COVID19 Update - Day 141

US Tests: 52,985,577*

US Cases: 4,328,695*

US Deaths: 141,430*

Worldwide Cases: 16,662,462*

Worldwide Deaths: 658,861*

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

For some strange reason, the numbers from The COVID Tracking Project aren't getting updated again.  So while I wait for the numbers to actually catch up to being depressed ONLY by the Trump administration, let's talk about what we COULD do to protect 'essential' workers if only we were so inclined:

Bus drivers, flight attendants, Transportation Security Administration officers and other transportation workers have found themselves on the front line of the pandemic, continuing to go to work and risking exposure to the virus. Willis wrote in his letter that every union he represents has had members fall ill and die.

In the absence of a single set of rules from the federal government, airlines and airports have been setting their own standards for passengers and employees. In recent weeks, though, airlines have been toughening up their rules on masks and banning passengers who don’t comply.

Major transit agencies, too, require face coverings. In the Washington area, Metro officials told passengers to wear masks in May. New York requires masks on the subway and buses, as well as on ferries and in taxis.

But enforcing rules has proved tricky. In Philadelphia, authorities had to dial back their policy after officers were shown on video dragging a man from a bus.

In the petition, Willis said the pandemic made it clear that the department had the power to issue a rule on an emergency basis, bypassing the need to take public comments, which might extend the process for months.

A rule is needed, he wrote, because the federal government could help with enforcement and because guidelines and policies adopted by private companies have proved insufficient.

If we had a functional federal government, led by a president who is actually interested in saving lives (as well as 'opening up' the country as soon as possible), a rule like this would have been issued 6 months ago.