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Coronavirus is the ‘Chinese Virus’

This week, President Donald Trump came under fire for his use of the phrase “Chinese virus” to describe the coronavirus, the source of the new pandemic that has led to a global economic shutdown as well as lockdowns of citizens in every major Western country. That media have somehow found time to hone in on the one issue that matters least — the labeling of a Chinese virus as such — in the middle of an unprecedented planetwide freeze demonstrates the utter unseriousness of those objecting. That the term should be controversial at all is nearly beyond belief. The virus did indeed ...

NYC’s ventilator rationing plan

Coronavirus is causing working-age people to worry about missing paychecks, caring for kids home from school, stockpiling groceries and canceling plans. But people in their 50s, 60s or older have bigger worries. Many are lying awake wondering if this is how they’re going to die. At its most severe, coronavirus attacks the lungs, making it impossible to breathe without a ventilator. Landing in the hospital on a ventilator is bad. But worse is being told you can’t have one. After learning that the state’s stockpile of medical equipment had 16,000 fewer ventilators than New ...

An enlightening lesson from nature

WASHINGTON — Today’s ill wind has blown in something good, a renewed interest in a neglected novel by a gifted writer. Albert Camus’ “The Plague” (1947) was allegorical: Europe’s political plague had been Nazism, which Camus had actively resisted in occupied Paris. But he had been born in French Algeria and surely knew of the 1849 cholera epidemic that ravaged the city of Oran, where “The Plague” is set. At the novel’s conclusion, as crowds celebrate the infestation’s end, Camus’ protagonist, Dr. Rieux, “remembered that such joy is always imperiled. He knew ...

Sick with worry isn’t just an expression

WASHINGTON — Two threads of interest have emerged from the coronavirus “crisis:” One is an apparent generational divide related to relative worry; the other is the degree to which the media are contributing to the virus’ propagation. I qualify “crisis” because, though we’ve had a steady rise in confirmed cases — and President Trump declared a national emergency Friday — a crisis seems yet to have occurred. This isn’t to say that a crisis isn’t in our future, but to suggest that the constant barrage of cataclysmic tidings, some of it false or misleading, could ...

Past voices of socialism

Senator Bernie Sanders’ call for socialism has resonated among many Americans, particularly young Americans. They’ve fallen prey to the idea of a paradise here on Earth where things are free and there’s little want. But socialists never reveal what turns out to be their true agenda. Let’s look at the kind of statements they used to gain power. You’ll note that all of their slogans before gaining power bore little relation to the facts after they had power. Vladimir Lenin promised, “Under socialism all will govern in turn and will soon become accustomed to no one ...

America doesn’t have a public healthcare system

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and just about the only official in the Trump administration trusted to tell the truth about the coronavirus, said last Thursday: “The system does not, is not really geared to what we need right now. ... It is a failing, let’s admit it.” While we’re at it, let’s admit something more basic. The system would be failing even under a halfway competent president. The dirty little secret, which will soon become apparent to all, is that there is no real public health system in the United ...