So I was thinking about the different responses to COVID-19 by governments in different parts of the United States, and wondering if state and local governments in the West did better because they make less of an assumption that the rest of the country cares about them. 1/5
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Whether it's the constant attacks on @SpeakerPelosi for being from SF, or the difference in national coverage between an East coast hurricane or snowstorm vs. a similarly-disastrous California wildfire or Alaska earthquake, out West it feels to me like the country cares less. 2/5
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If something like 9/11 happened anywhere west of 98°W, would it have had the overwhelming national reaction that it did happening in New York? In California, I don't think we're ever quite sure it would. At least, I'm not, and I wonder if our elected officials think so too. 3/5
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So I wonder if the sense that the rest of the country isn't here for us helped prepare places like California and Washington better for the federal government being totally unprepared to handle a crisis. 4/5

Apr 4, 2020 · 8:57 PM UTC

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On the other hand, if the goverment in California were *actually* on top of things, they'd be doing more about the massive shortage of COVID-19 testing capacity in California right now, since fixing that is one of the prerequisites to ending shelter-in-place. 5/5
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