Q Toon: Doctors' Orders

As soon as Vice President Pence's task force on Novel Coronavirus-19 was announced, we learned that its chief mission was to control any information that might come out of it. Their meetings are closed to the public, and the health experts on the task force are not permitted to discuss anything with the media without prior clearance from above.

President Trump has suddenly gone all Pollyanna on us, promising a vaccine any day now and that we can all keep on just keeping on, no big whup, as long as we build his big ugly wall against Mexico and keep all the cruise ships out at sea. 96.6% of us will be just fine.

History tells us that it's not as simple as that.

When the influenza epidemic of 1918 infected a quarter of the U.S. population, killing tens of millions of people, seemingly small choices made the difference between life and death.
As the disease was spreading, Wilmer Krusen, Philadelphia’s health commissioner, allowed a huge parade to take place on September 28th; some 200,000 people marched. In the following days and weeks, the bodies piled up in the city’s morgues. By the end of the season, 12,000 residents had died.
In St. Louis, a public health commissioner named Max Starkloff decided to shut the city down. Ignoring the objections of influential businessmen, he closed the city’s schools, bars, cinemas, and sporting events. Thanks to his bold and unpopular actions, the per capita fatality rate in St. Louis was half that of Philadelphia. (In total roughly 1,700 people died from influenza in St Louis.)
In the coming days, thousands of people across the country will face the choice between becoming a Wilmer Krusen or a Max Starkloff.

We've already seen cancellation of this year's tennis tournament at Indian Wells, California, and limiting of the Tokyo Marathon to elite runners. The National Basketball Association has suspended its season until further notice. Other sports events are playing in empty stadiums.

Presidential candidates are being pressured to stop holding campaign rallies (where the standing-room-only crowds typically wait for hours before the candidate shows up). This shouldn't be a problem for Tulsi Gabbard; but deprived of the cheers of his adoring fans, Trump's withdrawal symptoms are going to be ugly.

Italy is on lockdown, the Louvre was closed for a few days, Coachella has been postponed to November, Major St. Patrick's Day parades and D.C.'s Gridiron Dinner have been cancelled, and luxury cruise ships are turning into floating prisons.

When our late-night TV hosts start delivering their monologues and interview celebrities in empty studios next week, will anyone laugh at home? Should the Republican and Democratic National Conventions be held by teleconference?

This will affect everyday life too. We've been through this before: gay men had to change our sex practices with the advent of AIDS. Society was forced to change its tolerance of ubiquitous tobacco smoking once the connection of second-hand smoke to cancer became undeniable. But we're not talking about managing the spread of a disease by breaking one habit.

How will this pandemic will impact public schools, houses of worship, nursing homes, mass transit, shopping centers, and restaurants? It has slashed gas prices, but what is it doing to your (or your parents') retirement plan?

Can you make it through the next ten minutes without touching your face?