COVID & What’s New In The US 

By Kumar David –DECEMBER 20, 2020

Prof. Kumar David

I arrived in the US yesterday 15 Dec 2020 from Hong Kong to a very different scenario from the latter and of course from Sri Lanka where I had been up to October under full or partial lockdown. No denying the pandemic is ravaging the US; tens of thousands are infected every day, thousands dying. New cases last week averaged about 250,000 a day, and each day nearly 3000 die. The light at the end of the tunnel is mass vaccination and it is thought that by the end of March 2021 it will be possible to administer up to 50 million people both doses and half the population by the middle of next year. 

These rates sound terrifying for Sri Lanka with only (!) 35,000 cases and 160 deaths now (total cases to date per head of population, 30 times lower than US) but people here are gaming the system in preposterous ways. Amazon and other mail-order sellers are breaking all records; UPS, the US Post Office and FedEx are struggling to cope with delivery, there is a consumer splurge and home improvements and additions are in full swing. What’s the secret? Unemployment benefits and covid-relief funds have put a lot of money in some pockets, many are confined are at least technically confined to their homes; bars and restaurants are shuttered or closed restricted; domestic conflict is not enough diversion though assaults on elders, women and children is on the rise. Here are some examples of easier fund flows. Unemployment benefits for those who have lost their jobs – and they are many – is 70% of previous pay. If this benefit is say $500 per person per week then a household of two working people will be eligible for $4000 per month and this has been going on for months. Although at one point covid drove nearly 40,000 million Americans away from their jobs cash payed out fell by a mere 30% and people had little to do but sit at home, drink, fight and watch TV. Why not shop online?  

Billions of dollars in addition went to businesses that could make out a case that they had fallen on hard times and promised not to fire employees. Don’t laugh but the LA Lakers a basketball team won a $4.6 million loan. Here is how the networks reported it “The Lakers, one of the NBA’s most profitable franchises, applied for relief through the Small Business Pay-check Protection Program, and were among companies and non-profits granted loans. But after a public outcry and reports that several large or highly capitalized entities were securing aid from the programme’s initial $349 billion pool, while hundreds of thousands of smaller businesses had to shut, the Lakers said they returned the money”. Very noble! Shake Shack a specialty burger chain with a market capitalization of $2 billion received a $10 million. AutoNation, a Fortune 500 auto retailer received $77 million. These hand-outs were first designated as loans but later completely forgiven. Actually most the money went to medium, big and bigger businesses not American workers or the middleclass.   

California paid $21,000 in fraudulent claims filed under the name of Sen. Dianne Feinstein. The woman who filed the claim filed more than 100 fraudulent claims for $2 million. A former State worker was charged with conspiring with her boyfriend who is in prison for murder to obtain hundreds of thousands of dollars in unemployment benefits. A woman on parole from state prison filed fraudulent claims for more than $200,000. Bank of America estimated it had paid at least $2 billion in fraudulent claims while 700,000 claims remain backlogged. This is only a savouring, the list is long.

School reopening has become California’s biggest political battle between two allies, teachers unions Democratic politicians; Unions opposed a bill by Democratic lawmakers to force schools to reopen in March 2021. They say. “We ask that science and community safety, not political pressure, be the guiding force in discussions about reopening our schools to in-person instruction.” Several recent court rulings have called into question California’s “shelter-in-place” restrictions, raising the possibility that limitations on outdoor dining and other businesses may not survive while other people are demanding stricter shutdowns, pointing to a sustained surge in hospitalisations and a record number of deaths.

I have also observed that respect for covid protection common-sense is very lax. Nothing can be mandated because this is the land of the free – Hallelujah! Some people wear masks and maintain social distancing but most or about half don’t. That looney Trump made defiance of masks, social distancing and mocking scientists warning of the consequences, a fashion among his supporters. I have neighbours on both sides who are convinced that corona is a hoax, that there is no unnatural spike in the death rate and the whole story is manufactured by the pharmaceutical industry. The Trump, a motley section of the Republican Party beholden to him and irrational populist goons are milling for a showdown to stop the induction of Biden as president on 20 January 2021.  There will be more drama in the next 30 days but to abort Biden’s swearing in is now impossible. What is the fate of the Republican Party after that? What will be its internal dynamics? 

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