Remember when we thought 3000 Americans dead in one day was a big deal? Covid in America is a 9/11 every day.

If it bleeds, it leads.

By now we all know the science. We need to stop congregating in bars, gyms, and churches. We need to wear masks. I refer you to ten billion articles on the interwebs in support of these truths.

But why aren’t we doing it? WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?

How do we make 150,000 (and climbing) dead people real to the folks in the US who “don’t see virus”, think it’s a liberal hoax, and more legitimately, worry about the economy and/or worry their kids will fall behind if they’re not shoulder-to-shoulder with other kids in classrooms this…

Presented in honor of the many groups that have sprung up this week to sew PPE for medical personnel, and the CDC’s finally getting its head out of its ass and acknowledging that cloth masks for the general public will end this nightmare sooner. If you want to save lives, protect our economy, and return to normal life sooner: WEAR MASKS!

Because we’re all in this together, microbiologically speaking. (Makes you think, doesn’t it? Maybe we’re all in this together in other ways too?)

For how-to’s on making masks & other DIY PPE, read my article from earlier this week…

Why you should mask, plus patterns, materials, cultural change, and a shout-out to Betsy Ross.

The New York Times and Washington Post have now come around to a position I advocated for here on Medium last week: We should all be wearing masks. Not just health care workers, but ALL of us. Whenever we go out in public.

Why?

Because they work.

Research from the SARS outbreak in 2003 shows that washing hands 10+ times daily was 55% effective in stopping virus transmission; wearing a mask was actually more effective, reducing transmission by about 68%.

Combining multiple forms of protection…

Do you want to get out of this coronavirus nightmare sooner rather than later?

Do you want to get out of this coronavirus nightmare sooner rather than later? And with as many people alive, and our economy as intact, as possible?

Then please do this one simple thing: WEAR MASKS NOW. Don’t buy masks commercially, health care workers need those. Sew your own or commission any crafty person you know to make you one, or, until we can source better alternatives fast enough, pull your turtleneck up over your nose and mouth, make one out of a paper towel and…

Trump’s Eugenics Plan: If you’re not a consumer, you’re not helping him, so you might as well die.

Meditating on this below today. I’m staggered by the hatefulness of Trump’s threat to take away something we need (social distancing- because it saves lives) unless we give him something he wants (the Dow Jones going up — the thing he views as his report card, his value as a human being and President, and his ticket to re-election). He is threatening to kill us (or take actions to make our dying more likely, same thing) unless we do what he wants.

…

The whistleblowing doctor in Wuhan who was one of the first to sound the alarm and then die was 32. The first person diagnosed with COVID-19 in New Jersey was a 32-year-old man who had been admitted to the hospital. Young people thinking they are immune and failing to self-isolate is what’s going to drive the spike in illness that overwhelms hospitals — which affects ALL of us. If you’re a young person and need medical care for ANY reason, Covid-19-related or not, if you can’t get medical resources because they’re dedicated to dealing with coronavirus victims, YOU won’t be…

Because you can do the math on the germs.

To paraphrase Jesus (I only steal from the best), What profiteth it a man to gain the cleanliness of using his…