All things Chinese CoronaVirus

[tech37]

Krugman... who let him out of the classroom? Piling on with no solutions... stating the obvious with perfect hindsight. What a "smart" fellow.

I'm now going to clean the cat box.

[seacoaster]

https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/women ... attractive

Arizona losing control of the virus:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/h ... story.html

"A drive-up testing site equipped for several hundred people in West Phoenix was swarmed on Saturday by about 1,000 people, leaving some baking in their cars for hours.

A nearby testing station has already reached capacity for this weekend, appointments vanishing within minutes. Hospitals are filling up. Restaurants are again shutting down, more than a month after Arizona reopened its economy under the mantra “Return Stronger.”

Arizona has emerged as an epicenter of the early summer coronavirus crisis as the outbreak has expanded, flaring across new parts of the country and, notably, infecting more young people.

Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, is recording as many as 2,000 cases a day, “eclipsing the New York City boroughs even on their worst days,” warned a Wednesday brief by disease trackers at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, which observed, “Arizona has lost control of the epidemic.”

But physicians, public health experts, advocates and local officials say the crisis was predictable in Arizona, where local ordinances requiring masks were forbidden until Gov. Doug Ducey (R) reversed course last week. State leaders did not take the necessary precautions or model safe behavior, these observers maintain, even in the face of compelling evidence and repeated pleas from authoritative voices.

“We have failed on so many levels,” said Dana Marie Kennedy, the Arizona director of AARP, who said her organization has yet to receive a response to four letters outlining concerns to the governor. She is working on a fifth.

Neither the governor’s office nor the state health department responded to requests for comment.

At critical junctures, blunders by top officials undermined faith in the data purportedly driving decision-making, according to experts monitoring Arizona’s response. And when forbearance was most required, as the state began to reopen despite continued community transmission, an abrupt and uniform approach — without transparent benchmarks or latitude for stricken areas to hold back — led large parts of the public to believe the pandemic was over.

And now, Arizona is facing more per capita cases than recorded by any country in Europe or even by hard-hit Brazil. Among states with at least 20 people hospitalized for covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, no state has seen its rate of hospitalizations increase more rapidly since Memorial Day.

This week, Arizona reported not just a record single-day increase in new cases — with Tuesday’s tally reaching 3,591 — but also record use of inpatient beds and ventilators for suspected and confirmed cases. Public health experts warn that hospitals could be stretched so thin they may have to begin triaging patients by mid-July.

Soon, the only option might be “crisis standards of care,” said Will Humble, a former director of the Arizona Department of Health Services. “If you’re in a bed, normally they’ll keep you for a few days, but they’re going to send you home with oxygen.”

Ducey, speaking to reporters Thursday, said hospitals are “likely to hit surge capacity very soon.”

“This virus is everywhere,” the governor said.

The situation in Arizona — as President Trump this week paid his second visit in as many months to the state, which could be a battleground in November — has exemplified the march of the virus across the Sun Belt, where it has also thrashed Florida and Texas, creating conditions as dire as at any point during the pandemic. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) on Thursday paused his state’s reopening and ordered hospitals in four counties to postpone elective surgeries.

Physicians fear there is now less buy-in from a public weary of restrictions and polarized by a highly partisan response to the health crisis. In Southern states, some epidemiologists also are cautioning about what they are calling a “reverse summer effect,” with warm weather — once thought to interrupt the spread of the virus — driving residents into indoor spaces with recycled air.

“My level of frustration is high,” Kennedy of AARP said. “We could have stopped this.”

The last time she met with Ducey was March 11, Kennedy said, when she stood by his side as he declared a health emergency and promised to safeguard nursing homes and assisted-living facilities. He has failed to follow through on those efforts, she argued, saying testing of facility staffers has remained inadequate and equipment needs have gone unmet. Cara Christ, Ducey’s health director, has been absent as well, Kennedy said, pulling out of plans for a virtual town hall meeting with AARP members in April.

Now, a crisis that crashed down first on the state’s elderly population is increasingly taking hold among younger people.

The mean age of Arizonans killed by covid-19 fell from 78 on April 27 to 69 on June 14, according to data processed by a modeling team made up of experts at Arizona State University and the University of Arizona. The average age of patients testing positive for the virus dropped from 51 on April 5 to 39 by mid-June. While older individuals are known to be at greater risk from the virus, Arizona has three times as many positive tests among people age 20 to 44 as it does in any other age bracket, according to state data.

The state’s cases began rising dramatically about May 25, 10 days after Ducey allowed the state’s stay-at-home order to expire, said Joe K. Gerald, an associate professor and public health researcher at the University of Arizona who is part of the academic team providing models to the state health department.

Ross F. Goldberg, president of the Arizona Medical Association, said that “people thought it was back to normal times.”

That mistaken view has persisted, even as new cases mount.

“I have to see somebody sick, directly related to me or close to me, in order for it to become like reality,” said Joshua Kwiatkowski, strolling this week at an open-air shopping center in Tempe, Ariz. “So it hasn’t really, I guess, sank in.”

Kwiatkowski said he was not inclined to wear a mask unless required to do so — unless, as he put it, “an Uber driver is feeling some type of way or a store makes you wear it.”

Requirements designed to stanch the spread of the virus have expanded since Ducey changed course last week and allowed local governments to impose stricter rules on masks than the recommendations issued by the state. A petition urging him to mandate face coverings statewide gained signatures from more than 1,000 medical professionals. Ducey also shifted his stance toward businesses, directing them to develop policies in line with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which had previously only been recommended.

“There will be enforcement, and they will be held accountable,” the governor said.

Numerous cities responded immediately with mask ordinances and emergency proclamations, including Scottsdale, where a tony neighborhood of bars and high-end boutiques had come to epitomize disregard for social distancing guidelines still technically in effect but largely unenforced. Photos and videos of packed businesses accumulated on social media as Ducey and other officials — frequently appearing themselves without masks — insisted most people were behaving responsibly.

The area, known as Old Town Scottsdale and ordinarily packed even on a weekday, fell quiet this week after the wave of new restrictions unleashed by Ducey’s about-face. Most businesses had only a smattering of customers, while some bars and restaurants had already closed their doors for the evening, despite banners hanging from their facades welcoming customers.

Still, resistance to health precautions remains pronounced. At an anti-mask rally Wednesday, a member of the Scottsdale City Council, Republican Guy Phillips, shouted the dying words of George Floyd — “I can’t breathe” — before ripping off his mask, enlisting a rallying cry of the nationwide protests against racial injustice to inveigh against face coverings that reduce airborne transmission of tiny droplets. Hours later, he issued an apology “to anyone who became offended.”

Phillips, who did not respond to an email seeking further comment, runs an air-conditioning business, and, according to his council biography, is a member of the Better Business Bureau, the Arizona Small Business Association and the North Scottsdale Chamber of Commerce, among other business groups.

At virtually every stage of the state’s pandemic response, the interests of business have held sway, said Nathan Laufer, the founder of the Heart and Vascular Center of Arizona, a medical practice with locations in Phoenix and nearby counties, and a former director of the state medical association.

Ducey is a former chief executive of Cold Stone Creamery. The head of the state’s restaurant association, Steve Chucri, is also a Republican supervisor in Maricopa County. He did not respond to requests for comment.

“It’s fine to be pro-business, but you have to be pro-citizen first,” Laufer said. The governor, in belatedly handing local authorities more control, is “playing catch-up,” he added, “but it’s too little, too late.”

Some residents noted that the Republican governor was following his party’s standard-bearer. “Hindsight’s 20/20, but yeah, it was a little late,” said Greg Cahill, loading his car with groceries outside a Costco at Phoenix’s Christown Spectrum mall. “I think he was a little slow. But he’s a conservative man and he wanted to do what Trump said.”

“It’s scary,” the 58-year-old said of the rising cases.

Protests were mounting at the state capitol over Ducey’s stay-at-home order. Lawmakers in his party were pledging to invalidate it. County sheriffs were refusing to enforce it.

And Trump, who was urging governors to jump-start their economies, was coming to Arizona to tour a Honeywell plant and to convene a discussion about issues facing Native Americans.

The day before the president’s visit, Ducey announced plans to accelerate the reopening of his state’s economy, lifting restrictions on salons and barbershops and allowing restaurants to resume dine-in service. A chart displaying the number of new cases, which did not show the 14-day decline recommended by White House guidelines, “really doesn’t tell you much,” Ducey said at his May 4 news conference.

That evening, the state ended its partnership with the university modeling team whose projections plainly showed a rising caseload in Arizona. It was resumed following an outcry.

Two days later, top health officials acknowledged having changed the testing count to include viral tests confirming an infection and serology tests determining the presence of coronavirus antibodies — a move with the potential to artificially lower the positivity rate touted by Ducey at his May 4 briefing.

“This is a good trajectory for Arizona,” he affirmed at the time.

Ducey’s original order reopening the state — and preventing local officials from setting their own rules despite mounting evidence about the benefits of masks and social distancing — was in keeping with a top-down approach to governance that critics say has characterized his tenure. In 2017, he signed a bill approved by the Republican-controlled legislature that allowed any state legislator to direct the Arizona attorney general to investigate a local regulation for a possible violation of state law. Consequences included potentially losing revenue from the state.

“The biggest challenge has been Governor Ducey tying the hands of mayors and county health departments,” said Regina Romero, the Democratic mayor of Tucson, who said she weighed an emergency proclamation mandating masks in mid-March but was advised against it by her city attorney. Her city’s budget is about $566 million, Romero said, more than a fifth of which comes from the state.

“There’s a real threat with money involved,” the mayor said.

Limited resources have also hampered the ability of the hardest-hit counties to conduct thorough contact tracing. Maricopa County shifted in the early weeks of the pandemic to what it called a “mediated” approach in which all sickened people are interviewed but are then made responsible for notifying their own contacts.

A spokesman for the county health department, Ron Coleman, confirmed this week the limited approach is still in use, even as cases soar.

Hugh Lytle, chief executive of Equality Health, said the willingness of people in Phoenix to wait for hours to be tested at the drive-in site organized by his medical group over the weekend has been a wake-up call.

State officials are taking note, he said, of the “overwhelming level of fear and anxiety that’s causing people to say it’s worth sitting in my car for a couple hours.”

[CU88]

At least 122,000 people have died from coronavirus in the U.S.A

What is the plan?

How many months/weeks/days has it been since o d held one of his administration's coronavirus task force presser?

[seacoaster]

At least 122,000 people have died from coronavirus in the U.S.A

What is the plan?

How many months/weeks/days has it been since o d held one of his administration's coronavirus task force presser?

Pence is doing the first in a long time today apparently. Get ready for a gaslighting performance for the ages?

[6ftstick]

At least 122,000 people have died from coronavirus in the U.S.A

What is the plan?

How many months/weeks/days has it been since o d held one of his administration's coronavirus task force presser?

HOW BOUT FIRING LIBERAL PROGRESSIVE GOVERNORS WHO ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR MOST OF THE DEATHS.

[CU88]

At least 122,000 people have died from coronavirus in the U.S.A

What is the plan?

How many months/weeks/days has it been since o d held one of his administration's coronavirus task force presser?

Pence is doing the first in a long time today apparently. Get ready for a gaslighting performance for the ages?

No o d?

What is crazy is that this is a disaster facing our whole country and we have no Federal leadership.

[runrussellrun]

Krugman:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/25/opin ... e=Homepage

"Earlier this year much of America went through hell as the nation struggled to deal with Covid-19. More than 120,000 Americans have now died; more than 20 million have lost their jobs.

But it’s looking as if all those sacrifices were in vain. We never really got the coronavirus under control, and now infections, while they have fallen to a quite low level in the New York area, the pandemic’s original epicenter, are surging in much of the rest of the country.

And the bad news isn’t just a result of more testing. In new hot spots like Arizona — where testing capacity is being overwhelmed — and Houston the fraction of tests coming up positive is soaring, which shows that the disease is spreading rapidly.

It didn’t have to be this way. The European Union, a hugely diverse area with a larger population than the U.S., has been far more successful at limiting the spread of Covid-19 than we have. What went wrong?

The immediate answer is that many U.S. states ignored warnings from health experts and rushed to reopen their economies, and far too many people failed to follow basic precautions like wearing face masks and avoiding large groups. But why was there so much foolishness?

Well, I keep seeing statements to the effect that Americans were too impatient to stay the course, too unwilling to act responsibly. But this is deeply misleading, because it avoids confronting the essence of the problem. Americans didn’t fail the Covid-19 test; Republicans did.

After all, the Northeast, with its largely Democratic governors, has been appropriately cautious about reopening, and its numbers look like Europe’s. California and Washington are blue states that are seeing a rise in cases, but it’s from a relatively low base, and their Democratic governors are taking actions like requiring the use of face masks and seem ready to reverse their reopening.

So the really bad news is coming from Republican-controlled states, especially Arizona, Florida and Texas, which rushed to reopen and, while some are now pausing, haven’t reversed course. If the Northeast looks like Europe, the South is starting to look like Brazil.

Nor is it just Republican governors and state legislatures. According to the new New York Times/Siena poll, voters over all strongly favor giving control of the pandemic priority over reopening the economy — but Republican voters, presumably taking their cue from the White House and Fox News, take the opposite position.

And it’s not just about policy decisions. Partisanship seems to be driving individual behavior, too, with self-identified Democrats significantly more likely to wear face masks and engage in social distancing than self-identified Republicans.

The question, then, isn’t why “America” has failed to deal effectively with the pandemic. It’s why the G.O.P. has in effect allied itself with the coronavirus.

Part of the answer is short-term politics. At the beginning of this year Donald Trump’s re-election message was all about economic triumphalism: Unemployment was low, stocks were up, and he was counting on good numbers to carry him through November. He and his officials wasted crucial weeks refusing to acknowledge the viral threat because they didn’t want to hear any bad news.

And they pushed for premature reopening because they wanted things to return to what they seemed to be back in February. Indeed, just a few days ago the same Trump officials who initially assured us that Covid-19 was no big deal were out there dismissing the risks of a second wave.

I’d suggest, however, that the G.O.P.’s coronavirus denial also has roots that go beyond Trump and his electoral prospects. The key point, I’d argue, is that Covid-19 is like climate change: It isn’t the kind of menace the party wants to acknowledge.

It’s not that the right is averse to fearmongering. But it doesn’t want you to fear impersonal threats that require an effective policy response, not to mention inconveniences like wearing face masks; it wants you to be afraid of people you can hate — people of a different race or supercilious liberals.

So instead of dealing with Covid-19, Republican leaders and right-wing media figures have tried to make the pandemic into the kind of threat they want to talk about. It’s “kung flu,” foisted on us by villainous Chinese. Or it’s a hoax perpetrated by the “medical deep state,” which is just looking for a way to hurt Trump.

The good news is that the politics of virus denial don’t seem to be working. Partly that’s because racism doesn’t play the way it used to: The Black Lives Matter protesters have received broad public support, despite the usual suspects’ efforts to portray them as rampaging hordes. Partly it’s because the surge in infections is becoming too obvious to deny; even Republican governors are admitting that there’s a problem, although they still don’t seem willing to act.

The bad news is that partisanship has crippled our Covid-19 response. The virus is winning, and all indications are that the next few months will be a terrifying nightmare of rampant disease and economic disruption."

You call this post a "contribution" to the v-19 conversation? This is a laughable opinion piece. As usual, Krugman leaves out reality. How , and WHO, is this junk infotainment helping?

[CU88]

TOTAL CASES
2,374,282

37,667 New Cases*

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nc ... in-us.html

[6ftstick]

At least 122,000 people have died from coronavirus in the U.S.A

What is the plan?

How many months/weeks/days has it been since o d held one of his administration's coronavirus task force presser?

Pence is doing the first in a long time today apparently. Get ready for a gaslighting performance for the ages?

Love you guys. B*tch when the experts feed you info direct. Then b*tch when they don't.

How bout this fun fact from the CDC. Probably 10x's the reported positives that actually have the virus and are asymptomatic.

Combined with the inflated numbers of cover deaths—Whats the true mortality rate?

[CU88]

At least 122,000 people have died from coronavirus in the U.S.A

What is the plan?

How many months/weeks/days has it been since o d held one of his administration's coronavirus task force presser?

HOW BOUT FIRING LIBERAL PROGRESSIVE GOVERNORS WHO ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR MOST OF THE DEATHS.

You don't understand science, the COVID-19 doesn't care about party.

Texas, Florida pause reopening plans; new coronavirus cases hit single-day record in U.S.

As new coronavirus infections and hospitalizations soared to alarming new levels across the United States, the governors of several hard-hit states — including Texas, Florida and Arizona — paused their reopening plans.

Nationally, 39,327 new infections were reported by state health departments Thursday, surpassing the previous record set just one day earlier. Texas alone reported a record 5,996 new cases (along with a record high for coronavirus hospitalizations), and the state’s rolling average has jumped by 340 percent since Memorial Day.

“Literally, there’s been an explosion in the number of covid-19 patients,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) told a Lubbock TV station, noting that the “massive increase in spread” has struck small communities and big cities alike. Houston in particular faces a mounting crisis at hospitals, where intensive care unit beds are filling fast.

[6ftstick]

TOTAL CASES
2,374,282

37,667 New Cases*

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nc ... in-us.html

150,000 tests per day. Wonder why there's more new cases?

image.png (88.23 KiB) Viewed 1034 times

[runrussellrun]

At least 122,000 people have died from coronavirus in the U.S.A

What is the plan?

How many months/weeks/days has it been since o d held one of his administration's coronavirus task force presser?

Still waiting for that list of "elective" surgeries...........STILL

Meanwhile, in 2005, Dr. Fauci got $7 billion to develop a plan for a pandemic. A PLAN.

where the F is the plan, DOC?

Can NOT stand the POTUSA, but you chumps that keep blaming JUST him for a virus is strange. Juvenile. People like DocBarrister & JH72 are to blame for this.

But, you want a PLAN, cu88? Just follow event 201's recommendations. all 7 of em. What, you don't like Event 201's plan? The smartest people in the room. "Robust" smart.

[cradleandshoot]

At least 122,000 people have died from coronavirus in the U.S.A

What is the plan?

How many months/weeks/days has it been since o d held one of his administration's coronavirus task force presser?

No problem, Uncle Joe has a plan. His people have not told him yet what the plan is. Joe may not be able to comprehend what the plan is. There is a plan. Maybe Chuck Schumer should be put in charge of the plan. To the best of my knowledge the plan is to blame trump for not having a plan. That is quite the plan. You can call it the passing the buck plan.

[runrussellrun]

Florida in the mid 40s in deaths again.

So what.....according to many here, it's only killing Republicans.

[Brooklyn]

6ftstick

HOW BOUT FIRING LIBERAL PROGRESSIVE GOVERNORS WHO ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR MOST OF THE DEATHS.

Interesting question.

CU88,

What is crazy is that this is a disaster facing our whole country and we have no Federal leadership.

Excellent answer.





It will be recalled that it was the idiot-in-chief who called for the early end to the lockdowns because he was so interested in stimulating the economy. Beause of those moronic calls, right wing delusionals in Michigan and California clamored for an end to masking and other safety measures. In order to promote public peace, the governors succumbed to the cries of those delusionals. The result: massive increase in virus cases and deaths especially in Republican states such as Arizona and TexASS.


So let's re-phrase the question and make it thus:
HOW BOUT FIRING THE IMBECILIC "PRESIDENT" WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL OF THE DEATHS?

[runrussellrun]

I just posted it, because it is a viewpoint. But if you read the piece, and look out over the landscape, state to state, Krugman is hardly novel or crazy. I do get that people don't much love Paul, but he is smart, observant and a good writer. Have a good walk with Roxy. My beagle and I are going to get some exercise too.

What? who the F is roxy?

[Brooklyn]

I didn't have the mental bandwidth the other day

What was so special just about the other day? This might describe you and your responses most days.

(sorry for the misdirection post here, Board; I need an easy dunk on an unwitting lefty {aren't they all?!? })

Venezuela needs your assistance, Kismet...they're fixin' to stop an 'invasion', you can help defend the socialist paradise!

In fact, Comrade Maduro tried to ram a cruise ship the other day, but instead his own military ship sunk (classic lib birdbrain move).

https://www.popularmechanics.com/milita ... p-collide/

Great to see how P Brown loves Social Democrat Juan Guaidó.

[runrussellrun]

[
It will be recalled that it was the idiot-in-chief who called for the early end to the lockdowns because he was so interested in stimulating the economy. Beause of those moronic calls, right wing delusionals in Michigan and California clamored for an end to masking and other safety measures. In order to promote public peace, the governors succumbed to the cries of those delusionals. The result: massive increase in virus cases and deaths especially in Republican states such as Arizona and TexASS. Why do you do this? Go pretend partisan? btw, 1,161,167 humans voted for Hillarious Clinton. About a football stadium capacity less votes than your hero tRump got. Get it now, brookie?


So let's re-phrase the question and make it thus:
HOW BOUT FIRING THE IMBECILIC "PRESIDENT" WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL OF THE DEATHS?

Just stop with this pretend care about humans, you pretend liberal.

But, again, Event 201, the smartest people in the room, nah world, have a plan. Why won't we adopt these "robust" measures.

https://www.centerforhealthsecurity.org ... tions.html

[runrussellrun]

Event 201

https://www.centerforhealthsecurity.org ... tions.html

Why doesn't tRump follow the plans and recommendations of this "exercise"? WHY?

[Brooklyn]

Event 201

https://www.centerforhealthsecurity.org ... tions.html

Why doesn't tRump follow the plans and recommendations of this "exercise"? WHY?

tRUMP is your hero, why not ask him?