All things CoronaVirus

[Typical Lax Dad]

I'd be curious who here praises Trump's character or even his response to COVID-19.

Could you point that out to me? Presumably you have some facts to back that up.

One example: a couple days ago, old salt claimed that Trump's Europe travel ban was a model for European leaders. (Not sure which thread that was in, and I'm not going to search it out for you.)

Mostly, it's people like you saying that that any criticism of the Dear Leader is totally out of bounds, that the whole crisis is the fault of democrats for wasting time on impeachment, etc etc etc.

There's tons of such posts here. Read them.

Not just the travel ban. The implication was the clamp down on freedom of movement gave EU leaders cover to do the same.

There's been all sorts of apologia.
That's just one example from one poster.
One of the more rational, if predictable.

PB, we know you were staying away during lax, but there's an awful lot of posts for you to read through if you're seriously interested in where this discussion has been over the last 6 weeks or so. Probably best to get that perspective before immediately assuming you know what the discussion has been.

Of course, if you think that it's ridiculous that anyone might have been praising Trump's performance in this mess, many of us would quite agree.

Even so, it's good to see at least some directional change.
Even those who detest him (a I certainly do) have managed to say so.

Pointing out facts is not apologia or praise. It's calling BS on negative, partisan disinformation.
Just look at the sequence of when things happened.
Things got worse in the EU sooner, but (with the exception of Italy) the US imposed restrictions sooner.
You think it doesn't make it easier for EU leaders to impose politically difficult restrictions if the US has done it too ?
Before the EU closed it's borders, who besides Italy took actions as soon or as restrictive as the US did ?
You want apologia -- all we heard then was that such US restrictions were not necessary or counterproductive.

DW was making a big deal about Merkel addressing the German people. The first time she's made such a speech in 15 yrs in office, except for her annual New Years Day speech.
The EUros don't have Trump to blame for this. What's their excuse ? Who's their scapegoat ?

Which school district was Trump responsible for shutting down? Which colleges did he shut down? Did he give Ty the exclusive interview when he cancelled lacrosse season? When did Trump make the call on the NBA?

Salty,
I thought we'd been through the timelines...the EU countries by and large moved sooner than we did, not just in shut down, but way sooner on testing enabling more targeted quarantining. Italy, tragically, was following our lead in thinking just closing borders to travelers from China would work...slow out of the gate too.

Not sure why you'd keep saying otherwise. Trump didn't do a darn thing until after states began taking their own actions and calling very publicly for the federal government to step up...Trump's been behind at every step of the way...after investing so much political capital in denying that the virus was a serious threat at all...

Yeah. The EU took the easy, relatively ineffective decisions before us. They had the benefit of working test kits.
They waited to follow our lead on the tough decisions -- like restricting movement & closing borders (beyond Governors authority).
Trump & task force coordinated with the Governors, backing them up, as they collaborated & did what's best for their states.
Our Governor Hogan, in his leadership position, played a part in the Governors coordinated actions.

Good luck and stay safe. All the best to you and your family.

[jhu72]

Currently 13,159 confirmed cases in the U.S. We will soon rocket past Spain and Germany.

Trump’s America is stalking Italy in the coronavirus pandemic like Harvey Weinstein stalking an aspiring actress. (Ok ... horrible simile, but this is a bad situation that will go way beyond horrible.)

DocBarrister

In per capita number of cases or per capita deaths? America will be worse?

Cause I'd like to take the other side of that bet.

Italy and likely Spain per capita will be worse than US. Germany its not clear. They are farther along than US and the per capita numbers are a dead heat, well within the error bar.

[jhu72]

Maddow had a real interesting story tonight. Iceland is testing all of their people. No preconditions or selection bias. They are about 75% through the exercise. To this point they are seeing that ~50% of those found to have the disease, are asymptomatic. Only about 390,000 people in the test group.

[old salt]

I'm more liberal than some and want it to be really bad so I lose all my money before I die (Compromised elder here). Add me to your stats YA.

Saw your Congressman -- Dr Ruiz, on BBC World News, making a pitch for more resources for the local hospitals in the Palm Springs/Coachella Valley area, where he's an ER Doc. He points out that, due to demographics, it's a CA hot spot with 3 of 13 statewide deaths so far, with limited hospital capacity. Not overwhelmed yet, he's asking for a strike team for more efficient form of testing & clearance from hospitals, as well as logistic chain supply to respond in real time, because it's a potential hot spot (due to demographics) which could get overlooked because it has a relatively sparse overall population. A very effective advocate with credible subject matter expertise.

He needs to make his social distancing pitch at the country clubs.

[holmes435]

Maddow had a real interesting story tonight. Iceland is testing all of their people. No preconditions or selection bias. They are about 75% through the exercise. To this point they are seeing that ~50% of those found to have the disease, are asymptomatic. Only about 390,000 people in the test group.

The more information and data we have and can make public, the better. It also gives us the moral high ground against places like China and Russia.

Trump wasn't smart enough to realize that path was the best way to keep markets and businesses afloat, which are his main goals. And he simply doesn't care that it would also save tons of lives.

"Every nation gets the government it deserves" - Joseph de Maistre

[jhu72]

Am watching the tail end of Maddow now. Dr. David Ho is being interviewed. He is the Chinese - American super virologist mentioned in an article earlier today by Trinity I think. In any case he was talking about the possibilities for the drug combo that had everyone spun up today. He is much less sanguine about its possibilities to battle corona virus than were us educated non-specialists. He did not call it promising. He has been in contact with the researchers who made the discovery.

[jhu72]

Sad.

[old salt]

Hey MDLF76 -- think this WHO guidance might have caused Trump & the EUro leaders to be a little slow off the mark ?
Note the date (Jan 14). When did the WHO countermand it ?

https://twitter.com/WHO/status/12170432 ... oronavirus

https://twitter.com/jonathanvswan/statu ... oronavirus

[Trinity]

So now it’s homemade masks? My stepdaughter is a hospice nurse in Florida, now forced to reuse the masks that actually work. The virus is very small. Plain cloth won’t stop it. Imagine a golf ball rolling through the Lincoln Tunnel.

[cradleandshoot]

So now it’s homemade masks? My stepdaughter is a hospice nurse in Florida, now forced to reuse the masks that actually work. The virus is very small. Plain cloth won’t stop it. Imagine a golf ball rolling through the Lincoln Tunnel.

The wife has been telling me this from the get go. The people running around with masks on are fooling themselves. They wil do dickie doo to protect you from any virus. People are happy to have a false sense of security.

[Trinity]

“Concerned about #coronavirus? Remember this:
The consumer is strong, the economy is strong, & jobs are growing, which puts us in the best economic position to tackle #COVID19 & keep Americans safe.
Update following meeting with @realdonaldtrump, @VP, & @StevenMnuchin1:”

Senator Kelly Loeffler, in March, who dumped her shares beginning in January, the day of the Senate briefing.

Loeffler is married to Jeffrey Sprecher, the chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, and the chairman and CEO of Intercontinental Exchange, which is NYSE's parent company.

[Bart]

Am watching the tail end of Maddow now. Dr. David Ho is being interviewed. He is the Chinese - American super virologist mentioned in an article earlier today by Trinity I think. In any case he was talking about the possibilities for the drug combo that had everyone spun up today. He is much less sanguine about its possibilities to battle corona virus than were us educated non-specialists. He did not call it promising. He has been in contact with the researchers who made the discovery.

It is vastly different than his approach to torch viral proteases. He may very well be correct but it still needs to be fleshed out.

Did Dr Ho have any insight into Remdesivir? Its action is also completely different than inhibiting proteases.

edit-original was snippy sounding...not intent.

[Kismet]

“Concerned about #coronavirus? Remember this:
The consumer is strong, the economy is strong, & jobs are growing, which puts us in the best economic position to tackle #COVID19 & keep Americans safe.
Update following meeting with @realdonaldtrump, @VP, & @StevenMnuchin1:”

Senator Kelly Loeffler, in March, who dumped her shares beginning in January, the day of the Senate briefing.

Loeffler is married to Jeffrey Sprecher, the chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, and the chairman and CEO of Intercontinental Exchange, which is NYSE's parent company.

To be honest the daily briefing with Trump monopolizing most of the time with assorted drivel and other unfounded happy talk is not helpful. Just this week he promised a ship that can't sail yet, a drug not approved for coronavirus and masks that'll arrive into next year -- in each case, leaving others to walk things back.

Also note this observation by Jonathan Swan at Axios

"And the only time many of these admin officials meet people outside of these two categories are in perfectly groomed White House roundtables or staged factory visits. At least members of Congress are hearing directly from their constituents

I don’t think enough people in the administration have the visceral understanding of the desperation right now-how many small businesses are on the verge of collapsing or already collapsing. Too many admin officials only have rich people & Fortune 500s in their personal networks."

[MDlaxfan76]

Hey MDLF76 -- think this WHO guidance might have caused Trump & the EUro leaders to be a little slow off the mark ?
Note the date (Jan 14). When did the WHO countermand it ?

https://twitter.com/WHO/status/12170432 ... oronavirus

https://twitter.com/jonathanvswan/statu ... oronavirus

I'm not sure when WHO officially announced, but it was no later than January 23rd
https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/23 ... 2019-ncov)

Anyone who wishes to to criticize the Chinese for holding back what they knew for 3 weeks is correct. Both Xi and Trump have bungled their respective roles very badly. Thankfully, we get to vote our bum out of office.

The SK model is what we should have done. Still need to do.

[MDlaxfan76]

So now it’s homemade masks? My stepdaughter is a hospice nurse in Florida, now forced to reuse the masks that actually work. The virus is very small. Plain cloth won’t stop it. Imagine a golf ball rolling through the Lincoln Tunnel.

The wife has been telling me this from the get go. The people running around with masks on are fooling themselves. They wil do dickie doo to protect you from any virus. People are happy to have a false sense of security.

Even the cloth masks may limit your spreading of the virus, not knowing you have it. That's the reason why China had their populace do it. Then again, because of air pollution, many Chinese regularly wore masks outside anyway.

But we don't have enough of the better masks for even the health care workers. That's correct.

[jhu72]

So now it’s homemade masks? My stepdaughter is a hospice nurse in Florida, now forced to reuse the masks that actually work. The virus is very small. Plain cloth won’t stop it. Imagine a golf ball rolling through the Lincoln Tunnel.

The family related nurses I have spoken with this week are all freaking out. Some are telling me they will not work under these conditions. I said yesterday, the government priority is the PPE. It is an easier problem to solve. Trump's words aren't helping. Maybe we can get the 40% of the population that think it is a hoax to act as nurses for the 60% who don't.

[Trinity]

More stock act news. Senators Ron Johnson, Jim Imhof also sold stocks after the Senate briefing. Sen Feinstein’s husband, an investment manager, sold shares in a cancer company prior to the Senate briefing. I’ll bet this list grows.

[6ftstick]

More stock act news. Senators Ron Johnson, Jim Imhof also sold stocks after the Senate briefing. Sen Feinstein’s husband, an investment manager, sold shares in a cancer company prior to the Senate briefing. I’ll bet this list grows.

Its news to you that the political class are thieves for the most part?

[Trinity]

It’s okay to continue the happy talk in public while in private you protect only yourself? And here I thought the swamp was drained.

[jhu72]

Am watching the tail end of Maddow now. Dr. David Ho is being interviewed. He is the Chinese - American super virologist mentioned in an article earlier today by Trinity I think. In any case he was talking about the possibilities for the drug combo that had everyone spun up today. He is much less sanguine about its possibilities to battle corona virus than were us educated non-specialists. He did not call it promising. He has been in contact with the researchers who made the discovery.

It is vastly different than his approach to torch viral proteases. He may very well be correct but it still needs to be fleshed out.

Did Dr Ho have any insight into Remdesivir? Its action is also completely different than inhibiting proteases.

edit-original was snippy sounding...not intent.

My statement was perhaps misleading. He felt overall we would solve the problem. He was not worried about that, long term. He was certain we would solve the problem (no time estimate given as I recall). He was specifically less sanguine about the reported malaria drug talked about yesterday. He seemed more upbeat about Remdesivir and other approaches. He also had just had a drug trial fail, where his group had tested a solution that was similar conceptually (to my understanding, not identical) to the malaria drug approach. The mixture of a cocktail of already well known drugs. Don't recall the details, which ones. This perhaps contributes to his skepticism. Of course the malaria drug approach should be tested further. He did not suggest otherwise (nor would I).