Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

I was promised a recession.

Come on, man.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

I did not have telepathic declassification on my 2022 bingo card.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

“More of this”, i said to the dog.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Why did Dr. Oz lose? well, according to the exit polls, it’s because Fetterman won.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 Coronavirus / Grousing & Unpleasant Thoughts Open Thread: Minor Tragedy

Grousing & Unpleasant Thoughts Open Thread: Minor Tragedy

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a) He (claims he) feels just fine!

b) He apparently jumped the line to score a test that might’ve been useful to someone actually suffering, because FYIGM (Fvck You, I Get Mine).

Murphy the Trickster God is seldom a subtle plotter, but this is just lazy, Dude.

Reader Interactions

147Comments

  1. 1.

    joel hanes

    Sen. Paul was reportedly in the Senate locker room and swimming pool after submitting the sample, but before learning the results.

  2. 2.

    joel hanes

    pace Charlie Warzel, testing everyone is not within our capabilities at this time, and will not be within our capabilities for a long time yet, will we or nil we.

    Trying to win after falling far behind the pack makes for a long race.

  4. 4.

    germy

    Senator Rand Paul refers to himself as Senator Rand Paul on twitter?  Not “I” or “Me” ?

  8. 8.

    bbleh

    I’m tired and my innate bleeding-heart liberalism is taking over.  I just can’t bring myself to snark.  I freely admit this is a character flaw, which I promise to work to mitigate in the coming days.

  9. 9.

    germy

    We want to be clear, Senator Paul left the Senate IMMEDIATELY upon learning of his diagnosis. He had zero contact with anyone & went into quarantine. Insinuations such as those below that he went to the gym after learning of his results are just completely false & irresponsible! https://t.co/yqfxydsXBG— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) March 22, 2020

    Cut the bullshit. No one is claiming that Rand Paul went to the gym *after* learning his test results, but that he we spreading his coronavirus germs all over the gym, pool area, and god knows where else, while waiting for his results –– which is a major dick move. https://t.co/cRpV1hsWx7— Polly Sigh (@dcpoll) March 22, 2020

  11. 11.

    germy

    Rand Paul’s dad 6 days ago:

    “The chief Trump administration fearmonger is without a doubt Anthony Fauci – all over the media, serving up outright falsehoods to stir up more panic. Over what? A virus that has thus far killed just over 5K worldwide, less than 100 in US” https://t.co/KfyYyYepc4

    — John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) March 22, 2020

  12. 12.

    bbleh

    @germy: Yes, part of a lung was damaged by the rib fractures in the Great Neighbor Fracas and was surgically removed.  Dunno how much.

  13. 13.

    Zinsky

    I hope his neighbor attacks him while mowing the lawn again… The curly-haired, sophomoric POS….

  14. 14.

    dmsilev

    While Rep. Lieu makes a good point, allow me to offer a devil’s advocate counter-argument: For the next two weeks at least, the Senate will be spared Rand Paul’s votes.

  15. 15.

    Martin

    Look, credit to him for staying on brand for libertarianism. If you didn’t want his virus addled body swimming in the congressional swimming pool, then you should have built your own pool.

    Has he created his own public health agency, chaired by himself, to certify that he’s okay to continue working? Because that too would be very on brand.

  20. 20.

    Martin

    @dmsilev: The problem is that we don’t have a lot of overhead under the McConnell rule, that bills only come to the floor if they can pass or fail only by Republican votes. If we lose 2 more GOP Senators and no Dems, the Senate will completely stop functioning.

  22. 22.

    Jess

    Karma  finished filing her nails to sharp points and sashayed her way over to knock on a few doors…

  23. 23.

    joel hanes

    @dmsilev:

    Ted Lieu is subtle and good with words.

    Sen. Paul is in our thoughts indeed.  And in our prayers.  One hopes that thoughts and prayers are all the succour he gets, and, speaking for myself, I will not disclose the  content of those thoughts, nor the petitions in those prayers.

  24. 24.

    bjacques

    I bet he takes a principled stand against the Coronavirus since that won’t affect the outcome. Any chance he exposed fellow Senators in the bailout bill meetings to which Democrats weren’t invited?

  25. 25.

    lamh36

    Ugh… Rand Paul is such a jackass.

    And isn’t he supposed to be a “doctor”…smh

  27. 27.

    Fleeting Ex-istence

    IS it possible there might be a wee little, I mean  tiny possibility he might be faking it?  Am I a monster for harboring that minuscule reservation as to the veracity, and, uh… candor and motives of the good Senator?

  31. 31.

    NoraLenderbee

    He apparently jumped the line to score a test that might’ve been useful to someone actually suffering, because FYIGM (Fvck You, I Get Mine).

    Which he should not have done … but since he did, the result could hardly be more fitting, n’est pas?

  32. 32.

    Mnemosyne

    I am currently sitting at my home office desk waiting for some work software to update. I can only use the VPN on Sundays, so it’s my only chance to do this. Sigh.

  35. 35.

    SFBayAreaGal

    From a tweet

    “He can go to the Libertarian ICU. There, patients heal themselves by pulling themselves up by their bootstraps.”

  37. 37.

    BeautifulPlumage

    DKE-19 in Silicon Valley
    (Dunning Kruger Effect 2019)

    Flatten the Curve of Armchair Epidemiology

    “Signs of DKE-19 generally appear 3–5 days after learning that the word “epidemiology” is not the study of skin diseases. Symptoms vary, but include extreme claims, making charts, and publishing on Medium.”

  41. 41.

    joel hanes

    @germy:

    They don’t have a mechanism where they can vote without actually being there?

    Worse.  Specifically prohibited by the rules.

  42. 42.

    mad citizen

    @Zinsky: No, he looks like he has a dead squirrel sitting on top of his head.  I can’t help myself for what I hope–sorry.  Bleeding heart liberalness has been gone for quite some time.

  43. 43.

    joel hanes

    @Tom Streeter:

    To say he’s unaware of contact with anyone is either a lie

    Notice the use of the word “direct” in direct contact, which is doing a lot of work.

    Sen. Paul is not aware of French-kissing anyone with a confirmed positive diagnosis.

  44. 44.

    dmsilev

    @germy:

    They don’t have a mechanism where they can vote without actually being there?

    Nope, and neither does the House.

  47. 47.

    Mary G

    @schrodingers_cat: I am fine. My housemate went to five places to find me bananas. The only thing she had no luck with is rice. I have an Instacart appointment tomorrow. Who knows what will come? The website says they are out of things, then in the middle of the night they say they have them, so I add them in. Might end up with more than we need, since we are eating well and have canned and frozen food to spare.

  48. 48.

    Sab

    My WASP sister has strong ties to Chinese communities in USA. Medical friend of hers from school contacted her about shortage of medical masks in her city. Sister told her how to network with local Chinese community. They donated 17,000 medical masks that had just sitting in various households. Not hoarding. Just thrifty. Bought  for overseas trips, or SARS 1 or avian/swine flu, etc. Justing sitting around, not sent to dump. So they donated when they knew there was a need.

    That is what Chinese Americans are really like.

  56. 56.

    Sab

    @Eunicecycle: I hope Sherod Brown has more sense and Rob Portman lives there.

    Thank God the governor of Ohio shut the place down for a while. Before this if you didn’t go to work you got fired without unemployment. One son is essential, so I understand him working, but the other isn’t and I am not. We need to be home on unemployment, not picking up viruses at work.

  59. 59.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    This from Italy

    https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/italian-doctors-urge-move-from-patient-centered-care

    What does this mean? Concretely it means that hospitals themselves may be a big part of the problem. When lots of COVID-19 patients rush into the hospitals, clinicians are then spreading it within the hospitals. Key quote: “We are learning that hospitals might be the main Covid-19 carriers, as they are rapidly populated by infected patients, facilitating transmission to uninfected patients. Patients are transported by our regional system, which also contributes to spreading the disease as its ambulances and personnel rapidly become vectors.”

    The authors argue that doctors should be treating many patients at home, both via telemedicine and house calls. The implications of this are stark and sobering. They grant that for some patients this will mean inferior care individually though better outcomes for the community at large. Again, these are trade-offs and logics American medicine and society are really not prepared to confront. But obviously we’re also not prepared to confront denying potentially life-saving care to all but those with the best chance to survive.

    I wonder if that’s the difference here in California, we were told not to go into the hospital unless is life and death and I’ve seen doctors do house calls on my street.

  61. 61.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @NotMax: Thank you for reminding me of one of the nastiest cinematic adlibs I ever heard of, courtesy of one Mae West. Compared with which her

    Is that a pistol in your pocket, or are you glad to see me?

    is pure enough for a virginal saint.

    (No, I can’t find it on the Net. But I remember it from 50 years ago as if I’d heard it yesterday. And no, I’m not going to set it down here, at the risk of torches & pitchforks from the distaff members of the blog. But I’m still chuckling….;^D)

  66. 66.

    Another Scott

    Reuters:

    Exclusive: U.S. axed CDC expert job in China months before virus outbreak
    Marisa Taylor

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Several months before the coronavirus pandemic began, the Trump administration eliminated a key American public health position in Beijing intended to help detect disease outbreaks in China, Reuters has learned.

    [image]

    The American disease expert, a medical epidemiologist embedded in China’s disease control agency, left her post in July, according to four sources with knowledge of the issue. The first cases of the new coronavirus may have emerged as early as November, and as cases exploded, the Trump administration in February chastised China for censoring information about the outbreak and keeping U.S. experts from entering the country to help.

    […]

    Grr…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  68. 68.

    Obdurodon

    I never thought I’d feel sorry for a virus, but this is Rand Paul we’re talking about.

  71. 71.

    karen marie

    @NoraLenderbee:  I’m trying to understand why he jumped the line to get tested in the first place if he’s asymptomatic.  Has there been any reason given?

  73. 73.

    Eunicecycle

    @Sab: Sherrod doesn’t seem like a gym rat, so I hope he’s safe. I am a Democrat and didn’t vote for him nor do I approve of most of his policies, but DeWine has done a good job so far with the pandemic response.  And I love Amy Acton. She has a compelling life story.

  74. 74.

    karen marie

    @Mary G:   Sadly, you probably won’t get the things you wish you could get.  I’ve been trying to get a bag of flour for over a week.  I was very excited because I placed an online order with Safeway and was able to order several bags – AP, bread, and “organic” (I figured I’d cover my bases) but when I showed up to pick up the order, there was no flour, no beans, no rice.  I did manage to score one russet potato, a head of garlic, and two 28-ounce cans of whole peeled tomatoes, and pay a $5 fee for the privilege of having someone else bag it.

  76. 76.

    Capri

    I have gotten the impression from talking to doctors that these patients are not put into isolation. The folks treating them use PPE, but otherwise they are not isolated from the general hospital population?

     

    Hope it’s not true, that would be a recipe for complete disaster.

  77. 77.

    CaseyL

    If more GOP Senators wind up in self-isolation/quarantine, how about Minority Leader Schumer convenes a Democratic-majority Senate and gets some bills passed?

  79. 79.

    Mike G

    Here’s hoping he had lots and lots of close contact with GOP Senators.

    Let’s wait and let the Invisible Hand cure him.

  80. 80.

    Ksmiami

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: As noted in an earlier thread- hospitals today are very dangerous places that you should only go to in a dire emergency. Between secondary infections, unclean surfaces and a throng of very sick people that await they should be viewed as a last resort or if u need advance equipment like ventilators. I’m not surprised that hospitals are now disease vectors

  83. 83.

    Suzanne

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: Hospitals are NASTY.

    A note to everyone saying that we need to build big MASH-style field hospitals: for the last twenty years or thereabouts, space standards for hospital rooms, especially ICUs, is for bigger, private rooms with private bathrooms. Over thirty states adhere to a code for hospitals called FGI, and that mandates 200 square feet in a private room for an ICU bed. Basically, it has been proven again and again that spatial separation is key to reducing disease transmission. Essentially social distancing before social distancing was cool. The minimum emergency department bay is 80SF with no walls, only privacy curtains. So when we are putting COVID patients in these large, open spaces, because it is all that we have, we are knowingly creating an environment that makes disease transmission inevitable. And before we say, “Well, they all have COVID”…. just imagine if something like norovirus gets in there, too. These MacGyver solutions that I am seeing, like patient bays in the parking garages…. are not going to produce great outcomes. (Obviously better than nothing, but still really bad.) Hence why it is so important to reduce demand for hospital beds rather than quickly increase supply.

  84. 84.

    Mallard Filmore

    @Uncle Cosmo:

    Minor actress to Mae West: “My goodness! What a beautiful diamond ring!”

    Mae West: “Honey, goodness had nothing to do with it.”

  85. 85.

    Nicole

    Since this is a grousing and minor complaints Open Thread, I need to grouse about how right now my dog has really, really bad gas.  I don’t know what the hell she ate, but I swear, the odor could peel paint.  It’s going to be a long evening.

  86. 86.

    Martin

    @Suzanne: From what I’ve seen, the fatality rate when the hospital can take the load is 1%. If you are warehousing patients in tents/gyms/etc. it jumps to around 5% (because you also have tremendously more load on the hospital and are probably out of ICU beds). Italy is going to let us know what the rate looks like when you tell people over a given age to just go home.

  88. 88.

    Ruckus

    @Tom Streeter

    He is a conservative, no matter what he may or may not call himself.

    And one of the basic principles of conservatism is that it is not only OK to screw others for your own gain, it’s a requirement. The second requirement is that your head is rammed as far up your own ass as possible. In his case he’s managed not only squarely but full distance as well.

    He is what is known in some circles as a Full Wanker.

  89. 89.

    CaseyL

    @Nicole: Dogs are infamous for their lethal farts (“SBDs!”), so what she ate may have less to do with it than how the canine digestive system works.

    Though I have to say, my cats can also stink up the room pretty good once in a while!

  91. 91.

    Uncle Jeffy

    Reporter at Dumpf’s presser: Senator RomneY is (is self-quarantining):

    Drimpf: Romney? Really? Oh, that’s too bad.

    That should play well in Utah (and in Hell)

  92. 92.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Martin: This has the odd possibility that first class medical care aggravated the situation; the Italians went to the hospital at the first signs instead of waiting to see if it got serious or not, and then got re-infected.

  93. 93.

    joel hanes

    Reportedly, Sen. Paul attended McConnell’s regular Friday meal with the entire Republican Senate caucus.

    Apparently privilege and entitlement do not present an impermeable barrier to SARS-CoV-2, even though they are a very effective shield against accountability and the rule of law.

  95. 95.

    Mike G

    @joel hanes:

    Apparently Sen. Paul attended McConnell’s regular Friday meal with the entire Republican Senate caucus.

    Oh, sweet.

    If Covid-19 were running rampant through Dem lawmakers they’d proclaim it “God’s will” for gay marriage, the ACLU or somesuch.

    It’s almost like Trump was God’s test of Republicans. They have failed miserably, and now comes Old Testament retribution.

  98. 98.

    Soprano2

    Listening to Trump boast about some kind of poll numbers while once again lying about the Choice Act is a microcosm of everything that’s happened the past four years.  I can’t believe anyone who listens to him talk for more than 5 minutes can’t understand that there’s something seriously wrong with him.

  99. 99.

    satby

    @Mike G: only if they get sick brought to need ventilators, and there isn’t enough for all of them so the doctors have to make hard choices.

    you know, the kinds of choices that will take out several thousands of people before this is over.

  100. 100.

    joel hanes

    @jimmiraybob:

    Didn’t see Fauci at the press con?

    Was unable to keep a straight face during one of the more fatuous pronouncements of Dear Leader at an earlier presser.  That will not be allowed to happen.

    BTW, all the people in that room should be masked.  Not to do so is depraved indifference.

  101. 101.

    satby

    @Mike G: only if they get sick enough to need ventilators, and there isn’t enough for all of them so the doctors have to make hard choices.

    you know, the kinds of choices that will take out several thousands of people before this is over.

  102. 102.

    Patricia Kayden

    The most incompetent president in American history just shoehorned in a stab at Obama and GWB for H1N1 and Katrina respectively. President Meth Junky is getting free, live airtime to ejaculate this crapola into the homes of frightened, stressed out Americans.— Bob Cesca (@bobcesca_go) March 22, 2020

  103. 103.

    trollhattan

    Nervously predicted we’d leapfrog Spain on the Hopkins tool before the day was done. I just never though it would happen in a quarter day, Ugh, I don’t like this ride and would like to exit the amusement park.

  104. 104.

    Martin

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: It may also be the key to why Japan is doing better because as I understand it they interact more regularly with their primary care doctor and rely less on going to the ER for everything.

    My insurer (Kaiser) has many, many times steered me onto the right path from the on-call nurse rather than me sitting in a waiting room just to get something dealt with. That’s now always my starting point.

  105. 105.

    Another Scott

    TheHill:

    OMG!!1, Moscow Mitch’s majority couldn’t get it done again. It’s almost like he doesn’t recognize that Democrats have an actual say in legislation…

    Senate Democrats on Sunday blocked a coronavirus stimulus package from moving forward as talks on several key provisions remain stalled.

    Senators voted 47-47 on advancing a “shell” bill, a placeholder that the text of the stimulus legislation would have been swapped into, falling short of the two-thirds threshold needed to advance the bill.

    Hopes of a quick stimulus deal quickly unraveled on Sunday as the four congressional leaders and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin failed to break the impasse. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) also delayed the procedural vote for three hours as they tried to get a deal.

    Democratic senators argue that the GOP bill includes several “non-starters,” and walks back areas of agreement, like on expanding unemployment insurance, they thought they had reached with Republicans.

    They emerged from a closed-door lunch fuming over the bill circulated by Republicans and called for McConnell to hold off on the 3 p.m. cloture vote.

    “We are pleading with McConnell not to call this vote,” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the No. 2 Senate Democrat said after the lunch. “It’s a serious mistake. We have not negotiated this to the point of agreement yet.”

    Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.), who is up for reelection in a deeply red state, said that the Senate needed to be “as unified as possible.”

    “We don’t need split votes,” he said.

    Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) added that the proposal put forward by Republicans was “totally inadequate.”

    That resulted in McConnell delaying the vote to 6 p.m.

    The vote eventually moved forward with five GOP senators absent. Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) announced Sunday morning he had tested positive for coronavirus and would self-quarantine. That led to two colleagues he had interacted with, Utah Sens. Mitt Romney and Mike Lee, announcing they would also self-quarantine and miss the vote.

    Republican Sens. Cory Gardner (Colo.) and Rick Scott (Fla.) had previously and unrelated to Paul’s announcement said they would self-quarantine as a precaution.

    Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said the bill includes “problematic” provisions and that McConnell should have made the negotiations include both chambers and the White House from the beginning.

    “Unfortunately the legislation has not improved enough in the past three hours,” he said.

    McConnell appeared visibly angry as he spoke from the Senate floor after the bill failed, pledging to force the vote again.

    “The American people are watching this spectacle. I’m told the futures market is down 5 percent. I’m also told that’s when trading stops. So the notion that we have time to play games here with the American economy and the American people is utterly absurd,” McConnell said.

    “The American people expect us to act tomorrow. And I want everybody to fully understand if we aren’t able to act tomorrow, it will because of our colleagues on the other side continuing to dicker when the country expects us to come together and address this problem,” McConnell added.

    Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) added that they had not formally been told that Democrats would block the bill, but acknowledged that individual members had indicated their opposition.

    “Hopefully we can get everybody on board with this thing today and get it out of here,” he told reporters.

    He added that if Democrats blocked the bill, “they better have a plan ready to go because we don’t have plenty of time.”

    But the outcome appeared all but guaranteed as even members from across the Democratic caucus indicated that they would vote against advancing the bill unless leadership could work out an 11th hour deal.

    Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) called the bill the “same old repeated story from Mitch McConnell.”

    “I’m not going to vote yes then no and this and that. …If they can work out something between now and three, then that’s fine,” he added.

    Sen. Chris Van Hollen called the GOP bill “bad news” and that it was focused on “bailing out the biggest corporations.” He added that blocking the bill over the procedural hurdle could force both sides back to the negotiating table.

    “In my view right now it would be giving people unrealistic hope to proceed now. We should let people know immediately that Republicans have taken a u-turn,” he said.

    Moscow Mitch needs to stop playing petty tyrant and let the House and Senate do their jobs – passing a sensible bill with broad support (or as broad as possible) as quickly as possible.

    Grrr…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  106. 106.

    rikyrah

    His explanation of why he's refusing to deploy the DPA says it all. The companies didn't want it. Why?They want to make profits on this and they are bidding up the price. And nobody is in charge of distribution so nobody knows where these supplies need to goHeckuva job Trumpie— digby (@digby56) March 22, 2020

  108. 108.

    Martin

    @Another Scott: Manchin not even being diplomatic here. No idea why the GOP thought this would go anywhere. Maybe Mitch is trying to get a vote before half his caucus goes into quarantine.

  109. 109.

    trollhattan

    @Another Scott:

    Inactions have consequences.

    “U.S. stock futures opened sharply lower on Sunday night as Wall Street waits on Washington to agree to an economic stimulus and rescue plan to combat the giant economic blow from the coronavirus outbreak,” CNBC reports.

    “Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell more than 900 points, or 5%, to hit their ‘limit down’ level.”

  110. 110.

    Another Scott

    @Martin: I assume that Moscow Mitch thought he could ram something through the Senate, take a quick vote, then skip town and force Nancy and the House to take it or leave it.  All his tactics are based on trying to force Democrats to cry.  It’s what he lives for.

    It’s not working any more.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  111. 111.

    SFAW

    @trollhattan:

    It will be interesting to see how much of a megaphone the FTFTFNYT gives Traitor Turtle for the inevitable “We tried to do this, but the Demon-rats tried to load it up with pork/gimmes for their constituents” (or however he will phrase it). Both sides, after all.

    Did the Senate ever vote on the bill the House sent to them 10 days ago? I don’t recall hearing about it, but I haven’t been paying close attention.

  113. 113.

    Martin

    @Another Scott: 19% positive? I’d say they’re 20x below where they need to be with that positive rate. You don’t really know what you have until your positive rate is down around 1%, particularly with a disease that can be nearly asymptomatic. You need to get to a point that you’re testing people who feel fine but were in contact to find those people. We’re a long way yet from there. That’s what the lockdowns are designed to address.

  114. 114.

    Martin

    @trollhattan: I have no idea why the market is still open. There is no US economy. Stop pretending that there is one. Freeze it in place, fix the epidemic, then unfreeze it.

  115. 115.

    Calouste

    I have gathered my thoughts (I don’t do prayers) for Senator Paul, and I sincerely hope that he won’t spent a long time in a hospital bed.

  116. 116.

    Aleta

    José Andrés
    (NYT) America has fed millions through disasters before. Mobilize restaurant workers now.

    …
    Congress is currently contemplating a $54 billion request to support our airlines. I respectfully request that at least a similar amount be dedicated to America Eats Now, so that our restaurants and delivery partners can feed our elderly citizens and deliver meals to their doorsteps.

    That measure of spending could sustain our elderly citizens in daily meals, freshly prepared, through the peak of this crisis. It would also sustain our farm workers, food suppliers and delivery agents, who in turn would spend the cash sustaining their own families. There are many hundreds of thousands of food jobs that depend on our restaurants.

    America’s technological innovators, such as Uber and GrubHub, can rapidly adapt a home delivery service for our neighbors who are too fearful to buy their own food.
    …
    The second group that needs our urgent support are families on the brink of economic disaster. Governors and mayors across the country have rightly grappled with the competing needs to close down schools to limit the spread of the virus, while maintaining the school meal services that keep our kids healthy.

    We need to go several steps further, however. The children who rely on free school meals live in families who are struggling financially at the best of times. Now is the time to extend the school meal program to their families: to turn our school kitchens into community kitchens. For those in suburban and rural areas, we should use the school bus network to deliver food packages along the routes where they normally pick up and drop off students.
    Sadly, school kitchens may not be enough.

    As the crisis worsens, we need to maintain the capacity to support our medical heroes, first responders, senior centers and the homeless, with safe havens of food preparation and distribution.    Hospital kitchens and senior centers will lose staff to sickness. An army marches on its stomach: Our police and National Guard can no longer rely on their favorite neighborhood food stands and delis.

    Now is the time to prepare our arenas and convention centers — all subsidized by taxpayer dollars, even when owned and operated by private entities — to meet the food needs of this public health catastrophe. Trained to the highest standards of food hygiene, with strict protocols to ensure that infection is not spread through food, our arena chefs should be the last resort for safe cooking for our frontline workers in this war.

    The National Restaurant Association is advocating for a much larger package of support, worth more than $300 billion, as it seeks to save up to seven million jobs through a mixture of grants, loans and deferments. Our restaurant industry faces an existential challenge that we all recognize. It is one of the foundational sectors in our economy: four times bigger than our airline industry in sales, and 18 times bigger in jobs.

    Every industry group should make its case in this crisis. But only those of us who work in restaurants can help revive the economy while feeding and building our communities at the same time.
    …

  117. 117.

    SFAW

    @Calouste:

    and I sincerely hope that he won’t spent a long time in a hospital bed.

    You wouldn’t happen to harbor the same thoughts with respect to KY’s senior Senator, perchance? And also toward Devin Nunes, Donald Trump, Shill Barr, and so on?

    Asking for a country friend.

  120. 120.

    Geeno

    @Eunicecycle: As many have said about Andrew Cuomo, the dude has anti-teflon. Bad things stick to him, and good things happen in spite of him – to the point where you’d almost feel bad for him, but then you remember, it’s Andrew Cuomo; fuck that guy.

    He has, however risen to the challenge of the day. He knows when to put his self interest aside, and DO THE JOB.

    That’s a LOT more than could be said of others.

  121. 121.

    Geminid

    McConnell’s strategy seems to be to pass a bill that the House rejects just so he can blame the damage caused by 40 days (Feb.1-March 10) of Republican incompetence and inaction on Nancy Pelosi. Smacks of desperation. If the Republican administration had jumped on this disease like it should have, and the South Koreans did, we would not be in this position. McConnell knows this. And McConnell more than any other single person has enabled Trump’s idiocy. Congress has to pass an economic relief bill, and will have to pass more than one. But these problems will not be solved this year, nor will the structural changes that this crisis has made glaringly obvious be effected. It is critical that the Democrats not allow anything that ties the hand of the new Administration and Congress which will take office next January.

  122. 122.

    EthylEster

    @Tom Streeter:  To say he’s unaware of contact with anyone is either a lie or certain evidence he lives with his head squarely up his ass.

    I wish someone would ask him: How many people have you had contact with? That seems more pertinent than his opinion about others’ covid status.

    And the follow-up question: Does that number include the people in the Senate pool?

  123. 123.

    Martin

    So, I’ll probably repost this in a later thread.

    My Italy fatality model suggests that their infection/fatality rate has slowed, so their R0 is lower, but not <= 1. I’m hoping that’s because the March 8 lockdown hasn’t yet shown up in the data. Fewer fatalities than the previous day, but we’ve seen that before, so we need to see a sustained pattern. They’re now on a shallower trajectory than the US, but they don’t look like China.

    The US model seems to have finally stabilized. It’s been close for a while, but the last 3 days it hasn’t changed. It’s e^0.273t + 16.8, where t is days since the first fatality. We’re on day 22. So e^(0.273*22) =  406 + 17 = 423. You can plug in previous days and you’ll get fairly close to the true number. The fixed value of 16.8 is to compensate for the fact that our outbreak started in a nursing home and got an unusually large number of fatalities really early on.

    China locked down on Jan 23 and had peak fatalities between Feb 12 and Feb 22. So it took 20-30 days for their actions to show up in the fatality data. It’s been only 14 days since Italy’s lockdown. They may have another 6 days of growth at this slower rate (assuming now that the drop in rate was because of the early, smaller regional lockdown showing up) before their daily fatalities really stall out and then in 10ish days their daily numbers should consistently fall. That may put them up in the 20K fatalities, 5K per day range at day 20 and bang around in the 3K-5K per day fatality range for a week or more, and then things will fall off. They should see hospital demand falling before that though as their infection rate will drop earlier than their fatality rate. That assumes that Italy’s efforts work more or less as well as Chinas. I think it’ll be less effective, but it may not be substantially less.

    In the US, lockdowns started about a week ago, so we have probably 2 more weeks of unrestrained growth. That would put us up around 15K fatalities, 3K per day. My fear is that areas like Florida haven’t locked down, so they haven’t even started on their 20 day clock. So these other nations that effectively did national lockdowns and may see national results won’t look like that in the US. CA will slow down first, and then NY and WA, then OH and PA and CT, etc. A week or two later Florida shows up.

    So the public policy question is when do we lift this. Does CA have to wait for Florida to get their shit together or can we start to lift while FL is still locked down and we simply ban interstate travel? No idea. It took about 45 days after lockdown before the numbers calmed down enough that they could consider returning to a containment strategy with widespread community testing, tracing, and isolation – basically what SK successfully did early on. That suggests the earliest lockdowns in the US are 6 weeks off from easing off, and the states that haven’t locked down yet but will need to are 7 weeks off.

  125. 125.

    NotMax

    @Martin

    How do you ban interstate travel? Jumbo size can of worms issues, including (but not limited to) workers – whether deemed essential or non-essential, it applies to both – commuting from out of state to employment.

  126. 126.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @NotMax: In California we have border control stops, they’re for agriculture, but they could be re-purposed.

     

    ETA: Also except for the Mexican border and Tahoe, there’s not much employment near the borders of of California.

  127. 127.

    Calouste

    @CaseyL: In case someone, say a certain person originally from New York, but now domiciled in Florida, is actually admitted to a hospital, I would wish that “his stay in the hospital will be short”.

  128. 128.

    Another Scott

    @NotMax:

    Covid-101.org:

    Can I travel?

    Mar 22

    Written By Elaine Meyer, MS

    The short answer is, no. The U.S. federal government has advised avoiding all discretionary travel, and some states, cities, and localities have gone even further, issuing “shelter-in-place” orders.

    Travel planned for any time over the next several months will almost certainly be impacted. The U.S. State Department has issued its highest travel warning, advising citizens not to travel abroad. There has been a massive reduction in domestic travel, and the Trump administration is considering a possible ban. Around the world, major landmarks and museums are shut down, festivals and sporting events are canceled or postponed, and restaurants and bars are either closed or barred from offering anything other than takeout and delivery. Starbucks has even removed seating from many locations.

    For trips scheduled in the near future, it’s best to get a refund or reschedule. And avoid planning trips any time soon to be on the safe side. Because of how rapidly the COVID-19 pandemic is evolving, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is updating its travel recommendations frequently.

    It would take something extraordinary for the federal government to demand an interstate travel ban. But people should be staying home, and companies should be doing mandatory teleworking and similar things so that as few people as possible have to come into the office/workplace.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  129. 129.

    Martin

    @NotMax: I’m not sure. Alaska and Hawaii – easy. NYC/LI pretty easy. California, feasible as Bill notes. I remember sitting in a line at the CA/AZ border for an hour as they checked cars for fruit flies. We’ve done it for fruit, surely we can do it for humans.

    But a lot of states don’t have such easy checkpoints. Lots of states blend pretty seamlessly into their neighbors. It’s considerations like this which are why nations take national action and not a patchwork by state. Rather than respect political boundaries, you break the place up by what you can realistically constrain.

    The greater LA basin is one such region. There’s surprisingly few ways out of here by car (something anyone who’s done serious earthquake planning has to consider).

    I’m glad that governors are working together to recognize this – why NY, NY, CT need to act in union, but any sustained effort is going to require these decisions at the federal level as they can shut down the interstates, trains, airport routes, etc.

  130. 130.

    NotMax

    @BillinGlendale

    Thinking more along the lines of NJ, CT (and even northeastern PA) to NYC, NJ and DE to Philly, MD and VA to D.C., NH to MA. That kind of thing.

  134. 134.

    Another Scott

    AlJazeera:

    Iran leader refuses US help; cites coronavirus conspiracy theory
    Ayatollah Ali Khamenei alleges virus ‘is specifically built for Iran using the genetic data of Iranians’.

    8 hours ago

    [image]

    Iran’s supreme leader refused American assistance to fight the new coronavirus citing a conspiracy theory claiming it could be man-made by the United States government.

    Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s comments came on Sunday as Iran faces crushing US sanctions blocking the country from selling its crude oil and accessing international financial markets.

    While Iranian officials in recent days have increasingly criticised those sanctions, 80-year-old Khamenei instead echoed Chinese officials about the possible origin of the coronavirus.

    “I do not know how real this accusation is but when it exists, who in their right mind would trust you to bring them medication?” Khamenei said. “Possibly your medicine is a way to spread the virus more.”

    He also alleged the virus “is specifically built for Iran using the genetic data of Iranians, which they have obtained through different means”.

    […]

    “Fake news” is getting people killed. And too much of Donnie’s administration is tied up with it, and it’s being used against us (and people in need around the world).

    Grrr…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  135. 135.

    sdhays

    @Another Scott: I don’t know if Khamenei actually believes this particular conspiracy theory, but it’s not totally irrational to completely distrust anything the Dump Administration offers. Such a complete and total lack of trust is another thing that Dump personally created that has gotten and will continue to get people killed.

  137. 137.

    Martin

    @sdhays: Yeah, I’d tell the US to go fuck themselves as well, and then I’d get on the phone with Xi. After all, why would anyone believe the US could afford any assistance anyway? I mean, Italy is sending us face masks, FFS.

  138. 138.

    sdhays

    @Martin: Do the Republicans know that? Some governors seem to, but I don’t see a lot of bright spots in the Senate (or the Administration).

  139. 139.

    sdhays

    @Martin: Indeed. While Dump thrashes around failing to do anything to help in his own country, it’s pretty incredible for his administration to be “offering help” to a country he (and the majority of his party) hates and is slowly building up to all out war with.

  140. 140.

    Martin

    @sdhays: They and their friends and family are going to start dying. The reality of multiple months-long lockdowns are going to hit home.

    As we start looking more and more like Italy, and there is no way for us to avoid that – we acted too late, even in the best cases. We’re still maintaining the decorum of politics and that will fall away. Anger and fear will spill out as nobody will be able to outline what the trajectory of this will look like and the growing uncertainty will boil things over. Republicans will start calling for Trumps resignation.

  141. 141.

    Raven Onthill

    I ran 1,000 simulations and concluded that 1-3 Senators are likely to die of COVID-19. The chance that no Senators die is up to 13%, which is bad odds; almost 9 in 10 for at least one death. The chance of one to three Senators dying is now 73%, roughly 3 in 4.

    Shit just got real.

     

  142. 142.

    Skepticat

    So tRump is offering help to Iran and North Korea but not the the USA?

    Canadian neighbors left the Bahamas by private plane this afternoon and plan to drive from Florida to Ontario. The pilot talked with customs and immigration just before takeoff and was told there was no problem with their travel. I supplied them with disinfecting wipes (from our post-Dorian relief supplies) before they left. We’re establishing hand-washing stations at our little airstrip and the ferry dock.

    Apparently the small island in Maine where I have a seasonal cottage is having a problem with people coming from the mainland, primarily the Portland area, and squatting in unoccupied homes.

    I’ve been offline for a few days because of a technical issue with my phone/data account, and I’m not happy (but hardly surprised) to see that Hair Furor has gone even further off the rails.

  144. 144.

    E

    I actually give Rand Paul credit for saying no to the stimulus bill. Have people forgotten the Republican reaction when Obama first came into office and the economy was  collapsing? Other than three Republican Senators, every Republican not only voted no on the stimulus bill they collectively called for a f****** spending freeze! So at least Rand Paul is being consistent. He would have voted no on the stimulus bill for Obama if he were in the Senate then and he’s going no on it now. It doesn’t mean he’s not an a******. But at least he’s not being as phony as the other Republicans.

  146. 146.

    joel hanes

    @Skepticat:

    So tRump is offering help to Iran and North Korea but not the the USA?

    I’d guess that the Donald believes that the Trump organization or his allies can profit handsomely of “help” offered to Iran and NK.   He and McConnell are determined to make COVID-10 a very profitable crisis indeed for some favored American corporations, but the Democratic Party is standing in the way.

  147. 147.

    Martin

    @Kilgore Trout: Well, if WA and OR can get on the same page, that’s fine. Its where adjoining states are doing different things, it becomes nearly impossible to knock down cases.

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