Government Response to Coronavirus: With Pence in Charge, We're Doomed

[thoughtful]

8 minutes ago, NotQuiteMotY said:

Montgomery county, PA (outside of Philadelphia) has been ordered shut down.

Things may have been sped up somewhat by this guy:

https://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2020/03/10/coronavirus-childrens-hospital-of-philadelphia-doctor-in-king-of-prussia-who-tested-positive-for-coronavirus-treated-two-dozen-patients/

Quote

Officials say a Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia doctor at the King of Prussia site who tested positive for coronavirus treated approximately two dozen patients prior to his diagnosis. The cardiologist is currently in critical condition at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, officials say.

The doctor was confirmed to have COVID-19 in the evening of Sunday, March 8.

In a statement Tuesday, CHOP said affected areas were closed that night and on Monday afternoon, all families were notified of the diagnosis. All units have since bee cleaned and reopened.

“As we gathered additional information about this situation, we learned that this physician traveled abroad to a country with known COVID-19 cases, but not on the Level 3 travel advisory list as designated by the CDC. After returning to work, the physician saw patients over four days during the week of March 1, when progressive symptoms resulted in the physician ultimately seeking medical attention,” CHOP President and CEO Madeline Bell said in a statement.

 

[laPapessaGiovanna]

7 hours ago, elliha said:

Some people online are so scared of this and we should take it serious but when people start talking about Sweden is going to get higher numbers of death than China with a 10 million population it just gets riddiculous.

No it's not. China has had 3200 dead till now, Italy 1016, the vast majority of them in Lombardy, a region with 10 million inhabitants. The effects of the lockdown will be seen not before ten days so there's plenty of time to catch up with China.

[elliha]

13 minutes ago, laPapessaGiovanna said:

No it's not. China has had 3200 dead till now, Italy 1016, the vast majority of them in Lombardy, a region with 10 million inhabitants. The effects of the lockdown will be seen not before ten days so there's plenty of time to catch up with China.

Yes, it is. We have one dead and there is a huge difference between 10 million on 450 295 km2 and 23 857 km2. I am not saying we won't get more cases, we will get tons of them but there is actually nothing that suggests the same situation as Italy right now here. If you look at Sweden and Italy in the same phase of disease the pattern is different there too. 

I do hope that the actions taken in Italy are working so that the numbers of deaths go down very soon. I do not understand those from Sweden who went on a holiday to Italy 1-2 weeks ago when we knew the situation then. I find it so uncaring and selfish to put your own skiing holiday above safety of everyone else and it is clear that most of the early cases came that way. O well, I do think people are getting the severity of the problem now but past cannot be undone. 

[fraurosena]

As of yesterday, there are 614 cases in my country that have tested positive for the virus. 

Late last night, DH got an email from work saying the University has suspended all lessons on location; where possible lessons can be followed online. DH will be working as much from home as he possibly can. 

All gatherings of 100 people or more have been banned. If possible, people must work from home. Anyone with symptoms like coughing or sneezing must stay home. Everyone must keep their in-person social contacts to a minimum. People should avoid visiting the elderly or medically vulnerable. Elderly or medically vulnerable people have been advised not to use public transport.  

The Second Chamber (kind of like Congress) has been closed to visitors. The Chairwoman of the Chamber has advised that any voting be done separately on a party by party basis and not with all members in Chamber at once, although she cannot force members to do so (members have the legal right to vote in Chamber). 

There is a lot of consternation in the country about the controversial decision to keep primary and middle schools open. The reason given is that young children run the least risk of contamination and keeping them home would be more disruptive. Personally I don't know how this decision gels with the ban of gatherings of more than 100 people... 

10 hours ago, Ticklish said:

Is Katie Porter a potential VP running mate? She's awesome!

I respectfully disagree to naming her as a potential veep. Precisely because she's so awesome, she should stay in Congress and keep on doing what she does so well! Rufus knows how much it is needed to hold those people to account. 

 

Edited March 13, 2020 by fraurosena

[formergothardite]

There has been some drama in my small town. The town leaders announced they were canceling any large gatherings and putting out recommendations to avoid large crowds. Some churches decided that they were going to line main street with "prayer warriors" to pray away the virus from our town.  The town informed this that this is against the no large gatherings rule and now they are considering having it at a church. I know all of this because a friend who goes to one of the churches told me, she at least realized how ridiculous the entire thing is. 

[Smee]

Meanwhile, in Australia...

Prime Minister Scott Morrison announces recommendations to cancel all gatherings of 500 people or more... starting Monday. Why Monday? ScoMo is going to watch a football match this weekend. And Hillsong Church (which he attends) has its annual Colour Conference (women’s event) this week. So Coronavirus will not be working over the weekend, by order of the PM.

 

Apparently he had just (somehow? Wtf Aus??) recovered his “preferred prime minister” rating after his pisspoor handling of the bushfire disaster. Hopefully that plummets faster than the stock market now.

[Ozlsn]

43 minutes ago, Smee said:

Meanwhile, in Australia...

Prime Minister Scott Morrison announces recommendations to cancel all gatherings of 500 people or more... starting Monday. Why Monday? ScoMo is going to watch a football match this weekend. And Hillsong Church (which he attends) has its annual Colour Conference (women’s event) this week. So Coronavirus will not be working over the weekend, by order of the PM.

 

Apparently he had just (somehow? Wtf Aus??) recovered his “preferred prime minister” rating after his pisspoor handling of the bushfire disaster. Hopefully that plummets faster than the stock market now.

Somehow I had missed both the improved rating and that the gatherings were being cancelled from Monday. But I am still laughing, especially as it appears that he and possibly all of Cabinet will need to self-isolate after Dutton's positive test. You could not make this up. Meanwhile Formula 1 die hard are protesting in the streets over the cancellation.

[GreyhoundFan]

I can't stand Seema Verma. She's just as nasty a liar as the bigger names in this sham administration: "Are hospitals ready for coronavirus patients? A health official ducks question 4 times in Fox News interview."

Spoiler

The question was important, straightforward and crucial to the country’s preparedness for dealing with the coronavirus crisis: Are America’s hospitals equipped to treat a possible influx of patients afflicted with covid-19? Do they have enough intensive care units and enough ventilators?

And the official being questioned by Fox News anchor Martha MacCallum on Thursday night was in a position to know. After all, Seema Verma is the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which, as its website says, “oversees one of the largest federal agencies that administers vital health care programs to over 100 million Americans.” She is also on the White House coronavirus task force.

As hard as she tried, however, MacCallum could not get a straight answer.

“We’ve heard there’s a shortage of ventilators, even swabs,” the host said on “The Story with Martha MacCallum.” “What’s being done about that and how concerned are you that when these numbers [of patients] do start to rise …. that there’ll be enough ICU units, enough ventilators, to help the people who do get sick in this country?”

“Well, that’s why we have an emergency preparedness system,” Verma responded. “We’re used to dealing with disasters … If you look at disasters that have emerged around hurricanes, in Puerto Rico, in Florida.....”

MacCallum cut her off and asked: “So are you saying we do have enough?”

“One of the things we’re doing at CMS is to have rapid dialogue with health care providers,” said Verma. “We’re meeting with providers on a daily basis … That’s why we’re putting out so much guidance.”

With frustration showing on her face, MacCallum tried again. “Yeah. I understand that,” she said. “Can I just ask you one more time, will there be enough?"

This time Verma just ignored the question, continuing her thread from her previous answer about guidance to health care providers. “Before you go into your doctor, you can call them on the phone and have a discussion with them. We don’t want people to travel unnecessarily if they’re not feeling well.”

Verma went on before MacCallum made one more valiant attempt.

“Before I let you go I want to ask you one more time, are there going to be people in this country who don’t get a ventilator when they need one?” she asked. “Can you reassure everyone out there tonight that there’s not a shortage of ventilators or ICU units?”

Instead of answering the fourth iteration of MacCallum’s question, Verma launched into praise for President Trump. “And that’s why the president has taken such a bold and decisive action,” she said. “We’re not waiting for this to get worse …”

Running out of time and patience, MacCallum gave up. “Okay. That’s not a direct answer to the question."

MacCallum concluded by suggesting that the administration was operating on sheer hope that the hospitals would be all right.

She said she hoped so too.

In fact, experts on the nation’s health care system do not believe it is equipped to handle the potential number of people who will need care before the coronavirus pandemic runs its course.

“There are about 46,500 medical ICU beds in the United States and perhaps an equal number of other ICU beds that could be used in a crisis,” according to a study published by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “Even spread out over several months, the mismatch between demand and resources is clear.”

In an article this week in the Harvard Business Review, reported “legitimate concern that the nation’s supply of 160,000 ventilators may be insufficient to care for the critically ill victims who are unable to breathe for themselves during a major outbreak … Such patients,” it added “need intensive care unit beds. The U.S. currently has around 45,000, but in a severe outbreak of respiratory illness, as many as 2.9 million Americans might need ICU care.”

The specter of Italy, with a health care system on the verge of collapse under the strain of the pandemic, hangs over the entire subject of hospital preparedness in the U.S.

“Italy is a preview of what we may see in the U.S. very soon,” wrote Marty Makary, a professor at the Hopkins School of Public Health, in MedPage Today.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

"Kennedy Center cancels performances, Library of Congress closes through March"

Spoiler

The Smithsonian museums and the National Gallery of Art will close starting Saturday, and the Kennedy Center has canceled all performances and public events through March 31, the latest high-profile cultural organizations in Washington to go dark because of the increasing threat of the spread of covid-19.

Smithsonian officials did not announce a reopening date for its museums and the National Zoo, saying it will provide updates on a weekly basis. The National Gallery of Art expects to reopen April 4.

Kennedy Center President Deborah Rutter said the board approved the plan in a meeting late Thursday afternoon. The Kennedy Center campus and all facilities, including the restaurant and cafe, will be closed as of Friday.

“We need to be a part of the larger national effort to contain the spread of the virus,” Rutter said Thursday. “This is a really challenging business decision. As you know, nonprofits live close to the edge.”

Rutter said a conference call with D.C. health officials Wednesday night emphasized the special issues with theatrical events, even ones with fewer than 1,000 people.

“The specific circumstances of sitting side by side in a closed-in space with people” is the problem, she said. The center discussed continuing performances in its smaller spaces, or moving productions to them, but decided closing was the better option. “Social distancing is what’s needed to stop the explosive spreading of the virus,” she said.

Thursday’s performances will continue, but upcoming productions — including the opera “Blue,” will not go on. “It’s heartbreaking, very emotional,” Rutter said, noting that the arts center has worked on that production for 18 months. “But it’s the right thing for everyone.”

It’s too soon to know whether “Blue” can be rescheduled. “It will take some time to determine which programs have the potential for rescheduling. We’ll have more info in the coming days/weeks,” wrote Kennedy Center spokeswoman Rachelle Roe in an email.

Ticket holders will be able to exchange tickets, donate them, transfer them to a future credit or receive a full refund.

The Library of Congress has also canceled all public events in its buildings from 5 p.m. Thursday through April 1, citing an effort to reduce the spread of covid-19.

The announcement comes after the Capitol Visitor Center said it will close until April 1, and the House and Senate sergeants at arms announced the cancellation of tours through the end of the month.

“The Library’s top priority is the safety and health of our staff and visitors. Therefore, out of an abundance of caution, the Library decided to close to the public for the rest of the month. This will help reduce the risk of transmitting covid-19 coronavirus and will also be consistent with other buildings in the Capitol complex,” April Slayton, director of communications, said in a statement.

Library officials said they will attempt to reschedule the programs. They also noted that many of the library’s resources can be accessed through loc.gov. Average daily attendance in the library’s Jefferson Building was 6,000 last March, according to a spokesman.

The Washington Performing Arts has canceled Friday’s performance of Terry Riley’s “Sun Rings” by Kronos Quartet with the Choral Arts Chamber Singers at the Lisner Auditorium and the March 21 concert by Veronica Swift at Sixth and I. Ticket holders will be contacted directly concerning ticket exchanges and refunds. The arts organization’s gala will move online on Saturday, and the “Black Love Experience 2020,” a co-production scheduled for March 21 at THEARC has been rescheduled for Aug. 29.

Washington Performing Arts President and CEO Jenny Bilfield said the organization started the week thinking it could proceed with the performances. “Now, less than two days later, we have crossed the threshold from caution to action and have immediately responded in the interest of the public welfare. We deeply regret that we will not be able to share performances by the Kronos Quartet, Choral Arts Chamber Singers and Veronica Swift with our audiences this season. But we are overjoyed that we will be able to produce our gala — and pay tribute to Sheila Johnson and so many other amazing women, including our devoted Women’s Committee — in this very 21st-century, virtual format,” Bilfield said in a statement.

Monumental Theatre Company, which performs on the campus of Episcopal High School in Alexandria, will close its run of “Head Over Heels” after Sunday’s performance because the school is closing. The show was expected to run through March 23. The theater hopes to reschedule once the campus reopens in April.

Announcements also arrived on Thursday from the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, which is calling off all concerts and public events through March 21 at both the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall and the Music Center at Strathmore, and the Philadelphia Orchestra, which has canceled all concerts and events at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts and the Academy of Music through March 23.

Glenstone, the Potomac, Md., contemporary art museum and park, announced it will close its indoor spaces Friday. “We ask visitors to treat a Glenstone visit like a trip to a park,” according to its announcement. There will be limited staff and no food or bathrooms. Ford’s Theatre has canceled its upcoming production of “Guys and Dolls.” Saturday’s performance will go on, but those scheduled from March 16-April 4 have been canceled. Theater officials hope to reschedule them in April.

 

[NotQuiteMotY]

9 hours ago, thoughtful said:

Things may have been sped up somewhat by this guy:

https://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2020/03/10/coronavirus-childrens-hospital-of-philadelphia-doctor-in-king-of-prussia-who-tested-positive-for-coronavirus-treated-two-dozen-patients/

 

Sped up, yes; nobody has anything nice to say about that, as he'd been to an exposed area and still went to work. The tipping point was the police officer that was "presumed positive" on Wednesday. 

3 hours ago, fraurosena said:

...consternation in the country about the controversial decision to keep primary and middle schools open. The reason given is that young children run the least risk of contamination and keeping them home would be more disruptive. Personally I don't know how this decision gels with the ban of gatherings of more than 100 people... 

Here schools are closing, initially for deep cleaning and now because children are possible vectors. It's frustrating and I feel for every parent who's scrambling as a result, but I think it was the right decision overall.

[GreyhoundFan]

"Anthony Fauci fights outbreaks with the sledgehammer of truth"

Spoiler

A virus that is deadly and little understood. An administration in deep denial. Anthony S. Fauci has been here before.

As the coronavirus epidemic escalates, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has become a familiar media presence.

Fauci’s expertise and credibility shine against the contradictory and false messages coming from President Trump. The administration has at times sounded more concerned with protecting the president politically than stopping the spread of a potentially lethal disease.

While Trump tries to play down the severity of a public health crisis that might affect his reelection prospects, Fauci has laid out the best assessment of the true danger in stark terms.

In testimony Wednesday on Capitol Hill, he warned that the coronavirus has a mortality rate 10 times as great as that of the flu, and refuted Trump’s rosy promise that a vaccine will be ready “in a fairly quick manner.” Fauci also said flatly that the government is “failing” when it comes to the urgent imperative of making widespread testing available.

After federal officials gave lawmakers a briefing on Thursday, a frustrated Rep. Anna G. Eshoo (D-Calif.) told me: “Everything was wrapped in confusion. The only one who answers the questions — he not only gives the science, but then he says, let me explain this in pedestrian language — is Dr. Fauci.”

Then again, this is not the first time Fauci has found himself in the position of having to navigate a public health crisis fraught with political land mines. A renowned international expert on the immune system, Fauci took over NIAID in 1984, barely a year and a half after scientists had identified a mysterious retrovirus that was killing thousands of people.

It would be nearly another year before President Ronald Reagan would publicly utter the name of the disease it produced: AIDS. Reagan’s sluggish handling of the epidemic left one of the deepest scars on his legacy.

In 1986, Reagan’s surgeon general, C. Everett Koop, produced a report that described in graphic terms the potential toll of AIDS, projecting that 270,000 Americans might contract it by 1991. The report used explicit language, explaining that the disease was transmitted through “semen and vaginal fluids” and during “oral, anal and vaginal intercourse.”

Conservatives approved of some of what was in Koop’s document: It warned against “freewheeling casual sex” and asserted that the surest means of preventing AIDS were through abstinence and monogamy. But they weren’t so happy with the surgeon general’s recommendation that condoms be used as a fallback.

Koop was concerned that his findings were being buried by the Reagan administration, so two years later, he and Fauci cooked up a bold idea: mailing an abridged version of his report to every single one of the 107 million households and postal boxes in the country.

The problem, however, was that the surgeon general lacked the budget to do it. As Fauci recounted to me during a 2018 interview, he told Koop: “You know, there is a mechanism called an interagency transfer.” Fauci had the authority to provide funds to get the project off the ground, because combating AIDS related to his own agency’s core mission.

Congress picked up the idea and ordered the largest mass mailing in U.S. history. It also stipulated that the seven-page brochure be “distributed without necessary clearance of the content by any official, organization or office” — in other words, that it not be edited to suit anyone’s political agenda.

In addition to being printed in English and Spanish, “Understanding AIDS” went out in Chinese, Portuguese, Haitian-Creole, Vietnamese, Laotian, Cambodian and Braille. It debunked many myths about the disease, for instance stating unequivocally that AIDS is not spread by mosquitoes, and could not be caught through casual contact with saliva, sweat or toilet seats.

Subsequent surveys found that nearly 87 million adults perused part or all of the booklet — making it the most widely read publication in the country in July 1988, with Reader’s Digest coming in a distant second with 48.5 million readers.

Of course, there are many differences in scale and severity between the AIDS epidemic and the coronavirus threat. While most who contract coronavirus will recover, AIDS during the 1980s was a death sentence wrapped in stigma.

But as Fauci well understands, all infectious diseases have something in common: Accurate information is one of the most powerful weapons for fighting them.

Fauci has already shown how important it is to hit a microscopic enemy with a sledgehammer of truth. A yet-untold number of Americans will be betting their lives on him to do it again.

 

[47of74]

4 hours ago, fraurosena said:

 I respectfully disagree to naming her as a potential veep. Precisely because she's so awesome, she should stay in Congress and keep on doing what she does so well! Rufus knows how much it is needed to hold those people to account.

I hope Biden carefully considers who he names to be his running mate and In shāʾ Allāh Biden wins  he looks at what would happen if he pulls people from Congress to be in his cabinet or other positions.  I do think that was one thing that President Obama made a mistake on was tapping Janet Napolitano to be his head of homeland security because that left Jan Brewer to take over in Arizona.  It's one thing to pull a member of Congress from an area where another Democrat would be appointed or elected to take over, but if Biden's not careful the Democrats could lose seats to the Branch Trumpvidians.

[GreyhoundFan]

Because of course: "Trump taunts Biden about swine flu, misleadingly cites coronavirus polling to make himself look better"

Spoiler

While addressing the nation on the spread of the novel coronavirus, President Trump sat behind the Resolute desk and urged Americans seeking reassurance to “put politics aside, stop the partisanship, and unify together as one nation and one family.”

“We are all in this together,” he said from the Oval Office.

That was Wednesday night. The message the president sent on Thursday night, after 24 hours of repeated criticism for failing to ease concerns about coronavirus, couldn’t have been more different.

Instead, Trump turned to a familiar strategy on Twitter: misleadingly citing a poll to show overwhelming approval for his response to the global pandemic and lashing out at former vice president Joe Biden’s role in addressing the H1N1 outbreak of 2009.

“Sleepy Joe Biden was in charge of the H1N1 Swine Flu epidemic which killed thousands of people. The response was one of the worst on record,” Trump tweeted. “Our response is one of the best, with fast action of border closings & a 78% Approval Rating, the highest on record. His was lowest!”

Trump later tweeted a quote from Fox Business host Lou Dobbs, who was equally critical of the Obama administration.

The pair of tweets came at a time when Trump, who announced a 30-day travel ban from Europe to the United States to help fight the spread of covid-19, found himself clarifying a speech riddled with enough misstatements and omissions to cause the stock market to crash to its worst day in more than 30 years.

As The Washington Post’s Dan Balz wrote, the president’s address to the nation lacked the kind of direction, reassurance and confidence needed most for a country in crisis. This was noted in speeches by Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and talked about on cable news throughout the day.

On Thursday, the president sought to defend how his administration has responded to the spread of covid-19 in the United States, which has killed 41 and infected more than 1,600 people across nearly every state as of early Friday.

In his tweet, Trump did not cite the source of the high approval rating. He may have been referring to a Gallup poll, taken nearly a month ago when there was only a single American case, that found 77 percent of Americans were “generally confident in the federal government’s ability to handle a potential coronavirus outbreak.” That number, while it pertained to the federal government as a whole and not just Trump, topped similar polling figures taken during past outbreaks of Zika, Ebola, swine flu and bird flu.

But Trump’s claim that the Obama administration’s response to swine flu was “one of the worst on record” did not appear to be accurate. According to Gallup, 67 percent of Americans reported feeling “very/somewhat confident” in the federal government at the time of the 2009 epidemic — the second-highest confidence rating on record.

Gallup’s pollster also noted that the “high level of confidence” regarding coronavirus last month “may be related to the fact that all deaths from COVID-19 have occurred abroad, rather than on U.S. soil.” The first domestic coronavirus-related death was reported in late February, after the poll was conducted.

A more recent Quinnipiac poll released Monday asked Americans specifically about how Trump is handling coronavirus and reported that 43 percent approved while 49 percent disapproved. In comparison, the same poll indicated that a slightly higher percentage of respondents, 53 percent, had confidence in the federal government’s handling of the outbreak.

Trump’s attack on Biden drew instant backlash from critics who pointed out the discrepancies in his tweet and how it contradicted his call for politics to be put aside amid the ongoing pandemic.

The outcry, however, appeared to do little to faze the president.

Trump continued going after Biden Thursday night, quoting a segment from Dobbs’s show in which the host called out the Obama administration for how it dealt with swine flu.

During his broadcast, Dobbs highlighted Biden’s April 2009 appearance on NBC’s “Today” show during which the then-vice president addressed the swine flu outbreak. “I wouldn’t go anywhere in confined places now,” he said at the time.

“The Obama White House had to immediately issue an apology for his remarks and any undue alarm that he might have caused,” Dobbs recounted Thursday, referring to Biden. “Alarm about a swine flu outbreak that took six months for President Obama to then declare a national emergency, one that ultimately killed 12,000 Americans and infected 60 million more.”

Dobbs didn’t mention that Obama had declared swine flu a public health emergency on April 26, 2009, when there were only 20 cases in the U.S. and no deaths. Soon after, the administration put in its initial request to Congress for funding, according to PolitiFact.

Biden has yet to publicly address Trump’s latest broadside. On Thursday night, shortly before Trump tweeted about him, the Democratic presidential hopeful shared a clip from a speech he gave earlier this week in Philadelphia.

“At this moment when there is so much fear in the country, and there’s so much fear across the world, we need American leadership,” Biden said in the video. “We need presidential leadership that’s honest, trusted, truthful and steady.”

 

[47of74]

And today is day one of working at home.  I might go in to get my single serve Keurig and bring it home for the next couple weeks.

Two big advantages to working from home.  My office chair at home is much more comfortable and the shitter is much closer.  (And no it's not full).

Just now, GreyhoundFan said:

Because of course: "Trump taunts Biden about swine flu, misleadingly cites coronavirus polling to make himself look better"

  Reveal hidden contents

While addressing the nation on the spread of the novel coronavirus, President Trump sat behind the Resolute desk and urged Americans seeking reassurance to “put politics aside, stop the partisanship, and unify together as one nation and one family.”

“We are all in this together,” he said from the Oval Office.

That was Wednesday night. The message the president sent on Thursday night, after 24 hours of repeated criticism for failing to ease concerns about coronavirus, couldn’t have been more different.

Instead, Trump turned to a familiar strategy on Twitter: misleadingly citing a poll to show overwhelming approval for his response to the global pandemic and lashing out at former vice president Joe Biden’s role in addressing the H1N1 outbreak of 2009.

“Sleepy Joe Biden was in charge of the H1N1 Swine Flu epidemic which killed thousands of people. The response was one of the worst on record,” Trump tweeted. “Our response is one of the best, with fast action of border closings & a 78% Approval Rating, the highest on record. His was lowest!”

Trump later tweeted a quote from Fox Business host Lou Dobbs, who was equally critical of the Obama administration.

The pair of tweets came at a time when Trump, who announced a 30-day travel ban from Europe to the United States to help fight the spread of covid-19, found himself clarifying a speech riddled with enough misstatements and omissions to cause the stock market to crash to its worst day in more than 30 years.

As The Washington Post’s Dan Balz wrote, the president’s address to the nation lacked the kind of direction, reassurance and confidence needed most for a country in crisis. This was noted in speeches by Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and talked about on cable news throughout the day.

On Thursday, the president sought to defend how his administration has responded to the spread of covid-19 in the United States, which has killed 41 and infected more than 1,600 people across nearly every state as of early Friday.

In his tweet, Trump did not cite the source of the high approval rating. He may have been referring to a Gallup poll, taken nearly a month ago when there was only a single American case, that found 77 percent of Americans were “generally confident in the federal government’s ability to handle a potential coronavirus outbreak.” That number, while it pertained to the federal government as a whole and not just Trump, topped similar polling figures taken during past outbreaks of Zika, Ebola, swine flu and bird flu.

But Trump’s claim that the Obama administration’s response to swine flu was “one of the worst on record” did not appear to be accurate. According to Gallup, 67 percent of Americans reported feeling “very/somewhat confident” in the federal government at the time of the 2009 epidemic — the second-highest confidence rating on record.

Gallup’s pollster also noted that the “high level of confidence” regarding coronavirus last month “may be related to the fact that all deaths from COVID-19 have occurred abroad, rather than on U.S. soil.” The first domestic coronavirus-related death was reported in late February, after the poll was conducted.

A more recent Quinnipiac poll released Monday asked Americans specifically about how Trump is handling coronavirus and reported that 43 percent approved while 49 percent disapproved. In comparison, the same poll indicated that a slightly higher percentage of respondents, 53 percent, had confidence in the federal government’s handling of the outbreak.

Trump’s attack on Biden drew instant backlash from critics who pointed out the discrepancies in his tweet and how it contradicted his call for politics to be put aside amid the ongoing pandemic.

The outcry, however, appeared to do little to faze the president.

Trump continued going after Biden Thursday night, quoting a segment from Dobbs’s show in which the host called out the Obama administration for how it dealt with swine flu.

During his broadcast, Dobbs highlighted Biden’s April 2009 appearance on NBC’s “Today” show during which the then-vice president addressed the swine flu outbreak. “I wouldn’t go anywhere in confined places now,” he said at the time.

“The Obama White House had to immediately issue an apology for his remarks and any undue alarm that he might have caused,” Dobbs recounted Thursday, referring to Biden. “Alarm about a swine flu outbreak that took six months for President Obama to then declare a national emergency, one that ultimately killed 12,000 Americans and infected 60 million more.”

Dobbs didn’t mention that Obama had declared swine flu a public health emergency on April 26, 2009, when there were only 20 cases in the U.S. and no deaths. Soon after, the administration put in its initial request to Congress for funding, according to PolitiFact.

Biden has yet to publicly address Trump’s latest broadside. On Thursday night, shortly before Trump tweeted about him, the Democratic presidential hopeful shared a clip from a speech he gave earlier this week in Philadelphia.

“At this moment when there is so much fear in the country, and there’s so much fear across the world, we need American leadership,” Biden said in the video. “We need presidential leadership that’s honest, trusted, truthful and steady.”

 

Fuck this guy.  In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Why don't you grow the fuck up Donald and do your fucking job already?  Or resign and get the fuck out of the way.

Excuse me now while I go find my swear jar and cram a fucking $50 in it.

[clueliss]

FDA gives emergency approval to new test

https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/coronavirus-outbreak-03-13-20-intl-hnk/h_7acf62b5691ef633855ffe3044278c7e

[GreyhoundFan]

"Ten minutes at the teleprompter: Inside Trump’s failed attempt to calm coronavirus fears"

Spoiler

In the most scripted of presidential settings, a prime-time televised address to the nation, President Trump decided to ad-lib — and his errors triggered a market meltdown, panicked travelers overseas and crystallized for his critics just how dangerously he has fumbled his management of the coronavirus.

Even Trump — a man practically allergic to admitting mistakes — knew he’d screwed up by declaring Wednesday night that his ban on travel from Europe would include cargo and trade, and acknowledged as much to aides in the Oval Office as soon as he’d finished speaking, according to one senior administration official and a second person, both with knowledge of the episode.

Jared Kushner, his son-in-law and senior adviser who has seized control over some aspects of the government’s coronavirus response, reassured Trump that aides would correct his misstatement, four administration officials said, and they scrambled to do just that. The president also told staffers to make sure other countries did not believe trade would be affected, and even sent a cleanup tweet of his own: “The restriction stops people not goods,” he wrote.

Other administration officials rushed to alert the public that U.S. citizens would be exempt from the travel ban, after scores of Americans, upon digesting Trump’s speech, phoned government offices and raced to airports in Europe out of concern that they would not be able to fly home.

Trump’s 10-minute Oval Office address Wednesday night reflected not only his handling of the coronavirus crisis but, in some ways, much of his presidency. It was riddled with errors, nationalist and xenophobic in tone, limited in its empathy, and boastful of both his own decisions and the supremacy of the nation he leads.

Futures for the Dow Jones industrial average fell in real time with virtually each word Trump uttered, signaling a lack of confidence among investors that he had control of the crisis and previewing another bloodbath once the markets opened Thursday morning.

Trump — who believed that by giving the speech he would appear in command and that his remarks would reassure financial markets and the country — was in “an unusually foul mood” and sounded at times “apoplectic” on Thursday as he watched stocks tumble and digested widespread criticism of his speech, according to a former senior administration official briefed on his private conversations.

This official, like many others interviewed for this story, spoke on the condition of anonymity to share sensitive information or make candid assessments,

Ben Rhodes, who served as a senior White House aide and helped former president Barack Obama script and manage his responses to numerous crises, predicted that Wednesday night’s address will stand as “the moment people associate with the fact that Donald Trump failed the biggest test of his presidency.”

“I think we’ll look back on this as a defining moment of the Trump presidency because it speaks to larger concerns that people already had about Trump — that he can’t tell the truth, that he doesn’t value expertise, that he doesn’t take the presidency seriously enough,” Rhodes said.

As often is the case after Trump gives a major speech, his Republican allies offered a chorus of praise on television and social media for his “fantastic speech” and “decisive actions” and “unique strength.”

Inside the White House, however, aides and advisers privately acknowledged that Trump failed to accomplish the primary goal of his speech — reassuring the nation — and described it as disappointing and far from his best performance.

Trump’s speech contained at least two errors and a significant omission. He said the travel ban would apply to cargo; it did not. He said health insurance companies would waive patients’ co-payments for coronavirus testing and treatment; industry officials later clarified that they would waive payments for testing only. And he did not fully explain the details of his travel restrictions, leaving out the fact that U.S. citizens would be exempt.

The president’s remarks were devoid of much substantive information on other matters. Trump provided no update for citizens on the spread of the virus, nor on the availability and results of testing.

Public health experts have said testing citizens for the coronavirus is essential for identifying new cases and limiting its spread, but the nation has experienced a chronic shortage of test kits after weeks of missteps by the government. Trump devoted only two short sentences to the topic, and they were vague: “Testing and testing capabilities are expanding rapidly, day by day. We are moving very quickly.”

Stylistically, the president himself seemed ill at ease in the formal setting, offering a labored, monotone delivery from behind the Resolute Desk, twiddling his thumbs and even, in moments, struggling to read words on the teleprompter. One senior administration official said Trump’s heart was not in the speech.

“It was jolting,” said Julian Zelizer, a presidential historian at Princeton University. “People are naturally scared. People want to see a leader who has a commanding presence. In some ways, the country is worse off after a message like that.”

The speech itself was rushed. After weeks of playing down the coronavirus’s threat to the United States, Trump was reluctant to appreciate the full scope of the crisis on his hands. But with the markets in free fall, he decided early Wednesday that he wanted to give the televised speech that night, administration officials said. This startled some of his aides and set off a frantic scramble to arrange airtime on television networks, iron out logistics for his delivery and prepare a draft of what he would say, the officials said.

“This was a real missed opportunity to not just have a couple of sentences in there about how other people need to put partisanship aside and come together, but to really show it,” the former senior administration official said, noting that Trump could have sought to rise above the politics of the moment to convey a sense of unity and common purpose.

“The speech almost writes itself in a way,” this person added. “It can be kind of formulaic. It’s not rocket science.”

The speech was largely written by Kushner and senior policy adviser Stephen Miller, who were still making tweaks to the text until moments before Trump delivered it, according to people familiar with the process. Thirty minutes before Trump appeared live on camera, a final draft of his remarks still had not circulated widely within the White House, one of those people said. And senior health experts in the administration did not review a final draft of the remarks, according to a senior administration official.

While Kushner and Miller crafted the remarks, a coterie of other officials were involved in the process and joined Trump in the Oval Office to watch his delivery. One person with knowledge of the speech said they included Vice President Pence, Ivanka Trump, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, and a sizable group of White House aides: Christopher Liddell, Eric Ueland, Dan Scavino, Hogan Gidley, Judd Deere, John McEntee, Anthony Ornato and Nick Luna.

Some officials faulted the rushed timeline for the messy speech, which they said could have been delivered even sooner, as it became clear the virus was well on its way to becoming a global pandemic — a designation the World Health Organization officially bestowed upon the coronavirus Wednesday.

“Everyone usually gets [Trump] where he needs to be within a couple of days,” one official said. “The problem is we don’t have a couple of days.”

Kushner only recently became involved with the administration’s virus response, beginning to attend meetings in his capacity as a senior adviser, according to officials, but inserted himself more fully as he became increasingly convinced that more tangible action was needed. He supported Trump’s decision to ban most travel from Europe for 30 days and has pushed for further concrete steps, some of which are expected to be announced in the coming days, officials said.

There was some frustration among other White House aides at the sudden involvement by Kushner, who they viewed as simply parachuting in and whose vast portfolio — including Middle East peace negotiations, immigration and the reelection campaign — has been the subject of mockery in some circles.

The travel ban has been criticized by some experts for being largely ineffectual at this point considering that the virus already has spread throughout the United States, as well as the fact that Trump exempted the United Kingdom, meaning anyone trying to fly to America from Europe could simply get to London first.

Tom Bossert, Trump’s former homeland security adviser, was sharply critical of the measure, saying it would have been helpful earlier but now the key focus should be on community mitigation, such as closing schools or quarantining sick individuals.

“There’s little value to European travel restrictions,” Bossert tweeted Thursday morning. “Poor use of time & energy.”

On NBC’s “Today” show Thursday morning, host Savannah Guthrie read Pence — who is overseeing the administration’s coronavirus response — a snippet of a Trump tweet in which the president accused “the Fake News Media and their partner, the Democrat Party” of trying to “inflame the CoronaVirus situation.”

“There’s been some irresponsible rhetoric,” the vice president told Guthrie, before going on to praise Trump for his concern for the health and well-being of the American public.

It was initially unclear if Pence was perhaps criticizing his boss for the president’s own “irresponsible rhetoric.” But when asked, an aide to the vice president quickly insisted that he was not.

 

[fraurosena]

Good grief. Never in my life have I been grocery shopping to find empty shelves. 

My pantry is usually stocked up quite well, but I thought I might add some extra canned goods, potatoes, rice, pasta and flower, just in case transport and distribution become affected in the coming weeks. Well, safe to say I wasn't the only one who came up with that idea. I literally got the last available potatoes. There was no flower, self-rising or otherwise, left on the shelves. Grr. I love baking fresh bread on the weekends. Now I had to resort to 'bread-mix', which has yeast already incorporated and never has the delicious crusty on the outside, fluffy on the inside results you get when you make the dough from scratch. Sigh.

Anyway, it seems al lot people are prepping now. Even in the tiny little town I live in, which so far -- thankfully! -- has had no cases at all. Quite the novelty.

[elliha]

3 hours ago, formergothardite said:

There has been some drama in my small town. The town leaders announced they were canceling any large gatherings and putting out recommendations to avoid large crowds. Some churches decided that they were going to line main street with "prayer warriors" to pray away the virus from our town.  The town informed this that this is against the no large gatherings rule and now they are considering having it at a church. I know all of this because a friend who goes to one of the churches told me, she at least realized how ridiculous the entire thing is. 

My country has announced that people who willfully break the rules on gatherings can face jail time. I think that is good for the people who have this opposition tendency towards reasonable measures. 

[SassyPants]

I pretty much self isolated the last 2 weeks, except for a quick trip to see my elderly parents and to attend a family birthday party. A hugh downside to being at home is the constant eating. 
T-1 and counting for our trip to South America. Frankly, aside from the air travel, I’d rather be there than here. My daughter is far more informed. I have tapped into her country’s health and travel website for information. My Spanish is improving. Should we get there, we will be responsible for assisting with online education for our GD as her American International school is now closed. 

[GreyhoundFan]

 

[clueliss]

Tell me I’m not the only one hopping the moron in charge is anxious right now 

 

[GreyhoundFan]

 

[GreyhoundFan]

Talk about a selfish SOB; "JetBlue Bars Passenger Who Flew With Coronavirus"

Spoiler

A passenger who flew on a JetBlue flight from New York to West Palm Beach, Fla., on Wednesday night learned midair that he had tested positive for the coronavirus, officials said, raising questions about possible widespread exposure.

The passenger, who had previously been tested for the virus and was awaiting results, got a notification toward the end of the flight that the test had come back positive. The person was overheard talking about it, and the flight crew quickly notified health officials on the ground, JetBlue confirmed on Thursday.

“JetBlue had no prior indication that this customer had or may have had coronavirus,” the airline said in a statement.

The flight, which departed from John F. Kennedy International Airport with 114 people on board, landed at Palm Beach International Airport around 8:30 p.m., with medical workers rushing to a call at the airport shortly after, officials said.

Another passenger on board, Scott Rodman, told CNBC that the plane idled on the tarmac for about two hours before health officials told some passengers that a man seated nearby had tested positive for the coronavirus.

“From what we were told, he had been tested for the virus two days ago and got a text message on the plane while he was on the plane,” said Mr. Rodman, who was flying to Florida to visit his parents.

“It’s kind of wild,” he said. “If you’ve gotten tested and you think there might be something wrong, to get on an airplane is crazy.”

By Thursday night, JetBlue had barred the passenger from flying on the airline again.

The airline said in a statement that the passenger had boarded the flight “knowing he was awaiting results for a coronavirus test without disclosing it,” putting employees and officials “in an unsettling situation that could have been easily avoided.”

The passenger, who was not identified, could not be reached for comment. It was unclear whether the passenger had been instructed not to travel.

Health officials had begun an “extensive epidemiological investigation,” the Florida Department of Health said in a statement.

Anyone who had close contact with the passenger was being asked to monitor themselves for symptoms. The passenger who tested positive was in isolation as of Thursday, the department said.

Passengers from that flight came through Palm Beach International Airport in Concourse A, which was shut down for cleaning on Thursday. The airport was otherwise operating normally, a spokeswoman said.

At J.F.K., employees cleaned the gate, security checkpoints, kiosks, restrooms and “and any other area the passenger went through based on security camera footage,” according to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the region’s airports.

 

[clueliss]

The orange menace will talk at 3pm eastern time.  No, this does no reassure me. It makes me anxious.  Tell him to shut up.

[GreyhoundFan]

This is a good article: