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Consistently wrong since 2002

SCOTUS: It’s not “bribery” unless it comes from the Bribery region of France. Otherwise, it’s merely “sparkling malfeasance”.

Second rate reporter says what?

People identifying as christian while ignoring christ and his teachings is a strange thing indeed.

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

If rights aren’t universal, they are privilege, not rights.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

You are either for trump or for democracy. Pick one.

“Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on.”

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

I desperately hope that, yet again, i am wrong.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

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

Washington Post Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

Republicans cannot even be trusted with their own money.

“Alexa, change the president.”

Today in our ongoing national embarrassment…

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

Tick tock motherfuckers!

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

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

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 / Ask The Doctors! Open Thread

Ask The Doctors! Open Thread

by | 42 Comments

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Next Tuesday, June 30, at 10 am ET, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions will hear testimony from

  • Anthony Fauci, MD – Director, National Institute Of Allergy And Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health
  • Robert Redfield, MD – Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  • Stephen Hahn, MD – Commissioner Of Food And Drugs, Food and Drug Administration
  • Admiral Brett Giroir, MD – Assistant Secretary For Health, Department of Health and Human Services

Do you have questions for any of them? You can contribute those questions here, and they may be used.

And here’s a Sarah Cooper bonus for you!

https://twitter.com/sarahcpr/status/1275160183598186496

Reader Interactions

42Comments

  1. 1.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    I just got the nicest note out of the blue. An older woman who read the Herald article about me wrote to say she’s decided that in her late 60s, she wasn’t too old to make art after all. I flinched at that article because it had my age in the first line, but evidently it helped someone.

    Also, I blogged today. Colbert sometimes does a bit where he reads the final and first drafts of greeting cards. I decided to blog about first and final drafts of the first paragraphs of my books. Much revision! Beginnings are really hard. (My website it glitchy right now. If it doesn’t come up, just reload.)

  4. 4.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    Just watched the powerful NASCAR video of all of the drivers and teams marching behind Bubba Watson’s car in solidarity with him after a noose was found in his garage area. Considering it is NASCAR that is some powerful shit, and Richard Petty showed up to put the boot on the racists ass.

  10. 10.

    Gretchen

    @Mike J: I think it didn’t occur to the scientist types how many quilters would get to work sewing them, and there wasn’t any data at first that cotton masks would help.

  11. 11.

    Barbara

    @Mike J: To the extent they had a reason, it was that they were afraid of diverting masks from hospital personnel.

    I accept that there has been and that there had to be a huge learning curve. What I find hard to accept is the degree of certainty that is conveyed in early pronouncements.  Walking them back is infinitely harder than hedging at the front end that “based on what we know right now — which could and probably will change . . .”  Yes, it gets tedious but it’s important.

  12. 12.

    Gretchen

    I hope they ask who was slow walking testing.  And I’d like to know if Jared was trying to impede things to make a profit.  And health care workers STILL don’t have enough masks, 4 months in.  That’s got to be malevolence, not incompetence.

  14. 14.

    Redshift

    @Barbara:

    To the extent they had a reason, it was that they were afraid of diverting masks from hospital personnel. 

    I know otherwise sensible people who scrambled to get N95 masks when all this started, so I can’t entirely fault them on that.

  15. 15.

    japa21

    @Cheryl Rofer: I wnet there and read questions already submitted. The two I had been thinking of were already there. I am going to give it some thought and come up with something worthwhile.  Thank you for the link.

  17. 17.

    meander

    …and next Tuesday, June 30, at 9:50 am ET, the Pres will call these four officials to the White House for a meeting, preventing them from testifying to Congress, as has happened previously.

    The Pres’s staff will say it was a long-scheduled meeting, Fauci and the others will say it wasn’t on their schedule, and the media will report it as “President claims meeting was already scheduled weeks ago”.

  18. 18.

    JustRuss

    @Gretchen: yep, my the hospital my sis-in-law works at gives them one mask per day, and they’re in an area that’s been hit very hard.  She’s already caught covid, and fortunately, recovered.

  20. 20.

    WaterGirl

    @meander: Hopefully, they will all have been smart enough to have prepared remarks – and have submitted those remarks in writing to the committee long before the date and time of the interview.

  21. 21.

    Roger Moore

    @Gretchen:

    And health care workers STILL don’t have enough masks, 4 months in. That’s got to be malevolence, not incompetence.

    I think a big chunk of that is that the demand for masks has skyrocketed, and manufacturers still haven’t caught up.  I’m afraid they’re never going to catch up, unless/until it’s obvious that the newly increased use of masks is staying around long-term.  Until then, they won’t invest in new manufacturing capability.

  22. 22.

    Brachiator

    @Mike J:

    Why was CDC so slow to recommend masks, even if they had to tell people to make them at home?

    This perhaps misses the larger point that Trump mismanaged the response to the pandemic and throttled the CDC from the very beginning. A smarter administration might have provided for the supply of masks to the public. Instead, we had an administration that wasn’t that concerned about getting equipment to hospitals, let alone with advising the public.

    @Barbara:

    What I find hard to accept is the degree of certainty that is conveyed in early pronouncements. Walking them back is infinitely harder than hedging at the front end that “based on what we know right now — which could and probably will change . . .”  Yes, it gets tedious but it’s important.

    People do not hear the qualifications. People want science to be oracular and definitive, like religion.

    A scientist talks about the work on a vaccine and reporters ask for the exact date and time the vaccine will be delivered.

    And then people get angry when there is a later change or clarification. There have even been comments here along the lines of “it makes you distrust government when the scientists lie.”

    And we have seen that some people look at an instruction as a mere recommendation, and a recommendation as an opinion. Sometimes you need to try to make sure that the main message is heard, even if you reverse or qualify the message later.

  23. 23.

    Origuy

    This could be good news: 

    A research team at Hadassah-University Medical Center in Jerusalem’s Ein Kerem has discovered what they believe causes coronavirus patients to become seriously ill and even die. They also say they have a way to treat the cause before it’s too late.

    At least 30% of patients with coronavirus develop blood clots that block the flow of blood to their kidneys, heart and brain, as well as the lungs, according to international research.

    They found that people who developed the clots have an increased amount of a protein called alpha defesin. They are planning to test a drug called colchicine which may lower the amount of the protein.

  24. 24.

    JoyceH

    I’d like someone to ask if face shields are just as good as masks and can they be worn in lieu of masks. I have both, and the face shield is certainly more comfortable, and I believe protects the wearer as well as protecting others. If I had my druthers, I would wear a shield instead of a mask, but would like to know what the doctors say. (The article I saw seemed to be saying the CDC said shields were as good.)

  29. 29.

    Another Scott

    @Brachiator: adhocresponsegroup.org/

    Specifically, adhocresponsegroup.org/OPCAST_Ad_Hoc_Subgroup_Stockpile_Recommendations_05-20-20.pdf

    (Sorry about the formatting)

    […]

    On October 1, 2018, the full responsibility for the SNS [Strategic National Stockpile] was transferred from CDC to ASPR . The stockpile was not replenished, however. In March 2020, the Secretary of HHS reported that 6 the stockpile held 30 million surgical masks and 12 million N95 masks .

    […]

    During the period from 2006 until now, many studies have projected the needs, in the event of a
    7 pandemic, for surgical and high-intensity respirator masks, other personal protective equipment
    (PPE), durable equipment such as ventilators, and supplies used for testing, together with
    8
    estimated quantities that should be stockpiled to help satisfy that need . In 2016, the National
    Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) held a workshop to study the SNS
    9 program and recommend improvements .
    The result of the failure to act on the recommendations of these studies and to appropriate and carry out the funding and actions authorized in Public Law 113-5 (as well as the failure to renew the authorization beyond 2018) has been that the United States was unprepared for the supply needs of the Spring 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. The extraordinary shortage of supplies in Spring 2020 has been well-documented in the press and has been exacerbated by supply-chain changes such as just-in-time manufacturing and globalization, and by the lack of a coordinated Federal/State plan to deploy existing supplies rapidly to locations of greatest need. There has been a persistent shortage of ventilators, testing kits, masks and other PPE, mitigated only in part by funding appropriations in late March and in April.
    The fault is not with the Federal Government alone. According to Greg Burel, Director of SNS from March 2007 to December 2019, SNS planning assumed that state stockpiles would also be in place, as they were in the past. For the most part, however, those stockpiles were not
    10
    replenished and maintained after the 2008 financial crisis
    .

    […]

    It is possible that the 2020 phase of the COVID-19 epidemic will decrease during the late spring, but it also may well be that there is a resurgence in the fall. Preparation for such a resurgence needs to be initiated now. It needs to be at a national level, in close collaboration and coordination with state and local officials. Even after this current phase tails off (if in fact it does so), focus on curtailing the disease needs to be maintained as the country pursues its financial recovery. Indeed, the second requires the first.
    It is imperative that the SNS be rebuilt by September 1, 2020, and that state and local stockpiles
    be ramped up as well. As U.S. supply chains for relevant tests, masks, PPE, etc. increase, and
    begin to provide quantities needed, continued domestic manufacturing should be encouraged for
    stockpile replenishment. It will likely be necessary to continue to invoke the Defense Production
    13
    Act . The acquisitions need not be limited to U.S. suppliers.
    The SNS and other stockpiles are intended to serve not only pandemic response but the response to other emergencies as well. The hurricane and wildfire seasons are approaching. In addition to funding the stockpile, it may be necessary to replenish the FEMA $50 billion Emergency Fund. We have not explored that issue.

    Even if the stockpile had been maintained at levels projected to be needed, the COVID-19 experience illustrates that the demands of a particular public health emergency (or the occurrence of multiple overlapping emergencies) may exhaust the stockpile before the needs have been satisfied. For robust preparedness, stockpile planning must incorporate “on the fly” provision of additional supplies.

    […]

    At the base of the causation pyramid, there was a reluctance to spend money for boring things like preparing for a pandemic or other disaster. Governing on the cheap is costing us tens of trillions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of lives…

    :-(

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  30. 30.

    Feathers

    Grrr. The fuck in FTFNYT is going to get a lot louder. They just hired Charlotte Greensit, the managing editor of The Fucking Intercept, as the new acting editorial page editor. Has a huge hate on for Biden:

    David Darmofal @david_darmofal · 1h

    Charlotte Greensit, the new Managing Editor of the New York Times opinion pages, mocking @JoeBiden for wearing sunglasses.   LINK

    She also had the audacity to, after all the shit The Intercept pulled in the election, to blame Obama for the dangers we faced with President Trump.

    So the FTFNYT editorial page is in the hands of an Edward Snowden fan, with links to the Russian disinformation machine. Did they need to go that far to find someone who wanted Trump reelected?

  31. 31.

    trollhattan

    @Feathers:

    Really? REALLY? Had allowed myself to think they would improve with a change there, albeit just a bit but also noticeable. How can this move not make them much, much worse?

    “Put out a call for somebody who hates Biden as much as whatsisname hates Hillary.”

  32. 32.

    trollhattan

    Hey governor of Florida, bang-up job you’re doing there with coronavirus containment. Just super.

    The National Women’s Soccer League announced today that six players and four staff members with the Orlando Pride have tested positive for COVID-19. Following the NWSL positive test protocol, a second round of tests will be conducted to confirm the initial results. Due to the number of positive tests, and the timeline necessary before returning to training and competition, Orlando has withdrawn from the upcoming NWSL Challenge Cup.

    The health and safety of the players and staff is of utmost importance and the NWSL and the Orlando Pride are doing everything necessary to ensure the affected players and staff are receiving proper care.

    “The health and safety of our players and staff is our number one priority and our thoughts are with those players and staff fighting this infection, as well as the entire club in Orlando that have been impacted as a result,” said NWSL Commissioner Lisa Baird. “We’re all obviously disappointed, but in the current environment, this is a situation that we have prepared for and we will now adjust our plans and schedules to reflect the circumstances.”

    An updated tournament schedule will be distributed as soon as possible to reflect an eight-team tournament.

    The NWSL continues to strongly encourage all players and staff to follow CDC guidelines and the NWSL protocols to remain healthy and safe. Robust testing has occurred with each club and no other confirmed positive test results have occurred.

  33. 33.

    J R in WV

    The New York Times has been in the pocket of Russian dictators since the days of Uncle Joe Stalin, back when their Moscow desk man Walter Duranty told the world that there was no famine in the Ukraine, that things there were great. All the while Stalin shipped the whole harvest out of Ukraine leaving the population to starve in the winter.

    Called Stalin’s apologist, Duranty said “But there is no famine…” — the Times loves them some dictators, from Mr. Stalin to Mr. Hitler. And then to Mr. Trump. Despicable!

  34. 34.

    Elizabelle

    @Feathers:   Ugh.  Terrible hire.  They will lose even more subscribers, would be my guess.

    It’s the fucking Sulzbergers.

  35. 35.

    StringOnAStick

    As soon as covid hit here and the day after the dental office I worked for closed, I started making cloth masks for my family and friends.  Then came the feds position that “these don’t work, a waste of time” , but I kept making them because I was replicating the surgical masks I used at work, and if they didn’t work then why was I and every other dental employee required to wear them?  Vindicated.

    At a retail store today these was an older woman customer wearing her mask as a chin sock while ranting into her phone.  She didn’t wear it properly during checkout and then coughed in the cashiers face.  It was all I could do to not come unglued on her and I know my dirty looks landed but didn’t change her behavior.  All this so she could get the perfect tablecloth.  Everyone else was wearing masks at each place I went.

  37. 37.

    Brachiator

    @JoyceH:

    I’d like someone to ask if face shields are just as good as masks and can they be worn in lieu of masks.

    A recent NPR story on masks.

    Haven’t seen anything on face shields.

  38. 38.

    evodevo

    @Origuy: Colchicine is used to combat gout…it is toxic, and you have to watch the dosage pretty close.  Other than that, good on them..

  39. 39.

    Amir Khalid

    @JoyceH:

    I don’t think a face shield replaces a mask. Every photo I’ve seen of a doctor/nurse/medical tech in a face shield shows them also wearing a mask. If you’re going to be in close contact with people, you may need both.

  40. 40.

    Bill Arnold

    @Feathers:

    The fuck in FTFNYT is going to get a lot louder. They just hired Charlotte Greensit, the managing editor of The Fucking Intercept, as the new acting editorial page editor.

    I scanned Charlotte Greensit’s twitter for the last month ( twitter.com/cgreensit ). Not as bad as I expected; there are links to two(plus) anti-Trump pieces (one a podcast transcript, both basically anti-fascism pieces[1]) and to a few more that are negative about the DJT administration. Also a criticism of B. Obama and of Joe Biden, for things about 1/10 of one percent as bad as what D.J. Trump and his administration do every day.

    Anyway, her twitter feed has a fairly small median number of comments per tweet (so far at least), so she will see pokes if she need to be poked. Let’s not allow her to bring The Intercept’s “criticizing Republicans feels bad; criticizing Democrats feels great!” approach to the NYTimes.

    [1] Donald Trump Is an Autocrat. It’s Up to All of Us to Stop Him. (James Risen, June 4 2020) “I have a question for American leftists: Do you finally see the difference between the Democrats and Donald Trump?”

  42. 42.

    WaterGirl

    @JoyceH: You should pose the question at Cheryl’s link, because just last night someone here explained why/how they aren’t as good because they let in droplets at the top and at the bottom.

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