A while back, I read a book called The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History. I recommend it highly. It’s a been a while since I’ve read it, but what I remember is that the response to that pandemic was highly variable, depending on the city. New York City had a relatively low mortality rate because they also responded strongly, based on their history of building a public health infrastructure independent of the then-weak federal government. (Here’s a paper on that topic with more detail, including an explanation of why they kept schools open.)
For all the bad things I’ve said about Andrew Cuomo, he’s a competent administrator, and his decision to quarantine New Rochelle, and to use the National Guard to disinfect public facilities and deliver food to people in quarantine is a smart move. I expect more of the same from our competent state and local governments.
I’m not a native New Yorker — as a transplant from a red state, I’m always amused by people bitching about taxes and government services here. I’m happy to pay my taxes to get the world-class schools, fire departments, ambulances, hospitals, sanitation, roads and other services that are so much better than anything I saw in the red state where I grew up, and the other red state where I lived before moving here.
The Trump Administration’s handling of this crisis so far has been horribly bad, but it’s mostly consistent with conservative “state’s rights” doctrine. In this case, each state has the right to bury their head in the sands or respond to the pandemic in a pragmatic, science-based way.
In 1918, the weak federal government was way behind the more advanced state’s responses. Unfortunately, in 2020, states are used to taking guidance from the federal government when it comes to infectious disease, so, for example, the screwup with testing kits hurt all states. I can’t find the links right now (I know, I’m lazy) but I’ve read a few stories about red state health departments minimizing and slow rolling their virus responses in the early days. That didn’t happen in New York or Washington state. My guess is that, after this pandemic is over, blue state legislatures will appropriate more money for their state health departments so they will have more resources to respond independently to the next health crisis. This is all consistent with the overall trend in the US: if you live in a blue state, your quality of life will likely be better. If you live in a red state, your life won’t be better, but at least you’ll have the pleasure of blaming it on the liberals and people of color.
Patricia Kayden
Baud
Along with Manchin’s impeachment vote, proving yet again that the worst Democrat is better than the best Republican.
dmsilev
Guess who’s responsible for deciding whether or not, and when, to declare a national state of emergency?
And the first two guesses don’t count…
Sab
I have never been a fan of Mike deWine, Ohio governor, but thankfully he is ( except for abortion) a good old fashioned fiscal conservative but otherwise decent Republican. He finally got us testing after weeks of screaming for it. So now we know it’s widespread in the state. We have a state health department sponsored healthline to call for advice.
I shudder to think what John Kasich would have done or not done.
Betty Cracker
Florida sure seems to be botching the response to the virus, which is no surprise since Republicans are in power at every level except ag commish. Given the age of the population, it could get really bad here. There’s already intramural finger-pointing, which tells me the smarter Repubs (grading on a curve here) understand what’s about to land on our heads.
MattF
@dmsilev: I think the only person Trump actually trusts is Ivanka– and Jared squeaks by because of that.
Roger Moore
@Patricia Kayden:
I think Trump’s hope is that by making testing impossible, he’ll be able to fudge the numbers and claim we can’t prove it was COVID-19 that killed everyone. Either that, or he can’t think beyond the end of the next news cycle, so he has no thought about the long-term consequences whatsoever.
Betty Cracker
@dmsilev: He’s reading like 10 books, man! Hence the delay. WASF…
?BillinGlendaleCA
@dmsilev: Thank gawd, Jared’s on this. He’ll fix it! //
Scout211
@dmsilev:
That is one scary article. Not at all surprising, but scary.
The “message” is more important to protect than current and future sick US citizens. Yikes.
RSA
I’m kind of anxious to see how things will go in North Carolina, with a split government. Cooper, the Democratic governor, declared a state of emergency yesterday.
Served
Governor Pritzker in Illinois has been on the ball, along with the Mayor here in Chicago. Thank god we got rid of our Republican clown governor in the 2018 election. We are just now getting the first edge of the storm, and it’s going to get ugly over the next few weeks, but they are taking the steps (cancelling events, extending unemployment insurance, providing additional sick days to state employees, postponing legislature sessions, etc.) to signal how serious the issue is.
MattF
@Roger Moore: I doubt that Trump really supports testing– an impartial measure of how far the virus has spread; who would want that? Also, he’d like to cash in on it.
Kent
@Patricia Kayden: As the Washington Post noted a couple of days ago. This isn’t Trump’s Katrina. It is WAY worse than that. This is Trump’s Chernobyl.
Sab
@Baud: I lived in Las Vegas in the 1990s during some sort of minor financial burp, and Cuomo was head of HUD. He had foreclosed homes sold via realtors instead of auctioned off. Saved my neighborhood from blight because the vultures didn’t get to read in public notices that there were vacant houses with plumbing to strip. Always had a soft spot for him after that despite his known jerkishness.
debbie
Surprisingly, not in Ohio. The Red Governor (DeWine) may be the speediest of the lot. He mandated curtailed attendance at Schwarzenegger’s annual bodybuilding fest (an international event) and stood strong when the organizers pushed back. He’s gotten colleges and universities on the stick to switch to online teaching and gotten them to agree to holding championship sports events with no audiences. And he’s ordered about 125 polling places for next week’s primary to relocate away from retirement homes and senior centers to protect the more vulnerable elderly.
I’m no fan of the man, but he deserves credit for action. It will be interesting to see how his counterparts and GOP officials react to him.
Mallard Filmore
Because I am typically late to post in a previous thread … spoken songs …
Joytown by Kevin Gilbert
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVLqfN-tv8w
Living here in Joytown, city of the sun
Blue Suede Shoes by Kevin Ayers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xc9w_7OhmwI
dmsilev
@Betty Cracker: Now, now, be fair; he also has to finish coloring in all of the pictures and that takes time.
download my app in the app store mistermix
@Baud:
The difference being that Manchin is arguably the best Democrat who can be elected in WV, while anyone with a (D) after their name will be the governor of NY for the foreseeable future. So, we should fight to get someone better than Cuomo.
PJ
@Baud: Agreed. Cuomo believes in good government. I just wish Cuomo could see that he is the biggest impediment to fixing the MTA.
Raoul
“each state has the right to bury their head in the sands or respond to the pandemic in a pragmatic, science-based way”
Except for testing, which still seems to be under the insane CDC regs, even in a good government liberal state. I just got word that my partner’s work place had a person attend last Sunday who has a number of corona-like symptoms (which of course could be a cold or routine flu). They called their clinic, and cannot get tested because they didn’t check the right ‘risk’ boxes (Italy, China, other CV19 person exposure).
I’m fkkking livid.
Baud
@Sab:
What the hell happened to Kasich? He spent two years being the chief anti-Trump Republican then fell off the face of the Earth.
Sab
@Roger Moore: Narcissists aren’t really capable of long term anything. Simple creatures. Especially the demented ones.
Frankensteinbeck
@MattF:
I think Trump likes Jared and thinks of Jared as one of his only true friends. I base this off of what I know of Jared’s family, business career, and hearing Jared talk. It’s a meeting of the minds. They are exactly the same kind of schmoozing, vain idiot. The dumbass, meaningless blather that comes out of each one’s mouth sounds like wisdom to the other. When Jared tells Trump that he’ll solve the Mideast peace process by selling the Palestinians’ land, Trump thinks that’s genius. Jared is the son he never had.
Patricia Kayden
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
A local hospital 30 min away by car from where I live is treating a COVID-19 patient. There was already a fourth confirmed case announced today in Canton, OH; this was the first confirmed community-spread case. Not looking forward to going into work tomorrow morning
Scout211
NCAA just announced that all men’s and women’s tournament basketball games will be played with no fans. Only staff and limited family members allowed. Yikes
PsiFighter37
I can’t wait for Dear Leader to tell us that a payroll tax cut is exactly what is needed to fight the coronavirus.
Trying to debate whether to make it out to California this weekend. I was supposed to be out there already with my family, but my wife’s work conference was canned at the end of last week. I want to make it out because my grandmother (who has dementia that feels like it’s getting in the endgame) is starting to have trouble talking, and depending on how long this goes, it could be the last time I get to have any kind of two-way chat. I’m already resigned to my daughter (likely) not seeing her again, but I’d like to at least have the possibility of saying goodbye properly. I’m flying into the non-major airports in CA (Palm Springs in, Ontario out), so hoping that minimizes the risk. I have no symptoms whatsoever of anything, but I know that is not a reliable indicator…
debbie
@debbie:
I have to add, too, that the DeWine administration is making honest efforts to minimize crowds on voting day by extending early voting hours (they have constantly complained about even having to have early voting), by extending the deadline to request absentee ballots (I think up to the actual day of the primary), and agreeing to accept absentee ballots at the curb rather than voters having to enter the building to drop them off.
Kent
I’m already writing the 2020 campaign ads in my head. Simple split screen timeline of the Coronavirus and response. On the left side is pictures of Trump and scrolling information of what he was doing on each date. On the right is the actual facts of what was happening on the ground on that date with pictures of doctors in full containment suits, pictures of coffins, etc. etc.
2/28 Trump claims virus is Dem hoax 60 new cases in WA
3/1 Trump golfing 4000 new cases in IT
3/2 Trump lies about numbers actual numbers
etc. etc.
Sab
@Baud: Funny that. So sad. Not losing sleep over it. Nor over his lovely lt. gov. Mary Taylor.
God I miss Kay.
Brachiator
Boris Johnson’s UK government is stumbling in a manner similar to the US.
Trump and Johnson each want to treat the virus issue as a political crisis, not a public health matter.
PsiFighter37
@download my app in the app store mistermix: It would help if folks more serious than Cynthia Nixon or Zephyr Teachout were his competition. I voted for Cuomo in 2014 because I knew Teachout was a complete gadfly, but I abstained in the 2018 primary because I’d had too much of Cuomo. I still voted for him in the general, though.
piratedan
@Patricia Kayden: welp, when one party refuses to convict a man who admitted publicly that he committed treason for the sake of smearing a political rival, I would think that the GOP would be up for and participation in all manner of improprieties up to and including human sacrifice (which is essentially what they’re doing with their Pandemic response).
JMG
My trip to Florida is off, or at least postponed for a month or so. The lawyers and bankers I had to meet with were happy to call off any meeting with anyone. Charlie Baker, Mass. Governor, is a technocrat who’s a nominal Republican. He runs the state competently because he’s a competent person. That’s why he’s popular in this very Democratic state. Had a state of emergency called yesterday. Boston is like the medical capital of the world, so if we can’t cope, nobody can.
PsiFighter37
@Roger Moore: It’s cute that you think Trump has any kind of long-term plan or vision. The man can’t think past the next Big Mac that he wants to stuff down his gullet.
schrodingers_cat
I wrote you a poem on the Orange King’s pandemic response
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Raoul:
This is a Medium post, so take with a grain of salt, but this is what a “mild” case can potentially be like:
A Colorado COVID-19 Story
Sounds extremely unpleasant
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Sab:
What happened with Kay?
Roger Moore
@debbie:
In general, governors tend to be a little bit less ideological than legislators are. Legislators- especially back benchers- can always hide in a crowd, but governors know they will be judged by what happens on their watch. That doesn’t mean there aren’t any crazy, ideological governors out there, even in purple states (I’m looking at you, Paul LePage), but it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise that there are still some Republican governors who try to run their states competently.
Baud
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
A mild case is asymptomatic. That’s one of the problems with containing this disease.
debbie
@Sab:
Kasich is busy working with Arnold Schwarzenegger and John Kerry on climate change. They had a town hall here last weekend.
Mike J
BTW, here’s Inslee on what he rolled out today:
https://medium.com/wagovernor/inslee-issues-emergency-proclamation-that-limits-large-events-to-minimize-public-health-risk-38b4d79a563d
germy
Baud
@debbie:
That’s good at least.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@debbie:
DeWine does seem to be handling this correctly atm. The local St. Patrick’s Day Parade that was to happen on the 15th has been cancelled thank goodness. It usually draws 25,000-30,000 people annually
West of the Rockies
Stunning really, how the Republican party has squandered its so-called areas of expertise and virtue: national defense, being the adults in the room…
It’s truly the no-nothing party. Oh, they still have idiots who actually trust the party on these issues, but rational, informed people can no longer trust the party to function as anything but a conduit for greed, racism, and science denial.
Poe Larity
Payroll and SS tax cuts make perfect sense – there will be fewer unemployed and benefit recipients next year as the invisible hand of the markets work hand-in-hand with natural selection. All without the overhead of Obama’s death panels. /s
CaseyL
@Patricia Kayden: I think you’re underestimating just how indifferent they are to anything but their hatred for America.
Baud
@West of the Rockies:
The racism can keep them running for a good bit.
debbie
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
That is definitely not a mild case. I’ve spoken to my doctor about this and because I have asthma and autoimmune issues, she told me if I feel any of the symptoms to proceed without haste straight to the ER, which seems to be the only place where there are isolation rooms.
Sab
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Three in Canton, after the original three in Cleveland. You as a health professional must be relieved to be getting actual info.
My dad spent his last years in medical practice as a pathologist when AIDS hit. Nobody knew much about it then. His department decided that all the old docs (with lots of medical experience and also no young children at home) would do all the AIDS related lab work.
I always admired them for that. They could have dumped it on the juniors with no seniority.
germy
Sab
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): She has left us ( hopefully not forever.)
germy
Who knows?
debbie
@germy:
Oh, fuck that schmuck. “Providing certain things for certain industries” is a fucking bailout.
West of the Rockies
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
That does NOT sound like a mild case. Amateur writer behind it who is surely well-intentioned but, I think, misinformed. YMMV.
PenAndKey
She jumped ship. It surprised the hell put of a lot of us. Apparently her limit was that some regulars didn’t think that Bloomberg was as bad as Trump. That’s her call, but it really didn’t make sense at the time.
Baud
@germy:
The best thing he can do for the markets he cares so much for is resign. Even “what HIV?” Pence would probably do a more competent job with this.
debbie
@germy:
Twitter told me all of the coronavirus task force meetings will now be classified. Because that’s what successful things always do.
Can’t these people just once make the right decision? It’s like they’re trying to fuck up.
WereBear
His daily press conferences show he’s getting nominated for Best Governor in Pandemic and I’m a fan now.
He’s got a prison industry devoted in making hand sanitizer to end price gouging. He put New Rochelle under quarantine. He’s putting up legislation so people laid off can get unemployment right away, or get sick leave if they need it.
I am flat out impressed.
germy
@debbie: Are they classified? I thought Steven Miller’s wife issued a correction on that?
They all lie, so I’m really in the dark here.
Sab
@Sab: I messed up on editing. They didn’t view handling AIDS cases as being dumped on. They just thought it was better to shift the risks ( whatever they were, not known yet) to the more experienced doctors, who conveniently didn’t also risk leaving small children fatherless if they guessed wrong.
This was a real risk. One of my best friends from college has a memorial square on the AIDS quilt. He was a young doctor doing public health work.
Mike J
4pm vote dump from WA Secretary of State. Biden takes the lead.
Jay
A Ghost to Most
For those who aren’t always sufficiently empathetic to the travails of the obscenely rich: Aspen is a hot spot for covid-19.
CaseyL
@Mike J:
Wow – I had to go to the Secretary of State website to find that. All the other sites still have Bernie ahead, albeit not by much.
cckids
@PsiFighter37: I’ve got to fly to Vegas next week (out of Seattle, yay) My mom’s got Alzheimers, can’t drive or live alone now. She lives with her sister, who two weeks ago had surgery for uterine cancer. My siblings and I have had arrangements since Christmas; we’re on a schedule to get there to take care of both Mom and our aunt. And next week it’s me.
None of us, singly or collectively, can afford to drop everything and change all our tickets, job and family responsibilities. So, unless I start showing symptoms before then, off I go. If I can find a mask, I’ll wear that in the airports, that’s where I am most nervous.
Jay
@PenAndKey
Despite repeated postings showing that Bloomberg was the ReThuglican Daddy and Racist, Mysogenist Facist Billionaire the Never Trumpers wanted rather than Dumph, some commenters here were “Bloomberg Curious”, and not in an “enemy of my enemy” kinda way,……
WhatsMyNym
@debbie:
I think they you want to call ahead, so they can be prepared. Some hospitals will send somebody to check you at home.
Martin
We’re so fucked.
That’s not why we need an emergency declaration. We need it to enact steps to save lives.
Jay
@cckids:
masks do nothing in preventing you from getting it. All they do is minimize people who have it, from spreading it.
Wash your hands like lives depend on it, stop touching your face, keep an arms length away from pipple and wear gloves for handrails, door handles, etc.
Eunicecycle
@Sab: I have also been impressed with DeWine’s response. Once the three cases in Cuyahoga county showed up, he was on it. I have to give credit where it’s due.
Sab
@debbie: Oh good God. Is Kasich actually concerned about climate change or is he jumping on the next bandwagon?
OT voted today and Jennifer Brunner was unopposed on the D ticket. So those lots of opponents must have been Rs.
NYCMT
My sister-in-law and her family are in home quarantine after the principal of her daughter’s and son’s religious school tested positive yesterday. We were together at the local Conservative synagogue last Sunday, after Hebrew school (she teaches there, my son attends). The school (Yeshiva Har Torah in Bayside, Queens) is now closed.
trollhattan
@dmsilev:
“and comes to a conclusion himself.”
“I like lamp.”
–The Jared
Jay
Sab
@Jay: Pipple in Canadia = people in USofA?
( sorry, I love your typos)
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
Bernie lost every county in Michigan, Missouri, and Mississippi – a total of 279 counties.
trollhattan
@Sab:
Kasich proved he loves himself some camera time when he lingered so very long in the 2016 Republican primary, while convincing himself that sane Republicans would draft him to rid themselves of Trump. It was kind of sad, in a mockable sort of way.
artem1s
@Sab: I’m reserving my judgement on DeWine depending on how willing he is to strong arm the Catholic Hospitals into following science and not some idiotic religious exception to who they decide to treat or not. Yes, they are absolutely capable of making some arbitrary decision about treatment protocols based on sexism or homophobia. He made half a correct call on March Madness but didn’t cancel the events outright. So I’m not hopeful about his spinal health when it comes to saying no to the church.
trollhattan
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch:
But Michigan was His Precious, and he loses every county? Sheesh, maybe shouting isn’t such a great strategy.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Martin:
Yeah, but that’s bad PR.
Jay
Brachiator
@Martin:
It is crazy how some people absolutely refuse to see how poorly the Trump administration is handling this crisis.
There are talk radio hosts insisting that Trump is masterfully telling the nation to be calm. And I heard a guest on another show noting how the lack of a co-ordinated federal response is hurting the travel industry and other businesses then go on to say that “Washington needs to get its act together” and saying that “both sides” need to stop playing politics.
dmsilev
@Martin: Cheer up, Trump is laser-focused on the important things, like ranting and raving at the Fed Chair he himself nominated:
(Washington Post story)
Jay
@Sab:
“pipple” is dismissive yute slang for people you don’t want to hang with or members of a human herd you don’t want to be a member of, or a gathering of morons.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@trollhattan: WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT’S NOT A GREAT STRATEGY?
Sab
@debbie: Trumps people couldn’t fuck up so badly even if they tried.
I once had the misfortune to work with a narcissist. His dad was my best boss ever but he was beyond toxic. And his minions were unbelievable. Normal people lasted 1 to 6 months, depending on their finances and options. 3 of his horrible people are still hanging in there 20 years later. He has the excuse that he has a personality disorder. They are just vile human beings.
Chyron HR
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch:
Yeah but Bernie won EVERY subreddit.
MattF
@dmsilev: Hmm. ‘Urged’. ‘Encouraged’. ‘Ask’. Some of the words in the story are not like the others.
A Ghost to Most
Colorado held it’s first drive-thru coronavirus testing today, testing 160. Valid paperwork from a doc was required.
Spanky
@germy: My wife has received no further updates from State since the original classification declaration.
trollhattan
CSU system checks in.
A large university system, there will be others.
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
@trollhattan: He spent all week holding big rallies, running attack ads on trade and Iraq, with the full throated help of AOC, Jesse Jackson, and Flint’s Michael Moore and he lost in a landslide.
Pooof
tokyokie
I’m a nursing-home nurse, and I don’t know how we’ll be able to handle this. We have about 100 residents, and I’d estimate that about a quarter of them are diabetic and/or have PRN orders for supplemental oxygen, so we house a number of extremely vulnerable people. The staff was already stressed because the state closed another facility in the area, and we got about a third of its residents. The director of nursing has already hired some more nurses and patient techs, but I fear that once residents start getting sick and requiring more intensive care, we won’t have enough staff to deal with them, and that’s not even considering staff falling ill or deciding not to come in because of the health risk.
trollhattan
@dmsilev:
Yesterday he yammered “we’re 2 points too high” and I checked, we’re at 1.75 now. What a maroon.
Baud
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch:
It’s tough when your opponent also has a dick.
Jay
@Brachiator:
the US MSM continues to selectively edit every Dumph appearance to make it appear that he’s “normal”. When he goes completely bat shit crazy, they simply run stock footage of him walking, getting on or off a helicopter, standing in front of a podium or shaking ReThug hands, while a Talking Head summarizes the bat shit crazy into full sentences that seem almost sane.
trollhattan
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch:
Somehow I don’t feel comfortable using “It’s all over but the shouting.” when it comes to Wilmer.
But I’m ready to when the time comes.
MattF
@trollhattan: He wants negative rates.
Jay
@Chyron HR:
rotating tag nomination,….
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@tokyokie:
Do you have adequate PPE? Your facility will also need that to protect both yourselves and your residents. I wish you and your colleagues the best of luck. I’m a nursing student and a cashier so I’m in the same boat as you
Patricia Kayden
Sab
@Jay: So not a typo. Just Canadian? We like to think you are just us but more northern, although you are actually as different as English are from Scots.
The world is complicated. I would love to move to Canada (lifetime dream since I was very young) but my mom’s Canadian cousins assured us that y’all don’t much like us.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@PsiFighter37: Let information be your guide
SF Chronicle map of the virus , by county
https://projects.sfchronicle.com/2020/coronavirus-map/
Sab
@artem1s: I will bear that in mind.
Jay
@Sab:
it’s tough. Even the nicest Americans often have too much America in them and too much “swimming in the Koolaide”.
Still, lots of Americans manage the transition.
http://www.wmtc.ca/?m=1
dmsilev
@trollhattan:
But there will be a lot of shouting.
JMG
Maggie Haberman (I know, I know, but her sources are in the room when it happens) reports the bank CEOs all agreed with Trump this is just a tempest in a teapot. These sociopaths ought to be on the immediate arrest and execution list of whatever government comes next. Of course, all these guys left the meeting and put in immediate sell everything orders, as we’ll see tomorrow.
MattF
@Patricia Kayden: Some Republican senators were apparently reluctant to publicly stretch their necks over a guillotine.
Leto
@dmsilev: And finger wagging/bongo playing… don’t finger the finger bongos!
L85NJGT
@PJ:
Shame about Byford – he understood getting equipment and infrastructure in good working order was 99% of the job.
I used to think Cuomo was a typical hack, placating contractors and the unions with big ticket transit projects of limited utility, but I’m now open to the possibility that he’s just a train dweebo.
rp
@Jay: bloomberg is a garbage person, and he’d still be a far better candidate and president than sanders.
Jay
Baud
@Jay:
A fitting end. Looking forward to see what time slot Fox gives her.
Geoduck
As a Washingtonian, I’m glad Inslee is doing what he’s doing, but I have the horrible suspicion it’s too little too late. A big part of the problem is that the virus had already been circulating for weeks in the state before anyone realized it was here. It’s probably everywhere by now.
Sab
@Jay: My nephew married a Canadian. Just took their tiny guy back to Canada to register him as a Canadian citizen at the Post Office instead of fighting through the consulate red tape. How cool is that?
Our ancestors got there before hers did, but hers made more of the opportunity.
tokyokie
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
We tend not to have much in the way of routine PPE other than gloves and frequent hand cleansing/washing. We’ll gown up for the occasional case of C. diff, wear masks for residents with diseases that spread by droplets, but by and large, our residents who are receiving antibiotics are getting them for cellulitis and wound infections, which aren’t as readily transmissible as COVID-19.
chopper
@Mike J:
makes sense. the later ballots filled out after warren dropped out are being counted.
Fair Economist
@dmsilev: I love that Trump is upset that the Fed isn’t cutting rates fast enough – *after* he fired the most dovish Fed chair in the past 40 year (Janet Yellin).
Not that it matters – the market has already predicted that the Fed will have a discount rate of 0% for the next thirty years, and most likely the only reason Powell hasn’t dropped it already is that he fears worsening panic by looking like he’s panicking himself. It’ll be 0% soon enough.
WereBear
That happened the moment Trump got rid of the Pandemic response team and kept that fact a secret. Why didn’t he brag about draining this swamp? Wasting all this money on science!
Brachiator
@Jay:
I think it’s more than that. People refuse to read a full story, or listen to the full context of a news report. They see Trump saying stuff with Pence and other advisors around him, and they don’t pay attention to other stories that might note the inadequacy of the administration response.
But some of the talk radio hosts in the Los Angeles area deliberately slant their commentary to praise the president and, in a couple of notable cases, slam California Governor Newsom and other Democratic Party officials.
And as I noted, the UK is also pretty bad. There are YouTube clips of Sky News Australia in which news readers and pundits just brazenly lie about what is happening in the US and UK regarding the government response to the virus.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@tokyokie:
I’m sorry to hear this. Stay safe
Steeplejack
I should be finalizing my preparations for flying to Las Vegas tomorrow—doing laundry, packing,
updating my will, taking out the trash—but all I can do is sit here punching “refresh” to read the news here and on Twitter. MSNBC is on TV in the background.I’m not going for pleasure. It’s family business (I wrote about it in the Saturday morning thread), and the coronavirus crisis is making a not very good situation much worse. I think we (as a nation) might be a couple of weeks ahead of the tsunami, and I’ll be back next Wednesday night. But, as I said to a friend yesterday, nobody thinks they’re in a disaster movie before the disaster hits. “Hey, why are all those birds sitting on those telephone wires? That’s weird.” So who knows on the timing?
Right now my big fear is that the airlines start canceling flights after I leave tomorrow morning. I don’t want to end up stuck in Las Vegas. But we’ll see. I’m sure the president will clarify everything when he speaks tonight. ? And possibly I just have a very specific case of preflight antsiness.
I handed off the housecat and her tactical gear to good friend B. today, so she is taken care of. That is a big load off my mind.
Bro’ Man and the Sighthound Hall mob also are flying to Las Vegas tomorrow, although later in the day than I am. I talked to him last night, and he seemed a little fatalistic. Maybe it’s the doctor perspective.
Sab
@Jay: Registered him as Canadian in a Canadian post office instead of consulate in US. How cool (and sensible and convenient) is that? Fits all my illusions about Canadians.
Jay
@rp:
opinions vary on that. Kay felt that Bloomberg would be the Republican Facist Dictator that ReThugs have had wet dreams about since Roosevelt.
others here thought against all evidence that Bloomberg would be the Billionaire Democratic Party Daddy who would carry on Roosevelt’s Legacy.
to some, despite all evidence to the contrary, a Bloomberg Administration would be full of Centerist Democratic Party stalwarts and technocrats, with a few Socially Liberal members, when in reality it would contain at least 60% ReThug “moderates”, ( what passes for moderate these days).
Sure, a Wilmer Administration has a 70% chance of being filled with ineffective radicals or getting absolutely nothing done, but it also has a 30% chance of getting some competent Progressive Democratic Party members.
sure a Bloomberg Administration would “get stuff done”, from day one, but you won’t like “the stuff” one little bit.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Brachiator:
That will only work for so long. Eventually what is going to probably happen will be undeniable, sadly
Sab
@Jay: Damn I miss her, but she was banging her head against a wall here lately. I hope eventually she comes back. We need her.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Jay:
That’s not true. Surgical masks aren’t perfect, but they’ve been shown to be fairly effective for like 20 mins. Better than nothing, if you do have to go out. Mass mask wearing has been credited with low transmission rates in Hong Kong for example.
N95 and above is best for preventing infection, along with goggles, as the virus can infect a person through the eyes
Whereaway
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
I live in Colorado Springs, so this matters to me. My wife and I are 65, and in a higher risk group. Reinforces my decision to start self-isolating. Fortunately, I telecommute, and my wife has a home based craft business, so that’s relatively easy to do.
Steeplejack
@PsiFighter37:
Man, I feel ya. I’m in a similar situation. Good luck!
Jay
@Sab:
Our Coat of Arms has the National Motto, in latin of course.
Peace, Order and Good Government.
It ain’t perfect, but often we try.
You should see how easy voteing is, everywhere.
Calouste
@Brachiator: Talking about Sky News, Rupert Murdoch is well in his 80s right? He’d be at a pretty high risk if he got infected. Not that I would ever wish that on him of course.
rp
@Jay: Kay’s view that Bloomberg would have been a More effective trump is ludicrous
mrmoshpotato
With apologies to Coolio – ?We’ve been spending all our lives saying racist shit about non-white people in our conservative paradise?
Geeno
I always tell people who bitch about the taxes here (in NY) “nice things cost money; if you want nice things, you have to pay for them.”
Feathers
@cckids: @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): What I was told, by someone I trust to know, is that if you are healthy but have to be out and about, a surgical mask and disposable latex gloves are the sweet spot. The gloves to keep you from anything you touch getting back inside your “clean” zones and the surgical mask to prevent you from touching your mouth or nose with your gloved hand. This is assuming that you are out and about in the general population and not in a room with someone infected.
I’ve been wondering if I should make some cloth masks.
HumboldtBlue
American professor David Unger is quarantined in Genoa Italy and writes about it here.
Mnemosyne
@Served:
I’m nervous about my mom in Lake County since she has COPD and has had both heart surgery and a stroke in the past. The one thing that may save us is that she’s a clean freak who rarely leaves the house — she’s even started buying groceries online. My brother who lives with her says that he showers in the finished basement as soon as he walks in the door, so he’s well aware of what he needs to do and is taking the risk seriously, but it’s still nerve-wracking.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Mnemosyne:
I’m the same way with my grandmother in her 80s. I know surgical masks are in short supply atm, but if you can get some, have visitors to your mother wear them. They can cut down on transmission a lot
Martin
@Jay: I hope I didn’t contribute too much to that. I wasn’t arguing that Bloomberg would carry on anyone’s legacy. I was arguing that Bloomberg would be better than Trump, and likely would at least be as good on guns and climate change as the other candidates, and that Congress would provide a somewhat effective buffer.
And I don’t recall anyone being more optimistic of Bloomberg than that.
Sab
@Jay: My sister, stuck in California due to Caronavirus issues, cannot get an absentee ballot in time. I bet Canada wouldn’t have done better. Nor would the Brits. Of course neither govts would have been actively restricting her vote.
eclare
@Feathers: I wear disposable gloves out everywhere, plus they act as a reminder not to touch your face.
Jay
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
surgical masks are designed to keep nurses and doctors, from spitting in the patients open wounds. If you are infected and sneeze, “the stuff” goes out sideways, rather than forward.
If you are wearing one, and someone infected sneezes in your face, you will breath it in through the loose sides.
Yes, a properly worn and fitted N95 mask will provide protection against breathing in aerosolized droplets, but as yet, it has not been confirmed as the main transmission route, touching your face with contaminated hands seems to be.
Hong Kong’s success so far, appears to be mostly due to strong social awareness, community cohesion and support, ( protestors rapidly switch over to neighborhood distribution and support services) and self isolation not just by those exposed, but the society in general.
wash hands, wear gloves, don’t hang with Deplorables, CPAC and AIPAC attendees, MAGAt’s, maintain an arms length distance and stop touching your face.
Save the N95 masks for those who need them.
For weeks now here, Construction jobs have been stalled because everyone from Concrete crews to Asbestos Abatement teams, can’t buy N95 masks. As fast as we bring them in, they are gone, 99.9% of them to people who don’t need them but instead are just Hamsterkaufe.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Martin: I hope you’re not implying that Jay would engage in hyperbolic bombast. Cause that just won’t fly.
Feathers
@Calouste: I’m wondering if the rest of the corporate world will give the Murdochs the heave-ho at some point in all of this. They cannot be happy about having employees who are pandemic denialists running around getting everyone else sick and causing quarantines for everyone else.
JMG
Back (Sports) page headline of the NY Daily News in response to NCAA closing basketball tournament to fans: “Dance Like Nobody’s Watching.” Makes me proud to have worked for a big city tabloid. Pulitzer worthy.
dmsilev
I know there are a bunch of us living in and around the San Gabriel Valley:
Pasadena reports its first confirmed case of coronavirus
Sab
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Went to my orthodontist yesterday. Grateful they all had masks, I knew they were protecting me not them. Thanks guys who have to poke around my teeth.
Brachiator
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
I used to think that. I don’t believe that liberals have a monopoly on “The Truth,” but I see conservatives, even people who I thought were moderates who are committed to defending, justifying or rationalizing what Trump is doing. And they don’t care or don’t see that they are unwittingly putting their lives at risk in doing so.
Steeplejack
Hey, good news for me! Washington Post: “As events across the country are canceled, Trump rolls the dice and heads to Vegas.” For three whole days! So I guess it will be totally safe for me to go. ? But traffic. ?
Martin
Where Italy is, and where parts of the US likely soon will be.
Thread.
Leto
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Please see the post above yours where he’s medicalsplaining to a nurse about N95 masks. It’s good shit.
Scout211
My 69 year old sister (with chronic asthma since childhood) just found she was in a small meeting last week at her church with a man who has now been diagnosed with COVID-19. He and his wife had recently returned from a cruise to Egypt. This is in the North Suburbs of Chicago. He was one of the 5 new patients announced today in the Chicago area. The small group of those at the meeting are now in self quarantine but he attended services on Sunday March 1 before he had any symptoms.
EmbraceYourInnerCrone
@PsiFighter37: I am sorry this is happening to your family now. If I may make a suggestion, if your grandmother is ok with it maybe use your phone or tablet to record some of your conversations or maybe help Skype with your daughter. You have probably already thought of that. But it’s something I did not do with my parents and I deeply regret it now.
Nora Lenderbee
@Martin: It’s like choosing between tonsillitis and the bubonic plague. You don’t want either, but one is definitely more survivable.
Marcopolo
Thread’s probably dying but here’s some good political news:
Another massive increase in turnout!
Mnemosyne
@Sab:
I’m hoping she’ll come back either after the OH primary or after Bernie concedes.
Martin
@Nora Lenderbee: Exactly. And elections are about making that choice, which means they are also about not convincing yourself that tonsillitis is as bad as the plague – something we’re kinda good at. I’m not a Bernie fan, but I don’t see the point in convincing myself he’s the most horrible person ever. That just makes the November choice all the harder if he’s the candidate.
Jay
@Sab:
the only Canadian Elections in 2020 are the Saskatchewan Elections in October.
When you pay your Federal or Provincial taxes, as a Canadian Citizen, you get registered to vote.
About 3 months before a Federal or Provincial Election, you get your voter card, which tells you where your poll is and provides information on printing off and submitting an absentee ballot. All you need is an internet connection and the basic ID every Canadian has.
Calouste
@Scout211: A number of elderly people are going to kill themselves with covid-19 because they won’t stop going to church.
prostratedragon
@Served:
“Thank god we got rid of our Republican clown governor in the 2018 election.” Ever give a kiai when casting a vote? The Illinois 2018 election was an early sign of hope to me for this year, as the magnitude of the dumpation exceeded forecasts, and I think also the margin by which Hillary Clinton had won the state in 2016. The eruption of the stoics can be quite unpredictable.
Kelly
@eclare:
Same. The local pharmacy was out of gloves but the hardware store had plenty of cheap, suitable painting gloves.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Jay:
N95 Respirators vs Medical Masks for Preventing Influenza Among Health Care Personnel
This study found no significant difference between surgical masks and N95 masks
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Kelly:
I bought about 150 pairs of medical exam gloves two weeks ago. I’m not sure if I’ll wear them out and about. I bought them mostly to wear when using disinfectants and handling contaminated things
Jay
@Martin:
see comment #135,
Bloomberg has proven that given a choice between protecting NRA Rethugs or having a Progressive raise his taxes by 0.0001%, he will gladly spend millions getting the NRA ReThug elected.
He’s show on every issue that his support is much less than skin deep if his or other Billionaires money, power, stocks are the least bit inconvenienced or regulated.
Kay has good reason to self quarantine from the Bloomberg Curious, as his recent “stunt” shows.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Marcopolo: Good news for John McCain.
Gvg
@Mnemosyne: I got the impression it wasn’t just the specific Bloomberg discussion, it was that she was getting depressed by us here overall. We were downers stressing her for some time before.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Sab:
Yup. Masks like that are normally for HCPs to protect patients. They’re also placed on droplet isolation patients when going outside of their rooms for diagnostic procedures
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Martin:
No, that’s Trump, Bernie’s second.
Marcopolo
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Don’t you mean Mark Kelly?
Jay
@Leto:
student nurse and self confessed germophobe,
Brachiator
@Martin:
I think this absurd. To begin with, there is no evidence that he would even have been able to do a competent job as president. And I refuse to extrapolate from his tenure as mayor.
The way he approached his campaign showed that he was almost as thin skinned as Trump in avoiding scrutiny or the judgment of others.
People downplay his racism. And his sexism.
I do not understand why anyone would want to substitute one rich autocrat for another.
But who knows. In any event, from where we are now, we will never know.
Mnemosyne
@Feathers:
Nitrile gloves would also work, especially for folks with latex allergies.
Leto
@Jay: And your medical credentials? I can’t wait for you to show your Liberty U degree…
Brachiator
@Gvg:
I guess I understand that. But the mood lightened with Biden’s victories, even with people who were not Biden supporters.
schrodingers_cat
@Steeplejack: Are you sure you want to be in the vicinity of Typhoid T? BTW how is mom?
Kelly
If trump cans Dr. Fauci Biden should immediately hire him for the campaign’s Public Health Advisory Committee.
Mnemosyne
@Gvg:
That’s why I’m hoping she’ll be willing to come back once it’s all settled. I think we’ll all be fired up and ready to go once that happens.
schrodingers_cat
@Mnemosyne: If 2016 is the guide that should be sometime in June.
Ken
It has also, and not un-relatedly, discerned that there are few if any investments out there, and the best place to park all those tax cuts is in government bonds. They may be paying 0% but at least you’ll probably be getting the money back.
Jay
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
it is the Dumps CDC but:
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/respirator-use-faq.html
I have no issue with medical personel wearing surgical masks or N95 masks for work, or even more appropriate PPE.
Pipple however, don’t need surgical masks, N95 masks or full CBW suits to buy toilet paper at Costco.
Save the masks for people who actually need them.
Hamsterkaufe.
Mnemosyne
@schrodingers_cat:
I think that Bernie’s misogyny is such that he’ll be willing to concede to Biden long before he conceded to Hillary. It’s less of a blow to his ego for him to lose to a male peer than it was to lose to a mere woman-thing like Hillary.
Jay
@Leto:
we don’t have fake accredited “Universities” or “Colleges” in Canada.
Leto
@Jay: So you have no medical degree, training, or anything else. Noted.
Brachiator
@Calouste:
Unfortunately, Australian Associated Press shut down in early March after 85 years in business. Over 180 employees lost their jobs. They had, I am told, a reputation for integrity and honesty in reporting. The media outlets which will pick up the slack may not be as good.
And the Murdochs and other villains may be around for a while longer.
Jay
@Leto:
LMFA off,……
Brachiator
@Mnemosyne:
Interesting take. You might be right. But Sanders has so much invested in his persona as Lord High Progressive that he might be unable to step out of the spotlight.
Some of the political figures who backed him early and often should also re-examine what they thought they were doing.
Steeplejack
@schrodingers_cat:
Mom is the reason for the trip. She turned 90 on Monday, so it is a bit of a celebration, but I also want to get a feel for her current situation. I don’t know how well she has recuperated from her cracked pelvis in August, and she went into an assisted-living facility in late January. I want to get a look at that, too. My RWNJ brother who lives in Las Vegas is not a reliable source of information.
Miss Bianca
@A Ghost to Most: Oh, where was this? Denver? I know Colorado Springs has some recorded cases, that’s the closest to us so far. At least as of yesterday.