Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Let there be snark.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

Being the leader of the world means to be the leader of peace.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

Consistently wrong since 2002

You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / COVID-19 Coronavirus Update (Domestic) – Sunday/Monday, April 5/6

COVID-19 Coronavirus Update (Domestic) – Sunday/Monday, April 5/6

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British report (Sky Media):

… With no consistent federal policy, local officials have been left on their own to decide when to enact control measures, Most should assume it is already here, she said.

Over all, the study finds, 70 percent of all counties in the United States — making up 94 percent of the country’s population — are likely to have epidemics. The study defines an epidemic as an outbreak that grows exponentially instead of fizzling out on its own, eventually infecting a large fraction of the population…

People who have been infected and have mild symptoms, or none at all, can pass the disease to others. Those cases, often undetected, are a prime driver of the outbreaks, Dr. Meyers said. Even in counties with no reported cases, there is roughly a 9 percent chance that an undetected outbreak is already underway, she said.

For those reasons, social distancing should be practiced across the United States, whether an outbreak now is visible or not, Dr. Meyers said…

… A review of federal purchasing contracts by The Associated Press shows federal agencies largely waited until mid-March to begin placing bulk orders of N95 respirator masks, mechanical ventilators and other equipment needed by front-line health care workers.

By that time, hospitals in several states were treating thousands of infected patients without adequate equipment and were pleading for shipments from the Strategic National Stockpile. That federal cache of supplies was created more than 20 years ago to help bridge gaps in the medical and pharmaceutical supply chains during a national emergency.

Now, three months into the crisis, that stockpile is nearly drained just as the numbers of patients needing critical care is surging. Some state and local officials report receiving broken ventilators and decade-old dry-rotted masks.

“We basically wasted two months,” Kathleen Sebelius, health and human services secretary during the Obama administration, told AP…

When an AP reporter attempted to ask Trump about the issue on Sunday, the president cut off the question.

“FEMA, the military, what they’ve done is a miracle,” Trump said with a flash of anger. “What they’ve done is a miracle in getting all of this stuff. What they have done for states is incredible.”

Trump then ended the briefing and walked off the podium…


… The CDC’s official death count, which is based on reports submitted by states, stood at 6,593 as of Saturday. Because of a lag in reporting, the number was significantly lower than the more frequently updated counts by media organizations and university researchers. The Washington Post’s count of fatalities surpassed 8,000 on Saturday.

The federal government’s death count is broadcast around the world daily as an indicator of how quickly the virus is spreading and how profoundly the nation is struggling. It has clear political implications for President Trump, whose approval ratings rose in late March despite his having downplayed the virus’s dangers for weeks…

Hydroxychlorquine is an anti-malarial drug, which means it’s most widely been used by people who are… darker than the Financial Times print stock, let’s phrase it. So, of course, there’s been statements on social media that its more dangerous side effects only happen to, you know, Those People. Which is why Sweden’s news is significant:


Cynical?

Reader Interactions

17Comments

  2. 2.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    In times of great crisis when small businesses are flat on their back, America’s bankers stand ready to add a boot on the neck. The SBA PPP and EIDL rollouts have been a combo of clusterfuck and big business grift. Preliminary indicators are that nobody has gotten their EIDL advance, and that banks are cherry-picking the loans they process, covering only larger accounts that have preexisting loans (basically picking winners and losers, preserving the bank’s profitability first). The burn rate on submitted applications is astounding – something averaging 200000 to 300000 per application, and there’s some sneaking suspicion that many of these are parts of much broader portfolios and that some hedge funds are involved.

    I wouldn’t care as much if it weren’t for the fact that all three of my signature (and still open, with alleged money available) credit lines have locked up for new draws across the board, at least one of which is openly focusing on grabbing some sweet SBA processing business. Never missed a payment, but now I’m considering turning off the autodraws.

  3. 3.

    Amir Khalid

    I think I’ve figured out the Trump coronavirus plan:

    1. Take all the PPE and ventilators
    2. ???
    3. Profit!

    I wish I were kidding, but this was the most plausible one I could think of.

  4. 4.

    p.a.

    I really appreciate these updates, but admit I need to mainline kitten videos afterwards. If only a Room 101 awaited these people.

  5. 5.

    Betty Cracker

    My sister-in-law is an ER doc in Tampa. She says her hospital expects the wave to crest in about 4 weeks. She says right now, her shifts are easy because “no one is coming in for stupid shit,” but she and her colleagues are getting ready for the onslaught.

  7. 7.

    Rob

    @p.a.: I had to look this up. Yes, I agree, Room 101 for the profiteers and other assorted scum.

     

    And, thanks as always Anne Laurie, for these daily updates.

  9. 9.

    bjacques

    Instead of counting the death toll in 9/11 s (~2700), they show be counting it in Katrinas (~1500), the latter being more obviously characterized by lack of federal planning, preparation, leadership or ownership.

    NL fatality stats are 10% for the same reasons as for the UK: testing only the obvious victims, living and dead. I dunno when they’ll have enough tests (~35M) to cover the population, twice.

  11. 11.

    WereBear

    I’m strangely calm one one level, because it’s OVER. Decisions have already been made, or not: there will be no meaningful federal intervention.

    Expecting any of these people to “see the light” and start acting like responsible leaders is hopeless. They were hired to kiss tRump’s ass and that’s what they will continue to do.

    On a more personal level, I slept badly because I’m hitting the grocery store as soon as it opens. It’s something like a commando raid: get in and get out.

  12. 12.

    OzarkHillbilly

    US far right seeks ways to exploit coronavirus and cause social collapse

    I know, absolutely shocking, right?

    Late last month, the FBI warned such extremist groups were encouraging members to deliberately spread the virus to Jewish people and police officers. Similarly, British hate monitors Hope Not Hate warned these groups are expressing “gleeful expectation of social turmoil”.

    With all due respect to cops and Jews, this sounds like pretty weak sauce to me.

    Miller said these groups remain potentially dangerous but a wave of recent arrests has weakened them, and it’s not clear what capacity they have to carry out actions beyond attacks by radicalized individuals.

    “I think that the FBI has clearly reprioritized white supremacist violence, and we’ve seen the effects of that in the last several months,” she said.

    “That’s caused this huge disruption in these networks. And I hope that the attention continues, especially as people who are part of this movement are trying to exploit the current political atmosphere.”

    Radicalized individuals, they are always the real threat, and they are certainly capable of doing real damage (just ask OK City) but their fever dream of “the collapse of society, allowing them to build a white supremacist one in its place” will remain beyond their oh so limited grasp.

  13. 13.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Its supposed to be 2.5 times monthly payroll, and is supposed to cover 60 days’ worth of payroll. That average burn rate oils like larger organizations have been applying.

  15. 15.

    Ken

    @bjacques: Instead of counting the death toll in 9/11 s (~2700), they show be counting it in Katrinas (~1500)

    I just hope we don’t have to start counting in Vietnams.

  16. 16.

    frosty

    Trump, AP: “And I think, in a certain way, a scarf is better.  It’s actually better.” You can hear the ignorance, the coverup of the ignorance, and the lies, word for word.

  17. 17.

    Ruckus

    @Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant):

    It is the safest answer in any issue involving trump.

    trump order of possible outcomes for any possible plan of action

    1. Dumbest
    2. Worst possible outcome for him
    3. Least likely to profit for him
    4. Racist as fuck
    5. Dumbest
    6. If a block of cement could think, what it wouldn’t do
    7. Exactly opposite whatever scientific information says
    8. Exact opposite of any moral code ever devised

Comments are closed.