“This is gaslighting on an enormous scale, and means until people eventually get sick or their family members get sick, the communities hit hard, they won’t believe it, and then it will be too late,” said [Dr. Celine] Grounder. “The problem is there’s a lag period from the time that somebody’s infected and starts to…
Coronavirus
Coronavirus, Education, Public Health, School District
Local Portents on Addressing the Coronavirus
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
The Whitewater Unified School District, like every other district in the area, has choices to exercise about holding classes during this pandemic. The district recently sent an email link to a survey soliciting parents’ views, and the new district administrator and veteran school board will soon have important decisions to make. Over in the Jefferson…
Coronavirus, Covidiocy, Public Health, Trump
This is a Mask
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Coronavirus, Covidiocy, Public Health, Trump, Unfit
Trump: Slow the Testing
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Bad Ideas, Coronavirus, Covidiocy, Public Health, Walworth County
How ‘bout a New Slogan for the Walworth County Fair?
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
One reads that not only are organizers planning to hold the Walworth County Fair during a pandemic, but that they hope to entice patrons with beer sales. Candidly, aside from the pig races (always suspenseful), one can be hit-or-miss about the fair. Holding it this year is problematic; looking for ways to attract more people…
Authoritarianism, Books, Coronavirus, History, Libertarians, Liberty, Public Health, Reasoning, Rhetoric, Russia, Tyranny, Walworth County
An Example of Bottomless Ignorance in Walworth County
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Some residents of Walworth County, Wisconsin object to public health measures to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus. So hysterical is their opposition that one reads Opponents say county’s coronavirus safeguards are ‘like Russia’: Confronted by a raucous crowd of opponents fearing government intrusion, Walworth County Board members have backed away from a measure…
Coronavirus, Public Health
Frontline’s The Virus: What Went Wrong? (Full Film)
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Coronavirus, Culture, Police, Public Health, Race
Frontline: Race, Police, and the Pandemic
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
As streets across America erupt into clashes over racism during the coronavirus pandemic, Jelani Cobb of The New Yorker examines a connection between George Floyd’s death and the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 deaths among African Americans: “the thing that ties them together is empirical evidence of a phenomenon that had been dismissed otherwise.” Cobb describes how the relationship…
Conspiracy Theories, Coronavirus
Frontline’s Covering Coronavirus: United States of Conspiracy
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
As COVID-19 has spread, so, too, have misinformation and conspiracy theories about the virus — amplified by figures like Alex Jones, and proliferating on social media and even at the highest levels of government. Veteran FRONTLINE filmmaker Michael Kirk, who was already making a documentary about the rise of conspiracy theories in American politics when…
Budget, Coronavirus, Public Health, University, UW Madison, UW System
UW System President Ray Cross’s Overreach
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
Outgoing UW System President Ray Cross claims he has a long-range plan for the System, and he’s insistent that now is the time for its implementation. Henry Redman of the Wisconsin Examiner reports on the reasonable concern that Cross’s rush to implementation presents in UW faculty worry about ‘power grab’ by Cross at budget listening…
Coronavirus, Local Government, Natural Disaters, Public Health, State Government, Walworth County
Local Government Before a Flood
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Imagine that, during flooding near a small town, the town’s levees are about to fail. How might local officials respond to this impending calamity? 1. They might deny that there is a flood. 2. They might admit that there is a flood, but deny that the levees are failing. 3. They might admit that there…
Coronavirus, Documentary, Public Health
Frontline‘s Covering Coronavirus: Inside Italy’s COVID War (Full Film)
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
A rare and harrowing look inside a hospital hard-hit by the coronavirus in northern Italy, following the stories of an ER doctor, her staff and patients battling COVID-19. With unprecedented and intimate access, FRONTLINE goes inside a besieged hospital unit in the region at the epicenter of Italy’s coronavirus outbreak, where doctors and nurses try…
Coronavirus, Economics, Economy, Employment, Federal Reserve, Public Health
Federal Reserve Chair Powell’s Interview on Economic Recovery
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Last night, 60 Minutes broadcast an interview with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell in which Powell discussed current economic conditions and prospects for recovery. (Powell sat for the interview on Wednesday, 5.13.20 with Scott Pelley of CBS News.) The interview is available online, as is a transcript. Below are excerpts from the transcript (although Powell’s…
Coronavirus, Courts, Federal Government, Law, Local Government, Public Health, State Government, Trump
Practical Implications After Wisconsin v. Palm: The Divide over the Novel Coronavirus
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
On March 24th, I first began a draft of this post. It seemed to probable then – and it is true now – that Trump would effectually abandon a social distancing or stay-at-home approach, and encourage business as usual to resume promptly. The Wisconsin Supreme Court’s ruling in Wisconsin v. Palm has brought that abandonment to Wisconsin…