Mentioning a person “dies of Covid” in headline

There are many people in covid denial. Do you have a better way of waking them up?

Maybe people like you Slimshim1 will learn from it to watch out from Covid.

The above exchange is the most cogent illustration of WHY we need to have YWN continue to provide the Covid linkage to the announcements of those who were niftar, along with the photos of the overflowing morgues and exhausted members of thechevrah kadishah. Politicians like Trump and Bibi are running arounding flouting the rules and trying to block out Covid from the nightly news. Trump was mocking those who keep focusing on Covid and claiming that people “don’t want to hear Covid” anymore and want to magically “get back to normal” and “be happy”.
Yup Slimshim: Don’t worry, be happy. We have lots of gadolim, so YWN mentioning a few dying from Covid is no big deal. Even less a big deal if the niftar is just a poishete yid.

The goal of mass media is to encourage people to panic and feel that something horrible is going on. That is what, as they used to say “sells newspapers” (in 21st century, “motivates clicks”). If people realized that the death rate due to Covid19 is under 1 in 1000, and compared that to the “normal” death rate in America which is roughly 8 per 1000, and that most of the deaths are of people who were very old (older than “baby boomers”) or very sick to begin with, they might not panic. They would ask politically incorrect questions such as “Why did we close schools” or “Why did they close shuls” or “Why did they close down businesses” or “Why did they deprive some many people of their parnassah”. So not exaggerating the impact of Covid10 would cause people to question their betters, and what sort of society would you have if the commoners didn’t know their place? Where would people like Cuomo be without media that twist the facts to make them more sensational? It is no accident that the highest awards in journalism, the Pulitzers, are named for someone reknown for “yellow journalism”.

Sorry Syag, but fear of the virus by some segment of the tzibur is NOT a reason to lessen the focus on what is happening and what could happen if political leaders don’t get out front of what appears to be a second wave (whatever that means) of the virus. Several European countries have either shut down again or are about to do so in an attempt to avoid massive increases in viral infections. Masks and social distancing are the ONLY real options we have now to reduce the rates of infection and are the best way to get back to normal .
As to your stupid comment about myself (or any YWN reader) feeling smug about Chareidim being niftar from covid and thinking “it serves them right”, I’ll assume you had a long day and won’t bother with a response. In reality, most of those who were niftar probably were careful about Coronoa protocols but were infected by others who were less careful so no, “it doesn’t serve the right”

Always Ask: You are 100 percent correct. Tracing and early warning is an essential element of a response. The problem is you have to start early, make contacts quickly and have the support of the local community. Sadly, federal funding to assist the States in setting up their tracing programs came late and many States still have not used the available funds. In a lot of Red states, there was considerable pushback against tracing programs that were deemed ‘intrusive’ and those that were contacted were often reluctant to share accurate information about those they might have been in contact with. Sadly, with the current spike in many red states, the number of new cases has overwhelmed available tracing programs. Just today, South Dakota (the worst state in terms of new cases) acknowledged that it was taking up to a week to contact individuals testing positive for Corona, by which time contact tracing was pointless. The Governor, who has refused to impose any statewide mask rules or limits on public gatherings is considering mobilizing National Guard troops to try and expand contact tracing efforts.

The local MO yeshivos already had in-place text and email systems for communicating to parents about everything from snow days to school security lockdowns so adding Covid messaging was really not much of strech. They also have very active parent listserv social media groups etc. that supplement “official” school communicaitons. This could be more of a challenge for some Chareidi schools where the hashkafah doesn’t allow for internet etc. but there are still options using the telephone or designating a limited number of parents (with the approval of their LRP) in each neighborhood or building to receive official online notices. Hopefully, the past few months have reinforced the need for even the most isolated segments of the tzibur to “plug in” and have access to current and reliable information on emergencies that arise.

Syag: Its good that so many DO have internet alerts and information sharing. However, during the early months of the shutdowns, there were many posts regarding those in the frum community and schools where such access was lacking. Hopefully you are correct, and those who lacked such access 6 months ago now have greater connectivity to real time information from those they trust.

GH, Syag, I agree that the connectivity improved greatly everywhere. I am wondering whether school-centered system woks well everywhere (I am sure it works well in many places):
1) some schools might be hesitant to share all details. maybe will share what they have to… I am not sure what I’ll report if my livelihood depend on it …
2) virus may enter community from other angles before getting to schools
3) information needs to get to other people, not just those at a particular school

The tragic reality of where we are was acknowledged by Trump’s Chief-of-Staff, Mark Meadows, who waved the surrender flag over the weekend and said we “no longer can control [the virus]” but will hopefully be able to mitigate the mortality and longer-term morbidity rate of those who are hospitalized. We no longer care about the spiraling number of “cases” as Trump said yesterday but we don’t want to talk about “Covid, Covid, Covoid”. We also don’t want to infringe on the personal liberties of real Americans (aka “inconvenience” of my fellow Trumpkopfs)( by making them wear masks. However, if you are hospitalized, we have lots of ventilators and hopefully, you will be fortunate enough to go to a hospital where you can get lots of ZINC with you HCQ and Regeneron. If some die, it will be for a good cause….getting me reelected. i

Syag: Just channeling the insane assertions of POTUS and the WH chief of staff. I did a reality check in the past hour. Nearly 75,000 NEW cases in the past 24 hours, hospitalizations trending upin 34 states, ICUs at hospitals in several states in the midwest and west at or over capacity, etc. and Trump is mindlessly running around claiming “we’ve turned the corner” and “its disappearing”. Still holding big rallies where most attendees are maskless (except behind the podium) and ridiculing reporters and others who insist on wearing masks. Criticizing state and local governments who follow his own Task Force guidelines on best practices to control viral spread. While I will give him the benefit of the doubt on the slow responses to Covid earlier this year, his actions and behavior in the past few months have been reckless and irresponsible and a costing lives.

Trump relies on a crazy idea of herd immunity without a vaccine were many people get infected and end up dying.