Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

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

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

Come on, man.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

If you are still in the GOP, you are an extremist.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

You are here: Home / Archives for Healthcare / COVID-19 Coronavirus

Inevitable Corona Virus Update – Thursday / Friday

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Something I don’t think I mentioned yesterday: When you (or, at least, I) search ‘coronavirus’ on Twitter, there’s a ‘pinned’ top note suggesting “Know the facts – To make sure you get the best information on the novel coronavirus, resources are available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)”, with a link. Good!

Per the BBC:

… “The main reason for this declaration is not what is happening in China but what is happening in other countries,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

The concern is that it could spread to countries with weaker health systems.

Meanwhile, the US has told its citizens not to travel to China.

The State Department issued a level four warning – having previously urged Americans to “reconsider” travel to China – and said any citizens in China “should consider departing using commercial means”…

At least 213 people have died in China – mostly in Hubei province where the virus emerged – with almost 10,000 cases nationally.

The WHO said there had been 98 cases in 18 other countries, but no deaths.

Most international cases are in people who had been to the Chinese city of Wuhan in Hubei…

But THIS IS AMERICA DAMMIT, so we are compelled to make it All About US!…

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Wuhan Coronavirus Update, Wednesday/Thursday

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The ‘Novel Coronovirus’ Update, Monday / Tuesday

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From the Washington Post:

BEIJING — As officials grow increasingly fearful about their ability to contain the fast-spreading outbreak of a novel coronavirus, this metropolis recorded its first death on Monday, hundreds of foreign nationals prepared to flee the country, and the U.S. government warned Americans to avoid all nonessential travel to China and planned to boost airport staff to screen nearly all passengers from there.

In a rare public mea culpa, a Chinese official said Monday that the government had mishandled the early stages of the crisis, which has claimed at least 100 lives and infected more than 4,400 people. Wuhan Mayor Zhou Xianwang, speaking with Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, said his city did not release “timely and satisfactory” information at the start of the epidemic, and he appeared to blame higher-ups in his chain of command…

The mayor said 5 million people have already left his city, some before and some after the official quarantine. Meanwhile, more than 700 miles away, Beijing recorded its first death from the outbreak, according to the city’s health commission. A 50-year-old man who visited Wuhan on Jan. 8 developed a fever when he returned home a week later and died Monday — one of the pathogen’s younger victims. Seven other cases of illness in Beijing have been confirmed so far.

Late Monday, a top U.S. health official criticized Chinese authorities for not inviting U.S. and other international investigative agencies to join them in researching the new virus. While China has been more transparent than it was during the 2003 SARS outbreak, U.S. officials are still getting their information through press briefings rather than from direct transfer of scientific data, said Anthony S. Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases….

Amid growing alarm about the disease’s fast spread, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is boosting staffing at 20 U.S. airports that have quarantine facilities. Vice President Pence said Monday that those airports receive 90 percent of airline passengers from China. Previously, passengers from Hubei province were screened and tested at five airports if they showed signs of fever or respiratory illness or have been in contact with a sick person, the CDC said. The expanded effort will take effect in coming days….

Global markets took a sharp downturn Monday as investors grew increasingly anxious about the swift spread of the coronavirus beyond China. The Dow Jones industrial average plunged 454 points, or about 1.6 percent. The Standard & Poor’s 500 and Nasdaq indexes were also down 1.6 percent and 1.9 percent, respectively…

IIRC, that’s about the same Dow Jones drop as one of the Oval Office Occupant’s more incendiary trade tweets, so not too alarming, just yet.

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The Wuhan Coronavirus: Saturday/Sunday Update

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Mandatory reminder: What I’m posting here is what catches my eye, mostly from twitter. There’s (predictably) a ton of paranoid / xenophobic conspiracy theories (sample here from the NYPost, reposting from the Daily Mail, two major Western media outlets with established histories of hyping Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt).

It’s being reported that the State Department will evacuate some U.S. citizens, but only the paywalled Wall Street Journal seems to have much detail so far.

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Pandemic Paranoia Open Thread: Presenting the ‘New’ Wuhan Coronovirus

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To quote every single article I’ve seen so far: And just in time for the mass migration during Lunar New Year, too!

(Mandatory disclosure: Yes, I am preternaturally interested in pandemics, so YMMV.)

CNN, this evening — “First US case of Wuhan coronavirus confirmed by CDC”:

The United States has its first confirmed case of a new virus that appeared in Wuhan, China, last month, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Tuesday. The coronavirus has already sickened hundreds and killed six people in Asia…

The patient, who is not being named, is in isolation at Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett, Washington. He is in his 30s and lives in Snohomish County, Washington, just north of Seattle. He had recently returned from Wuhan.

He arrived at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on January 15, before any health screenings for the Wuhan coronavirus began at US airports. He sought medical care on January 19. The CDC and Washington state are now tracing the people he was in contact with to see if he might have spread the disease to someone else…

The patient became ill four days after arriving in the United States and sought care. Based on the patient’s symptoms and travel history, doctors suspected the novel Wuhan coronavirus and sent specimens to the CDC in Atlanta, where tests Monday confirmed the virus.

The patient is faring well but is still being kept in isolation out of an abundance of caution, health officials said.

Soon, passengers from Wuhan to the United States, whether on direct or indirect flights, will only be allowed to land at one of the five US airports doing health screenings. Screenings include a temperature check and observation for symptoms such as a cough and trouble breathing.

Last weekend, the CDC started health screenings for Wuhan passengers arriving at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, Los Angeles International Airport and San Francisco International Airport. Starting this week, Wuhan passengers will also be screened at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and Chicago O’Hare International Airport…

This is actually good news — authorities *have* learned from previous scares, and sensible precautions are being slotted into place with due speed.

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