Re: Coronavirus I

by Head Idiot Thu Apr 09, 2020 11:56 am

Very large eye roll emoji-
https://time.com/5818134/anthony-fauci-never-shake-hands-coronavirus/

by ramblinman Fri Apr 10, 2020 4:45 pm

Saw this going around social media lately and it rings true to me. The spread of the virus is dependent on two factors:

1. How dense the population is.

2. How dense the population is.

by OSUBucks Fri Apr 10, 2020 4:56 pm

ramblinman wrote:Saw this going around social media lately and it rings true to me. The spread of the virus is dependent on two factors:

1. How dense the population is.

2. How dense the population is.

Agree!

by Teetime Fri Apr 10, 2020 5:43 pm

In New York City everyone takes public transportation. It's dependable, fast and relatively inexpensive.

I think when this is over some people a lot smarter than me are going to have to look at cities that have highly used public transportation and see how those can be made safer from germ transmission.

by OSUBucks Fri Apr 10, 2020 6:22 pm

Teetime wrote:In New York City everyone takes public transportation. It's dependable, fast and relatively inexpensive.

I think when this is over some people a lot smarter than me are going to have to look at cities that have highly used public transportation and see how those can be made safer from germ transmission.

Yep, and there's a lot of public transportation in Chicago too and that's where most of the fatalities in Illinois are. Here's a story about one infected person in Chicago and how easily the virus can spread.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/04/08/funeral-birthday-party-hugs-covid-19/

by ging Sat Apr 11, 2020 9:08 am

https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/11/health/us-coronavirus-updates-saturday/index.html

The US recorded at least 2,074 deaths Friday, the largest increase in coronavirus fatalities the country has seen since the beginning of the outbreak.

That brings the total number of reported deaths to 18,777. More than 501,600 people have tested positive, according to Johns Hopkins University's tally of cases in the US. On Friday, 35,551 new cases were reported.

The country likely saw a peak in its daily death toll, according to Dr. Chris Murray, the director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington -- who created the model the White House is using to gauge the peak of coronavirus cases.

"We re-run the model, basically, almost every night -- and the new returns from different states are suggesting different peaks in different states, but at the national level we seem to be pretty much close to the peak," he said.

His team's model projects about 61,500 Americans will lose their lives to the virus by August -- and that's if the country keeps social distance measures in place until the end of May. If they factor in states that may lift these rules by May 1, the numbers "don't look good,' Murray said.

by Head Idiot Sat Apr 11, 2020 9:45 am

https://jg-tc.com/news/state-and-regional/crime-and-courts/pritzker-grants-commutations-amid-pandemic/article_a2d19fb8-e56b-59d1-b407-f5c432a9daf0.html

by Teetime Sat Apr 11, 2020 10:16 am

The article couldn't quite tie these commutations into the pandemic, are they related?

The one guy they detailed had served 32 years for an armed robbery. I know that is a serious crime...32 years sounds about right, don't you think?

by Head Idiot Sat Apr 11, 2020 11:38 am

Chicago Tribune wrote: A federal judge on Friday denied a request for the state to immediately release potentially thousands of at-risk detainees from Illinois prisons, saying that while the coronavirus pandemic is clearly a serious threat there was “no convincing reason for a federal court to intrude here and now."

U.S. District Judge Robert Dow issued the opinion a week after a pair of lawsuits were filed by a consortium of Chicago civil rights attorneys and community activists seeking the release of as many as 13,000 prisoners due to the COVID-19 crisis, including many who were convicted of non-violent offenses, are elderly, at elevated risk to get ill, or have already served most of their sentences.

The lawsuits alleged that Gov. J. B. Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Corrections have dragged their feet in the face of the pandemic, putting prisoners, prison staff and the general public at greater risk of severe illness and death.

In his 48-page opinion, Dow acknowledged the serious of the situation, which as of Friday had seen 134 confirmed cases of COVID-19 among IDOC prisoners, including at least two deaths at Stateville Correctional Center near Joliet. But the judge said that Pritzker and other stake holders have taken steps to contain the spread of the virus that “plainly pass constitutional muster,” even if its not exactly what the plaintiffs were seeking.

“The release of inmates requires a process that gives close attention to detail, for the safety of each inmate, his or her family, and the community at large demands a sensible and individualized release plan--especially during a pandemic,” Dow wrote. “And the record here shows that the authorities in this state are doing just that, with constantly evolving procedures increasing the number of inmates released on a daily basis.”

Dow said the plaintiffs -- which include the Uptown Peoples Law Center and the MacArthur Justice Center with Northwestern University -- “provided no convincing reason for a federal court to intrude here and now --either to issue a blanket order for the release of thousands of inmates or to superimpose a court-mandated and court-superintended process on the mechanisms currently in place to determine which IDOC inmates can and should be safely removed from prison facilities at this time.”

After the suit was filed last week, Northwestern University professor of law Sheila Bedi told the Tribune that advocates and attorneys had waited several weeks for Pritzker to act before deciding the state’s response was too little, too late.

“Filing this lawsuit is absolutely a last resort,” said Bedi, who noted that other states have moved faster. “The progress here has been incredibly slow. There is no time to waste.”

Pritzker, meanwhile, has defended his reaction to the growing pandemic, saying in his daily press briefings that he’s made a concerted effort to release inmates early to blunt the spread of COVID-19. He said attorneys continue to review cases, particularly those involving non-toffenders such people convicted of retail theft or drug-related offenses.

The governor described a deliberate process in which inmates simply can’t walk out of prison at the snap of his fingers. There is paperwork and physicals to be completed, in addition to ensuring the prisoner will have somewhere to live upon release.

by Teetime Sat Apr 11, 2020 11:22 pm

“Trump’s allies and some administration officials say the criticism has been unfair. The Chinese government misled other governments, they say. And they insist that the president was either not getting proper information, or the people around him weren’t conveying the urgency of the threat. In some cases, they argue, the specific officials he was hearing from had been discredited in his eyes, but once the right information got to him through other channels, he made the right calls.

“While the media and Democrats refused to seriously acknowledge this virus in January and February, President Trump took bold action to protect Americans and unleash the full power of the federal government to curb the spread of the virus, expand testing capacities and expedite vaccine development even when we had no true idea the level of transmission or asymptomatic spread,” said Judd Deere, a White House spokesman.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/11/us/politics/coronavirus-trump-response.html

Pretty good NYT article on Easter Sunday on the delay in action on the virus in this country. In the quote above a Trump spokesman says the media and the Democrats were the ones who were slow to sound the alarm on the virus. That seems at odds with the naysayers here.

by OSUBucks Sun Apr 12, 2020 12:25 am

It's not even debatable that a lot of time was wasted at the beginning because it took some time for Trump to take seriously what people in the know were telling him. I said so previously about a month ago in this thread.
We need to open up our businesses as soon as possible to get people back to work and get the economy restarted. We won't be ready by May 1st like some are suggesting though. I hope we can get back to work in June though. Some are saying keep the economy shut down until late in the year. We can't let that happen either.

by Head Idiot Sun Apr 12, 2020 8:18 am

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/clyburn-tapped-to-chair-coronavirus-committee-after-calling-pandemic-tremendous-opportunity-to-achieve-dem-spending-goals/

by BirdWatcher Sun Apr 12, 2020 9:12 am

OSUBucks wrote:It's not even debatable that a lot of time was wasted at the beginning because it took some time for Trump to take seriously what people in the know were telling him.

The Chinese notified the W.H.O. about the coronavirus on Dec. 31.

The US issued a travel warning for Wuhan Jan 6

Between January 6 - 8, the CDC launched their disease management system.

January 14 WHO said CoronaVirus couldn't be spread human-to-human

January 21 the CDC activated Emergency Ops
Even Fauci was downplaying this on January 21.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1246098728085336066

Between January 29-31, while people were obsessed with impeachment, Trump formed a task force and announced travel restrictions (which he was blasted for).

On Feb 29 Fauci was still saying this was not a big deal
https://twitter.com/i/status/1246167570140577797

How do you know what Trump took seriously? Or who was telling him what? When? Did Trump "say" something that sounded like "we got this?" Sure. He always does. In every situation. I never listen to what Trump says (really, never have heard him speak at length). I judge him by what he does.

by Teetime Sun Apr 12, 2020 10:02 am

I judge him by what he does as well. Here is what he did...the ONLY travel restriction in January was on about 25% of the travel from China, he lies about that almost every day, then when he could have made a huge difference in the "containment" as opposed to the mitigation he dawdled:

A memo dated Feb. 14, prepared in coordination with the National Security Council and titled “U.S. Government Response to the 2019 Novel Coronavirus,” documented what more drastic measures would look like, including: “significantly limiting public gatherings and cancellation of almost all sporting events, performances, and public and private meetings that cannot be convened by phone. Consider school closures. Widespread ‘stay at home’ directives from public and private organizations with nearly 100% telework for some.”

The memo did not advocate an immediate national shutdown, but said the targeted use of “quarantine and isolation measures” could be used to slow the spread in places where “sustained human-to-human transmission” is evident.

Within 24 hours, before they got a chance to make their presentation to the president, the plan went awry.

Mr. Trump was walking up the steps of Air Force One to head home from India on Feb. 25 when Dr. Nancy Messonnier, the director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, publicly issued the blunt warning they had all agreed was necessary.

But Dr. Messonnier had jumped the gun. They had not told the president yet, much less gotten his consent.

On the 18-hour plane ride home, Mr. Trump fumed as he watched the stock market crash after Dr. Messonnier’s comments. Furious, he called Mr. Azar when he landed at around 6 a.m. on Feb. 26, raging that Dr. Messonnier had scared people unnecessarily. Already on thin ice with the president over a variety of issues and having overseen the failure to quickly produce an effective and widely available test, Mr. Azar would soon find his authority reduced.

The meeting that evening with Mr. Trump to advocate social distancing was canceled, replaced by a news conference in which the president announced that the White House response would be put under the command of Vice President Mike Pence.

The push to convince Mr. Trump of the need for more assertive action stalled. With Mr. Pence and his staff in charge, the focus was clear: no more alarmist messages. Statements and media appearances by health officials like Dr. Fauci and Dr. Redfield would be coordinated through Mr. Pence’s office. It would be more than three weeks before Mr. Trump would announce serious social distancing efforts, a lost period during which the spread of the virus accelerated rapidly.

Over nearly three weeks from Feb. 26 to March 16, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the United States grew from 15 to 4,226. Since then, nearly half a million Americans have tested positive for the virus and authorities say hundreds of thousands more are likely infected.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

So from January 31 to March 16th all we got from this administration was happy talk, while the virus was taking hold. The impeachment trial ended in the first week of February and didn't really need Trump to be involved at all. Mitch had that covered.

I'll judge him by what he did. Too little and too late.

by BirdWatcher Sun Apr 12, 2020 10:28 am

Any retelling that claims to know Trump was "furious" is fake news. MSM think they can read minds.

by Teetime Sun Apr 12, 2020 11:01 am

BirdWatcher wrote:Any retelling that claims to know Trump was "furious" is fake news. MSM think they can read minds.

They have meeting notes, agendas, and first hand accounts. I know I can tell when my boss is furious, that doesn't take a brain surgeon.

This "fake news" canard is really old and we know it's origin.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2018/05/23/leslie_stahl_trump_told_me_he_uses_term_fake_news_to_discredit_the_media.html

by Teetime Sun Apr 12, 2020 11:09 am

Distracted?

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2020/04/10/lincoln_project_ex-gop_group_endorses_biden_launches_brutal_ad_hitting_trump_for_golfing_during_pandemic.html?utm_campaign=ora_player&utm_medium=ora-video-widget&utm_source=videopages

by Head Idiot Sun Apr 12, 2020 11:19 am

Teetime wrote:
BirdWatcher wrote:Any retelling that claims to know Trump was "furious" is fake news. MSM think they can read minds.

They have meeting notes, agendas, and first hand accounts. I know I can tell when my boss is furious, that doesn't take a brain surgeon.

This "fake news" canard is really old and we know it's origin.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2018/05/23/leslie_stahl_trump_told_me_he_uses_term_fake_news_to_discredit_the_media.html

Thank Jesus on this holy day that no other politician has ever done this!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vast_right-wing_conspiracy

by Teetime Sun Apr 12, 2020 11:36 am

Head Idiot wrote:
Thank Jesus on this holy day that no other politician has ever done this!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vast_right-wing_conspiracy

Thank God nobody believed those liars when they said that.

Why do 44% of Americans believe the biggest liar ever to sit in the oval office when he says it?

by BirdWatcher Sun Apr 12, 2020 11:42 am

I don't listen to Trump, so I don't know his context when calling Fake News. But I know it when *I* see it....

Here's the NYT's take on Biden sexual assault allegation:
"No other allegation about sexual assault surfaced in the course of our reporting, nor did any former Biden staff corroborate Reade’s allegation. We found no pattern of sexual misconduct by Biden, beyond hugs, kisses and touching that women previously said made them uncomfortable"

The Times was unable to corroborate the allegation against Biden, which may remind you of the charges against Brett Kavanaugh. But I don’t recall the Times ever quite saying that about the Kavanaugh case. Oh, and there were no “hugs, kisses and touching” claims against Kavanaugh.

NYT = FakeNews

by Head Idiot Sun Apr 12, 2020 11:45 am

BirdWatcher wrote:I don't listen to Trump, so I don't know his context when calling Fake News. But I know it when *I* see it....

Here's the NYT's take on Biden sexual assault allegation:
"No other allegation about sexual assault surfaced in the course of our reporting, nor did any former Biden staff corroborate Reade’s allegation. We found no pattern of sexual misconduct by Biden, beyond hugs, kisses and touching that women previously said made them uncomfortable"

The Times was unable to corroborate the allegation against Biden, which may remind you of the charges against Brett Kavanaugh. But I don’t recall the Times ever quite saying that about the Kavanaugh case. Oh, and there were no “hugs, kisses and touching” claims against Kavanaugh.

NYT = FakeNews