Government Response to Coronavirus 5: We're On Our Own

[JMarie]

4 hours ago, onekidanddone said:

Just gonna leave this here

The leader of an anti mask/pro reopening group has COVID. He blames Satan 
 

https://www.baltimoresun.com/coronavirus/ac-cn-tim-walters-coronavirus-20200626-5l3epvbptng4dn4ys5btb5zika-story.html
 

He wasn't concerned about a three month long dry cough?

[ADoyle90815]

California's governor orders bars closed in LA County and others

I personally think it was too soon to open bars.

[WiseGirl]

You think? This is a shitshow.  I keep seeing friends in Midwestern states posting pictures from all over the place and with different groups of people. And now one of the is in Florida. 

Health and Human Services Services Secretary Alex Azar warned Sunday that the "window is closing" for the United States to get the coronavirus pandemic under control.https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/28/politics/hhs-alex-azar-coronavirus-rise-in-cases-cnntv/index.html

 

[Audrey2]

6 hours ago, WiseGirl said:

You think? This is a shitshow.  I keep seeing friends in Midwestern states posting pictures from all over the place and with different groups of people. And now one of the is in Florida. 

Health and Human Services Services Secretary Alex Azar warned Sunday that the "window is closing" for the United States to get the coronavirus pandemic under control.https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/28/politics/hhs-alex-azar-coronavirus-rise-in-cases-cnntv/index.html

 

Sadly I think we are beyond get the coronavirus under control and into ride it out. The way conservatives rebelled against the first round of stay-at-home orders I don't see them following the second round it all. I don't think the conservatives would wear masks, even if you printed some up that look like the American flag, wrote make America great again on them, and put a big picture of a gun in the middle.

[Smash!]

When you think it can’t get any worse in Texas 

 

Edited June 29, 2020 by Smash!

[47of74]

Interesting article in The Week on the state of this outhouse of a country in the pandemic. 

Quote

The United States is in the midst of a full-blown second wave of coronavirus. According to Worldometers, Tuesday had 36,015 new cases — the highest number since May 1, and the third-highest ever. Arizona, Florida, South Carolina, California, and Texas are headed for a dire emergency fast. So far deaths have thankfully not returned to their previous highs, probably in part because the new surge appears to be hitting younger patients. But deaths are also a lagging indicator, and they are highly likely to start increasing soon.

Europe, where most countries have largely contained the virus (after initial screw-ups), is looking at America with slackjawed horror. The European Union is likely to close its borders to American travelers when it restores some international travel on July 1. Canada will most likely keep its U.S. border mostly closed when the current agreement expires on July 21.

Around the world, it is beginning to sink in how profoundly rotten the United States is. Unless America manages to turn things around, it will slide from the center of the international order to a peripheral, mistrusted basketcase, and it will deserve it.

A nation that could elect Donald Trump is deeply, deeply sick. We are comparatively lucky that Trump appointed Jerome Powell chair of the Federal Reserve board (who turned out to be at least in possession of his faculties), instead of, say, Jared Kushner. When a country is as gangrenous as the United States, the rot tends to spread through its entire system sooner or later. So long as the Republican Party is not comprehensively defeated politically, and the Democrats do their utmost to avoid governing, it would be extremely foolish to rely in any way on American institutions. In years to come, our fellow democratic nations may start a containment strategy against the festering American polity so as to prevent its dysfunction from spilling over its borders, as they are now doing to stop the spread of coronavirus. If they have any sense, they're already thinking about it.

I like how Cooper isn't pulling any punches for the Democrats and their missteps either.  People like to treat guys like Cuomo, deBlasio, and Newsome as the second coming or some fornicating thing but Cooper isn't. 

Edited June 29, 2020 by 47of74

[Audrey2]

3 hours ago, 47of74 said:

Europe, where most countries have largely contained the virus (after initial screw-ups), is looking at America with slackjawed horror. The European Union is likely to close its borders to American travelers when it restores some international travel on July 1. Canada will most likely keep its U.S. border mostly closed when the current agreement expires on July 21.

Around the world, it is beginning to sink in how profoundly rotten the United States is. Unless America manages to turn things around, it will slide from the center of the international order to a peripheral, mistrusted basketcase, and it will deserve it.

Trump, this is on you. You were the leadership for how the US reacted to the Coronavirus. You have now turned the U.S. into a virus riddled shithole country (and I don't use that term lightly). No one wants to let Americans in, not even for business or visitation purposes. You own this.

[GreyhoundFan]

I found this to be quite interesting:

 

[GreyhoundFan]

I swear, if I hear one more repug say that the for-profit US healthcare system is soooooooooooo much better than the universal healthcare offered everywhere else, I'm going to scream...

 

[GreyhoundFan]

Great video from Elizabeth Warren:

 

[WiseGirl]

Hopeful

https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/coronavirus/conn-covid-19-testing-increases-hospitalizations-positive-test-rate-decline/2295853/

It must be magical how this happened. I don't know, maybe because everywhere I've gone I've seen people wearing masks and not tossing a fit over it.

[Workingmom]

https://rt.live/

(I hope the link works)

Reproductionnumbers of the different states. These are up-to-date values for Rt, a key measure of how fast the virus is growing. It’s the average number of people who become infected by an infectious person. If Rt is above 1.0, the virus will spread quickly. When Rt is below 1.0, the virus will stop spreading. 

Above 1: more and more cases  

Edited July 1, 2020 by Workingmom
Spelling

[GreyhoundFan]

This is infuriating:

 

[Workingmom]

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/rosalindadams/mike-pence-dallas-megachurch-coronavirus

But, but they can't het ill, because they  are protected by the blood of Jesus...

[Cartmann99]

I'm completely gobsmacked right now:

 

[GreyhoundFan]

He really is crazy Uncle Don who sits in the corner, muttering nonsense to himself.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

Some people are truly insane:

 

[GreyhoundFan]

Yet Pence keeps saying everything is under control: "Secret Service agents preparing for Pence Arizona trip contracted coronavirus"

Spoiler

Vice President Pence’s trip to Arizona this week had to be postponed by a day after several Secret Service agents who helped organize the visit either tested positive for the coronavirus or were showing symptoms of being infected.

Pence was scheduled to go to Phoenix on Tuesday but went on Wednesday instead so that healthy agents could be deployed for his visit, according to two senior administration officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private details of the trip.

Arizona has seen a spike in cases in recent weeks, and Pence scaled back the trip before the delay because of the growing amount of infections in the state.

Pence’s staff was concerned last weekend about their ability to hold planned public events in Tucson and Yuma due to the outbreak, one administration official said, and decided on Saturday to visit only Phoenix for a much smaller meeting — a public health briefing with Gov. Doug Ducey (R) and local health care leaders.

On Monday night, the Secret Service urged Pence’s staff to delay the Tuesday trip until Wednesday because at least one agent on the ground had a confirmed case of covid-19 and other agents and federal officers preparing for the Arizona visit were showing signs of illness, according to two administration officials.

The Secret Service needed time to bring in healthy agents and other personnel to replace the ones who were either sick or most likely sick, one of the officials said. The official said the Secret Service estimated that a total of eight to 10 agents and other officers from sister agencies — all of whom were helping prepare for Pence’s visit to Arizona — had fallen ill.

This is the second time in recent weeks that Secret Service agents preparing for a White House or Trump campaign event outside Washington have contracted the virus. At least three Secret Service personnel working on the advance team for President Trump’s Tulsa rally on June 20 tested positive for the coronavirus. Two agents tested positive hours before the indoor stadium event was held, and dozens of agents who were on site for the rally were ordered to self-quarantine when they arrived home.

Trump was criticized for holding the rally in an area with an increasing number of cases, but he brushed aside the concerns raised by public health officials and urged his supporters to turn out. Far fewer people than expected attended the rally. Pence has faced criticism over his recent travels as he has sought to get out of Washington and visit areas hit hard by the coronavirus that are also key swing states in the upcoming election, such as Arizona and Florida.

A spokesperson for Pence, who heads the administration’s coronavirus task force, declined to address the specific issues of the trip’s delay.

“Instead of highlighting Vice President Pence’s concerted effort with Task Force members to visit and support states with new cases, The Washington Post is choosing to use its pages to report on a story of little use to every day Americans attempting to learn more about how coronavirus affects them or the Administration’s response efforts,” Pence spokesman Devin O’Malley said in a statement.

One administration official defended Pence’s trip to Arizona and said the vice president values traveling the country so he can see some of the hardest-hit areas, meet with state and local officials and have an informed opinion while showing the administration is paying attention. Pence traveled to Arizona with other administration officials, including Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator.

While in Phoenix, Pence was asked by a reporter why he needed to travel to Arizona to be briefed on the outbreak.

“Well, the rising cases here in Arizona is why I’m here. It’s why we brought the White House Coronavirus Task Force here,” Pence said. “I’m a real believer, as President Trump is, in — in sitting down with the people that are leading the effort.”

The heightened risk of agents getting sick while they try to prepare for events for Trump and Pence in cities far from Washington has begun to frazzle agents and their families, according to several people who have spoken to agents. The Secret Service’s foremost mission is protecting the safety and health of the president and vice president, as well as 39 members of their family and senior leaders in the administration.

Trump’s news conferences are typically broadcast live, and Pence could have communicated with the governor of Arizona and other local leaders through video conference.

Pence did not leave the airport during his Phoenix trip, which lasted about two and a half hours.

Many of the activities that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warn can increase the chance of infection are similar to what advance agents are required to do to plan the major events the White House and campaign have chosen to host. The agents must travel significant distances away from home, meet with strangers, and spend many hours indoors with other teams to coordinate security planning.

Secret Service communications director Catherine Milhoan declined to comment on any specifics on number of agents who were infected or steps taken to protect them, but she stressed that the agency follows CDC guidelines and issued the following statement.

“The health and safety of our workforce, their families, and that of our protectees remains the agency’s highest priority,” she said. “As a matter of practice, the Secret Service does not comment on the means and methods used to carry out our protective operations. The men and women of the Secret Service continue to meet operational mission requirements without fail.”

Despite the illnesses that were found among advance team members at the president’s June 20 rally in Tulsa, Pence’s office soldiered forward to try to hold events in Arizona.

The White House has said that Trump and Pence are tested daily for infection.

At the Tulsa event, six advance team members tested positive in the hours before the rally, which was reported by media outlets that afternoon. The news set off a scramble by the campaign to determine if the tests had been flawed, but also to quiz health care workers conducting the tests about whether they had leaked the information to the media. Two Secret Service personnel — an advance agent and an officer in charge of screening rally attendees — also tested positive that day.

Later, a group of Secret Service agents in the Tulsa field office arranged to be discreetly tested in the parking lot of a hospital, avoiding the normal routine of entering the emergency room and answering questions about their potential exposure, according to two people familiar with the agency’s decision. Dozens of Secret Service agents on the Tulsa trip were instructed to self-quarantine at home for two weeks when they returned from Tulsa.

 

[clueliss]

Herman Cain tested positive.  2 weeks after attending Trump's Tulsa rally  where he had a self taken in close proximity to folks and wasn't masked.  

[SassyPants]

On 7/1/2020 at 11:24 AM, GreyhoundFan said:

This is infuriating:

 

DEATH PANELS...in a Repug state? Pro Life my ass-

[GreyhoundFan]

I despise her:

 

[Italiangirl]

So help me understand she is saying that nobody wants to wear a mask but the president example doesn't count? And those who are wearing a mask how do they know they had to? An alien ? comes and said just to them personally? But sure the president doesn't have to wear one because well he his above all this right? He can not get sick he is protected. 

I just can't with how far some people can go to justify their views(and not only in the Us I'm also thinking of our Salvini who is able to go around take selfies unmask and then go on tv and ask why everybody is criticizing him on sm. He has also become a great meme) 

[GreyhoundFan]

With this administration, there's always grifting and theft...

 

[DarkAnts]

On 7/4/2020 at 12:32 PM, Italiangirl said:

So help me understand she is saying that nobody wants to wear a mask but the president example doesn't count? And those who are wearing a mask how do they know they had to? An alien ? comes and said just to them personally? But sure the president doesn't have to wear one because well he his above all this right? He can not get sick he is protected. 

I just can't with how far some people can go to justify their views(and not only in the Us I'm also thinking of our Salvini who is able to go around take selfies unmask and then go on tv and ask why everybody is criticizing him on sm. He has also become a great meme) 

The president deserves to die a slow and painful death due to COVID. People who don't wear masks should be charged with reckless endangerment at a minimum. If they cause someone else to get the virus, attempted manslaughter. If the person dies, reckless manslaughter at a minimum.

Edited July 5, 2020 by DarkAnts

[Audrey2]

I still don't understand why so many "pro life" people refuse to wear a mask.

Oh right, they aren't pro-life (or anti-abortion), they are pro-controlling women.

It really gets me when they wave "My body, my choice" signs.