BREAKING: AP Exclusive: Emails show top White House officials buried CDC report, then ordered pieces revived after AP story. https://t.co/q2xFOSqjzD
— The Associated Press (@AP) May 8, 2020
… The files also show that after the AP reported Thursday that the guidance document had been buried, the Trump administration ordered key parts of it to be fast-tracked for approval.
The trove of emails show the nation’s top public health experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spending weeks working on guidance to help the country deal with a public health emergency, only to see their work quashed by political appointees with little explanation…
The 17-page version later released by the AP and other news outlets was only part of the actual document submitted by the CDC, and targeted specific facilities like bars and restaurants. The AP obtained a copy Friday of the full document. That version is a more universal series of phased guidelines, “Steps for All Americans in Every Community,” geared to advise communities as a whole on testing, contact tracing and other fundamental infection control measures…
As businesses reopen, what everyday activities are safe? @jpinsk consulted several experts for this guide to living safely in the next phase of the pandemic. I found this very helpful: https://t.co/hgdxGP0pDH
— McKay Coppins (@mckaycoppins) May 8, 2020
‘Found Unresponsive at Home’: Grim Records Recount Lonely Deaths https://t.co/bTWIg2Geyo
— delthia ricks ?? (@DelthiaRicks) May 8, 2020
Trigger warning: This is a difficult read…
MIAMI — A 71-year-old woman with nausea who was sent home from the emergency room, even though a doctor wanted to admit her. A 63-year-old nurse who was self-isolating while she waited for results from her coronavirus test. A 77-year-old man who was prescribed antibiotics by a doctor in another state for his fever and dry cough…
Florida has some of the strongest laws in the nation protecting the public’s right to view government records. Complete information from medical examiners on deaths has never before been kept secret. But the administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, has not been eager to release some coronavirus records. The state also initially refused to release information on nursing homes where outbreaks occurred.
Though large parts of the documents released this week were redacted, the text could nevertheless be extracted, copied and pasted into another file so that it could be read in full, The Times found. The spreadsheet did not include first or last names; each person was identified only as “the decedent.”…
The probable causes of death, in each case linked to the coronavirus, are the same, over and over again: Pneumonia. Acute respiratory distress syndrome. Complications from Covid-19. A significant number of people had underlying conditions such as hypertension, diabetes or obesity.
Each person’s story, though, is a little different, often in heartbreaking ways.
A 77-year-old man in Collier County died less than a month after his son and granddaughter visited from New Jersey, after which he and they had tested positive. A 59-year-old woman in Lake County fell ill after a family reunion in Tennessee that also sickened her sister. A 78-year-old man who worked at the port of Miami and his wife, also 78, were admitted to the hospital within 48 hours of each other and intubated. They died on the same day.
An 83-year-old man in Broward County was intubated and waiting for a consultation on whether he should be admitted to hospice care. But a decision could not be made in time because his son, who was his caregiver, had contracted the virus and been admitted to the same hospital.
“There’s a family member behind every one of those numbers,” Dr. Stephen J. Nelson, the chairman of the Florida Medical Examiners Commission, said on Thursday, before the death toll had climbed to 1,600…
Peter Piot: “Many people think COVID-19 kills 1% of patients, and the rest get away with some flulike symptoms. But the story gets more complicated. Many people will be left with chronic kidney and heart problems. Even their neural system is disrupted…”https://t.co/FTjW8Sujhi
— Natalie E. Dean, PhD (@nataliexdean) May 9, 2020
Virologist Peter Piot, director of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, fell ill with COVID-19 in mid-March. He spent a week in a hospital and has been recovering at his home in London since. Climbing a flight of stairs still leaves him breathless.
Piot, who grew up in Belgium, was one of the discoverers of the Ebola virus in 1976 and spent his career fighting infectious diseases. He headed the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS between 1995 and 2008 and is currently a coronavirus adviser to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. But his personal confrontation with the new coronavirus was a life-changing experience, Piot says…
After fighting viruses all over the world for more than 40 years, I have become an expert in infections. I’m glad I had corona and not Ebola, although I read a scientific study yesterday that concluded you have a 30% chance of dying if you end up in a British hospital with COVID-19. That’s about the same overall mortality rate as for Ebola in 2014 in West Africa. That makes you lose your scientific level-headedness at times, and you surrender to emotional reflections. They got me, I sometimes thought. I have devoted my life to fighting viruses and finally, they get their revenge. For a week I balanced between heaven and Earth, on the edge of what could have been the end…
One week after I was discharged, I became increasingly short of breath. I had to go to the hospital again, but fortunately, I could be treated on an outpatient basis. I turned out to have an organizing pneumonia-induced lung disease, caused by a so-called cytokine storm. It’s a result of your immune defense going into overdrive. Many people do not die from the tissue damage caused by the virus, but from the exaggerated response of their immune system, which doesn’t know what to do with the virus. I’m still under treatment for that, with high doses of corticosteroids that slow down the immune system. If I had had that storm along with the symptoms of the viral outbreak in my body, I wouldn’t have survived. I had atrial fibrillation, with my heart rate going up to 170 beats per minute; that also needs to be controlled with therapy, particularly to prevent blood clotting events, including stroke. This is an underestimated ability of the virus: It can probably affect all the organs in our body.
Many people think COVID-19 kills 1% of patients, and the rest get away with some flulike symptoms. But the story gets more complicated. Many people will be left with chronic kidney and heart problems. Even their neural system is disrupted. There will be hundreds of thousands of people worldwide, possibly more, who will need treatments such as renal dialysis for the rest of their lives. The more we learn about the coronavirus, the more questions arise. We are learning while we are sailing. That’s why I get so annoyed by the many commentators on the sidelines who, without much insight, criticize the scientists and policymakers trying hard to get the epidemic under control. That’s very unfair…
The Commission is strongly committed to supporting the development of a vaccine. Let’s be clear: Without a coronavirus vaccine, we will never be able to live normally again. The only real exit strategy from this crisis is a vaccine that can be rolled out worldwide. That means producing billions of doses of it, which, in itself, is a huge challenge in terms of manufacturing logistics. And despite the efforts, it is still not even certain that developing a COVID-19 vaccine is possible…
Six-minute audio story:
The UN is calling on rich countries to donate nearly $7 billion to help poorer states fight Covid-19. @UNReliefChief explains why this money is needed https://t.co/QjbjPqmXnj
— BBC World Service (@bbcworldservice) May 8, 2020
Detailed timeline, between the beginning of last December and January 21st, when COVID-19 became an international issue:
What did China do about coronavirus? A timeline https://t.co/9wCUe669rU
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) May 8, 2020
Nelle
Anne Laurie, thank you, over and over for gathering info on this. Thanks to you, we were prepared.
rikyrah
Florida’s death numbers are far higher than reported?
rikyrah
Thanks AL for the info.
jc
How idiotic it is to gag the CDC. Trump just can’t keep from meddling and politicizing, when anyone with half a brain would go with the science and the medical community’s recommendations. Heck of a plan to force workers to return to work while indemnifying business owners. May these decisions destroy his political future.
zhena gogolia
The Atlantic article is very helpful, if perhaps not conservative enough for the BJ community.
I add my thanks to Anne Laurie, even if most days I have to squint at her posts with a hand half over my eyes.
WereBear
The thing I find so frightening about this virus is that it’s so new and unpredictable.
dexwood
Monsters. Ghouls. Traitors.
Salty Sam
I’ll add my thanks to AL for hoovering up all these disparate tweets and articles- this is my go-to site for COVID info.
That said, I long for the day when I never again have to see a Trumper’s face on a tweet. That last one of Pompeo just pegged my rageometer once again…
Ryan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKnX5wci404
Does anyone believe the numbers out of Florida?
Mousebumples
@zhena gogolia: I agree that it’s helpful. Not so much that “this is what you should do,” but I think these are more good taking points for families and households. What are we comfortable with? Who do we want to see semi regularly, and how are we going to minimize the risk of infection spreading?
Isolation isn’t sustainable long term for most people, but hopefully we can all find a new “normal” that keeps us and ours safe and healthy.
Zelma
The Atlantic article was good advice but as I read it, my spirits sank. I “knew” all that stuff, but I don’t want to “know” it. I live alone. I have not touched another person in almost two months. I have talked to someone face-to-face (at the prescribed distance) maybe ten times. I have not seen my son since Christmas. I spent my birthday alone, eating take-out, where usually I would have been with friends and family.
I will follow the rules because I am in the high risk group, at least by age. But, good heavens, it is a depressing thought that my once active life has become so circumscribed. Thank goodness I have my dog and my cat.
I know the economic toll this disease is taking on so many people, but I wonder what the psychological toll will be.
Doc Sardonic
@Ryan: Short answer from Florida resident. NO.
Geoboy
@jc: “May these decisions destroy his political future.” And those of the entire Republican party.
Doc Sardonic
Just to add to the current rage we are all feeling, article from WaPo on an American mask manufacturing company begging to manufacture masks. https://apple.news/ATK0-2qqgRQe-cQhPRxnHAw
Redshift
I recall reading in one of the initial reports about the suppression of the CDC guidance a leak that one of the issues the Trumpies had with it was that it provided guidance for churches on how to reopen safely, and “churches don’t like being told what to do.”
Assholes. I bet the vast majority of churches would love guidance on how to be safe and not endanger their parishioners. It’s just the pro-Republican grifting megachurches that would treat any guidance as “the government telling them what to do.”
Gvg
@Ryan: Florida is a big state and the virus is unevenly spread, however the real numbers from Florida are not going to be a lot worse than other places. deSantos is trying to surpress the news, just like Trump, he thinks in terms of spin in stead of just doing a good job, but for some reason we are just being somewhat lucky in spite of the idiots my fellow citizens have elected. We aren’t yet counting the extra undiagnosed deaths but people pretty much know we should and it’s in the news. The Villages have not had some huge outbreak, just a normal one. I don’t know why.
My sister is a doctor at a North Florida hospital. She has been exposed and tested negative twice so far that I have heard. She says their positive tests results are a low percent which means there is not a huge community spread and that they are probabaly testing enough. She says NY was getting a high positive test result percent which means they still weren’t testing enough, even though they want to. She said this about 2 weeks ago so things could have changed but I haven’t heard that they have yet. She is terribly afraid of what is still to come, but admits that so far at her hospital, it hasn’t been as bad as last years flu season (which was really bad around here)
Florida is doing a ton of things wrong and lots of people are being idiots, however sometimes you just get lucky. Not lucky enough for our nursing homes though. We never have inspected them enough or made sure they were properly funded. People have died that didn’t need to but the reality is just not as bad as some people are expecting
Desantos is an idiot though. Florida has really strong public records laws we call government sunshine laws. It’s all going to come out. People know what records they are used to seeing. The laws were passed when my father was young because of some notorious earlier corrupt government here and it has repeatedly helped prevent more corruption. Covering up just makes him look more guilty.
wvng
Adding my Thanks to Anne Laurie for these always informative summaries of what is happening. As Salty Sam said, your posts are my #1 site on this.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Doc Sardonic: Yeah, I saw that earlier; I have to use an improvised mask to comply with my city’s mandatory masking order.
J R in WV
@dexwood:
Yes, all of those — I would add despicable fascists, incompetent fools, slum lords. We’re getting close now !
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Redshift: You’d think they’d learn it’s difficult to grift from the dead(I guess they hope the church is in the will).
mrmoshpotato
It’s getting harder and harder not to resurrect my desire to throw these fuckers into lava lakes.
Luciamia
That cytokine storm is so frightening. I think that’s what killed so many in the 1918 pandemic.
Doc Sardonic
@Gvg: Just a thought on the relatively low numbers from The Villages, since that is sort of local to me. The lock downs in other states and the shuttering of Disney, Universal and Sea World has suppressed the outbreak potential. Once people start moving around more and more tourist areas reopening, odds are the numbers are going to go up drastically because the residents there aren’t big on social distancing if you track the STD spread rate.
debbie
@WereBear:
And it attacks every system in the body. That’s what is really scary to me.
Emma
For anyone interested, NUS Medicine (National University of Singapore) has been uploading hour-long presentations on Youtube from its professors on COVID-19 modelling, geopolitics, transmission, etc. (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7bfV-ASE8DgTl9T6HXrHgI9W13Xr82Kc) The Singaporean accent will take some getting used to, probably, hehe.
germy
There have been people here advocating for this or that herbal supplement to “boost the immune system” but I’m not sure I’d want to take herbal supplements. Especially in this unregulated country.
Sm*t Cl*de
https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/sure-the-velociraptors-are-still-on-the-loose-but-thats-no-reason-not-to-reopen-jurassic-park
zhena gogolia
@Zelma:
It won’t go on forever. Do you have access to something like Zoom or Skype? I find that helps me a lot. I am fortunate in being able to be with my husband, but not seeing friends and family in person is horrible. Zoom does help. I’ve been meeting weekly with people in far-flung places whom I normally wouldn’t interact with much at all.
debbie
Yard signs with “Dr. Amy Acton Fan Club” have begun popping up around the neighborhood. The Facebook group Dr. Amy Acton Fan Club (“Busting her Buckeyes to Keep Ohio Safe”) has more than 134,000 members. These things cheer me up
mrmoshpotato
@germy: What about Asshole Jones’ Super Vitality Male?
ThresherK
Anyone else read this as
germy
@mrmoshpotato: Vitameatavegamin
Tastes just like candy
rikyrah
WereBear
@germy: I’ve been reading a lot about insulin resistance and the immune issues. That’s something most people can tract with a free blood sugar meter. Just test after some typical meals.
Gin & Tonic
@Zelma: This is how it’s playing out for me – my son left the US in November on a ~10-month assignment. Now he’s pretty seriously considering not coming back. Can’t blame him, with the prospect of returning to ~20% unemployment. I was going to go see him in April, that obviously never happened. Now I’m not sure when we’ll see each other, and he may be away for years. If Trump wins, I think he may never return.
Zelma
@Gin & Tonic:
I sure can understand your son’s thinking. If Trump wins, I’m going to turn off my computer and TV and spend my declining years reading romance novels and mysteries. And I’m going to keep on social distancing from anyone whom I suspect might have voted for the idiot.
Roger Moore
@jc:
Everything about the Trump response to COVID-19 makes sense if you understand they think of it primarily as a PR issue. They genuinely don’t seem to grasp that the virus isn’t a person who can be convinced to change its behavior with a bunch of flim-flam.
Zelma
@zhena gogolia:
I’ve done a number of Zoom meetings and social events. It’s funny, my son and I call every Sunday but it didn’t occur to me till lately that we could FaceTime instead. I’m going to suggest we do that this week. I have FaceTimed with my great-grandkids. That’s nice. Imagine where we’d be if we didn’t have all this technology.
James E Powell
@Ryan:
In November 2000, Florida lost all credibility forever.
germy
@James E Powell: George Wallace won a primary in Florida many years ago.
NotMax
@zhena gogolia
Zoom is ostensibly working on at least a smattering of long, long overdue strides to treat its problems.
Roger Moore
@Redshift:
This shows just how blinkered they are. The churches Trumpies care about, i.e. churches run by charismatic charlatans, are highly resistant to being told what to do. That’s because those charlatans want to be the highest authority in their parishioners’ lives, and being seen to take guidance from any other person will weaken their air of infallibility. Most churches aren’t like that and would love some guidance about how to hold services while protecting their members’ lives.
J R in WV
@Gin & Tonic:
Well, that sounds pretty grim. But in the real world, perhaps the nation where your son and his wife live will accept refugees from the failed state of the USA. So you can flee here, and live with your immigrant children and grand children in Ukraine…
Just like when people used to flee oppression to the USA, and then older grandparents would follow them to move here and live with the younger family members who fled here first. Maybe? Or just spend spring with the family overseas.
Trying to be positive with all my might! Drinking G&T helps me, try it?
rikyrah
Roger Moore
@Gvg:
The key insight to a lot of stuff related to the pandemic is that people started to act before their leaders told them to. There’s very good evidence that people started getting serious about social distancing some time in early March, even in places where the political leadership was talking a big game about how they didn’t need to close. I’ve heard people pinpointing it to the NBA shutting down its games after players tested positive, with other sports leagues following shortly after. It was a huge shock, and seeing such a prominent business completely shut down convinced a lot of people the pandemic was real.
NotMax
@J R in WV
These days tonic water is scarcer than amoeba teeth in these here parts.
artem1s
@jc:
It’s the GOP so the Bugblatter Beast of Traal rule applies: so mind-bogglingly stupid that it thinks that if you can’t see it, it can’t see you.
Chetan Murthy
@J R in WV:
I cannot fault anyone who would (upon Derp Grabber’s re-installation) flee to another country. But at least consider instead fleeing to the West Coast. We’re too many out here for him to fuck with us. And sure, it’s expensive. But compared to the *cost* of becoming a refugee, it’s *cheap*. And when/if the time comes (knock wood) we’ll need every right-thinking American. There will be work for us all, from stretcher-bearers, to (young) fighters, to factory-workers making weapons and medical supplies.
Because if he gets re-installed, there might not be a *hot war*, but there’ll be a rupture. He won’t be able to avoid starting up the pogroms, and we won’t stand for that shit.
PsiFighter37
@rikyrah: I read Favre’s denials alongside him returning the money. TBH, I think he’s a dirtbag and knew full well that he was being handed a million scot-free. But being who he is, and especially being based in MS, he’ll just be treated like a hero for ‘doing the right thing’.
dmsilev
Some stupidity from my neck of the woods:
Roger Moore
@dmsilev:
I am deeply troubled that almost 75% of the cases and 90% of the deaths in Pasadena are associated with long-term care facilities. (See this website for the latest numbers.) Those numbers seem way out of proportion to what I’ve heard from elsewhere, and the cases come from multiple facilities, not just one or two badly managed ones. There has been some kind of systemic problem with our response, and we need to get to the bottom of it.
kindness
I’m surprised covid-19 hasn’t torn through The Villages.
ziggy
@kindness: Is The Villages separate houses for 55 and over? If so, that makes a huge difference. If they are able to care for themselves, and respect social distancing, they will be fine. I work in a 55 and over community and they haven’t had one case that I am aware of, they are doing great.
Robmassing
Floriduh.
dmsilev
@Roger Moore: I’ve seen those numbers as well and don’t know what to make of them. I haven’t seen data on how many tests the city is doing, so the concentration of positive cases could be due to focused testing. Doesn’t explain the hugely skewed death toll though.
Ohio Mom
I thought I’d throw this out here:
It’s an interesting post by a biologist which explains the science behind the precautions we are urged to take: https://www.erinbromage.com/post/the-risks-know-them-avoid-them
I found most of it reassuring because I could see a fair amount of the risk can be managed, at least for me, in most of my typical activities.
LesGS
@Luciamia: Yes. That’s why a disproportionate number of young, healthy people died in that epidemic. Their strong immune system went into overdrive and killed them.
Bill Arnold
@Redshift:
I am hoping that somebody leaks that part of the report[1], since as you say most churches would be happy to have guidance to follow.
[1] “the communities of faith tree,” — where “tree” is a “decision tree”.
ziggy
@dmsilev: There is a similar high proportion of LTC facility cases and deaths in WA state. If you recall, the first cases that were noticed in the US were from a LTC facility. They are perfect breeding grounds for the virus. Asymptomatic visitors bring it in to older, unwell people, who get really sick, and carry a very heavy viral load. They then are in close proximity to other potential victims that get a good shot of the virus. With caregivers moving around, it’s impossible to keep it from spreading. Not having sufficient testing compounds the issues.
If older, vulnerable people are living separately, at least they have a chance of completely avoiding the virus, or getting just a small exposure, which can make a difference in how their body is able to handle it.
If we had adequate testing, Covid carriers and infected workers could be isolated immediately. Move them to a separate, or secure part of the facility. Get the right kind of treatment going. We could test potential visitors ahead of time to allow them to actually see their relatives. But we have to save the tests so Trump and Co. won’t be inconvenienced.
Bill Arnold
@germy:
There is an enormous amount of wu, plus a bunch of small studies, mostly weak, for herbal supplements. I looked into it a month or two ago, and decided the science was reasonably solid for not being deficient in vitamins C,D,E and Zinc, though nothing specific to COVID-19.
(a) vitamin C (e.g. 250 -500 mg twice per day),
(b) don’t be vitamin D deficient, and consider vitamin D supplements (e.g. 2000 IU, maybe higher for several days to start) (lower incidences of acute respiratory infections),
(c) vitamin E 200 mg per day: a few studies suggest that this amount but not more per day might boost parts of the immune system. This amount is higher than a multivitamin will deliver.
(d) Zinc, 10-40 mg per day (many multivitamins with minerals have around 10 mg)
But as you’ve noticed, the science is buried in a blizzard of search-engine-optimized wu.
(Links if requested.)
ziggy
That’s a really good article. Everyone should know this information, and how to protect themselves.
Anne Laurie
@mrmoshpotato: Jim Bakker’s colloid silver cure-all (if the FDA hasn’t managed to confiscate it all yet).
Another Scott
@Ohio Mom: A very good read. Thanks for the pointer.
Cheers,
Scott.
HumboldtBlue
Does getting up and walking from your chair to the fridge to get ba beer count? Cause I’m working that!
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Meanwhile Trump went to a UFC event, because “we need sports” in Jacksonville. One of the fights was canceled because the fighter and his support tested positive.
HumboldtBlue
Oh boy, the antivaxx crowd really needs to be purged.
lexilis
@Ohio Mom: Thanks for that excellent article. Very informative. I am forwarding it widely.
zhena gogolia
MoxieM
@Gin & Tonic: Yup. My only kid lives in Europe. The divorce from her father blasted my life to smithereens, for a variety of reasons, not limited to his (actual, diagnosed, not by me) sociopathy and my resulting PTSD. As the youngest of the now “oldster” generation, the family I was close to have died, or they live really far away.
But I’ve been living like this for about 5 years. (Not quite as harshly locked down, but very, very solo). Yes, Thank Dog! for my dog. I could wish for better health so I could walk her. Then I think all would be well. And I could maybe even rescue another Newfy–now that would be heaven.
opiejeanne
@Mousebumples: My daughters and my niece and their SOs are coming tomorrow for a socially distanced picnic/potluck. Masks and gloves will be worn until eating commences, four small tables will be set up on the lawn about 10 feet apart in a square, each with disposable plates and cups. The barbecue will be manned by one person who wanted to do shrimp, I’m roasting a chicken in the house and making potato salad, and I made cookies today that I will package in small baggies and put on the little tables; people are bringing stuff they made, but I may not eat anything I didn’t make.
I think we may all end up in tears, it’s been so long. Or maybe that’s just me.