Tall head in a tiny zoom box that cuts out in the middle of a meeting especially when hes talking. Its anarchy at this point. So thanks for being here tonight for this hour and a half. Lets do this thing. We start tonight in beautiful Wright County, minnesota. Wr wright. Beautiful part of the country. Beautiful part of the state. They call minnesota the land of a thousand lakes. The towns in Wright County are like smith lake and howard lake and french lake and maple lake. And in between maple lake, minnesota, and the next town over, which is called annandale, there are two catholic churches, these are two pretty small towns, less than 10 miles apart. Two or three thousand people in maple lake and annandale. While that five or ten miles between st. Ignatius and st. Timothys is enough distance to justify having two separate churches for apparently not enough to justify having two different sets of clergy serving those two churches. So between annandale and maple lake, the same three priests oversee the services for both churches in both towns. They split themselves between the two churches. Theres father myer, father andrew and monsignor cal la than. They take care of services in both churches in both towns. You might have seen some soft National Headlines this week that were generated by the catholic bishops in minnesota. Kind of pounded their chests this week and proclaimed that they would defy the state Public Health orders in minnesota. They said catholic churches would break the rules designed to limit the spread of coronavirus. The bishops declare catholic churches will open up, celebrate mass in person this weekend regardless of what minnesota Public Health officials and the governor have said is necessary to deal with the epidemic there. You might have seen these headlines whether or not you live in minnesota because the bishops got National Attention for their letter announcing that they would defy the law. Quote, how could reason require us any longer to keep our faithful from coming to mass to receive communion, to receive the yeucharist. That battle cry from the bishops is landing awkwardly in the communities. Heres the letter from father myer to st. Timothys this week. Quote, im sharing this in light of masses in the days ahead. You might have heard that the archbishop lloyd for public masses again. Well need to see how things transpire here before proceeding. I know you were eager to have the sacraments again as soon as possible. Im eager to celebrate mass with all of you. Obviously, however, we do not want to spread the virus and want to make sure the clergy have either tested negative or overcome the symptoms for a number of days before celebrating mass with you. Quote, yesterday afternoon we learned some parishioners tested positive for the covid19 virus. Father andrew has just now tested positive as well. Monsignor cal lahan and i recently developed sims and are awaiting testing results. The parishioners should be aware that one of the volunteers who helped with distribution of flowers for mothers day was feeling unwell and exposed to others with the virus. I wanted to share this so that you were aware and could be attentive to any symptoms that might develop if you interacted with the clergy. I want to share this so youre aware why we may not come back to mass as soon as other churches. With all three clergy affected it would be difficult for us to do so in the near future. All three clergy from those three churches down from the virus, yeah, were not going to be able to open up in defiance of the Public Health orders like the bishops say we ought to. Thats whats happening in Wright County, minnesota. This is texas. This is the Holy Ghost Catholic Church in bel air texas, part of the sprawling houston area. They opened and started doing mass at the beginning of this month, because texas republican Governor Greg Abbott told churches across the state of texas this was fine and they needed to reopen. Well, last week, one of the priests from holy ghost died. Five of the other priests at the religious order where he lived have also now tested positive. The archdiocese in houston sent out a warning to everybody in the parish. Quote, if you attended masses since the reopening on may 2nd, you are strongly encouraged to monitor your health for symptoms and be tested for covid19. Thats according to the archdiocese. Its not your typical archdiocese communication. But again, the governor of texas told all the churches in the state to reopen, and they did. But now with one priest dead, five others down from the virus, holy ghost has reclosed its doors, despite governor abbotts order they ought to reopen. You know, this is not a new phenomenon in this american epidemic. It has been this way from the very beginning. Contact tracing has told us so. Viola horton attended a church in West Virginia back on march 15th. Her sisterinlaw was the reverend and celebrating her anniversary as the leader. That gathering that one day is estimated to have infected 30 of the people who are in attendance. Five people who attended that Church Celebration that one day were hospitalized by the end of the first week that have service. Miss viola horton was dead within two weeks of the service, and she was the first person in West Virginia known to have died from the coronavirus. Last month in kentucky, Health Officials traced 30 coronavirus cases and three deaths and Community Spread of the disease across multiple counties including to a kentucky meat packing plant back to a Single Church revival meeting in hopkins county, kentucky. In california right now, a Single Church service on mothers day is being blamed for clusters in lake county a. In butte county theyre trying to track down people who attended a Church Service in person in defiance of a that prohibited such gatherings. Health officials are trying to find everybody who went to that Church Service because they learned someone who went to the service tested positive the day after. At that event it seems like they were all exposed. Last month, one of the first cdc formal reports, the first mmwr report, tracing a large cluster of cases in chicago identified one Church Service on one day as one of the places documented new infections took place. The new mmwr that just came out from cdc this week traces another cluster to rural arkansas, where the pastor and his wife did not know that they were infected, but they were. And over the course of one week, they infected 38 of their congregation, so so far, three people have died. I was also surprised to learn this today, about what now counts as the worst outbreak in the country, the outbreak of the Navajo Nation that spans three different states utah, new mexico, and arizona. They did great work teasing out the data, geographically information not just to find out how bad sit there, but how bad it is compared to other parts of the country. In the northern, particularly isolated part of the Navajo Nation, the number of cases per population in specific regions is higher than the worst hit zip codes in new york city. Navajo Health Officials also say that worst hit region within Navajo Nation is where they think the Navajo Nation began, and they have traced the beginning of the Navajo Nation outbreak, which again, is the worst one in the country, they traced its back to a specific Church Revival meeting on a specific day in early march in the Navajo Nation. Thats where they believe it took hold. Now, again, that is the worst outbreak in america. Worst per capita than the hardest hit zip codes in new york city. So when the president today pounded his chest a little bit and announced hell insist as president that all Church Services be held in person this beaned a weekend all over the country and would override a rule that prohibited it, the president knows what hes playing with in doing that. This has been a loud documented part of the epidemic from the beginning. And no, the president does not have to power to override state Public Health rules and demand all churches hold in tern services. But him trying to create the impression he has that power will have some of that effect any way. And so, you know, we will see what the president has wrought for this weekend in america in the middle of the Worst Epidemic on earth. Then in, what, three weeks or so, in some places well be able to do the Contact Tracing. Ones they do the Contact Tracing presumably well be able to give him all the credit he deserves for what happened this weekend. Because we know whats going to happen at Church Services. We know because were living through it at a smaller scale from earlier on in this epidemic in america when the total number of cases in the community was smaller than it is right now. We already know what Church Services have done in terms of creating what turn into large clusters. In one case, which turns into what is now the largest outbreak in the country, the worst outbreak in the country. I mentioned new york as a point of comparison for the Navajo Nation. This to me is still the big picture tale of where we are at as a country. Its one simple graph we have been updating day by day and it shows cases of coronavirus cases over time. New york is the blue line. Theyve squashed the curve down, gone flat. The other line is the rest of the country minus new york. Is really its new york that is coming down. The rest of the country just keeps going up, up, up, up, up. Aint no stopping us now. You keep hearing news about how the United States is flattening out in terms of cases, in terms of the shape of the epidemic. But the shape of the virus in this country is not flattening out. New york is better and the rest of the country is and that he has consequences as we head into this fine memorial day weekend and the states are opening up with abandon. The great state of arkansas just logged its largest daily increase in cases yet since the beginning of the epidemic theyve never had a larger daily increase in cases than they just had. In the same breath he announced that, the governor of arkansas, Asa Hutchinson announced in addition to having more new cases today than any other day thus far, were also announcing Sports Events are now on. Sportses. Play ball. In florida nice beach weather coming this weekend yesterday florida announced its highest daily case numbers since mid april. So, you know, open everything up. Theres going to be a 70team youth baseball tournament held in bravard county this weekend. 70 teams. Theyre expecting 1,500 people altogether. Just had their largest case numbers in more than a month. In alabama, their numbers have been rising all month long. Last night we had the mayor of montgomery. Montgomery is alabamas capital city. Hes raising the alarm that his citys Hospital Capacity in alabama is, his words, maxed out. As of today, icu beds in montgomery, alabama, or at 97 occupancy heading into the weekend. And the case numbers just continue to rise. The governor of alabama took questions on the situation in montgomery today and then in the same breath announced a further loosening of the rules statewide. Ruled designed to keep the virus from spreading. Good luck hospitals, good luck, doctors and nurses. Good luck. Its not just a phenomenon in the south. In omaha, nebraska, today, the director of one Medical Center announced theyre at 80 capacity. Quote, hospitalizations in the omaha metro area are at a worrisome upward climb. A little further down, governor says he feels good about loosening restrictions in the state. Last night it was like they were broadcasting from two different planets. He says, i feel great. Lets loosen up. She says, i run the Medical Center in the largest city in the state and we are filling up steadily and it is very worrying. She said last night, ill tell you, now is the time to be wearing a mask. Did you see this week these didnt circulate widely. I thought they should have. Did you see the wear a mask psas . New york asked people to submit their own Public Service announcements about why you should wear a mask, and what they circulated this week was what i believe are the finalists, like the best ones according to the state. Theyre really good. Theyre also really, really, really new york. Watch this. I love new york. We love new york. We have been stuck inside our hopes. While our everyday heroes have been working overtime. For new york to reopen. And stay open. We all need to do our part and show that we care. Look, man i wear a mask to protect you. You wear a mask to protect me. Lets all wear a mask to stop the spread of coronavirus. When we show up in a mask, we show up for each other. Show your love nor new york, because new york loves you. Textbook says politicians lead. No, sometimes the people lead. And the politicians follow. Follow the American People. They will do the right thing. Theres still a right thing. Do the right thing in new york is an expression. New york tough. Theyre really good, right . Arent they good . But theyre also the most new york thing in the world. I mean, sometimes in new york you feel like theres america and theres new york. Other times you feel like new york is the capital of america, the nongovernment capital of america. Then you see stuff like this and youre like, thats very new york specific. The reason youve got mask stuff like that thats so new york specific is because new york is taking the mask thing really seriously. Even as new yorks curve is coming down and the rest of the country is going up, new york is taking additional mitigation efforts seriously. Meanwhile in the rest of the country where things are were heading into the memorial day weekendle all these states have no requirement for people to rare masks while theyre out and about. Three of the state haves no recommendation or requirement for anybody to wear masks as a resident or at any place of business. I mean, the cdc does have an overt recommendation for the whole country that people wear masks, but theres no National Effort to promote it. Like new york city and new york are trying to develop their own new york specific promotions of this idea. Theyre doing it because nobody else is. Theres no National Effort. I mean, theres a national recommendation, no National Effort to promote it. Lots of states where theyre not requiring it or recommending it. The president and Vice President understood mine the recommendation personally whenever they can. At the start of this epidemic, the cdc used to give their own briefings about what the American People should do and know to protect themselves. The kinds of briefings where they may underscore the need to wear a mask. The cdc doesnt do those anymore. They havent done them since early march the Washington Post editorial page making a good point this week that just that one change, having the cd return to briefing the American People directly would be a big leap forward to us starting to rationally dweeal with this crisis. We dont have that. Instead we have the white house circuses. Today, dr. Birx stood up in front after a graph designed to make it look like things were getting much getter. A nice downward sloping graph soothes the eyes in a epidemic. That was showing the amount of testing being done in each state and she stacked the graphs so the states doing the most would be on the left side and the least would be on the right side, so it would give thaw soothing feeling to see bars in the bar chart declining. Looks like its declining but its not, its just set up to look that way at a glance. Thats just the states by which one doing testing. Really . At a glance it feels awesome, though. Look how small it is on the right by oregon. The president s, you know, boosting of that malaria drug saying hes taking it. All the doctors are taking it, all the front line providers are taking it. Theyre not taking it. The president saying its a preventive to keep you from getting coronavirus. Its not a preventive to keep you from getting coronavirus. That moved on to an absurd and potentially deadly threat today when the lancet published the results of nearly 100,000 coronavirus patient on multiple continents who were given the drug the president has been huckstering for, suffered a significant more risk of death than those who did not. Were still here at the bottom of the morass. For us citizens knowing this is our team on earth and well have to answer for our behavior and what we tried to do for our country, how how can we get good Public Health understanding among american citizens . How can we get good Public Health understanding, good buyin to necessary Public Health behaviors to keep ourself safe . How do we get people to understand and embrace selfprotective behavior . How do we empower americans to make smart, real, science based decisions that will protect american citizens and