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Democrats and their media allies have trapped themselves in a contradiction. They are deploring Thursday’s grim second-quarter GDP report even as they demand a repeat of the lockdown that caused the economic catastrophe. What do they expect when government orders Americans to sit in their homes for weeks? That’s the main message from the 32.9% decline in GDP, the worst ever recorded. The damage extended across the private economy—from business investment to manufacturing and housing. But the greatest harm was from the collapse of consumer spending as the shutdown crushed the service economy. (7/30)

Rising Covid-19 case counts across the U.S. have made a second lockdown seem almost inevitable. It is likely to be months before a vaccine could end the coronavirus pandemic, and the U.S. is also months away from using the testing-and-tracing strategy other countries have used to keep new outbreaks from expanding. But Americans can’t be expected to stay in their homes for months on end. The rational, fair, humane way forward is for society to balance pandemic safety against other vital needs — the need to make a living, the need for education and the need for social interaction. (Faye Flam, 7/30)

On May 27, the United States reached a grim milestone. Four months after the country’s first confirmed case of covid-19, the death toll of the novel coronavirus reached 100,047 as of 6 p.m. Eastern Time, according to data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. The number — far higher than any other nation’s — exceeded the number of U.S. lives lost to the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks combined. We hoped the alarming loss of so many lives in so short a period of time would galvanize a concerted national effort to contain the virus. Instead, two months later, 50,000 more people are dead, and there is no end in sight to the casualties. (7/30)

You may have heard about the viral video featuring a group of fringe doctors spouting dangerous falsehoods about hydroxychloroquine as a covid-19 wonder cure. In fact, it’s very possible you saw the video since it was shared on social media tens of millions of times — partly thanks to President Trump who retweeted it more than once, and who described the group’s Stella Immanuel, also known for promoting wacky notions about demon sperm and alien DNA, as “very impressive” and even “spectacular.” Given this and a few other hideous developments, it’s time to acknowledge the painfully obvious: America has waved the white flag and surrendered. With nearly 150,000 dead from covid-19, we’ve not only lost the public-health war, we’ve lost the war for truth. Misinformation and lies have captured the castle. (Margaret Sullivan, 7/30)

When the leader of the “free world” promotes a quack who states that gynecological problems are caused by sex with demons, you know the free world is in big, big trouble. What else can you say when President Trump touts Dr. Stella Immanuel, who claims “spirit husbands” and “spirit wives” visit humans in their dreams, and cause fibroids and impotence? Trump retweeted a video in which Immanuel insists that hydroxychloroquine is a “cure” for COVID-19 and says masks are not needed. Never mind that this dangerous fakery has been repeatedly rebuffed by medical studies and Trump’s own advisers, including Dr. Anthony Fauci; he found the good doctor “very impressive.” (Trudy Rubin, 7/30)

There are no intelligent grounds for rejecting masks. They’re simple and cheap, and they protect humans against a vicious disease that has caused more than 660,000 deaths across the world. Refusing to wear a mask is like supporting the fire against the fire department. It’s like openly sneezing into a packed elevator. It’s stupid. It’s also kind of disgusting. But that didn’t stop Herman Cain — the accomplished businessman and onetime presidential hopeful, who died of COVID-19 on Wednesday — from rejecting masks. Before he headed to President Trump’s June rally in Tulsa, Okla., he tweeted jubilantly that “masks will not be mandatory for the event” because “PEOPLE ARE FED UP!” (Virginia Heffernan, 7/31)

India is now the epicenter of the global coronavirus pandemic. It ranks just behind the U.S. and Brazil in confirmed cases and is growing faster than either. The total rose 20% in just the last week, despite the fact that India is testing less than most of its peers. It’s looking increasingly likely that India will wind up being the country with the most cases in the world. This is not just a function of its massive population; China, too, has over 1 billion people. It is a reflection of the fact that big, diverse countries are at a disadvantage in dealing with pandemics. (Mihir Sharma, 7/30)