City Enters Phase 4 of Pretending Coronavirus is Over

Back in March and April, governors juggled simultaneous stay-at-home orders and subsequent re-opening plans to minimize the dual threats of COVID-19 and economic recession. Reopening plans came with phases; Each phase had specific numbers that had to be met, such as percent decline in new cases, an r0 below 1, and especially increased testing capabilities. A horrific and cruel pattern of inaction emerged, and by the time May rolled around, many states were unable to meet even the earliest guidelines to begin reopening. After squandering precious time to fight the virus, many governments-- included in states like Florida and Arizona-- reopened the economy, declaring the pandemic over and the economy booming.

As of today, June 22nd, Florida has over 100,000 COVID cases and Arizona just over 50,000. Both states have reported single day increases of over 3,000 and rank among some of the worst coronavirus hot spots in the world.

This screenshot of an Onion article uses satire and dark humor to capture this tragedy. If governors like Ron DeSantis and Doug Ducey had taken the threat of COVID seriously and followed the guidelines for reopening, they could have saved tens of thousands of lives. If President Donald Trump had used his power to manufacture more tests or PPE, he could have saved hundreds of thousands of lives. Instead, our leaders failed us, manipulating the numbers or ignoring the numbers altogether, simply proclaiming the pandemic over because they wished it to be so.

This satirical article would almost be funny, but it's not. It's not funny. It's infuriating, heartbreaking, macabre; It's so many things but none of them make me feel like laughing.

June 15, 2020

The Onion

Carolyn Evans

article

The Onion

English Pandemic Skeptics

English Consumer Culture (shopping, dinning...)

English Economy

English Public Space

English Government State

pretending

reopening

phases

PPE

Ron DeSantis

satire

Doug Ducey

06/22/2020

07/04/2020