However, the CDC has other ideas. The public health organization led by Dr. Robert Redfield advocates extending the lockdown of United States cruises until the end of February.
But Vice President Mike Pence and the COVID-19 Task Force said the freeze should not be pushed beyond October 31, 2020, which was what cruise lines had voluntarily accepted.
What will happen?
Well, things monumentally changed last night....again.
President Donald Trump tested positive for COVID-19!
President Trump has COVID-19 danger signs. He's over age 70, which statistically puts his survival rate at 95% (versus 99% plus in other age groups), and he's overweight.
Plus he obviously has no self-control.
Just yesterday Trump responded to a 2018 claim that McDonald's fries helped mice regrow hair by tweeting, "No wonder I didn't lose my hair!" This hearkens back to earlier crises of his adventures in the land of perilous fast food and whether that's his real hair.
DJIA futures had been slightly positive last night, but the market swooned immediately upon opening based on the news before recovrering on rumors of a new stimulus bill.
CBS speculated on how this will effect not only how our country will run, but how will foreign leaders think this will impact our country, and what will they do because of that?
Of course, the President's jam-packed campaign schedule must be put on hold. Controversy about the most recent debate, and whether there should be another and under what rules, now pales in comparison to the immediate question of whether he could possibly attend the next scheduled slapdown on October 15.
What will happen next, now that he has Coronavirus?
It's just another cliffhanger in the Year of the Cliffhanger.
We started with the long-awaited impeachment, during which COVID-19 reared its ugly head even if Congress remained focused on a doomed investigation.
Then the Durham Investigation could begin in earnest to find out who really conspired with Russia and how high did the conspiracy go?
COVID-19 went from being dismissed by Nancy Pelosi as she encouraged others to crowd into San Francisco's Chinatown for a festival rather than be tricked by Trump's xenophobia in shutting down travel from China, which Speaker Pelosi claimed was an attack on Chinese Americans.
The two-week shutdown to flatten the curve was extended another two weeks when New York chose to assign COVID-19 victims to nursing homes, causing a spike in deaths.
Week after week, we kept thinking the crisis would end, as requests for ventilators and hospital beds were met by extraordinary actions of the federal government, but the lockdown continued, costing many working-class people their livelihoods, leading to peaceful protests in suburban communities like Huntington Beach.
Then peaceful protests about the video-taped death of a black man in Minneapolis --- which everyone condemned from the outset --- exploded into arson, looting and attacks on civilians by criminals using the protests as cover.
The Presidential Campaign rolled out, and claims on every issue outraged the opposing parties.
It's like a page-turning novel. You feel compelled to keep reading another chapter long after bed time. As to whether 2020 is a trajedy, comedy or hero's journey depends on how you personally feel about our President.
The fact that we have a President who understands how to use intentionally-crafted cliffhangers to build dramatic interest undoubtedly plays into it all, compounding the reality show-inspired fervor.
Getting back to the question at hand, will cruises be able to start on a limited basis on November 1 or be delayed another four months?
The largest cruise line in the world, Carnival, has announced that it will cruise only from Miami and Port Canaveral in November and December, cancelling all other cruises.
I would expect something similar from other cruise lines, though perhaps that approach for November will be enough of a test of protocols to allow all those much-anticipated Christmas cruises to go as planned.
But with the news about Trump, will Pence be as adamant in his opposition to the CDC?
Will Kamala Harris accuse Pence of being a mass-muderer for even contemplating such sacrilege?
Will manmade global warming burn California to the ground and destroy the Caribbean with hurricanes before we get to November, making that point moot?
Will Adam Schiff begin a new impeachment of Trump to stop Amy Coney Barrett from being confirmed to the Supreme Court?
Will Kim Jong-Un invade Tokyo?
Could Barney the Dinosaur emerge from the ashes to save the world by making us all feel special?
Will "Chicago P.D." be allowed to air re-runs, much less release new episodes?
Tune in next time!
In all seriousness, I pray that President Trump and all others afflicted with this disease have swift recoveries, and that the vaccine becomes available by the end of the year to remove at least the dark cloud of Coronavirus.
No comments:
Post a Comment