COVID-19 my $0.02 - A whole lotta ugly before it gets snugly

On March 11, 2020, the COVID-19 outbreak was characterized as a pandemic by the WHO.  Below, I have compiled a string of unexpected and at times bizarre news related to this pandemic that has crippled the world economies with no end in sight, twice over.

But first, my two cents:  There are lots of opinions on the best approach to contain the virus, whether to quarantine, how to transition back to the normal, or the new normal as it's being referred to.  Clearly, quarantining indefinitely will have diminishing returns as the damage to the economy threatens to become a bigger threat to the population health and well being than the virus.  According to the NY Times article, 'Where Have All the Heart Attacks Gone?," (April 6, 2020), there has been a substantial decline in admissions for heart attacks and strokes, not just in the U.S., but worldwide.  And this phenomenon is not unique to these two debilitating conditions.  Acute appendicitis and acute gall bladder patients have also disappeared from sight.

While it was appropriate to mass quarantine at the onset of the pandemic while medical experts and scientists contemplated the next best course of action, the time for such things has come to an end, provided of course the following criteria are met:

1.  Mass reliable testing
2.  Contact tracing
3.  Quarantining those who have tested positive and those in their immediate contact circle

There's simply no surefire way out of this mess without all of the above, but unfortunately, the U.S. falls woefully short of the first two, which renders the 3rd remedy impotent.  It is no wonder that with a largely ineffective and polarized legislative and executive branches of the U.S. government we are in a bind we cannot effectively fight our way out of.  And therefore, we are relegated to a game of Russian roulette, whereby we must begin the normalization transition, but with the uncertainty of whether we can manage our way through a contagion certainty.  What we clearly cannot afford is a 2nd wave of mass quarantine, regardless of mortality rates or the potential overwhelming of our health care system.  And we can certainly hold out hope for the development and mass administration of an effective vaccine.  Fasten your seat belts folks.  There's a whole lota ugly before it gets snugly, and until then, everybody is Kung-Fu fighting....

And now a few related interesting headlines:

May 5, 2020 - L.A. Times:  Scientists have identified a new strain of the coronavirus that has become dominant worldwide and appears to be more contagious than the versions that spread in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new study led by scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

May 16, 2020 - ABC News:  Feds warn of attacks related to bogus COVID-19 conspiracy theory.  What started as a bizarre and bogus conspiracy theory involving the novel coronavirus in Britain has apparently crossed the Atlantic Ocean, U.S. law enforcement officials believe, and they are now increasingly worried about the possibility for real-world violence.
“We assess conspiracy theories linking the spread of COVID-19 to the expansion of the 5G cellular network are inciting attacks against the communications infrastructure globally and that these threats probably will increase as the disease continues to spread, including calls for violence against telecommunications workers,” the U.S. Department of Homeland Security reported Wednesday in an intelligence report obtained by ABC News.

May 1, 2020 - NY Times: "What Is ‘Covid Toe’? Maybe a Strange Sign of Coronavirus Infection":  "The lesions are emerging as yet another telltale symptom of infection with the new coronavirus. The most prominent signs are a dry cough and shortness of breath, but the virus has been linked to a string of unusual and diverse effects, like mental confusion and a diminished sense of smell," and of course covid toes.

And lastly, a few notable quotes from our dear leader:

1-22-2020:  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.

1-30-2020 (8 days later):  We only have five people. Hopefully, everything’s going to be great. They have somewhat of a problem, but hopefully, it’s all going to be great. But we’re working with China, just so you know, and other countries very, very closely. So it doesn’t get out of hand. But it’s, you know, it’s something that we have to be very, very careful with, right? We have to be very careful.

2-2-2020:  We pretty much shut it down coming in from China.

2-10-2020: Looks like by April, you know, in theory, when it gets a little warmer, it miraculously goes away. I hope that’s true. But we’re doing great in our country. China, I spoke with President Xi, and they’re working very, very hard. And I think it’s going to all work out fine.

2-26-2020: When you have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero, that’s a pretty good job we’ve done.

3-6-2020: Anybody that wants a test can get a test. That’s what the bottom line is.

..... and then, suddenly and without warning:

3-25-2020:  Nobody would ever believe a thing like that’s possible. Nobody could have ever seen something like this coming, but now we know, and we know it can happen and happen again.

And to round this out, Trump vs. Trump, a president who can't agree with himself:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hB8icFsfJe0