I feel like one of the biggest problems with everyone’s understanding of coronavirus is that YOU CAN BE ASYMPTOMATIC AND STILL SPREAD THE VIRUS. All this “we’ll require temperature checks at schools and events” misses the point that A CARRIER MAY NOT HAVE A FEVER.

“Oh, you developed a cough and fever last night? Can’t come in to work/school today!”

What about the last ten days they were there and spreading the virus? By the time you realize they have it, it’s too fucking late to prevent the spread.

The hard truth about the US response to coronavirus is that what we should have done was shut everything down and pay people to stay home while implementing a robust contact tracing and testing program but all of those things cost money that we’d rather not collect via taxes.

And what taxes we DO collect go largely toward the military which produces very little in the way of results instead of soft power agencies and programs like the CDC and free healthcare and a social safety net that would keep 1/3 of citizens from staring down homelessness.

These are failures not just of policy but of American culture and the ways we have constructed our government and let our government turn on us. That’s the hard, sad truth.