Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

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

If a good thing happens for a bad reason, it’s still a good thing.

Those who are easily outraged are easily manipulated.

Republicans cannot even be trusted with their own money.

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

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

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

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

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

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

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Our messy unity will be our strength.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

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

Shut up, hissy kitty!

The willow is too close to the house.

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 / Pandemic Stories: Some Longer Pieces

Pandemic Stories: Some Longer Pieces

by | 81 Comments

This post is in: ,

I try to keep the nightly (early morning, here on the east coast) pandemic aggregation post down to no more than 32 ‘bites’ — that’s the point where my creaky home-brewed browser starts really churning to load, which I assume also happens to many of you. Sometimes (like, almost every night this week) I could do two or three posts at that length, without feeling I’d really exhausted the new topics… but there’s only so much traumatic information we can bear!

A reminder: There is no requirement to read every story, all the comments, every new rumor or breaking headline. One reason I keep doing the nightly posts is that it helps me, personally, to shunt the pandemic-paranoia to a part of my brain that can deal with all of it. And I’m one of those pessimists who feels better when I believe I’ve explored the worst possibilities!

If (when) all this information starts to overwhelm you, walk away, do something else, prioritize your own mental health.

… Nearly 30 doctors around the world, from New Orleans to London to Dubai, told Reuters they feel more prepared should cases surge again in the fall.

“​We are well-positioned for a second wave,” Patel said. “We know so much more.”

Doctors like Patel now have:

*A clearer grasp of the disease’s side effects, like blood clotting and kidney failure

*A better understanding of how to help patients struggling to breathe

*More information on which drugs work for which kinds of patients.

They also have acquired new tools to aid in the battle, including:

*Widespread testing

*Promising new treatments like convalescent plasma, antiviral drugs and steroids

*An evolving spate of medical research and anecdotal evidence, which doctors share across institutions, and sometimes across oceans.

Despite a steady rise in COVID-19 cases, driven to some extent by wider testing, the daily death toll from the disease is falling in some countries, including the United States. Doctors say they are more confident in caring for patients than they were in the chaotic first weeks of the pandemic, when they operated on nothing but blind instinct…


Reader Interactions

81Comments

  1. 1.

    West of the Cascades

    I always try to acknowledge your efforts to keep the jackaltariat informed by reading every single article and every single comment. It’s me being considerate, not obsessive-compulsive

    ETA – I’m also someone who feels better the more I know about things, especially things that have significant downsides (which includes “most things associated with ordinary living” these days), so your posts are greatly appreciated!!

  2. 2.

    dnfree

    Thanks. You’re my main go-to for filtering out the wheat from the chaff on the pandemic.

  3. 3.

    ThresherK

    A reminder: There is no requirement to read every story, all the comments, every new rumor or breaking headline.

    I don’t read everything, but a few of them. Likewise, I stopped tuning in to my governor’s TV updates weeks ago, simply because he’s a Democrat and is on top of it.

    I already have enough thoughts about the pandemic. Example: Last night I was having an ordinary dream where I met four new people for some social/bidness meeting, and we shook hands, and in my dream I said, “Wait, we still do this?”

  4. 4.

    debbie

    The loneliness of dying without loved ones and the helplessness of healthcare workers is the real fucking tragedy.

    I add my thanks, AL. I don’t know how you do such a thorough job on every subject you tackle every single day.

  5. 5.

    Brachiator

    It’s a good and useful set of links. I appreciate the effort that goes into putting it together.

  7. 7.

    smedley the uncertain

    Thanks AL.  Yours is a go to post to help sort the inundation of daily virus news.

  8. 8.

    Cheryl Rofer

    AL, I’m always impressed by your enormous collections of links. I scanned through them at first, and you separate the wheat from the chaff. I don’t have much to add to what the experts say. I did get bummed out at the models and the way they were being used a while back, so I’m not doing much of that either.

    Thank you.

  10. 10.

    Old Dan and Little Ann

    My 20 year old niece tested positive this week. She is on the mend after a rough few days.

  11. 11.

    Baud

    If (when) all this information starts to overwhelm you, walk away, do something else, prioritize your own mental health.

    I sometimes do this, then come back because reality is more harmful to my mental health.  I think I once lasted four (waking) hours.

  12. 12.

    Aleta

    Your steadiness sends a message every day … and then there’s the mass of great content and sometimes cool juxtaposing too.  It’d also be understandable and survivable if you took breaks and vacations but damn you are impressive.  You probably didn’t want this kind of feedback and certainly didn’t ask for it but I can’t help myself.   I also skip stuff here as needed.

  15. 15.

    different-church-lady

    Six months into the pandemic’s sweep through the U.S., doctors tell @Reuters they feel more prepared for a second wave

    “We’re getting better at this” isn’t quite the order I’d place at the optimism store, but I’ll take what we can get.

  17. 17.

    Delk

    *Promising new treatments like convalescent plasma, antiviral drugs and steroids

    A couple days ago I wrote that the manufacturer of hydrocortisone, the steroid I take to manage my Addison’s Disease had run out due to its use in a COVID-19 trial. Yesterday the pharmacy called to tell me that production has caught up and that I can pick up my prescription today. Whew!

  18. 18.

    Baud

    @Aleta:

    I meant that I do spend more than 4 hours away from BJ when I’m asleep.

    But now I kind of want to down some Ambien just to see what happens.

  20. 20.

    p.a.

    Imagine what (and who, of course) Fauci and others have to deal with, and their sotto voce comments.  Pray it can go public after November, Jan the latest.

  21. 21.

    S. Cerevisiae

    I mostly lurk but I pass on many of these links to my friends and family, thank you so much for all this valuable information

  24. 24.

    prostratedragon

    @ThresherK:  I had my first handwashing dream a few weeks (I almost typed years) ago. I was very thorough. Have since also had mask-finding dreams, dreams where I took in someone needing to quarantine, and dreams where changing cultural habits appeared.

  25. 25.

    Old Dan and Little Ann

    @Aleta: Thanks. She just started a waitressing job last month about 30 miles north of Pittsburgh. That may have been the culprit.

  26. 26.

    Ohio Mom

    This compilation is one of my first stops every morning (checking the weather is always first).

    Watching the science evolve is fascinating and I try to concentrate on that — this post gives me plenty to marvel at.

    It helps to keep me distracted from the despair of my nation state failing or at least flailing helplessly.

    You’re a trouper, Anne Laurie.

  27. 27.

    Fleeting Expletive

    Did anyone track the health status of those poor souls who caught the last planes out of Europe, the UK, and China after the travel ban?  Those scenes of desperation, people crammed up in airports, and then scattered to the winds when they touched down in NYC, Miami, LA, etc?  It looked like a monumental clusterfk then, and it probably was.

    Last night PBS ran an extraordinary play about Gloria Steinem and the feminist movement, which included Cherokee Principle Chief Wilma Mankiller’s cousin.  I was chuffed about that because I met Chief Mankiller once in Tahlequah OK at a movie showing featuring Cherokee actors.  The closing message from Gloria and the actor playing Bella Abzug was “do something outrageous every day”.

    I dreamed about a tiny act I might do, incorporating my trip to curbside pickup for my groceries, wherein I had seen 6 to 10 people entering the store while I waited who were unmasked.  I thought those people might just as well be zombies:  they can infect anyone and be responsible for preventable deaths.

    My tiny act was to sit in that parking lot and display lots of tee shirt masks on the hood of my car–“Take One”  and “Free Masks” and “Don’t be a Zombie” and “Wear it for your Grandma”.

    But although I like the Zombie analogy for those who won’t wear a mask, I suppose the rejoinder would be — So you want to destroy us zombies by killing us?  So maybe Zombie isn’t a useful metaphor, as defensive  as those holdouts seem to be.  I still might do the mask handout, without calling people zombies, just because I’m curious about their propensity to respond positively to anything free, including pieces of cut-up tee shirts.

    What do you think about that? I’ve got a lot of tee shirts and plenty o’ scissors.

  31. 31.

    rikyrah

    AL,

     

    I check your COVID-19 morning post everyday. I am thankful that you pulled the COVID-19 beat at BJ. Your variety of links is greatly appreciated ?

  34. 34.

    raven

    @rikyrah: That’s where I agree, it’s heartbreaking for the survivors. Who knows what it’s like if they put you under and you die?  Above my pay grade.

  35. 35.

    dnfree

    I got infuriated on my weekly grocery shopping trip Thursday and complained to customer service. It’s a good thing I wasn’t videoed. I rounded a corner, going the indicated direction, and there at the other end of the aisle was a young female store employee, masked, crouched down doing something on the bottom shelf. Towering over her, so to speak, was a much older white-haired male employee with his mask below his chin so she could get the full effect of him leaning over her and spouting his wisdom about the coronavirus. I didn’t even venture close enough to find out what he was saying about it. I bustled myself up to the customer service counter (quite a distance) and told them that this employee was not wearing his mask and was endangering another employee who probably didn’t feel she could move away. Plus he wasn’t doing his job, whatever that was. I walked back by a few minutes later and saw that guy pushing his stock cart, mask up, looking disgruntled. Good.

  36. 36.

    Searcher

    You know, upon more consideration, I’m pretty sure Trump hasn’t caught it yet.

    If he had an asymptomatic case, it still probably would have been caught by testing, and he would now be bragging about his powerful immune system not having any trouble with the weak virus and how everyone who had died from it was a loser.

  38. 38.

    Eric S.

    Anne, I always read your daily COVID post and follow the stories that spark the most interest. Your aggregation of all this news continues to be one of my go to sources for information on the pandemic. Thank you for all the effort!

  42. 42.

    Kay

    Dana Goldstein
    @DanaGoldstein
    · 18h
    1.Brace yourself, parents: Here’s our national look at the likely school situation for fall. Many kids will be in physical school less than half time. Remote learning will continue. Adverse impact on parents and economy will be profound

    This is a golden opportunity for Democrats to be responsive and proactive. They don’t have to cure it- it’s a hard problem- they just have to show people they know it’s happening.

    The Trump Administration are at their absolute worst with practical issues like this- they offer absolutely no solutions and Betsy DeVos is their spokeperson on this. I’m not clear she even knows schools are closed. She has done NOTHING.

    We can trounce Ivanka and DeVos on this- all the smart D women we have in Congress? This is tailor made for us and it is ALL parents talk about. Biden should add it to every appearance and include day care.

  44. 44.

    rikyrah

    Where is Boris??

    Cummings will announce an overhaul of the Cabinet Office and No 10 next Monday. The adviser has said his intention was to create a “smaller, more focused and more elite centre”, but his critics will suspect an effort to scapegoat the civil service https://t.co/MALqLVCEYH— The Times (@thetimes) June 25, 2020

  45. 45.

    Kay

    You’re probably thinking “well, the federal government has a limited role in k-12 education” – correct, however, NO ONE is talking about this EXCEPT the parents of 55 million children. 55 million. And that doesn’t even include daycare.

    Just talk about it! Get started. Show them someone has noticed there is this train coming down the tracks for parents and no one is offering them anything.

  47. 47.

    Brachiator

    They also have acquired new tools to aid in the battle, including:

    *Widespread testing

    ** Offer void in the United States

  48. 48.

    rikyrah

    @debbie:

     

    I cry every time I read about the nurse setting up the final facetime via iPad/tablet for the family.

    Just GUTS ME everytime I even think about it

    ????

  51. 51.

    Brachiator

    @rikyrah:

    RE: Where is Boris??

    Probably hiding in a refrigerator again.

    Cummings will announce an overhaul of the Cabinet Office and No 10 next Monday. The adviser has said his intention was to create a “smaller, more focused and more elite centre”, but his critics will suspect an effort to scapegoat the civil service

    Some of the people who voted for BREXIT claim that they did it to return more democracy and sovereignty to Britain.  And yet, paradoxically, Boris Johnson has chosen weak cabinet ministers and shifted their authority to himself and to his political advisor Cummings. At the same time, even Johnson’s traditional allies in the right wing press have grumbled about BoJo’s poor decisions concerning BREXIT and the pandemic.

    BoJo: They say I’m a bad PM. Obvious solution is to give me even more power! Wowza!

  52. 52.

    JMG

    @Kay: 
    If the schools problem isn’t at least mitigated, there cannot be any kind of economic recovery or return to more or less normal if masked life. If kids aren’t in school, parents aren’t able to go to work on a regular basis. Since we created an economy where households need two incomes to get by, this is a bit of a problem. And of course, the damage to school children themselves is immeasurable.

  53. 53.

    Major Major Major Major

    I enjoyed my (masked) haircut this week, and eating at restaurants (outdoor distanced seating), a lot. So far NY has traced zero new cases to the protests, so that’s good. Hopefully phase 3 (indoor distanced dining) doesn’t kill everybody but I’m not optimistic.

  54. 54.

    debbie

    @rikyrah:

    Don’t listen to This American Life this week. I’m listening to it now; it focuses on the nurses in a COVID-19 ward in a Detroit hospital. Heartbreaking all around.

  55. 55.

    RoonieRoo

    I want to once again thank you for the Covid threads because they do help me keep it from dominating my mind.

  56. 56.

    germy

    I've interviewed 15 OBGYNs from all over the country in the past few days for a script I want to write and a few of them had patients who were in labor for 6+ hours wearing a mask so I dunno, maybe you can put a mask for 13 min while you pick up frozen taquitos.

    — Eden Dranger (@Eden_Eats) June 25, 2020

  57. 57.

    The Moar You Know

    Where is Boris?

    @rikyrah:  A very good question. You’re not seeing much of him. We know he got sick, bad sick, almost dying sick, and I think one thing that’s not getting a lot of attention re: COVID is that quite a few of the survivors are ending up with permanent, very very severe organ damage.

    I think Dominick is basically running the UK government now and that’s not going to change until at least the next election.

  59. 59.

    Another Scott

    @Kay:

    ICYMI – Jill Biden hosts virtual listening session in Virginia on Safe Re-Opening for Schools:

    Today, Jill Biden held a virtual listening session on Joe Biden’s plan for an effective and safe re-opening with educators, students, and parents in Virginia.

    Joined by Congressman Donald McEachin, Biden heard from Delegate Schuyler VanValkenburg, Henrico County Board of Supervisors Member Pastor Tyrone Nelson, as well as a parent, teacher, guidance counselor, and student from nearby schools. Community members discussed the struggles they’ve experienced while learning and teaching through the coronavirus pandemic, as well as what is needed to be able to safely and effectively return back to a healthy school environment.

    “If there’s one thing that we’ve seen in this crisis, it’s that schools are not just places where our children learn, but they are safe spaces where students find counsel and purpose and friendship. And they give parents the ability to focus on their careers and support their families, knowing that their children are safe. And yet this crisis has shown the deep inequities in our system, especially for children of color. While all students struggle to adjust to remote learning, you know, children of color are more likely to lack the technology they need to succeed. These education obstacles reflect the broader injustice the black community faces, along with higher rates of unemployment, poorer health outcomes, and of course, unequal treatment by our criminal justice system. Racism institutionalized,” said Jill Biden before hearing from members of the community.

    “Safety, opportunity, and education should not be dependent on your race or your zip code. And that’s why it’s so important that, you know, we get this right, we get this reopening of our schools right. A generation of students, families and educators are counting on all of us to prevent the spread of this virus and empower them to grow and invest in their future. Our future. And Joe understands that.”

    It’s good that she (and Joe, presumably) don’t think they know all the answers at the moment. And they’re trying to get input from lots of people with various opinions and concerns.

    It’s a difficult problem – not least for the teachers.

    And it’s like to be an even more difficult problem if something like the House’s $3T plan isn’t enacted soon. Too many states and localities are going to gut the schools and teachers to balance budgets unless the federal government rescues them.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  60. 60.

    germy

    I think the biggest mistake we made is telling Americans that wearing masks is to protect other people. Know your audience!

    — Jenni Konner (@JenniKonner) June 26, 2020

  61. 61.

    Mallard Filmore

    @Searcher:

     

    If he had an asymptomatic case, it still probably would have been caught by testing,

    Would that be Donald “you want to jam that stick up where?” Trump? Is there another test he can take?

  62. 62.

    laura

    AL – your morning post is and has been my first read every morning. It took me a minute when the posts were reporting on a troubling illness in China  and the realization of the inevitable spread- and YY Sima’s daily input and opinion, Amir Khalid’s input citing Noor Hisham Abdulla’s steady leadership, debbie from Australia…. and so on – all good stuff.  I wish Old Dan’s niece a steady recovery. Dell, so glad to hear that your meds are available and that your comment was immediately responded by so many about possible veterinary medication – greatest healthcare system in the world! For my mental health I went on a news diet. No tv news, limited radio and curated on line to credible sources including this place. It’s just too much and it’s too unhelpful and the competitive framing.  Here, there’s interesting people and food and books and griping and baby birbs. It’s much appreciated.

  64. 64.

    cintibud

    Thanks Anne, I find your daily posts very informative and helpful.

    We are now awaiting the results of my wife’s Covid test. She’s been wiped out since Tueday and running a 98.5 to 99.5 fever pretty consistently (normal is 97.5). Two weeks ago we went to a wedding in TN of a very close friend – only 29 people including wedding party – and only went after being assured of masks, distancing and outdoor venue, plus safe accommodations. That all went according to plans. But it seemed no one else in Tennessee knew what a mask was and there were a few that didn’t keep any distance even after they saw we had masks on. We had a few encounters like this when getting ice, food or when we took a short hike on a trail. She hasn’t gotten worse since Tuesday at least and if this is the real thing and this is as bad as it gets (and I don’t get it either) then I’ll take it. But until we know will be on pins and needles. She was tested Thursday so maybe we will hear Monday

    ETA to note that wedding was two weeks ago

  65. 65.

    Brachiator

    @The Moar You Know:

    A very good question. You’re not seeing much of him. We know he got sick, bad sick, almost dying sick

    Boris is still getting around. He has appeared at the raucous Prime Minister Question Time sessions in Parliament. He is regularly photographed at cabinet meetings and at a session with disgruntled backbencher MPs.

    Some people say he looks a little pale, or more pale than usual. But not a lot of signs that they are hiding him away in a cupboard.

     

    ETA: and some say that Cummings has always been in charge.

  66. 66.

    Eunicecycle

    @rikyrah:  my daughter had to do this twice in two days, and also mediate a call where the patient was refusing to be intubated and his family was insisting they wanted him to be. He was totally “with it” though so she couldn’t go against his wishes. She was a mess after those shifts; she couldn’t even talk about it for several days.

  69. 69.

    Ohio Mom

    rikyrah @50: not yet ☹️. He’s there until Thursday, and he is working very, very long hours. I can hear in his voice that he’s exhausted.

    When he took this job in March, we did not know what we were in for, not the virus and not the fact that his boss has wildly ridiculous expectations about what can be accomplished with minimal resources and time.

    Thanks for asking. I will be SO glad when he is home, isolating himself in the master bed/bath while I camp out in the guest room.

  70. 70.

    Ohio Mom

    Sab: Ohio Dad is updating the computer system at a beverage distribution plant. That’s what they do at this new job, variations on assembly-line automation, and they have customers all over the country.

    He’s in the north part of town, far from the strip. It’s really incidental that he’s in Vegas.

    He was let go from a job in late January and we were thrilled when he snagged this job two months later. Now I’m thinking maybe we should weigh him retiring. The main hang-up is health insurance, he’s younger than me and still has a year and a half before he enters the promised land of Medicare.

  71. 71.

    Zzyzx

    And I’m one of those pessimists who feels better when I believe I’ve explored the worst possibilities!

    That helps me a lot actually. While I do love these roundups, it feels sometimes like they skew pessimistic even beyond the fact that this sucks. If a goal is to present a worse case perspective, I’ll read these slightly differently.

  73. 73.

    Fair Economist

    @Major Major Major Major:  

    Hopefully phase 3 (indoor distanced dining) doesn’t kill everybody but I’m not optimistic.

    Indoor dining is iffy but bars are a guaranteed problem. Even Korea can’t get away with open bars.

  74. 74.

    tonyds

    @West of the Cascades:

    HELP!!

    I know it is innapropriate to shove my way in here, but I very much need to e-mail Anne Laurie and all my efforts have failed since the new site went up

    I had a dog emergency last week that is now sadly moot. I have other stuff going on I wanted to contact her about.

    What can I do?

  76. 76.

    WaterGirl

    @tonyds:

    I just sent you an email message with Anne Laurie’s email address.  I also included the info from Contact Us that is in the white bar at the top of every page.

  77. 77.

    Sab

    @Ohio Mom: I used to live at that end. Far from the strip indeed. My neighbors were all either LDS or somehow connected to Nellis AFB. Las Vegas in summer is god awful hot. 101 degrees at 1:01 am. My german shepherd burned jer feet on the sidewalk once,so we had to get her a treadmill for exercise.

  78. 78.

    Geminid

    @Another Scott: Don Mceachin looks like very solid congressman. He was a State Senator for several terms before the Va. 4th was redrawn as a result of a lawsuit filed under the 1965 Civil Rights Act. He won the 4th in 2016. I think he is still in his 40’s.

  79. 79.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: But DeVos did do something – she ordered struggling public schools to give millions of dollars of CARES money meant for them to private schools! She’s so horrible. You’re right,  this should be an easy issue for Democrats to talk to voters about.

  80. 80.

    Miss Bianca

    @Aleta: Way late and you may not see this, but I was so sorry to hear about your poor doggie. : (

    Hoping you have some quality time left together.

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