May 7, 2020

Three Maps Show How Fast Lockdown Fatigue Has Overcome Us

I’ve shown you this before in colorful chart form, but today the Washington Post presents it in even more colorful map form. These three maps show you how good we’re being about staying at home over the past month:

We peaked on April 7 and have been backsliding ever since. By April 30, a mere six weeks after lockdowns started, we were already back to about where we were on April 1. This is partly due to ordinary human fatigue, but also due to President Trump and his buddies telling us that it’s time to get back to normal, come what may.

By the way, I occasionally get someone asking me, basically, if I’m so smart then what do I think should be done? But it’s not really a question of what I think. As near as I can tell, expert opinion is all but unanimous:

  • Crush the curve. Keep lockdowns in place until—at minimum—the number of new cases has declined for 14 days in a row.
  • Test and trace. With the number of infections under control, keep it there with an aggressive program of testing and contact tracing.

The fact that so many people are unaware of this simple recommendation doesn’t speak well for either our media or our public health communications. In any case, this only works if we massively build up our testing capacity, and that doesn’t seem to be a high priority in the halls of power in our nation’s capital.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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