This article discusses the situation at the moment, where it could go and what we need to be doing.

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The corona virus pandemic is as bad as or worse than a homeland invasion under war.

If you don't believe there is a problem you are part of the problem and a danger to others. There may be questions, legitimate questions of how the virus originated, but now it is here and we all have to deal with it.

There are massive closing of businesses and government, putting tens of millions out of work. It is likely that the US will soon be initiating quarantine policies like those in Italy-- too late. Expect hospitals to be massively overwhelmed.

Here are some details:

Restaurants are either closed or allowed to do delivery or takeout only. There are over 15 million restaurant workers. In 2016 there were 2.6 million food servers. They are now out of work.

Schools are closing. There are 3.7 public and private school teachers, and then all the sanitation worker and ancillary personnel. Figure at least 4.1 million at least.

Bars are being closed: There are about 650,000 bartenders. They're going to be out of work, as well as the people delivering beer and food supplies, the people who do the cleanups. Figure at least a million total, probably more.

Casinos are closing because no-one is going. There were 173,000 casino workers in 2018. NY just ordered casinos, gyms and bars and restaurants closed, except off premises.

There were about 365,000 fitness trainers and instructors in 2018. I'm guessing with sales, management and maintenance staffs there are at least a million people employed.

Retail stores are closing. There were about 4.8 million retail store workers in 2018.

NY is directing local governments to reduce workforce by 50% minimum. Not including teachers or police, there are at least 5 million local government workers. NY just ordered local governments to halve that number, so that's 2.5 million people.

It looks like the airlines are in deep trouble and may be shut down. There are about 750,000 airline employees, Factor out Federal express, with about a quarter million employees and you have half a million employees out of work. Double that to include all airport workers.

Those numbers add up to at least 18 million people suddenly out of work, assuming that restaurants stay open for takeout business.

Courts are shutting down, including the Supreme court. Elections are, rightfully, being postponed. No, I am replying to a request, I will not help work at the polls for a special election on Tuesday.

The Covid-19 situation is the kind of catastrophe that apocalyptic movies have been preparing us for over the past 20 years. Yet congress passed a pathetic bill that gives workers two weeks of unemployment relief-- if they are not employed by big corporations. It is disgusting and totally inadequate.

And we have an idiot in the White House and two corporate parties in congress running things. We are fucked.

I am afraid the internet might go out or be shut off.

I am afraid that police and national guard will soon be in the streets, like they are in Italy, enforcing rules that don't allow people to leave their homes without permission notes from doctors, where only five people at a time are allowed in grocery stores.

I am afraid that infrastructure will start to break down, including the power grid, phone services, supplies of gasoline will shut down. I'm not saying it will happen. I'm saying it could happen, including temporary blackouts.

As I write, NY Governor Cuomo is calling for a mandate at the federal level for rules that are a common set of practices. It's hard to imagine Trump appointing someone competent like General Russel Honore, who handled Hurricane Katrina comes to mind

So we need to take care of ourselves and the people we care about. How do we do that?

Get a good supply of food.

Stay home as much as possible.

Stay healthy. Even if the gyms are closed, get outside and walk or run.

Develop a network with local people. Build that network and re-connect with local people you may not have been that connected with. Be prepared for restricted travel regulations. Keep your car fully gassed up. Keep cash on hand.

Cuomo just said, "I don't remember this happening, period." Yes, I've been saying the same thing for my 68 years.

It feels like there is no strong leadership rising to this challenge. It is clear that we can't be dealing with this under the usual partisan conflict, but that still seems impossible. We need fresh ideas and dynamic, brilliant leaders, and I don't think that either party has that right now, at least not among the people in charge.

Authors Bio:

Rob Kall is an award winning journalist, inventor, software architect, connector and visionary. His work and his writing have been featured in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, CNN, ABC, the HuffingtonPost, Success, Discover and other media.

He is the co-founder of the Arc of Justice Alliance a platform designed to help organizations and individuals working for justice and a better world to discover each other and share resources and strategies, with the hopes that this will build their power.

Check out his platform at RobKall.com

He is the author of The Bottom-up Revolution; Mastering the Emerging World of Connectivity

He's given talks and workshops to Fortune 500 execs and national medical and psychological organizations, and pioneered first-of-their-kind conferences in Positive Psychology, Brain Science and Story. He hosts some of the world's smartest, most interesting and powerful people on his Bottom Up Radio Show, and founded and publishes one of the top Google- ranked progressive news and opinion sites, OpEdNews.com

more detailed bio:

Rob Kall has spent his adult life as an awakener and empowerer-- first in the field of biofeedback, inventing products, developing software and a music recording label, MuPsych, within the company he founded in 1978-- Futurehealth, and founding, organizing and running 3 conferences: Winter Brain, on Neurofeedback and consciousness, Optimal Functioning and Positive Psychology (a pioneer in the field of Positive Psychology, first presenting workshops on it in 1985) and Storycon Summit Meeting on the Art Science and Application of Story-- each the first of their kind. Then, when he found the process of raising people's consciousness and empowering them to take more control of their lives one person at a time was too slow, he founded Opednews.com-- which has been the top search result on Google for the terms liberal news and progressive opinion for several years. Rob began his Bottom-up Radio show, broadcast on WNJC 1360 AM to Metro Philly, also available on iTunes, covering the transition of our culture, business and world from predominantly Top-down (hierarchical, centralized, authoritarian, patriarchal, big) to bottom-up (egalitarian, local, interdependent, grassroots, archetypal feminine and small.) Recent long-term projects include a book, Bottom-up-- The Connection Revolution, debillionairizing the planet and the Psychopathy Defense and Optimization Project.

Rob Kall Wikipedia Page

Rob Kall's Bottom Up Radio Show: Over 400 podcasts are archived for downloading here, or can be accessed from iTunes. Or check out my Youtube Channel

Rob Kall/OpEdNews Bottom Up YouTube video channel

Rob was published regularly on the Huffingtonpost.com for several years.

Rob is, with Opednews.com the first media winner of the Pillar Award for supporting Whistleblowers and the first amendment.

To learn more about Rob and OpEdNews.com, check out A Voice For Truth - ROB KALL | OM Times Magazine and this article.

For Rob's work in non-political realms mostly before 2000, see his C.V.. and here's an article on the Storycon Summit Meeting he founded and organized for eight years.

Press coverage in the Wall Street Journal: Party's Left Pushes for a Seat at the Table

Talk Nation Radio interview by David Swanson: Rob Kall on Bottom-Up Governance June, 2017

Here is a one hour radio interview where Rob was a guest- on Envision This, and here is the transcript..

To watch Rob having a lively conversation with John Conyers, then Chair of the House Judiciary committee, click here. Watch Rob speaking on Bottom up economics at the Occupy G8 Economic Summit, here.

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His quotes are here

Rob's articles express his personal opinion, not the opinion of this website.

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