[DoreenMichele]

Mississippi is one of the poorest places in the US. It's got problems akin to a third world country.

Now what? I'm sure you think that's a rhetorical question, but today is your unlucky day because I've spent the last 19 years getting healthier while the world says it cannot be done and generally acts like a butt to me.

Now we actively create a world where public bathrooms aren't health hazards to use at all. I propose we get Walmart to write that handbook. Their bathrooms are generally pretty damn good and there are lots of establishments where I don't want to set foot in their restroom.

Now we create a world where it's normal to call ahead or order online and pick-up instead of dining out or milling about waiting for our order because we all just showed up and then ordered.

Now we create cultural norms where you don't blow your nose at the god-damned conference table or restaurant table, jebus.

Now we create cultural norms like bowing instead of shaking hands.

Now we create architectural standards like using copper for stair rails because it's antimicrobial.

Making people a prisoner of their homes while our economy gets flushed down the toilet isn't our only option. That assumption is ignorant on the face of it. There's always more than one way to solve a problem.

[yongjik]

I genuinely agree that each of them is a noble cause that will make America a better place, but unfortunately, none of them are an answer to "We have a pandemic going on here, now what?"

First you make a absurd assertion that most of the US has much lower population density than Europe or Asia - that's true only if you measure by land area, not people, but then it's irrelevant: land doesn't contact COVID19, people do. In any case, it stopped being relevant about two weeks ago when the US overtook Italy - America's lower population density clearly didn't stop the disease.

There's a crisis going on, and I'm sorry that you will likely be affected much more by it than I will, and I agree that it's a social injustice that should be addressed in the long term, but that doesn't mean you can just wave away the crisis because you have a moral high ground. Coronavirus doesn't care.

[DoreenMichele]

My understanding is that it's really bad in New York, one of the few places with population density similar to Europe.

I have no idea why you assume I will be impacted more than you. Although dirt poor, I already do remote work from home and hardly go out. My life has hardly been impacted at all. A few meetings I attend were cancelled (and now people are answering my emails for a change).

The pandemic has mostly had a positive impact on my life because the rest of the world is practicing germ control for a change and pollution levels have dropped dramatically.

I mean feel free to support my Patreon or otherwise kick a few bucks my way. I can always use more cash. But my kids sit around gleefully announcing "Coronavirus is the best thing that's ever happened to our lives" and giggling about all the free games they are downloading.