The Long, Hot Summer

Something i think may be getting lost in the coverage of the new IHME/U-Wash projection of 134,475 COVID-19 deaths in the US... this would be just through August 4. https://t.co/HcOSmF7oqR

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) May 5, 2020

Trump's own administration is projecting 3,000 U.S. coronavirus deaths PER DAY by 6/1—and he's STILL pushing states to re-open.@RepAdamSchiff warned us:

“You know you can’t trust [Trump] to do what’s right for this country. You can trust he will do what’s right for [himself]." pic.twitter.com/nvmXlsnRsI

— CAP Action (@CAPAction) May 5, 2020

Except, of course, the reopening is going slow, and will go slowly.  I got an e-mail from a theater chain, a survey of what I want to see before I'll return.  One was restricting people in the bathrooms to one at a time.  Given what's happened in Stillwater, OK, and Detroit, Michigan, it may take an armed guard to control people.  And can they force patrons to wear masks, much less hold their beer until it's their turn to pee?  I won't be rushing back because I won't even drink water in the movie under those conditions, but I also don't want to have to go to a crowded bathroom (as it usually is).

So businesses understand the problem.  Restaurants know it's more than a matter of spacing tables and closing the bar area.  A bathroom with more than two stalls is too big, for now.

Sure, 1000 people a day went to theaters in San Antonio over the weekend.  Is that enough to keep those theaters open, though?  Will the novelty wear off, especially if the contagion increases?  I don't want it to increase, but Trump "doing what's right for himself" is neither right for himself nor for the country.

On the other hand, how many Americans are willing to stay home from work and everything else until a vaccine is found?  That could be in 18 months, but history says it's more likely to be in 4 years.  Can we avoid this virus that long?

There is no easy way out of this, and assuredly, no way out that serves Trump's interests.  Deaths per day are projected to decline to 74 per day by August 4.  But 135,000 bodies by that same date is quite a stack of corpses to stage a re-election campaign on.