The Washington Post - 21.03.2020

SATURDAy, MARCH 21 , 2020. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ RE A23

“W

e will just get through it,” Presi-

dent Trump said last week in a

Rose Garden appearance where he

declared the coronavirus outbreak

a national emergency.

“Get through it” we will indeed. Just as the

world got through the 1918 influenza pandemic.

Just as we got through the 1968 flu pandemic.

When the 1918 pandemic was all over, the

worldwide death toll was at least 50 million, with

about 675,000 in the United States. T he estimated

number of deaths from the 1 968 pandemic:

1 million worldwide, and about 100,000 in the

United States.

But we survived both of them, as with others in

the past.

At issue is not whether w e will “get t hrough” t he

novel coronavirus, which causes the respiratory

disease officially dubbed covid-19. Pandemics

eventually play out. Though this dangerous virus

is spiraling out of control today — infecting more

than 250,000 people and killing more than

11,000 since December — it will not be here

forever.

What matters most at this moment is how the

onslaught is being handled. Is it being addressed

head-on as a global pandemic that, above all else,

must be combated? Or is the outbreak being

treated as an unexpected threat to Trump’s

personal political fortunes?

Sadly, with all the country now has on its hands,

Trump has politicized and personalized the

problem.

It’s p retty clear that, from the o utset, Trump did

all he could to play down the threat, telling the

public that the coronavirus carried a “very, very

low risk” for most Americans.

In a television interview in Davos, Switzerland,

on Jan. 22, the day after the first U.S. case was

announced, CNBC’s Joe Kernan asked Trump,

“A re there worries about a pandemic at this

point?” Trump’s response? “No. Not at all. And we

have it totally under control. It’s one person

coming in from China, and we have it under

control. It’s going to be just fine.”

U.S. cases have now soared to more than 17,000,

with 224 deaths. The numbers are climbing.

At a Feb. 10 campaign rally in New Hampshire,

Trump said, r egarding China and t he coronavirus:

”The virus, they’re working hard. Looks like by

April, you know, in theory, when it gets a little

warmer, it miraculously goes away.”

The U.S. government’s covid-19 response plan

assumes the “pandemic will last 18 months or

longer and could include multiple waves of illness.”

As for a vaccine? Said Trump in a news

conference in New Delhi on Feb. 25, “We’re very

close to a vaccine.” The U.S. government’s own

health experts say a vaccine is months away.

But what is covid-19? At a Feb. 26 White House

press briefing, Trump said a coronavirus infection

is “a little bit like the f lu. It’s a little l ike the regular

flu that we have flu shots for. And we’ll essentially

have a flu shot for this in a fairly quick manner.”

Infectious-disease experts warn that infection

poses a threat many times graver to vulnerable

groups.

Besides, said Trump in remarks to reporters on

March 6: “A nybody that wants a test can get a

test.” That was false then, and it’s still false now.

Besides spouting untruths and wild exaggera-

tions, Trump deflects challenges to his steward-

ship by shifting blame — to former president

Barack Obama and past administrations, to

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats

on the Hill, to the Federal Reserve, and to the

media, which, he whines, only give him bad press.

Now, confronted with hard truths about the

disease, his administration’s muddled response

and the country’s economic collapse, Trump is

trying to switch hats from belittler in chief to

wartime commander. But our great war presi-

dents had great wartime generals: Harry Truman

had Dwight D. Eisenhower; Abraham Lincoln had

Ulysses S. Grant. Vice President Pence, who is

heading up Trump’s coronavirus task force, is no

Eisenhower or Grant. And Trump sure as hell is no

Truman or Lincoln.

When looking for a leader in these public

health and economic crises, skip over Donald

Trump.

Look instead to a bipartisan group of public

executives such as Govs. Larry Hogan (R) of

Maryland, Gavin Newsom (D) of California,

Gretchen Whitmer (D) of Michigan, Andrew M.

Cuomo (D) of New York, Mike D eWine (R) of Ohio,

Jay Inslee (D) of Washington state, and the

District’s own Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D), who

has been both aggressive in planning and steady

as a rock in execution.

Count on Congress, the Federal Reserve and

resilient Americans with economic and business

know-how to dig us out of the hole into which we

have plunged.

Let’s just get through this with as little of

Trump as possible.

[email protected]

COLBERT I. KING

A strategy

for survival:

Ignore Trump

T

here was a plague, so Isaac Newton went

home, and for him it was an annus mirabi-

lis, which in Latin is a “year of miracles.” H e

discovered the theory of universal gravita-

tion, began his study of optics and formalized what

would become calculus.

I keep being told that I ought to do likewise, that

now is the time to be making things. Inconveniently,

it is at the moment difficult to imagine the future

beyond the next 24 hours, and I have found nothing

yet to extend that imagination forward.

Nevertheless, I am told, at such a time, Isaac

Newton sat at a country estate with an apple tree.

His reflections upon the forces between distant

bodies, propelling them together and apart, gave us

gravity and enfolded the moon and the apple in a

shared system of invisible laws. He saw a spider’s

web of formulas spinning across untold space, in

which the stars hung like dewdrops, and from them

beams of light pierced his own seclusion. All kinds of

lofty t hings entered the brain of Isaac Newton, some

of them traveling great distances, and when he

emerged, science was permanently different. Such

was the life of Isaac Newton during the plague year.

I am secluded, too. Perhaps, for a proper miracle, I

should go look at a tree. I go for a quiet walk six feet

away from everyone I encounter. The trees are

blossoming, though there are no apples. Sometimes,

the continuity of trees reassures me; today it feels

like an affront. We make much of them, these trees,

as though they exist for us. But have you seen a root

push its way up through concrete? The trees will

wait us out. There are so many so indifferent things

in this world. Is this thought useful?

I am supposed to be having my annus mirabilis

now. My phone, on which I am watching everything

unfold, does not believe there is such a phrase as

“annus mirabilis.” It suggests other things. Isaac

Newton did not have to carry a glowing box full of

worries, in which, also, all his friends and family

were trapped. This is one advantage I possess over

Isaac Newton. Is “advantage” the word I want?

Other people pass along, distantly together in this

space. We nod at one another. How far is too far?

How close is too close? The force that propels us

together in ordinary moments is currently propel-

ling us apart.

Here is something funny: I wanted to see my

parents. I happen to be fond of them, which I realize

is a symptom of luck. But I do not know what I may

be bringing with me. I am terrified I will get too

close. Thus, I take a telescoping metal stick for

roasting marshmallows and brandish it at t he end of

my e xtended arm, to mark out six feet. So armed, I go

for a walk with my dad, swinging it between us on

the sidewalk, trying to trace an arc of safety. Is this

funny? It feels almost funny, but for some reason, I

am crying.

Let me try again. See your family, without hug-

ging? Please, we are of Scandinavian extraction! We

have been training for this moment our entire lives!

Let m e try again. I will keep trying. This must be a

year of miracles — n ot the common miracles we only

see after they vanish, the miracles of people in a

restaurant or a room or a theater together. No, other

miracles: the shield we build for one another by

briefly deserting those places. The connections that

persist across distances, the formulas that make a

familiar face appear in glowing pixels on a screen.

Who would have thought that our old enemy the

conference call would be an ally, in the end? Who

would have thought that phone calls, long dis-

dained, would come to the rescue? This is an

advantage we possess over Newton.

I cannot see anything easier than inventing

gravity during a time of plague. How can you think of

anything during such a time but bodies and the

distances and forces between bodies? I feel nothing

now but the pull of distant bodies too far away to

touch. I feel nothing but the invisible ties that bind

us across spaces, the imperceptible, far-off vibra-

tions in the web that signal: Yes, there is someone

here.

Twitter: @petridishes

ALEXANDRA PETRI

Newton discovered gravity in a time of plague. We need a miracle, too.

DRAWING BOARD

B Y SHENEMAN

B Y LUCKOVICH FOR THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION

B Y OHMAN FOR THE SACRAMENTO BEE

B Y JOE HELLER FOR THE GREEN BAY PRESS-GAZETTE

BY RACHEL FIGUEROA

N

ow that school systems all over the

country are shutting down amid the

novel coronavirus outbreak, home

schooling is getting a strange new

respect, or at least a lot of fresh interest. Sample

daily schedules for home schooling have been

popping up all over Facebook since last week.

As someone who has home-schooled her two

kids, now 9 and 3, since the beginning, I have

some advice for the newbies: Don’t overthink it.

Millions of anxious parents are worried that

their children will fall behind academically.

That’s a valid concern, but don’t bury them with

what you think approximates the classes they’re

missing. If you have any expectations of repli-

cating your child’s classroom experience, throw

them out the window. (Lysol them first, of

course, and then throw them out.) It’s not going

to happen. This is very hard for you. It’s even

harder for the kids. Getting the same sort of

classroom focus at the kitchen table is impossi-

ble to begin with. But children suddenly kept

out of school on a snow day that could last two

months are going to be especially distracted.

Your children will miss their friends. They

can’t participate in sports and blow off steam.

They’re probably still in a bit of shock, and

they’re scared by the nonstop coronavirus news.

Their teacher might not like it, but consider

giving the kids a few days off to recover f rom the

massive change.

The difference between regular home school-

ing and home schooling in the time of social

distancing is that a lot of the usual options for

sweetening the education experience have been

canceled. I did the math, and my 9-year-old

daughter spends 20 hours a week outside the

house going to music lessons, dance class,

sign-language club, soccer, karate, labs at the

science museum and Hebrew school. We also

participate in group field trips with others i n the

community. For something called home school-

ing, we spend a lot of time outside the home.

Don’t w orry about t he house. It’s going to be a

mess because it’s going to be lived in a lot more.

I have two tornadoes in my house who thought

it was a good idea to play badminton in the

living room last night. Luckily, in home-

s chooling households, the only part that you

actually have to keep clean is the little bit that

shows up on the webcam behind your kid

during online learning. My daughter’s karate

school is doing live-streamed classes now, so

make sure anything breakable within kicking

distance is moved out of the way. I learned that

the hard way. Sorry, Grandma’s flower vase.

Home isolation is a good opportunity to teach

your children basic life skills they won’t learn in

traditional school. Te ach them to disinfect and

wipe down surfaces, mop the floor, cook their

own meals and do laundry. It builds character,

and you get a clean kitchen. My kids have been

working in the garden planting seeds and

turning c ompost. When society c ollapses, they’ll

know how to feed themselves. It’s comforting.

Screen time is your friend. There are a ton of

educational apps, documentaries and other

online offerings by professionals who are better

teachers than you are. My d aughter i s already o n

an online video-based curriculum for her regu-

lar subjects. (It’s called Power Homeschool, and

it’s fantastic.) She also takes online classes on

Outschool and the Lookstein Center for Jewish

Education. And don’t f eel guilty if the kids spend

time w atching cartoons. Ta ke a nap. Put a hat on

the dog, pretend it’s a person, and talk about

your day. It’s fine. Disney Plus can babysit for a

minute.

It can be hard for younger kids who aren’t on

social media to connect with peers. Try to set up

an online play date with their friends. Do the

same for your socially distancing self. Grab

some wine and FaceTime some pals. Show them

your dog’s fancy new hat. Do your best not to go

stir-crazy.

Let y our k ids get bored. Let t hem spend hours

playing with Legos. Let them read comics. Let

them draw pictures all day. So much is beating

up the world right now; don’t go beating up

yourself. It’s going to be okay. Your kids are

going t o be okay. A lgebra will h appen eventually.

Rachel Figueroa is a writer from Staten Island, N.Y.

Home-schooling

tips for all

you newbies

Children suddenly kept out

of school on a snow day

that could last two months

a re going to be

especially distracted.