Summary

The article discusses the severe societal and political divisions in America, exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, and contrasts the response to the virus in America with that of China, while also providing a glimpse into Australia's approach to managing the crisis.

Abstract

The content reflects on the stark disunity in America, characterized by partisan divides, socioeconomic disparities, and differing perceptions of the Covid-19 threat. The author argues that America is no longer a classless society where upward mobility is achievable for all, but rather a nation with a growing chasm between the wealthy and the working poor. The pandemic has highlighted these divisions, with Republicans often downplaying the virus's severity and Democrats taking a more science-driven approach to mitigation. The article also presents a dire prediction for the trajectory of Covid-19 infections and deaths in America, drawing a comparison to the situation in China, which has managed to flatten its curve significantly. In contrast, Australia is depicted as a country where federal and state governments are largely unified in their response to the virus, implementing strict measures to control its spread.

Opinions

The author expresses a personal distaste for calling the nation "the United States," preferring "America," due to the perceived lack of unity.
There is a clear criticism of the partisan divide in America, particularly the extreme political ideologies represented by "red states" and "blue states."
The author suggests that the American Dream is no longer attainable for most, with the majority struggling financially and the wealth gap widening.
Republicans are portrayed as dismissive of the Covid-19 threat, aligning with fluctuating messages from the White House, while Democrats are depicted as more proactive, following medical science guidance.
The article implies that the American response to the pandemic is insufficient, especially when compared to China's stringent lockdown and contact tracing measures.
There is an expectation that Republican-led areas will experience higher rates of infection and death due to political resistance to acknowledging the seriousness of the virus.
The author is confident in their prediction that the Covid-19 situation in America will worsen, with infection and death rates continuing to rise.
Australia's response to the pandemic is viewed favorably, with coordinated efforts across different levels of government to implement social distancing and limit public gatherings.

United We Stand

Downfall of a viral nation

There’s a good reason why I call the nation between Canada and Mexico, America. I simply cannot stomach calling it the United States.

America has been a symbol of disunity for many years now. Partisan polarisation is most visible in the news, where Democrats and Republicans seem to have nothing in common beyond waving the same flag as hard as they can.

But there are also “red states” and “blue states” where deep red values seem to be fossilised somewhere back in the Old Testament, and deep blue apparently means somewhere to the left of Karl Marx.

Not to mention the ancient divisions of race and ethnicity, and the more modern and starker division between have and have not.

Red and Blue America Aren’t Experiencing the Same Pandemic

The disconnect is already shaping, even distorting, the nation’s response

medium.com

To my eyes, modern America resembles nothing so much as a land full of working poor doing their best to buy as much stuff as they can to enrich the few who own all the industry. Whole office buildings are stuffed full of analysts and accountants who want to make the process as efficient as possible, crunching the terabytes of data farmed daily through the internet, loyalty cards, and credit transactions.

America is no longer the land without class where anybody can make it good, anybody can be President (despite the current example), anybody can become a millionaire.

Most Americans struggle to pay the bills. An accident, a medical emergency, even a pregnancy can wipe out savings and create a debt that may take years to pay off.

And here is that emergency

The Covid-19 virus is on track. Barrelling along at 35% more infections each day and deaths to match, the cold mathematical equations of asymptotic growth are reaching up toward the flatlined figures of China, where the daily count of those freshly infected could fit in a schoolbus, rather than a city the size of Aspen or Lexington.

Republicans, doubtless inspired by the wildly fluctuating messages emerging from the White House, do not consider the virus to be a significant threat. Most, I am sure, regard it as something the media whipped up to sell papers, or a hoax devised by a foreign power — or worse, the Democrats — to make their leader look like a fool.

Democrats, on the other hand, are busily enforcing lockdowns and quarantine measures, taking their lead from medical science rather than the world of politics.

Day One of my five-day prediction

Total infected rose from 20 227 to 27 111 — an increase of 34%. Deaths went from 279 to 340, a 22% increase, and 1.25% of the total infected. In both cases, the absolute numbers were the worst single-day figures of the pandemic within America.

I am confident — sadly and despairingly so — that the coming day will see worse figures in all regards.

Even the Democratic-controlled cities and states are not doing nearly enough to halt the virus. China went into virtually 100% lockdown and rigorously traced contacts of every newly-diagnosed patient. New York state alone has over a quarter of all of America’s infected, and though states of emergency have been declared there at all levels of government, and a “shelter-in-place” order proclaimed, new cases are reported at over 2 000 daily, well above the national average.

Once numbers in more sparsely-populated Republican jurisdictions reach similar levels, I expect rates of infection and death to be even higher, simply because there is a political resistance to taking the disease seriously. Shrugging off Covid-19 as just another cold or some sort of media hoax isn’t a winning strategy.

The chart so far

The flat yellow line at the top is China, the blue line heading up is America. In days to come, the slope of that blue line will steepen, and in four days time will cross the horizontal China line, heading up almost vertically.

Here in Australia

I live in Melbourne — Victoria, not Florida — and here the federal and state governments are in agreement, as are all of the state governments. Every day more limitations are being imposed nationally. Restaurants, clubs, bars, churches, cinemas, indoor sporting venues and others will close from midnight tomorrow, with the expectation that they will not reopen for six months.

Only two state borders remain open, the northern and southern borders of New South Wales. Non-essential interstate travel is otherwise at a halt, and the very strong suggestion from the Prime Minister is that travel of any sort is discouraged.

Social distancing is not yet mandatory, but guidelines are in place to assist in keeping two metres between strangers at all times. The sight of sunbathers and swimmers on Sydney’s famous Bondi beach ignoring guidelines sparked criticism from the top, and legislation is now being passed to put teeth into suggestions.

Schools remain open, but the expectation is that they will not reopen after the upcoming end of term, and ways will be found to educate students remotely.

Britni

Britni Pepper writes for Kindle Direct Publishing. She runs a blog where she reviews erotica, and rambles on about this and that. She may be reached on Twitter and Facebook.

More on Covid-19 predictions:

American Horror

Let me make a prediction

medium.com