Let Them Play?

Is it safe to let schools open? Should we let them play? This past week, 1,500 people died of Covid-19 in a single day. The highest reported number of Covid-19 deaths since May. For 19 days, we have lost an average of more than 1000 people a day. A report in the New York Times by Denise Lu noted that there were more than 200,000 more deaths in the U.S. since March than in a normal year. The official and confirmed numbers are under-counting by 60,000 deaths.
U.S. residents died more than higher than it would be in a normal year, a Times analysis found. This is just since March. Those “excess deaths” reflect the true cost of the pandemic. Most of the recent coronavirus cases and deaths in the South have been driven largely by premature reopenings and lack of social-distancing enforcement.

 

Let Them Play? I guess Trump needs another distraction. Joblessness remains at historically high levels. Under Trump, more than 30 million Americans receive unemployment assistance. The U.S. economy shrank by a stunning 9.5 percent from April through June. The fastest quarterly rate drop in modern record-keeping. He wants to watch football instead of doing his job.

In South Korea, fans have been attending professional baseball games for weeks. And in parts of Europe, some soccer and tennis matches are open to spectators. However, the United States reported its highest number of deaths from the novel coronavirus in a single day this week since mid-May. 1500 deaths!

The country has seen an average of newly reported deaths remain above 1,000 for 19 consecutive days. However, President Trump continues to press for the nation’s schools to bring children into classrooms, for businesses to open and for athletes to fill stadiums. He even threatened to divert federal money from schools that don’t open.