Governor Charles Baker aka “Charlie One Step” – The Fruit of Timidity

Governor Charles Duane Baker also known as Charlie Baker, which makes me think of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory which recalls the pleasant aromas of chocolate  which came from the Baker’s Chocolate factory in the Lower Mills area at the end of Dorchester Avenue when I was a young man, was elected and elected again because he represented the thought “first do no harm.” Although Massachusetts is a liberal state with a progressive legislature the people want some check on its most outlandish ideas becoming laws and causing more harm than good.

The best place to find that is in a moderate Republican who manages to keep things at a simmer rather than boiling over. Charlie succeeded Deval Patrick a Democrat last heard of when he announced his candidacy for president. That announcement made a little bit of a news splash. His withdrawal from his futile pursuit received little if any coverage. Maybe he’s still running unlike another former governor Bill Weld, cut from the same cloth as Charlie, but more ambitious or perhaps more easily bored,  whose withdrawal from the pursuit of the presidency was covered in the media. I always liked Weld but somewhere along the line sad to say he stumbled.

Weld would have been bold. It is not in Charlie’s nature to be like that. One step at a time is his approach, it’s the easy does it way. He is the strolling down the street crossing only at crosswalks after looking both ways type guy. Nothing wrong with that, in fact it is quite praiseworthy, in normal times. But when the skies darken and the troubles pour down like a tropical rain storm you don’t wait for the crosswalk to cross the street for cover. You move fast and decisively,

After the Biogen Marriott meeting debacle Charlie didn’t follow the test, trace and isolate best practice. He dawdled. As the virus cases mounted he hesitated before asking people to stay in their homes. He has finally done it. Then he sat and rested I assume satisfied with his actions. He thought he was safely across the street but found out he was only on an island in the middle of the road.

He sees his actions are not accomplishing what he hoped. The cases of coronavirus continue to rise in Massachusetts as do the deaths associated with it. To deal with that he took another baby step by asking people arriving in the state to quarantine themselves for fourteen days. Who knows if they will? There is no plan in place to follow-up on them or sanction them if they don’t. Charlie seems to recoil at the thought of sanctions.

I’ve observed that many are complying with the stay at home advisory but many are not,, especially the teenagers. I can’t blame them. The orders are sanction free and the actions required voluntary. To a teenager being with friends is so very important so oblivious to the possible harm they follow their hearts.

I have seen and heard that in the supermarkets few people are wearing masks. People still don’t get it. More than one of my neighbors have told me they have had close encounters with others who told them ”don’t worry, I’m fine, I have no symptoms.” They miss the main point that you can be infected with the virus and infect others and show no symptoms.

Charlie has to give up his one step at a time approach. He must become bold. It is time for him to give a shelter in place order and have sanctions for those who violate his order. Most importantly he must require any person who goes out in public to wear a mask.

Doing  this we may slow it up. So I beg Charlie to act forcefully. Which brings me back to a game of my youth. I forget its name but I think we called it “May I.”

Me: “You may take one baby step forward Charlie!”

Charlie:“May I?”

Me:  “No you may not.”

Me:  “ You May take one giant step forward, Charlie!”

Charlie” ”May I?”

Me:  “Yes you may, Charlie, take one giant step, And do it right now!”

18 Comments

  1. I do not understand the “bidding” going on. If this is a price-war it should be stopped. The only “bidding” criteria should be need. Trump could and should stop it in a minute under those special powers he has signed. Do you think Ford held his tanks hostage waiting for the price to rise? Does anybody know the details?

    Also, are old folks being kicked out because the bed is worth more? The most vulnerable seem to be hustled out of their one place of safety.

    • This us a strange comment. You say lots of people have died from lots of different things so what difference does it make if a lot more die from Covid-19.

  2. The Top Ten (12) Countries with Coronovirus Death Rates, occupy almost a small (compared to the world) contiguous stretch of land: (San Marino 648: an enclave surrounded by Italy), Italy 166, Spain 140, Andorra 78, Netherlands 45, Belgium 37, Switzerland 35, France 35, Iran 31, Luxembourg 29, U.K. 18, Austria 10. (deaths per million population.)

    So, do we conclude wearing masks protects because Southeast Asians have lower rates? I think not. We have to consider the low or lower rates in Russia, Poland, Ukraine, Pakistan, Cuba, Uzbekistan, Jordan, Egypt, Bulgaria, etc.

    Turkey and Chechia’s rates are the same as Malaysia.

    Saudi Arabia (0.2) Armenia (0.2) and Ukraine’s (0.2) are lower than Japan’s (0.4).

    • William:

      I don’t see America being part of a contiguous stretch of land in Europe and it is questionable that the U.K. or Iran fits within your definition of contiguous.
      I suggest your statistics show the opposite of what you conclude. Yes, the countries with the highest death per million rates are all countries where they don’t wear masks. Malaysia they don’t wear masks by the way although they are beginning to do so.
      Let’s visit the death rates a little more down the road as the virus spreads. There are states in US that had none a week ago and now they have many.

      It seems to me you would not be objecting to everything and offer some solutions. Why are you so hung up on my suggestion people wear masks?

      • William M. Connolly

        Matt, I get a kick out of how you constantly resort to ad hominem attacks. You say I should not “object to everything” and offer some solutions. Implying I offer no solutions.

        This is the pot calling the kettle black. Who has been throwing stones at everyone since Day 1?

        You haven’t learned anything from what I’ve posted. To cut to the quick: Since Day I, I’ve suggested we follow the Health Professionals, the CDC and the NIH’s advice. I’ve commended the Presidents of Universities, the Governors and Mayors, and the Trump Administration for their innumerable, timely, life saving actions. I posted a timely of positive actions the Administration took. I’ve cited study after study, scientific facts, which do not comport with your posts. I have different views, based on a lifetime of learning and experiences. For example, I know that Japan is a homogenous society, a different culture, different genetically too, with perhaps different inherent immunities to certain viruses. I’ll spare you the studies, although I’ve cited the 2002-2014 studies that show, with all their mask wearing, they have a high seasonal flu rate (20 cases per 100,000). Whereas, even if you assume the U.S. averaged 50,000 flu cases per year, that amounts to about 16 cases per hundred thousand per year. And we don’t wear masks. (My math: 50,000 cases dived by 320 million equals about 156 cases per million or 15.6 cases per hundred thousand per year. I was never that good in math. I don’t mind being corrected . . . on anything.)

        From early on, I’ve offered Evidence against “mandatory mask wearing.” I wont repeat it.

        It’s really funny: Your advice to me, after all I’ve posted, is that I should make some suggestions. It’s really funny.

        O.K. Here’s some simple suggestion> Go back and read all my posts and the opinions of the professionals I’ve cited and watch all the President’s Daily Conferences,

        and stop watching CNN and MSNBC, for starters. (The Horrors, they tell you, in early February the Trump Administration sent aid to China. The Horrors. And whose that guy Chuck Todd or something who asked Joe Biden if “Trump has blood on his hands,” and Joe wisely said, “No, I wouldn’t go that far”, and that same guy, Chuck Todd, whatever his name is, held a panel discussion (I think it was with presidential candidates, around February 19) and he didn’t ask one single question about the Coronavirus. He, like Pelosi, and like many leftists, are great Monday Morning Quarterbacks, are great Stone Throwers.

        P.S. I think it was just two days ago that I posted: I agree, for the most part. Or words to that effect. So, I deny your accusation that I “object to everything.”

        • What kind of statement is that when you say that I have “been throwing stones at everyone since Day 1” And you talk about ad hominem attacks.

          You say Trump took timely saving actions. He did nothing for three months as the virus spread throughout the nation but golf and tell everyone he had it under control.

          Tell me why the CDC and Trump Administration are ordering millions of cotton masks if as you suggest despite all your studies they are wrong in doing it. They are supporting my idea that masks are important to wear. Perhaps you should contact them and tell them why they are wasting taxpayer money.

          By the way it wasn’t the cable news that told me the oblivious Trump was sending needed supplies to China that America would need during an pandemic it was Pompeo’s State Deparrment.

      • William M. Connolly

        Matt: I’ll go over this one more time, since you asked. IN SUMMARY: Ordering all Americans to wear masks will deplete the supply needed for Health Care Workers, and Masks present a false sense of security, and folks don’t know how to properly put on, take off and wear masks, so they provide little or no protection, and Americans who wear masks likely will stand closer to people and transmit more viral particles and in America mandating everyone wear masks will get as much compliance as Prohibition (in my humble opinion) and when lay-folk wear masks they end up transmitting more diseases (consider again; the small particles with 10 times the concentration of viral particles are still being released from mask wearers.) and finally for the last time: THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION AND CDC RECOMMEND THAT ONLY THE SICK AND THOSE CARING FOR THE SICK WEAR MASKS.

        And you call that being hung up?

        • Silly argument. We see that the actual practice of people wearing masks in the Far East have been very beneficial to them and you raise boogie men that don’t exist. Do you think Americans are that much dumber than Asians.

          You still duck the issue if wearing masks are so bad why is the Trump administration ordering so many? Why not address that? And I assume the CDC is involved in having underwear companies make masks so what you say it says and what we see it doing are two separate things.

  3. What made you think of VP Pence ?

  4. The game, often played on Sagamore Street, Savin Hill, was called “Giant Steps”.

    • JPC:

      That rings a louder bell. But sometimes I still think the game may have been called May I.

  5. “Mother, May I?” is what I recall from my youth.

    Baker disappoints regularly.

    • GOK:

      It does ring a bell. But when I first read it I thought you were talking about Mike Pence.

  6. William M. Connolly

    Matt: Be aware: The Experts at Medical Schools and Public Health Schools are considering this, and advising Governor Charlie Baker.

    (1) The CDC and WHO only recommend the sick wear masks.
    (2) The infectiousness risk during the incubation period is less.
    (3) Masks do not protect against small droplets, small particles containing viruses.
    (4) Small particles/droplets (less than 0.5 microns in diameter) have 8.8 times as many virus particles as large droplets.
    (5) Wearing masks give people a false sense of security and so they think they can stand close to each other.
    (6) Unless trained, most people wear masks improperly: too loosely; they touch the front of the mask or inside the mask; the lower the mask to eat or drink; they don’t change the mask daily.)
    (7) And hospital approved surgical masks, which will be needed in the billions over the next few months, may be depleted if governors start mandating everyone wear masks. You say, so what, people can make their own masks. Most people wont and if they do they’ll make inferior masks. THERE’S A REAL RISK OF SHORTAGE IF EVERYONE IS ORDERED TO WEAR MASKS: 300 MILLION PEOPLE IN THE USA. Save the masks for the Medical Personnel who are saving our lives.

    In a Harvard Study that actually does recommend sick people were masks, we find the following data:
    “The researchers also found that by wearing masks, study participants infected with the flu had a 25 fold decrease in the amount of large virus particles they exhaled compared with those not wearing a mask. Decreases for small particles were a more modest 2.8 fold reduction.” Now, Matt would cite this proof to mandate masks.
    But let’s stake a close at the study’s results and the study’s caveats:

    “While the U.S. Centers for Disease Control recommends that doctors and hospitals provide their flu patients with face masks, little is known about the infectiousness of exhaled particles and the effectiveness of masks in preventing their spread.”

    James McDevitt, instructor in HSPH’s Exposure, Epidemiology, and Risk Program, said, “Our study suggests that flu virus in small particles (less than 0.5 microns) may play a larger role than traditionally thought in the spread of influenza,”. It had previously been assumed that larger particles were associated with flu transmission, he said.
    In McDevitt’s controlled study of 89 volunteers, 37 testing positive for the flu: “92% exhaled small influenza-containing particles while not wearing a mask, compared to 78% while wearing a mask. In addition, they found that the flu virus was 8.8 times more numerous in exhaled small particles than in large particles.”
    GET THIS: 78% with masks still exhaled the 8.8 times more infected small particles.

    The particles that are almost 10 times more infections, are exhaled in 78% of persons wearing a mask. (The 14% difference is practically negligible.)

    Moreover, as said before, a high percentage of mask wearers wear their masks improperly, loosely, touch the front and inside of their masks, drop their masks down when eating or speaking, etc. and DYI masks are even less effective than surgical masks. And mask wearers walk around falsely thinking they are protected and they are protecting others.

    What protects folks is social distancing and washing hands.

    And while, we are at it: For letters and packages delivered to the house, as soon as you open them, discard the packaging and Wash your hands. You’ll be safe and secure.

    A physician who works New York’s most infected hospitals, guaranteed yesterday that you won’t get the virus if you maintain social distancing and regularly wash your hands.

    P.S There are 4,000 people with Coronavirus in Massachusetts. There are 6.9 million people without coronavirus in Massachusetts. Don’t panic, don’t be phobic, don’t be stressed out. The Harvard School of Public Health also warns against panicking. I saw an article with that title yesterday.

    • William:

      1. If you have virus and don’t know it what does CDC say about those people?
      2. No one really knows how long that incubation period is and whether that is true because it can’t be tested.
      3. Saying masks do not protect against all particle containing virus contradicts Cambridge study.
      4. You do admit they protect against large particles.
      5. Wearing masks remind people not to stand close together but do protect people who have to stand together.
      6. People wearing masks during epidemics usually know how to handle them.
      7. I’m not talking about hospital masks – remember HOMEMADE or other than hospital masks. The Cambridge study would contradict the CDC study which had only 39 volunteers plus we know nothing about the type of masks they were told to wear so it is impossible to conclude anything from it without knowing that.

      Governor Cuomo said even if his stringent rules only saved one life they would be worth it. Clearly wearing masks would save more than one life. It is a small inconvenience like seat belts where the slogan was: “Remember the Life You Save May Be Your Own.” As for there being 6.0 million people in U.S. without coronavirus let us remember this is just starting and the rate of increase is over 20% a day in Massachusetts and the United States. Of course you should recommend washing hands and social distancing but the latter is not always possible. As for that physician who works in NY hospitals you should know it is easy to guarantee something when you really don’t have any skin in the game. Stay safe and wear a mask.

      • Matt, I disagree with almost all your statements. You discount the fact that the masks do not protect against the smallest particles with 10 times the viral concentration. Does your Cambridge Study even acknowledge this fact?

        In the real world, people don’t wear or handle masks properly and it gives them a false sense of security and they do stand closer.

        One study I read said that in the early stages of incubation the viral count is 50,000 times less than when folks are experiencing symptoms. And every study I’ve read (except one Chinese Study) says that the primary mode of transmission is close contact with someone who is infected and experiencing symptoms.

        We can debate forever. I’ll rely on the New York Physician I cited, the CDC, and the WHO: Best way to prevent transmission: Social Distancing and Washing Hands. Who should wear masks? Only the sick and those caring for the sick.

        • William:

          You have the Cambridge study in front of you. Yes, it does account for the smallest particles.
          In the real world people are forced to stand close to each other, masks give them protection.
          All those studies suggest is what I am suggesting wear masks in case someone with symptoms not wearing a mask gets close to you.
          You’ve been posting anti-mask for quite a while now. I don’t understand why you are against people further protecting themselves. It seems quite reasonable to me that we should urge people to do that. What do you gain by telling people that it is ok not to wear masks when they do give protection. If I were governor I would mandate the wearing of them. I’m not governor so I urge people to wear them for their own protection. You object to it over and over again without a scintilla of proof that they give NO protection.

          If I am so wrong why is the Trump Administration ordering underwear companies like Hanes to start producing masks from underwear material? Maybe you should be directing your opposition to Trump and his team.

          “Matt Hall, a spokesman for Hanes, said Trump administration officials called the company about a week ago to see if Hanes could start making face masks. Hanes and a group of other yarn and clothing companies agreed to make up to 6 million masks a week, he said.But Hanes is not making the most-sought-after N-95 masks. “They are masks that would be helpful to prevent somebody from sneezing and coughing from spreading any kind of germs that they might have,” Mr. Hall said, adding that the Food and Drug Administration approved a prototype that can be used if N-95s were not available. Mr. Hall said that Hanes was currently negotiating a contract with the U.S. government to supply the masks at market rates.
          Executives at Parkdale Mills, a company in Gastonia, N.C., that provides yarn to Hanes, received a call a few days ago from Peter Navarro, Mr. Trump’s trade adviser. He wanted to know if the company could make masks.“He said, ‘I need a Manhattan Project,’” said Anderson Warlick, the chairman and chief executive of Parkdale Mills. The company is part of the consortium with Hanes, Fruit of the Loom and several others.’