Governor Andrew Cuomo — Susan Corso's Blog

Day 62 The Or Belief Systems; and, The And Belief Systems

The notoriously close-knit Hasidic Jewish communities have been hard hit by the coronavirus. Even so, many of them, celebrating their newly-restored health in spite of their grief, have driven long distances to donate blood plasma, “rich in the antibodies they generated when they were sick with Covid-19. [P]ublic health data suggests that the Orthodox and Hasidic community may have been affected at a rate that exceeds other ethnic and religious groups, with community estimates placing the number of dead in the hundreds. ... [T]housands have donated blood plasma, which public health officials believe may be used to help treat people suffering from Covid-19.” The chief Liar-in-Chief cut short and stomped out of a press briefing when “a Chinese-American reporter pressed him on why he suggested she ‘ask China’ to respond to her question on coronavirus death rates.” He accused her of asking a “nasty question.”

Day 61 Take It From the Top or Bottom; or, Fear in Cyber-Disguises

It’s time to talk about the fear again. In fact, it was fear, unaddressed fear, that prompted this series of essays, now in its third month. Humans have as many different reactions to fear as there are humans. Having spent most of my life counseling people about what boils down to their fears of all stripes, I think it is safe to say that there are two major approaches to fear, under which all variations on a theme fall. They are: from the bottom or from the top. Consider approaching a mountain. You only have to go one way. Up or down. Do you start at the bottom and go up? Or do you start at the top and go down? It won’t surprise you that it really depends upon what you believe about gain; well, the cost of gain.

Day 60 Mothers & Sons; or, How to Keep Your Own Faith

I wasn’t quite sure how I would put together writing about the coronavirus pandemic that is leading our world at the moment and motherhood, but I wakened this morning thinking of my mother and the remarkable things she did when she was here, and, my faith would tell me, must be continuing wherever she is now. Here’s where my memories took me. All the characters in this world drama we have no choice but to witness right now had mothers. Every single one of them.

Day 59 Free Won't; or, Listening to the Serpents

A personal body servant of the President’s has tested positive for coronavirus as has the Vice President’s press secretary. There’s a cosmic subtext here that seems billboard-with-chaser-lights large to me. It’s as though the virus itself has said, “Fine. Go ahead. Deflect. Reject. Minimize. Abuse me and your people all you want. But if you won’t come to me, if you won’t take me seriously, if you won’t attend to the effect I am having, then fine, I’ll come to you. I’m good with that

Day 58 A Real, Bona Fide Pivot; or, From PTSD to PTSG

Yesterday’s Times had a map that showed thirty states planning to reopen to varying degrees immediately. I was proud to note that New York wasn’t one of them. The hardest part about the map is that the virus has just begun to manifest in most of those states whereas in New York, we seem to be on the downside of the curve. That’s both a relief and a terror. One of the major absences I’ve felt during the pandemic has been that of the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention—the C.D.C. A lot of surprising silence, some, and I quote, ‘suggestions,’ but no leadership at all. The Batterer-in-Chief has cowed the C.D.C. into stuttering syllables. It’s appalling.

Day 27 Without Context; or, Complexity is Here to Stay

any decades ago, in one of the first Bible classes I ever took, a student asked, “What does the Bible have to say about [here we fill in “the hottest social justice issue of our day”]? The seasoned teacher replied, “Pro or con?” There was a distinct stillness and a sudden hush in the room as her answer ricocheted through all of us. I had the same feeling this morning when, after having read five or so news articles about numbers. Oh, sorry. The data. It sounds so much more important when we say ‘data,’ instead of ‘numbers.’

Day 26 I [Heart] NY; or, Emotional Continence

In a Letter to the Editor this morning, its Warwick, New York-based author says, “Coronavirus is catastrophic, but it opens a new path.” She’s referring to different choices humanity could continue to make to help slow climate change. I’d like to consider her idea in a different context. Now, how do you feel? It’s a multiple choice test. Choose one. Mad? Bad? Sad? Glad? When 9.11 happened, New York City became, in an instant, America’s darling.

Day 25 Superheroes; or, The Good News & The Bad News

There’s good news and there’s bad news. No surprise there. This is where numbers fail us big-time. Try these two. Eighty percent of people who get coronavirus recover. Do the math. This means twenty percent of people who get coronavirus die. Okay, pay attention. How do you feel having just read those three sentences? Now, try these. Twenty percent of people who get coronavirus die. Do the math. This means eighty percent of people who get coronavirus recover.

Day 24 Passing the Buck; or, Stuck is a State of Mind

Hans-Georg Kräusslich, the head of virology at University Hospital in Heidelberg, Germany nailed it as he explained why Germany’s death toll is so low. “Maybe our biggest strength in Germany,” said Professor Kräusslich, “is the rational decision-making at the highest level of government combined with the trust the government enjoys in the population.” Hmm, rational decision-making. Hmm, trust in the population. This sounds distinctly utopian compared with, say, this: …

Day 21 Macro to Micro; or, Things Are Getting Personal Now

Let’s be clear. Public health, as a discipline, is macro. It’s theoretical. Health care, as a discipline, is micro. It’s practical. The U.S. government has utterly failed its constituency on the theoretical level. Practically, life has become sketchy.

Day 20 POV—Point of View; or, The Lens Matters

As I’m sure you know, I start the externally-focused part of each day with the news. (Prior to that is my time for spiritual practice, but that’s another essay.) This morning’s offerings struck me upside the head with the notion of POV—point of view. In fact, I might go so far as to say that the entirety of journalism is an exercise in point of view. Here are some synonyms in no particular order: belief, view, opinion, attitude, feeling, sentiment, thoughts, ideas, position, perspective, viewpoint, standpoint, angle, slant, outlook, stand, stance, vantage point, side, frame of reference. I could go on, but you take my point.

Day 18 Noli Me Tangere; or, We Cannot Be Over the Rainbow

As languages go, I don’t mind the language of numbers. I do, however, think we’ve fetishized numbers as some sort of be-all and end-all that is dangerously illusory. Despite the universal historical practice of myriad forms of numerology, numbers a.k.a. data, aren’t the bottom line. The numbers for coronavirus have been startlingly bleak, haven’t they? So imagine my delight when a member of my household read that “113,000 people have recovered from COVID-19.”

Day 17 The Science of Enmity; or, The Terrors of the Invisible

My homiletics professor said it on the first day of class. “Every sermon must find a common enemy. It doesn’t matter what it is: sin, death, taxes, sex, politics. For a sermon to be effective, you need an enemy.” A marketing guru I’ve recently unfollowed said the same really. “Find their pain—and poke it!” It’s certainly a theme in the historical rendering of the behavior of the United States during World War II. A meme for WWII: “We had a common enemy that made us come together.” The question I wish to ask today isn’t about our common enemy. A six year old could tell us it’s the coronavirus.

Day 14: The Spin-Doctoring of Need & The Power of Story

Transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson was known for claiming, “The first wealth is health.” Today I’m sure deputy editor of The New York Times Magazine Jessica Lustig agrees with him. In her article “What I Learned When My Husband Got Sick with Coronavirus,” she describes taking care of her beloved spouse as he is ravaged by COVID--19.