From a forthcoming chapter in Medical School 2020:
“I don’t think people realize what is coming. The virus is reported to have almost a 20 percent infection rate. On the cruise ship, one asymptomatic person infected 600 people. Our health system covers about 1 million people. We have 54 ICU beds. The numbers just don’t work.” He continues: “On top of this, this will be a supply crisis. Our health system reverts back to the medieval when we don’t have common medications. Penicillin is not made in the US anymore. There is going to be a huge shortage of needles. China supplies everything, and they are shut down.” Is he stockpiling? “Oh yeah.”
This conversation occurred last week. Our anonymous hero was shadowing the radiologists.
Separately, I was at a dinner party on Friday evening in a West LA house that Zillow estimates is worth $3.6 million. The guests on previous occasions spent about 90 percent of their time displaying their virtuous concern for others: Trump-hatred, wanting to help the vulnerable, social justice, etc. During this dinner, however, 90 percent of the conversation was about the rich white guests’ personal fears of contracting the coronavirus, whether to modify travel plans to minimize the risk, etc. (They mixed in a bit of Trump hatred by talking about how the $5 trillion/year Federal government would be powerless to do anything regarding coronavirus due to incompetent leadership by Trump and Pence. They have almost total faith in the power of the Federal government to solve problems, but only if the correct President and VP are installed at the top.)
[At least one Bernie supporter from 2016 had moved into the Elizabeth Warren camp. To judge by the dinner crowd, Warren’s appeal is strongest to women who don’t work and feel aggrieved that some people earn and/or have a lot of money. Bernie’s message is fundamentally about optimism that a slightly tweaked government (just one little tax on billionaires!) can deliver on every American’s dream while Warren is skimming off the most resentful subset of Bernie 2016 supporters?]
Given the large number of destitute people wandering around Los Angeles and/or camping on the sidewalk, I’m not too surprised that rich white people in LA have their personal welfare as Priority #1. But until coronavirus hit, there was some kind of social taboo about giving voice to this priority. Fear of death, apparently, has caused people to abandon any feeling of shame regarding selfish concern.
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