Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

Bark louder, little dog.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

A consequence of cucumbers

An unpunished coup is a training exercise.

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

Consistently wrong since 2002

Prediction: the GOP will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

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

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

Republicans in disarray!

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

People are complicated. Love is not.

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 Coronavirus / COVID-19 Coronavirus Update – Wednesday/Thursday, March 25/26

COVID-19 Coronavirus Update – Wednesday/Thursday, March 25/26

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‘Dumbest man on the internet’ defends his title:

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  4. 4.

    Betty Cracker

    Awaiting first light to make a supply run. If there is toilet paper, I will buy ONE package of it, albeit the largest available package. When this is all over, I support using facial recognition software to analyze store surveillance camera images from the pandemic to identify hoarders. Then I want them packed off to gulags and forced to make paper products for 12 hours a day. Trump-voting cock-waffles, the lot of them!

  5. 5.

    tokyocali (formerly tokyo expat)

    Thank you AL for doing this every day!

    Here in Tokyo area, amazing how once the Olympics and Paralympics were postponed that the number of cases suddenly grew. Yesterday, Tokyo Governor Koike asked people to stay indoors this weekend. Today, a national task force has been established which will enable PM Abe to declare a national emergency giving him the powers to enforce measures to keep people inside and to close businesses.

    Earlier this week, universities and schools were planning to open in April. The school year runs April to March here. Earlier this week, my university announced opening April 20 with departmental ceremonies, a week of orientation and classes starting May 1st. I checked in with my boss and she sounded flustered. They don’t know anything now and are waiting to hear what government officials from Tokyo, Saitama, Chiba, and Kanagawa decide to do.

    Meanwhile, panic buying started right after yesterday’s governor’s announcement. My friend messaged me that there was no more rice, meat, canned goods or cup noodles on the shelf last night. Today, lots of shelves were empty, though they should be restocked tomorrow (I hope).

    I think we will be next the wave. I hope I am wrong.

  6. 6.

    WereBear

    @Betty Cracker: Trump-voting cock-waffles, the lot of them!

     

    The odds are good, and the goods are odd.

    I can hold out a while yet, last day of work before my furlough kicks in. Delightful to hear the debates over giving me some crumbs to get me through this. I guess the plan for killing grandparents have been tabled for now?

  7. 7.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    Other news friends in mine in South Africa and Tanazia are saying the African governments have adopted the “South African solution” to the wet markets in their countries; send the riot police in to kill all the animals and burn the whole thing to the ground. I gather that that they are terrified this Corno-19 with get into one of these markets, jump to an animal and combine with another virus infect humans again.

  8. 8.

    New Deal democrat

    As I anticipated, there are now two contiguous regions of the US, that roughly correlate to the 2008 Electoral map, under lockdowns or close thereto.

    What is missing is the quarantining of people trying to enter these two regions (including the establishment of highway checkpoints).

    The lockdowns won’t ultimately be successful until the governors of those states announce that all incoming visitors will be quarantined for 14 days.

    As for those Regions resistant to lockdown orders (viz. Ga and FL) – God help you.

  9. 9.

    debbie

    @Mary G:

    Funny, last night I dreamed about a giant crocodile running at me. I was barely able to get out of the way, but I know Trump could never outrun it.

  10. 10.

    Xentik

    Amusing anecdote from DC: My SO visited a grocery store in Georgetown (old money) and found all the perishables (meat, eggs, milk, bread) were cleaned out, but non-perishable foods/cans/etc were untouched. When she visited a store in Waterfront (new money/tech) she found the exact opposite. I can only assume that the Georgetown people don’t actually know how to use canned food or dried beans/pasta, or don’t understand the concept of expiration dates.

    Also Maryland has been doing an awful job of testing people. I know quite a few people who all likely have COVID (myself included) and we keep getting told “We can only test you if you have a known connection…” If anyone of us was tested, we could all be tested, but nope… not going to happen. I don’t think I’ve ever been in such an irritatingly catch-22 situation before. When all is said and done, I hope Hogan catches some flack for this. I don’t see why Virginia has been able to test 5000+ people for 400 positive results and Maryland has tested only 500 for 400 positive

    @New Deal democrat: One of my biggest concerns right now is that we’ll still be in lockdown in June-August and a hurricane will hit one of the infectious red states, causing evacuation into other states that have things barely under control.

  11. 11.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @New Deal democrat: As for those Regions resistant to lockdown orders (viz. Ga and FL) – God help you.

    Or Louisiana, were the numbers infected by the virus seem to be doubling every two days.

  12. 12.

    YY_Sima Qian

    Don’t the national health authorities do their homework on these rapid serological antibody tests?! Clear guidance from Chinese National Health Commission is that anti-body tests are only to be used to supplement PCR tests, and only at medical facilities. Ample experience in China has shown that antibody tests are not as sensitive as PCRs in most cases, with higher false negative rate, and can only detect antibodies at a later stage during the course of the infection and illness. That applies to rapid test solutions from China, South Korea, Singapore, or anywhere else. Some may be more sensitive and have higher quality than others, but I believe none approach the efficacy or PCR tests. They should not be used for screening.

    At least in China, PCR tests are the only metric for determining COVID-19 confirmation, as well as whether a patient has recovered (two negative PCRs at least 24 hours apart). Antibody test is used as supplement because a small percentage of patients do not produce sufficient amount of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the nasal cavity or the throat to be detected by the typical PCR swab, until very advanced stages of the disease. Hence, stories of patients with three, four, five, seven negative PCRs before finally testing positive.

    Even for antibody tests, Chinese hospitals prefer to draw the blood sample directly from the vein, rather than these rapid tests with a prick of the fingertip; the former is more sensitive and more reliable. I believe the rapid test makers are overselling their products, and customers and commentators who are desperate for quick solutions to their massive testing challenges seize these perceived solutions with hope and credulity.

    If someone invents a rapid PCR test that can produce results within 20 minutes, he or she deserves a Nobel price! Alas, PCR does not appear to be amenable to such a solution.

  14. 14.

    Dan B

    Anne Laurie;

    Thank you for these posts!  The information is disturbing but after my initial shock I feel a sense of calm.  It’s the difference between navigating through a jungle filled with deadly threats in the dark and having friends with flashlights and local knowledge.  Yes there are monsters but we see a route and have people who can help us survive.

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