A Day in the Life

Yesterday I was pre-occupied with reading or watching to news or reading the status update feed on Facebook, the overwhelming majority of which deal with the coronavirus emergency. Most are serious, but a few are humorous memes. (I’ve posted several of the latter myself.) Over the course of the day I posted links to at least 25 news stories: nowadays a lot of people get their news on Facebook. Many have limited access to the better news sources, such as the New York Times or Washington Post, and so I usually copy/paste a paragraph or two that gives the essence of each news report.

Yesterday was Chloe’s first day of home schooling. She and Katherine created a home school schedule largely identical to her usual school day. I’ll adhere to the same schedule. At 5 p.m. I picked up Chloe from Katherine’s. I will have her tonight and tomorrow until 5 p.m., as well as Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and until 5 p.m. on Monday.

Other than pick up Chloe, I did not leave the house. Aside from spending time in the yard or taking walks, I plan to go out as little as possible.

A great deal of consequence occurred yesterday. Here are the main developments at the international, national, state, and personal levels:

March 16 – Italy—which most observers believe is the closest analog to the situation we may face in the United States—records 3,590 new cases and 398 deaths in a 24-hour period. The number of confirmed cases stands at more than 27,000 and there heave been more than 1,800 deaths. Reports continue that many hospitals are overwhelmed and physicians are forced to triage. The exceptionally high death toll probably owes to the aged Italian population, 20 percent of whom are 60 or older.

March 16 – Total cases in the U.S. have risen to 3,487, with 68 deaths. Reasonably widespread testing has at last begun, so thousands of new cases will likely be confirmed over the next several days.

March 16 – In Ohio, confirmed cases now stand at 50, with 14 requiring hospitalization. So far there have been no deaths. There are 20 females and 30 males who have been diagnosed with the virus. They range in age from 14 to 86.

March 16 – The stock market plunges 2,999 points on the Dow Jones industrial average. The impressive gains since Donald Trump took office have been wiped out. It is now assumed that we are in a recession (two quarters of negative GDP growth), although that has yet to be officially confirmed. The loss owes primarily to the Fed reducing interest rates to zero percent, which was done to reassure the market but has had the opposite effect—it is interpreted as underscoring just how serious the situation is.

March 16 – “We have an invisible enemy,” Trump says at a news conference. Trump and his team of public health experts lay out detailed guidance for state and municipal leaders, as well as for individual families. They recommend closing schools, restaurants, bars, gyms and other such venues, and limiting gatherings to no more than 10 people. The president — who six days earlier promised “it will all go away,” and as recently as Sunday advised Americans to “just relax” — suggests that the outbreak could last until July or August. The Washington Post reports that “he presented a notably changed demeanor and tone from his previous coronavirus briefings.” Many other observers share this appraisal (including me). Trump deflects a question as to whether “the buck stops” with him, saying that normally it does but not in this instance. Trump is well known for refusing to take responsibility for negative outcomes. Asked how he rates his performance on a scale of 1 to 10, he replies, “Ten.”

March 16 – Governor DeWine orders the closure of gyms, fitness clubs, and recreation centers, adding to the closure of restaurants and bars.

March 16 – Governor DeWine announces that he recommends the cancellation of the primary elections tomorrow and the extension of voting until June 2, with all ballots cast by mail. The decision comes at the eleventh hour, spurred by new guidance that persons 65 or older remain at home. This presents them with the choice of not voting or risking serious illness or death, effectively disenfranchising them. Ohio Republican Party leader Jane Timken and Ohio Democratic Party Chairman David Pepper were consulted about the change and agreed with it. Because the governor does not have the authority to suspend elections unless Ohio is under attack, a judge must decide if the suspension of elections is legal. A law suit is quickly filed to force the issue into the courts. The Attorney General agrees not to contest the suit.

March 16 – Former Ohio Department of Aging Director Judith Brachman files a lawsuit in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas to delay in-person voting. Brachman, 81, tells the Columbus Dispatch that she wants to ensure that elderly voters do not have to make a choice between their health and voting. Franklin County Common Pleas Court Judge Richard A. Frye rejects the argument, saying it would be a "terrible precedent" for a judge to step in 12 hours before polls open to rewrite the election code. He notes that the governor has known about the coronavirus since January and that there is no assurance the emergency will be over by early June.

March 16 – The governor’s office suspends the election anyway. Late in the evening, Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Amy Acton orders Tuesday’s polls closed as a health emergency. In her order, Acton says it is needed “to avoid the imminent threat with a high probability of widespread exposure to COVID-19 with a significant risk of substantial harm to a large number of the people in the general population, including the elderly and people with weakened immune systems and chronic medical conditions. . . . To conduct an election at this time would force poll workers and voters to face an unacceptable risk of contracting COVID-19.”

March 16 – I send a mass email to my students, asking them to write back with their experience of the coronavirus emergency and whether they have high speed Internet access. Nineteen out of about 65 students respond. Two report that they do not have access to high speed Internet. One says that he does not have all his textbooks with him.

March 16 – It is Chloe’s first day of home-schooling. She and her mother follow a schedule and curriculum that is close to Chloe’s ordinary routine at school.

March 16 – I start watching “Outbreak,” a 1995 film about a highly lethal virus epidemic. It is currently the 6th most watched film on Netflix.

March 17 – Shortly after midnight the Ohio Supreme Court denies a law suit brought by a candidate in Wood County, who filed an action alleging that the delay of the primary violates election laws. The decision reads simply “MERIT DECISIONS WITHOUT OPINIONS // 2020-0382. State ex rel. Speweik v. Wood Cty. Bd. of Elections. In Mandamus. Writ denied. O’Connor, C.J., and Fischer, Donnelly, and Stewart, JJ., concur. Kennedy, French, and DeWine, JJ., not participating.” The decision effectively legalizes the governor’s extra-legal decision to suspend the election notwithstanding Judge Frye’s denial of a law suit asking for the suspension.