Ross: Ignoring the infection count does not stop the virus
Jul 9, 2020, 7:30 AM | Updated: 10:19 am
A nurse tending to a COVID-19 patient peers out the window of a door while waiting for additional supplies in the acute care COVID unit at Harborview Medical Center on May 7, 2020 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Karen Ducey/Getty Images)
(Photo by Karen Ducey/Getty Images)
There are at least some numbers everyone agrees on: The number of COVID-19 deaths in the United States is now at about 135,000, more than three times the typical flu deaths for this season.
Total confirmed cases: 3.1 million, about 1% of the U.S. population. Those numbers are probably low, but that’s what we have.
And we know the virus keeps spreading.
It spreads at rallies, at crowded parties, mostly indoors but sometimes outdoors; it can be spread by people who don’t think they’re spreading it; it even spreads at church among good people who pray.
And we definitely know calling it names like “Kung Flu” doesn’t stop it.
So what do we do?
CBS News correspondent David Begnaud reports one Florida county came up with this idea:
“North of Orlando in Volusia County, Sheriff Mike Chitwood says his local health department has stopped telling him how many people are infected in his county.”
But that doesn’t stop the virus either. And it doesn’t help with another all-too-familiar problem that journalist Carter Evans witnessed in California:
“Nurse Mary Miller told me she gets one mask per shift, seeing both COVID patients and people who were not infected.”
Yes – we’re back to PPE shortages! When it happened the FIRST time – understandable. But for it to happen a second time?
Whether it’s wishful thinking or willful ignorance, I can’t say — but this takes it to a whole new level.
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