Here are some winners and losers in the ongoing COVID-19 scourge. And if you’re really observant, you’ll notice one name appears in both categories.
WINNERS, first.
SCIENTISTS — There’s no way to get around it. All of a sudden, all those science nerds with the pocket protectors — the ones we made fun of in high school and that we’ve continued to ridicule in every second-rate teenage comedy film ever made — are rock stars.
The ones who develop a vaccine that prevents this thing, or a series of drugs that blunt its impact, will be rock stars on a par with Robert Plant or Paul McCartney.
ENVIRONMENTALISTS — There’s no way to get around this, either. Every sin we’ve ever committed as a species has ended up working against us once this virus took hold. I read something last week that areas with higher levels of air pollution were hardest hit by fatalities. It seems easy enough to understand. Breathing in unhealthy air is not conducive to healthy lungs, and could lead to compromised immune systems. And compromised immune systems leave you more susceptible to getting the worst of this thing — and dying from it.
All their doomsday pessimism is looking awfully prescient these days.
And those Debbie Downers who have complained for years about overpopulation are kind of an adjunct to all this. Crowded cities mean crowded living conditions. Crowded living conditions mean difficulty in engaging in the social distancing we’ve been told is necessary at this point to stop the growth of this disease.
I’m not sure “winner” is the right word in this case, but at the very least, these people who have been so roundly ridiculed for their beliefs have the validation — in this case anyway — that they were not wrong.
ADVOCATES OF STRONG, CENTRAL GOVERNMENT — There’s always been a debate in this country over big government vs. strong government. I’ve never understood it. We’re a country, not 50 countries that exist on the same mainland. There’s got to be something that ties us together.
This is the type of situation that cried out for a strong, controlling central force that coordinated things like testing, and distribution of supplies so that they went where they were needed most. We should never have had to listen to governors plead with the feds for medical equipment.
DONALD TRUMP — Like them or not, incumbents always seem to have an advantage in these times. Trump is no exception. If Joe Biden hadn’t been accused of sexual assault, and if he didn’t go on Morning Joe last week, we’d have forgotten what he looks like now.
Even Jimmy Carter, who looked powerless at the hands of Iranian terrorists who took hostages from the U.S. embassy in 1979, was able to wrap himself inside the Rose Garden and use incumbency to ward off Ted Kennedy.
CHARLIE BAKER — This is a local column, so we’re going local in the race between Baker and Andrew Cuomo.
Baker has been calm, measured, not given to hyperbole and earnest.
Yeah, there are people who are starting to pressure him on opening up the state sooner than he’d like to. But he’s doing what he thinks is right, and doing it for the right reasons.
THE LOSERS (and it’ll be hard to limit it to five)
KIDS. EVERYWHERE. EVERY AGE. It is a sad fact of life that the worst things that happen to our youth — wars and sickness — are totally beyond their control. Kids don’t start wars, but boy, oh, boy are we willing to let them go to some of the most God-forsaken spots on earth to fight them.
And kids don’t create conditions that lead to cancer and other serious illnesses. They certainly didn’t create this.
But they’re paying for it, whether it’s being deprived of everything they’ve worked toward for 12 years of their lives to being told they can’t go outside and do what kids do — play, run around, and burn off energy.
I know a lot of us have lost jobs, and we’ve had our lives put on hold. But these kids have been robbed of the glory of their senior years — proms, graduations, parties, that feeling of having reached the highest of the highs through hard work and commitment. All of it gone thanks to this virus.
I cannot imagine how that must feel.
This is why I can’t take these idiot protesters seriously — unless they’re running around with weapons. Then, I take them seriously.
And I especially can’t take people seriously who are whining about not being able to engage in activities that contribute nothing to the better-being of our general conditions in these circumstances.
Tell you what. Give these kids their well-earned accomplishments back, or find a way to make it better for them, then we’ll talk about your leisure time. OK?
RETIREES — That could be almost-retirees, or people whose investments are earmarked for retirement. They were the first victims of the economic collapse precipitated by this virus, and, really, they’re as vulnerable as anyone because, in most cases, they’re on fixed incomes and have no other way to make money.
Whenever I see my financial guy’s name come up on my caller ID a chill runs through me, because I have no idea what he’s going to tell me. Or whether I even want to know.
PEOPLE WITH MEDICAL CONDITIONS — Because of this virus, you can’t get in to see a doctor for routine visits. That’s not as simple as it sounds.
Those with chronic conditions, as opposed to urgent or emergency care, are left with phone appointments and there’s only so much one can do talking to your doctor over the phone. Telephones don’t take blood pressure, or test for A1C numbers, or listen to a pulse, or a heartbeat, or stick the stethoscope in your chest or back to listen to patients’ breathing.
BUSINESSES LARGE AND SMALL — But mostly small. They’re the ones that always get caught in the squeeze. Looking at the business ethic is a lot like looking at the old Pacman game, where the larger objects just gobble up the small ones. Regardless of the atmosphere, the larger ones always win out.
And that — apparently — has happened with the CARES act too, where the ones who needed the money the most somehow managed not to get it. They’ve had to go to longtime and valuable employees and tell them their services aren’t needed anymore (through no fault of theirs).
DONALD TRUMP — If you didn’t like him before, you really don’t like him now.
He spent two months scoffing at the seriousness of this virus, then he tried to blame Democrats for exaggerating it to use against him, then he blamed Obama for leaving him unprepared, then he blamed the Democrats again for impeaching him, and, well, you get the idea.
If he could have blamed you and me for this, he would have.
