Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

There’s always a light at the end of the frog.

We’ll be taking my thoughts and prayers to the ballot box.

I was promised a recession.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

“I never thought they’d lock HIM up,” sobbed a distraught member of the Lock Her Up Party.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

Cole is on a roll !

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

Trump’s legal defense is going to be a dumpster fire inside a clown car on a derailing train.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

I conferred with the team and they all agree – still not tired of winning!

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

If West Virginia and San Francisco had a love child.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

The revolution will be supervised.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

with the Kraken taking a plea, the Cheese stands alone.

The problem people have with Biden’s age is the color of the VPs skin.

T R E 4 5 O N

It’s the corruption, stupid.

“Joe Biden deserved better than he got from some folks in his own party.”

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 / COVID-19 Update (Domestic Edition) – Thursday/Friday, March 5/6

COVID-19 Update (Domestic Edition) – Thursday/Friday, March 5/6

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First, the ‘good’ news….

Our regularly scheduled nightmare:


Anyone else remember the phrase ‘amusing ourselves to death’?

Cameo from a blog (anti-)fave. Wrapped in the tweet where I saw it, because no I do *not* followe McCardle:

Reader Interactions

40Comments

  2. 2.

    hells littlest angel

    By a 20-point margin, Americans say Trump’s handling of the Coronavirus makes them less likely to vote for him.

     

    How the fuck is it ONLY a 20-point margin?

  3. 3.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Chuck Todd just said too much Covid-19 testing could overwhelm labs. Taking bothsideserism to parodic levels.

    — Helen Kennedy (@HelenKennedy) March 5, 2020

    #1: It’s true.

    There is no way our labs will be able to keep up with the sudden increase in demands for lab results, at the very least in the short term. While I have no idea what exactly it will take to scale up, I do know it’s not gonna be as simple as calling the local temp agency and hiring some folks for a few weeks or months. a) we are in a time of full employment and b) people will have to be trained, and c) the equipment has to be acquired

    #2: Is this not a useful fact for the medical care consuming public to be aware of? It certainly is something I had not considered as I have been pondering a urine test because of some bladder discomfort. If I do have one it now occurs to me that instead of the usual 3-5 business day turnaround on test results it might instead be 2-3 weeks.

    Duh.

    Jeebus, I know Chuck Todd isn’t the most astute observer in the news media, BUT… if “both sides” is your interpretation of this very nonpartisan news, you aren’t exactly the sharpest crayon in the box yourself.

  4. 4.

    Chyron HR

    France and Israel have banned gatherings of more than 5000 people. Switzerland of more than 1000 people. And the US goes ahead with 100,000 people gathering in area of most serious #covid19 outbreak in the country?! Hard to see this really happening

    THESE COLORS DON’T RUN!
    MY PRONOUNS ARE FUCK AND YOU!
    USA! USA! USA!

  6. 6.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @hells littlest angel: trump’s support has been hanging around 40% since he got elected. Thru thick and thin his base sticks with him no matter what idiocy he commits. If they start dying off you can expect them to be most grateful for his thoughts and prayers.

  10. 10.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    @hells littlest angel:

    How the fuck is it ONLY a 20-point margin?

    It would be hard for any of us here to say that his handling of the crisis makes us less likely to vote for him.

  11. 11.

    Betty Cracker

    You’ll be shocked to hear Florida is bungling its C-19 response, but it will be okay anyway since it’s not like we have a large elderly population or anything…

    Here’s a link to a story about a woman who took a domestic flight with a fellow passenger who was later determined to be infected. The woman was flying with a friend who lives in the next county over. They weren’t informed that they were at risk until they’d been home and out and about for a few days, and each received wildly different instructions on what to do to contain the risk.

    The woman featured in the story hasn’t shown symptoms yet, but she visited her elderly mother before being told she was at risk:

    After she returned to Florida, and days before the governor’s announcement of the first cases, Nemeth-Harn said, she visited her 82-year-old mother, who is healthy and lives at home with a boyfriend. Nemeth-Harn had dinner with friends last Friday, one of whom she said was scheduled for surgery this week, possibly for a cardiac procedure.

    Okay, gotta stop here and give respect to Nemeth-Harn’s mom: age 82 and living with her boyfriend? You go, lady! Hope the public health response didn’t needlessly endanger her.

    I live one county over from the inland county that contains the sprawling retirement megopolis known as The Villages. If the disease spreads through the retirement communities there and elsewhere in the state — and unless sheer dumb luck prevents it, it appears nothing else will — it could be catastrophic.

  13. 13.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @hells littlest angel: You can be sure they are fully stocked with ammo for their AR-15s for when the brown hordes storm their castles in an attempt to steal their food, water, and medicines. Wait a minute… Food? Water? Medicines?

  15. 15.

    marv

    @Chyron HR: 
    “MY PRONOUNS ARE FUCK AND YOU!”

    Your own? My nominee for a rotating tag, as well as best non sequitur and best sentence of the day. Sorry not to have it in block quote, but at least for the first time in my life I tried.

  17. 17.

    hells littlest angel

    @germy: Such an evil man. Does Mitch McConnell know there’s a real Grim Reaper, and it’s got a special hankering for old men right about now?

  18. 18.

    OzarkHillbilly

    It appears that after celebrating Biden’s strong showing on Super Tuesday, Wall street came to the realization that trump is still president:

    US stock markets closed sharply lower again on Thursday as fears about fallout from the virus outbreak sent more shudders through the financial world.

    The Dow Jones sank 968 points, or 3.6%, wiping out most of its surge of 1,173 points a day earlier. Treasury yields sank to more record lows as investors plowed money into low-risk investments.

  20. 20.

    Tony Jay

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Devil’s Advocate here. Hi.

    While you’re right that people should and would want to know that America’s lab testing facilities are going to be put under a lot of strain by this pandemic, ISTM that the “both-siderism” comes in with the phrasing.

    As in, “too much Covid-19 testing could overwhelm labs”. Too much? What’s too much? Trump is the one saying not to worry and the whole panic is Fake News, while actual professionals are warning that the refusal to quarantine and test large numbers of people they know to be exhibiting signs of early Coronavirus is going to lead to a huge bulge in infection rates as those people pass it on in the period between diagnosis and the onset of pneumonia/bronchial symptoms.

    If Todd had simply said that “large scale testing, as advised by medical professionals, could overwhelm labs” he would be passing on the important information without rhetorically covering for President Pissyface.

    OTOH, I have no idea if the phrasing in Helen Kennedy’s tweet is the actual phrasing Todd used, so this could all be pointless flaffle. Which I’m sure you’d agree is entirely encased within my wheelhouse.

  21. 21.

    SFAW

    The Scott Gottlieb and follow-on tweets re: Comic-con made me think of Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six. In it, the bad guys plan to wipe out most of the world’s population by secretly dosing up the Sydney Olympics attendees with a particularly virulent, and highly transmissible, strain of a mutated Ebola virus.
    Thank FSM the “racist morons adults are in charge” in the US. Because what could go worng?

  23. 23.

    SFAW

    @hells littlest angel:

    Does Mitch McConnell know there’s a real Grim Reaper, and it’s got a special hankering for old men right about now?

    Few things would be better for the country than if he were to get COVID-19. Especially if the transmission method were a PACCAR 12-speed in a Kenworth T880 doing about 70.

  25. 25.

    SFAW

    @Baud:

    I look forward to the Villages voting for Biden after Trump’s CDC tells the olds they need to stop fucking each other all the time.

    And I look forward to winning PowerBall. The probability of which is only slightly less than your scenario. [NB: Assumes Shitgibbon and his minions screw over the browns more than they screw over those geniuses in The Villages.]

  26. 26.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Tony Jay:ISTM that the “both-siderism” comes in with the phrasing.

    As in, “too much Covid-19 testing could overwhelm labs”. Too much? What’s too much?

    Sorry, I don’t see anything approaching both siderism there, what I see is at worst bad phrasing, and to be honest I don’t even see that. To me, “Too much” just means more than the system can handle.

    shrug

    People can have entirely different interpretations of words simply because of their past experiences with an individual. I read folks here all the time complaining about how bad Chuck Todd is with the both sider BS. But I’m not at all sure I have ever personally witnessed it because I don’t have TV and have only seen clips of him on at most a handful of occasions (1? 2?). It is not that I doubt folks interpretation, I have read the quotes and he is not the brightest bulb in the news box, but I have no particular loathing for the man because I never see him.

    I think that distance allows me to see his words in this case as just that, his words in this case. I feel no need to put them in any other context than ‘this is what’s happening with covid 19’. Like you, “I have no idea if the phrasing in Helen Kennedy’s tweet is the actual phrasing Todd used,” and if in fact he mentioned trump, Republicans, Democrats, Pelosi or gave it any other political context I may change my opinion, but I’m not gonna go searching because I really don’t care all that much.

    Besides, this is the internet and if one can’t give opinions based on incomplete facts here, where can one?

  31. 31.

    Steeplejack

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I think the objectionable (or possibly just ill-phrased) part of Todd’s quote is “too much Covid-19 testing”—as if people would be doing it frivolously.

  33. 33.

    Ken

    People used to joke that Obama could resolve many of his political problems by recording a PSA advising people not to drink bleach.  We may see how effective that would have been, now that Trump has told people not to bother with hand-washing and to go to work when sick.

  34. 34.

    ant

    I wonder if the Feds are filling up our strategic petroleum reserves. Seems like a good time for that.

  35. 35.

    SFAW

    @Ken: Maybe. I think that the Trumpistas would much rather give Obama a big “fuck you!” than follow Trump’s “helpful” advice. [Only because those morons seem to be driven more by racism/hatred than “enlightened” [sic] self interest.]

  38. 38.

    PenAndKey

    @Ken: We may see how effective that would have been, now that Trump has told people not to bother with hand-washing and to go to work when sick.

    I’ll give you the hand washing, but given that we’re a country where most employees can’t afford a two week “self-quarantine” without losing their job or falling behind on their mortgage you’re going to get the second half of that whether the orange menace recommends it or not.

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