COVID19 Update - Day 137

US Tests: 50,635,683*

US Cases: 4,158341*

US Deaths: 138,692*

Worldwide Cases: 15,909,757*

Worldwide Deaths: 641,889*

* - Numbers are a lower bound.  True numbers are being suppressed by the Trump administration

We can create the internet, and smart phones, because the science behind these things isn't subject to popular opinion.  No one is going to use their ignorance make a political issue out of internet protocols, for example.

I hope that someday, we can let knowledgeable experts and facts lead the way in public policy.  But clearly, today is not that day:

When the Covid-19 pandemic took hold in the United States this spring, companies jumped on the opportunity to advertise the ways they were supporting their customers and workers. The commercials became repetitive and indiscernible from one another, but corporate America’s message was clear: We’re all in this together.

Now companies have begun quietly rolling back many of the benefits, perks, and allowances they so loudly announced earlier this year. The state of the Covid-19 pandemic isn’t materially different than it was a few months ago — arguably, it’s now more widespread and worse. But corporations seem ready to move on.

“It’s just unclear that we could point to anything that’s different that would provide a reason to think that companies had strong moral reasons to be taking these steps in March and April, and that somehow those reasons are now gone,” said Brian Berkey, an assistant professor of legal studies and business ethics at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

It turns out that “we’re all in this together” was a limited-time offer.

Meanwhile, Congress won't be passing another stimulus/relief bill any time soon, even though the current benefits package is exhausted, and a lot of people have rent and mortgage payments due this Friday.

We are nowhere close to the bottom of this thing.