Skeptic Ginger
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In the meantime Trump tells people open the schools or else and DeVos denies the CDC guidelines are what they are.
Cont: The all-new "US Politics and coronavirus" thread pt. 2
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Trebuchet
Penultimate Amazing
10,351? Hah, that's nothing! More than 15,000 in Florida today!
Aridas
Crazy Little Green Dragon
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In all her public remarks, DeVos appears to be just plain stupid. She one of those people who, if they weren't born rich, would be picking up trash in the Walmart parking lot because they aren't smart enough to be greeters.
Stacyhs
Penultimate Amazing
What was that I'm not supposed to say? Oh, yeah.....and they don't understand why I think they're stupid.
Skeptic Ginger
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Why does that surprise you?
thaiboxerken
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I find it interesting that I see more masks that ask people to vote blue or vote Trump out than of any MAGA voting masks.
Meadmaker
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In the "better late than never" category, kudos to him for speaking the truth, despite it being politically unpopular.
I would sure like to see the pro-mask message being sent from all leaders, starting at the top.
And why the hell can I not buy an 95 mask at the local hardware store? They sold out in February. They're still sold out. Is the industrial might of the United States so feeble that it was impossible to ramp up production? WTF?
Are we great again yet?
newyorkguy
Penultimate Amazing
The problem with Gov. Greg Abbott is, he was one of the leading advocates in reopening Texas quickly. As you can see by the chart below, from April into May cases in Texas were relatively low and had plateaued. Abbott took that to mean the crisis was over and it was time to get back to business. But he was warned at the time by public health officials -- including his own state officials -- that the virus did not transmit all across the United States at the same time, that the peak in Texas might still be some weeks off. Abbott ignored that. He pushed to reopen as quickly as possible, including bars. Now even Abbott concedes that was a mistake. After reopening, local officials complained Abbott would not back them up -- that he undermined them -- when they tried to enforce the few restrictions Abbott had left in place. One law enforcement official complained publicly that the governor had played politics with the pandemic "straight through."
The chart below shows how cases have spiraled. Deaths have increased too. Gov. Abbott's actions have directly resulted in people being infected and killed by the virus in numbers that could have been avoided. He bears responsibility for a lot of the sickness and death, but I'm sure he won't take responsibility.
Eighty Texas counties are refusing to honor Abbott's order making face masks mandatory? Abbott helped create the political climate that makes that possible.
I think he's done a terrible job.
The chart below shows how cases have spiraled. Deaths have increased too. Gov. Abbott's actions have directly resulted in people being infected and killed by the virus in numbers that could have been avoided. He bears responsibility for a lot of the sickness and death, but I'm sure he won't take responsibility.
Eighty Texas counties are refusing to honor Abbott's order making face masks mandatory? Abbott helped create the political climate that makes that possible.
I think he's done a terrible job.
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Meadmaker
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No doubt about it.
But, let's at least give credit where credit is due. He seems to have realized his mistake.
I wish that the same could be said for at least one other politician who has done a terrible job.
Beelzebuddy
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The doctors and nurses who care for the sick jerks need them more than we do. They're probably ramping up production, but definitely ramping up sick jerks.
Delphic Oracle
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My company redirects a lot of PPE to health work organizations at the regional distribution centers. Anything that slips by gets set aside and we find a local organization to donate it to. Only a few varieties of gloves and bulk packs of surgical masks make it to the shelf.
Most n95s are not appropriate for situations of going out in public where social distancing is not possible as they do not filter exhalation. They are for a healthy person going into a contaminated setting. I have a friend who was in TX during first wave disinfecting retirement dorms. Tests every morning and evening, geared up to the max.
I feel awful for demolition crews, painters, mold treatment people, etc. right now.
I would imagine that most of the opt-out counties are regions that currently have relatively few active cases. If the pattern already played out in many other states holds true, their decision probably won't have much effect on the peak cases in the state, for which the largest population centers predominate. But what it will do is stretch out the plateau or the initial slow decline following the peak, as the "wave" propagates (with delays) through smaller cities and towns in the opt-out regions. Five weeks from now, when new cases in Houston and Dallas are significantly reduced, some of those counties will be reaching their own peaks, keeping the state totals high, just as it's time to start the school year.
Meadmaker
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And that made sense, in March, but the fact that they are still sold out in July is a real failure at the top.
It's just disgusting. How do you stop a pandemic when you aren't taking the measures to stop virus transmission? If Trump wants the economy moving, couldn't he have subsidized mask production? Hire lots of workers to build and operate mask production machines. It's just dumb as hell.
Meanwhile, I just got news that the robotics team I mentor won't be competing this year It seems the school district laid off science teachers due to budget cuts forced by the pandemic, and that included our coach. We can't control the pandemic, so we're cutting science education. That's the way to make America great again, for sure.
There are volunteers who could do the robotics job, but the school district can't allow that for liability concerns. America....what a country.
In a free market economy, the market decides. It would seem that companies which make masks don't currently consider it worth their while to expand production because they cannot make money in the short-term or they don't see it as a long-term proposition.
Sure President Trump could have subsidised mask production but that's a few steps down the slippery slope to a command economy and communism.
In any case, President Trump's Damascene conversion to masks only happened very recently. Before that he wouldn't have seen any reason to expand production because they weren't necessary.
Trebuchet
Penultimate Amazing
Congratulations, Florida, on 15,300 cases in one day! On a Sunday! What are you going to do next?
We're reopening Disney World! Oh, and holding a Republican Convention. That ought to go well.
We're reopening Disney World! Oh, and holding a Republican Convention. That ought to go well.
My sister in law lives in Montana near the Glacier National Park. Initially they had effective distancing measures in place but because they had few cases - likely due to their relative isolation - those restrictions have been largely removed.
Roll on tourist season and the number of cases is starting to grow. The locals are blaming the tourists for bringing in infection but seem not to recognise that the reason why the tourists have been able to bring in the infection (if indeed this has been the transmission vector, those hospitalised have been local, not tourists so far) is because locals have allowed them to do so.
I see the same thing playing out across the US. A slow wave of infection spreading across rural areas but instead of examining their own behaviour or rules, the rural populace will blame outsiders for bringing in the disease and not learn from the experience.
Belz...
Fiend God
The latter part is true but let's go with the lowest estimates:
Up to 90% of infectees are not reported or detected. If that's true, then it is most likely because of absence of symptoms or mild symptons. Of those known to be infected, up to 85%, from one source, have no symptoms or mild symptoms still. That's 98.5%, which rounds up nicely to 99%. I know Trump uses hyperbole, superlatives and shorthand for a lot of stuff, but, assuming those numbers are correct (they probably aren't), his estimate isn't off the mark.
Look I hate the ****** too, but he's not _always_ wrong. Close, but not always.
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