Shabbat Shalom From Elmo!

Remember before Coronavirus when times where a little more innocent...

When we didn't have to worry about viruses spread by eating live or wild animals or that "escape" from weapons laboratories. 

It's good to be a little nostalgic.

Shabbat Shalom! ;-)

(Credit Graphic: Andy Blumenthal)

Shabbat Shalom From Elmo!

Plan To Restart The Economy WILL Look Something Like This

What will restarting the economy after Coronavirus look like?

Well Israel has a well-thought-out 4 Phase Plan (pending approval) and I would imagine that the U.S. plan will look something very much like this:

- Phase I: Tech and Finance, some Import/Export industries, 50% of Public Sector, and Preschool

- Phase II: Commerce/Retail Stores, Elementary School (ages 6-10)

- Phase III: Cafes, Restaurants, and Hotels, and most of the rest of the Education system

- Phase IV: Leisure and Entertainment: Culture, Sports, Large Shopping Malls, and Flights

There are 4 additional key provisions to this plan:

- 2 Week Buffer between phases to review and evaluate success before moving forward with the next phase. 

- "People over 60 and at-risk populations will not resume normal activity throughout the four phases."

- Resuming these activities occurs with the exercise of continued caution (e.g. social distancing, testing, etc.)

- Expect 2nd outbreak in the Fall and therefore continue to build up healthcare capabilities in preparation for this. 

This sounds like an excellent plan as a basis to reopen and one that we can and should build upon. ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal and thank you to my sister for sharing this with me)

Plan To Restart The Economy WILL Look Something Like This

Reopening The Country WITHOUT Endangering The Masses

I understand the absolute need to reopen the country from this Coronavirus. 

We can't shelter in place forever and watch our economy go into the toilet and our national debt bankrupt us!

Therefore, once we have the mechanisms to control the deadly spread, we must open up offices and stores again gradually to get people working and our economy going again. 

At the same time, I am pissed by those corporate executives that actually have the chutzpah and are pushing for us to open up crowded theaters, stadiums, and other such entertainment or other venues that are NOT critical and pose a greater risk for contagion to masses of people. 

Instead of these CEOs understanding the need to hold off on this pending a vaccination or adequate disease control measures, these greedy corporate chieftain seem to care little to nothing about the health of their customers, and only about lining their fat pocketbooks with more ticket sales. 

I think it's criminal type behavior to push our government to open prematurely and irresponsibly those venues that are of greatest risk to potentially millions of people to get sick or dead in order for them to profit from it!  ;-)

Note: It's reported that COVID-19 compared to the flu in 22 fewer days infected 11x as many people and killed 60 times as many. 

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Reopening The Country WITHOUT Endangering The Masses

Now This Is Scary On Coronavirus

Latest Coronavirus news reported by Reuters from South Korea...

Virus appears to be "reactivated" after person is already cleared of it.

91 patients so far!

Is this the result of faulty testing or is this not your typical virus???

Folks, it does not look like we are in clear by a long shot on this yet. 

Be careful and stay safe!  ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal and thank you to my sister with a PhD in biomedical science for sharing this with me)

Now This Is Scary On Coronavirus

Ignorance Isn't Bliss

Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called, "Ignorance Isn't Bliss."

It’s Passover, and we celebrate our deliverance from Egyptian slavery, yet this is a slavery that was foretold by Hashem, and as you could say, like with many bad things that happen in this world (e.g. Coronavirus), we knew it was coming!

To me it’s not about being afraid, but rather it’s about being prepared. It’s great to be an optimist, but it’s important to be practical, especially when it comes to saving lives. Yes, we need to have faith in G-d and believe that ultimately everything is according to His word and plan for the world, but at the same time, we need to be responsible and do our part to protect ourselves and the future from terrible things that we have a relatively high-level of confidence will happen. There is no mitzvah to wait and be caught off guard, rather there is a commandment to save life (“Pikuach Nefesh”), and for this we need to “face up to facts” (including our known vulnerabilities, threats, and our capabilities to address them) and actually be very well prepared.

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Ignorance Isn't Bliss

Synagogue or Sickness?

Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called, "Synagogue or Sickness?"

When I was a kid and my father would {strongly} encourage me to go to synagogue. My father was a man of deep faith and he used to say warningly to me: "It's better to go to synagogue than to the hospital." Obviously, he was implying that if I didn't follow G-d's word, then G-d forbid, he would punish me and instead of going to Shul, I would go to the hospital. Maybe not the best way to teach someone to want to go to prayer services, but I know he meant it out of complete love for me and ultimately for my best.

Yet ironically, now with coronavirus preventing us from practicing the many communal aspects of our faith, so many of us can only but wish that we could just go to synagogue to celebrate the holidays and Shabbat together once again. Unfortunately, for now at least, we don't even have the option to go to synagogue⁠—the choice has been taken from us. G-d willing, hopefully soon, we can once again go⁠—with willingness and love⁠—not only to pray at synagogue, but also to the holy Third Temple in Jerusalem itself.
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Synagogue or Sickness?

Corona Matzah Man

So this is what happens when Coronavirus pandemic coincides with Passover. 

We get a Corona Matzah Man wearing his face mask so he doesn't get sick, G-d forbid. 

Even as we get ready to celebrate the seder tonight and recall G-d's mercifully delivering us from Egyptian servitude, we also can be certain that He will deliver us from this dreaded Coronavirus. 

G-d is all powerful and has a purpose for everything. 

Perhaps, we just needed a reminder of who was in charge not only on Passover, but all the year round. ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Corona Matzah Man

The Grass Still Needs To Be Mowed

Even with Coronavirus and the associated lockdowns and social distancing, the grass still needs to be mowed.

These two are doing the work but also look like they could be playing some bumper cars too! 

So it is: Life goes on; the world is not (yet) ending. 

Unfortunately, there are people suffering and dying. 

And we need to help them and try and save their lives. 

Also, not forget their families and those out of work. 

But as far as the world is concerned, the grass still keeps growing. 

The living will go on living as best they can. ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

The Grass Still Needs To Be Mowed

The Covid-19 Graph -- No One Wants To Confront

This is the Coronavirus chart that I don't think anyone wants us to confront. 

Rather than the typical chart we are shown with one high and then it tapers off and all is well...

There could be scenarios where there are multiple curves and peaks. 

For example, if we send people back out to (work, school, etc.) and stop the social distancing too early--while there are still Coronavirus carriers around us and we don't have an effective vaccine--then the contagion can start all over again. 

Further, even with a vaccine, if the virus mutates (and could become more virulent) then this infection can go on spreading and killing with multiple peaks. 

In short, this is the chart that speaks to cases where businesses are closed and people out of work much longer than expected, and where the recession takes hold and does some potentially real and lasting damage above and beyond what's perhaps already priced in. 

Again, let's hope and pray that we don't stop the social distancing prematurely and that our doctors and scientists get the vaccine for us sooner rather than later. 

(Source Graphic: Andy Blumenthal)

The Covid-19 Graph -- No One Wants To Confront

Those Were Different Days

Wow, those were different days...

When the stores still had stuff on the shelves. 

And you could go in without waiting outside for half an hour for social distancing. 

With everyone wearing protective masks and obsessively washing their hands, so please G-d not to get sick. 

Then we were happy!

Now we are all just scared. 

Even if some people are pretending they aren't.  

It's more what we still don't know then what we do. 

And how things can unravel so quickly.

Makes us all appreciate what we had, and hopefully what we'll have again. 

Shabbat Shalom!  ;-)

( Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Those Were Different Days

Pathogen Deaths - Worst Is Yet To Come

So maybe I am the only one who doesn't see how things are adding up.

But in the U.S. we have 4,000 dead from Coronavirus and 3/4 of the country (all the major population centers) are on lockdown. 

Yet, the projections are still for deaths in the U.S. to pile up between 100,000 to 240,000. 

How do you get from 4,000 to 240,000 with most people under lockdown?

The numbers of projected deaths were in the millions before the lockdown and social distancing, so yes the numbers are lower and better now. 

Still the escalating death toll is frightening in its magnitude of what is yet to come DESPITE the lockdown.

Moreover, the estimated death in the U.S. from the Flu was only 34,000 (2018-2019) and that's with everybody round and about doing their business.

My question is what happens after the (first) peak when they send people back to work and school?

There are still going to be people sick and contagious out there and the whole cycle STARTS AGAIN until we get the vaccine. 

And even after the vaccine, it may become seasonal like the flu or mutate and become even more virulent. 

It seems like there is plenty of reason to be cautious and concerned about what is yet to happen from here.

Then again we may be considered fortunate this time and actually beat this Coronavirus, but then again what happens when the NEXT really bad natural or man-made pathogen gets out? ;-)

Note: There are approximately 16 countries with deadly biological weapons programs. 

(Credit Photo: My wonderful so-in-law, Itzchak)

Pathogen Deaths - Worst Is Yet To Come

Harris Teeter War Zone

Who would've thought that going to Harris Teeter would be a war zone. 

But this guy in the respirator mask is showing us how bad things can start to get. 

As an avid fan of the show The Walking Dead, I think we are entering TWD territory with the people walking around with their face's half covered and some looking sick with fear and worry or perhaps even with symptoms--who knows!

What is amazing is how things can go from boom to bust, and not just for our economy, but for life and civilization itself at the turn of a dime. 

Yesterday, I read how the CFO of Jefferies Group Investment Bank (NYC) died at age 56 from Coronavirus. 

Even as the Navy's hospital ships Mercy and Comfort enter the ports of Los Angeles and New York City to lend a hand and about 1,000 hospital beds each, it seems like more and more of these deadly cases are hitting the papers and social media every day.

Where does this sickness stop?   

What happens if the virus mutates again and become even more virulent?

How do we ever feel even remotely secure again?

Can we keep taxing our already overwhelmed healthcare system with more and more sick patients?

How long can we keep printing Monopoly bailout money (incredibly, there is talk of yet another multi-trillion Coronavirus stimulus bill even after we just passed this $2.2 trillion one last week)?

Eventually, as we all know circumstances can indeed overwhelm the health and financial systems, and even our governments...thank G-d we aren't there. 

But what we are all beginning to see in the midst of crisis is that "there" isn't really all that far away from "here."

...That life hangs by a truly thin thread. 

And because we can only do so much, this is where we really need to look up to the heavens and ask for G-d's help and mercy.  ;-)

(Credit Photo: my wonderful son-in-law, Itzchak)

Harris Teeter War Zone

Hope Amidst Coronavirus

This is absolutely what I call:

Hope Amidst Coronavirus.

Life is hope. 

The children are our future. 

Love and caring is our continuity. 

G-d's is the Master over it all. ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Hope Amidst Coronavirus

Don't Cough On Granny

So these are the signs of the times of Coronavirus. 

Pictures telling us not to cough on Granny. 

Cover your germy mouth!

Don't get the older and more vulnerable amongst us sick. 

I was in the elevator the other day, standing in the corner next to the elevator buttons. 

Someone else--an older person--gets on with a big (double size) shopping cart.

He's standing in the opposite back corner (kitty corner from me) with this huge cart between us. 

Then he starts yelling at me, literally, to "get in the corner!"

Ah, I'm already in the opposite corner. 

He's huffing and puffing angry that he wants me to literally get up against both walls. 

I was almost tempted to say something like maybe you should just get off and catch the next elevator Sir. 

But I held my tongue, in part out of sympathy for these elderly people who are obviously really scared (and maybe rightfully so) of the Coronavirus. 

Sometimes, I think to myself what if we were really hit at some point in the future with a very deadly bioweapon that was expressly designed to kill and to repulse any sort of countermeasures against it. 

What if the fatality rate was 1/3 to 2/3 of the population like in the Middle Ages Bubonic Plague or even higher like 100% of anyone that gets infected from a military-grade, genetically modified virus (similar to effects from Ebola). 

Maybe it's not good to ask what ifs, but if we are really going to learn anything from this, then I think we need to extrapolate from the relatively minor now to the potential major down the road. 

If you think we have hysteria, deaths, and $2.2 trillion U.S. impact now, this is just a glimpse of what could actually happen. 

We need to seriously rethink our disaster preparedness and response--big time.  ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Don't Cough On Granny

Rescue Plan Is Largely Another Shortsighted Bailout

First of all let me point out these photos of the day.

The first one are blue lines on the floor at Whole Foods telling people to keep their social distance from other customers. 

One person crossed the blue line and another customer promptly yelled at them that they were going to get them sick!

The second photo is limiting Nutter Butters ("Nut Butters") to 4 per customer during this coronavirus--sh*t people are downing Nutter Butters like there truly is no tomorrow.  LOL

Finally, looking over the $2 trillion Coronavirus Rescue Plan, I see a lot of bailouts--about half through grants and half through loans.  

On the positive and largely necessary side are increases to unemployment insurance payments and aid to needy households (up to $150,000 for married couples is needy?) and to hospitals and transit.

In terms of the business loans, there are "forgivable" ones to small business, so not sure how that is a "loan."

Overall though, it seems like we are throwing a lot of other money around that we as a country don't have and will end up paying in terms of a higher national debt and higher interest payments for generations to come.  

This is another lost opportunity!

If we were already going to spend big money like this, why not pass the infrastructure spending bill to rebuild our aging roads, bridges, electric grid, aviation, public transit, and expand internet coverage.  This would actually put people back to work and build America again, rather than give corporate handouts that are shortsighted and with squat to show for it for the country's ultimate benefit.

Everyone likes to get freebies, but eventually the country will come back to pay the piper, and there will be bread lines and not Nutter Butter. ;-)

(Credit Photos: Minna Blumenthal)

Rescue Plan Is Largely Another Shortsighted Bailout

Enough! Coronavirus Already

Day G-d's knows what of being locked down for this global Coronavirus outbreak. 

I am soooo SICK of Coronavirus!

It's time to slay this Covid-19 and get this world back to normal. 

Sure, I am extremely grateful for every day of health and certainly not to be in the lousy hospital.

But life has got to be about more than Coronavirus. 

It's not Armageddon, but slow water torture or death by a thousand cuts. 

The repetitiveness is mind-numbing, repulsive already. 

The news is boring, snoring everyone to tears. 

The fear is morphing into unintended complacency.

The "rescue plan" everyone knows is more pork barrel politics.

The wild gyrations of the stock market is nonstop ticker tape Vegas style. 

Even the grocery and toilet paper hoarding has got to have an end in sight.

It's not that Coronavirus isn't serious and important, but what about everything else in the world.

Can we start to give some attention to life again? ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Enough! Coronavirus Already

3 Months of Social Distancing

Here is a link to the modeling for Covid-19:
https://covidactnow.org/

You can click any state to see the impact of 3 months of social distancing or 3-months of Shelter in Place.

Basically, it looks like this first round of coronavirus will last until around the beginning of June. 

The hope is that we can keep the hospitals and medical system from being overwhelmed while we try to come up and test an effective vaccine. 

Of course, vaccines are helpful, but look how many still get the flu every year because viruses mutate and the vaccine misses the mark.

Also, there is a risk that the virus comes back even more virulent again, so we all need to continue to pray! ;-)

(Thank you to my sister for sharing this with me.)

3 Months of Social Distancing

Life In The Times of Coronavirus

I heard my daughter laughing from another room.

A real hearty bellyaching laugh. 

Then she came in and shared a WhatsApp post from one of her friends which said:

I ate 11 times and took 5 naps and I woke up and it's still today!

Then I couldn't stop laughing. ;-)

(Credit Graphic: Andy Blumenthal)

Life In The Times of Coronavirus

We Just Magically Found $2,000,000,000,000

It's amazing how we can magically find $2 trillion for a Coronavirus "Rescue Plan."

This after we already wasted over $6.4 trillion (and thousands of our dead and wounded) through 2017 in unexplainable and endless wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with no known or lasting benefits to this country (while archenemy, Iran continues their pursuit of nukes unabated). 

And for decades, we haven't been able to find money for:

- Decent healthcare for all Americans.

- Ensuring our national security, including adequate planning and disaster preparedness for things like Coronavirus, cybersecurity, WMDs, EMPs, and for critical infrastructure protection. 

- Repairing our aging roads, bridges, and infrastructure. 

- Fixing our broken public education system.

- Helping our countless of homeless and needy lying the streets of our nation. 

- Restoring our space program to get a man on the moon again or put another shuttle into space. 

When politics are in play, there is plenty of money to go around. 

But when the nation needs proper care and feeding, there are no adults in the room. ;-)

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

We Just Magically Found $2,000,000,000,000

Trying To Maintain Normality

People are trying to get out of the house for just a little bit each day amidst the mandated social distancing. 

Especially difficult is to try to get some exercise with all the fitness centers, gyms, and pools closed down. 

Some people are just choosing to go for a walk around the track or get in a quick workout with a few friends or family members. 

Can we be normal when everything is abnormal? ;-)

(Credit Video: Andy Blumenthal)

Trying To Maintain Normality