Government Response to Coronavirus 4: The Reality Show From Hell

[HerNameIsBuffy]

I didn't hear the whole thing, but I caught the part where Trump said he doesn't agree with GA being opened too early, he thinks they should wait until phase because he wants to save lives.  But he respects the govenor and is going to allow him to make that decision even though he doesn't agree.

There is no one i respect enough to allow them to make a decision I felt would cost the lives of others, if I had it within my power to stop it.  Every unecessary death resulting from opening early is on both of their heads.

[47of74]

On 4/21/2020 at 1:35 PM, GreyhoundFan said:

I can't stand Barr.

So many of these repugs are all about state's rights until the states do something that their lord and master, King Dumbass of Orange, doesn't like.

I can’t stand that fuck either. I hope he has a nice long stint in prison starting next year. 

[Ozlsn]

What moving towards reopening looks like in Canberra.

Spoiler

Within a fortnight, the ACT may achieve a feat few thought likely only a month ago.

It could become Australia's first jurisdiction to record zero active cases of COVID-19 within its borders.

Of the 104 cases of coronavirus confirmed in the ACT, three people have died and 93 have recovered.

With no evidence of community transmission in Canberra, international travel ground to a halt and domestic travel severely restricted, it's likely zero known active cases could be achieved in weeks.

For ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr, it's a milestone worth celebrating.

But he points out it is not the end, and it does not mean the end is even in sight.

"It means, hopefully, some easing of the quite significant restrictions that have been put in place," Barr says.

"But then also we need to be cautious, because we still don't know enough about this particular virus and where it might go next."

The ACT is living under a similar regime of restrictions as the rest of Australia: restaurants, gyms, pubs, beauticians and more businesses are closed, and gatherings of more than two people are banned.

But the rules in Canberra are not quite as tight as places like Sydney and Melbourne, with no official ban on "non-essential" travel and two people at a time allowed to visit a home.

Barr says that, as the situation improves, and attention turns to easing restrictions, there will be flexibility for the ACT to take some steps ahead of other states and territories.

What might change, and when?

While zero active cases is an important milestone, it must be seen to last.

An important threshold to cross is two weeks with zero active cases, which would provide a much greater level of confidence that the virus has been properly suppressed.

Communal exercising, at least in small groups, may be one of the first steps in relaxing restrictions.(ABC News)

The most likely early easing of restrictions would be around public gatherings, going from a maximum of two people back up to 10.

That would allow things like small family gatherings, and even fitness "boot camps" in outdoor spaces, to resume.

Barr says it is the simplest move to make in the short term.

"Smaller family gatherings and smaller gatherings outdoors … are relatively low-risk in an environment where there are no active cases in the ACT for a two-week period," he says.

"And even more so where there could be no active cases in Australia for a two-week period."

This move is likely to be considered not only by the ACT but by the national cabinet mid-next month, as Prime Minister Scott Morrison has flagged.

Much larger gatherings — like a return to public events like Floriade — are considerably further off.

And even if the ACT were in a position to safely reopen restaurants, pubs and bars with social-distancing measures in place, there is an extra concern.

The ACT's borders will remain open — and Barr says such a move would create a "pull factor", drawing in visitors from New South Wales for a night out.

"Were we to reopen bars and restaurants, but they remained closed in NSW, then we would get quite an influx of people into the territory and that would lead to an increased risk," he says.

He says while the ACT hopes to be in a position, in the months ahead, to allow more activity to take place, health authorities are cautious about the possibility of a "second wave".

"The biggest challenge is, if we significantly loosen restrictions and then cases take off again, we may find ourselves having to lock back down, and maybe even more severely," he says.

So for pubs, bars and restaurants to reopen, the ACT would probably have to move with NSW.

It's likely the one-person-per-four-square-metres rule would come back with it, too.

Concerns over silent pockets of the virus

Eliminating all known cases of COVID-19 in the ACT is undoubtedly a positive milestone, but epidemiologists and political leaders agree that unknown cases remain a concern.

It's considered likely that the virus will remain in Canberra, silently transmitted among people who might not show symptoms or be aware that they have it.

There is still no actual evidence of community transmission in the city, and testing criteria will be expanded from today in a renewed effort to find it.

But Professor Mark Daniel, an epidemiologist from the University of Canberra, says it's worth assuming that the disease is there.

"Value can be placed in the notion of zero active cases, because it means that confirmed cases have been reduced through treatment and prevention," he says.

"So this is a positive phenomenon, but we need to remember that there are many active cases out there in the community.

"Those cases are out there, and they're actively fighting off the virus."

But Professor Daniel says that is not an argument against the restrictions that have been put in place to date, which have been "very successful".

For him, the task now is relaxing restrictions in a strategic manner to protect particularly vulnerable people — and avoid a much-feared second wave of cases emerging.

Reopening schools, for example, would be an option — but certainly not nursing homes.

"Social distancing remains important for vulnerable populations, older people, immuno-compromised people," he says.

"Social distancing for people less than 60 might be considered for relaxing."

The virus is a problem we must live with

Barr warns that, even if some restrictions are eased in the weeks and months ahead, life is a long way from returning to normal.

While trials on a vaccine are beginning, any roll-out is a long way off, and precautions must remain in place, he says.

"I'm still left with a long-term concern that we are, as a community, going to have to learn to live with this virus as a long-term reality of life," Mr Barr says.

"Just as we have had to learn to live with HIV, with seasonal flu, with polio, with measles, with a whole range of other medical and health challenges that successive generations of humans have had to deal with.

"And this one might not go away easily. We may have to live with it in the long term."

Keeping it in perspective - the ACT is Australia's smallest state/territory, and has a population of about 400,000 (mostly in Canberra). It has a very small number of international flights in and out (under normal circumstances - most people still enter Australia through Sydney or Melbourne). The ACT is also surrounded by NSW, so whatever happens in that state will affect Canberra as well. 

Having said that there is some cautious optimism that if we can increase testing we may be able to manage this virus and keep the especially vulnerable safe until we can get a working vaccine. Touch wood.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

Moscow Mitch is competing with Twitler to be the biggest asshole: "Mitch McConnell to states: Drop dead"

Spoiler

Some men, as Batman’s butler Alfred famously said, “can’t be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.”

Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) may be among them.

While it’s awfully hard to be surprised by the depths of the Senate majority leader’s cynicism, on Wednesday he gave a truly remarkable interview to conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt in which the subject of aid to states and localities came up in a discussion of the rescue packages that Congress has passed.

The Senate majority leader made clear that he does not want to see any more aid to states and localities from this point on. Instead, he believes that they should simply be forced to declare bankruptcy. He said:

My guess is their first choice would be for the federal government to borrow money from future generations to send it down to them now so they don’t have to do that [declare bankruptcy. That’s not something I’m going to be in favor of....

We all have governors regardless of party who would love to have free money. And that’s why I said yesterday we’re going to push the pause button here, because I think this whole business of additional assistance for state and local governments need to be thoroughly evaluated.

Meanwhile, his office is calling aid to states “Blue State Bailouts” — as though it’s only states with lots of Democrats that need help to avoid having to lay off teachers and cops, and not every state in the Union.

The twin public health and economic crises have put state budgets in a desperate condition. If something isn’t done soon, those budgets are going to collapse, resulting in massive layoffs and cuts in services (as of 2014, there were more than 16 million state and local full-time-equivalent employees in America). Which, of course, will make the recession deeper and longer.

While Phase 3 of the rescue effort included $150 billion for states and localities, it wasn’t nearly enough. In the negotiations over Phase 4, Democrats requested an additional $150 billion, but even that represented a fraction of the need. According to experts and groups like the National Governors Association, states actually need more like $500 billion to stay afloat.

As those negotiations proceeded, the position of the Trump White House came down to, “We’ll get to that later.” According to some reporting, they were privately worried that giving the states aid too soon would discourage them from quickly reopening businesses and schools; better to use some more economic pain as a way to incentivize them to lift stay-at-home orders, regardless of what public health might dictate.

But McConnell didn’t say he might favor state and local aid some time in the future. He simply said no, so there was no state aid in Phase 4. And now it’s becoming clear that “No” really meant “Never.”

In any negotiation, the party that is more willing to walk away has most of the power. If you desperately want to arrive at an agreement but I don’t really care one way or another, you’re going to be much more willing to accept my terms.

We’ve seen that play out in negotiations over the successive phases of economic rescue since the covid-19 pandemic began — except with an inversion of what one might expect. Since the president is likely to get most of the blame (deserved or not) for an economic downturn, and since President Trump is up for reelection this fall, Republicans should be the ones demanding the most aggressive measures to confront the pandemic and save the economy.

Yet the opposite has been true: Democrats have asked for more at every step than Republicans have been willing to give, to the point where in Phase 4, the inclusion of $25 billion for coronavirus testing — the single most important thing that will allow us to end the pandemic — was treated by everyone as a concession Republicans made to Democrats.

But even if his public rejection of state aid were just a negotiating tactic on McConnell’s part, the natural question is: To what end? What would making everyone think he’s willing to turn a recession into a depression achieve for McConnell? What is he trying to get out of the next deal that he can’t otherwise get? Less money for small businesses? Less help for the unemployed?

Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.), who has known McConnell for half a century, recently told the New Yorker’s Jane Mayer that McConnell “never had any core principles. He just wants to be something. He doesn’t want to do anything.”

Maybe McConnell secretly has some end game in mind, one that will suddenly reveal that he was serving the best interests of all Americans the whole time. But right now, it sure looks like he just wants the country to burn.

 

 

[Ozlsn]

America's front line food workers.

Illustrated interviews with essential workers in the food industry.

[fraurosena]

5 hours ago, HerNameIsBuffy said:

I didn't hear the whole thing, but I caught the part where Trump said he doesn't agree with GA being opened too early, he thinks they should wait until phase because he wants to save lives.  But he respects the govenor and is going to allow him to make that decision even though he doesn't agree.

There is no one i respect enough to allow them to make a decision I felt would cost the lives of others, if I had it within my power to stop it.  Every unecessary death resulting from opening early is on both of their heads.

“I respect...“ in Trump-speak means “I’m too cowardly and afraid of...”

[clueliss]

Missouri looks like it is going to let state-wide stay at home order expire (but local orders will/can remain in effect)

 

[clueliss]

How gyms lobbied their way to the top of the reopen list 

https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/23/politics/gyms-reopening-lobbying-coronavirus-trump-phase-one/index.html

[fraurosena]

When he thought this up, I'm sure Trump was going:

"? Ta-tatata-tatatata-ta-tatataaaahhhh ?...Thunderbirds are GO!"

And people will love him for flying fancy planes over cities. It helps so much in the fight against the pandemic. /s

[HerNameIsBuffy]

15 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

When he thought this up, I'm sure Trump was going:

"? Ta-tatata-tatatata-ta-tatataaaahhhh ?...Thunderbirds are GO!"

And people will love him for flying fancy planes over cities. It helps so much in the fight against the pandemic. /s

I grew up right by Glenview Naval Air station and IMO the only thing air shows are good for are noise polution and unnecessary risk.

[GreyhoundFan]

This is infuriating:

 

[GreyhoundFan]

Cuomo smacks down Moscow Mitch:

 

[GreyhoundFan]

I guess racist comments are a requirement to be hired in this sham administration:

 

[GreyhoundFan]

I had to look to see if this was from The Onion or another satire site:

 

[GreyhoundFan]

 

[HerNameIsBuffy]

ELizabeth Warren's brother just died of coronavirus.

[Cartmann99]

I'm sitting here with my mouth hanging open after listening to this.

 

[HerNameIsBuffy]

9 minutes ago, Cartmann99 said:

I'm sitting here with my mouth hanging open after listening to this.

 

And they still won't invoke the 25th amendment now?!

[JMarie]

1 hour ago, Cartmann99 said:

I'm sitting here with my mouth hanging open after listening to this.

 

Did he just say injecting disinfectant would be "interesting"? What the everloving fuck is he talking about?

Maybe he can be the first to try it out.  Since he's such a germaphobe and everything.

[HerNameIsBuffy]

3 minutes ago, JMarie said:

Did he just say injecting disinfectant would be "interesting"? What the everloving fuck is he talking about?

Maybe he can be the first to try it out.  Since he's such a germaphobe and everything.

I'd agree to that particular kind of experiemental testing on that human.  

[47of74]

If fuck head thinks doing the injectable version of the Tide Pod Challenge is such a great idea and is pushing others to do that than aforementioned fuck head should volunteer to do that to himself first before suggesting others try it.  Along with any other treatments he may wish to hawk. 

[47of74]

Yeah AOC had a response to Sarah Fuckabee Sanders 

 

[AmazonGrace]

Just kill me now 

https://mobile.twitter.com/NC5PhilWilliams/status/1253487743046385670

[fraurosena]

I know these countries need help. But why is he giving away ventilators when his own country -- the worst hit country in the entire world! -- doesn't have enough and hospitals desperately need them?

Cooperation between you means he did something for you too. Care to share what that was?

 

 

[HerNameIsBuffy]

2 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

I know these countries need help. But why is he giving away ventilators when his own country -- the worst hit country in the entire world! -- doesn't have enough and hospitals desperately need them?

Cooperation between you means he did something for you too. Care to share what that was?

 

I hope we have what we need.  But even if we didn't I believe he'd be doing this anyway, because he needs the praise and thanks.  He resents that the govenors think the federal government owes help to the states (because it does) and he's not getting his ass kissed enough for meeting obligations.