Coronavirus Pandemic Lockdown, Slang, and Work Segregation
Adam Curry and Mo discuss the onset of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic and the slang term "the Rona" used in certain communities. Mo describes his workplace implementing a segregation system based on color-coded teams, noting the perceived privilege of the "white team." They examine the impact of school closures lasting until April 14th and the potential limitations of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act for middle-class families compared to SNAP recipients.
coronavirus· rona· lockdown· social distancing· middle class· snap· food stamps
00:06 Mo Facts with Adam Curry for March 14th, 2020. This is episode number 29. Hey, hey, Mo. How you doing, Adam? I'm good. How are you? I don't know, sir. You don't know? Well, here we are, of course, in the middle of pandemic 2020 as we're all in lockdown from coronavirus. I, of course, have been self-isolating for about 13 years, ever since I became a serious podcaster. You actually have a job, a day job. I do have a job, and it's been impacted. Well, my whole life has been impacted by the coronavirus virus, or as we like to call it, the Rona.
00:50 The women, the Rona? Yes, the Rona. Who's calling it the Rona? I didn't know this was some slang that I didn't pick up. Yes, yes, it's the Rona. It's the Rona. Okay. Yeah. Thanks for the memo. The Rona. So in passing, it's just like, hey, how's Bob doing? Not so good. He's got the Rona. Is that how you use it? This is used in certain communities. Oh, okay. All right. I got you. Now I can be really hip. It's kind of like Mickey D's or, you know, we always put a little sauce on it. I got you. But yeah, the work is working from home for certain people, certain parts of my job. We can't work from home, so we have to segregate it by color and shape. And it's just.
01:35 Well, you mean if you're big or if you're white? I mean, what does that mean? Well, it's funny. The white team has the most privilege. Let's just, hold on a second. You're not actually segregating workers by actual race, are you? Everyone just has a color? Yes, by color, but by coincidence, the white team has the most privilege, which was, that was raised to me, and I was like, it wasn't based on me. I think not. Interesting. Okay. Yeah. So someone actually had time to bring it up to you and say, hey, man, this is not right.
02:19 The white team has more privileges. Yes, it was brought up to me. And when I saw it, I saw it passing. I'm like, hmm, that's interesting. But I mean, I didn't make a big deal of it, but it was pointed out to me. And then the kids. So they're out of school for a month. Wait, a whole month? Yes. Until April, what, 6th or something? April 14th. April 14th. Wow, that's real long. So that's a problem. A very big one. Luckily, my wife works part-time and she has the flexibility with her schedule, so we're not that impacted.
02:55 But I'm just wondering about people that don't have that luxury. What do you do? Because you can't even take them to daycare where you normally do for snow days or things of that nature because you don't want your kids around other people's kids. Yeah, well, this is part of the family's first coronavirus emergency response bill that passed the House. And there are going to be provisions in there. I think probably you and I, you know, being kind of your typical middle class, we'll get screwed. We'll get screwed. There'll be nothing for us. But there's a whole bunch of things they're doing with
03:35 the supplemental nutritional access program, SNAP, also known as food stamps, which is really... These kids got to eat. Yeah, exactly. Which is really a debit card. So that's an easy one for the government. They just turn on the tap and fill it up. But there are very specific things for if you have to stay home, if you're out of work, if you can't be working for two weeks, unemployment. There's a lot of things that are being done. It's a lot of money that they're going to put out there, a lot. But the communication of how you actually get access to that, I don't think that's... I don't know if it's even started. Of course, it would have to, it has to pass the Senate then before it goes into effect.
04:15 But we'll probably see it on Monday or Tuesday, I would think. Yeah, hopefully. So with that said, hopefully our two hours here, two, probably two hours here that we have will take people's minds off of the situation or at least give them a little bit of ease about the situation. Well, then why don't we roll up the topic wheel and see what we have for today's MoFax with Adam Curry. Again, episode number 29. The topic for today, where does the wheel stop? It's... Corona, corona, the virus infecting us all. Corona, corona, you coffee shakes and flows. Just when you thought you couldn't get away from it.
04:57 There it is. So what do we? what are we doing? Hopefully, after this show is over, you have a little bit of ease, you have a few laughs, and you go away from this happier person. Yes, yes, less stressed and less angst. Oh, good. So, this might actually be a show for the whole family. We can take it back to kind of the 1920s, 1930s. You're all huddled around the radio. In this case, you're all huddled around your laptop where you put it on the smart speaker, and the whole family can listen in and enjoy during these days when we're sitting at home.
