Consequences of COVID-19 demand more generosity from the privileged
In 1996, an editor in New York asked me how I managed to survive while covering a refugee crisis and cholera outbreak in Zaire when so many people didn’t have food.
The night before, I explained, I’d enjoyed smoked salmon dusted with dill, capers and salmon roe. The rice pilaf was tasty, but the chef at the premium Hotel des Grands Lacs had overcooked the vegetables, presumably to ensure they were safe.
In Africa, a modest American salary offered enormous privileges, even if thousands of people were dying from cholera only a few hundred yards away. Going from a tent filled with suffering to a hotel with room service was jarring, but not unusual in the many crises I’ve reported on.
Today, if you’re an NBA player with no symptoms, you can get a coronavirus test, even if the White House tells paramedics and police officers that they must wait for symptoms.
If you’re a highly-paid professional working from behind a desk, you probably won’t lose your job in a pandemic because you can work from home.
Stay-at-home orders don’t mean anything if you have a vacation house and can afford to have all your
needs delivered.
If the police arrest you for a violent felony, if you have enough money to pay bail, you can walk away without spending weeks in the viral Petri dish that is a county jail. Even after Gov. Greg Abbott banned the release of thousands of suspects who don’t have any money.
We all know the rich are privileged. The top 20 percent of U.S. families take home 55.1 percent of the nation’s annual income , according to the Congressional Budget Office. But those differences come into sharper contrast at a time like this.
If you live in a two-bedroom shotgun shack with six other people, three of whom serve the public for their wages, you are not going to avoid COVID-19. It’s merely a race to stay ahead of it for as long as possible.
If you do not have health insurance, more than likely, you’re going to wait as long as possible before visiting the emergency room to avoid hospital bills.
When staying home means losing your job, the biggest question is where you will get your next meal. About 10 million Americans have lost their jobs in two weeks.
If you get arrested trying to survive, you are unlikely to have money for bail and may stay in jail. The sheriff will provide a bunk and a bologna sandwich, but that will not stop the virus from reaching your communal cell.
The point is not to incite class warfare, but to recognize that some have it easier than others.
During a pandemic, our first instinct is to worry about ourselves and our loved ones, that’s biological. But by now, we know how to stay healthy and understand the importance of commerce. We have time to think about the less fortunate.
Recently, I wrote about how grocery stores are providing less surplus food to food banks due to hoarding. If you bought a little extra, leaving others without, then allow me to suggest that every dollar you give a food bank will enable them to provide 10 pounds of food to the needy.
Restaurants are closed, but many places are offering take-out. My family buys several meals a week from our favorite restaurants, not because we cannot cook, but because we want to keep those businesses afloat.
My favorite men’s shop is shuttered, but the manager offered to deliver clothing to his regular customers. I took him up on the offer, found some exceptional items, and gave him money to help pay the rent on his empty store.
When two dancers living across the street offered a clothed, public performance on Instagram to raise money for rent and utilities, my wife and I stuffed some cash in their virtual g-strings.
Lastly, as regular readers know, I routinely encourage our politicians to respond to this crisis with mercy, not with political pandering and empty machismo.
My family can do these things because we are among the top 20 percent of earners who have a median annual income of $214,000. We work from home, secure in our jobs.
We choose to do these things because we love our community, and we understand cash flow is critical to all businesses, not to mention keeping people housed and fed. We can afford a private economic stimulus program.
If we want to avoid another Great Depression, we must keep the economy going. Under a stay-athome order, that means generosity toward our neighbors, and the businesses we rely on.