I Have No Patience With Fools, or Life in the Time of Coronavirus-19

Screenshot of a COVID-19 tracking map based on figures collected by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSCE) at Johns Hopkins University (JHU)

I don't have any patience for fools.

Especially fools who tend to see everything in terms of "conservatives vs. liberals," specifically when those folks tend to support that most foolish of Presidents, Donald Trump.

As you are no doubt aware, the world is in the midst of a coronavirus pandemic that began in Wuhan, China late last year (hence its label COVID-19) and, thanks to the smaller-world effects of jet travel, global trade, and cruise ship tourism (among other factors) has spread to the rest of good ol' Planet Earth. Because it's a novel virus, like SARS was in the early 21st Century, so far there is no vaccine or quick-remedy medicine.

Unlike Stephen King's fictional "Captain Trips" superflu from his 1978 novel The Stand, COVID-19 doesn't have a 99.9% mortality rate that will leave a handful of us to survive and split into two opposing ideological camps destined to fight the last battle between Good and Evil. Thus far, less than 6,000 individuals have died worldwide from COVID-19, and almost half of those who have been diagnosed with it have recovered. As of 3:33 AM today, out of seven billion people on the planet, there have been 156,400 confirmed cases.

But as with any viral infection, 156,400 confirmed cases may only be the tip of the iceberg; right now, you might be carrying the virus and not know it. COVID-19 can linger in your system for a week or even more before you become symptomatic. So if you've touched your face a lot lately or not covered your mouth and nose while sneezing and failed to wash your hands with soap and water, you could be a 21st Century Typhoid Mary (or, more aptly, a Corona Katie) and sharing the virus with all you come in contact with.

Right now, one mortality-related figure I've seen tossed around online is that if you are unlucky enough to catch COVID-19, there's only a 3% chance that you will die from its effects. Or, as someone wryly points out, that's as if someone gives you 100 Skittles and says, "Okay, there you go. 100 Skittles. But three candies are poisoned."

A sane person would say, "No, thank you" and walk away from the Skittles. Three candies out of 100 are good odds, true, but since the candies don't have "safe" or "poisoned" labels on them, the prudent choice is, "Don't eat the Skittles."*

Mucking about with COVID-19 is like mucking about with poisoned Skittles, and in a culture that embraces individualism (even if it is self-destructive) to ridiculous extremes, there are always idiots who will throw caution to the winds and put themselves (and others) at risk.

Take Katie Williams of Nevada, for instance.

You may remember Ms. Williams, a former U.S. Army sergeant and (more prominently) the reigning Miss Nevada 2019 who lost her crown for violating the pageant's rules about expressing political views on social media. Apparently, this young woman (29 at the time) is vocal about her support for Donald Trump, and when she was fired by the Miss Nevada pageant for posting about that topic, she cried about it on Facebook and Twitter and, voila! The MAGA crowd had a new pro-Trump cause celebre to rally around.

Well, it turns out that Ms. Williams is trying to turn her 15 minutes of infamy into a political career. Of course, she's not a lawyer or a businessperson, so she has to start as a candidate for the local school board. And what better (or worse) way to get attention by saying something stupid online about COVID-19?

In case you can't see her tweet from yesterday in the screenshot above, here is what Corona Katie has to say on the matter:

Replying to 
@AOC

I just went to a crowded Red Robin and I'm 30.

It was delicious, and I took my sweet time eating my meal. Because this is America. And I'll do what I want.

5:16 PM · Mar 14, 2020·Twitter for Android

I have no words to describe my outrage at this lack of common sense or apparent disregard for the general public. But there, in her own damning words, you have Katie Williams, on record, saying that she will do what she wants when she wants, because "this is America. And I'll do what I want."

Another bit of lunacy that hit closer to home was when a high school classmate - who is also a Trump supporter - commented on a mutual friend's Facebook post about COVID-19 and the difficulties of finding food, hand sanitizer, and other essentials in Miami-area stores a couple of days ago.

Unlike Ms. Williams' Tweet, I can't share my classmate's comment because she blocked me after I wrote a scathing reply in which I said her statement was ridiculous. But it went something along the lines of "It's the liberals' fault! And the media is exaggerating!"

Right. And Donald Trump is the greatest President ever elected.

In a pig's eye, he is.

Like I said, she must have blocked me last night for daring to challenge her pro-Trump views. But, in all honesty, no big loss there.

And I don't suffer fools lightly.

* Per Ali McCartney:

Also, I'm not sure about the Skittles metaphor. By using it, you are saying that any given person has a 3% chance of dying from COVID-19. That's inaccurate. What the 3% mortality rate means is that 3% of the PEOPLE who get it die. The mortality rate ranges from 0% (so far) for infants and little kids to as high as almost 15% for people older than 80, so that's 15 Skittles out of 100 for the old folks, and zero for the toddlers.

Also see Mortality Rate