Just a few short weeks after bars and restaurants in Florida were allowed to reopen for business, new cases of coronavirus have utterly shattered all previous records.
Undaunted, the governor has refused to back down, causing many observers to audibly wonder: "What the hell?"
Here in Jacksonville, coronavirus hotspots have been identified at just about every single bar or restaurant that opened back up at the beaches. Lynch’s Irish Pub, The Wreck Tiki Lounge, and The Tavern have all temporarily shuttered for deep cleaning since after reopening. Why? Because customers and employees are getting sick from the highly contagious and deadly virus that everyone has been trying to warn us about for almost half a year now.
The mayor of Jacksonville is also doubling down his bet on Trump's RNC convention speech. Up to 15,000 individuals will be packs in to the Veteran's Memorial Arena in late August, and they're likely to refuse to wear any kind of masks or take any kinds of precautions against the illness. Despite overwhelming public opinion against this event, it continues to move ahead at full speed. In fact, the best hope we have in Jacksonville right now is that the speech will be as much of a bust as the recent Tulsa rally.
Long term consequences coming in to focus
When this outbreak started, there was good reason to be concerned for a short term disruption in business and economic activity.As the outbreak drags on and spreads without resistance throughout the United States, we should probably start to worry about larger and more long term economic damage.
The world can no longer look toward the United States for leadership in a crisis. We no longer demonstrate characteristics that people want to emulate, and we no longer look like a safe destination for skilled immigrants or investment funds.
Instead of leading the world toward a new era of cooperation, we find ourselves increasingly isolated - cut off from travel to more and more destinations across the globe. Europe doesn't want visitors from the U.S., and China doesn't want to import our chickens or other agricultural products.
Simply put, the world sees any physical interaction with an American as a growing and needless risk.
Can you blame them?
