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Novel Coronavirus/CoVid19

Now is as prudent of a time as any to address CoVid19. While the pandemic is current events, it'll most certainly be history for the future, and being a history blog, I feel obligated to say something. Today, Friday, March 13, 2020, the President of the United States of America, Donald J. Trump addressed the nation on the pandemic, outlining a plan to expedite treatment and care for those infected by the CoVid19 virus. There are partnerships with many nationwide retailers, including Walmart, Target, Walgreen's, and CVS, to maintain supplies in their stores, aided by cooperation with an alphabet soup of governmental organizations. News will be updated this following Sunday, the 15th.

 Despite being assured by Pres. Trump that the country has half a million test kits ready, and the capacity for 1.4mil by month's end, local health departments are reporting incredibly low supplies, and that they're rationing test kits for only patients "showing heavy symptoms," according to a Tweet. Yesterday, Thursday the 12th, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer declared all schools to be closed starting Monday the 16th, for a period of at least 2 weeks. Kent County schools decided against such action on Wednesday, justifying their actions by saying that many low-income students rely on school for government-subsidized meals. However, that was superseded by Gov. Whitmer's actions.

Over the past week, many employers have ordered nonessential staff to work remotely, or not at all. During a Wednesday night address to the nation, President Trump promised payroll tax cuts for those ordered to stay home, either through self-quarantine or through actions from the employers. Several local libraries have greatly reduced visiting hours - meaning I'm going to have to rely on the good ol' Information Superhighway to get the research done on this blog. Surf the web, bro...Browse the net. Take in the dumptruck of information, or if that's not your game, explore the series of tubes.

 Sports leagues are being cancelled and postponed. Hockey, both at the NHL and AHL levels, are cancelling games. The NBA has cancelled the remainder of the season. USA Swimming has cancelled the remainder of the swim season; interesting being that this is an Olympic year, and USA Swim is the gateway to the Olympic team. The Masters golf tournament has been postponed. Boston Marathon has been postponed until the fall.

 One aspect of this pandemic that I'm struggling with is the sheer amount of mis- and dis-information out there. Little more than a week ago, certain news outlets were painting this as a hoax, saying groundless things like "this pandemic is a misinformation campaign designed to impeach the President a second time," and "this pandemic is a Chinese bioterrorism attack." Some trusted news sources are painting Novel Coronavirus as little more than a seasonal flu bug, others are saying that it could wipe out 70% of the population. It'll be truly fascinating to see this whole thing play out. The panic around the pandemic is shedding some light on several key political issues in this election year: Healthcare costs, paid time off from work, work-from-home and remote work in this increasingly digital world, and keeping employees at part-time status indefinitely. I'm interested to see how these factor into the upcoming presidential election.

 Stay safe out there, wash your hands, and remember that facemasks are not for your protection, they're for keeping your snot from infecting others around you and preventing you from touching your face.

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