Revolutionary British doctor Edward Jenner was born #OnThisDay 271 years ago.
The inventor of a medical breakthrough that could help us beat #coronavirus. #VaccinesWorkpic.twitter.com/tiZYNem7bz
— Foreign Office ?? (@foreignoffice) May 17, 2020
China’s commercial hub of Shanghai announces the restart of classes for younger students amid falling virus cases, while New Orleans’s famed restaurants were allowed to reopen with a limited number of diners. https://t.co/z6AsfOFiHr
— The Associated Press (@AP) May 17, 2020
Follow live updates: https://t.co/l2faKyz4LO and subscribe to our newsletter: https://t.co/sr1rEEVb7J pic.twitter.com/HpL5EFP2hX
— Reuters (@Reuters) May 16, 2020
Universal mood:
And I don't like how often fear makes me angry and I end up lashing out at people who need info, explanations, encouragement, not my rage just because they're at hand. :(
— Bruce Baugh, texte sans nom intelligent (@BruceRedux) May 17, 2020
Big WOW here: analysis of the impact of govt. social distancing efforts (SIPOs) in USA finds: "these results imply 10 times greater spread by April 27 without SIPOs (10 million cases) & >35 times greater spread w/out any of
the four measures (35 million)"https://t.co/Cr4w750nnG pic.twitter.com/SNH8x8J6U4— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) May 16, 2020
Illinois mandated 'Stay-at-home' orders, nearby Iowa didn't. Here's what happened: Several counties in Iowa— 1 of 5 states that didn't issue stay-at-home orders —experienced a 30% greater increase in #COVID19 cases compared w/ counties next door in IL https://t.co/sQmAdvKsbG pic.twitter.com/Q53Jx0waM3
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) May 16, 2020
In Virginia, officials are blending the results of viral tests and antibody tests into one statistic so they can report more favorable numbers to the public.
It’s one of several ways US coronavirus data remains messy. New, from me and @alexismadrigal: https://t.co/fEyBGiU6D0
— Robinson Meyer (@yayitsrob) May 14, 2020
BREAKING: Huge surge in COVID-19 cases in Texas today. The state is reporting 1,801 new cases since yesterday – the biggest one day surge we've had to deal with.
— Jeremy Wallace (@JeremySWallace) May 16, 2020
True. The region has a huge meat packing industry and The @amarilloglobe reported one Tyson plant is a big portion of all of the city's testing right now. State has sent surge teams there to focus on problem.
— Jeremy Wallace (@JeremySWallace) May 16, 2020
Coronavirus: Why Taiwan won't have a seat at the virus talks https://t.co/4nPHrjVNeC
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) May 16, 2020
With Covid-19, Beijing is doubling down on its plan to keep migrants out of big cities – pleased to have this adapted piece from my new book “The Myth of Chinese Capitalism” here in @ForeignPolicy Thanks @BeijingPalmer! https://t.co/aw5CDkpFcJ
— Dexter Roberts (@dtiffroberts) May 16, 2020
yes if only there had been some clues that the rest of the world could have used at that point such as LOCKING DOWN THE ENTIRE GODDAMN COUNTRY https://t.co/7OeZ4hYsLo
— James "Stay In. Make Masks. Test People" Palmer (@BeijingPalmer) May 12, 2020
Were Western countries ignoring the implications of China *locking down hundreds of millions of people* on January 23 because they were waiting for WHO to give them some kind of magical go-signal – which they did on January 30 anyway?
— James "Stay In. Make Masks. Test People" Palmer (@BeijingPalmer) May 12, 2020
China urges food companies to boost supplies on fears of further COVID-19 disruption https://t.co/8tbVIOxQHG pic.twitter.com/u8L4moXw1w
— Reuters (@Reuters) May 17, 2020
How Covid-19 is threatening Central America's economic lifeline https://t.co/X91zLnuaPS
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) May 16, 2020
The cheerful emotionally neutral tone of this is gruesome af. https://t.co/8SGND6JXMs
— Maryn McKenna (@marynmck) May 15, 2020
Mexico registers 47,144 cases of coronavirus and 5,045 deaths https://t.co/7R9hKvnj28 pic.twitter.com/mAzSj7Jpb4
— Reuters (@Reuters) May 17, 2020
Across the world, figures reveal horrific toll of care home deaths. Statistics now coming to light show that #Covid19’s elderly victims have paid a heavy price https://t.co/cMQPjKH7hO via @guardian #LTC
— André Picard (@picardonhealth) May 16, 2020
Gilead "isn’t running a charity, meaning it will eventually charge some amount of money" for its Covid-19 drug. How much should it be? https://t.co/QM4UkkcoWj
— Jason Ukman (@JasonUkman) May 15, 2020
When #Covid19 vaccines begin to become available, decisions about how to use initially scarce supplies will have a huge impact on the trajectory of the pandemic & international relations. Need to start thinking about fairness & risk. https://t.co/KQePtRmdDQ
— Helen Branswell (@HelenBranswell) May 15, 2020
Heart attacks, heart failure, stroke: #COVID19's dangerous cardiovascular complications. New research notes that a lot of attn is being paid to breathing complications but not enough to serious clotting & inflammatory problems. Study aimed at ER doctors https://t.co/HbaC9mswiV pic.twitter.com/eybJLqsi1k
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) May 16, 2020
#Coronavirus blood-clot mystery intensifies even as hemotologists at Mount Sinai in NYC test the potential of clot-buster tPa — tissue plasminogen activator. Blood clots severely inhibit breathing in patients with #COVID19 https://t.co/deawWktsIo
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) May 16, 2020
A loose-knit group of data scientists, software developers, and journal publishers are working together to build data-mining and search tools that can help researchers quickly sort through tens of thousands of papers on #COVID19 published just this year. https://t.co/jCOfctuMaY
— Science Magazine (@ScienceMagazine) May 14, 2020
We asked readers what the last “normal”‘photo on their phone was from Before Coronavirus. Their stories (compiled by @alice_cuddy) really say a lot about what’s changed. https://t.co/uHurhHlSbL
— Roland Hughes (@hughesroland) May 16, 2020
I am never not surprised by this. https://t.co/hi4sfJDBlY
— Maryn McKenna (@marynmck) May 14, 2020
I mean, I shouldn’t be surprised, because I started writing about 1918 in 1998*, and read Alfred Crosby, whose amazing book Epidemic and Peace, 1918 (later reworked as America’s Forgotten Pandemic) documented the hole in collective memory that 1918 had fallen into. 1/x https://t.co/WM8zglRPg8
— Maryn McKenna (@marynmck) May 15, 2020
This is fascinating, but also troubling. The 1918 flu was so devastating that its society could not figure out how to verbalize it, and submerged it instead.
We are now in the worst epidemic since 1918.
With no historical model, how can we learn how to make sense of now?— Maryn McKenna (@marynmck) May 15, 2020
Amir Khalid
Malaysia’s daily numbers: 22 new cases: 17 from local infections, 5 imported cases; nine foreign nationals. Total 6,874 cases. 59 more patients recovered, total 5,571 or 80.8% of all reported cases. Of 1,210 active cases, 13 are in ICU of whon seven are on ventilators. No deaths, total stands at 113 deaths. Infection mortality rate 1.64%, case fatality rate 1.98%.
DG of Health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah voiced concern at reports of people trying to sneak across state borders to get home for Eid. He said these people risked creating a new wave of infection, and it was a good thing they were being turned back by police.
Amir Khalid
Another thing. Today at the grocery store and the pharmacy I had to sign in with my name and phone number, for contact tracing.
Emma
Good lord, I’m actually awake for one of these. 682 new cases in Singapore, almost all with migrant workers. I continue to hear about how my grandmother’s dementia is spiraling ever downward with the continued circuit breaker (i.e. lockdown). Asking 5 times in as many minutes when she can visit the hairdresser. Sigh.
La Nonna
Italy begins Phase 3 of our lockdown tomorrow, bars, cafes, restaurants will be open, as well as most of the shops, with the caveat that they must enforce masking, social distancing, etc. However, as olds (70+), we may go as far as an early morning swim and visiting 2 elderly friends who have also been literally in lockdown….bar? cafe? restaurant? Not until another month passes at least, with a careful eye on the numbers, and travel other than by car is off the menu for the foreseeable future. A shame, as seeing Venice once more, without cruise ships and hordes of tourists is really appealing.
OzarkHillbilly
On one hand, as one who is prone to blood clots, I suspect this is bad news for me.
On the other hand I am already on blood thinners, so maybe I’m a step ahead of the game already?
Mary G
Seattle Times: Feds were supposed to send thousands of swabs to Washington State; however, they seemed to be baby Q-tips.
Mary G
@Mary G: The end of the story:
Incandescent rage doesn’t begin to cover this fucking bullshit.
OzarkHillbilly
@Mary G: Jared comes thru again!
ETA: The checks in the mail!
Amir Khalid
@Mary G:
I always wonder how much of this kind of thing is incompetence and how much is malice. I do know that both are involved.
WereBear
@Mary G: It was bad enough when shoddy goods and careless practice became routine in consumer goods.
Now it’s spread to medical supplies.
Amir Khalid
@Emma:
Sorry about your grandmother.
Brachiator
The Wisconsin Supreme Court let the state open up. The results may affect Illinois, as well.
From
https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/2020/05/16/covid-19-cases-spike-but-wisconsin-crowds-kind-done-all/5207558002/
Mary G
@Amir Khalid: Yes, I imagine that the fuckups happen due to incompetence, and are quickly fixed for red and battleground states, and laughed about for blue states. Going by the record, nothing happens right the first time.
terben
From the Australian Dept of Health:
‘As at 3:00pm on 17 May 2020, a total of 7,045 cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Australia, including 98 deaths and 6,367 have been reported as recovered from COVID-19.
Over the past week, there has been an average of 15 new cases reported each day. Of the newly reported cases, the majority have been from Victoria.
To date, over 1,042,000 tests have been conducted nationally. Of those tests conducted 0.7% have been positive.’
Since yesterday, there have been 9 new cases, 7 of them in Victoria.
gkoutnik
Fascinating story about the 1918 flu pandemic being lost down the memory hole. Would like to read more about that. Isn’t that the same thing that happened to the other traumatic disaster of the 20th century – World War II? Oh, we remember it, and most can vaguely reference it, but those who fought it, and came home (including my father), generally avoided the real story of the war – the horrific experiences of the men and women who were swept up in it. Just the optimistic, joy-ride boom town of the 50s. “Let’s talk about something else.”
OzarkHillbilly
@Emma: Hopefully they are lying to her and telling her, “Why, tomorrow Dear. You have an 11:15 appt.” She will ask the question again in 5 mins or less but for a few seconds at least she will feel better and look forward to the upcoming perm.
With my father the repetitive question was, “How big is this place?” I learned to answer it each and every time like it was a topic of great interest and worthy of at least 30 seconds of conversation. Which was the length of his attention span.
rikyrah
@Mary G:
?????
rikyrah
@Emma:
?????
rikyrah
@Brachiator:
Is it too much to hope that someone who works with him sees that article and reports him??
Taken4Granite
And doing so just before a holiday that, in American terms, is roughly Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s, and the Fourth of July combined. That shutdown is what got my attention, and I am no expert in virology or epidemiology.
WaterGirl
@Brachiator:
Last week, satby predicted that would happen, and now here it is, right on cue. Ugh.
WaterGirl
@Brachiator:
That guy should be fired immediately.
WaterGirl
@rikyrah: Maybe someone should call the place where he works and report that.
New Deal democrat
I have a data request. Does anyone know of any studies that have looked at the percentage of residents in nursing home or similar facilities who have tested positive for COVID-19?
It is pretty clear that 1/3 to 1/2 of all coronavirus deaths have been residents of these facilities. That’s something like 30,000 to 40,000 fatalities. But there are 1.3 million residents at these facilities, so the mortality rate is 2.5% (yes, I know that many who have died were never tested, so aren’t included in the official count). What is missing is whether only, say 10% of all residents have been infected, or 50% or 80%.
Does anyone know of any source that fills in that missing piece of the puzzle?
New Deal democrat
@WaterGirl: At some point, a governor from a responsible State is going to have to shut down their border with an irresponsible State. The Illinois/Wisconsin border ought to be the first example.
And yes, it is Constitutional. There are two US Supreme Court cases on point.
YY_Sima Qian
3 new domestic confirmed cases in China yesterday, all reported by Fengman District of Jilin City in Jilin Province. Detailed case reports have not yet bee published, even though it is evening in China, already. Case summaries only state that these cases were proactively traced and tested (2 close contacts and 1 “connected”), but did not clarify whether they have already been isolated when they were deemed confirmed, and if so, for how long. Shulan in Jilin City retroactively added a deceased confirmed case, and elder suffering from co-morbidities.
The really worrying news is that the city of Changchun, the capital of Jilin Province, added an asymptomatic case, a close contact of a confirmed case from the Shulan cluster. Apparently, the case from Shulan took his family, and visited a relative in Changchun for several days. Now his relative has tested positive, his daughter is an asymptomatic case at Shulan. While in Changchun, the group visited relatives and dined with friends at restaurants. The Changchun asymptomatic case has been in quarantine since 5/13, when the relative in Shulan was confirmed. Expect more confirmed and asymptomatic cases to be reported from Changchun in the coming days. The entire transmission chain now spans three districts in Jilin City, as well as Changchun, 34 confirmed and 2 asymptomatic cases total to date.
Shulan and Fengman District in Jilin City are now deemed High Risk areas, both are locked down. Both long distance and local public transportation are shut down. All public and private services are closed, though manufacturing and logistics are not impacted. All compounds and villages under restricted access management, and community and neighborhood workers mobilized to perform daily checks on all residents. This is not quite to the level of Wuhan, but definitely on part with other Chinese cities during the height of the epidemic. Over 40K people have been tested in Jilin City over the past three days. Multiple experts teams from provincial and national Health Commissions and CDCs have converged to Jilin City, and the CCDC has setup one of its P3 mobile testing labs in Shulan. Shulan’s party secretary has been dismissed, as well as several officials responsible for public health and the the police.
YY_Sima Qian
I, and everyone in my residential compound, was tested today as part of Wuhan’s 100% mass screening. There were snafus in the detailed logistics of the operation, but overall it was fairly efficient. 1.5 m spacing in queue, waiting time no more than 5 mins, since residents were called outside in groups by building and unit number. Samples were collected by oropharyngeal swab, which is less uncomfortable than nasopharyngeal swab. Labels were already prepared, since we all eregistered ahead of time. The medical staff taking the samples were dressed in full protective gear (Tyvek suit, surgical + KN95 mask, face shield, multiple layers of booties and gloves). They changed the outer most layer of gloves after each resident, and disinfected with alcohol based hand cleaner. The sample collection from the over 500 residents of the compound took around 2 hours. My in-laws’ compound were tested today, as well, over 1400 residents. Don’t know when we will receive the results.
YY_Sima Qian
On the subject of cluster in nursing homes, prisons and meatpacking plants, these have not been significant hot spots in China. There were reported outbreaks at 5 prisons and detention facilities in China, across 3 provinces. There was a reported outbreak in a retirement center in Wuhan. No outbreaks were reported in meatpacking plants.
Filial piety and social pressure discourages children from placing elders into retirement communities, and the nursing homes for people nearing the end of their lives us almost unheard of in China. While the CCP regime runs a relatively hard authoritarian state, the incarceration rate and the police officers per 100K are both significantly less than in the US. (Not counting the Uighurs and possibly Tibetans under extra-judicial detention, of course.) Meatpacking plants exists in China, as well, but this may be one of the “benefits” of having a substantial portion of meats bought from wet markets. With all the attention on we markets in Asia and Africa, people forget that the industrial farms and meatpacking plants are hot beds of infectious diseases, too.
I was very surprised that the already vulnerable people in nursing homes were not well protected, tragedies repeating across North American and Europe. I was not surprised at all by the outbreaks in prisons in the US. Many governments at all levels, significant portion of the population, and certainly the for-profit incarceration industry, do not treat prisoners as human beings. The outbreaks at meatpacking plants were unsurprising in hindsight.
leeleeFL
@La Nonna: Please say once again, not once more. That sounds too accepting of a fate you very well might not be headed for, Luv!
WaterGirl
@New Deal democrat: I wonder if that will actually happen. I agree that it might be necessary, and would certainly be helpful.
leeleeFL
@OzarkHillbilly: and he will respect you in the morning, as well as get you out early, if you pick up that extra shift.
Frankensteinbeck
Every time I hear people discuss vaccine development and production, they talk like the US is the only concern. It’s the rest of the developed world that’s taking this pandemic stone cold seriously, not us. Their scientific communities and factories will determine how the vaccine work goes, while Trump’s America sits on its thumb and spins.
EDIT – Just like the last time he heard a rumor of a vaccine, the moment anyone is even close to one Trump will try to buy it exclusively for the US, and just like last time the actually sane people in the rest of the world will tell him to fuck off with that bullshit.
Cheryl from Maryland
@Emma: I feel for you. My 96-year-old mother in law needs her routine at her retirement condo to keep on track. She was very compliant up until yesterday when during our daily phone call she went on a rant about how she hated wearing a mask and how awful they were and how these things never happened when she was a child (despite living during TB and polio scares). At least her lockdown restrictions have loosened so she can go for walks (wearing a mask).
Chris Johnson
@Amir Khalid: It’s malice.
trnc
For walking outside without a mask? I thought that was still considered acceptable, provided he keeps at least 6 feet away from others, but maybe I’ve missed something.
I couldn’t read the story due to ad blockers. Was he going into buildings without a mask? If so, I would certainly expect him to at least be quarantined before being allowed back to work, or fired if was acting more egregiously.
Uncle Cosmo
@New Deal democrat: In Pritzker’s shoes, I would want to do something like this (subject of course to legal & constitutional restrictions):
At a minimum it might encourage the good people of IL who are putting up with the inconvenience of anti-pandemic restrictions to avoid (better yet, shun) these people. Let the border-crossers & their families incur difficulties and inconvenience in return for selfish, antisocial behavior.
trollhattan
@WaterGirl:
“…who works at a senior living center.”
That’s like a fireman dousing himself in gasoline on his day off, then wandering back work, lighting a stogie as he walks in. Sheesh.
prostratedragon
A music snippet for that ads for Colombian design company
WaterGirl
@trnc:
He works at a senior living center and was not wearing a mask Saturday as he strolled the streets of Lake Geneva.
“I know it’s probably bad,” he said. “I’m just kind of done with it all.”
He works in Chicago at a senior living center and he’s running around in crowds in Wisconsin, with no mask, and he’s “just kind of done” with all the safety stuff? Yeah, I think he should be fired. it seems to me that he’s putting a whole senior living center at risk.
It sounds like you disagree with that. I don’t understand why that might be, but I would like to.
Another Scott
The BBC is letting some old white-haired retired UK supreme court judge spread a bunch of nonsense about deaths in the UK on the news right now.
Reporter – The UK has had 50,000 excess deaths since January, about 35,000 attributed to COVID-19.
Judge – No, that’s not true. If you look at the death certificates, most of the deaths are listed as being from pre-existing conditions. These people were old and would have died anyway, maybe a little later…
Reporter – You say the government’s approach is wrong. What do you advocate?
Judge – The lockdown should be entirely voluntary. If people want to stay home, that’s fine.
Reporter – So what are you going to do?
Judge – I’m going to stay home and obey the law. But you cannot imprison the entire population simply because a small minority cannot take care of their own safety.
Etc.
She’s spending about 7-8 minutes talking to this old crank.
Grr…
Cheers,
Scott.
Another Scott
Virginia started breaking out infection tests vs antibody tests the next day after the governor heard about the mixing.
https://bluevirginia.us/2020/05/sunday-5-17-virginia-data-on-covid-19-finds-705-confirmed-probable-cases-to-30388-51-hospitalizations-to-3775-7-deaths-to-1009-from-yesterday
Cheers,
Scott.
Brachiator
@WaterGirl:
A nurse was interviewed in a similar situation. She said she had a toddler at home and needed to get out for a little fun. She ended up apologizing on social media and going into self-isolation when she returned home.
ETA. It is sad to watch all these people who believe that defying the law and health authorities is the same thing as giving the virus the finger.
WaterGirl
@Another Scott: I wondered when I read that yesterday. Seemed odd that we would be seeing that in a state with a Democratic governor.
Do we think the governor didn’t know before the article was published?
Journalism in action!
ziggy
@WaterGirl: trnc’s point is that he is outside, not inside. IF he is not in heavy crowds, and is following social distancing, as far as risk it really isn’t that bad. Studies have shown that the number of cases of Covid transmitted outdoors is almost zero, a tiny fraction compared to cases acquired indoors. I follow this issue closely as I work outdoors.
Of course traveling to other areas is not smart, and sooner or later he will probably interact in a way that will put someone at risk.
WaterGirl
@Brachiator: Apologizing on social media? But no consequences? No apologies to the hospital, the patients, their families? Sometimes I think the world is upside down.
WaterGirl
@ziggy: @trnc:
His state has restrictions for a reason. He goes out of his way to go to a state that does not have restrictions. That’s not responsible, even for someone who doesn’t work at a senior living center. Plus, he says out loud that he knows what he is doing is probably wrong. Yet he does it anyway, and then goes to work at the senior living center. I call that arrogant, irresponsible and selfish. And dangerous.
From the article, which I got to even with an ad blocker by using READER mode in Safari. A great way to get around sites that insist you turn off ad blockers.
Brachiator
@trnc:
The story makes clear that people are not wearing masks or following social distance recommendations.
Brachiator
@WaterGirl:
The nurse apologized all over the place.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/wisconsin-nurse-went-bar-help-sister-reopen-now-apologizes-lapse-n1208686
trollhattan
This could be considered “not good.” Hopefully a testing anomaly, but perhaps something far more concerning.
–Associated Press
ziggy
@New Deal democrat: Here is why that data is not available, and it is maddening–there are not enough testing supplies to test all the residents, or the workers! Possible Covid patients are only identified when they have sufficient symptoms to qualify for testing. By then they are often quite ill, and spreading the virus like mad.
The nursing home where the first US Covid patients were found–Life Care Center in Kirkland–only just recently was able to test all the patients and caregivers (maybe a couple of weeks ago?). It makes absolutely no sense to me, they should have all been tested right off the bat. But that is where we are. IIRC at least one state is attempting to test all residents at all LTC facilities, can’t recall which one it was.
Just Chuck
A minor dust-up called World War I sort of pushed it off the front pages of the history books. Chapter 2 at any rate — it’s hardly an obscure event, unlike, say, the race riots, i.e. white mobs practicing terrorism with impunity. That’ s something we did flush down the memory hole.
trollhattan
Quick trip to the East Bay yesterday. The Contra Costa County restrictions are stricter than ours and folk’s behavior WRT masks and distancing was more in evidence, too. Nonetheless, a few restaurants had opened service at outdoor seating and lots of folks were walking and cycling. But Saturday afternoon traffic on the interstates and highways was at a level you’d only see at two in the morning during normal times. Even the Camrys are going 80.
L85NJGT
@YY_Sima Qian:
I’d wager that the hotspot jails and long term care facilities have inadequate and or improper air handling for the occupancy load.
Packing plants avoid negative room pressure due to external contaminants; then add a bunch of employees working in close proximity. Just about optimal conditions for an airborne pathogen.
WaterGirl
@Brachiator: Thanks, I just read the article you linked to.
I still don’t think that’s enough: To me that was kind of a non-apology apology. She’s apologizing for making anyone feel at risk. But she didn’t just make them feel at risk, she actually put them at risk which I believe is a whole lot worse.
And the place she works, Advocate Aurora Health, said they were “disappointed”. There should be consequences when health care professionals are irresponsible and put their patients at risk.
I’m willing to bet that the only reason she took any action to quarantine was because she was foolish enough to give an interview, thereby outing herself.
I obviously take a harder view on this than some of you guys. That’s okay; we don’t all have to believe the same thing.
Chacal Charles Calthrop
@YY_Sima Qian: thank you for your detailed posts about what is really going on in China, your posts are very interesting & informative.
trollhattan
Shut up, stupid man. Have you not caused enough damage?
Uncle Cosmo
@Just Chuck: Go do an exhaustive survey of printed material (books, periodicals, newspapers) from, oh, say 1920 through 1929, and get back to us.** We’ll wait.
Eh, don’t bother: What you will find is that the Spanish flu pandemic simply dropped out of sight in popular culture and memory, rarely to be mentioned. About the only people who recalled it were public health officials, who, I would wager, more than occasionally bolted awake in a cold sweat in the wee hours from a nightmare that the stuff was about to make a comeback.
(You’re welcome!)
** First commercial radio broadcast was 2 Nov 1920, KDKA in Pittsburgh; doubt there was much broadcast news coverage before the end of the 1920s.
Brachiator
@WaterGirl:
No. That’s fine. I think that since nurses are vital to helping deal with this pandemic, they should be allowed room to apologize and keep their jobs.
I would like to fire the Wisconsin Supreme Court justices who foolishly forced the state to open things up so haphazardly.
ETA. And you are right that the nurse offered a non apology apology. She might have had a lawyer advise her not to say anything that might be an admission of doing something in violation of recommended regulations or hospital policy.
Ruckus
@WereBear:
I’m more than skeptical enough to actually not consider those to be medical supplies. Given who is in charge I’d call them a money making scheme. Someone is getting a cut. I have no proof except that none of the people involved seem to be normally involved in the production of medical supplies, because they would know how to do this right and they aren’t. It’s not like information is unavailable in this day and age, it’s not like there aren’t standards, it’s not like manufactures don’t exist to make this stuff now. But we are hearing stories of totally non related companies willing to make masks for example for 5 to 6 times the normal costs, who very likely don’t have the machinery, the people, nor the sterile facilities to do this properly. It’s grift and corruption, and lives and………
And yes I’m pissed, and yes there isn’t much we can do, other than wait till January. Many of us are compromised, some far more than others. Many people are being left behind because it isn’t convenient or profitable for someone or another. Many are actively sabotaging efforts because they are inconvenienced. Dying is inconvenient, even recovering from this may be life/health altering/inconvenient. Conservative politics and this countries’s somewhat denial of and or celebration of it’s history of discrimination is also killing people, as it has since our inception. It’s depressing, discouraging, and seems to have no end in sight, because our “leadership” is currently far worse than non existent.
I may be ranting – again. Sorry.
Amir Khalid
@Uncle Cosmo:
It probably can’t be can’t be done in the US for various reasons, but in Malaysia you need written permission from the police to cross a state border. You can go to the Royal Malaysian Police website and apply for a permit, but they are only issued for one of a very short list of reasons; and the cops generally won’t issue a permit for a return trip.
sdhays
@WaterGirl: To paraphrase Mr. Penn, “I know I might be the direct cause of literally hundreds of deaths, but fuck those people, I am just so done with having to exercise any level of social responsibility”, he said as he threw his McDonald’s bag on the sidewalk.
Brachiator
People always have their reasons for breaking the rules, especially famous people of means. From BBC News.
New Deal democrat
@Uncle Cosmo: @WaterGirl: Well, Pritzker really can’t let this situation go on. It is going to lead to a renewed outbreak in the Chicago area. Iirc, a few States like Montana forced incoming travelers to quarantine for 14 days – and who can forget Florida applying that to travelers from NY!
@ziggy: Thanks for the reply. At least I don’t appear to be missing anything.
Annie
Re the 1918 pandemic:
I am really tired of people who hadn’t heard of an event saying “nobody” knew about it. My standard widely used high school history textbook discussed it. There have been several books about it over the past few years.
Also, please note that the 1918 flu began in the middle of another great trauma, World War I. In the countries involved in the war, people had to cope with losing loved ones in combat and also with returning soldiers who had serious wounds and illnesses from the war. It’s no wonder to me that people’s minds just could not assimilate any more disaster.
sdhays
@New Deal democrat: Since the situation was caused by the evil death cult on the Wisconsin Supreme Court instead of a moron governor like other states, Wisconsin could potentially take the step to shut down the border with Illinois. That should be well within the governor’s authority and it’s justified since it has created the situation that people in a large outbreak area – Chicago – are being drawn to Wisconsin and are thereby endangering people in Wisconsin.
Brachiator
@Annie:
Information about the flu was censored during the war. Later, it was difficult to go back and fill in the details of how devastating it actually was.
germy
sdhays
@Annie: In my experience, it’s really poorly covered in public education. I mean, I’d heard of it, but it was more a foot note in the text book between WWI and the Great Depression. I’m sure we didn’t even spend one class on it in my decent public high school. That gives people the impression that it was no big deal, and I think it’s a general problem with American curriculum – we spend a lot of time on war stuff, including where battles were, which really isn’t that important, and gloss over sweeping events and changes in society.
MoCA Ace
Exactly this! This is what I’m getting from some of my friends and family that were taking the safer-in-place order seriously but are wavering, or have fallen off the wagon completely. They are just like “fuck this virus… it’s not the boss of me”. The WI Supreme Court ruling has given them “permission” to get back to normal.
I believe it was a FTFNYT article where I read that pandemics “end” in one of two ways. When the disease is brought under control or when people decide they are sick of living in fear and just accept the death toll as inevitable. Option #2 is where we are throughout much of the country now. Of course most of the country hasn’t experienced what New York or Detroit have. We’ll see if “fuckit” holds when the virus hits their “safe” rural enclave.
sdhays
@Brachiator: That’s really disappointing. I love his stories. I would have expected better of him.
trnc
Yeah, that definitely adds context. I might still give him a chance and tell him to quarantine, but I understand there’s nothing to stop him from going out again just for spite.
It seems like nursing homes would have come up with some pretty strict policies about what their employees can and can’t do, but they don’t sound like anything but profit centers in some cases so they probably do as little as they can get away with.
Thanks for the Safari Reader tip.
trnc
@Brachiator: Thanks.
MoCA Ace
@Brachiator: My wife came home last night upset because most of the pharmacy staff where she works went to a bar Friday night to celebrate the great reopening… invited by one of the pharmacists!
I can’t even!
sdhays
How do you suppose Republicans would react if Donny John contracts the coronavirus and dies? Obviously, we welcome Preznit Dense for the next few months, but does the loss of their orange god make Republican governors more likely to take the virus more seriously? Do rank and file Republicans start to take social distancing and mask guidelines a lot more seriously? How do they process it?
My guess is that they devolve into conspiracy theories and just keep going, since that’s their happy path.
trnc
Perhaps the lockdowns wouldn’t be so strict or last so long if his idiot boss had taken the threat seriously when he was first informed of it.
I can’t remember what the story was a couple of weeks ago about Navarro apparently actually having a responsible view of it early on, but I guess he’s trying to outrun a mean tweet as fast as he can.
sdhays
@trnc: I have a friend who’s the administrator of a nursing home in Illinois (not Chicago, but there’s an outbreak at the local meatpacking plant – which had been going to shut down for 2 weeks to put in place more safety controls before Dump issued his order – and the local prison), and he told me last weekend that he didn’t think people were taking it seriously enough. I’m going to ask him if he would fire an employee over this kind of behavior.
It’s the petty recklessness that’s stunning to me. I mean, shit. Being under lockdown in the US doesn’t mean you can’t go outside. There are plenty of ways to get outside without endangering people, and they’re easier than driving hours to another state to hang around other people who don’t give a shit. And this guy doesn’t even have small children – he literally has complete control over his options, and he chose to just say “fuck all you people”.
sdhays
@MoCA Ace: :-O That’s…wow. Wow.
WaterGirl
@trnc: Sometimes reader can also get around paywalls, so it’s always worth trying!
trnc
You know, I can understand how frustrating it is for people who can’t work and have so far received $1200, so I get the protests from that point of view. What I really don’t get are the protests against wearing masks. It really takes a special kind of asshole to not only not wear a mask, but actually protest while in a crowd the recommendation or requirement to wear one.
trnc
@WaterGirl: I’m learning a lot today.
Brachiator
@MoCA Ace:
Wow. I am not trying to defend this behavior at all, but I will note again that human beings are social animals, and it is apparently difficult for many of us to fight the urge to socialize, even when it defies safety and common sense.
MoCA Ace
They really aren’t that special… disturbingly common in fact :(
MoCA Ace
@Brachiator: I get that. I really do. But they could sit around a fire at a responsible distance over a few beers with minimal (at least lesser) risk. Instead they chose to go mingle with the most ignorant members of our society in a way that maximizes risk.
This where the lack of leadership shows. If officials were on the same page and taking this seriously most people would, out of peer pressure at least, follow the guidelines. Instead we have half of the political establishment actively lying to the public in some misguided effort to prop up their investments… or maybe it’s just to own the libs. This just gives people permission to indulge their basic instincts.
Kelly
So this week snowbird neighbors are flying here to Oregon from Arizona. A couple in their early 80’s. Prosperous enough to always fly first class so maybe that’ll help protect them on the plane ride. I don’t know how they plan to get to and from the airports. Usually shuttle bus service although they can afford to taxi the whole way. By the way Uber and Lyft are taxis as far as I’m concerned. We’re 80 miles from PDX. I don’t know how far they are from PHX. Several more hours of exposure to strangers with risky jobs.
It’s been easy to maintain our isolation so far. Summer is near. Our neighborhood shares a wonderful river beach and is at the of end a gravel road. Everybody invites friends and family to share the beach. My Mom live here. She’s 83. We’re in our 60’s. I’m not looking forward to being that guy going on about COVID-19 all summer long.
Brachiator
@trnc:
These people are not protesting their inability to get back to work. They are protesting that anyone would deny them the right to party. And they resent anyone telling them what to do.
It is like adolescent rebellion.
They are being manipulated into hating the very idea of government. This will not turn out well.
Ksmiami
@sdhays: totally- and doubly so for slavery, the Great Flood etc
WaterGirl
@trnc: We live to serve. :-)
ziggy
This is a great point. I am smack back in the middle of The Great Influenza for the second time now and reading about this. The censorship and propaganda were quite unbelievable. Very interesting to read from this new vantage point, it seems that epidemics are always highly politicized in some way or another, perhaps it is the nature of the beast.
Emma
@Amir Khalid: went to bed after typing my comment, sorry I didn’t see yours. Thanks :) (tbh, she wasn’t born with many marbles anyway, so losing what little she had doesn’t make a huge amount of difference…)
EmbraceYourInnerCrone
@Taken4Granite: me too. I was reading a couple of international news websites in December and January and I was hoping I was wrong. But this one seemed much more communicable than MERS OR SARS or bird flu and when I started telling my husband and grown kid we should stock up on some nonperishable food and the let’s food they poopooed me. I hate being Cassandra.
Emma
@rikyrah: Thanks :) I’ll forward your thoughts to my mom, who’s the one actually stuck with her, haha. She wasn’t a picnic before the pandemic and now… :o
@Cheryl from Maryland: sorry about your mom letting loose like that :( my grandmother is rather more passive-aggressive, but because she can’t go to the market to kvetch to her friends, she just spends all day watching TV. She’s not one for exercise, and didn’t really want to interact with my mother even before all this (the feeling is mutual), so her brain really is turning to mush, unfortunately.
J R in WV
@WaterGirl:
It is so dangerous that if anyone resident at his work place becomes ill AND he tests positive, he should be indicted and prosecuted for deliberately causing harm to a senior person.
If they die, indicted for causing a death through his actions. IANAL so I don’t know specific charges in Illinois, but those are the common language descriptions of his offenses.
Or they could just fire him and prevent the indictments. Self quarantine for at least 14 days is the minimum requirement to prevent his indictment if harm comes to a resident at his workplace. These rats deserve criminal prosecution just for minimizing the danger they are causing.
jimmiraybob
On the one hand, scientific data analysis finds that large event bans, school closures, closures of entertainment venues, gyms, bars and restaurant dining areas, and shelter in place orders (SIPOs), have been very effective in arresting COVID-19 transmission and spread.
On the other hand, Trump consults his gastric tract and brain-pan metrics and comes up with a hunch that this just can’t be right since he’d already cured the pandemic.
If only there was a way for an outside observer – you know, we the people – to figure out this conundrum. To solve this riddle. What to do, what to do? On the one hand there’s scientific knowledge and on the other hand the hunch will get me to the tavern faster. Eenie meenie miney mo……..
sdhays
@J R in WV: I know this is a dead thread, but I’m just going to add that my friend, the nursing home administrator in Illinois, says that he would definitely be inclined to fire an employee exhibiting this type of behavior.
J R in WV
@sdhays:
Hell, I comment on dead threads all the time — best case you get to make your point without being assaulted by know-nothings.
I was a manager of a software development shop, we supported engineers, biologists, lawyers and environmental scientists and regulators, inspectors, etc, etc. if one of my employees acted like this the least I would do would be force them into a 14 day paid suspension, in quarantine and tested before returning to work.
If we were in a medical field, fired is the least this moron should expect. Criminal incompetence at least, deliberate wanton endangerment more likely…
WaterGirl
@sdhays: I am happy to know that.