We don't want people in Georgia to drop dead.
There it is. I've found it. One thing absolutely all of us can agree upon, related to this coronavirus crisis.
I mean, yeah, the tomahawk chop's as obnoxious now as it was in 1992, and the mere mention of Atlanta's still enough to send some locals into convulsions amid visions of a certain candy-armed left fielder being unable to throw out a certain gimpy baserunner. But even there, wishing the very worst upon the citizenry of an entire state would come across as a little crass.
We're on the same page so far?
OK, cool. Because as this is being typed, Georgia's as open as any state in the union. On April 24, Brian Kemp, the governor there, gave the green light for business to mostly resume as usual, albeit with specifically stated restrictions. He was ripped for it almost universally, not least of which was by the federal government and the president of the United States, who happens to share a party affiliation.
Everyone who ripped Kemp might be proven correct, given that spikes can take a week or even longer to show.
Everyone who predicted carnage in Atlanta and across Georgia might still be proven right.
Kemp might wind up costing tens of thousands of lives, untold pain, untold peripheral damage.
But again, we can agree that scenario wouldn't be ideal, right?
OK, cool. Because as of yesterday, according to the CDC, the nation's health protection agency which happens to be headquartered in Atlanta, the state of Georgia had 1,203 COVID-19 patients hospitalized and 897 ventilators in use. Both figures were the lowest on record since tracking began April 8. In the past week and a half alone, patients hospitalized decreased by roughly 20 percent.
And this despite an estimated influx of 60,000 people from other states in the past couple weeks, most of them presumably eager to conduct business anywhere they can.
Take a look:
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ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION[/caption]
For full context, new coronavirus cases have gone up in Georgia since the April 24 opening, by roughly 2 percent. But even that can be directly attributed to dramatically increased testing. More testing, logically, will bring more positive tests, and impartial institutions agree that this explains the rise in case counts everywhere:
For the first time, the U.S. recorded three straight days of 300,000-plus tests while the positivity rate is down to 9.1%, per the Johns Hopkins coronavirus testing hub. https://t.co/7UyqSzX5v7 pic.twitter.com/GsHXdj21p3
— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) May 10, 2020
Here's hoping Georgia succeeds. Not for idiotic, irrelevant political points, which far too many people remain focused on scoring even during a freaking pandemic, not least of whom is Kemp himself. But rather, because catastrophe would be avoided. And because we'd have, right here in our country, a living, breathing and upbeat-beyond-belief case study to add to the growing information about coronavirus.
What's it mean specifically for Pittsburgh or Pennsylvania or, for that matter, the return of sports?
I'm not nearly that smart or scientifically aware, but it can't be bad.
• For anyone who's new here or doesn't know, each week through the crisis, I've been writing one non-sports column. That's what this is. So don't snap. Sports 'n' at will fill all the bullets again tomorrow.
• Testing, testing, testing. That's what this is about. Blot out all other noise. When testing is even more accessible, fully affordable and faster than what's currently available, this whole scene changes.
• As for us, we keep doing great. Which left Tom Wolf, Pennsylvania's governor, virtually no choice but to open almost all of Western Pennsylvania, including Allegheny County, this coming Friday.
That'll be a good day. It'll also be a day for caution.
As with Georgia, contrary to popular misperception, open doesn't mean open. Restaurants still won't have dine-in. Sizable gatherings still won't be allowed. Masks will still be a must in most public settings, including inside businesses. Same with the 6-foot social distancing.
Here's hoping all of that's heeded. Nothing would be more dispiriting than to get this far, to do this well, then to take some big step backward and start all over again.
• Dali and I enjoyed a wonderful sunset walk through Point State Park yesterday, sparsely populated but with more smiles than I'd seen of late. That's how I snapped the photo atop this column.
Also did this just for fun:
Fifteen seconds of the Allegheny River flowing in front of Heinz Field right now: pic.twitter.com/QLUVz10ePw
— Dejan Kovacevic (@Dejan_Kovacevic) May 11, 2020
• It's amazing, though not altogether surprising, how every forecast I read about coronavirus omits the possibility of treatments and other non-quarantine approaches that might mitigate death rates.
I wrote this at the outset of this outbreak, and it was seen by some as insensitive, but here it is again: If we can whack the death rate down to the level of the common flu -- it isn't near that yet, no matter how anyone tries to mislead on that -- then we've addressed this, with or without a vaccine. It always needed to become just another illness.
Almost every day, there are stories about potentially groundbreaking treatments. Not cures, but treatments. Ways to make people better. Ways to keep them from dying. A good many have emerged from right here in our own city. And they'll continue, since this might be the first time in human history most all of them are working toward a singular goal.
So before anyone gets to predicting whether or not there'll be fans at a football game in the fall, how about presuming at least a little faith in the scientific and medical communities?
Read those stories, too. They're uplifting, and they're real.
• Another facet seldom mentioned in any forecasts: Economic and, thus, emotional tolls will be enormous.
Economists forecast that we'll hit 20 percent unemployment by August, regardless of the pace of recovery. Some jobs will be reborn right away, but most won't. That's not how recessions or depressions work, and this one's shaping up to be the worst the country's ever seen.
No, the worst the world's ever seen. And in an era of interconnected global economies, that matters.
People losing jobs can wreck lives. And speaking only for myself, that frightens me -- particularly for my city, that's been on the climb for so long -- more than anything out of this for the long term.
• As someone who once did newspaper design for a living, this is one of the most imaginative front pages I've ever seen, from the desk at the New York Times:
• When it's time for sports to return, it would behoove the athletes to shut up and play.
I don't normally take such stances. I've been pro-player throughout my career as a columnist, and that won't change. But these aren't ordinary times, and no one would -- or should -- care how that impacts any sports league's collective bargaining process toward a single, truncated season. And that goes double for Major League Baseball, which doesn't have a salary cap and has by far the weakest grasp on the splitting of the big revenue pie.
To wit, this moronic comment by the Cardinals' player rep, Andrew Miller, over the weekend: "The way our sport works is, we are not tied to revenue in any way. If the owners hit a home run and make more money, we don't go back and ask for more on our end. Ultimately, this isn't about money. We need to find a way to safely get our players on the field in a safe manner and control that. I would hope finances don't turn into anything regarding that stuff."
If 'this isn't about money,' shut up and play.
If it is, stay home and let someone else play. There'll be tons of out-of-work minor-leaguers who'd take that ball from Miller in a heartbeat.
• On the other hand, if this finally motivates baseball owners toward the common cause of a cap, I'll happily tolerate anything in the interim.
• Yesterday was Mother's Day. This is my mom, Vlatka Zgonc ...
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Mom. - DEJAN KOVACEVIC / DKPS[/caption]
... along with her dog, Mila. And she had a great day yesterday.
So much of what she is, I am, for better or worse. She's emotional. She's volatile. She's taken great risks. She's created a relationship with a lot -- and I mean a lot -- of Pittsburghers.
Having hosted her own Serbian radio program for a half-century in our region, she reached Serbs and others from the former Yugoslavia in a way I could never match. Airing on WIXZ-AM, then on WPIT-FM every Sunday, using her distinct voice, just as often breaking into tears as she'd laugh, she and her listeners became forever friends. She also organized and hosted concerts and events that attracted thousands at a time, all toward the same end, all with the same personal touch.
It's funny, I mentioned her on social media yesterday and heard from quite a few readers who'd never connected the two of us while actually knowing of her work more than my own.
I'm glad she had a great day.
I hope all of the moms reading this had a great day.
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