The all-new "US Politics and coronavirus" thread

[newyorkguy]

Growing concern from doctors and health officials in Tulsa. This is from an opinion piece that appeared today in Tulsa World, a local newspaper.

As a practicing emergency physician in Tulsa for the past 10 years, I have great concerns about the ramifications of the planned campaign rally for President Donald Trump on Saturday. COVID-19 cases in Tulsa County have risen sharply the past week. In the past seven days, the number of new cases in Tulsa County has reached an all-time high four times. On April 24, when Gov. Kevin Stitt announced plans to reopen Oklahoma, he cited the relatively low positive rate of tests performed. At the time, the positivity rate was 6.3%, and dropped down near 3% as recently as last week. Dr. Bruce Dart of the Tulsa Health Department reported Monday that the positive rate by our Health Department has spiked to 15%, suggesting the increase in positive cases is not solely due to increased testing. Anecdotally, many of my colleagues report seeing more positive cases on a shift than ever before. Tulsa World link

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[Trebuchet]

I will be surprised if they let even a single person with a mask up there.

I now have a vague recollection that they were going to hand them out at the door.
Probably with MAGA on them.

 

[dudalb]

Trump saying wearing masks is a way of showing hatred for him.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

If Trump gets Covid, I might reconsider my position that there is no God.

Yeah, an evil one, letting Trump be POTUS for 3.5 years before taking him out.


Trump won't be killed by COVID though, because he'll get serum with other people's antibodies like any rich connected person does.

But it would be great for him to experience what he wrought on others.

 

[Aridas]

A Trump Constitution would be a gamble indeed. On the bright side, it would probably be under 140 280 characters.

Like the overwhelmingly simplified tax code that's probably even more complex?

 

[newyorkguy]

Incredibly, but sadly not surprisingly, with new cases increasing in many states, with the U.S. not having seen any decline in six weeks, trump tells the American people, 'no worries.' Below is a quote from Fox News:

"We are starting up and it's going to be very, very strong ... " Trump told host Sean Hannity at the tail end of a discussion of the economy [on Wednesday]. "We're very close to a vaccine and we're very close to therapeutics, really good therapeutics. But even without that, I don't like to talk about that because it's fading away. It's going to fade away, but having a vaccine would be really nice and that's going to happen." Fox News link

Below is a chart from John Hopkins University included with the Fox News report linked above.

 

[Segnosaur]

Trump won't be killed by COVID though, because he'll get serum with other people's antibodies like any rich connected person does.

Or maybe maybe get him to take some hydroxychloroqine, and use bleach to wash it down. Heard that works wonders.



Sent from my LM-X320 using Tapatalk

 

[Armitage72]

Incredibly, but sadly not surprisingly, with new cases increasing in many states, with the U.S. not having seen any decline in six weeks, trump tells the American people, 'no worries.'

No worries for him, which is all that matters. He's the star and the rest of the world are extras, or at best supporting characters, in his story. He can have himself and everyone around him tested daily, bathe in tubs of hand sanitizer, install entryway disinfectant sprayers, and mix antimicrobial agents into his daily spray tan. Everyone else is SOL.
It reminds me of an early episode of Sliders, in which they arrived on a world being ravaged by a plague. The wealthy could afford elaborate protective measures while the poor were left to die.

 

[No Other]

Maybe the unsecured load on the truck in front of you won't fall off onto your car.

What point are you making? I don't see where your example addresses my statement. Please be more direct... Thx

 

[No Other]

I was told three to five days, but the results came through in two, this morning. Covid-19 "not detected." Which was the overwhelmingly likely outcome. Only between 2 and 3 percent of swab tests in MA are positive these days, and while the symptoms superficially fit the Covid guidelines (fever, fatigue, and cough!) it didn't really. The cough seemed just like a flare-up of a chronic GERD-related phlegmy cough in the back of my throat that I've had on and off for months.

That said, yes it did suck. Potentially bad implications for my wife, families, workplaces and so forth made it way more stressful than I'd have expected.

I doubt I'll ever know what my 48-hour fever early this week actually was. Under normal circumstances it wouldn't even have been worth a sick day. Bio-crud from some bug bite? Otherwise asymptomatic UTI? Probably not the usual airborne stuff, with all the Covid precautions going on.

By the way, I am impressed that you got yourself tested. I am also glad that you do not have Covid-19.

 

[eeyore1954]

Here's what Trump said Wednesday when asked if he is apprehensive about holding a rally in Tulsa:

"No," Trump said, "because if you look, the numbers are very minuscule compared to what it was. It's dying out. By the way, we're doing very well in vaccines and therapeutics."

What a moron. Can someone explain to him that viruses don't do that?

Viruses don't do what? Don't many viruses such as the flu really wane in the warmer months.
Just for the record I don't like the idea of having a rally in a full indoor venue.
But then I don't like sitting presidents taking the time to campaign in the best of times.

 

[eeyore1954]

Yes, that'll be interesting. Other reporters wearing masks will undoubtedly be criticized by Trump and the crowd for it.

When you have a crowd of course someone will but I doubt if the president will.

 

[eeyore1954]

Yeah, an evil one, letting Trump be POTUS for 3.5 years before taking him out.


Trump won't be killed by COVID though, because he'll get serum with other people's antibodies like any rich connected person does.

But it would be great for him to experience what he wrought on others.

Not really for this thread I suppose but is there evidence that an antibody treatment works?

 

[Meadmaker]

Viruses don't do what? Don't many viruses such as the flu really wane in the warmer months.
Just for the record I don't like the idea of having a rally in a full indoor venue.
But then I don't like sitting presidents taking the time to campaign in the best of times.

They don't die out. The transmission rate changes based on people's behavior and sometimes environment. Some are seasonally affected, although based on the numbers in places like Florida and Arizona, this one doesn't appear to be.

 

[newyorkguy]

...One reason for the differing results between Western Europe and the United States often cited is the mixed response in the U.S. Jonathan Bernstein, a political scientist and Bloomberg Opinion columnist, recently wrote that government efforts have been a colossal failure. The public has been getting "mixed and muffled messages about what to do.” Bernstein believes the trouble starts at the top.

Here's what Trump said Wednesday..."because if you look, the numbers are very minuscule compared to what it was. It's dying out...

What numbers? What in the world is this guy talking about. Below is a chart for new cases in the U.S. They show new cases:

• April 04 - 33,725
• April 24 - 35,930 (U.S. peak)
• May 14 - 26,762
• May 29 - 23,575
• June 18 - 27,082

From April through the end of May new cases fell by almost one-third, largely because of a handful of states including Connecticut, Michigan, New Jersey and New York. If you remove those states from the totals the new cases trend upward. It's both frightening and baffling that the president tries to spin this. Except that's exactly what donald trump has always done and the long-term results have usually been disastrous.

 

[Stacyhs]

Trump is not spinning; he's outright lying. And many, if not most, of his supporters will believe it.

 

[Trebuchet]

Trump is not spinning; he's outright lying. And many, if not most, of his supporters will believe it.

And tomorrow, 19,000 of them will be crowded together without masks, yelling and cheering.

 

[newyorkguy]

I remember way back at the end of March, beginning of April, in New York the virus was raging. My job was shutdown. Vacation from work, weather pretty decent, but I didn't want to go out. There was really no place to go anyway. Except food shopping. There were rumors the food markets were going to shut down too. That their low-wage employees were refusing to keep working because of the danger. What would we do if the food stores shut down? It was a very bad time.

Everyday New York Governor Cuomo had a midday press briefing. He didn't try and sugar coat it. He was talking about the virus in New York not peaking until late April. That we had to be very cautious. That there were not enough ventilators for the number of critically ill people we could possibly have. That testing materials were in short supply. He told us, it was up to us -- the people watching these briefings or reading about them or being told about them -- it was up to us to try and control this. By being smart and playing it safe. He called it a monster we had to fight. A mountain we had to climb. I remember becoming very worried. But he also said, "You know what?" that he had a lot of belief in people, that if you tell them the truth, if you tell them what it will take, most people will do it. That made me feel better but at the same time you could tell Cuomo was truly worried and that was scary.

Unlike this 'thing' we have in the White House, that's a leader.

 

[Stacyhs]

I remember way back at the end of March, beginning of April, in New York the virus was raging. My job was shutdown. Vacation from work, weather pretty decent, but I didn't want to go out. There was really no place to go anyway. Except food shopping. There were rumors the food markets were going to shut down too. That their low-wage employees were refusing to keep working because of the danger. What would we do if the food stores shut down? It was a very bad time.

Everyday New York Governor Cuomo had a midday press briefing. He didn't try and sugar coat it. He was talking about the virus in New York not peaking until late April. That we had to be very cautious. That there were not enough ventilators for the number of critically ill people we could possibly have. That testing materials were in short supply. He told us, it was up to us -- the people watching these briefings or reading about them or being told about them -- it was up to us to try and control this. By being smart and playing it safe. He called it a monster we had to fight. A mountain we had to climb. I remember becoming very worried. But he also said, "You know what?" that he had a lot of belief in people, that if you tell them the truth, if you tell them what it will take, most people will do it. That made me feel better but at the same time you could tell Cuomo was truly worried and that was scary.

Unlike this 'thing' we have in the White House, that's a leader.

That's what a leader does. Trump is no leader.

 

[Trebuchet]

That's what a leader does. Trump is no leader.

Never has been. Just a boss; the boss from hell.