Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Not all heroes wear capes.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

We still have time to mess this up!

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Infrastructure week. at last.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

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

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 Coronavirus / COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Thursday/Friday, Nov. 12-13

COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Thursday/Friday, Nov. 12-13

by | 71 Comments

This post is in: , ,

Sorry this is so late… but it’s one of those days where, if not for the limits of personal tech, this post could’ve been twice as long…


======

======

Strange days, when even Megan McArdle is capable of speaking good sense…

======

Reader Interactions

71Comments

  1. 1.

    Chyron HR

    Dr Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious diseases expert, says the country needs to “double down” on public health measures such as mask-wearing and social distancing

    “Wrong, we need to double down on spreading the virus now that it’s going to be Sleepy Joe’s problem.” – POTUS, probably

  2. 2.

    Amir Khalid

    Malaysia’s daily Covid-19 numbers. DG of Health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah reports 1,304 new cases today for a cumulative reported total of 45,095 cases. He also reports one new death for a total of 304 deaths — 0.7% of the cumulative reported total, 0.93% of resolved cases.

    Meanwhile, 900 patients recovered and were discharged, for a total of 32,969 patients recovered — 73.1% of the cumulative reported total.

    Four new clusters were reported today: Bonggaya and Jambatan B, in Sabah; Abell in Sarawak; and BMU in Melaka.

    1,300 new cases are local infections. Sabah has 556 cases: 137 in older clusters, 51 in new clusters  Bonggaya and Jambatan B, 233 close-contact screenings, and 135 other screenings. Selangor has 361 cases: 292 in existing clusters, 28 close-contact screenings, and 41 other screenings. KL has 200 cases: 196 in existing clusters, and five other screenings. Negeri Sembilan has 83 cases: 63 in existing clusters, 15 close-contact screenings, and five other screenings. Penang has 42 cases: 28 in existing clusters, nine close-contact screenings, one SARI screening, and four other screenings.

    Sarawak has 13 cases: one in an existing cluster, 10 in new cluster Abell, and teo other screenings. Perak has 13 cases: eight in existing clusters, one SARI screening, and four other screenings. Melaka has13 cases: three in older clusters, and 10 in new cluster BMU. Kedah has five cases, all in existing clusters. Kelantan has five clusters: four in existing clusters, and one SARI screening. Labuan has four cases: two in existing clusters, one close-contact screening, and one detected in other screening. Johore has three cases, all close-contact screenings. And Putrajaya has one case, detected in other screening.

    Perlis, Terengganu, and Pahang reported no new cases today.

    Four new cases are imported. They arrived from Saudi Arabia (three) and Egypt.

    11,822 active and contagious cases are currently in hospital; 96 are in ICU, 39 of them on respirators.

    The one death today, reported in Sabah, is a 70-year-old man with a history of hypertension.

  3. 3.

    YY_Sima Qian

    Yesterday, China reported 0 new domestic confirmed and 0 new asymptomatic cases. 

    Kashgar and Kizilsu Prefectures in Xinjiang “Autonomous” Region did not report any new cases yesterday, the 5th day in a row since the start of the outbreak in late Oct. 1 serious case improved to moderate, 5 cases have recovered and 24 asymptomatic cases were released from isolation. There are currently 36 confirmed cases (including none in serious condition), all in Kashgar, and 244 asymptomatic cases in Xinjiang (229 in Kashgar and 15 in Kizilsu).

    Mengding County, Lincang City in Yunnan Province has completed mass screenings of all residents in 3 sub-districts, other than the 3 Burmese nationals who had smuggled themselves into China, no one else tested positive. Yingshang County, Fuyang City in Anhui Province has completed mass screening of all residents, triggered by the local confirmed case related to the luggage handler at Shanghai Pudong Airport. As of 12 PM on 11/13, 234,631 individuals have been swabbed, 149,371 results have been obtained so far, all negative.

    Yesterday, China reported 8 new imported confirmed cases and 15 imported asymptomatic cases:

     

    • Shanghai Municipality – 3 confirmed cases, 2 Chinese nationals returning from the UK (1 via Helsinki) and 1 from Saudi Arabia (via the UAE)
    • Hohhot in Inner Mongolia – 1 confirmed case, no information released
    • Zhengzhou in Henan Province – 1 confirmed case, no information released
    • Chengdu in Sichuan Province – 1 confirmed case, a Chinese national returning from Pakistan; 1 asymptomatic case, a Chinese national returning from Cambodia
    • Xi’an in Shaanxi Province – 1 confirmed case (previously asymptomatic), a Chinese national returning from the UAE
    • Lanzhou in Gansu Province – 1 confirmed case, a Chinese national returning from Russia
    • Xiamen in Fujian Province – 1 confirmed case, a Chinese national returning from the UAE (via South Korea)
    • Guangzhou in Guangdong Province – 4 asymptomatic cases, a Chinese national each returning from the Congo (Kinshasa), Mali, Kenya and Iran
    • Changsha in Hunan Province – 4 asymptomatic cases, no information released
    • Fuzhou in Fujian Province – 2 asymptomatic cases, both Chinese nationals returning from Japan
    • Xiamen in Fujian Province – 1 asymptomatic case, a Chinese national returning from Singapore
    • Nanjing in Jiangsu Province – 2 asymptomatic cases, no information released
    • Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province – 1 asymptomatic case, a Chinese national returning from Ecuador

    Yesterday, Hong Kong reported 6 new cases, 2 imported cases (from Germany and Indonesia), 4 from local transmission (2 has source of transmission identified).

  5. 5.

    NeenerNeener

    300 new cases in Monroe County, NY yesterday, with 2 new deaths.

    From what I read about the Pfizer vaccine, it has flu-like symptoms and you need 2 doses weeks apart, so a month of feeling crappy. If it doesn’t have the ground-glass-in-your-lungs cough then a month of being feverish might not be so bad, though.

  7. 7.

    MJS

    A double WTF to start the day:

    1. Piers Fucking Morgan making sense. Who knew that was possible?
    2. WTF is Megan McCardle on about? What “biological realities”, that the “left” apparently doesn’t believe in, is she referring to?
  8. 8.

    Bruce K

    @MJS: Yeah, McMegan could clarify that those are delusions on the right about what the left thinks, with no relation to what the left actually thinks. Not that it’ll make any difference. The people who need to hear the message aren’t going to listen, thanks to Murdoch and company

    (And Piers Morgan is like either the stopped clock that’s right twice a day, or the clock losing a minute a day that’s right once every two years or so. He still fits the Uxbridge English Dictionary definitions for “Countryside” and “Newcastle”.)

  9. 9.

    TS (the original)

    It was so reassuring to read that

    The US president-elect is interested in Australia’s COVID-19 response.

    trump wouldn’t even ask another person, let alone another country as to how to respond to covid. I hope the Biden response team talk to the Australian State teams, because they did much more than the Federal government in tacking the virus. The former, did, however, provide aid in terms of money to those most effected by the shutdowns & personnel (mililary) to assist with border control & quarantine. They also had regular meetings with the State Premiers (Governors) to work out process and procedures.

    President Elect Biden and his team are obviously willing to talk to anyone with expertise in the control of the virus – it really will make a difference with a sane, caring, logical person in the White House.

  10. 10.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    This is essential. One of the main ways they were finding the COVID was spreading in Queens amongst marginalized communities was because many people were living together in close quarters. Getting a sick person out of the home while the recover will slow the spread.

    I live in Alameda county California and the county does an by zip code break down of the infection in the county. Hot spots are South Oakland, to much lesser extent Hayward and the rest of the county the virus is background noise. Oakland and Hayward are were the marginalized live.

  11. 11.

    MomSense

    We need a nationwide stay at home order because too many of us are too selfish and stupid to act responsibly.

  13. 13.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @MJS: What “biological realities”, that the “left” apparently doesn’t believe in, is she referring to?

    Conservative reality the Left Refuses to accept even with all the evidence; the white are the master race because of superior genes is most likely her reality and Jesus was a dinosaur rancher.

  15. 15.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @MomSense: “Dear, let’s have thanksgiving dinner, just invite everyone we know who works from home so it’s safe from the virus, and we can use the same catering service we used last year”

  16. 16.

    satby

    @MomSense: I’m about to pull back out of the market unless they actually put into place the restrictions the health department in this country requires (universal masks, capacity at 25%, etc). Tomorrow will tell, but we were also informed that 5 vendors now have been diagnosed with covid. I’m not near any of them. I expect the market to fail, because the feedback still were refusing to wear masks.

    @OzarkHillbilly: ?

  17. 17.

    debbie

    @MomSense:

    Seconded. It’s so bad here that 75% of the counties are in the red zone and the governor is working from a secured location (his farm) because of the increasing death threats.

  18. 18.

    satby

    @satby: The good news is the health department can now fine scofflaw businesses, and have communicated to the market that they will. Too little, too late.

  21. 21.

    TS (the original)

    @MomSense:

    I’m sure the Biden team would be talking to them as well (and any other country with good control of the virus), it is simply reassuring to know they are searching for solutions that they can get the US people to accept.

    Apart from Victoria, we never had a mask mandate in Australia. I wore one when shopping for a short period of time when there were known local cases, but that wasn’t compulsory & didn’t last for very long. Contact tracing and fast isolation of those with covid seems to be a large part of controlling same.

  23. 23.

    RSA

    @MJS: WTF is Megan McCardle on about? What “biological realities”, that the “left” apparently doesn’t believe in, is she referring to?

    I’m guessing they have to do with sexual orientation and differences between sexes. Possibly also race, as Enhanced suggests.

  24. 24.

    JMG

    Massachusetts began breaking down its virus stats and status by towns around the time NYC and others did it with zip codes. It began as you might expect, with the cities and towns with the most poor and working class folks, many of ’em immigrants, were the hot spots. I noted last night, however, that in SE Mass. where New Bedford and Fall River are in the category in the last sentence, hot spots now include the very non-poor, non-working class communities of Marion and Westport, which are part suburb, part summer resort towns. While my leafy Boston suburb still has a very low positive test rate (about 0.75), I suspect that’s not gonna last. My son and his fiancee are not coming from NYC for Thanksgiving, a decision we encouraged. My daughter has accepted she can’t come home from France for Christmas. I suspect we’ll have a near-total shutdown in Mass. by then anyway.

  26. 26.

    Emma from FL

    @RSA: McCardle is saying that THE RIGHT BELIEVES that the left is unwilling to accept what the Right believes to be alternative fact sets out of sheer spite. She specifically mentions Sweden because they took a herd immunity approach to the problem.

  27. 27.

    Tony Jay

    @MJS:

    1. Piers Fucking Morgan making sense. Who knew that was possible?

    Morgan is a Zeitgeist-chaser. Always looking for the next opinion-wave he can straddle to pose as the ‘man in the street who says it like it is’. That’s why he plunged deep into pro-Brexit, racist homophobia during the height of “Bittish Nash’nihilism” and why he attacks the Government so regularly and brutally over their utter failure dealing with the pandemic. He’s in it for clicks and approvals from the kind of person who  would say “He’s a bit of a knob, but he annoys the right people.” Plus, it gives him a buffer when he dives back into being an absolute bellend on Twitter. There’s lots of “Oh, you weren’t saying he’s a liar when he was bashing the Tories, were you?” from his defenders.

    And at the end of the day people are talking about him. He’s a narcissistic arsehole, he loves it.

  30. 30.

    MagdaInBlack

    Any national stay at home order better include a national pay at home order, else many of us will not have a home in which to stay.

    Not that I disagree with stay at home, but there are still bills to be paid.

  31. 31.

    Baud

    Alito complained to the Federalist Society about coronavirus restrictions and the loss of liberty.

    He need to attend more Trump rallies.

  32. 32.

    TS (the original)

    @debbie:  That was in the one state that had the surge and the 12 week shutdown. It would have been heartbreaking if that had not worked because it was a massive restriction (enforced by the law) on what people could do. But it did work – and there was much rejoicing.

    The other states have had minimal cases since  June/July.  They haven’t all dropped to zero. It needs extreme vigilance and fast tracing to keep this virus under control. I have no idea when the country will have open borders again.

  34. 34.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    Alito complained

    About a lot of things. Another incredibly privileged, hugely powerful conservative with a giant, resentful chip on his shoulder. 6/3 on that court and they’re still whining about being silenced. Insufferable.

  36. 36.

    satby

    @TS (the original): in the uncontrolled spread that is most of the USA right now, contact tracing isn’t really feasible because no one will have a clue where they were exposed. And I’m highly doubtful a national shut down to get control would stand with the sizable population in this country that wouldn’t obey and would actively fight one. And a Supreme Court that would rule against the validity of one.

  37. 37.

    dmsilev

    @NeenerNeener: One of my coworkers is in the Pfizer study. He said he had muscle pains and soreness for a few days, but that was it. Of course, fifty percent chance he’s in the placebo group…

  39. 39.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    I’m sort of idly wondering how conservatives square their principled commitment to liberty (!) with the fact that all of their elected representatives are so terrified of Donald Trump they’re afraid to tell the truth. The regime has ordered all of them to deny objective reality and they all obediently went along. He’s firing anyone who tells the truth and not a peep out of the Freedom Fighters on the Right. It’s now considered an act of extraordinary bravery on the Right to add set of numbers and come up with 270.

  40. 40.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    I’m more pedestrian.  How are they squaring their newfound liberties with their historic stance against abortion protections? What is their theory of state post and unenumerated rights? If they have one, I haven’t seen it.

  42. 42.

    himahamma

    How much therapy will Jared and Ivanka’s children need when they’re old enough to understand that they were pulled out of school because their parents were okay with exposing them and their school friends to covid just to avoid grandpa’s rage (or satisfy hunger for power / greed for money)?

    And not just this family either. There will be generational trauma across the country for decisions parents are making right now about work and in-person schooling. For most families, a lose lose “choice.” Which makes the no mask cult that much more infuriating.

  45. 45.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    It’s just the groveling with Trump and the lock-step mandate to lie on his behalf. It’s personal. Each one of them so easily threw away any personal ethical standards they had. It’s not just ideological inconsistency. They’re each personally diminished in service to the regime. They couldn’t all have done that if they had any real individual commitment to “liberty”. He’s enslaved them.

  46. 46.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @TS (the original): I see in the news that Australia is considering opening borders with the parts of East and Southeast Asia that has COVID-19 suppressed or eradicated in Q2 2021, presumably after the onset of spring in Northeast Asia. Got to get those Chinese (and others) international students in country, or the Australian universities will be quite stressed financially.

  47. 47.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    Kavanaugh’s opinion advanced a controversial theory about near-absolute power of state legislatures to set rules in federal elections.

    Kavanaugh is promoting this because he knows Right wing state legislatures will narrow voting rights. It’s going to be a big problem for us. He’s the most blatantly political of the justices- a GOP operative in a robe. This is a plan- a strategy to help them hold onto power even in a popular vote minority when they lose statewide (executive branch, state level). It’s an extension of what they’re doing in places like Wisconsin and North Carolina. When they lose a statewide race (governor) they use the legislature to grab power from the executive and judicial branches.

  48. 48.

    Sab

    I am an old. I got invisiligners (fake braces) to improve my teeth for my dotage. My dad did no such thing and that was a mistake.

    I am cancelling all my dental checkups for the next few months. I just can’t face a dental office full of chipper young female invincibles breathing and poking into my mouth as my state’s Covid rates shoot into the stratosphere.

    My step-son in an essential job just had his work team go into mandatory testing. ( He voluntarily tests all the time.) His closest co-worker went to a baby shower last weekend and one of the participants tested positive. Who goes to a baby shower in a pandemic!

    ETA : So his Thanksgiving plans with his fianee’s parents are now fucked up. Thanks idiot co-worker.

  49. 49.

    The Moar You Know

     

    WTF is Megan McCardle on about? What “biological realities”, that the “left” apparently doesn’t believe in, is she referring to?

    @MJS: the anti-vaccine movement, which indisputably started with the left, but like any other really bad idea quickly became adopted by idiots of every kind.

  51. 51.

    Matt McIrvin

    @The Moar You Know: Did antivax start with the left? The surveys I’ve seen on the political alignments of antivaxxers, going back to the early 2000s, show that it wasn’t really a partisan movement. They were evenly distributed all over the spectrum. The person more responsible than anyone else, Andrew Wakefield, was basically a non-ideological scam artist.

    The right CLAIMED it was a left movement as a way of responding to claims that the right was anti-science.

  52. 52.

    TS (the original)

    @YY_Sima Qian:

    Got to get those Chinese (and others) international students in country, or the Australian universities will be quite stressed financially.

    You are correct – this is our Federal leadership – RW – the economy is everything.  Rather interesting because they have been following trump down the path having arguments with  China – and have lost some trade deals – but perhaps that is changing, whether it be because of the economy or the demise of trump, remains to be seen.

  53. 53.

    Sloane Ranger

    Here are yesterday’s figures from the UK. We had 33,470 reported new cases. This is a massive increase of over 10,000 from the day before and affects England only. The number of positive tests for the week ending 12 November has increased by 5.8% from the previous week. I am hoping this is a reporting anomaly, we’ll have to see today’s figures. Cases by home nation,

    England – 30,843 (up @10,800)

    Northern Ireland – 548 (down @240)

    Scotland – 1212 (down @50)

    Wales – 867 (down @60).

    Deaths – There were 563 new deaths yesterday. The trend continues upwards. 469 deaths were in England, 15 in Northern Ireland, 45 in Scotland and 34 in Wales.

    Testing – 377,608 tests were processed out of a capacity of 518,957.

    Hospitalisations – As of 10th November, 14,030 people were in hospital and 1268 were on ventilators as of 11 November. Both figures trending upwards.

    No good news with any metric really. Even the reduction in cases in the other (non-England) home nations are minimal.

  54. 54.

    Sab

    @Kay: I went to law school and passed a bar and practiced briefly when dinosaurs roamed the earth. I trust your judgment on lawyers.

    ( When I took the bar exam in MI they said if you put an extra e in ” judgment” they would flunk you. Awkward for my Brit immigrant friend who emigrated to America and volunteered to serve in Vietnam and did so serve  because he wanted to be American, but his spelling still Brit.) He passed.

  55. 55.

    yellowdog

    @JMG: I live in a very middle, middle class diverse suburban area. Our ZIP code is the second highest in the state for covid cases.

  56. 56.

    mrmoshpotato

    Conservatives often complain that the left believes that biological realities will go away if you just win enough Twitter arguments.

    LOL What?  Oh Megan McArglebargle…

  57. 57.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @TS (the original):

    You are correct – this is our Federal leadership – RW – the economy is everything.  Rather interesting because they have been following trump down the path having arguments with  China – and have lost some trade deals – but perhaps that is changing, whether it be because of the economy or the demise of trump, remains to be seen.

    Actually, based on the extremely low prevalence of COVID-19 in Mainland China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand and South Korea, Australia should be open to visitors from these countries now with minimal risk, as long as these visitors arrive with negative RT-PCR reports and go through a properly managed 14 day quarantine. The quarantine requirement will discourage tourists, but would allow the international students back in. Not sure what is the rules for entering Australia now, still citizens and permanent residents only?

    I have followed the China policy debate in Australia for a bit. I suspect the Federal leadership (as in Scott Morrison and Marissa Payne) understand the score and where Australian interests lie, but Australia’s China policy appears to be dominated by the defense and intelligence establishment at the moment (and not the diplomats), loudest voices in government are Parliamentary back benchers closely tied to these establishments, discourse concerning China in Australia appears to be dominated by the two major media groups (specifically reporters and commentators) coopted by the defense and intelligence establishments, and the think tank (ASPI) funded by these establishments (as well as American military-industrial complex and foreign governments such as the US, Japan and Taiwan). Does not mean that all of the warnings about China from these quarters are unfounded paranoia, but the bias is obvious and need to be accounted for when assessing their claims and recommendations. Many elements in Australian government and policy community are agitating for a complete de-coupling from China (as are elements in the Trump administration ministration and American policy community) so to whole-hearted join the US’ side in a new Cold War. Whether those extreme actions are necessary and advisable, and what happens to the victims of inevitable economic dislocation, do not appear to matter to them. (Given the level of exposure Australia has to the Chinese economy, a de-coupling will prove debilitating.) The Federal leadership in Australia appears to be unwilling or unable to rein these forces in, and seems to have calculated that ingratiating themselves with the Trump administration would assuage their fears of American abandonment. Interestingly, Japan followed the same strategy with Trump, but Shinzo Abe managed to avoid pissing off China in the process, and actually oversaw a return to normalcy in Sino-Japanese relations.

    We shall see if more rational dynamic between the US and China under a Biden administration will enable a return to normalcy in Sino-Australia relationship. Biden’s envoys are less likely to travel the world strong arming each country to choose sides on every single issue. Lots of people making noises in Australia about reducing dependency on Chinese students in the education sector, and the CCP regime has been making noises (rhetorically only so far) that Australia is not a safe or friendly environment for Chinese students.

  58. 58.

    PaulB

    @MJS: “WTF is Megan McCardle on about? What “biological realities”, that the “left” apparently doesn’t believe in, is she referring to?”

    As a guess, she’s referring to transgender issues, with the “biological reality” that they are their birth gender rather than the gender they identify as.

  59. 59.

    mrmoshpotato

    @MomSense:

    We need a nationwide stay at home order because too many of us are too selfish and stupid to act responsibly. 

    Also just plain You-can’t-tell-me-what-to-do assholes.

  61. 61.

    Just Chuck

    @MomSense: Unless you’re prepared to deal with federal officers out on the streets everywhere to fine and arrest people, it has to be the states that are strong-armed into such mandates.  I’m not sure I have a problem with the feds stepping in, but it’s far from free politically, and could backfire as far as other public health efforts go.

    What we really need is a vaccine against stupid.

  63. 63.

    jonas

    @Just Chuck: A Biden administration can’t force everyone to wear masks and distance — our federal system makes that close to impossible. It can, however, coordinate vaccine distribution when the time comes, get ventilators and ppe to hospitals that need it, and offer states who implement science-based restrictions financial assistance.

  64. 64.

    TS (the original)

    @YY_Sima Qian:

    Not sure what is the rules for entering Australia now, still citizens and permanent residents only?

    As far as I know this is still the case, with the exception of people from NZ, who can come in without quarantine to some, but not all states. The rich & famous can usually get in as well (movie star examples) but they do have to quarantine for 14 days. There are also restrictions on citizens in relation to leaving the country, although again, the R & F can usually manage same.

     I suspect the Federal leadership (as in Scott Morrison and Marissa Payne) understand the score and where Australian interests lie, but Australia’s China policy appears to be dominated by the defense and intelligence establishment

    You may well know more about it than me (Australians are somewhat lay back about politics other than when something truly outlandish happens), but Morrison has definitely been on the trump side of international issues over the past 4 years & it has only been the US covid disaster that has given him pause to think this may not be the best idea. The US election, no doubt, will cause a change of course.

    Lots of people making noises in Australia about reducing dependency on Chinese students in the education sector, and the CCP regime has been making noises (rhetorically only so far) that Australia is not a safe or friendly environment for Chinese students.

    Before the covid shut down there has always been some talk of racism in regard to the Asian students at Australian Universities which is probably the reason for the “safe and friendly” discussions.

  65. 65.

    Just Chuck

    @jonas: Absolutely.  Those are the kinds of public health measures that the federal government is equipped to do.  It’s still possible to have a federal mandate and sue the states not implementing it (and I’m all for that), but federal enforcement on individual citizens is not only nearly impossible, it’ll just strengthen resistance to it and any future mandates.

  66. 66.

    chopper

    @Kay:

    bart is also pushing this because he sees the handwriting on the wall and, like many conservatives, is quickly switching gears from ‘the president has ultimate power!’ now that a dem is going to be installed in the WH. lots of this is going to happen soon, with goopers all over pointing the the states as the ones with the real power, and they just realized it a second ago.

  67. 67.

    YY_Sima Qian

    @TS (the original):

    Before the covid shut down there has always been some talk of racism in regard to the Asian students at Australian Universities which is probably the reason for the “safe and friendly” discussions.

    The rhetoric from the ruling CCP regime in China on this matter is certainly a cynical attempt to pressure on stakeholders in Australia, to in turn put pressure on the Morrison government to change tack with respect to China. The recent undeclared trade war on China’s part is the same. However,, I think Turnbull and Morrison really have lost control of China policy to the hawks in defense and intelligence, and have badly mismanaged the relationship to the detriment of Australia’s interests.

    On the other hand, Australia’s COVID-19 response really seems to have taken the early lessons from China and the rest of Asia to heart, showing that the state governments and the public health authorities are not above learning from their neighbors (unlike North America and Europe).

  68. 68.

    J R in WV

    @debbie:

    Seconded. It’s so bad here that 75% of the counties are in the red zone and the governor is working from a secured location (his farm) because of the increasing death threats.

    Debbie, please let us know where here is… I think you maybe in Ohio, but trying to keep location data in my head for the many reliable commenters here is impossible for me.

    That sounds horrible, though, and you have my sympathy for being in a nest of insane fascists. My hope is that a tiny bunch of deluded people are responsible for repeatedly making such threats. Of course death threats are illegal, and perhaps rounding those people up and jailing them would slow that bullshit down.

    Terroristic threats  are probably not what they would expect to be charged with, also probably carries a much more serious sentence to be served at a lovely Navy base in Cuba, in cages.

  70. 70.

    JimV

    I just want to thank Anne Laurie for all her great work. Thank you. It has been a while since I said that but I suppose doing it every day would be a bit much.

Comments are closed.