Yes, I do feel a little guilty dumping all this on you… but some of us feel safer when we have more information. Don’t read these posts if they’re just going to further upset you!
.@NicolleDWallace on U.S. coronavirus response: "We have made the easy things hard, which makes the hard things impossible. The easy thing was putting on a mask … And the hard things, getting legislation done, it shouldn’t be hard in a moment of crisis."https://t.co/1wc4kKT16w
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) August 8, 2020
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Interactive piece from the NYTimes, “The Unique U.S. Failure to Control the Virus”:
… When it comes to the virus, the United States has come to resemble not the wealthy and powerful countries to which it is often compared but instead far poorer countries, like Brazil, Peru and South Africa, or those with large migrant populations, like Bahrain and Oman.
As in several of those other countries, the toll of the virus in the United States has fallen disproportionately on poorer people and groups that have long suffered discrimination. Black and Latino residents of the United States have contracted the virus at roughly three times as high of a rate as white residents.
How did this happen? The New York Times set out to reconstruct the unique failure of the United States, through numerous interviews with scientists and public health experts around the world. The reporting points to two central themes.
First, the United States faced longstanding challenges in confronting a major pandemic. It is a large country at the nexus of the global economy, with a tradition of prioritizing individualism over government restrictions. That tradition is one reason the United States suffers from an unequal health care system that has long produced worse medical outcomes — including higher infant mortality and diabetes rates and lower life expectancy — than in most other rich countries…
The second major theme is one that public health experts often find uncomfortable to discuss because many try to steer clear of partisan politics. But many agree that the poor results in the United States stem in substantial measure from the performance of the Trump administration…
Together, the national skepticism toward collective action and the Trump administration’s scattered response to the virus have contributed to several specific failures and missed opportunities, Times reporting shows:– a lack of effective travel restrictions;
– repeated breakdowns in testing;
– confusing advice about masks;
– a misunderstanding of the relationship between the virus and the economy;
– and inconsistent messages from public officials.Already, the American death toll is of a different order of magnitude than in most other countries. With only 4 percent of the world’s population, the United States has accounted for 22 percent of coronavirus deaths. Canada, a rich country that neighbors the United States, has a per capita death rate about half as large. And these gaps may worsen in coming weeks, given the lag between new cases and deaths…
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The burden of a positive #COVID19 test: Some people go 'test shopping' for a negative result https://t.co/uOOzrJ3QSy via @medical_xpress
— delthia ricks ?? (@DelthiaRicks) August 6, 2020
One morning, Amy Rosen woke up with body aches and a throbbing head. When she couldn’t shake the feeling, she went to urgent care to get swabbed for COVID-19 and paid $45 to get quick results. Two days later, her test result came back positive.
In the next two weeks, Rosen got nasal and saliva tests another six times at drive-thrus, walk-ups and again at urgent care—all in a quest for a negative result to resume her normal life.
As the virus infects Floridians at a record pace, wait times at test sites and long turnarounds for results have people like Rosen taking multiple tests at multiple sites. Desperate for an accurate diagnosis, they strategize, and even pay, to get faster test results.
“You really can’t wait for results to get tested again,” Rosen said, a Plantation mother of two teenagers. “A positive is kind of a stigma. You need those negatives for validation, to prove you are OK to be out and about.”
By now, testing is easy to access in South Florida, and for the most part, it is free. There are mobile units and walk-up clinics, government-run drive-thrus and pop-ups in parking lots. Many testing sites are appointment-only and booked days or weeks into the future. Some walk-ups have lines that wrap around the building or loop through the parking lot.
Getting swabbed is the first step. After the specimen collection, another waiting game begins with some backlogged labs taking as many as 10 to 12 days to deliver results. And, in all the chaos, people with time, money or both are navigating where and when to go, and how to get results quickly….
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Some 6,000 U.S. parents and kids are doing DIY nasal swabs in a study to answer some of the most vexing mysteries about the coronavirus. https://t.co/ksSastDoE5
— The Associated Press (@AP) August 7, 2020
In a comfy suburb just outside Nashville, a young family swabs their noses twice a month in a DIY study seeking answers to some of the most vexing questions about the coronavirus.
How many U.S. children and teens are infected? How many kids who are infected show no symptoms? How likely are they to spread it to other kids and adults?
“The bottom line is we just don’t know yet the degree to which children can transmit the virus,” said Dr. Tina Hartert of Vanderbilt University, who is leading the government-funded study.
Evidence from the U.S., China and Europe shows children are less likely to become infected with the virus than adults and also less likely to become seriously ill when they do get sick. There is also data suggesting that young children don’t spread the virus very often but that kids aged 10 and up may spread it just as easily as adults. The new study aims to find more solid proof.
“If we don’t see significant transmission within households, that would be very reassuring,” Hartert said.
Some 2,000 families in 11 U.S. cities are enrolled in the DIY experiment, pulled from participants in previous government research. In all, that’s 6,000 people. They have no in-person contact with researchers. Testing supplies are mailed to their homes…
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From a longer thread:
Yesterday a bipartisan trio of Southern Mayors (Miami, Atlanta, New Orleans) addressed the @AspenSecurity summit, talking about #COVID19. They all expressed concern about handling hurricanes amid the #pandemic, given stretched 1st responders + poss spread among evacuees.
MORE pic.twitter.com/ubIgTNKVrp— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) August 7, 2020
3/
-19-25 Named Storms, which includes the 9 named storms during May-July (earliest ever)
-7-11 Hurricanes, including 2 hurricanes to date
-3-6 Major Hurricanes (CAT3 or worse)
-Accumulated Cyclone Energy (ACE) range of 140%-230% of the median
MOREhttps://t.co/Y5juVJVZRS— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) August 7, 2020
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And one last thread, for those of you still fighting the good fight…
COVID19 disinformation is everywhere. And it's undermining our response in the US.
Below I tackle some of the most commonly mischaracterized things about #COVID19.
These are the facts. So get it on your aunt's Facebook wall or print it out and put it in the break-room!
THREAD
— Craig Spencer MD MPH (@Craig_A_Spencer) August 3, 2020
schrodingers_cat
Thanks ? AL.
SiubhanDuinne
Anne Laurie, I confess I don’t always read every COVID-19 link you provide — but I am beyond grateful that you do provide them! Many thanks for your indefatigable research chops and conscientiousness in sharing the info with us daily, and occasionally more often.
Punchy
As I mentioned below, Im beyond gobsmacked by the Sturgis bike rally going full-force.
dmsilev
…or she could have spent those two weeks at home, and then resumed her normal life.
Renie
I see on Twitter that trump is signing exec orders. One gives people $400 extra in unemployment due to covid but states have to pay 25% of it. Another is a payroll tax holiday to those earning less than $100k per year. I think there is other b.s. and he is doing this at his golf club! Anyone know if he can legally do this without Congressional approval? And does anyone believe any of this b.s. outside of his base?
dmsilev
@Punchy: 250,000 people, roughly zero of whom will be wearing masks, in close proximity for several days and then dispersing to all around the country. What could possibly go wrong?
Chetan Murthy
I’m appalled that states are allowing commercial testing labs to accept test-kits when their backlog is greater than 48hr (or so). I mean, even an elementary understanding of queueing theory tells you that once you have a sufficient backlog to deal with the ups-and-downs of running your testing apparatus (== “factory”), there’s no need for more. “Testing backlog” == “insufficient testing capacity”. And allowing testing companies to pretend that they -do- have sufficient testing capacity, when they most obviously do not, is irresponsible.
trollhattan
@dmsilev:
Next spring there will be a metric shitton of used Harleys for sale. Do feel sorry for the Sturgis folks, who would probably rather skip this year, thankyavermuch. When you’re making Burning Man seem adult and responsible by contrast….
Punchy
@Renie: Im sure all the States have the many many millions (billions?) of dollars laying around ready to pay for this new financial obligation just sprung on them without representation or input….
cmorenc
@Renie:
Bottom line: this is a classic Trump power-move political stunt to try to bludgeon the Democrats and reluctant GOP senators to roll over or else get the blame for UI cutoff pinned on them. Not sure how far this ploy will sell outside Trump’s base, though. Trump doesn’t really give a shit if the courts or congress stops him – because he still gets to point the blame on others rather than himself, at least in his mind and whatever portion of the public is gullible.
dnfree
Do not feel guilty dumping these on us! People can read them or not, and I’m sure I speak for many others when I say that you are my main “curator” of Covid news and I appreciate it greatly. (And I will read them, because that’s how I roll.)
frosty
@Renie: IIRC Congress sets the budget and appropriates funding. His Executive Orders have no authority at all. Unless Treasury just decides to cut checks without authorization, in which case we’ve just slipped a few more rungs down the ladder.
Another Scott
@Renie:
(via Popehat)
FWIW. HTH.
Cheers,
Scott.
Punchy
@cmorenc: Many states are facing massive, absurd budget holes without this new obligation. Governors will just go empty-pockets when they decide to fight this….if the Feds can just dump enormous new fees on States via a sketchy EO, then what stops them from doing this for every EO obligation going forward?
Another Scott
Donnie’s butthurt is the size of a galaxy, but most reporters refuse to acknowledge it. They could shut down his assembly line of disinformation if they would simply open their eyes, do their homework, and do their jobs.
Hooray for unnamed reporter!!
Cheers,
Scott.
Renie
@Another Scott: do the memoranda have any ‘authority’ other than him claiming so.
cmorenc
@Punchy:
Of course, Trump’s move on the EOs is not well-thought out at all in substance – this is a pure PR ploy by Trump to appear to the gullible to be doing something substantive while blame-shifting actual responsibility for implementing what he is claiming to have done, even though much of it not practically nor legally possible
Next, he’ll probably try to claim credit via EO for forbidding health insurance companies to deny coverage for pre-existing conditions – oh, wait, he already did that yesterday or the day before.
Another Scott
Meanwhile, …
(sigh)
Cheers,
Scott.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Another Scott: Paula Reid
I think the Veterans Choice lie is Dale’s favorite trump lie, so to speak. I can’t believe it took this long for someone to bring it up.
SFAW
@dmsilev:
Rainbow Six (Clancy) describes a terrorist plot wherein the bad guys are going to infect the Sydney Olympics attendees (via water/aerosol droplets, interestingly enough) with a pathogen (if I’m using the word correctly) that will not produce symptoms until a week or so later, and by that time, all those infected will have gone back to their various countries, leading to a pandemic wiping out something like 90-plus percent of the world population.
Turns out you don’t need terrorists, just ‘Murican morons.
Yutsano
@frosty:
Mnuchin could, theoretically, start pumping out massive amounts of money. That money isn’t for the exclusive use of the Treasury, however. It enters the general money flow via the Federal Reserve. Treasury can’t go beyond their own budget allocation.
SFAW
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Do we know if Paula Reid used the words “lie” or “lying”? If so, I think that would be good fun.
Another Scott
@Renie: I’m sure there’s a difference, but I don’t know the details.
Let’s see…
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidential_memorandum
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_order
HTH.
Cheers,
Scott.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Yutsano: I see a trillion dollar coin in our future. //
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@SFAW: she says “it was a false statement, sir”, and he runs away to the flipper-clapping and hooting and hoof-stomping of the dues-paying (I’ve seen the figure $350,000 on twitter) members of the golf club he owns, where he is spending a long weekend during pandemic and the economic crisis it has caused.
as all the retired machinists in all the Rustburgs of the Rust Belt et cetera et cetera…
dmsilev
@SFAW: Ah, yes, the Nefarious Plot that assumed that Sydney would be so blisteringly hot during the Olympics that a spray system would be needed to keep everyone cool, but never once bothered to look up the whole ‘September in the Southern Hemisphere is not high summer’ obscure fact.
Nicole
Anne Laurie, I find these posts do a lot to relieve my anxiety because I feel at least I have some grasp of what the situation is.
Although… I had my first Covid-19 anxiety dream last night- I was trying to find a subway station to go home and I realized, once I was indoors in a station, that I wasn’t wearing a mask. And then had to use a public restroom and face all the angry properly masked people glaring at me.
On the bright side, maybe realizing-I’m-maskless-in-public anxiety dreams will replace the realizing-I’m-naked-in-public ones.
Another Scott
@dmsilev: rofl.
Cheers,
Scott.
Another Scott
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Excellent. Thank you, kind sir.
This truly is a Full Service Blog.
Cheers,
Scott.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@dmsilev: I follow a photographer down there(he does really nice nightscape photos) and he’s been complaining about the cold.
James E Powell
@Punchy:
Bikers not complying with public health recommendations? I’m shocked!
BruceFromOhio
@SFAW: If only this nightmare could end with the Trump Administration, the whole stinking thieving lot of them, marooned in the middle of the jungle 100 miles from civilization.
James E Powell
@cmorenc:
Maybe there are TV ads I’m not seeing because I live in very blue California, but I’d like to see Democratic Party ads that put it out there plainly: Democrats passed a bill to continue the $600; Trump & Republicans refuse to do it.
mrmoshpotato
Holy hell! “I’m sick with a deadly virus, but I’ll go find someone who will tell me I’m not!”
BruceFromOhio
@dmsilev: It was still a good read, if you could accept Tom Clancy writing at his very peak Clancy-est.
Mary G
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Paula Reid is so good at busting his chops that I’m surprised he even calls on her anymore.
Another Scott
@Punchy: billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/sturgis-rally-visitors-not-allowed-through-cheyenne-rive….
Dunno about other routes there.
Cheers,
Scott.
Mary G
AL, I remain in awe of your information synthesis skills. I’ve already read a couple of these, but you almost always find things I’ve missed, so keep up the good work, unless you need to stop for mental or physical health reasons.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@mrmoshpotato: Yeah, it’s not like she was asymptomatic either.
mrmoshpotato
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Awww….Dump wasn’t called a lying Soviet shitpile mobster conman, and he still ran away like the manbaby that his is!
Another Scott
Kinda-sorta related:
Remember that giant loan that Kodak was going to get to make chemicals for COVID-19 drugs and the like? And how the CEO got some huge payout the day before it was announced? You know, last week?
reuters.com/article/us-usa-eastman-kodak-deals/eastman-kodaks-765-million-u-s-loan-agreement-on-hold…
So much winning…
Cheers,
Scott.
Salty Sam
It IS adult and responsible by contrast.
evodevo
@Nicole: Yeah, the naked in public…is that just a First World kind of dream? I always wondered where those come from lol (I’m usually hunting a restroom, too – which I can never find…)
mrmoshpotato
@Another Scott: S-A-D!
SFAW
@dmsilev:
Well, it was the SUMMER Olympics! Q, E, and checkmate, libtard!!
SFAW
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Thanks
@BruceFromOhio:
Make it 300 miles, and no nearby (clean) water source.
@Mary G:
I’m wondering if he even recalls who Paula Reid is, and whether he thinks she’s Megyn Kelly or some other Fox blonde.
Nicole
Wow, that’s good question- I had to go google!
And, apparently, it’s one of the 12 universal themes of anxiety dreams:
deseret.com/2004/1/15/19806382/12-dreams-are-universal#0
RobertDSC-Mac Mini
@BruceFromOhio:
That was his last decent book. Everything after that went to hell in a handbasket. His ghostwriters didn’t capture the essence of his writing ability until 2016’s “True Faith & Allegiance”.
/a disappointed big fan of his books
debbie
I’ve noticed on local FB groups that more and more people don’t believe the death statistics; they feel that if someone is shot and dies, it will be recorded as “Coronavirus related.”
debbie
@Another Scott:
Didn’t he also do that last week?
Frankensteinbeck
Evidence is stacking up that Trump’s coronavirus orders are a clusterfuck. The man can’t do anything without it turning to shit. The states are going to pay 1/4th of the unemployment increase when they already need bailing out? Not likely. The payroll tax deferment still has to be paid in April, so there’s going to be a tidal wave of efforts not by the Democratic Party to stop that time bomb, and stop it immediately. And of course it doesn’t help the unemployed he just didn’t help. This is going to be just like when he started the coronavirus briefings, announced a bunch of lies, and his polls briefly jumped, then nosedives.
mrmoshpotato
Frankensteinbeck
@mrmoshpotato:
I’m leaving out whether the bureaucracy will even follow through shipping any money, changing what’s collected, or anything else. I don’t know that one. Even if they do, he loses because the orders are so ill-conceived.
EDIT – Oh, and the major media framing seems to be ‘cutting benefits by a third’ to describe his unemployment extension.
mrmoshpotato
@Frankensteinbeck:
It’s so the Soviet shitpile mobster conman can blame the states instead of owning up to being a failure as a human being who just ran for the office because a black man mocked his dumb ass.
burnspbesq
@RobertDSC-Mac Mini:
‘For me, there are only two posthumous continuations of novel series that really work: Mike Lupica’s Sunny Randall books, and Ann Hillerman’s Chee and Leaphorn.
Frankensteinbeck
@mrmoshpotato:
So far, this kind of trick has gotten ‘you lied to us’ as a result. He promises and doesn’t deliver and nobody cares why.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@SFAW: I heard an interview with a couple at Sturgis and they said they look forward to the event every year and would make reservations for next year as soon as they get home to – wait for it – FLORIDA. I wonder if they will really need the reservations next year …
Matt
Or to sum up: COVID-19 has hit the US particularly hard due to a pre-existing condition – REPUBLICANS.
Infestation by Republicans causes erosion of social services, destruction of government competency, and deliberate confusion between “being an asshole” and “being free”.
We’re not going to shake the virus until we address the worms.
Bonnie
Trump is saying he will get rid of all mail-in balloting. He is messing with States’ rights. Where are all those gun guys when you need them.
eddie blake
@RobertDSC-Mac Mini:
i know this is a dead thread, but dude.
he had submarines playing bumper-cars in his FIRST book. ramming submarines is NOT a good idea. especially if you’re in a submarine.
clancy has ALWAYS been a clown.