You Have GOT To Be Kidding in Book Seven: Reconstruction 2020

I should be upstairs cleaning my kitchen. It is a mess. Three parts cooking a helluva lot more and Two parts working a lot more equals giant kitchen mess. But… I’m ever so slightly enraged. First, some needed background information.

I live in Iowa. The Red State that gave the United States Chuck Grassley, Joni Ernst, and Stephen King. So… not exactly the best group of “conservative but professional.” Our Governor reflects the same spirit. While I do applaud her for doing something about Social Distancing and COVID, you’ll remember that she is the governor that refused to do any Shelter in Place order and (when asked about it) suggested that Dr. Fauci didn’t have “all the facts”. So… yeah. Really not starting off strong, there. But it keeps going. When Iowa was at 100 deaths, the Governor started talking about re-opening everything… despite the fact that less than 1% of our population had tested AT ALL and despite the fact that many places in the state were starting to get their first “bloom” in an outbreak way. From “we should do this” to “we’re doing this” 74 more people died. The weekend before she opened “Churches, Bars, Restaurants, and Farmer’s Markets” back up? Iowa got 1,000 new COVID confirmations. Hell, my county had two new cases this week alone. BUT… that didn’t prevent the Governor from doing exactly as she had intended to do starting April 12. Of Iowa’s 99 counties, she “re-opened” 77 of them based on population density. Because, and this is a refrain I’m hearing a lot lately, “Rural areas are basically immune”… which as anyone who understands anything about anything will tell you is absolute bullshit but more on that after this “facts first” portion. Areas like Linn, Scott, Polk, and Dubuque still have full lockdown in place.... or “full” in the sense that we’ve never had Shelter in Place and simply are requesting that certain establishments in those counties remain closed.

So what happened today that upsets me? Well… the state has been “relaxed” for approximately 36 hours when I get a knock on my back door. A young man who wants to convince me to switch to DirectTV. He is not wearing a face mask or gloves (I was wearing a face mask yesterday to go to my office because… our county is in the middle of this thing right now). He spends about ten minutes trying to convince me to switch from Cable to Dish. High pressure sales (I get it, if he is on commission, he probably really needs this). During the “conversation” I ask him where he is from. Y’know, cuz if he is IN my county, maybe I can help him our by hooking him up with one of our Associations so that he doesn’t have to do what he’s doing. He tells me that he’s based out of Des Moines. In Polk County. A county that still has FULL restrictions in place due to population density. THAT PISSES ME OFF!

You can yell because I’m angry that this young man is “trying to work and put food on his table” but I’m going to call you bloody short sighted. This man didn’t volunteer to be in need. This man lives in a state where the Governor said she is trying to limit Unemployment Payouts. This man works for a company that basically said, “We need you to travel all over the state during a pandemic, without PPE, or we won’t pay you.” None of this is “for the sake of the worker” and don’t be so naive to think that it is. But what we have here?? A man from a HIGH RISK CONTAGION area was required by his company to travel to a MILD OUTBREAK area to go door to door WITHOUT A MASK to interact with as many people as he could. That’s what is happening. That is why “rural areas” are not immune. That is why we aren’t “at the end of this”… we’re so IN THE MIDDLE OF IT right now that when the second wave hits… I don’t think you’ll be able to technically call it a second wave! Because the first wave won’t have gone down yet… this will simply be considered a “re-emergence”… and that’s bullshit. I understand that this is an economic and political crisis as well as a health crisis. I do understand that. But do you know how we actually end the deaths?? (1) Restrictions stay in place until the last NEW CASE has been in isolation for 14 days. (2) At least five to ten percent of the population has been tested WITH enough test kits to continue to test if/when people show symptoms. (3) A slow, steady, concentrated, and thought out re-opening strategy that focuses on opening Hospitals (beyond COVID and ER treatments), Doctor’s Offices, and any other area of Health Care (including mental health care). AFTER those are open, begin opening Government Locations (courthouses, town halls, legislative spaces) for two reasons. The first? The things that should be priority open are the things that provide health and order. The second? HOW DARE anyone (Governor or Legislator) say that people should go back to work if they aren’t willing to do the same. If you aren’t willing to go into the office everyday because you’re worried about your health? FUCK YOU for asking others to do so. But that’s not what we’re doing. Because our country has (sarcasm) brilliantly decided to make a GLOBAL PANDEMIC all about us, our divisions, and pwning the libs. Because a monster is led by the head. And our head is firmly up our ass right now.

I’m just… very angry that POLK county came a-calling today to high pressure sell my ass when that boy should damn well not have left the county and damn well should not be contacting as many people as he can in our county.