U.S. population today is what I put into Google. 331 million people The U.S. population today, at the start of 2020, numbers just over 331 million people What caused the inquiry was a testing statistic cited in this morning’s Times: as of two days ago, the U.S. has given a total of 3.1 million coronavirus tests. Is that really just shy of one percent? It is. In the same article, “Mr. Trump boasted of having ‘the most expansive testing system anywhere in the world.’”  hind Trump’s Failure on the Virus’) have put together a carefully constructed case against the administration.”

Ten days ago or so, The Huffington Post ran a two-word headline. THEY KNEW No one asked who. We knew. Recently, “Evidence of President Trump’s mishandling of the current Covid-19 emergency has been building steadily. Most recently, The Washington Post on April 4 (‘The U.S. was beset by denial and dysfunction as the coronavirus raged’) and The Times on April 11 (‘He Could Have Seen What Was Coming: Behind Trump’s Failure on the Virus’) have put together a carefully constructed case against the administration.”

Once again some of the news cheers me and some of the news makes me want to cry. I can’t be alone. Pastors suing the State of California for religious discrimination—no! Do they know what they’re doing to their followers? Uh, anyone? Prisoners released from prisons and jails—yes! To go where? Crowded projects? Uh, anyone? Disproportional African-American and Latinx deaths—no! Are we focusing our care on those communities? Uh, anyone? Opinion columnist Jennifer Senior wrote a piece called “The One Kind of Distancing We Can’t Afford.” It is principally this that prompted today’s essay although I’d been dancing around it for a couple of days.