Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Another missed opportunity for Jamie Dimon to just shut the fuck up.

Republicans would impeach Biden if he bit into a whole Kit Kat rather than breaking the sections apart.

This must be what justice looks like, not vengeful, just peaceful exuberance.

Republicans in disarray!

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Fight for a just cause, love your fellow man, live a good life.

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

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

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

Bogus polls are all they’ve got left. Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls a year from now.

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

Israel is using food as a weapon of war. Unforgivable.

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

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

I have other things to bitch about but those will have to wait.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 / COVID-19 Coronavirus Update – Friday / Saturday, April 17-18

COVID-19 Coronavirus Update – Friday / Saturday, April 17-18

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44Comments

  1. 1.

    Darrin Ziliak (formerly glocksman)

    I haven’t owned a gun in years, but thanks to the idiocy on display in MI & KY, I’m thinking of using part of my stimulus check to buy a used Mossberg 500 shotgun.

  3. 3.

    Xenos

    It is shocking, but I guess to be expected, to see the disease take hold across the south and mid-west.  Off in my EU bubble I had not realized the amount of denial.  We got terrified by what happened in Italy, now we have been locked down for 5 weeks, and starting to phase out of it.  You can’t say people were not warned!

    where do they expect to find medical supplies and ventilators now?

  4. 4.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Xenos: There are literally thousands of tons of unused medical supplies and ventilators in NY because Cuomo panicked and horded a bunch of stuff when there was no real reason to worry. It’s just like the flu! Besides, trump will ride to the rescue if they really do need anything.

    Just in case, s//.

  5. 5.

    Baud

    the west built an economy so amazingly optimised that it tricked itself into thinking it was robust

    There’s plenty to criticize about the economy, but no one is ever going to create an economy that doesn’t take a hit from something like this.

  6. 6.

    Amir Khalid

    Malaysia’s DG of Health is announcing today’s numbers: 54 new cases in Malaysia, running total 5,305; 2 deaths, total 88. 135 more recoveries, total 3,102. Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah reminds Malaysians not to think these positive trends mean the war is already won. He also says Malaysia’s PPE supplies are adequate for now.

    In other news, the National Security Council says, don’t even think about going back to your hometown for Eid with your peeps. There will be more cops on the highway to prevent non-essential travel.

  8. 8.

    Martin

    I’m worried about the immunity. There are no vaccines for other types of coronavirus and there are 4 common coronavirus strains that run through the populace that don’t confer any real immunity over time (common colds).

    I worry that this will just keep blasting through the population until it reaches a point that those who can survive the first infection more or less shrug off subsequent infections as we do a cold.

  9. 9.

    Martin

    @Baud: The fact that we paid the cost to lay off a quarter of the population, put them all on unemployment while also bailing out every industry, and then will again pay the cost to rehire them all is astonishingly stupid.

  10. 10.

    NotMax

    Hawaii beaches and waters are closed. Except when they’re not.

    People can still cross beaches to access the ocean for outdoor exercise like surfing, solo paddling and swimming as long as social distances are maintained.

    No more than two people are allowed on any boat in Hawai‘i’s water for recreational purposes, unless they are part of a single residential or family unit sharing the same address. Both people on the boat are required to maintain physical distancing of six-feet from one another, as is reasonably possible. All boats are required to stay 20-feet from one another.

    People can actively engage in fishing and gathering to get food. No groups of two or more people can engage in fishing and gathering in state waters or state lands, unless all in the group are part of a single residential or family unit sharing the same address.

  13. 13.

    TS (the original)

    The Prime Minister has ruled out forcing Australians to sign up for the government’s coronavirus tracking app.

    He will if he can – he has a couple of offsiders who would like nothing more than to be able to trace what people are doing on their phones. It’s ruled out today – wait for tomorrow.

  14. 14.

    Jinchi

    WHO unsure antibodies protect against COVID, little sign of herd immunity

    I’m glad the idea of coronavirus parties never took off.

  15. 15.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Martin: I worry that this will just keep blasting through the population until it reaches a point that those who can survive the first infection more or less shrug off subsequent infections as we do a cold.

    I doubt very much they will be able to “shrug off subsequent infections as we do a cold”. Time has it’s way with all of us and the insults to our bodies accumulate. We become weaker as we age. Eventually, everybody will become more susceptible to succumbing. Just as with cancer, or heart disease, it will become a leading cause of death.

  16. 16.

    low-tech cyclist

    The costs of PPEs (personal protective equipment for hospital personnel) have skyrocketed >1,000-fold since the #COVID19 #pandemic began.
    Somebody is making a hell of a lot of money.

    I’m very much against capital punishment, but I’m willing to make this one exception:

    Anyone found to have been profiteering wrt PPE or other needed medical supplies during this crisis should swing by the neck from a lamppost on Pennsylvania Avenue.

    And if Democrats aren’t pissed as hell about this profiteering, they should damn well at least publicly pretend to be.

  18. 18.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    n Greece, Orthodox Christians are facing an Easter like no other because of the coronavirus pandemic.

    History did not begin in 1936, this is hardly the first pandemic this culture faced and quarantines have been going on since friking Middle Ages, god damn ignorant media twats.

  21. 21.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: The media does this all the time; a few years ago when a fire burned though the Santa Monicas all the way to the coast, they were saying this had never happened before.  I’ve lived in Southern California for most of my life and I can remember this happening a number of times.

  25. 25.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Gov. Jay Inslee released a statement today on President Trump’s comments around “liberating” parts of the country.

    “The president’s statements this morning encourage illegal and dangerous acts. He is putting millions of people in danger of contracting COVID-19. His unhinged rantings and calls for people to “liberate” states could also lead to violence. We’ve seen it before.

    “The president is fomenting domestic rebellion and spreading lies even while his own administration says the virus is real and is deadly, and that we have a long way to go before restrictions can be lifted.

    “Just yesterday, the president stood alongside White House officials and public health experts and said science would guide his plan for easing restrictions. The White House released a sensible plan laying out many of the guidelines that I agree are essential to follow, as we work to resume economic activity. Trump slowly read his script and said the plan was based on ‘hard, verifiable data’ and was done ‘in consultation with scientists, experts and medical professionals across government.’

    “Less than 24 hours later, the president is off the rails. He’s not quoting scientists and doctors but spewing dangerous, anti-democratic rhetoric.

  27. 27.

    OzarkHillbilly

    And speaking of profiteers:

    The Federal Emergency Management Agency awarded a $55 million contract for N95s this month to Panthera Worldwide LLC, which is in the business of tactical training. One of its owners said last year that Panthera’s parent company had not had any employees since May 2018, according to sworn testimony.

    It also has no history of manufacturing or procuring medical equipment, according to a review of records produced as a result of legal disputes involving the company and its affiliates.

    Panthera Worldwide’s parent company filed for bankruptcy last fall, and the LLC is no longer recognized in Virginia — where it has its main office — following nonpayment of fees, which according to Virginia code results in “the existence of a limited liability company” being “automatically canceled.”

    WaPo via Scott Lemieux.

  29. 29.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @WereBear: It already has a wider spread. We are just now coming to realize how many infections are completely asymptomatic.

  31. 31.

    Lacuna Synechdoche

    NPR via Anne Laurie @ Top:

    Federal agencies and 16 companies — including some of the biggest players in the pharmaceutical industry — will collaborate on potential treatment options and a vaccine for COVID-19, the head of the NIH says.

    Until Combover Caligula attacks the NIH, or the pharmaceutical companies, or finds some other way to sidetrack and blow up efforts to prevent and treat the spread of CoViD-19.

  33. 33.

    Wanderer

    What is the legal definition of a domestic terrorist? Just asking for a friend. Could tweets designed to encourage action against local governmental orders be considered such an act by way of some elderly person with lots of hate to spew and time on their hands. This is intolerable. Perhaps in states with no stay at home orders a tweet such as this would have no order to violate. Gov. Inslee was clear in the harm that could result but no actions that could protect the population from this was mentioned. Are there any protective responses available?

  34. 34.

    Barbara

    These states could potentially impose more modest lock downs if they also undertook aggressive testing and tracking. I wish Trump would just go away. Anyone else including the idiot Pence would have figured  out the need for aggressive testing. Trump doesn’t want people to get tested. He wants people to die. I think I better stay offline today.

  36. 36.

    YY_Sima Qian

    The transmission chain in Harbin continues to grow, 7 new confirmed and 1 new asymptomatic domestic cases yesterday, for a total of 50 domestic cases in the cluster to date. More case report information have been released: the young returnee from the US never met the members of the family living downstairs in the same unit face to face. The current hypothesis is that the vector is the share spaces, such as stairwell or elevator. The returnee must have violated self-quarantine at points to pick up delivery or go grocery shopping. The residential property management must also have done a poor job of regularly disinfect the common spaces. So everyone should be extremely mindful of potential infection from shared spaces and surfaces. This also illustrates why China has been mandating centralized quarantine for any at risk group, especially returnees from overseas since late Mar.

    The Harbin “super spreader“ who caused sub-clusters in two hospitals apparently was staying in a single occupancy room at the first hospital. It is extremely unlike for one person to infect so many other patients, their families and caretakers, and medical staff. More likely, the super spreader infected some of the nurses and doctors, who in turn infected other people in the ward, including colleagues. When he was transferred to the second hospital with fever symptoms, the second hospital failed to place him in isolation until three days later, upon confirmation. The delay created another chain of transmission. Finally, one of the infected cases visited the fever clinic at a third hospital, as designated COVID-19 hospital, but was not admitted and placed into medical quarantine, despite showing symptoms.

    Unsurprisingly, top administrators at all three hospitals have been relieved or disciplined, and procedures and protocols will be improved, likely to be aligned with best practices in Wuhan. For example, there was a doctor in working in the gastroenterology buffer ward I stayed at during my hospital stay who ended up being confirmed, but he did not cause a transmission chain (because there were no new confirmed cases afterward).

    Two new confirmed domestic cases in Guangdong Province yesterday, one connected to a foreign imported case, and one imported from Wuhan. Another new confirmed domestic case in Sichuan Province, also imported from Wuhan. Both cases imported from Wuhan presumably tested negative before leaving Wuhan, but tested positive when screened immediately upon reaching their destinations. Again illustrates the necessity of multiple PCR screens spaces days apart, to catch infected cases, after societies start to relax the restrictions.

    The good news is that Taiwan has not reported new cases in a few days, and Hong Kong is in low single digits. The reduced flights, to refusal of entry to all non-residents, and the mandatory quarantined, are working for these places.

  38. 38.

    Sloane Ranger

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: To be fair, the germ theory of disease is very much a product of the late 19th and 20th centuries. Before then we trialled, at various times, the wrath of God, bad smells and God knows what else.

    This is the first time Churches and other religious establishments have voluntarily closed down due to a pandemic. In previous times, they would have been crowded as people tried to pray the plague away (although they might have upped the incense level to keep the miasma away).

  39. 39.

    chopper

    @Martin:

    if immunity works like it does with milder coronaviruses, then likely immunity is strong enough but fades after a year or two. in which case any vaccine developed for sars-cov-2 is going to have to be given every year or two, like a flu shot.

  40. 40.

    kindness

    I clicked that Reuters tweet about covid-19 antibodies and read the thread.  Either there are a ton of bots trying to help Trump or there are armies of Russian trolls trying to help Trump or Trump’s misinformation campaign and blame shifting (wrt the World Health Organization) is working among stupid ass Americans who will end up helping Trump.

    It really is disappointing to see so many stupid tweets blaming WHO.  When karma does come around a lot of people will be surprised.

  41. 41.

    snoey

    @chopper: We need a new flu shot every year because flu mutates/recombines and we face a new pathogen every year.

     

    Pertussis is a closer analog – weak immunity and a weak vaccine, but we can stay on top of it.

  44. 44.

    LongHairedWeirdo

    The costs of PPEs (personal protective equipment for hospital personnel) have skyrocketed >1,000-fold since the #COVID19 #pandemic began.
    Somebody is making a hell of a lot of money

    This is one reason why I was a strong supporter of Warren. She wants to investigate this administration, and I’m afraid Biden is just a bit too much “let’s get back to normal”.

    If people don’t end up named, shamed, and given long prison sentences  where justified (and I confess, I believe there will be plenty  of justification for plenty of people). The best way to flush this country down the  toilet would be to forgive or forget the blatant corruption of this administration – that would prove that Republicans can commit *any* crime and skate.

    (Yes, I’m assuming that the high prices are due to corruption and price gouging. I confess, I might be wrong, but does any reasonable person think I am? Yes, I know, Trump supporting Republicans; I said any *reasonable* person.)

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