We all got through our virtual Passover and Easter celebrations to wake up today to a miserable day of rain, wind and tornado watches. We’re about halfway through April and have a couple of more weeks until Trump hopes we can start opening parts of the country and the get the economy moving again. He’s even appointed a new task force to work on this, in addition to the task force headed by Vice President Pence, and whatever  operation his son-in-law Jared is running. Trump is getting pushback from the medical community to be very careful about rushing back to normal when the wrong move could crush the health care system even more, mean thousands more deaths and inflict more damage to the economy. Trump says it will be the biggest decision of his life. That should make us all feel confident.

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The incident involving the USS Theodore Roosevelt one of the navy’s 11 aircraft carriers can be seen as a microcosm of the mishandling of the coronavirus by the federal government.  According to the Washington Post, the well respected  Captain Brett Crozier wrote a blast email to 20 or 30 naval aviators warning them about an outbreak of coronavirus on his ship. The report says Crozier may have even worried that his supervisor Read Admiral Stuart Baker would not have allowed him to send a warning letter to Navy leaders. Baker confirmed to Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly that he would not have allowed Crozier to send such a letter to naval officials. Of course, the letter got leaked to the San Francisco Chronicle. Now, it gets worse.

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A new day means new rules. Today the White House announced that CDC is recommending that people living in areas hard hit by the community spread of the coronavirus wear masks or some kind of face covering when interacting with people. Previously, the CDC recommended only the sick and people with other health issues wear masks in public. Now some new information suggests you don’t have to cough or sneeze to spread the virus, just speaking to someone within six feet can spread the virus. So, either shut up or get that mask on, and not the real good ones that medical workers so desperately need. You can use a bandanna, scarf, Halloween mask, ski mask, home made medical type mask, or turtleneck pulled up over your nose. Until recently, walking into a business with a mask on meant you wanted to take things and you didn’t want to pay for them. Now, if you walk into a business without a mask, you may be chased out.

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April begins with the sobering news that the United States is looking at the possibility of between 100,000 and 240,000 deaths from coronavirus if all we’re trying to do doesn’t slow down the spread of the virus. That glorious Easter celebration that a certain someone was predicting, will have to wait until next year. Doctor Fauci and other medical professionals managed to convince Trump that his belief, “We can’t have the cure be worse than the problem” could push the fatality numbers to over a million. Polling data also showed the majority of the American people were willing to stay home longer to make sure we could get a handle on the spreading virus. So a very different Trump told us about the tough couple of weeks ahead as we try to get our arms around the pandemic. He was very sober and serious. This from a guy who a month ago was waving off any concern saying it was like the flu and it will go away when the warm weather comes.

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As I write this, I’m sitting on my deck with the sun shining and birds singing in a gentle breeze. We are feeling like prisoners in our homes, working from home, kids doing lessons on line. It helps to get outside. Everyone is trying to find ways to distract and occupy themselves so we don’t drive each other crazy in this time like no other. People are scared and worried their lives will never return to normal. There are all kinds of stories of people helping neighbors, and making masks and bringing food to the front line warriors, the doctors, nurses and other first responders who are risking their lives to save others. There are thousands of videos on line of people sharing stories and doing things to make us laugh, and even cry as we struggle through the uncertainty. Musicians are steaming live to soothe our souls. Watching the news can get overwhelming. The numbers get worse every day. The lack of national leadership has just added to the chaos and confusion.

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Most 79 year old doctors have been retired for years. The healthy ones are traveling the world, and enjoying their grandchildren. Right now, they’re stuck inside like the rest of us except for one, Doctor Anthony Fauci the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. I’m sure many people never heard of him before the coronavirus crisis. But he’s one of the most well known and respected medical experts in the world. He’s the scientist who finally got President Reagan to wake up to the AIDS epidemic in 1984 and was a leader in tracking HIV and developing treatments. He has been the leader in dealing with outbreaks of Ebola, SARS, MERS, and Zika. Now he’s dealing with coronavirus and Trump.

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Well it’s taken less than 15 days for Trump to get sick of dealing with the virus. The daily briefings are starting late and rambling on for two hours. Much of these briefings are Trump or Pence saying what a great job Trump and his administration are doing in dealing with the outbreak. Everyone noticed that America’s Doctor, Anthony Fauci the country’s leading expert on infectious diseases, was not at yesterday’s briefing. There is reporting now that Trump may be losing patience with Fauci politely pushing back with scientific facts when Trump talks nonsense about the virus and how to contain it. When asked where Fauci was yesterday, Trump said he was just in a meeting with him. Fauci may be happy he wasn’t there. He has said he’s asked the White House more than once to stop the unhealthy optics of the people supposedly in charge of breaking the cardinal rule of social distancing. They all stand shoulder to shoulder at the podium telling the rest of us to stay away from each other.

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There have been great rallying cries in our history to challenge Americans to take action against an enemy or in a national crisis. “Taxation without Representation .” “Give me liberty, or give me death.” “Save the Union.” “Remember the Alamo.” “Remember the Maine.” (Even though history tells us the Spanish didn’t blow up the ship, it was an accident). But, hey it got us into a war which apparently some of us wanted at the time. Our most recent rallying cry, “See Something, Say Something” after 9/11. We were all urged not to be afraid, to go on with our lives. Go to work. Go out to restaurants. But be out there and be vigilant. Don’t let the terrorists win by taking away our way of life. In all of these cases, our leaders were urging us to take collective action. Do something for the good of your fellow citizens. Be part of something bigger than yourself. “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” Not sure where that got started. But every football coach has used some version of that during a losing streak. Now it’s different.

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It’s only a few hours away. What we have all been waiting for, the first day of spring. Of course, this year it starts in darkness at exactly 11:50 tonight. Many of us will be in bed trying to get to sleep after a long day of looking out the window. There is never a good time for a pandemic, but springtime may be the worst. We all look forward to spring after the dreary winter months when we are struck in the house. We look forward longer days and warmer weather. They actually make us feel better. A study at Brigham Young University a couple years ago found students getting counseling found longer days and more sunlight reduces mental stress. Now we get longer hours of sunlight we can’t enjoy. We usually look forward to getting outside, flowers breaking through the earth, birds sweetly singing, spring training baseball. Opening Day has been delayed at least until mid-May. We look forward to March Madness. We now have silent arenas. We are probably looking at an Easter with no egg hunts or big family dinners. Students look forward to the end of the school year and proms. Seniors look forward to graduation. Now they are stuck in the house taking courses on line on their couch that they have to share with their parents who are working from home, who also have to home school their younger kids at the kitchen table.

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As we all get ready for a new week, all the medical experts tell us the spread of the coronavirus will only get worse. We still have to figure out how to test people. Then we’ll  how know many more people have the virus. So those who have symptoms or been exposed and get a doctor’s approval, can look forward long lines in Walmart parking lots as people in hazmat suits stick a long swab in their mouths to take a sample. Oh, and that great web site that a Goggle subsidiary is working on to tell us how to self diagnose and what to do and where to go to wait on line that the president said would be up and running tonight, not so fast. Trump never says anything that doesn’t need a follow up, correction or explanation.  Google says they’re working on a prototype that will be tested in the San Francisco area. They don’t know when it will be ready. Oops.

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