[akiddoc]

Growing concerns ... isn't it reasonable to assume that as the pandemic advances, it will affect urban more than rural populations? Which will reinforce political divisions? And pull the country even further apart?

Seems like rural vs. urban can easily become "pandemic was over-hyped" vs. "reopening too soon was dangerous and irresponsible." And, to make matters much worse, the respective facts in both cases will reinforce their radically different sense of what actually happened. Hospitals struggling in cities, normal in local towns, and all that.

As I write this, April 18, it seems like we can see the politics dividing the same way. Republican governors are the last to close down and the first to open up, and Dems vice-versa. The White House wants to reopen, the opposition calls that dangerous and irresponsible. Trump incites protests (literally, his LIBERATE tweets yesterday) in closed states run by Democratic governors.

And the built-in divides resonate. Fox News pushes reopening soon, while MSNBC pushes staying shut down, and so forth.

And, looking ahead, it seems like there will be ample facts to support both sides. And we, as a nation, become more two different countries at war with each other.

My questions:

1. Does this seem like a reasonable guess?
   
2. If so, is it inevitable?
   
3. How does this impact government now, for the November elections, and beyond?
   

The rural states are not going to escape Covid-19, but it is going to have a flatter curve there. Theoretically it should be easier to track cases in less densely populated states, but I'm not sure those states have the public health infrastructure to do the job. Once it sweeps through parts of those states, which is pretty much inevitable, maybe the common experience will help unify the country a bit.

[akiddoc]

Growing concerns ... isn't it reasonable to assume that as the pandemic advances, it will affect urban more than rural populations? Which will reinforce political divisions? And pull the country even further apart?

Seems like rural vs. urban can easily become "pandemic was over-hyped" vs. "reopening too soon was dangerous and irresponsible." And, to make matters much worse, the respective facts in both cases will reinforce their radically different sense of what actually happened. Hospitals struggling in cities, normal in local towns, and all that.

As I write this, April 18, it seems like we can see the politics dividing the same way. Republican governors are the last to close down and the first to open up, and Dems vice-versa. The White House wants to reopen, the opposition calls that dangerous and irresponsible. Trump incites protests (literally, his LIBERATE tweets yesterday) in closed states run by Democratic governors.

And the built-in divides resonate. Fox News pushes reopening soon, while MSNBC pushes staying shut down, and so forth.

And, looking ahead, it seems like there will be ample facts to support both sides. And we, as a nation, become more two different countries at war with each other.

My questions:

1. Does this seem like a reasonable guess?
   
2. If so, is it inevitable?
   
3. How does this impact government now, for the November elections, and beyond?
   

The rural states are not going to escape Covid-19, but it is going to have a flatter curve there. Theoretically it should be easier to track cases in less densely populated states, but I'm not sure those states have the public health infrastructure to do the job. Once it sweeps through parts of those states, which is pretty much inevitable, maybe the common experience will help unify the country a bit.