This week, the number of confirmed cases in North Carolina ranged from 6,598 to 9,011, and in the United States from 744,098 to 965,097.
The milestones of 10,000 cases in North Carolina and 10,000 cases in the United States will soon be coming.
If you live in North Carolina, driving out in recent months, you must have seen a sign like the one on the side of the road.
“run, forrest! run!” It is the famous line in the movie "Forrest Gump" where Jenny encourages Forrest Gump. In North Carolina, the phrase was slightly tweaked to become the campaign slogan of Republican governor candidate dan Forest, the current lieutenant governor. In this November's gubernatorial election, he will face Roy Cooper, the democratic candidate and incumbent governor seeking re-election.
As the number of cases climbs, how to deal with the epidemic has undoubtedly become the focus of debate among the candidates.
Roy Cooper (left) and Dan Forest (right)
Both parties' gubernatorial candidates are typically white male politicians. Roy Cooper was born in Nash County, northeast of North Carolina, with a population of less than 100,000 people, into a tobacco farm and law firm business, with the former being North Carolina and the latter elite. He earned a bachelor's degree in psychology and political science and a doctorate in law from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and then followed his father's career as a lawyer at the family law firm before entering politics as an opportunity to successfully run for state legislature. After four consecutive terms as state attorney general from 2001 to 2017, Cooper ran for governor of North Carolina in 2016 and won the Democratic gubernatorial nomination with 87.2 percent of the vote in March.
Dan Forrest was born in Virginia, raised in Charlotte, North Carolina's largest city, to a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives. He earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in architecture from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, then worked at a construction firm all the way to senior partner, successfully ran for vice governor of North Carolina in 2012, was re-elected in 2016, and became the Republican candidate for governor in March with an equally overwhelming 89.0 percent of the vote.
Governor to Lieutenant Governor, Lawyer to Architect, Lawyer's Son to Congressman's Son, Hardcore Democrat to Hardcore Republican, the resumes of the two have both similarities and subtle opposites.
During the pandemic, the governors and vice governors should have worked closely together, but as the drumbeat of the election became closer, the two sides began to disagree and even attack each other. After Cooper called off statewide restaurant dine-in services in March, Forrest criticized Cooper's policies for "destroying our economy." However, Forrest's remarks drew more criticism, and he later changed his mind to say that he was only opposed to the governor's process of promulgating the policy, not the policy itself.
In recent weeks, Republican President Trump has been calling for a resumption of work. The current stay-at-home order in North Carolina will end next Wednesday, April 29, and Cooper will announce whether to extend the stay-at-home order this week. North Carolina's southern neighbors South Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia, all held by Republican governors, have seen a decline in the average daily number of confirmed cases, but have gradually eased controls since Monday. Georgia, which has more than twice as many cases as North Carolina, opened its gym and beauty salon on Friday, and restaurants and movie theaters could open next Monday. The governor of Virginia, north of North Carolina, is a Democrat with a little more than half the number of cases in Georgia, but their stay-at-home order has been extended until June 10.
Forrest, who openly supported Trump in 2016, naturally followed the footsteps of the president and the Republican Party again on the topic of resuming work. Cooper had schools suspended statewide until at least May 15, and Forrest wanted to get students back to school this school year; Cooper repeatedly asked President Trump and Vice President Pence for more personal protective equipment, and Forrest argued that North Carolina should address the lack of protective equipment and nucleic acid testing on its own; Cooper confronted the "reopen nc" protest, many of which went straight to him, while Forrest called the organizers of the protests, encouraging them to abide by the law and maintain social distancing.
I mentioned the "reopening of North Carolina" protests in my last weekly note, and the protesters said they were going to upgrade the event to a weekly event, and sure enough, they believed it, and this Tuesday made a comeback.
And this week's campaign is even more massive, with protesters reaching up to about a thousand. Looking at the photos of the scene, many people did not take any protective measures, and did not maintain social distancing above 1.5 meters. Several politicians were among the protesters, including Republican State Congressman Dan Bishop. He wore a mask, but took it off several times halfway through.
More than a dozen health care workers also stood in front of the state archives to "counter-protest" the protests. Health workers stand solemnly in uniform against protesters calling for work, a scene that has recently occurred in various states. A reporter for The News and Observer recorded a protester yelling at health care workers who refused to name himself, but more importantly, his mask was not worn at all.
If a protester contracts COVID-19 during a protest, I probably won't have any sympathy for him/her.
A spokesman for Cooper's campaign said Forrest was playing with fire at great risk, "he was sowing the seeds of chaos and division in the midst of the crisis in exchange for political scores." ”
On Thursday, April 23, Cooper announced that he would extend the stay-at-home order until May 8. On Friday, Cooper announced that primary and secondary schools across the state will continue to teach in the form of distance education until the end of the school year in June.
The controversy over the resumption of work and school in April can finally be eased for a week or two, but the party will continue to fight against differences, but to change the topic.
Democratic senatorial candidate Carl Cunningham (left) and Republican candidate and incumbent Senator Tom Tillis (right)
The gubernatorial battle determines north carolina's direction over the next four years, but at the national level, the north carolina senatorial battle between Cal Cunningham and Thom Tillis is more compelling. On Election Day, November 3, 2020, North Carolina will vote not only for the president and governor, but also for a member of the Senate. Republicans currently hold 53 of the 100 seats in the Senate, and this year's general election will re-elect a third of senators. To gain a Senate majority in the new Congress, Democrats have set their sights on Republican seats in Arizona, Colorado, Maine and North Carolina.
Both parties seem to realize that North Carolina will be the main battleground in the battle for seats. Both parties have so far poured far more money into the Senate campaign in North Carolina than any other state, and the current mix of opinion polls from Cunningham and Tillis bodes well for further white-hot competition. Affected by the epidemic, both of them communicated with the Internet and their supporters over the phone, and also expressed their political views on the epidemic. COVID-19 is affecting not only the format of the campaign, but also the content of the election.
The pandemic also played an important role in the highly anticipated presidential elections. Trump said at a news conference this week that he should study whether injecting disinfectants can kill the new crown virus. So The Democratic presidential candidate Biden is now tweeting: "I can't believe I'm actually saying this, but please don't drink disinfectant." ”
But Mr. Trump isn't just talking about it every day, his resumption of work policy is simply tailored to the white community in the countryside, who are traditional supporters of the Republican Party. Large cities and minority settlements are more frequently communicated and densely populated, and the epidemic is far more severe than in the countryside, but these areas are also the sphere of influence of the Democratic Party and have been abandoned by Trump.
We always say that life is priceless, but when the new crown virus has taken the lives of hundreds of thousands of people around the world, we still see people exchanging the lives of others for votes, political capital and commercial benefits. After all, people whose lives are in danger may be unknown people, but what they put in their pockets is real benefits. What's even more frightening is that if we put other people, and even ourselves, in this position, if the chips are tempting enough, it is difficult to ensure that people will not make the same choice. This week I watched the Christmas special of the political comedy "Yes, Chancellor," which happened to be titled "Party Games." Perhaps the merit of this drama is that when it thoroughly points out the methods, ills and shortcomings of politicians and civil servants, there is only laughter, not anger.
If you want to see real bloody politics, it is enough to observe reality.
The online ridicule of injectable disinfectants, I hope is just a joke
Of course, I am just a clay bodhisattva under a fence. This week Trump signed an immigration ban that primarily targets green card applicants outside the U.S., while reviewing nonimmigrant visa programs began. Some analysts say that the symbolic significance of the ban is greater than the actual significance, just to divert the negative sentiment of the vast number of unemployed people in the United States, but this is not good news after all.
The road ahead is unknown, but fortunately there is no worry about eating and drinking. This week, I ordered the takeaway of the local barbecue shop parker's BBQ, ordered and paid online, drove to the barbecue shop parking lot, called the store, and three minutes later, an employee delivered the takeaway directly to the car, which was to avoid direct contact as much as possible. Ordering takeout is still pleasant, a week after finally a meal without having to make it yourself, and the increasingly empty refrigerator can finally increase the inventory after a meal, and the takeaway seems to have a strategic significance in food reserves.
However, the parking lot is full, many people walk into the store to order food, and there are many cars on the road. Whether there is a valid reason or not, there are still quite a few people hanging around outside.
I went to lidl early on Sunday morning to shop and saw that the merchant had made further adjustments: the used shopping cart was placed outside the store, cleaned by the clerk and pushed into the store for customers to pick up. Just took a picture with praise, and was reminded by the clerk that the company has regulations and no photos are allowed in the store.
I have no complaints about lidl, the clerks all wear masks, there are not many customers in the morning, and more than half of them wear masks. Originally a baking area chosen by customers, it is now a thoughtful measure to reduce contact by selling four boxes of bread and snacks. Pork is in full supply, other commodities are plentiful, and even the toilet paper area remains empty.
Went to the next Walmart also did not, look at the online target and other merchants are not in stock. Forty days have passed since the rush to buy toilet paper, but the surrounding supermarkets are still out of stock, making people doubt the logistics capacity of this area.
But I'm not even close to the point where I don't have a "toilet", harris teeter seems to still be in stock, planning to check it out next time I go to the supermarket.
I'm not the only one who can't find toilet paper. Local plumbers have been extraordinarily busy lately, with people in short supply of toilet paper turning to trying out all sorts of kitchen paper and wipes and then throwing them down the toilet, causing a clogged pipe. Toilet paper will soften and decompose when it meets water, and these messy things will not.
I think that even if North Carolina forcibly resumes work, even if Trump continues to be spontaneous, even if the supermarket is crowded, even if the toilet paper is still out of stock, I can at least set the bottom line of my life and not throw strange things into the toilet.