance, many Americans are unsure about how to respond to pleas from government officials and corporate leaders to return to work. Will we be at risk?

Working in the safety of your own home has become widely popular among employees and enthusiastically implemented by many employers. The trend may continue long after coronavirus is defeated.

Of course, the desire to isolate needs to be considered in the context of the business involved. Restaurant workers and small business owners must be on-site to serve their clients in most cases.

There are scores of individuals that fall into this category. If employees show up for work, what are the dangers? Someone could enter a restaurant or a small shop and unwittingly pass on the virus to the owner or an employee. The manner in which this can happen is infinite even while donning a mask.

The sick individual, who may not even know he is a carrier of the flu, may have touched his nose or mouth before entering the store. Virus germs could then be transferred to the door handle while entering the store, the counter where the transaction takes place or on the cash or credit card used to make a purchase. The customer may use the bathroom and spread germs in that area as well.

So, the store now contains active coronavirus material where others can contract it. The owner, an employee or another customer may touch an infected area and ultimately breathe in the virus.  The infected person could then deliver the disease to a coworker or a family member. If any of these people are aged or vulnerable, they could perish even if they never left their own homes.

There are a plethora of ways for employees of large companies to get sick or transmit disease to others. Masks and distancing will certainly help, but public transportation, elevators, escalators, cafeterias, bathrooms, meeting rooms, gyms, etc. are all biohazards that need to be contended with.

What’s going to happen if the disease bounces back? From one perspective it may be a blessing that more and more people contract the disease. For the most part, the flu does not kill healthy people under 60. A young person, who has no respiratory issues or diabetes, will feel horrible for a couple of days and not require any hospital treatment or even need to visit a doctor. But what about the parents of the person who may be living with the infected person?

It’s already been proven that old people are mostly the ones who contract the disease and die from it. Consider the number of people who succumbed to flu in nursing homes. It’s a tragedy. Over time there should be increasingly fewer vulnerable targets for the disease to kill as we become more diligent protecting our senior citizens. If we can somehow shield the aged, more people may have the disease as we return to normalcy, but very few will die.

It’s up to each company, family, school and congregation to protect the vulnerable from coming into contact with sick individuals. At colleges, students will be fine if the virus attacks them, but their teachers, food servers, maintenance people may not be as fortunate.

And finally, there is hope for a vaccine. It will make our causes for concern moot. If the vaccine halts the virus, we will all be safe once again and ready to resume our lives.