COVID-19 - social and political fallout (7)
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1margd
Doctors, scientists who warned officials about oncoming pandemic focus of new Michael Lewis book ("The Premonition")
In his new book, Michael Lewis profiles people who tried to sound the alarm about COVID-19 as officials failed to act. John Dickerson reports.
John Dickerson | 2021 May 02
60 Minutes (13:52)
...Michael Lewis: ...I came to appreciate the power of intuition. And it isn't just random intuition, it's trained intuition. You have to be able to look around the corner. You have to be able to see a little further that it's, than is really visible.
...Dr. Charity Dean, a disease control expert, and the assistant director of California's Department of Public Health...Her (Jan 2020 dirty math on the whiteboard) projection of 20 million cases meant half of California's population would be infected within four months unless officials intervened to slow the virus's path.
...The Wolverines were a group of seven doctors, all of whom at one point or another had worked in the White House together, and who stayed in contact and kind of helped the country navigate various, various previous disease outbreaks. But they weren't in the decision making apparatus in the U.S. government...They were a guerilla disease fighting operation...
...The Wolverine whose analysis drove the group was Carter Mecher, an unassuming former ICU doctor who worked as a senior medical adviser for the VA in Atlanta.
...The CDC wasn't just slow to respond. It bungled the most important tool required in the fight: testing for the virus. UC-San Francisco biochemist Joe DeRisi decided to build his own testing lab to help California...He worked at something called the biohub for the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.
...The stories of each character's struggle to be heard highlight what Lewis says is a key point: public institutions are ill-equipped to move fast enough to handle a large-scale pandemic. His characters worry the country is still vulnerable.
...John Dickerson: What connects them, the characters?
Michael Lewis: They love life. They realize how important it is. And they want to save it. And so they all have some, this emotional component of when they hear 600,000 Americans died. It's not just a number.
...Dr. Carter Mecher: My training was in critical care medicine, so I operated ICUs. And in an ICU, what I got to see and what I got to witness was the final struggle for a lotta human beings. I got to see the last, last days, last weeks, last moments of a lot of people. And, you know, in sports they talk about, you know (emotional) – sorry. They talk about, like, you know, players leaving it all on the field. And you know when I would see these patients in the ICU, I would watch them in that struggle. And they left everything on the field, everything. And you know, my question for us is, almost 600,000 people in this country have left everything on the field. And the question is, have we?
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/michael-lewis-premonition-60-minutes-2021-05-02/
___________________________________________________________
" I think it's just really hard for the human brain to grasp the exponential growth of an existential threat."
—@drcharitydean...
{It's like a penny doubled every day for 40 days =$5,497,558,138.88; most people don't believe it}...
- Eric Topol @EricTopol | 2:02 AM · May 3, 2021
In his new book, Michael Lewis profiles people who tried to sound the alarm about COVID-19 as officials failed to act. John Dickerson reports.
John Dickerson | 2021 May 02
60 Minutes (13:52)
...Michael Lewis: ...I came to appreciate the power of intuition. And it isn't just random intuition, it's trained intuition. You have to be able to look around the corner. You have to be able to see a little further that it's, than is really visible.
...Dr. Charity Dean, a disease control expert, and the assistant director of California's Department of Public Health...Her (Jan 2020 dirty math on the whiteboard) projection of 20 million cases meant half of California's population would be infected within four months unless officials intervened to slow the virus's path.
...The Wolverines were a group of seven doctors, all of whom at one point or another had worked in the White House together, and who stayed in contact and kind of helped the country navigate various, various previous disease outbreaks. But they weren't in the decision making apparatus in the U.S. government...They were a guerilla disease fighting operation...
...The Wolverine whose analysis drove the group was Carter Mecher, an unassuming former ICU doctor who worked as a senior medical adviser for the VA in Atlanta.
...The CDC wasn't just slow to respond. It bungled the most important tool required in the fight: testing for the virus. UC-San Francisco biochemist Joe DeRisi decided to build his own testing lab to help California...He worked at something called the biohub for the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.
...The stories of each character's struggle to be heard highlight what Lewis says is a key point: public institutions are ill-equipped to move fast enough to handle a large-scale pandemic. His characters worry the country is still vulnerable.
...John Dickerson: What connects them, the characters?
Michael Lewis: They love life. They realize how important it is. And they want to save it. And so they all have some, this emotional component of when they hear 600,000 Americans died. It's not just a number.
...Dr. Carter Mecher: My training was in critical care medicine, so I operated ICUs. And in an ICU, what I got to see and what I got to witness was the final struggle for a lotta human beings. I got to see the last, last days, last weeks, last moments of a lot of people. And, you know, in sports they talk about, you know (emotional) – sorry. They talk about, like, you know, players leaving it all on the field. And you know when I would see these patients in the ICU, I would watch them in that struggle. And they left everything on the field, everything. And you know, my question for us is, almost 600,000 people in this country have left everything on the field. And the question is, have we?
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/michael-lewis-premonition-60-minutes-2021-05-02/
___________________________________________________________
" I think it's just really hard for the human brain to grasp the exponential growth of an existential threat."
—@drcharitydean...
{It's like a penny doubled every day for 40 days =$5,497,558,138.88; most people don't believe it}...
- Eric Topol @EricTopol | 2:02 AM · May 3, 2021
2margd
Sounds familiar...
Modi Fiddles While India Burns
What’s unfolding in India is a devastating carnage precipitated by its self-enamored leader.
Kapil Komireddi | April 30, 2021
...What is unfolding in India is more than a crisis triggered by a pathogen. It is a carnage precipitated by the conduct of its self-enamored leader...
...India might have been spared this humanitarian crisis had Modi not neglected his duties and vilified those who offered him constructive counsel. He had the time, means, and access to expertise to proof the country against this inferno. As early as last November, a parliamentary committee had issued warnings of a second wave and urged the government to stockpile oxygen. But rather than bolstering India’s capacities, Modi used the virus to burnish his cult and pillage the country.
Last March, days after plunging India into chaos by announcing a nationwide lockdown with a four-hour notice, he sought tax-free donations for a fund called PM CARES to help the poorest of the poor, buy personal protective equipment, and build oxygen plants across India. The equivalent of more than a billion dollars flowed into it during the first week. What did Modi do with all that money? Nobody knows—and nobody is allowed to know. Because despite offering tax subsidies to contributors and using government organs to promote the fund, PM CARES cannot be reviewed by the state auditor because it is structured as a private trust.
...Modi has belatedly shared plans to use some of the money to build more oxygen facilities. But by the time they are operational—next month at the earliest—tens of thousands more Indians will likely have lost their lives. It is no longer tenable to measure Modi against the performance of previous prime ministers: He has broken into the malign ranks of India’s British colonial overlords who went hunting while Indians starved in mass famines.
...India’s dire condition today is a consequence also of Modi’s methodical demolition of the institutional safeguards bequeathed by the country’s founders. Concentrating authority in his own hands and erecting a cult of personality unmatched in the democratic world, Modi has dismantled virtually every institution that might have impelled him to react swiftly to this calamity.
...Modi, who botched India’s inoculation drive by failing to order a sufficient number of doses in advance, has devolved the responsibility of vaccinating Indians to financially strapped state governments, which must now negotiate prices and purchase shots on the open market.
...So is this end of Modi? Will the despair coursing through India, already curdling into rage, bring down the prime minister?
...Nothing, certainly, can induce him to quit his job.
The next general election is three years away...
...The national breakdown that is now exposing his incompetence and recklessness may also supply him with the most impeccable justification for the suspension of democracy. Such a regime, far from being unthinkable, would amount to a formalization of what in many respects is already an undeclared emergency. This plague is the worst tragedy to strike India since Partition. Modi may yet convert it into an opportunity.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/04/30/modi-india-covid-19-pandemic-crisis-disaste...
Modi Fiddles While India Burns
What’s unfolding in India is a devastating carnage precipitated by its self-enamored leader.
Kapil Komireddi | April 30, 2021
...What is unfolding in India is more than a crisis triggered by a pathogen. It is a carnage precipitated by the conduct of its self-enamored leader...
...India might have been spared this humanitarian crisis had Modi not neglected his duties and vilified those who offered him constructive counsel. He had the time, means, and access to expertise to proof the country against this inferno. As early as last November, a parliamentary committee had issued warnings of a second wave and urged the government to stockpile oxygen. But rather than bolstering India’s capacities, Modi used the virus to burnish his cult and pillage the country.
Last March, days after plunging India into chaos by announcing a nationwide lockdown with a four-hour notice, he sought tax-free donations for a fund called PM CARES to help the poorest of the poor, buy personal protective equipment, and build oxygen plants across India. The equivalent of more than a billion dollars flowed into it during the first week. What did Modi do with all that money? Nobody knows—and nobody is allowed to know. Because despite offering tax subsidies to contributors and using government organs to promote the fund, PM CARES cannot be reviewed by the state auditor because it is structured as a private trust.
...Modi has belatedly shared plans to use some of the money to build more oxygen facilities. But by the time they are operational—next month at the earliest—tens of thousands more Indians will likely have lost their lives. It is no longer tenable to measure Modi against the performance of previous prime ministers: He has broken into the malign ranks of India’s British colonial overlords who went hunting while Indians starved in mass famines.
...India’s dire condition today is a consequence also of Modi’s methodical demolition of the institutional safeguards bequeathed by the country’s founders. Concentrating authority in his own hands and erecting a cult of personality unmatched in the democratic world, Modi has dismantled virtually every institution that might have impelled him to react swiftly to this calamity.
...Modi, who botched India’s inoculation drive by failing to order a sufficient number of doses in advance, has devolved the responsibility of vaccinating Indians to financially strapped state governments, which must now negotiate prices and purchase shots on the open market.
...So is this end of Modi? Will the despair coursing through India, already curdling into rage, bring down the prime minister?
...Nothing, certainly, can induce him to quit his job.
The next general election is three years away...
...The national breakdown that is now exposing his incompetence and recklessness may also supply him with the most impeccable justification for the suspension of democracy. Such a regime, far from being unthinkable, would amount to a formalization of what in many respects is already an undeclared emergency. This plague is the worst tragedy to strike India since Partition. Modi may yet convert it into an opportunity.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/04/30/modi-india-covid-19-pandemic-crisis-disaste...
3margd
Canada Will Require Using A Vaccine Passport For Entry
Suzanne Rowan Kelleher | May 1, 2021
...Canadian Health Minister Patty Hajdu says her government supports the idea of a “vaccine passport” and will come up with a form of vaccine certification to allow vaccinated Canadians to travel internationally.
Nearly eight in 10 Canadians (78%) agree (including 56% who strongly agree) that all travelers entering Canada should be required to have a vaccine passport, according to a new Ipsos survey. Comparatively, a smaller majority of Americans (71%) agree that travelers should be required to show a vaccine passport before entering the United States.
About three in four (72%) Canadians agree that vaccine passports would be effective in making travel and large events safe, which is in line with the global average of 73%, and significantly more than in the United States, where 61% agree.
“Canadians need to be able to have the right kind of certification for international travel because, as we know, Canadians will want to travel internationally, and they will want to make sure they have the right credentials to do that from a vaccination perspective,” Hajdu said during a recent interview with CBC Radio.
Her remarks were in step with those of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who, during a news conference last week, said that vaccination certifications were a part of international travel before Covid-19 and are “naturally to be expected when it comes to this pandemic and the coronavirus.”
...Like the United States, Canada has been in talks with other countries about finding consensus on universally acceptable solutions. “I am meeting on a regular basis with my G7 counterparts and this is an ongoing conversation about how that might look and how we might be able to have some sort of standardized approach to this,” Hajdu told the CBC.
Hajdu said Canada will likely be able to fast-forward its own vaccine passport program by adapting an existing app. “From our perspective we have a bit of a head start in terms of entry into Canada in that we have ArriveCAN, the app that allows for digital proof of testing, for example, now, and a variety of other documents that people have to submit to enter Canada,” Hajdu said. “We’ll be working with our international partners to make sure that whatever the world lands on, Canadians will have documents in the appropriate format.”
The free ArriveCAN app was introduced in April 2020 to help travelers comply with border measures. Since late November 2020, air travelers flying into Canada have been required to submit their information electronically through ArriveCAN before boarding their flight. This includes travel and contact information, a quarantine plan and Covid-19 symptom self-assessment. Travelers must be ready to show their ArriveCAN receipt when entering Canada.
So far, the Biden administration has resisted the idea of a “vaccine passport” for the United States — an arguably wise strategy given that the term is a trigger for many Americans on the other side of the political aisle.
Still, like it or not, government-sponsored vaccine certificates are popping up around the world, from Japan to Israel and in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. It appears inevitable that American travelers will have to adapt if they want to travel outside the U.S. — even to visit our neighbor to the north.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/suzannerowankelleher/2021/05/01/canada-will-require...
Suzanne Rowan Kelleher | May 1, 2021
...Canadian Health Minister Patty Hajdu says her government supports the idea of a “vaccine passport” and will come up with a form of vaccine certification to allow vaccinated Canadians to travel internationally.
Nearly eight in 10 Canadians (78%) agree (including 56% who strongly agree) that all travelers entering Canada should be required to have a vaccine passport, according to a new Ipsos survey. Comparatively, a smaller majority of Americans (71%) agree that travelers should be required to show a vaccine passport before entering the United States.
About three in four (72%) Canadians agree that vaccine passports would be effective in making travel and large events safe, which is in line with the global average of 73%, and significantly more than in the United States, where 61% agree.
“Canadians need to be able to have the right kind of certification for international travel because, as we know, Canadians will want to travel internationally, and they will want to make sure they have the right credentials to do that from a vaccination perspective,” Hajdu said during a recent interview with CBC Radio.
Her remarks were in step with those of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who, during a news conference last week, said that vaccination certifications were a part of international travel before Covid-19 and are “naturally to be expected when it comes to this pandemic and the coronavirus.”
...Like the United States, Canada has been in talks with other countries about finding consensus on universally acceptable solutions. “I am meeting on a regular basis with my G7 counterparts and this is an ongoing conversation about how that might look and how we might be able to have some sort of standardized approach to this,” Hajdu told the CBC.
Hajdu said Canada will likely be able to fast-forward its own vaccine passport program by adapting an existing app. “From our perspective we have a bit of a head start in terms of entry into Canada in that we have ArriveCAN, the app that allows for digital proof of testing, for example, now, and a variety of other documents that people have to submit to enter Canada,” Hajdu said. “We’ll be working with our international partners to make sure that whatever the world lands on, Canadians will have documents in the appropriate format.”
The free ArriveCAN app was introduced in April 2020 to help travelers comply with border measures. Since late November 2020, air travelers flying into Canada have been required to submit their information electronically through ArriveCAN before boarding their flight. This includes travel and contact information, a quarantine plan and Covid-19 symptom self-assessment. Travelers must be ready to show their ArriveCAN receipt when entering Canada.
So far, the Biden administration has resisted the idea of a “vaccine passport” for the United States — an arguably wise strategy given that the term is a trigger for many Americans on the other side of the political aisle.
Still, like it or not, government-sponsored vaccine certificates are popping up around the world, from Japan to Israel and in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. It appears inevitable that American travelers will have to adapt if they want to travel outside the U.S. — even to visit our neighbor to the north.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/suzannerowankelleher/2021/05/01/canada-will-require...
4John5918
I don't understand why this is controversial. We have had a form of "vaccine passport" for as long as I have been travelling internationally (45 years now) in the form of a yellow fever vaccination certificate. There are many countries in the world which you cannot enter without a yellow fever vaccination certificate, and if you are returning to your home country from an area where yellow fever is endemic you often need the certificate to be allowed to return. So why is it controversial to have a vaccination certificate for COVID? Perhaps because it affects countries in the Global North and Global South equally? Nobody batted an eyelid about a compulsory vaccination certificate which mainly affected the Global South.
5margd
>4 John5918: Anti-vaxxers and don't-tread-on-me folks expect to find their movements constrained by vaccine passports? Apparently there's already a busy market for blank vaccine cards, but I bet vaccine passports won't be as easy to fake. I don't think states can prohibit private businesses from requiring proof of vaccination--certainly not sovereign countries... FL law will no doubt be challenged in courtb by MLB, cruise industry, etc.? (I don't see it in article below, but FL almost always includes a carve-out for Disney...)
Florida Lawmakers Pass COVID Vaccine ‘Passport’ Ban
CBSMiami.com Team | April 29, 2021
...Florida lawmakers gave final approval Thursday night to a bill that would make permanent a ban on COVID-19 vaccine “passports,” while also handing Gov. Ron DeSantis power to override local orders during health crises and directing state agencies to plan for future pandemics.
The highest-profile part of the bill would prohibit businesses, schools and government agencies from requiring people to show documentation certifying COVID-19 vaccinations or post-infection recovery before gaining entry.
DeSantis on April 2 issued an executive order blocking so-called COVID-19 passports, which he said would create “huge” privacy issues that could result in people handing over medical information to a “big corporation.” The bill would make that permanent.
Senate bill sponsor Sen. Danny Burgess, R-Zephyrhills, said that as the state tries to get back to normal, people shouldn’t have to “provide a piece of documentation to show you got a vaccine in order to go to the grocery store.”
“This boils down to choice, this boils down to an individual’s ability to choose whether or not to receive a vaccine,” Burgess added. “This vaccine is much different than a lot of other vaccines in that it’s been something that’s been put forward rather quickly. And so, there are families out there, as we all know, who may be at this time, I don’t wanna say reluctant, but choosing not to get the vaccine, either now or in the future.”
But Democrats argued the measure is tying the hands of the cruise industry and others that have struggled to bring tourists back to Florida, particularly after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday advised the cruise industry that it could return to American waters this summer....
https://miami.cbslocal.com/2021/04/29/florida-lawmakers-pass-covid-vaccine-passp...
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Vaccine passports: 14 states with bans, limitations & green lights
Jackie Drees - Updated Thursday, April 22nd, 2021
Here are 14 states that have pledged support for vaccine passports or opposition to the tech, listed in alphabetical order...
1. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey issued an executive order April 19 to prohibit all state and local governments from requiring people to prove their COVID-19 vaccination status to receive services or enter an area. The ban however does not apply to private businesses and healthcare institutions.
2. On April 2, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed an executive order prohibiting the use of COVID-19 vaccine passports in the state, citing privacy concerns and freedom as the main reasons for the ban.
3. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp tweeted his opposition April 6 to "any kind of state-mandated" vaccine passport, writing that "While the development of multiple safe, highly effective COVID-19 vaccines has been a scientific miracle, the decision to receive the vaccine should be left up to each individual."
4. Hawaii Gov. David Ige said April 5 that the state is testing the tech needed to support a vaccine passport, but that it won't be ready for another four weeks or so, according to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. On April 20, Mr. Ige tweeted that the state will launch a vaccination verification program May 11 to support inter-county travel.
5. Idaho banned any state and government entities from requiring vaccine passports for residents to receive public services or access facilities, Gov. Brad Little said in an April 7 statement.
6. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said he thinks a vaccination app would be useful but should not be mandatory to enter any event or facilities, stressing that the tech would be offered as a personal choice, according to a March 24 Center Square report.
7. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds pledged on April 7 that the state will oppose vaccine passports legislatively or on an executive level as she believes the tech violates personal choice, privacy and HIPAA, according to local CBS affiliate KMTV.
8. Louisiana has not yet decided on any vaccine passport programs in the state, with Gov. John Bel Edwards referring to it being "a little early in the process to know how these kinds of vaccine verifications would actually work," according to an April 7 local NBC affiliate WDSU report.
9. Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte issued an executive order April 13 prohibiting the use of vaccine passports, he announced on Twitter.
10. Nebraska will not participate in any vaccine passport initiatives, Gov. Pete Ricketts announced March 31, claiming the tech is a violation of "two central tenets of the American system: freedom of movement and healthcare privacy."
11. In March, New York became the first state to launch a COVID-19 vaccine passport, dubbed Excelsior Pass. The digital platform is free and voluntary for New Yorkers to confirm recent negative PCR or antigen test results as well as proof of vaccination.
12. Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee also took to Twitter April 6 to vocalize his opposition of the tech, writing that he believes the "COVID-19 vaccine should be a personal health choice, not a government requirement."
13. Texas also instituted a ban on COVID-19 passports April 5, which prevents the state and some businesses from requiring passports of customers to prove they have been vaccinated against COVID-19.
14. Utah passed a law in April that blocks the state government from requiring people to get the COVID-19 vaccine and use vaccine passports, according to an April 6 Salt Lake Tribune report.
Florida Lawmakers Pass COVID Vaccine ‘Passport’ Ban
CBSMiami.com Team | April 29, 2021
...Florida lawmakers gave final approval Thursday night to a bill that would make permanent a ban on COVID-19 vaccine “passports,” while also handing Gov. Ron DeSantis power to override local orders during health crises and directing state agencies to plan for future pandemics.
The highest-profile part of the bill would prohibit businesses, schools and government agencies from requiring people to show documentation certifying COVID-19 vaccinations or post-infection recovery before gaining entry.
DeSantis on April 2 issued an executive order blocking so-called COVID-19 passports, which he said would create “huge” privacy issues that could result in people handing over medical information to a “big corporation.” The bill would make that permanent.
Senate bill sponsor Sen. Danny Burgess, R-Zephyrhills, said that as the state tries to get back to normal, people shouldn’t have to “provide a piece of documentation to show you got a vaccine in order to go to the grocery store.”
“This boils down to choice, this boils down to an individual’s ability to choose whether or not to receive a vaccine,” Burgess added. “This vaccine is much different than a lot of other vaccines in that it’s been something that’s been put forward rather quickly. And so, there are families out there, as we all know, who may be at this time, I don’t wanna say reluctant, but choosing not to get the vaccine, either now or in the future.”
But Democrats argued the measure is tying the hands of the cruise industry and others that have struggled to bring tourists back to Florida, particularly after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday advised the cruise industry that it could return to American waters this summer....
https://miami.cbslocal.com/2021/04/29/florida-lawmakers-pass-covid-vaccine-passp...
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Vaccine passports: 14 states with bans, limitations & green lights
Jackie Drees - Updated Thursday, April 22nd, 2021
Here are 14 states that have pledged support for vaccine passports or opposition to the tech, listed in alphabetical order...
1. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey issued an executive order April 19 to prohibit all state and local governments from requiring people to prove their COVID-19 vaccination status to receive services or enter an area. The ban however does not apply to private businesses and healthcare institutions.
2. On April 2, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed an executive order prohibiting the use of COVID-19 vaccine passports in the state, citing privacy concerns and freedom as the main reasons for the ban.
3. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp tweeted his opposition April 6 to "any kind of state-mandated" vaccine passport, writing that "While the development of multiple safe, highly effective COVID-19 vaccines has been a scientific miracle, the decision to receive the vaccine should be left up to each individual."
4. Hawaii Gov. David Ige said April 5 that the state is testing the tech needed to support a vaccine passport, but that it won't be ready for another four weeks or so, according to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. On April 20, Mr. Ige tweeted that the state will launch a vaccination verification program May 11 to support inter-county travel.
5. Idaho banned any state and government entities from requiring vaccine passports for residents to receive public services or access facilities, Gov. Brad Little said in an April 7 statement.
6. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said he thinks a vaccination app would be useful but should not be mandatory to enter any event or facilities, stressing that the tech would be offered as a personal choice, according to a March 24 Center Square report.
7. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds pledged on April 7 that the state will oppose vaccine passports legislatively or on an executive level as she believes the tech violates personal choice, privacy and HIPAA, according to local CBS affiliate KMTV.
8. Louisiana has not yet decided on any vaccine passport programs in the state, with Gov. John Bel Edwards referring to it being "a little early in the process to know how these kinds of vaccine verifications would actually work," according to an April 7 local NBC affiliate WDSU report.
9. Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte issued an executive order April 13 prohibiting the use of vaccine passports, he announced on Twitter.
10. Nebraska will not participate in any vaccine passport initiatives, Gov. Pete Ricketts announced March 31, claiming the tech is a violation of "two central tenets of the American system: freedom of movement and healthcare privacy."
11. In March, New York became the first state to launch a COVID-19 vaccine passport, dubbed Excelsior Pass. The digital platform is free and voluntary for New Yorkers to confirm recent negative PCR or antigen test results as well as proof of vaccination.
12. Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee also took to Twitter April 6 to vocalize his opposition of the tech, writing that he believes the "COVID-19 vaccine should be a personal health choice, not a government requirement."
13. Texas also instituted a ban on COVID-19 passports April 5, which prevents the state and some businesses from requiring passports of customers to prove they have been vaccinated against COVID-19.
14. Utah passed a law in April that blocks the state government from requiring people to get the COVID-19 vaccine and use vaccine passports, according to an April 6 Salt Lake Tribune report.
6John5918
>5 margd: Anti-vaxxers and don't-tread-on-me folks
Maybe some of those people don't get out much and they're not aware that yellow fever vaccination certificates are a normal and routine part of international travel. Used to be cholera vaccination certificates as well, but that requirement was dropped a while ago. Airport screening for ebola has also been routine for years now.
Maybe some of those people don't get out much and they're not aware that yellow fever vaccination certificates are a normal and routine part of international travel. Used to be cholera vaccination certificates as well, but that requirement was dropped a while ago. Airport screening for ebola has also been routine for years now.
7margd
Not only do they not get out, they take their health advice from Fox personality Tucker Carlson and anti-vaxxers...
Tucker Carlson: If you let Democrats force you to get the vaccine, they'll have complete control forever
'Joe Biden is not pro choice. He is pro mandate'
Tucker Carlson | Fox News...5/4/2021
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/tucker-carlson-if-you-let-democrats-force-you-to...
------------------------------------------------------------
Susan Standfield | April 29, 2021
BAN VACCINE PASSPORTS IN CANADA
We need to move faster than Trudeau and initiate provincial and federal legislation BANNING vaccine passports asap.
Anyone know if this is happening? Hillier*? Poilivier?
*margd: Ontario MPP Randy Hillier is so out there that Ford's Conservative Party kicked him out (he's now an Independent) and townships are passing resolutions deploring his antics.
Tucker Carlson: If you let Democrats force you to get the vaccine, they'll have complete control forever
'Joe Biden is not pro choice. He is pro mandate'
Tucker Carlson | Fox News...5/4/2021
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/tucker-carlson-if-you-let-democrats-force-you-to...
------------------------------------------------------------
Susan Standfield | April 29, 2021
BAN VACCINE PASSPORTS IN CANADA
We need to move faster than Trudeau and initiate provincial and federal legislation BANNING vaccine passports asap.
Anyone know if this is happening? Hillier*? Poilivier?
*margd: Ontario MPP Randy Hillier is so out there that Ford's Conservative Party kicked him out (he's now an Independent) and townships are passing resolutions deploring his antics.
8John5918
Who’s afraid of COVID-19? Somalia’s battle with the virus (The New Humanitarian)
‘People are much more concerned by the political crisis in the country than COVID’...
With one of the weakest health systems in the world and a government in turmoil, Somalia is struggling with a new wave of coronavirus infections that will likely lead to a surge in unrecorded and unrecognised deaths, health officials and aid workers warn...
9margd
Federal Judge Strikes Down Moratorium on Evicting Renters
The Biden administration will appeal the ruling against the policy, which has been the subject of legal challenges by landlords.
Glenn Thrush | May 5, 2021. Updated May 6, 2021
...It remains unclear how wide an impact the decision will have on renters. It does not necessarily bind state housing court judges, who rule on eviction orders, and two other federal courts have upheld the moratorium, adding to the confusion about its fate.
“There are now numerous conflicting court rulings at the district court level, with several judges ruling in favor of the moratorium and several ruling against,” said Diane Yentel, president of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, a national tenants advocacy group.
“While this latest ruling is written more starkly than previous ones, it likely has equally limited application impacting only the plaintiffs who brought the case or, at most, renters in the district court’s jurisdiction,” she said.
Still, tenants’ rights groups said the decision on Wednesday could leave more low-income and working-class tenants vulnerable to eviction in coming weeks even as the Biden administration is beginning to disburse tens of billions of dollars in aid to help them catch up on unpaid rent.
Landlords said the decision validated their arguments that the legal basis for the federal moratorium was unsound and overstepped the government’s power.
The moratorium was enacted under the Public Health Service Act of 1944, which gives the federal government the power to impose quarantines and other measures to deal with health emergencies. In a 20-page decision, Judge Friedrich, who was appointed by President Donald J. Trump, ruled that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had exceeded its authority under that law when it carried out Mr. Trump’s order last summer to impose the moratorium...
...Housing analysts warned that Wednesday’s ruling could embolden more landlords to begin eviction proceedings against tenants before the federal government can disburse $45 billion in emergency housing assistance appropriated by Congress....
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/05/us/politics/eviction-moratorium-biden.html
The Biden administration will appeal the ruling against the policy, which has been the subject of legal challenges by landlords.
Glenn Thrush | May 5, 2021. Updated May 6, 2021
...It remains unclear how wide an impact the decision will have on renters. It does not necessarily bind state housing court judges, who rule on eviction orders, and two other federal courts have upheld the moratorium, adding to the confusion about its fate.
“There are now numerous conflicting court rulings at the district court level, with several judges ruling in favor of the moratorium and several ruling against,” said Diane Yentel, president of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, a national tenants advocacy group.
“While this latest ruling is written more starkly than previous ones, it likely has equally limited application impacting only the plaintiffs who brought the case or, at most, renters in the district court’s jurisdiction,” she said.
Still, tenants’ rights groups said the decision on Wednesday could leave more low-income and working-class tenants vulnerable to eviction in coming weeks even as the Biden administration is beginning to disburse tens of billions of dollars in aid to help them catch up on unpaid rent.
Landlords said the decision validated their arguments that the legal basis for the federal moratorium was unsound and overstepped the government’s power.
The moratorium was enacted under the Public Health Service Act of 1944, which gives the federal government the power to impose quarantines and other measures to deal with health emergencies. In a 20-page decision, Judge Friedrich, who was appointed by President Donald J. Trump, ruled that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had exceeded its authority under that law when it carried out Mr. Trump’s order last summer to impose the moratorium...
...Housing analysts warned that Wednesday’s ruling could embolden more landlords to begin eviction proceedings against tenants before the federal government can disburse $45 billion in emergency housing assistance appropriated by Congress....
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/05/us/politics/eviction-moratorium-biden.html
10margd
Whoa, tone-deaf or what?
Modi presses ahead with $1.8 billion parliament renovation even as Covid-19 ravages India
Julia Hollingsworth and Swati Gupta | May 6, 2021
New Delhi (CNN)While hospitals plead for life-saving oxygen and Covid-19 patients die in their thousands, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi is pushing ahead with a $1.8 billion parliamentary revamp -- including a new home for the country's leader.
The decision to continue with the project in the capital, New Delhi, has infuriated the public and opposition politicians, who have pointed to the apparent disconnect in pouring millions into a construction project when the country is struggling with its worst-ever public health crisis.
The pricey renovation, known as the Central Vista Redevelopment Project, has been categorized as an "essential service," meaning construction is allowed to continue even when most other building projects have been halted...
https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/06/india/india-modi-parliament-intl-hnk/index.html
_________________________________________________
As People Die Without Oxygen, Work At 'Essential Service' Central Vista Continues In Full Swing
Bobins Abraham | May 07, 2021, 12:43 IST
Highlights
Over the past few weeks, sides of the roads leading to Rajpath have been dug up as part of the massive construction works.
The Central government wants the Prime Minister’s new residence, which is being built as part of the Central Vista redevelopment project will be ready by December 2022...
https://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/central-vista-work-continues-all-you-need-...
Modi presses ahead with $1.8 billion parliament renovation even as Covid-19 ravages India
Julia Hollingsworth and Swati Gupta | May 6, 2021
New Delhi (CNN)While hospitals plead for life-saving oxygen and Covid-19 patients die in their thousands, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi is pushing ahead with a $1.8 billion parliamentary revamp -- including a new home for the country's leader.
The decision to continue with the project in the capital, New Delhi, has infuriated the public and opposition politicians, who have pointed to the apparent disconnect in pouring millions into a construction project when the country is struggling with its worst-ever public health crisis.
The pricey renovation, known as the Central Vista Redevelopment Project, has been categorized as an "essential service," meaning construction is allowed to continue even when most other building projects have been halted...
https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/06/india/india-modi-parliament-intl-hnk/index.html
_________________________________________________
As People Die Without Oxygen, Work At 'Essential Service' Central Vista Continues In Full Swing
Bobins Abraham | May 07, 2021, 12:43 IST
Highlights
Over the past few weeks, sides of the roads leading to Rajpath have been dug up as part of the massive construction works.
The Central government wants the Prime Minister’s new residence, which is being built as part of the Central Vista redevelopment project will be ready by December 2022...
https://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/central-vista-work-continues-all-you-need-...
11margd
Fake Covid-19 Certificates Hit Airlines, Which Now Have to Police Them
Test results, often required to fly across borders, can be easily manipulated
Benjamin Katz | April 13, 2021
...The proliferation of fake health certificates is exposing a logistical blind spot, as airlines rush to navigate post-pandemic travel standards and retool their systems to ease compliance—and spur demand. Airlines say their staff aren’t equipped to handle and police all the new health certifications needed and worry the problem will be exacerbated when some countries also start to ask for vaccination certificates...
https://www.wsj.com/articles/fake-covid-19-certificates-hit-airlines-which-now-h...
Test results, often required to fly across borders, can be easily manipulated
Benjamin Katz | April 13, 2021
...The proliferation of fake health certificates is exposing a logistical blind spot, as airlines rush to navigate post-pandemic travel standards and retool their systems to ease compliance—and spur demand. Airlines say their staff aren’t equipped to handle and police all the new health certifications needed and worry the problem will be exacerbated when some countries also start to ask for vaccination certificates...
https://www.wsj.com/articles/fake-covid-19-certificates-hit-airlines-which-now-h...
12margd
This Is the Anti-Asian Hate Crime Capital of North America
A surge of attacks in one of Canada’s most multicultural cities during the pandemic is surfacing long-simmering racial tensions.
Natalie Obiko Pearson | May 7, 2021
...Last year, more anti-Asian hate crimes were reported to police in Vancouver, a city of 700,000 people, than in the top 10 most populous U.S. cities combined. With almost 1 out of every 2 residents of Asian descent in British Columbia experiencing a hate incident in the past year, the region is confronting an undercurrent of racism that runs as long and deep as the historical links stretching across the Pacific.
...Covid-19 was the trigger. But the resentment had been building for decades. Few cities have been so visibly transformed by Asian immigration—and money—as Vancouver, a struggling industrial backwater that morphed into a glittering cosmopolis of luxury condos and designer boutiques. The disproportionate rash of incidents has raised an unsettling question: Maybe Vancouver isn’t the bastion of progressive multiculturalism it thinks it is...
https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2021-vancouver-canada-asian-hate-crimes/
A surge of attacks in one of Canada’s most multicultural cities during the pandemic is surfacing long-simmering racial tensions.
Natalie Obiko Pearson | May 7, 2021
...Last year, more anti-Asian hate crimes were reported to police in Vancouver, a city of 700,000 people, than in the top 10 most populous U.S. cities combined. With almost 1 out of every 2 residents of Asian descent in British Columbia experiencing a hate incident in the past year, the region is confronting an undercurrent of racism that runs as long and deep as the historical links stretching across the Pacific.
...Covid-19 was the trigger. But the resentment had been building for decades. Few cities have been so visibly transformed by Asian immigration—and money—as Vancouver, a struggling industrial backwater that morphed into a glittering cosmopolis of luxury condos and designer boutiques. The disproportionate rash of incidents has raised an unsettling question: Maybe Vancouver isn’t the bastion of progressive multiculturalism it thinks it is...
https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2021-vancouver-canada-asian-hate-crimes/
13margd
In case of interest, a well-rated charity helping to vaxx and protect refugees from COVID:
https://help.rescue.org/donate/covid19-response/
(Around this time every year, I look for a need that would have aroused sympathy of my mom.)
https://help.rescue.org/donate/covid19-response/
(Around this time every year, I look for a need that would have aroused sympathy of my mom.)
14margd
COVID exposed shortcomings in countries' health systems. Canada didn't have vaccine manufacturing capacity: at least two now in development. Below, Queen's U med chair argues for more hospital beds, healthcare workers and doctors in systems where such decisions are closely negotiated and rationalized:
Why Ontario had to transfer thousands of Toronto COVID-19 patients to other cities’ hospitals
Stephen L Archer, Queen's University | May 16, 2021
...(Stephen L Archer, Queen's University ) lead the department of medicine at Queen’s University and co-lead the medicine program at KHSC. In these roles I am responsible for hiring doctors and ensuring our medicine beds run efficiently. I have often been confronted by two fallacies relevant to the genesis of our current crisis:
Fallacy 1 — Ontario has enough hospital beds because medical care is largely conducted on an outpatient basis.
Fallacy 2 — Canada has more than enough health-care workers and doctors.
Both fallacies have been widely embraced by provincial and federal governments. Let’s examine the validity of these beliefs with the goal of designing a more resilient health-care system...
https://www.kingstonist.com/news/why-ontario-had-to-transfer-thousands-of-toront...
(Originally published in The Conversation https://theconversation.com/why-ontario-had-to-transfer-thousands-of-toronto-cov... )
Why Ontario had to transfer thousands of Toronto COVID-19 patients to other cities’ hospitals
Stephen L Archer, Queen's University | May 16, 2021
...(Stephen L Archer, Queen's University ) lead the department of medicine at Queen’s University and co-lead the medicine program at KHSC. In these roles I am responsible for hiring doctors and ensuring our medicine beds run efficiently. I have often been confronted by two fallacies relevant to the genesis of our current crisis:
Fallacy 1 — Ontario has enough hospital beds because medical care is largely conducted on an outpatient basis.
Fallacy 2 — Canada has more than enough health-care workers and doctors.
Both fallacies have been widely embraced by provincial and federal governments. Let’s examine the validity of these beliefs with the goal of designing a more resilient health-care system...
https://www.kingstonist.com/news/why-ontario-had-to-transfer-thousands-of-toront...
(Originally published in The Conversation https://theconversation.com/why-ontario-had-to-transfer-thousands-of-toronto-cov... )
15margd
WHEN WE WANT TO INCENTIVIZE RICH PEOPLE, WE GIVE THEM MONEY.
WHEN WE WANT TO INCENTIVIZE POOR PEOPLE, WE TAKE IT AWAY.
via Bradley Whitford ( https://twitter.com/BradleyWhitford/status/1394096553543888901 )
WHEN WE WANT TO INCENTIVIZE POOR PEOPLE, WE TAKE IT AWAY.
via Bradley Whitford ( https://twitter.com/BradleyWhitford/status/1394096553543888901 )
16margd
The billionaire boom: how the super-rich soaked up Covid cash
Pandemic stimulus has made the world’s wealthiest wealthier.
Ruchir Sharma charts the rise of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ billionaires around the world
Ruchir Sharma | May 14 2021
Over the past two decades, as the global population of billionaires rose more than fivefold and the largest fortunes rocketed past $100bn, I started tracking this wealth. Not for the voyeuristic thrill, but for warning signs. Rising inequality was becoming ever more of a political issue, threatening to provoke popular backlashes against capitalism itself.
The pandemic has reinforced this trend. As the virus spread, central banks injected $9tn into economies worldwide, aiming to keep the world economy afloat. Much of that stimulus has gone into financial markets, and from there into the net worth of the ultra-rich. The total wealth of billionaires worldwide rose by $5tn to $13tn in 12 months, the most dramatic surge ever registered on the annual billionaire list compiled by Forbes magazine.
The billionaire population boomed last year as well. On the 2021 Forbes list, which runs to April 6, their numbers rose nearly 700 to a record total of more than 2,700. The biggest surge came in China, which added 238 billionaires — one every 36 hours — for a total of 626. Next came the US, which added 110 for a total of 724. The top 10 gainers in the US and China each saw already vast fortunes grow in just one year by sums that not long ago would have seemed impossible in a lifetime: from $25bn to more than $150bn for Tesla founder Elon Musk...
...I distinguish “good” from “bad” billionaire elites by calculating the share of their wealth that comes from generally clean, productive industries — particularly technology and manufacturing — as opposed to industries such as real estate or oil...in general those industries (real estate, oil) are less productive, more prone to corruption and enjoy less goodwill, and thus the sight of too many billionaires rising in those fields is more likely to incite populist backlashes.
...Among the emerging nations, Russia scores poorly for the scale of billionaire wealth, and “bad” billionaires. It does score well for low inherited wealth but this is misleading: Russia adopted elements of capitalism only after the fall of Soviet communism, too recently for families to build generations of wealth. (Mexico...)
...At the other end of the scale, Japan may score almost too well. It has lots of “good” billionaires, few “bad” ones and relatively little inherited wealth. But the class as a whole is so small, with wealth equal to barely 4 per cent of GDP, it would appear to symbolise long-term stagnation. In any case, Japan is not ripe for revolt against a class that is barely present there.
...The pandemic accelerated many economic and social trends that were already in motion. The billionaire classes grew at a record pace, raising the threat of anti-wealth backlashes. In rich countries these stirrings are as yet focused almost entirely on clawing back wealth through taxation, without addressing the fundamental driver of the market and thus the billionaire boom: easy money pouring out of central banks. Easy money is as popular as higher taxes among progressives, as another way to pay for social programmes. So wealth inequality is likely to continue widening until the monetary spigots are turned off...
https://www.ft.com/content/747a76dd-f018-4d0d-a9f3-4069bf2f5a93
Pandemic stimulus has made the world’s wealthiest wealthier.
Ruchir Sharma charts the rise of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ billionaires around the world
Ruchir Sharma | May 14 2021
Over the past two decades, as the global population of billionaires rose more than fivefold and the largest fortunes rocketed past $100bn, I started tracking this wealth. Not for the voyeuristic thrill, but for warning signs. Rising inequality was becoming ever more of a political issue, threatening to provoke popular backlashes against capitalism itself.
The pandemic has reinforced this trend. As the virus spread, central banks injected $9tn into economies worldwide, aiming to keep the world economy afloat. Much of that stimulus has gone into financial markets, and from there into the net worth of the ultra-rich. The total wealth of billionaires worldwide rose by $5tn to $13tn in 12 months, the most dramatic surge ever registered on the annual billionaire list compiled by Forbes magazine.
The billionaire population boomed last year as well. On the 2021 Forbes list, which runs to April 6, their numbers rose nearly 700 to a record total of more than 2,700. The biggest surge came in China, which added 238 billionaires — one every 36 hours — for a total of 626. Next came the US, which added 110 for a total of 724. The top 10 gainers in the US and China each saw already vast fortunes grow in just one year by sums that not long ago would have seemed impossible in a lifetime: from $25bn to more than $150bn for Tesla founder Elon Musk...
...I distinguish “good” from “bad” billionaire elites by calculating the share of their wealth that comes from generally clean, productive industries — particularly technology and manufacturing — as opposed to industries such as real estate or oil...in general those industries (real estate, oil) are less productive, more prone to corruption and enjoy less goodwill, and thus the sight of too many billionaires rising in those fields is more likely to incite populist backlashes.
...Among the emerging nations, Russia scores poorly for the scale of billionaire wealth, and “bad” billionaires. It does score well for low inherited wealth but this is misleading: Russia adopted elements of capitalism only after the fall of Soviet communism, too recently for families to build generations of wealth. (Mexico...)
...At the other end of the scale, Japan may score almost too well. It has lots of “good” billionaires, few “bad” ones and relatively little inherited wealth. But the class as a whole is so small, with wealth equal to barely 4 per cent of GDP, it would appear to symbolise long-term stagnation. In any case, Japan is not ripe for revolt against a class that is barely present there.
...The pandemic accelerated many economic and social trends that were already in motion. The billionaire classes grew at a record pace, raising the threat of anti-wealth backlashes. In rich countries these stirrings are as yet focused almost entirely on clawing back wealth through taxation, without addressing the fundamental driver of the market and thus the billionaire boom: easy money pouring out of central banks. Easy money is as popular as higher taxes among progressives, as another way to pay for social programmes. So wealth inequality is likely to continue widening until the monetary spigots are turned off...
https://www.ft.com/content/747a76dd-f018-4d0d-a9f3-4069bf2f5a93
17margd
Hundreds of PPP Loans Went to Fake Farms in Absurd Places
Derek Willis and Lydia DePillis | May 18, 2021
...All of these loans to nonexistent businesses came through Kabbage, an online lending platform that processed nearly 300,000 PPP loans before the first round of funds ran out in August 2020, second only to Bank of America. In total, ProPublica found 378 small loans totaling $7 million to fake business entities, all of which were structured as single-person operations and received close to the largest loan for which such micro-businesses were eligible. The overwhelming majority of them are categorized as farms, even in the unlikeliest of locales, from potato fields in Palm Beach to orange groves in Minnesota.
The Kabbage pattern is only one slice of a sprawling fraud problem that has suffused the Paycheck Protection Program from its creation in March 2020 as an attempt to keep small businesses on life support while they were forced to shut down. With speed as its strongest imperative, the effort run by the federal Small Business Administration initially lacked even the most basic safeguards to prevent opportunists from submitting fabricated documentation, government watchdogs have said.
While that may have allowed millions of businesses to keep their doors open, it has also required a massive cleanup operation on the backend. The SBA’s inspector general estimated in January that the agency approved loans for 55,000 potentially ineligible businesses, and that 43,000 obtained more money than their reported payrolls would justify. The Department of Justice, relying on special agents from across the government to investigate, has brought charges against hundreds of individuals accused of gaming pandemic response programs...
https://www.propublica.org/article/ppp-farms
Derek Willis and Lydia DePillis | May 18, 2021
...All of these loans to nonexistent businesses came through Kabbage, an online lending platform that processed nearly 300,000 PPP loans before the first round of funds ran out in August 2020, second only to Bank of America. In total, ProPublica found 378 small loans totaling $7 million to fake business entities, all of which were structured as single-person operations and received close to the largest loan for which such micro-businesses were eligible. The overwhelming majority of them are categorized as farms, even in the unlikeliest of locales, from potato fields in Palm Beach to orange groves in Minnesota.
The Kabbage pattern is only one slice of a sprawling fraud problem that has suffused the Paycheck Protection Program from its creation in March 2020 as an attempt to keep small businesses on life support while they were forced to shut down. With speed as its strongest imperative, the effort run by the federal Small Business Administration initially lacked even the most basic safeguards to prevent opportunists from submitting fabricated documentation, government watchdogs have said.
While that may have allowed millions of businesses to keep their doors open, it has also required a massive cleanup operation on the backend. The SBA’s inspector general estimated in January that the agency approved loans for 55,000 potentially ineligible businesses, and that 43,000 obtained more money than their reported payrolls would justify. The Department of Justice, relying on special agents from across the government to investigate, has brought charges against hundreds of individuals accused of gaming pandemic response programs...
https://www.propublica.org/article/ppp-farms
18John5918
Fury as Marjorie Taylor Greene likens Covid rules to Nazi treatment of Jews (Guardian)
Republicans and Democrats condemned Marjorie Taylor Greene on Tuesday as the far-right Georgia congresswoman continued to compare measures to combat the coronavirus pandemic to the treatment of Jewish people during the Holocaust....
19margd
DeSantis always does a carve out for Disney on his public health idiocies. Wonder if Disney cruises likewise exempted?
Cruise ships could change home ports?
Ron DeSantis Forces Cruise Ships to Take Unvaccinated Passengers
It’s not like they’re doing something harmful, like ordering a gay wedding cake.
Jonathan Chait | May 27, 2021
...Several Republican-run states have enacted laws forbidding private businesses from requiring proof of vaccination. The reductio ad absurdum of this stance comes via Florida governor Ron DeSantis, who is threatening to block a cruise line from resuming service if it requires passengers to be vaccinated. But the law DeSantis signed in Florida would impose a fine of $5,000 per person required to show proof of vaccination, and the governor says he will not back down.
Cruise ships are, of course, a well-known vector for the coronavirus. They inherently pack a lot of people into a confined space, and have terrifyingly high rates of infection. Aside from the public-health ramifications, it’s difficult to imagine cruises luring anything close to their pre-pandemic number of customers without being able to give them the assurance that their fellow passengers will be vaccinated.
The DeSantis position is that both the public interest in suppressing virus transmission, and the private interest of businesses in protecting their workforce and reassuring customers, are overridden by an even more compelling interest: safeguarding the rights of individuals who refuse to get vaccinated.
And keep in mind, nobody is even contemplating requiring anybody to take a vaccine. The question is whether you can refuse the vaccine and still walk into any room you wish, whether or not the owner of that room and the other people there want you. DeSantis believes your right to breathe infected germs on other people trumps every other right at issue.
Suppose you owned a bakery. And instead of refusing to sell a couple a cake because it’s for a gay wedding, you refuse to sell them a cake because they are potentially carrying a deadly virus into your shop that may infect or kill you, your fellow employees, or your customers. Conservatives say the state can force you to make that transaction anyway. Objecting to their homosexuality is a legitimate basis for excluding them, but objecting to their potential transmission of a deadly virus is not...
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/ron-desantis-cruise-ships-unvaccinated-p...
___________________________________________________
Remember a year ago?
Florida Governor Doesn't Want Cruise Ship Carrying Sick to Dock in State
At a news conference Monday, DeSantis said he'd prefer medical personnel be dispatched to the Zaandam rather than it docking at Port Everglades
NBC | March 30, 2020
https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/florida-governor-doesnt-want-cruise-ship-car...
Cruise ships could change home ports?
Ron DeSantis Forces Cruise Ships to Take Unvaccinated Passengers
It’s not like they’re doing something harmful, like ordering a gay wedding cake.
Jonathan Chait | May 27, 2021
...Several Republican-run states have enacted laws forbidding private businesses from requiring proof of vaccination. The reductio ad absurdum of this stance comes via Florida governor Ron DeSantis, who is threatening to block a cruise line from resuming service if it requires passengers to be vaccinated. But the law DeSantis signed in Florida would impose a fine of $5,000 per person required to show proof of vaccination, and the governor says he will not back down.
Cruise ships are, of course, a well-known vector for the coronavirus. They inherently pack a lot of people into a confined space, and have terrifyingly high rates of infection. Aside from the public-health ramifications, it’s difficult to imagine cruises luring anything close to their pre-pandemic number of customers without being able to give them the assurance that their fellow passengers will be vaccinated.
The DeSantis position is that both the public interest in suppressing virus transmission, and the private interest of businesses in protecting their workforce and reassuring customers, are overridden by an even more compelling interest: safeguarding the rights of individuals who refuse to get vaccinated.
And keep in mind, nobody is even contemplating requiring anybody to take a vaccine. The question is whether you can refuse the vaccine and still walk into any room you wish, whether or not the owner of that room and the other people there want you. DeSantis believes your right to breathe infected germs on other people trumps every other right at issue.
Suppose you owned a bakery. And instead of refusing to sell a couple a cake because it’s for a gay wedding, you refuse to sell them a cake because they are potentially carrying a deadly virus into your shop that may infect or kill you, your fellow employees, or your customers. Conservatives say the state can force you to make that transaction anyway. Objecting to their homosexuality is a legitimate basis for excluding them, but objecting to their potential transmission of a deadly virus is not...
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/ron-desantis-cruise-ships-unvaccinated-p...
___________________________________________________
Remember a year ago?
Florida Governor Doesn't Want Cruise Ship Carrying Sick to Dock in State
At a news conference Monday, DeSantis said he'd prefer medical personnel be dispatched to the Zaandam rather than it docking at Port Everglades
NBC | March 30, 2020
https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/florida-governor-doesnt-want-cruise-ship-car...
20margd
Florian Krammer @florian_krammer | 6:23 AM · May 28, 2021:
If you had (have) COIVD-19 consider signing up for this study which looks at
the impact of over the counter medication on mild/moderate cases.
Quote Tweet
United COVID Survivor Study @united_covid · 18h:
You can make a positive impact. Participate now to help us
discover how to best reduce the symptoms of COVID-19 and speed recovery.
With your help, we can make a difference.
"...If you are 18 years old or over, and you have either recovered from COVID-19, or are currently experiencing symptoms from COVID-19..."
https://unitedcovidsurvivorstudy.org/
If you had (have) COIVD-19 consider signing up for this study which looks at
the impact of over the counter medication on mild/moderate cases.
Quote Tweet
United COVID Survivor Study @united_covid · 18h:
You can make a positive impact. Participate now to help us
discover how to best reduce the symptoms of COVID-19 and speed recovery.
With your help, we can make a difference.
"...If you are 18 years old or over, and you have either recovered from COVID-19, or are currently experiencing symptoms from COVID-19..."
https://unitedcovidsurvivorstudy.org/
21margd
Florida concert charges US$18 for vaccinated fans, US$1000 for unvaccinated fans
AFP | May 29, 2021
... Fans of punk bands Teenage BottleRocket, MakeWar and Rutterkin can get into the June 26 concert in coastal Saint Petersburg, Fla. for a "discounted" US$18 if they can produce proof they have been fully vaccinated.
For those with no such proof, it's an even US$999.99...
https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/florida-concert-charges-us-18-for-vacc...
AFP | May 29, 2021
... Fans of punk bands Teenage BottleRocket, MakeWar and Rutterkin can get into the June 26 concert in coastal Saint Petersburg, Fla. for a "discounted" US$18 if they can produce proof they have been fully vaccinated.
For those with no such proof, it's an even US$999.99...
https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/florida-concert-charges-us-18-for-vacc...
22margd
Stimulus Checks Substantially Reduced Hardship, Study Shows
Researchers found that sharp declines in food shortages, financial instability and anxiety coincided with the two most recent rounds of payments.
Jason DeParle | June 2, 2021
...A new analysis of Census Bureau surveys argues that the two latest rounds of aid significantly improved Americans’ ability to buy food and pay household bills and reduced anxiety and depression, with the largest benefits going to the poorest households and those with children. The analysis offers the fullest look at hardship reduction under the stimulus aid.
Among households with children, reports of food shortages fell 42 percent from January through April. A broader gauge of financial instability fell 43 percent. Among all households, frequent anxiety and depression fell by more than 20 percent.
While the economic rebound and other forms of aid no doubt also helped, the largest declines in measures of hardship coincided with the $600 checks that reached most people in January and the $1,400 checks mostly distributed in April...
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/02/us/politics/stimulus-checks-economic-hardship...
Researchers found that sharp declines in food shortages, financial instability and anxiety coincided with the two most recent rounds of payments.
Jason DeParle | June 2, 2021
...A new analysis of Census Bureau surveys argues that the two latest rounds of aid significantly improved Americans’ ability to buy food and pay household bills and reduced anxiety and depression, with the largest benefits going to the poorest households and those with children. The analysis offers the fullest look at hardship reduction under the stimulus aid.
Among households with children, reports of food shortages fell 42 percent from January through April. A broader gauge of financial instability fell 43 percent. Among all households, frequent anxiety and depression fell by more than 20 percent.
While the economic rebound and other forms of aid no doubt also helped, the largest declines in measures of hardship coincided with the $600 checks that reached most people in January and the $1,400 checks mostly distributed in April...
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/02/us/politics/stimulus-checks-economic-hardship...
23margd
The Unveiling of Bolsonaro’s Supervillain Plot Is Weirdly Gripping
Vanessa Barbara | May 27, 2021
...The Brazilian Senate’s investigation into the government’s management of the pandemic, which began on April 27 ... offers the chance to hold President Jair Bolsonaro’s government to account. (Sort of.) It’s also a great distraction from grim reality. Livestreamed online and broadcast by TV Senado, the inquiry is a weirdly fascinating display of evasion, ineptitude and outright lies.
...President Jair Bolsonaro apparently intended to lead the country to herd immunity by natural infection, whatever the consequences. That means — assuming a fatality rate of around 1 percent and taking 70 percent infection as a tentative threshold for herd immunity — that Mr. Bolsonaro effectively planned for at least 1.4 million deaths in Brazil. From his perspective, the 450,000 Brazilians already killed by Covid-19 must look like a job not even half-done.
...It seems ever more clear that herd immunity, through obstruction, disinformation and negligence, was always the aim. The bitter irony is that it may be impossible to attain. In Manaus, where 76 percent of the population had been infected by October, the result was not herd immunity: It was a new variant.
The inquiry, slowly and steadily, is unveiling a classic supervillain plot, at once nefarious and absurd, deadly and appalling. Whether the villain meets his comeuppance is another story...
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/27/opinion/brazil-covid-inquiry-bolsonaro.html
Vanessa Barbara | May 27, 2021
...The Brazilian Senate’s investigation into the government’s management of the pandemic, which began on April 27 ... offers the chance to hold President Jair Bolsonaro’s government to account. (Sort of.) It’s also a great distraction from grim reality. Livestreamed online and broadcast by TV Senado, the inquiry is a weirdly fascinating display of evasion, ineptitude and outright lies.
...President Jair Bolsonaro apparently intended to lead the country to herd immunity by natural infection, whatever the consequences. That means — assuming a fatality rate of around 1 percent and taking 70 percent infection as a tentative threshold for herd immunity — that Mr. Bolsonaro effectively planned for at least 1.4 million deaths in Brazil. From his perspective, the 450,000 Brazilians already killed by Covid-19 must look like a job not even half-done.
...It seems ever more clear that herd immunity, through obstruction, disinformation and negligence, was always the aim. The bitter irony is that it may be impossible to attain. In Manaus, where 76 percent of the population had been infected by October, the result was not herd immunity: It was a new variant.
The inquiry, slowly and steadily, is unveiling a classic supervillain plot, at once nefarious and absurd, deadly and appalling. Whether the villain meets his comeuppance is another story...
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/27/opinion/brazil-covid-inquiry-bolsonaro.html
24margd
"...more stringent restrictions over movement in public space were predictive of larger declines in crime..."
Amy E. Nivette et al. 2021. A global analysis of the impact of COVID-19 stay-at-home restrictions on crime. Nature Human Behaviour (June 2, 2021) https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-021-01139-z
Abstract
The stay-at-home restrictions to control the spread of COVID-19 led to unparalleled sudden change in daily life, but it is unclear how they affected urban crime globally. We collected data on daily counts of crime in 27 cities across 23 countries in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. We conducted interrupted time series analyses to assess the impact of stay-at-home restrictions on different types of crime in each city. Our findings show that the stay-at-home policies were associated with a considerable drop in urban crime, but with substantial variation across cities and types of crime. Meta-regression results showed that more stringent restrictions over movement in public space were predictive of larger declines in crime.
Amy E. Nivette et al. 2021. A global analysis of the impact of COVID-19 stay-at-home restrictions on crime. Nature Human Behaviour (June 2, 2021) https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-021-01139-z
Abstract
The stay-at-home restrictions to control the spread of COVID-19 led to unparalleled sudden change in daily life, but it is unclear how they affected urban crime globally. We collected data on daily counts of crime in 27 cities across 23 countries in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. We conducted interrupted time series analyses to assess the impact of stay-at-home restrictions on different types of crime in each city. Our findings show that the stay-at-home policies were associated with a considerable drop in urban crime, but with substantial variation across cities and types of crime. Meta-regression results showed that more stringent restrictions over movement in public space were predictive of larger declines in crime.
25John5918
Belgium's Van Ranst: Covid scientist targeted by a far-right sniper (BBC)
For nearly three weeks Belgium's leading virologist has been living in a safehouse with his wife and 12-year-old son, guarded by security agents. While scientists across the world have come under attack throughout the pandemic, the threat to Prof Marc Van Ranst is more serious than most. He has been targeted by a far-right soldier, Jürgen Conings, who has a vendetta for virologists and Covid lockdowns. The military shooting instructor is on the run with a rocket launcher and a machine gun, and Belgian police cannot find him...
26margd
A tidbit about Tony Fauci's medical contributions:
Vincent Rajkumar (Mayo) @VincentRK | 8:01 PM · Jun 4, 2021:
Dr. Fauci has a H index of 227.
Which means he has 227 papers that have been cited 227 times or more.
There are few people in the history of medicine who have a higher H index.
It speaks to how much he has contributed to medicine...
Image ( https://twitter.com/VincentRK/status/1400965986459828227/photo/1 )
Vincent Rajkumar (Mayo) @VincentRK | 8:01 PM · Jun 4, 2021:
Dr. Fauci has a H index of 227.
Which means he has 227 papers that have been cited 227 times or more.
There are few people in the history of medicine who have a higher H index.
It speaks to how much he has contributed to medicine...
Image ( https://twitter.com/VincentRK/status/1400965986459828227/photo/1 )
27margd
“Florida chose freedom over Faucism” as Florida Gov DeSantis vainly brags at the largest concert since #COVID19 began.
He also is blocking any local mask mandates and
blocking businesses & cruise ships from being allowed to even ask for vaccine status.
Freedom Over Faucism
From Ron DeSantis
1:46 ( https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1401990576745107460 )
- Eric Feigl-Ding @DrEricDing | 3:52 PM · Jun 7, 2021
He also is blocking any local mask mandates and
blocking businesses & cruise ships from being allowed to even ask for vaccine status.
Freedom Over Faucism
From Ron DeSantis
1:46 ( https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1401990576745107460 )
- Eric Feigl-Ding @DrEricDing | 3:52 PM · Jun 7, 2021
28margd
Republican governors of Florida and Texas battle with cruise lines over vaccine requirements
Eric Bradner and Marnie Hunter | June 9, 2021
...(Florida Gov. Ron) DeSantis last month signed a law that would bar "vaccine passports" and impose a $5,000-per-incident fine on businesses that require proof of vaccination. At a rate of $5,000 per passenger, that could result in Florida seeking to levy massive fines on cruise ship operators.
That move came just weeks after he sued the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention over its cruise rules in an effort to allow cruises to resume unconditionally. Currently, the CDC requires 95% of passengers and 95% of crew members to be vaccinated in order to bypass trial sailings required by the agency on ships planning to sail with more unvaccinated passengers.
...(Greg) Abbott, the Texas governor ... was asked by a conservative journalist Monday on Twitter for his reaction to Carnival Cruise Line's plan to require passengers on a ship set to sail out of Galveston in July to have been vaccinated.
"I'm signing a law today that prohibits any business operating in Texas from requiring vaccine passports or any vaccine information," Abbott said, referring to Senate Bill 968, which the Republican-controlled state legislature approved this year. "Texas is open 100% without any restrictions or limitations or requirements."
Despite the insistence from DeSantis and Abbott, however, several cruise operators said this week that they plan to mandate vaccines on departures from Florida and Texas this summer.
Celebrity Cruises will be the first to attempt to navigate between DeSantis and the CDC, with a departure from Florida set for June 26. The company is requiring all passengers older than 16 to be vaccinated.
Meanwhile, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings announced Monday that it plans to resume cruises out of Miami in August -- and will require all passengers to be vaccinated.
"At the end of the day, cruise ships have motors, propellers and rudders, and God forbid we can't operate in the state of Florida for whatever reason, then there are other states that we do operate from, and we can operate from the Caribbean for a ship that otherwise would have gone to Florida," CEO Frank Del Rio said on a May earnings call.
In its announcement Monday, Norwegian said vaccines will be mandatory on its August 15 cruise departing from Miami....
"We are currently in communication with his staff and legal counsel to ensure that we can offer the safest cruise experience for our passengers departing from the cruise capital of the world," Del Rio said in the statement.
Other cruise operators have gone along with the Republican governors. Royal Caribbean is encouraging passengers on cruises departing from Texas and Florida to be vaccinated, but will not require them to show proof.
The clash underscores the increasing willingness of Republicans to publicly attack major corporations -- once among the GOP's core allies...Trump...blasted General Motors and Harley-Davidson...Boeing and Lockheed-Martin...Amazon (Firestone, too!)
...Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley...railed against tech companies, including Twitter and Facebook... Georgia, Florida and Texas... condemned companies -- including American Airlines and Dell in Texas and Delta and Coca-Cola in Georgia -- that publicly opposed restrictive (voting) measures.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/09/politics/desantis-abbott-republican-governors-bat...
---------------------------------------------------------------------
FL usually exempts Disney, e.g., anti-masking, but not in this instance?
No Cruise Vaccine Exemption In The Works, DeSantis' Office Says
Rick Mayer | June 2, 2021
(an proposal by industry rejected by DeSantis)...exemption would allow cruise ships in port to be recognized as in international waters and not subject to the vaccine passport ban once customers boarded.
...Disney Cruise Line said Tuesday the CDC has approved its request to conduct a two-night test cruise on June 29 on the Disney Dream, departing from Port Canaveral...
https://wusfnews.wusf.usf.edu/economy-business/2021-06-02/disney-cruise-line-to-...
Eric Bradner and Marnie Hunter | June 9, 2021
...(Florida Gov. Ron) DeSantis last month signed a law that would bar "vaccine passports" and impose a $5,000-per-incident fine on businesses that require proof of vaccination. At a rate of $5,000 per passenger, that could result in Florida seeking to levy massive fines on cruise ship operators.
That move came just weeks after he sued the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention over its cruise rules in an effort to allow cruises to resume unconditionally. Currently, the CDC requires 95% of passengers and 95% of crew members to be vaccinated in order to bypass trial sailings required by the agency on ships planning to sail with more unvaccinated passengers.
...(Greg) Abbott, the Texas governor ... was asked by a conservative journalist Monday on Twitter for his reaction to Carnival Cruise Line's plan to require passengers on a ship set to sail out of Galveston in July to have been vaccinated.
"I'm signing a law today that prohibits any business operating in Texas from requiring vaccine passports or any vaccine information," Abbott said, referring to Senate Bill 968, which the Republican-controlled state legislature approved this year. "Texas is open 100% without any restrictions or limitations or requirements."
Despite the insistence from DeSantis and Abbott, however, several cruise operators said this week that they plan to mandate vaccines on departures from Florida and Texas this summer.
Celebrity Cruises will be the first to attempt to navigate between DeSantis and the CDC, with a departure from Florida set for June 26. The company is requiring all passengers older than 16 to be vaccinated.
Meanwhile, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings announced Monday that it plans to resume cruises out of Miami in August -- and will require all passengers to be vaccinated.
"At the end of the day, cruise ships have motors, propellers and rudders, and God forbid we can't operate in the state of Florida for whatever reason, then there are other states that we do operate from, and we can operate from the Caribbean for a ship that otherwise would have gone to Florida," CEO Frank Del Rio said on a May earnings call.
In its announcement Monday, Norwegian said vaccines will be mandatory on its August 15 cruise departing from Miami....
"We are currently in communication with his staff and legal counsel to ensure that we can offer the safest cruise experience for our passengers departing from the cruise capital of the world," Del Rio said in the statement.
Other cruise operators have gone along with the Republican governors. Royal Caribbean is encouraging passengers on cruises departing from Texas and Florida to be vaccinated, but will not require them to show proof.
The clash underscores the increasing willingness of Republicans to publicly attack major corporations -- once among the GOP's core allies...Trump...blasted General Motors and Harley-Davidson...Boeing and Lockheed-Martin...Amazon (Firestone, too!)
...Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley...railed against tech companies, including Twitter and Facebook... Georgia, Florida and Texas... condemned companies -- including American Airlines and Dell in Texas and Delta and Coca-Cola in Georgia -- that publicly opposed restrictive (voting) measures.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/09/politics/desantis-abbott-republican-governors-bat...
---------------------------------------------------------------------
FL usually exempts Disney, e.g., anti-masking, but not in this instance?
No Cruise Vaccine Exemption In The Works, DeSantis' Office Says
Rick Mayer | June 2, 2021
(an proposal by industry rejected by DeSantis)...exemption would allow cruise ships in port to be recognized as in international waters and not subject to the vaccine passport ban once customers boarded.
...Disney Cruise Line said Tuesday the CDC has approved its request to conduct a two-night test cruise on June 29 on the Disney Dream, departing from Port Canaveral...
https://wusfnews.wusf.usf.edu/economy-business/2021-06-02/disney-cruise-line-to-...
29margd
An inflation storm is coming for the U.S. housing market
Jacob Passy | June 11, 2021. Updated: June 14, 2021
Some economists suggest the government may be misunderstanding the size of the problem
...Some 9.2 million ‘extremely low-income’ renters are spending more than a third of their income on shelter-related expenses
— Andrew Aurand, vice president for research at the National Low Income Housing Coalition
...The role played by COVID-19
The shifts in housing preferences and needs caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has also complicated our ability to gauge the effect of inflation in the housing market.
Wealthier Americans, many of whom suddenly found themselves able to work remotely, chose to move away from major cities into larger and cheaper homes in the suburbs, often saving money in the process. As a result, rental rates declined in pricier neighborhoods.
But in more affordable areas, rents actually increased. Americans who lost their jobs because of the pandemic rushed to find cheaper housing, pushing rents higher for the least expensive apartments and homes in the suburbs.
Those effects are beginning to dissipate, but will continue to weigh on official measures like the consumer price index given the time lags that occur.
Americans who lost their jobs because of the pandemic rushed to find cheaper housing, pushing rents higher for the least expensive apartments and homes in the suburbs.
So is housing quickly becoming more expensive? The answer, economists agree, is yes. First American Financial Services has its own measure, the Real House Price Index, which compares nominal-price gains with Americans’ ability to afford to purchase a property based on the prevailing interest rates and household income.
For a period of time between 2018 and the beginning of 2020, the Real House Price Index was falling, because Americans’ buying power was rising faster than home prices, Fleming said. That’s not the case anymore.
“Deflation has turned into inflation, not because interest rates have gone up — they’ve only gone up a little bit — but because house prices are just crazy,” (Mark Fleming, chief economist at First American Financial Services) said.
The reason home prices are rising so fast is fairly simple. After the Great Recession, home-building activity all but drew to a standstill as the construction industry worked to recover.
As a result, the construction of new homes did not keep pace with population growth and the formation of new households.
That left the housing market with a serious shortage of homes, just as millennials have begun getting married and having kids — traditional hallmarks of home-buying interest.
With the pandemic, the shift to remote working and low interest rates have only exacerbated things.
The primary solution to address runaway inflation in housing will be to build more homes — something that’s easier said than done. “Some of the challenges that we face on the supply side of the residential construction industry are going to persist well into 2022,” (Robert Dietz, chief economist at the National Association of Home Builders) said.
Those challenges run the gamut from the high cost of lumber to the lack of skilled workers to complete construction projects. Another factor: Zoning regulations across the country prevent the construction of more dense housing in many cities, effectively driving up home prices and rents in the process.
Finally, new-home construction alone won’t make matters easier for all Americans. Because of the high costs, it’s easier for builders to construct more expensive homes, even though the demand and competition is strongest for entry-level properties.
Over time, that increased concentration in the bottom-tier of the housing market is driving up prices for those who can least afford it.
“There’s this argument that if you just build more supply to meet the demand, it will eventually help extremely low and very low-income renters,” Aurand said. “But the market is not going to adequately serve mostly extremely low-income renters.”
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/an-inflation-storm-is-coming-for-the-u-s-housi...
-------------------------------------------------------------------
New York Rents Appear Close to Bottom
After a year of record price declines, lease signings are up and landlords are pulling back on rent concessions.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/10/realestate/new-york-rents.html
Jacob Passy | June 11, 2021. Updated: June 14, 2021
Some economists suggest the government may be misunderstanding the size of the problem
...Some 9.2 million ‘extremely low-income’ renters are spending more than a third of their income on shelter-related expenses
— Andrew Aurand, vice president for research at the National Low Income Housing Coalition
...The role played by COVID-19
The shifts in housing preferences and needs caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has also complicated our ability to gauge the effect of inflation in the housing market.
Wealthier Americans, many of whom suddenly found themselves able to work remotely, chose to move away from major cities into larger and cheaper homes in the suburbs, often saving money in the process. As a result, rental rates declined in pricier neighborhoods.
But in more affordable areas, rents actually increased. Americans who lost their jobs because of the pandemic rushed to find cheaper housing, pushing rents higher for the least expensive apartments and homes in the suburbs.
Those effects are beginning to dissipate, but will continue to weigh on official measures like the consumer price index given the time lags that occur.
Americans who lost their jobs because of the pandemic rushed to find cheaper housing, pushing rents higher for the least expensive apartments and homes in the suburbs.
So is housing quickly becoming more expensive? The answer, economists agree, is yes. First American Financial Services has its own measure, the Real House Price Index, which compares nominal-price gains with Americans’ ability to afford to purchase a property based on the prevailing interest rates and household income.
For a period of time between 2018 and the beginning of 2020, the Real House Price Index was falling, because Americans’ buying power was rising faster than home prices, Fleming said. That’s not the case anymore.
“Deflation has turned into inflation, not because interest rates have gone up — they’ve only gone up a little bit — but because house prices are just crazy,” (Mark Fleming, chief economist at First American Financial Services) said.
The reason home prices are rising so fast is fairly simple. After the Great Recession, home-building activity all but drew to a standstill as the construction industry worked to recover.
As a result, the construction of new homes did not keep pace with population growth and the formation of new households.
That left the housing market with a serious shortage of homes, just as millennials have begun getting married and having kids — traditional hallmarks of home-buying interest.
With the pandemic, the shift to remote working and low interest rates have only exacerbated things.
The primary solution to address runaway inflation in housing will be to build more homes — something that’s easier said than done. “Some of the challenges that we face on the supply side of the residential construction industry are going to persist well into 2022,” (Robert Dietz, chief economist at the National Association of Home Builders) said.
Those challenges run the gamut from the high cost of lumber to the lack of skilled workers to complete construction projects. Another factor: Zoning regulations across the country prevent the construction of more dense housing in many cities, effectively driving up home prices and rents in the process.
Finally, new-home construction alone won’t make matters easier for all Americans. Because of the high costs, it’s easier for builders to construct more expensive homes, even though the demand and competition is strongest for entry-level properties.
Over time, that increased concentration in the bottom-tier of the housing market is driving up prices for those who can least afford it.
“There’s this argument that if you just build more supply to meet the demand, it will eventually help extremely low and very low-income renters,” Aurand said. “But the market is not going to adequately serve mostly extremely low-income renters.”
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/an-inflation-storm-is-coming-for-the-u-s-housi...
-------------------------------------------------------------------
New York Rents Appear Close to Bottom
After a year of record price declines, lease signings are up and landlords are pulling back on rent concessions.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/10/realestate/new-york-rents.html
30margd
WOW!
New book offers fresh details about chaos, conflicts inside Trump’s pandemic response
Dan Diamond | June 21, 2021
In the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, as White House officials debated whether to bring infected Americans home for care, President Donald Trump suggested his own plan for where to send them, eager to suppress the numbers on U.S. soil.
“Don’t we have an island that we own?” the president reportedly asked those assembled in the Situation Room in February 2020, before the U.S. outbreak would explode. “What about Guantánamo?”
“We import goods,” Trump specified, lecturing his staff. “We are not going to import a virus.”
Aides were stunned, and when Trump brought it up a second time, they quickly scuttled the idea, worried about a backlash over quarantining American tourists on the same Caribbean base where the United States holds terrorism suspects.
Such insider conversations are among the revelations in "Nightmare Scenario: Inside the Trump Administration’s Response to the Pandemic That Changed History,” a new book by Washington Post journalists Yasmeen Abutaleb and Damian Paletta that captures the dysfunctional response to the unfolding pandemic...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/06/21/abutaleb-paletta-book-nightmare...
New book offers fresh details about chaos, conflicts inside Trump’s pandemic response
Dan Diamond | June 21, 2021
In the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, as White House officials debated whether to bring infected Americans home for care, President Donald Trump suggested his own plan for where to send them, eager to suppress the numbers on U.S. soil.
“Don’t we have an island that we own?” the president reportedly asked those assembled in the Situation Room in February 2020, before the U.S. outbreak would explode. “What about Guantánamo?”
“We import goods,” Trump specified, lecturing his staff. “We are not going to import a virus.”
Aides were stunned, and when Trump brought it up a second time, they quickly scuttled the idea, worried about a backlash over quarantining American tourists on the same Caribbean base where the United States holds terrorism suspects.
Such insider conversations are among the revelations in "Nightmare Scenario: Inside the Trump Administration’s Response to the Pandemic That Changed History,” a new book by Washington Post journalists Yasmeen Abutaleb and Damian Paletta that captures the dysfunctional response to the unfolding pandemic...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/06/21/abutaleb-paletta-book-nightmare...
31margd
What has been the effect of the pandemic on the suicide rate of the U.S. population?
Rubén Portela Carballeira, Science Editor, Health Feedback
...In May 2021, a roundtable held by U.S. Senator Rand Paul in Lexington, Kentucky, discussed the impacts of lockdowns on small businesses.
In a video clip that went viral on social media, Paul, who chaired the roundtable, discussed among other things the negative impact the school closures had on children, implying that this led to an increase in children’s suicide rate. Specifically, he stated that more children have died by suicide than by COVID-19. Another participant in the roundtable, Dawne Perkins, claimed that this was due to the economic hardship that some families are facing during the pandemic, leading to poorer living conditions in these children’s homes.
In this article we provide perspective on this subject by discussing suicide rates in the U.S. prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the potential effects that the pandemic had on suicides in general and on children specifically...
The short-term impact of the pandemic was a decrease in the overall suicide rate...
There is insufficient data to determine the impact of school closures on child suicides...
Conclusion
Preliminary data show a 5.6% decrease in the overall suicide rate in the U.S. in 2020, although the trend over the past 20 years showed a steady increase. This could be due to a transient effect detected after previous natural catastrophes, known as the “pulling together” phenomenon. It is important to note that the long-term impact of the pandemic on the suicide rate may only manifest later down the road. The actual suicide rates for 2020 remain unknown due to a lack of data.
Although there is still no official national data on the impact that school closures have had on suicides in children, there is evidence suggesting that school closures help to limit COVID-19 transmission and save lives... Paul’s statements downplay the positive impact of these measures, implying that these have a solely negative effect on children.
In conclusion, suicide rates in children in the U.S. were already at record high before the pandemic, and preliminary information suggests that this trend has increased during 2020. The extent to which the measures taken to curb COVID-19 infections have affected child suicides is yet to be determined.
https://healthfeedback.org/what-has-been-the-effect-of-the-pandemic-on-the-suici...
Rubén Portela Carballeira, Science Editor, Health Feedback
...In May 2021, a roundtable held by U.S. Senator Rand Paul in Lexington, Kentucky, discussed the impacts of lockdowns on small businesses.
In a video clip that went viral on social media, Paul, who chaired the roundtable, discussed among other things the negative impact the school closures had on children, implying that this led to an increase in children’s suicide rate. Specifically, he stated that more children have died by suicide than by COVID-19. Another participant in the roundtable, Dawne Perkins, claimed that this was due to the economic hardship that some families are facing during the pandemic, leading to poorer living conditions in these children’s homes.
In this article we provide perspective on this subject by discussing suicide rates in the U.S. prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the potential effects that the pandemic had on suicides in general and on children specifically...
The short-term impact of the pandemic was a decrease in the overall suicide rate...
There is insufficient data to determine the impact of school closures on child suicides...
Conclusion
Preliminary data show a 5.6% decrease in the overall suicide rate in the U.S. in 2020, although the trend over the past 20 years showed a steady increase. This could be due to a transient effect detected after previous natural catastrophes, known as the “pulling together” phenomenon. It is important to note that the long-term impact of the pandemic on the suicide rate may only manifest later down the road. The actual suicide rates for 2020 remain unknown due to a lack of data.
Although there is still no official national data on the impact that school closures have had on suicides in children, there is evidence suggesting that school closures help to limit COVID-19 transmission and save lives... Paul’s statements downplay the positive impact of these measures, implying that these have a solely negative effect on children.
In conclusion, suicide rates in children in the U.S. were already at record high before the pandemic, and preliminary information suggests that this trend has increased during 2020. The extent to which the measures taken to curb COVID-19 infections have affected child suicides is yet to be determined.
https://healthfeedback.org/what-has-been-the-effect-of-the-pandemic-on-the-suici...
32margd
The Pandemic Led To The Biggest Drop In U.S. Life Expectancy Since WWII, Study Finds
Allison Aubrey | June 23, 2021
...In 2018, average life expectancy in the U.S. was about 79 years (78.7). It declined to about 77 years (76.9) by the end of 2020, according to a new study published in the British Medical Journal.
...Beyond the more than 600,000 deaths in the U.S. directly from the coronavirus, other factors play into the decreased longevity, including "disruptions in health care, disruptions in chronic disease management, and behavioral health crisis, where people struggling with addiction disorders or depression might not have gotten the help that they needed," (Steven Woolf of the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine and an author of the study released on Wednesday) said.
..."African Americans saw their life expectancy decrease by 3.3 years and Hispanic Americans saw their life expectancy decrease by 3.9 years," Woolf noted.
...Life expectancy in the U.S. had already been declining — albeit slowly — in the years leading up to the pandemic. And the U.S. has been losing ground compared with other wealthy countries
...The study estimates that the decline in life expectancy was .22 years (or about one-fifth of a year) in a group of 16 peer countries (including Austria, Finland, France, Israel, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom) compared with the nearly two-year decline in the United States...
https://www.npr.org/2021/06/23/1009611699/the-pandemic-led-to-the-biggest-drop-i...
-----------------------------------------------------------
Steven H Woolf et al. 2021. Effect of the covid-19 pandemic in 2020 on life expectancy across populations in the USA and other high income countries: simulations of provisional mortality data. BMJ 2021;373:n1343 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n1343 (Published 24 June 2021) https://www.bmj.com/content/373/bmj.n1343
Abstract
...Results
Between 2010 and 2018, the gap in life expectancy between the US and the peer country average increased from 1.88 years (78.66 v 80.54 years, respectively) to 3.05 years (78.74 v 81.78 years). Between 2018 and 2020, life expectancy in the US decreased by 1.87 years (to 76.87 years), 8.5 times the average decrease in peer countries (0.22 years), widening the gap to 4.69 years. Life expectancy in the US decreased disproportionately among racial and ethnic minority groups between 2018 and 2020, declining by 3.88, 3.25, and 1.36 years in Hispanic, non-Hispanic Black, and non-Hispanic White populations, respectively. In Hispanic and non-Hispanic Black populations, reductions in life expectancy were 18 and 15 times the average in peer countries, respectively. Progress since 2010 in reducing the gap in life expectancy in the US between Black and White people was erased in 2018-20; life expectancy in Black men reached its lowest level since 1998 (67.73 years), and the longstanding Hispanic life expectancy advantage almost disappeared.
Conclusions
The US had a much larger decrease in life expectancy between 2018 and 2020 than other high income nations, with pronounced losses among the Hispanic and non-Hispanic Black populations. A longstanding and widening US health disadvantage, high death rates in 2020, and continued inequitable effects on racial and ethnic minority groups are likely the products of longstanding policy choices and systemic racism.
Allison Aubrey | June 23, 2021
...In 2018, average life expectancy in the U.S. was about 79 years (78.7). It declined to about 77 years (76.9) by the end of 2020, according to a new study published in the British Medical Journal.
...Beyond the more than 600,000 deaths in the U.S. directly from the coronavirus, other factors play into the decreased longevity, including "disruptions in health care, disruptions in chronic disease management, and behavioral health crisis, where people struggling with addiction disorders or depression might not have gotten the help that they needed," (Steven Woolf of the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine and an author of the study released on Wednesday) said.
..."African Americans saw their life expectancy decrease by 3.3 years and Hispanic Americans saw their life expectancy decrease by 3.9 years," Woolf noted.
...Life expectancy in the U.S. had already been declining — albeit slowly — in the years leading up to the pandemic. And the U.S. has been losing ground compared with other wealthy countries
...The study estimates that the decline in life expectancy was .22 years (or about one-fifth of a year) in a group of 16 peer countries (including Austria, Finland, France, Israel, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom) compared with the nearly two-year decline in the United States...
https://www.npr.org/2021/06/23/1009611699/the-pandemic-led-to-the-biggest-drop-i...
-----------------------------------------------------------
Steven H Woolf et al. 2021. Effect of the covid-19 pandemic in 2020 on life expectancy across populations in the USA and other high income countries: simulations of provisional mortality data. BMJ 2021;373:n1343 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n1343 (Published 24 June 2021) https://www.bmj.com/content/373/bmj.n1343
Abstract
...Results
Between 2010 and 2018, the gap in life expectancy between the US and the peer country average increased from 1.88 years (78.66 v 80.54 years, respectively) to 3.05 years (78.74 v 81.78 years). Between 2018 and 2020, life expectancy in the US decreased by 1.87 years (to 76.87 years), 8.5 times the average decrease in peer countries (0.22 years), widening the gap to 4.69 years. Life expectancy in the US decreased disproportionately among racial and ethnic minority groups between 2018 and 2020, declining by 3.88, 3.25, and 1.36 years in Hispanic, non-Hispanic Black, and non-Hispanic White populations, respectively. In Hispanic and non-Hispanic Black populations, reductions in life expectancy were 18 and 15 times the average in peer countries, respectively. Progress since 2010 in reducing the gap in life expectancy in the US between Black and White people was erased in 2018-20; life expectancy in Black men reached its lowest level since 1998 (67.73 years), and the longstanding Hispanic life expectancy advantage almost disappeared.
Conclusions
The US had a much larger decrease in life expectancy between 2018 and 2020 than other high income nations, with pronounced losses among the Hispanic and non-Hispanic Black populations. A longstanding and widening US health disadvantage, high death rates in 2020, and continued inequitable effects on racial and ethnic minority groups are likely the products of longstanding policy choices and systemic racism.
33margd
Nightmare Scenario: Inside the Trump Administration's Response to the Pandemic That Changed History
Yasmeen Abutaleb, June 29, 2021
From the Washington Post journalists Yasmeen Abutaleb and Damian Paletta—the definitive account of the Trump administration’s tragic mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the chaos, incompetence, and craven politicization that has led to more than a half million American deaths and counting...Based on exhaustive reporting and hundreds of hours of interviews from inside the disaster zone at all levels of authority, Nightmare Scenario is a riveting account of how the United States government failed its people as never before, a tragedy whose devastating aftershocks will linger and be felt by generations to come.
amazon.com
Yasmeen Abutaleb, June 29, 2021
From the Washington Post journalists Yasmeen Abutaleb and Damian Paletta—the definitive account of the Trump administration’s tragic mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the chaos, incompetence, and craven politicization that has led to more than a half million American deaths and counting...Based on exhaustive reporting and hundreds of hours of interviews from inside the disaster zone at all levels of authority, Nightmare Scenario is a riveting account of how the United States government failed its people as never before, a tragedy whose devastating aftershocks will linger and be felt by generations to come.
amazon.com
34margd
>28 margd: contd.
Royal Caribbean asks unvaccinated guests to get travel insurance for Florida cruises
Reuters | June 29, 2021
Royal Caribbean International said on Tuesday it would require unvaccinated guests over 12 years of age traveling from Florida to show proof of insurance that covers COVID-19 related medical expenses, quarantine and evacuation...
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/royal-caribbean-ask-unvaccinated-guests-florida...
Royal Caribbean asks unvaccinated guests to get travel insurance for Florida cruises
Reuters | June 29, 2021
Royal Caribbean International said on Tuesday it would require unvaccinated guests over 12 years of age traveling from Florida to show proof of insurance that covers COVID-19 related medical expenses, quarantine and evacuation...
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/royal-caribbean-ask-unvaccinated-guests-florida...
35margd
COVID-19: Women’s paid work hardest hit by child care closures
James Kingsland | June 30, 2021
...When the researchers compared states that implemented closures with those that did not, they found that these closures had a greater impact on the employment of women than on that of men.
...Previous research suggests that in heterosexual couples with young children, women tend to carry out more unpaid housework and child care than their male partners.
...compared with men, the likelihood of women being employed was 2.6 percentage points less in closure states while these closures were in effect.
This difference between the employment levels of women and men was greater in households with children younger than 6 years, at 3.3 percentage points.
Overall, the largest reductions in employment were in households with Hispanic and Black individuals.
However, when the researchers broke the figures down by sex, the biggest employment reductions for women were in households with Hispanic and white individuals.
Interestingly, there was no association between sex and changes in employment status in households without children or in those that only had children of middle-school age.
The authors conclude: “In this cross-sectional analysis, state-level child care facility closures were associated with greater reductions in employment among women compared with men. This association was limited to parents of children younger than 6 years.”
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/covid-19-womens-paid-work-hardest-hit-...
------------------------------------------------------------
Yevgeniy Feyman et al. 2021. Association of Childcare Facility Closures With Employment Status of US Women vs Men During the COVID-19 Pandemic. JAMA Health Forum. Jun 25 2021;2(6):e211297. doi:10.1001/jamahealthforum.2021.1297 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama-health-forum/fullarticle/2781506
James Kingsland | June 30, 2021
...When the researchers compared states that implemented closures with those that did not, they found that these closures had a greater impact on the employment of women than on that of men.
...Previous research suggests that in heterosexual couples with young children, women tend to carry out more unpaid housework and child care than their male partners.
...compared with men, the likelihood of women being employed was 2.6 percentage points less in closure states while these closures were in effect.
This difference between the employment levels of women and men was greater in households with children younger than 6 years, at 3.3 percentage points.
Overall, the largest reductions in employment were in households with Hispanic and Black individuals.
However, when the researchers broke the figures down by sex, the biggest employment reductions for women were in households with Hispanic and white individuals.
Interestingly, there was no association between sex and changes in employment status in households without children or in those that only had children of middle-school age.
The authors conclude: “In this cross-sectional analysis, state-level child care facility closures were associated with greater reductions in employment among women compared with men. This association was limited to parents of children younger than 6 years.”
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/covid-19-womens-paid-work-hardest-hit-...
------------------------------------------------------------
Yevgeniy Feyman et al. 2021. Association of Childcare Facility Closures With Employment Status of US Women vs Men During the COVID-19 Pandemic. JAMA Health Forum. Jun 25 2021;2(6):e211297. doi:10.1001/jamahealthforum.2021.1297 https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama-health-forum/fullarticle/2781506
36margd
Where Jobless Benefits Were Cut, Jobs Are Still Hard to Fill
Missouri scrapped federal pay to the unemployed, saying it kept people out of the labor market. But so far, workers still seem to be choosy.
Patricia Cohen | June 27, 2021
...Why businesses are having such trouble hiring when 9.3 million people were unemployed in May is a puzzle that has generated lots of speculation, but little hard evidence. Many economists are skeptical that enhanced jobless benefits have played an outsize role in the hiring squeeze. They are more likely to point to child care and continuing health fears with less than half the population fully vaccinated. Nor should it be surprising that the nation’s road back from the harrowing limbo of the pandemic, in which millions of jobs vanished and more than 600,000 people have died, is bumpy.
In any case, the squeeze has given many job seekers the confidence that they can push for higher wages or wait until employers come around.
...The labor market’s deeper problem, said Francine D. Blau, an economist at Cornell University, is the proliferation of low-paid jobs with few prospects for advancement and too little income to cover essential expenses like housing, food and health care.
...The Biden administration has made clear that it seeks to tilt bargaining power toward workers...
In recent decades, a declining share of the country’s income and its productivity gains has gone to workers. And for adults without a four-year college degree, the options are especially bleak. From 1974 to 2018, for example, real wages for men with only a high school diploma declined by 7 percent. For those without that diploma, wages fell by 18 percent.
For most of the last 40 years, less than full employment has tended to give employers the advantage. As it becomes harder to find qualified candidates, though, employers are often slow to adjust expectations...
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/27/business/economy/jobs-workers-unemployment-be...
Missouri scrapped federal pay to the unemployed, saying it kept people out of the labor market. But so far, workers still seem to be choosy.
Patricia Cohen | June 27, 2021
...Why businesses are having such trouble hiring when 9.3 million people were unemployed in May is a puzzle that has generated lots of speculation, but little hard evidence. Many economists are skeptical that enhanced jobless benefits have played an outsize role in the hiring squeeze. They are more likely to point to child care and continuing health fears with less than half the population fully vaccinated. Nor should it be surprising that the nation’s road back from the harrowing limbo of the pandemic, in which millions of jobs vanished and more than 600,000 people have died, is bumpy.
In any case, the squeeze has given many job seekers the confidence that they can push for higher wages or wait until employers come around.
...The labor market’s deeper problem, said Francine D. Blau, an economist at Cornell University, is the proliferation of low-paid jobs with few prospects for advancement and too little income to cover essential expenses like housing, food and health care.
...The Biden administration has made clear that it seeks to tilt bargaining power toward workers...
In recent decades, a declining share of the country’s income and its productivity gains has gone to workers. And for adults without a four-year college degree, the options are especially bleak. From 1974 to 2018, for example, real wages for men with only a high school diploma declined by 7 percent. For those without that diploma, wages fell by 18 percent.
For most of the last 40 years, less than full employment has tended to give employers the advantage. As it becomes harder to find qualified candidates, though, employers are often slow to adjust expectations...
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/27/business/economy/jobs-workers-unemployment-be...
37margd
Moderna Announces First Participant Dosed in Phase 1/2 Study of Its Quadrivalent Seasonal Flu mRNA Vaccine
July 7, 2021
...Current flu vaccines are only approximately 40-60% effective and their formulation is decided 6-9 months before the vaccines are intended to be used. Egg-based vaccine production, the process used for the majority of currently licensed influenza vaccines, also has the potential to cause unintended antigenic change to the vaccine virus. Moderna plans to explore potential combination vaccines against flu, SARS-CoV-2, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and human metapneumovirus (hMPV). The Company’s overarching seasonal influenza program will aim to evaluate multiple candidates exploring different antigen combinations against seasonal influenza viruses in the clinic.
https://investors.modernatx.com/news-releases/news-release-details/moderna-annou...
July 7, 2021
...Current flu vaccines are only approximately 40-60% effective and their formulation is decided 6-9 months before the vaccines are intended to be used. Egg-based vaccine production, the process used for the majority of currently licensed influenza vaccines, also has the potential to cause unintended antigenic change to the vaccine virus. Moderna plans to explore potential combination vaccines against flu, SARS-CoV-2, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and human metapneumovirus (hMPV). The Company’s overarching seasonal influenza program will aim to evaluate multiple candidates exploring different antigen combinations against seasonal influenza viruses in the clinic.
https://investors.modernatx.com/news-releases/news-release-details/moderna-annou...
38margd
4 million people dead, more than 600,000 dead in US alone, with new variants on the loose, but the stock market falls 1%:
Jim Cramer blames market sell-off on government failures to contain delta spread
Tyler Clifford | Jul 8 2021
CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Thursday slammed world leaders for failing to contain the spread of the delta Covid-19 variant.
“I put this sell-off squarely in the laps of politicians around the world, because we right now have a failure of global leadership...If we get the COVID variants under control by forcing people to get vaccinated, I think bond yields and the stock market will start rising again...I put this sell-off squarely in the laps of politicians around the world, because we right now have a failure of global leadership...Here in America, we’re doing a much better job of getting people vaccinated than most countries, but we screwed up when we made the vaccination process voluntary.”
Cramer lambasted that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has yet to give full approval to coronavirus vaccines from the likes of Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech...Pfizer applied for FDA approval of its vaccine in May, followed by a submission by Moderna for its own product in June.
“Maybe you think this is a technicality, but so many Americans don’t trust the vaccines and the lack of FDA approval sure doesn’t help...I challenge the FDA to explain themselves and their foolhardy behavior.”
...“If we get the COVID variants under control by forcing people to get vaccinated, I think bond yields and the stock market will start rising again...I don’t see much hope for speeding up vaccinations without either paying people money or coercing them, neither of which is going to happen in this country.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/08/jim-cramer-blames-market-sell-off-on-failures-to...
Jim Cramer blames market sell-off on government failures to contain delta spread
Tyler Clifford | Jul 8 2021
CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Thursday slammed world leaders for failing to contain the spread of the delta Covid-19 variant.
“I put this sell-off squarely in the laps of politicians around the world, because we right now have a failure of global leadership...If we get the COVID variants under control by forcing people to get vaccinated, I think bond yields and the stock market will start rising again...I put this sell-off squarely in the laps of politicians around the world, because we right now have a failure of global leadership...Here in America, we’re doing a much better job of getting people vaccinated than most countries, but we screwed up when we made the vaccination process voluntary.”
Cramer lambasted that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has yet to give full approval to coronavirus vaccines from the likes of Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech...Pfizer applied for FDA approval of its vaccine in May, followed by a submission by Moderna for its own product in June.
“Maybe you think this is a technicality, but so many Americans don’t trust the vaccines and the lack of FDA approval sure doesn’t help...I challenge the FDA to explain themselves and their foolhardy behavior.”
...“If we get the COVID variants under control by forcing people to get vaccinated, I think bond yields and the stock market will start rising again...I don’t see much hope for speeding up vaccinations without either paying people money or coercing them, neither of which is going to happen in this country.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/08/jim-cramer-blames-market-sell-off-on-failures-to...
39margd
All fans banned from Tokyo Olympics as COVID cases rise, delta spreads
The prime minister also asked bars and restaurants not to serve alcohol.
Beth Mole - 7/8/2021
https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/07/all-fans-banned-from-tokyo-olympics-as-c...
The prime minister also asked bars and restaurants not to serve alcohol.
Beth Mole - 7/8/2021
https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/07/all-fans-banned-from-tokyo-olympics-as-c...
40lriley
#38--well we have a major political party that has made it their agenda to spread lies about the different vaccines. They are following Trump's lead on this. He has certainly helped create the skepticism around the Covid virus from day one and he continues to do so even now. Something like 99.2% of those dying in the United States from Covid these days are the unvaccinated. I suspect that at least 90% of them are would be republican voters. I guess it's a way for them to thin their own herd.
41margd
In California, dogs fill shelters as pandemic lockdowns ease
Rollo Ross | July 8, 2021
Pet adoptions surged during the coronavirus pandemic as people in lockdown sought companionship. But as the world has opened up again, the future looks less rosy for a growing number of animals sent to shelters or adoption centers by owners without the time or money to care for them...
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/california-dogs-fill-shelters-pandemic-lockdown...
Rollo Ross | July 8, 2021
Pet adoptions surged during the coronavirus pandemic as people in lockdown sought companionship. But as the world has opened up again, the future looks less rosy for a growing number of animals sent to shelters or adoption centers by owners without the time or money to care for them...
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/california-dogs-fill-shelters-pandemic-lockdown...
42margd
‘Mother, When Will You Come?’: The Covid Orphans of India
Thousands of children lost their parents during a calamitous wave of infections. While the government is vowing to help them, many face the risk of neglect and exploitation when the attention fades.
Suhasini Raj | July 10, 2021
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/10/world/asia/india-covid-orphans.html
Thousands of children lost their parents during a calamitous wave of infections. While the government is vowing to help them, many face the risk of neglect and exploitation when the attention fades.
Suhasini Raj | July 10, 2021
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/10/world/asia/india-covid-orphans.html
43John5918
‘They’re killing people’: Biden slams Facebook for Covid misinformation (Guardian)
Joe Biden says social media platforms such as Facebook “are killing people” for allowing misinformation about coronavirus vaccines to be posted on its platform, as the administration continued criticising the company. “They’re killing people. ... Look, the only pandemic we have is among the unvaccinated. And they’re killing people”...
Covid-19 misinformation has proliferated during the pandemic on social media sites including Facebook, Twitter and Google’s YouTube. Researchers and lawmakers have long accused Facebook of failing to police harmful content on its platforms...
44margd
Hallelujah! Who woulda thunk? How did this happen?
Sahil Kapur @sahilkapur | 9:52 PM · Jul 19, 2021:
SEAN HANNITY: "Please take Covid seriously. I can't say it enough. Enough people have died. We don't need any more death. Research like crazy. Talk to your doctor... I believe in science. I believe in the science of vaccination."
From Acyn
0:37 ( https://twitter.com/sahilkapur/status/1417301374245687296 )
____________________________________________
ETA, OTOH:
Angelo Carusone @GoAngelo | 10:35 PM · Jul 19, 2021:
On his radio show, Hannity said almost same thing except he added 2 things:
1) He urged listeners to do their own research about vaccines risks;
2) he said vaccines weren’t as essential because hydroxychloroquine is effective.
His radio audience is 4x size of his fox audience.
____________________________________________
ETA: Is Tucker Carlson to be left dangling?
Fox News host compares unvaccinated to cliff divers, says it's 'their choice' to die
The assertion came after another host urged unvaccinated people to get the shot.
Tim Stelloh | July 19, 2021
...The assertion came as (“Fox and Friends”) co-host Steve Doocy urged those who have resisted getting the vaccine to get the shot — and as the highly contagious delta variant surges across states with low vaccination rates, filling hospital beds and alarming public health officials.
“Listen, if you didn’t get a vaccination, that’s your choice,” (co-host Brian) Kilmeade said, adding that he and his co-hosts had all gotten the shot and were no longer wearing masks.
“If you want to go cliff-diving this weekend, you don’t have to check with me,” Kilmeade said. “It seems a little dangerous, but I’m not going to judge you. And if you go ahead and put yourself in danger, and you feel as though this is not something for you, don’t do it. But don’t affect my life.”
“99 percent of the people who are dying from Covid are unvaccinated,” Doocy interrupted.
“That’s their choice,” Kilmeade said.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/fox-news-host-compares-unvaccinated-cliff-d...
Sahil Kapur @sahilkapur | 9:52 PM · Jul 19, 2021:
SEAN HANNITY: "Please take Covid seriously. I can't say it enough. Enough people have died. We don't need any more death. Research like crazy. Talk to your doctor... I believe in science. I believe in the science of vaccination."
From Acyn
0:37 ( https://twitter.com/sahilkapur/status/1417301374245687296 )
____________________________________________
ETA, OTOH:
Angelo Carusone @GoAngelo | 10:35 PM · Jul 19, 2021:
On his radio show, Hannity said almost same thing except he added 2 things:
1) He urged listeners to do their own research about vaccines risks;
2) he said vaccines weren’t as essential because hydroxychloroquine is effective.
His radio audience is 4x size of his fox audience.
____________________________________________
ETA: Is Tucker Carlson to be left dangling?
Fox News host compares unvaccinated to cliff divers, says it's 'their choice' to die
The assertion came after another host urged unvaccinated people to get the shot.
Tim Stelloh | July 19, 2021
...The assertion came as (“Fox and Friends”) co-host Steve Doocy urged those who have resisted getting the vaccine to get the shot — and as the highly contagious delta variant surges across states with low vaccination rates, filling hospital beds and alarming public health officials.
“Listen, if you didn’t get a vaccination, that’s your choice,” (co-host Brian) Kilmeade said, adding that he and his co-hosts had all gotten the shot and were no longer wearing masks.
“If you want to go cliff-diving this weekend, you don’t have to check with me,” Kilmeade said. “It seems a little dangerous, but I’m not going to judge you. And if you go ahead and put yourself in danger, and you feel as though this is not something for you, don’t do it. But don’t affect my life.”
“99 percent of the people who are dying from Covid are unvaccinated,” Doocy interrupted.
“That’s their choice,” Kilmeade said.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/fox-news-host-compares-unvaccinated-cliff-d...
45margd
COVID Isn’t Over, And Why That Will Impact Everyone
Taylor Nichols | 7/19/2021
... hospitals aren’t taking adequate measures to prepare.
...Patient numbers plummeted during the early part of the pandemic as patients stayed out of the hospital.
In a sick twist of capitalism, this sharp decrease in patient volumes through the emergency department and occupying hospital beds, while non-emergency operations were put on hold, lead to decreased revenue for hospitals and physician groups.
...With a lack of revenue and a lack of foresight for the possibility of further surges and the arcane and length process of applying for hospital credentials, that lead to hospitals cutting staff including nurses and physician groups cutting hours and pay or even firing physicians.
That fact also doesn’t account for the burnout and despair that has nurses and physicians leaving medicine altogether...
Beds can’t staff themselves.
Nurses are hard to replace.
Great nurses are irreplaceable.
Taken together, those factors have led us to our current position in health care in which we are facing one of the most dire staffing shortages at one of the absolute worst times.
...Despite...rising numbers of COVID patients and the potential for a surge, many hospitals are already dealing with “boarding” of patients who require hospitalization remaining in the emergency department for long delays until a hospital bed becomes available.
...Emergency departments already face the downward pressure from hospital systems driving to optimize productivity and upward pressure from increasing complex medical and social needs driving more patients to the emergency departments. We’re about to get squeezed even more. That impacts everyone, regardless of your vaccination status...
Original tweet thread: https://twitter.com/tnicholsmd/status/1416921153617100803?s=20
Taylor Nichols | 7/19/2021
... hospitals aren’t taking adequate measures to prepare.
...Patient numbers plummeted during the early part of the pandemic as patients stayed out of the hospital.
In a sick twist of capitalism, this sharp decrease in patient volumes through the emergency department and occupying hospital beds, while non-emergency operations were put on hold, lead to decreased revenue for hospitals and physician groups.
...With a lack of revenue and a lack of foresight for the possibility of further surges and the arcane and length process of applying for hospital credentials, that lead to hospitals cutting staff including nurses and physician groups cutting hours and pay or even firing physicians.
That fact also doesn’t account for the burnout and despair that has nurses and physicians leaving medicine altogether...
Beds can’t staff themselves.
Nurses are hard to replace.
Great nurses are irreplaceable.
Taken together, those factors have led us to our current position in health care in which we are facing one of the most dire staffing shortages at one of the absolute worst times.
...Despite...rising numbers of COVID patients and the potential for a surge, many hospitals are already dealing with “boarding” of patients who require hospitalization remaining in the emergency department for long delays until a hospital bed becomes available.
...Emergency departments already face the downward pressure from hospital systems driving to optimize productivity and upward pressure from increasing complex medical and social needs driving more patients to the emergency departments. We’re about to get squeezed even more. That impacts everyone, regardless of your vaccination status...
Original tweet thread: https://twitter.com/tnicholsmd/status/1416921153617100803?s=20
46margd
Paul Cogan (Toronto) @PaulCogan | 12:59 PM · Jul 19, 2021:
FUN FACT: It's already started. I checked into travel insurance yesterday and
they will not cover medical expenses for covid for unvaccinated people.
Bob Dobalina (Cdn) @MiskaVlasics | 2:44 PM · Jul 19, 2021
This makes total sense. A trip to Florida is becoming a bloody guaranteed exposure fest.
They would be paying out far far more than they want to and they know it.
FUN FACT: It's already started. I checked into travel insurance yesterday and
they will not cover medical expenses for covid for unvaccinated people.
Bob Dobalina (Cdn) @MiskaVlasics | 2:44 PM · Jul 19, 2021
This makes total sense. A trip to Florida is becoming a bloody guaranteed exposure fest.
They would be paying out far far more than they want to and they know it.
47margd
...How Canada's reopening is going:
Health Minister Patty Hajdu told reporters Monday that of the more than 63,000 fully vaccinated Canadians who have returned to Canada since the government relaxed its quarantine rules earlier this month, "under 10 individuals" have tested positive for Covid-19.
Moving forward, Hajdu said public health officials will continue to monitor key data, including immunization rates, hospitalizations and the evolution of the virus and variants in other countries.
Any setbacks could affect Canada's border plans.
"This virus has thrown us many curveballs," she said.
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/07/19/canada-reopen-border-500158
Health Minister Patty Hajdu told reporters Monday that of the more than 63,000 fully vaccinated Canadians who have returned to Canada since the government relaxed its quarantine rules earlier this month, "under 10 individuals" have tested positive for Covid-19.
Moving forward, Hajdu said public health officials will continue to monitor key data, including immunization rates, hospitalizations and the evolution of the virus and variants in other countries.
Any setbacks could affect Canada's border plans.
"This virus has thrown us many curveballs," she said.
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/07/19/canada-reopen-border-500158
48margd
The tyranny of business travel...
Doctor Money Matters @drmoneymatters | 10:45 PM · Jul 19, 2021:
How many other people are realizing this now?
A lot of business travel was unnecessary and detrimental to personal/family life.
On the flipside, it is harder to forge friendships with professional colleagues via web conference.
Quote Tweet
Vincent Rajkumar (Mayo MD) @VincentRK · 22h
I flew ~200,000 miles in 2019.
2020: 0 miles after Feb 15.
2021: 0 miles till now.
Whatever happens with COVID, I'm not getting on a plane to give 30 minute lectures anymore.
It has to be a major meeting that needs face to face presence.
Doctor Money Matters @drmoneymatters | 10:45 PM · Jul 19, 2021:
How many other people are realizing this now?
A lot of business travel was unnecessary and detrimental to personal/family life.
On the flipside, it is harder to forge friendships with professional colleagues via web conference.
Quote Tweet
Vincent Rajkumar (Mayo MD) @VincentRK · 22h
I flew ~200,000 miles in 2019.
2020: 0 miles after Feb 15.
2021: 0 miles till now.
Whatever happens with COVID, I'm not getting on a plane to give 30 minute lectures anymore.
It has to be a major meeting that needs face to face presence.
49margd
>44 margd: contd.
David Begnaud @DavidBegnaud | 11:15 PM · Jul 22, 2021
Alabama’s Republican Governor @kayiveyforgov has had enough with unvaccinated people in her state:
“It’s time to start blaming the unvaccinated folks, not the regular folks. It’s the unvaccinated folks that are letting us down.”
0:29 ( https://twitter.com/DavidBegnaud/status/1418409503578632195 )
David Begnaud @DavidBegnaud | 11:15 PM · Jul 22, 2021
Alabama’s Republican Governor @kayiveyforgov has had enough with unvaccinated people in her state:
“It’s time to start blaming the unvaccinated folks, not the regular folks. It’s the unvaccinated folks that are letting us down.”
0:29 ( https://twitter.com/DavidBegnaud/status/1418409503578632195 )
50John5918
Republicans used to laud ‘personal responsibility’. Not with Covid
During the pandemic, a new variant of capitalism has emerged
Both from the Guardian
“It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions,” declared Ronald Reagan at the 1968 Republican National Convention. By the time he became president 12 years later, this idea – that individuals can be trusted to act wisely and should be held accountable when they don’t – was firmly entrenched in Republican rhetoric. Reagan even included “personal responsibility” in his list of America’s bedrock values, right up there with faith in God, honesty, and caring for others.
But those days are long over – and the conservative movement’s nationwide anti-vaccination effort proves it. Political parties are large; there are plenty of responsible Republican voters, and a handful of responsible Republican politicians. But the conservative movement no longer argues that individuals are better than the government at promoting the greater good. Instead, the movement encourages its members to make objectively selfish, harmful choices, then uses the tools of government to shield them from accountability when they do. Republicans have become the party of personal irresponsibility...
During the pandemic, a new variant of capitalism has emerged
The shock to the global economy from the pandemic has been colossal, but things are now looking up – especially for advanced countries. Some are surprised by the pace of recovery, but they perhaps shouldn’t be, because alongside new variants of the virus there has been a new variant of global capitalism.
This matters. For decades the Austrian variant of political economy – the small state, non-interventionist, trickle-down, free-trade, low-tax model based around the ideas of Friedrich von Hayek – was dominant. It replaced the Keynesian variant because in the 1970s a free-market approach was seen as the answer to the challenges of the time: inflation, weak corporate profitability, and a loss of business dynamism. Not even the biggest fan of capitalism would say it is a perfect system, merely that – so far at least – it has proved more durable than its rivals. And the flexibility to adapt to changing circumstances is a big part of that. The state is now a much more powerful economic actor than it was before the pandemic, much to the disappointment of the free-market thinktanks which are home to Hayek’s disciples...
Governments of left, right and centre have intervened in their economies in ways that would have been unthinkable two years ago: paying wages for furloughed workers; keeping businesses afloat through grants and loans; preventing landlords from evicting tenants; and generally throwing financial caution to the wind. The world has been fighting a war against Covid, and in wartime the power of the state always increases. It has not just been about governments spending and borrowing more, though that is part of the story. Fiscal policy – which covers tax and spending decisions – has taken centre stage for the first time since the Keynesian model ran into trouble in the mid-1970s...
Both from the Guardian
51John5918
Sudan's COVID-19 pandemic in cartoons by Omar Dafallah (Dabanga)
Worth taking a look at the link - there are some good cartoons.
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the entire world and brought societies to a standstill as the virus spread across the globe, but vaccines and testing resources have not been spread out as equally. From the first outbreak to the third wave and the vaccine roll-out, the sharp-witted and often barbed pen of Radio Dabanga's resident cartoonist, Omar Dafallah, has documented not only Sudan's struggle with COVID-19 so far, but also clearly reflected on the pandemic and the world's response in a global context...
Worth taking a look at the link - there are some good cartoons.
52lriley
#50–I know they’re Guardian articles but in his 8 years in power I never really noticed Reagan ever caring for others that weren’t in his orbit. For instance he started off his presidency by firing thousands of air traffic controllers. And his trickle down economic agenda was supportive of brutal right wing dictatorships worldwide and he continued the career of the extremely evil Henry Kissinger and wherever Kissinger put his thumb people died while Henry’s bank account got fatter.
53John5918
Brexit and Covid have created the perfect moment for the politics of crackdown (Guardian)
We feel besieged and imperilled, and the Johnson government is seizing the chance to weaken our most fundamental liberties...
54lriley
21,683 new cases in Florida on Saturday. Gov. DeSantis though is making sure that kids going back to school next month won’t have to mask up—won’t have any restrictions and that’s the way he wants his whole state to be.
55John5918
Microbiologist Elisabeth Bik queried Covid research – that’s when the abuse and trolling began (Guardian)
When Dr Elisabeth Bik raised serious concerns about the methodology of a paper that claimed hydroxychloroquine was effective in treating Covid-19, the online trolling was relentless. The trolls, mostly supporters of the controversial French professor Didier Raoult, who co-wrote the paper, “bombarded me on Twitter with all kinds of threats and false accusations”, says Bik, a microbiologist who grew up in the Netherlands and now lives in the United States. Bik’s home address was posted on Twitter, and other users tweeted photos of women behind bars at her, tagging the FBI. After Bik examined and critiqued further studies from Raoult’s laboratory, “Raoult and his lawyer even filed a legal complaint against me, which was very intimidating,” Bik says...
56margd
American Shoppers Are a Nightmare
Customers were this awful long before the pandemic.
Amanda Mull | August 3, 2021
...“The customer is always right” emerged as the essential precept of American consumerism—service workers weren’t there just to ring up orders, as store clerks had done in the past. Instead, they were there to fuss and fawn, to bolster egos, to reassure wavering buyers, to make dreams come true. If a complaint arose, it was to be resolved quickly and with sincere apologies.
...Even before the pandemic pushed things to further extremes, the primacy of consumer identity made customer-service interactions particularly conflagratory. Being corrected by a salesperson, forgotten by a bartender, or brushed off by a flight attendant isn’t just an annoyance—for many people, it is an existential threat to their self-understanding.
...Cooking or cleaning or delivering or helping is not inherently dehumanizing, but the understanding of these experiences baked into American consumer culture ensures that for workers, they often are. ... Workers must stifle their natural emotional reactions to, in the case of those in the service industry, placate members of the consumer class. These workers are alienated from their own emotional well-being, which can have far-reaching psychological consequences—over the years, research has associated this kind of work with elevated levels of stress hormones, burnout, depression, and increased alcohol consumption.
It was into this house of cards that the pandemic crash-landed, and the collateral damage has largely been to the lives of workers. Americans were confronted with how little control they actually have over so many parts of life that normally feature the illusion of personal choice—health, government, safety, technology, travel...Agitated and desperate, many people turned to the realm in which they have long been promised the opportunity to exercise control...
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2021/08/pandemic-american-shoppers-ni...
Customers were this awful long before the pandemic.
Amanda Mull | August 3, 2021
...“The customer is always right” emerged as the essential precept of American consumerism—service workers weren’t there just to ring up orders, as store clerks had done in the past. Instead, they were there to fuss and fawn, to bolster egos, to reassure wavering buyers, to make dreams come true. If a complaint arose, it was to be resolved quickly and with sincere apologies.
...Even before the pandemic pushed things to further extremes, the primacy of consumer identity made customer-service interactions particularly conflagratory. Being corrected by a salesperson, forgotten by a bartender, or brushed off by a flight attendant isn’t just an annoyance—for many people, it is an existential threat to their self-understanding.
...Cooking or cleaning or delivering or helping is not inherently dehumanizing, but the understanding of these experiences baked into American consumer culture ensures that for workers, they often are. ... Workers must stifle their natural emotional reactions to, in the case of those in the service industry, placate members of the consumer class. These workers are alienated from their own emotional well-being, which can have far-reaching psychological consequences—over the years, research has associated this kind of work with elevated levels of stress hormones, burnout, depression, and increased alcohol consumption.
It was into this house of cards that the pandemic crash-landed, and the collateral damage has largely been to the lives of workers. Americans were confronted with how little control they actually have over so many parts of life that normally feature the illusion of personal choice—health, government, safety, technology, travel...Agitated and desperate, many people turned to the realm in which they have long been promised the opportunity to exercise control...
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2021/08/pandemic-american-shoppers-ni...
57prosfilaes
>52 lriley: Look, it's like Romney said, as an extension of Reaganism, you can go to college (on your parent's dime), or you can get $40,000 loan from your parents and start your own business. Take personal responsibility and do one or the other. (Oh, and take personal responsibility and be born in the US. If you don't have the foresight to do that, that's your problem.)
58John5918
Britain’s Covid experts are under attack, but they are just doing their jobs (Guardian)
It feels like open season on Professor Neil Ferguson right now. Sections of the media and several columnists delight in castigating the epidemiologist, or “Professor Lockdown”, for being “doomster in chief”, constantly predicting catastrophe and then back-pedalling when the worst numbers don’t materialise.
Opponents of Covid restrictions blame Ferguson and his team at Imperial College London for persuading Boris Johnson to shake off his libertarian instincts and take us into lockdown. One presenter on new channel GB News described Ferguson as a “numpty” on air, and the very mention of his name attracts groans in some circles.
But the attacks on Ferguson often betray a fundamental misunderstanding of scientific modelling and, indeed, the way science works...
59John5918
Sky News Australia deletes dozens of videos promoting unproven Covid treatments (Guardian)
Sky News Australia has quietly deleted at least 31 videos that question the public health response to Covid-19 or promote unproven treatments as the broadcaster prepares for its chief executive, Paul Whittaker, to appear at a Senate inquiry on Friday, Guardian Australia can reveal. Sky News will face the media diversity inquiry after the broadcaster was suspended from YouTube for seven days for posting 21 videos that violated the platform’s Covid medical misinformation policies...
60margd
Remember FL Gov DeSantis responding to Biden rebuke by referring to Mexican border?
Why we can be confident that the surge in coronavirus cases isn’t the fault of immigrants
Philip Bump | August 6, 2021
...A poll released by Axios this week showed that a third of respondents identified “people from other countries traveling to the U.S.” as being to blame for the current surge in coronavirus cases.
...it’s politically useful for the right to blame the pandemic on migrants (as has happened repeatedly) in part because it shifts blame directly onto President Biden and in part because it specifically shifts blame away from the unvaccinated — a group that is mostly made up of Republicans...
1. Misunderstanding the migration numbers
...So far this fiscal year (which began last October), Customs and Border Protection data show that more than a million people have been apprehended by the Border Patrol. In June alone, there were more than 178,000...100,000 of them were (immediately) expelled under Title 42 (COVID)...a large number of those expelled under Title 42 simply try to enter the country again.
...40 percent of those apprehended at the border this year had been apprehended at least once before during the preceding 12 months. In other words, more than 400,000 of the apprehensions made at the border were of people who were apprehended at another point in the past 12 months...if 4-in-10 apprehensions were of people who were apprehended at some point in the preceding 12 months and expelled from the country, that means that they weren’t walking around the United States spreading the coronavirus.
...Even with Title 42 in place, there are more than 75,000 migrants who were apprehended at the border in June who then stay in the United States. The majority of them, however, remain in the custody of federal, state or local officials...
...about 11 percent of those apprehended at the border in this fiscal year, who are the people being blamed for the coronavirus surge (are given “humanitarian release,” with notices to appear for hearings within six months)
2. Misunderstanding how migrants are released
...detained migrants are given and required to wear masks.
...detainees exhibiting symptoms of illness are tested and, if found to be covid-positive, quarantined
...“partners in local communities” that do the work of moving people out of CBP custody...generally included testing for the coronavirus.
American Immigration Council’s Aaron Reichlin-Melnick...“Migrants are in many ways the most tested group in the country. No other group of people in the entire country is being tested at a near-100 percent rate...So when we talk about infection rates of migrants, what we actually know is that a lot of people who are testing positive are asymptomatic; who, if they were in the United States, would have just never been tested.”
...After their positive tests, they are asked to quarantine ...and, once healthy, continue on to their final destinations.
...(Contrast) In June, there were (untested) 8.3 million passengers in personal vehicles who crossed the border from Mexico into the United States. There were 1.1 million trucks and 2.2 million pedestrians. And then there were about 34,000 apprehended migrants who were released from CBP custody and, often, tested for the coronavirus....
3. Misunderstanding where the pandemic is surging
The most obvious point we can make is that the current surge in coronavirus cases doesn’t overlap with the surge in immigration or with the locations where those immigrants end up. (map)
...Of the 10 counties that are currently experiencing the highest rates of new infections relative to population, eight are more densely White than the United States as a whole and nine are less densely Hispanic. That doesn’t suggest that they are likely destinations for migrants...What the places that are seeing high rates of infection do have in common is that they have populations that are generally less heavily vaccinated...There’s a reason the unvaccinated were a lot more likely to blame “foreign travelers” than the unvaccinated for the surge.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/08/06/why-we-can-be-confident-that-...
Why we can be confident that the surge in coronavirus cases isn’t the fault of immigrants
Philip Bump | August 6, 2021
...A poll released by Axios this week showed that a third of respondents identified “people from other countries traveling to the U.S.” as being to blame for the current surge in coronavirus cases.
...it’s politically useful for the right to blame the pandemic on migrants (as has happened repeatedly) in part because it shifts blame directly onto President Biden and in part because it specifically shifts blame away from the unvaccinated — a group that is mostly made up of Republicans...
1. Misunderstanding the migration numbers
...So far this fiscal year (which began last October), Customs and Border Protection data show that more than a million people have been apprehended by the Border Patrol. In June alone, there were more than 178,000...100,000 of them were (immediately) expelled under Title 42 (COVID)...a large number of those expelled under Title 42 simply try to enter the country again.
...40 percent of those apprehended at the border this year had been apprehended at least once before during the preceding 12 months. In other words, more than 400,000 of the apprehensions made at the border were of people who were apprehended at another point in the past 12 months...if 4-in-10 apprehensions were of people who were apprehended at some point in the preceding 12 months and expelled from the country, that means that they weren’t walking around the United States spreading the coronavirus.
...Even with Title 42 in place, there are more than 75,000 migrants who were apprehended at the border in June who then stay in the United States. The majority of them, however, remain in the custody of federal, state or local officials...
...about 11 percent of those apprehended at the border in this fiscal year, who are the people being blamed for the coronavirus surge (are given “humanitarian release,” with notices to appear for hearings within six months)
2. Misunderstanding how migrants are released
...detained migrants are given and required to wear masks.
...detainees exhibiting symptoms of illness are tested and, if found to be covid-positive, quarantined
...“partners in local communities” that do the work of moving people out of CBP custody...generally included testing for the coronavirus.
American Immigration Council’s Aaron Reichlin-Melnick...“Migrants are in many ways the most tested group in the country. No other group of people in the entire country is being tested at a near-100 percent rate...So when we talk about infection rates of migrants, what we actually know is that a lot of people who are testing positive are asymptomatic; who, if they were in the United States, would have just never been tested.”
...After their positive tests, they are asked to quarantine ...and, once healthy, continue on to their final destinations.
...(Contrast) In June, there were (untested) 8.3 million passengers in personal vehicles who crossed the border from Mexico into the United States. There were 1.1 million trucks and 2.2 million pedestrians. And then there were about 34,000 apprehended migrants who were released from CBP custody and, often, tested for the coronavirus....
3. Misunderstanding where the pandemic is surging
The most obvious point we can make is that the current surge in coronavirus cases doesn’t overlap with the surge in immigration or with the locations where those immigrants end up. (map)
...Of the 10 counties that are currently experiencing the highest rates of new infections relative to population, eight are more densely White than the United States as a whole and nine are less densely Hispanic. That doesn’t suggest that they are likely destinations for migrants...What the places that are seeing high rates of infection do have in common is that they have populations that are generally less heavily vaccinated...There’s a reason the unvaccinated were a lot more likely to blame “foreign travelers” than the unvaccinated for the surge.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/08/06/why-we-can-be-confident-that-...
61John5918
>60 margd: there were (untested) 8.3 million passengers in personal vehicles who crossed the border from Mexico into the United States. There were 1.1 million trucks and 2.2 million pedestrians.
That surprises me. I thought most countries had in place requirements that anybody entering the country, whether citizens or foreigners, was required to have had a negative COVID test within 72 hours before entry, or proof of double vaccination. Or does that only apply to people arriving by air?
That surprises me. I thought most countries had in place requirements that anybody entering the country, whether citizens or foreigners, was required to have had a negative COVID test within 72 hours before entry, or proof of double vaccination. Or does that only apply to people arriving by air?
62Molly3028
https://www.mediaite.com/news/rand-paul-blasts-left-wing-cretins-at-youtube-afte...
Rand Paul Blasts ‘Left-Wing Cretins at YouTube’ After Site Suspends His Channel
No vaccine in the world can protect the human race from the evil deeds of sociopaths like Paul, DeSantis and their ilk.
Rand Paul Blasts ‘Left-Wing Cretins at YouTube’ After Site Suspends His Channel
No vaccine in the world can protect the human race from the evil deeds of sociopaths like Paul, DeSantis and their ilk.
63TheToadRevoltof84
Dieses Mitglied wurde von der Website gesperrt.
64TheToadRevoltof84
Dieses Mitglied wurde von der Website gesperrt.
65margd
>61 John5918:
Last year (Oct 2020) Canada required us to quarantine for two weeks when we entered from US to service our teensy "essential" business. No tests unless we became symptomatic / hospitalized? I don't think truck drivers et al. were required to quarantine, though?
Likewise there were differences between air and land travel.
SO glad Canada and it sounds like US are reviewing their immigration protocols based on public health criteria.
ETA: New this summer, vaxxed Americans can enter Canada with two tests, no quarantine, but a quarantine plan, if needed. Subject to change, of course if infection rates tick up with Delta--in July 2021 fewer than ten in 65,000 returning, vaxxed Canadians were found to be positive.
In Oct 2020 and, I expect, in Aug 2021, there will be nothing special asked of us returning to the US. Should check. Canada and US border systems are highly integrated, so US will know what Cdns do about our health status.
Last year (Oct 2020) Canada required us to quarantine for two weeks when we entered from US to service our teensy "essential" business. No tests unless we became symptomatic / hospitalized? I don't think truck drivers et al. were required to quarantine, though?
Likewise there were differences between air and land travel.
SO glad Canada and it sounds like US are reviewing their immigration protocols based on public health criteria.
ETA: New this summer, vaxxed Americans can enter Canada with two tests, no quarantine, but a quarantine plan, if needed. Subject to change, of course if infection rates tick up with Delta--in July 2021 fewer than ten in 65,000 returning, vaxxed Canadians were found to be positive.
In Oct 2020 and, I expect, in Aug 2021, there will be nothing special asked of us returning to the US. Should check. Canada and US border systems are highly integrated, so US will know what Cdns do about our health status.
66margd
U.S. Homeland Security warns fresh COVID-19 restrictions could spark violent attacks
Mark Hosenball | Aug 13, 2021
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, in a new terrorism warning bulletin, said violent extremists could view the reimposition of COVID-19-related restrictions following the spread of coronavirus variants as a rationale to conduct attacks.
The new DHS bulletin also warned of the risk of "targeted violence" around the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington and around religious holidays....
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/homeland-security-warns-fresh-covid-19-restrict...
-----------------------------------------------------------
DHS news release:
DHS Issues New National Terrorism Advisory System (NTAS) Bulletin
Dept of Homeland Security | August 13, 2021
https://www.dhs.gov/news/2021/08/13/dhs-issues-new-national-terrorism-advisory-s...
-----------------------------------------------------------
National Advisory System Bulletin
Summary of Terrorism Threat to the U.S. Homeland
Aug 13, 2021
Summary of Terrorism Threat to the U.S. Homeland
The Secretary of Homeland Security has issued a new National Terrorism Advisory System (NTAS) Bulletin regarding the current heightened threat environment across the United States. The Homeland continues to face a diverse and challenging threat environment leading up to and following the 20th Anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks as well religious holidays we assess could serve as a catalyst for acts of targeted violence. These threats include those posed by domestic terrorists, individuals and groups engaged in grievance-based violence, and those inspired or motivated by foreign terrorists and other malign foreign influences. These actors are increasingly exploiting online forums to influence and spread violent extremist narratives and promote violent activity. Such threats are also exacerbated by impacts of the ongoing global pandemic, including grievances over public health safety measures and perceived government restrictions...
Duration (Aug 13 - Nov 11, 2021)
Additional Details
Through the remainder of 2021, racially- or ethnically-motivated violent extremists (RMVEs) and anti-government/anti-authority violent extremists will remain a national threat priority for the United States. These extremists may seek to exploit the emergence of COVID-19 variants by viewing the potential re-establishment of public health restrictions across the United States as a rationale to conduct attacks. Pandemic-related stressors have contributed to increased societal strains and tensions, driving several plots by domestic violent extremists, and they may contribute to more violence this year.
Additionally, leading up to the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula recently released its first English-language copy of Inspire magazine in over four years, which demonstrates that foreign terrorist organizations continue efforts to inspire U.S.-based individuals susceptible to violent extremist influences.
Historically, mass-casualty domestic violent extremist attacks linked to RMVEs have targeted houses of worship and crowded commercial facilities or gatherings. Some RMVEs advocate via online platforms for a race war and have stated that civil disorder provides opportunities to engage in violence in furtherance of ideological objectives. The reopening of institutions, including schools, as well as several dates of religious significance over the next few months, could also provide increased targets of opportunity for violence though there are currently no credible or imminent threats identified to these locations.
Foreign and domestic threat actors, to include foreign intelligence services, international terrorist groups and domestic violent extremists, continue to introduce, amplify, and disseminate narratives online that promote violence, and have called for violence against elected officials, political representatives, government facilities, law enforcement, religious communities or commercial facilities, and perceived ideologically-opposed individuals. There are also continued, non-specific calls for violence on multiple online platforms associated with DVE ideologies or conspiracy theories on perceived election fraud and alleged reinstatement, and responses to anticipated restrictions relating to the increasing COVID cases.
Ideologically motivated violent extremists fueled by personal grievances and extremist ideological beliefs continue to derive inspiration and obtain operational guidance through the consumption of information shared in certain online communities. This includes information regarding the use of improvised explosive devices and small arms.
Violent extremists may use particular messaging platforms or techniques to obscure operational indicators that provide specific warning of a pending act of violence.
Law enforcement have expressed concerns that the broader sharing of false narratives and conspiracy theories will gain traction in mainstream environments, resulting in individuals or small groups embracing violent tactics to achieve their desired objectives. With a diverse array of threats, DHS is concerned that increased outbreaks of violence in some locations, as well as targeted attacks against law enforcement, may strain local resources.
Nation-state adversaries have increased efforts to sow discord. For example, Russian, Chinese and Iranian government-linked media outlets have repeatedly amplified conspiracy theories concerning the origins of COVID-19 and effectiveness of vaccines; in some cases, amplifying calls for violence targeting persons of Asian descent.
How We Are Responding
How You Can Help
https://www.dhs.gov/ntas/advisory/national-terrorism-advisory-system-bulletin-au...
Mark Hosenball | Aug 13, 2021
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, in a new terrorism warning bulletin, said violent extremists could view the reimposition of COVID-19-related restrictions following the spread of coronavirus variants as a rationale to conduct attacks.
The new DHS bulletin also warned of the risk of "targeted violence" around the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington and around religious holidays....
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/homeland-security-warns-fresh-covid-19-restrict...
-----------------------------------------------------------
DHS news release:
DHS Issues New National Terrorism Advisory System (NTAS) Bulletin
Dept of Homeland Security | August 13, 2021
https://www.dhs.gov/news/2021/08/13/dhs-issues-new-national-terrorism-advisory-s...
-----------------------------------------------------------
National Advisory System Bulletin
Summary of Terrorism Threat to the U.S. Homeland
Aug 13, 2021
Summary of Terrorism Threat to the U.S. Homeland
The Secretary of Homeland Security has issued a new National Terrorism Advisory System (NTAS) Bulletin regarding the current heightened threat environment across the United States. The Homeland continues to face a diverse and challenging threat environment leading up to and following the 20th Anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks as well religious holidays we assess could serve as a catalyst for acts of targeted violence. These threats include those posed by domestic terrorists, individuals and groups engaged in grievance-based violence, and those inspired or motivated by foreign terrorists and other malign foreign influences. These actors are increasingly exploiting online forums to influence and spread violent extremist narratives and promote violent activity. Such threats are also exacerbated by impacts of the ongoing global pandemic, including grievances over public health safety measures and perceived government restrictions...
Duration (Aug 13 - Nov 11, 2021)
Additional Details
Through the remainder of 2021, racially- or ethnically-motivated violent extremists (RMVEs) and anti-government/anti-authority violent extremists will remain a national threat priority for the United States. These extremists may seek to exploit the emergence of COVID-19 variants by viewing the potential re-establishment of public health restrictions across the United States as a rationale to conduct attacks. Pandemic-related stressors have contributed to increased societal strains and tensions, driving several plots by domestic violent extremists, and they may contribute to more violence this year.
Additionally, leading up to the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula recently released its first English-language copy of Inspire magazine in over four years, which demonstrates that foreign terrorist organizations continue efforts to inspire U.S.-based individuals susceptible to violent extremist influences.
Historically, mass-casualty domestic violent extremist attacks linked to RMVEs have targeted houses of worship and crowded commercial facilities or gatherings. Some RMVEs advocate via online platforms for a race war and have stated that civil disorder provides opportunities to engage in violence in furtherance of ideological objectives. The reopening of institutions, including schools, as well as several dates of religious significance over the next few months, could also provide increased targets of opportunity for violence though there are currently no credible or imminent threats identified to these locations.
Foreign and domestic threat actors, to include foreign intelligence services, international terrorist groups and domestic violent extremists, continue to introduce, amplify, and disseminate narratives online that promote violence, and have called for violence against elected officials, political representatives, government facilities, law enforcement, religious communities or commercial facilities, and perceived ideologically-opposed individuals. There are also continued, non-specific calls for violence on multiple online platforms associated with DVE ideologies or conspiracy theories on perceived election fraud and alleged reinstatement, and responses to anticipated restrictions relating to the increasing COVID cases.
Ideologically motivated violent extremists fueled by personal grievances and extremist ideological beliefs continue to derive inspiration and obtain operational guidance through the consumption of information shared in certain online communities. This includes information regarding the use of improvised explosive devices and small arms.
Violent extremists may use particular messaging platforms or techniques to obscure operational indicators that provide specific warning of a pending act of violence.
Law enforcement have expressed concerns that the broader sharing of false narratives and conspiracy theories will gain traction in mainstream environments, resulting in individuals or small groups embracing violent tactics to achieve their desired objectives. With a diverse array of threats, DHS is concerned that increased outbreaks of violence in some locations, as well as targeted attacks against law enforcement, may strain local resources.
Nation-state adversaries have increased efforts to sow discord. For example, Russian, Chinese and Iranian government-linked media outlets have repeatedly amplified conspiracy theories concerning the origins of COVID-19 and effectiveness of vaccines; in some cases, amplifying calls for violence targeting persons of Asian descent.
How We Are Responding
How You Can Help
https://www.dhs.gov/ntas/advisory/national-terrorism-advisory-system-bulletin-au...
67margd
Bill Comeau Crush the Curve (U Waterloo) @Billius27 | 12:24 PM · Aug 14, 2021
Let's truthify the language, Canada:
"lockdown" to "select public health measures"
"mandates" to "public health requirements"
"decouple" to "reduce hospitalizations per case"
"unknown vaccine risks" to "confirmed rare events"
"balanced response" to "economy over health"
ETA:
"vaccine passport" to "health pass"
Let's truthify the language, Canada:
"lockdown" to "select public health measures"
"mandates" to "public health requirements"
"decouple" to "reduce hospitalizations per case"
"unknown vaccine risks" to "confirmed rare events"
"balanced response" to "economy over health"
ETA:
"vaccine passport" to "health pass"
68margd
>66 margd: contd.
‘Breaking society apart’: Unvaccinated people are angry as they face more Covid restrictions
Holly Ellyatt | Aug 13 2021
The divide between the vaccinated and unvaccinated when it comes to Covid is likely to become even deeper as time goes on.
An increasing number of restrictions on those yet to receive a Covid shot are being introduced in Europe and the U.S.
The ease or freedom to travel, work, socialize and engage in leisure activities is increasingly determined by one’s Covid vaccination status...
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/13/unvaccinated-people-face-more-covid-restrictions...
‘Breaking society apart’: Unvaccinated people are angry as they face more Covid restrictions
Holly Ellyatt | Aug 13 2021
The divide between the vaccinated and unvaccinated when it comes to Covid is likely to become even deeper as time goes on.
An increasing number of restrictions on those yet to receive a Covid shot are being introduced in Europe and the U.S.
The ease or freedom to travel, work, socialize and engage in leisure activities is increasingly determined by one’s Covid vaccination status...
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/13/unvaccinated-people-face-more-covid-restrictions...
70margd
Republicans in Gavin Newsom recall say they would end California COVID vaccine requirements
Sophia Bollag, Hannah Wiley, and Lara Korte | August 18, 2021
Three Republicans seeking to replace Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom said Tuesday they are vaccinated, but would roll back his requirements that school employees and health care workers get vaccines against COVID-19 if they are elected governor next month.
They also agreed that they would not require masks to be worn in California public schools.
...Republican-led recall effort gained traction and qualified for the ballot after amassing more than 1.5 million signatures amid the COVID-19 pandemic. California has long been seen as a solidly blue state, where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans nearly two to one, but recent polling shows Newsom faces a close race to keep his job.
California counties have already mailed ballots to all registered voters for the special recall election on Sept. 14. Voters will decide on two questions: Should Newsom be recalled? And, if he is recalled, who should replace him?...
https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article253556674.h...
Sophia Bollag, Hannah Wiley, and Lara Korte | August 18, 2021
Three Republicans seeking to replace Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom said Tuesday they are vaccinated, but would roll back his requirements that school employees and health care workers get vaccines against COVID-19 if they are elected governor next month.
They also agreed that they would not require masks to be worn in California public schools.
...Republican-led recall effort gained traction and qualified for the ballot after amassing more than 1.5 million signatures amid the COVID-19 pandemic. California has long been seen as a solidly blue state, where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans nearly two to one, but recent polling shows Newsom faces a close race to keep his job.
California counties have already mailed ballots to all registered voters for the special recall election on Sept. 14. Voters will decide on two questions: Should Newsom be recalled? And, if he is recalled, who should replace him?...
https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article253556674.h...
71margd
Jay O'Brien (CBS12) @jayobtv | 11:53 PM · Aug 18, 2021:
BREAKING: All South Florida schools have now mandated masks and defied Governor DeSantis.
Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Co.
The last domino to fall was Palm Beach County. The school board eliminated the mask opt-out after a lengthy meeting tonight.
BREAKING: All South Florida schools have now mandated masks and defied Governor DeSantis.
Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Co.
The last domino to fall was Palm Beach County. The school board eliminated the mask opt-out after a lengthy meeting tonight.
72Molly3028
https://www.mediaite.com/news/watch-desantis-says-masks-are-about-covering-asses...
WATCH: DeSantis Says Masks Are About Covering ‘Asses,’ Falsely Claims They’re ‘Not Proven to be Effective’
My take: COVID is like the Taliban ~ it will never give up. And, anti-mask GOPers assure its successful spread and revitalization over the long, long haul.
WATCH: DeSantis Says Masks Are About Covering ‘Asses,’ Falsely Claims They’re ‘Not Proven to be Effective’
My take: COVID is like the Taliban ~ it will never give up. And, anti-mask GOPers assure its successful spread and revitalization over the long, long haul.
73margd
Birgit Umaigba RN, BScN, MEd (York U, Trent U, Ont) @birgitomo | 9:57 PM · Aug 19, 2021:
One of the cleaners on my floor sings all through her shift.
Sometime ago, she was asked by a patient's family to sing for their dying loved one.
Weeks later, she received a letter of gratitude stating how she helped them cope in their difficult moment.
The little things :)
One of the cleaners on my floor sings all through her shift.
Sometime ago, she was asked by a patient's family to sing for their dying loved one.
Weeks later, she received a letter of gratitude stating how she helped them cope in their difficult moment.
The little things :)
74margd
FL Gov blames immigrants.
TX Lt Gov blames African Americans.
Southern states have mirror shortage!!
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick says 'African Americans who have not been vaccinated' are driving covid surge
Julian Mark | August 20, 2021
...The latest data from the Texas Department of State Health Services shows that the African American population there is not driving the increase in cases. Black residents in Texas accounted for 16.4% of the state's cases and 10.2% of deaths as of Aug. 13. While vaccination rates are low among Black Texans, the highest coronavirus case rates are among Whites and Hispanics, who make up 34.9% and 35.8% of the state's cases respectively, according to the latest data.
...unvaccinated White Texans outnumber unvaccinated Black Texans roughly three to one. Texas's vaccination and case numbers are so stark, he said, "there's just no room for misinterpretation."
About 46% of Texans are fully vaccinated, according to The Post's tracking. The nationwide rate is about 51%.
The Texas Tribune reported this month that Black Texans hold the lowest vaccination rates among racial groups statewide, at 28%. For that population, the paper noted, a "lack of trust" in health care can be common based on generations of disparities in the American system.
Hispanics and White conservatives in rural areas also have low vaccine rates in Texas...
https://news.yahoo.com/texas-lt-gov-dan-patrick-120812724.html
TX Lt Gov blames African Americans.
Southern states have mirror shortage!!
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick says 'African Americans who have not been vaccinated' are driving covid surge
Julian Mark | August 20, 2021
...The latest data from the Texas Department of State Health Services shows that the African American population there is not driving the increase in cases. Black residents in Texas accounted for 16.4% of the state's cases and 10.2% of deaths as of Aug. 13. While vaccination rates are low among Black Texans, the highest coronavirus case rates are among Whites and Hispanics, who make up 34.9% and 35.8% of the state's cases respectively, according to the latest data.
...unvaccinated White Texans outnumber unvaccinated Black Texans roughly three to one. Texas's vaccination and case numbers are so stark, he said, "there's just no room for misinterpretation."
About 46% of Texans are fully vaccinated, according to The Post's tracking. The nationwide rate is about 51%.
The Texas Tribune reported this month that Black Texans hold the lowest vaccination rates among racial groups statewide, at 28%. For that population, the paper noted, a "lack of trust" in health care can be common based on generations of disparities in the American system.
Hispanics and White conservatives in rural areas also have low vaccine rates in Texas...
https://news.yahoo.com/texas-lt-gov-dan-patrick-120812724.html
75margd
Evidence is that ivermectin is not effective against COVID. I suspect that desperate souls using agriculture preparations may have chosen to ingest the dip formulation, which is poisonous, rather than the injectable(?) In Canada, an Rx from vet was required (2019?) for farmers using ivermectin, and I bet COVID misuse will result in same control. Bad news for people like me who have used ivermectin to treat a wild fox for mange. (Mange is a HORRIBLE way to go!)
GET THE VACCINE, FOLKS!
Mississippi officials warn against using ivermectin for COVID-19 amid spike in poisonings
Lexi Lonas - 08/20/21
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/568834-mississippi-officials-warn-again...
GET THE VACCINE, FOLKS!
Mississippi officials warn against using ivermectin for COVID-19 amid spike in poisonings
Lexi Lonas - 08/20/21
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/568834-mississippi-officials-warn-again...
76margd
Some leaders opposing vaccines, masks, and/or mandates, are closely invested in antibody treatments, e.g.,
Sen. Rand Paul's wife
https://www.thedailybeast.com/sen-rand-paul-failed-to-disclose-that-wife-bought-...
FL Gov DeSantis's political contributor
https://truthout.org/articles/reporter-gets-death-threats-after-desantis-press-s...
_____________________________________________
ETA :(
Viral image
stated on August 18, 2021 in in a photo in a reddit thread:
A photo shows two COVID-19 patients lying on the floor awaiting (Regeneron) treatment in Florida.
This photo is real. It shows sick COVID-19 patients on floor in Florida
...City officials said that in mid-August they experienced a significant increase in patients seeking treatment at the site. Now there are more chairs and wheelchairs for patients as they wait for treatment.
The state of Florida has a website where people can sign up for an appointment to receive a free vaccine or Regeneron treatment.
...A viral post on Reddit shows a dramatic photo of two people lying on the ground sick with COVID-19 seeking treatment. One appears curled against a wall, while another patient draped with a paper medical gown is curled up, face down.
"Everyone please be careful — whether you are vaccinated or not," wrote Suzanne Lopez on Reddit where she posted the photo taken by her husband Louie. "My husband (vaccinated, but positive) has been waiting 2+ hours for monoclonal therapy and he says he has never seen people so sick. Moaning, crying, unable to move."...
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/aug/20/viral-image/photo-real-it-show...
Sen. Rand Paul's wife
https://www.thedailybeast.com/sen-rand-paul-failed-to-disclose-that-wife-bought-...
FL Gov DeSantis's political contributor
https://truthout.org/articles/reporter-gets-death-threats-after-desantis-press-s...
_____________________________________________
ETA :(
Viral image
stated on August 18, 2021 in in a photo in a reddit thread:
A photo shows two COVID-19 patients lying on the floor awaiting (Regeneron) treatment in Florida.
This photo is real. It shows sick COVID-19 patients on floor in Florida
...City officials said that in mid-August they experienced a significant increase in patients seeking treatment at the site. Now there are more chairs and wheelchairs for patients as they wait for treatment.
The state of Florida has a website where people can sign up for an appointment to receive a free vaccine or Regeneron treatment.
...A viral post on Reddit shows a dramatic photo of two people lying on the ground sick with COVID-19 seeking treatment. One appears curled against a wall, while another patient draped with a paper medical gown is curled up, face down.
"Everyone please be careful — whether you are vaccinated or not," wrote Suzanne Lopez on Reddit where she posted the photo taken by her husband Louie. "My husband (vaccinated, but positive) has been waiting 2+ hours for monoclonal therapy and he says he has never seen people so sick. Moaning, crying, unable to move."...
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/aug/20/viral-image/photo-real-it-show...
77margd
One rarely sees fur in Ann Arbor, MI--a town where folks organize to sterilize its rather large herd of deer to save them from hired guns...
Ann Arbor retailers banned from selling new fur, a first for Michigan
Frank Witsil | Aug 17, 2021
...(Ann Arbor) city council unanimously voted Monday evening to become ...the first city in the Midwest to prohibit the sale of new fur products. The rule allows retailers a year to phase out sales and offers some exemptions. Used fur sales are OK. And the ban doesn't apply to tribal communities or cow, sheep and deer pelts. The ordinance also doesn't prohibit residents from going elsewhere to buy new furs.
...Michigan ranks sixth in retail fur sales, with about $20 million or 3.5% of all fur sales nationwide...Michigan produced 65,000 mink pelts in 2019...
Before Michigan became a state, the fur trade was a significant industry in the Great Lakes...French-Canadians traveled the waterways in birch bark canoes, followed their business from the Straits of Mackinac to the Straits of Detroit.
Last year, a mink on a fur farm in Michigan reportedly became infected with COVID-19. Similar outbreaks have reportedly occurred on more than 430 mink fur farms in Wisconsin, Utah, Oregon, Canada and Europe, the Humane Society said.
https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2021/08/17/ann-arbor-fur-sales-b...
Ann Arbor retailers banned from selling new fur, a first for Michigan
Frank Witsil | Aug 17, 2021
...(Ann Arbor) city council unanimously voted Monday evening to become ...the first city in the Midwest to prohibit the sale of new fur products. The rule allows retailers a year to phase out sales and offers some exemptions. Used fur sales are OK. And the ban doesn't apply to tribal communities or cow, sheep and deer pelts. The ordinance also doesn't prohibit residents from going elsewhere to buy new furs.
...Michigan ranks sixth in retail fur sales, with about $20 million or 3.5% of all fur sales nationwide...Michigan produced 65,000 mink pelts in 2019...
Before Michigan became a state, the fur trade was a significant industry in the Great Lakes...French-Canadians traveled the waterways in birch bark canoes, followed their business from the Straits of Mackinac to the Straits of Detroit.
Last year, a mink on a fur farm in Michigan reportedly became infected with COVID-19. Similar outbreaks have reportedly occurred on more than 430 mink fur farms in Wisconsin, Utah, Oregon, Canada and Europe, the Humane Society said.
https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2021/08/17/ann-arbor-fur-sales-b...
78margd
Why it’s so hard to be a nurse in America, according to two nurses
Nurses were struggling even before the pandemic. We have the tools to change that.
By Katherine Harmon Courage Aug 16, 2021
https://www.vox.com/22600439/nurse-america-mental-health-suicide
Nurses were struggling even before the pandemic. We have the tools to change that.
By Katherine Harmon Courage Aug 16, 2021
https://www.vox.com/22600439/nurse-america-mental-health-suicide
79Limelite
CDC UPDATE: Don't Go on a Cruise
Regardless of your vaccine status, if you are among the high risk folks, stay home. That includes people with comorbidities, compromised immune systems, or chronic respiratory disease, for example. It also includes the traditional major cruiser demographic -- the elderly. Surprisingly (to me), pregnant and recently pregnant women have been warned off as well. "Recently" is not defined. A cruise ship is no "escape" from the stress of living in pandemic times if you belong to a high risk group. In fact, it is more dangerous than navigating life these days on land.
While there is no record of major outbreaks since lines began cruising again, positive passengers do come aboard, as do the unvaccinated.
Regardless of your vaccine status, if you are among the high risk folks, stay home. That includes people with comorbidities, compromised immune systems, or chronic respiratory disease, for example. It also includes the traditional major cruiser demographic -- the elderly. Surprisingly (to me), pregnant and recently pregnant women have been warned off as well. "Recently" is not defined. A cruise ship is no "escape" from the stress of living in pandemic times if you belong to a high risk group. In fact, it is more dangerous than navigating life these days on land.
“The chance of getting COVID-19 on cruise ships is high since the virus appears to spread more easily between people in close quarters aboard ships,” the CDC states.Retrofitting cruise ships with quality air filtration and circulation systems was never an option. As we know, early in the Covid era, cruise ships were breeding grounds for infections where some of the first cases originated.
While there is no record of major outbreaks since lines began cruising again, positive passengers do come aboard, as do the unvaccinated.
Despite the COVID-19 health protocols in place on board ships now up and running with the CDC’s approval, there have been several sailings in which passengers tested positive. Most cases were limited to just a few passengers, and in several cases involved unvaccinated children, who then also infected their vaccinated parents.
80margd
Donald Trump Booed at Alabama Rally After Encouraging Crowd to Get COVID-19 Vaccine
Christina Zhao | 8/21/21
...during a rally in Cullman, Alabama Saturday night...
"I believe totally in your freedoms, I do, you gotta do what you gotta do, but I recommend take the vaccines. I did it. It's good," (Former President Donald Trump) said, drawing boos from the crowd of supporters.
"That's okay, that's alright," Trump continued, brushing off the disapproval. "But I happen to take the vaccine. If it doesn't work, you'll be the first to know. But it is working. You do have your freedoms, you have to maintain that."...
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-booed-alabama-rally-after-encouraging-crow...
Christina Zhao | 8/21/21
...during a rally in Cullman, Alabama Saturday night...
"I believe totally in your freedoms, I do, you gotta do what you gotta do, but I recommend take the vaccines. I did it. It's good," (Former President Donald Trump) said, drawing boos from the crowd of supporters.
"That's okay, that's alright," Trump continued, brushing off the disapproval. "But I happen to take the vaccine. If it doesn't work, you'll be the first to know. But it is working. You do have your freedoms, you have to maintain that."...
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-booed-alabama-rally-after-encouraging-crow...
81Molly3028
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/fda-horse-dewormer-covid-fox...
The FDA Is Begging You Not to Take Horse Dewormer for Covid-19
“You are not a horse. You are not a cow,” the Food and Drug Administration said about using the drug that hosts on Fox News have been pushing
FOX NEWS prime-time personalities and their cult followers are not the sharpest knives in the drawer. Common sense is no longer common in the USA. Murdoch's lawyers' heads must be exploding this weekend.
The FDA Is Begging You Not to Take Horse Dewormer for Covid-19
“You are not a horse. You are not a cow,” the Food and Drug Administration said about using the drug that hosts on Fox News have been pushing
FOX NEWS prime-time personalities and their cult followers are not the sharpest knives in the drawer. Common sense is no longer common in the USA. Murdoch's lawyers' heads must be exploding this weekend.
82lriley
#81–on YouTube last night I ran into this video made by this goofball in a cowboy hat promoting ivermectin and all the positive remarks and thumbs up he was getting.
I said to him something along the lines of ‘Nice you start off with the disclaimer that you’re not a doctor. Is that so anyone watching this won’t sue you later on?’
I said to him something along the lines of ‘Nice you start off with the disclaimer that you’re not a doctor. Is that so anyone watching this won’t sue you later on?’
83Molly3028
https://www.mediaite.com/opinion/biden-the-left-and-the-news-media-have-totally-...
Biden, the Left, and the News Media Have Totally Lost Their Minds on School Mask Mandates
To dudes like this writer,
dressings on wounds ~ no smoking signs ~ seatbelts in cars ~ turn signals on cars ~ car headlight use at night ~ etc.
must be seen as nonsensical safety measures.
Biden, the Left, and the News Media Have Totally Lost Their Minds on School Mask Mandates
To dudes like this writer,
dressings on wounds ~ no smoking signs ~ seatbelts in cars ~ turn signals on cars ~ car headlight use at night ~ etc.
must be seen as nonsensical safety measures.
84margd
Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH (Dean, Brown School Public Health) @ashishkjha | 10:27 PM · Aug 23, 2021
Trump Administration did an extraordinary job betting early on vaccines, knocking down regulatory hurdles
Why we have a fully approved vaccine today
Biden Administration did an extraordinary job getting Americans vaccinated
Why we have 200 million Americans vaccinated today
Trump Administration did an extraordinary job betting early on vaccines, knocking down regulatory hurdles
Why we have a fully approved vaccine today
Biden Administration did an extraordinary job getting Americans vaccinated
Why we have 200 million Americans vaccinated today
85margd
'Arbitrary and cruel': Democrats excoriate Supreme Court decision on eviction moratorium
Six justices sided with a group representing landlords, who had argued that the CDC had no authority to impose such a restriction on its own.
Dartunorro Clark | Aug. 27, 2021
In an unsigned opinion, six (Supreme Court) justices sided with a group representing landlords, who had argued that the CDC had no authority to impose such a restriction on its own.
"It would be one thing if Congress had specifically authorized the action that the CDC has taken. But that has not happened," the court wrote. "Instead, the CDC has imposed a nationwide moratorium on evictions in reliance on a decades-old statute that authorizes it to implement measures like fumigation and pest extermination."
The current moratorium, which was imposed in early August, had been due to expire in early October.
Pelosi said that lawmakers will focus on ensuring that the billions in emergency rental assistance passed by Congress make it to needy families.
“Time is of the essence,” she said. “As we all agree, eviction is a horror that no family should ever have to experience: cribs and personal belongings on the street, children in fear and distress and parents struggling to find basic shelter.”
...A half-dozen states have eviction moratoriums that are not affected by the Supreme Court's action — California, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York and Washington. The District of Columbia also has a local moratorium.
...Several progressive Democrats — Reps. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, Cori Bush of Missouri, Jimmy Gomez of California and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York — along with over 60 other House colleagues wrote a letter to Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., urging them to pass legislation to extend the federal eviction moratorium for the duration of the pandemic.
The lawmakers noted in their letter that only 11 percent of the $46 billion in emergency rental assistance has been disbursed.
“If we do not act, the end of the eviction moratorium will undoubtedly lead to the increased spread of COVID-19, more deaths, disability, and trauma. We implore you to act with the urgency this moment demand"...
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/arbitrary-cruel-democrats-excoria...
Six justices sided with a group representing landlords, who had argued that the CDC had no authority to impose such a restriction on its own.
Dartunorro Clark | Aug. 27, 2021
In an unsigned opinion, six (Supreme Court) justices sided with a group representing landlords, who had argued that the CDC had no authority to impose such a restriction on its own.
"It would be one thing if Congress had specifically authorized the action that the CDC has taken. But that has not happened," the court wrote. "Instead, the CDC has imposed a nationwide moratorium on evictions in reliance on a decades-old statute that authorizes it to implement measures like fumigation and pest extermination."
The current moratorium, which was imposed in early August, had been due to expire in early October.
Pelosi said that lawmakers will focus on ensuring that the billions in emergency rental assistance passed by Congress make it to needy families.
“Time is of the essence,” she said. “As we all agree, eviction is a horror that no family should ever have to experience: cribs and personal belongings on the street, children in fear and distress and parents struggling to find basic shelter.”
...A half-dozen states have eviction moratoriums that are not affected by the Supreme Court's action — California, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York and Washington. The District of Columbia also has a local moratorium.
...Several progressive Democrats — Reps. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, Cori Bush of Missouri, Jimmy Gomez of California and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York — along with over 60 other House colleagues wrote a letter to Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., urging them to pass legislation to extend the federal eviction moratorium for the duration of the pandemic.
The lawmakers noted in their letter that only 11 percent of the $46 billion in emergency rental assistance has been disbursed.
“If we do not act, the end of the eviction moratorium will undoubtedly lead to the increased spread of COVID-19, more deaths, disability, and trauma. We implore you to act with the urgency this moment demand"...
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/arbitrary-cruel-democrats-excoria...
86margd
>68 margd: contd. In addition to NYC (below), there were protests in Ontario (soon to release vaccine passports) and in Germany recently, too? Numbers aren't huge--hopefully insufficient to trigger the violent nutballs!
Unhelpfully, Eric Clapton wrote anti anthem "This has gotta stop". "Clapton is scheduled to play dates next month in Louisiana, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, and Texas..." https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2021/08/eric-clapton-guitarist-for-baby-boomers...
-----------------------------------------------------------
More than a thousand anti-vaxxers march on New York City streets to protest de Blasio's vaccine mandate which forces everyone 12 and older to show proof of vaccine to get into restaurants, bars, entertainment and gyms
Over 1,000 people protested against the vaccine mandate on Saturday in New York City
After marching and chanting, they gathered in Columbus Circle
One speaker said, 'This is a war call. This is a fight. Leave here and do something ... Fight for your rights'
While the demonstration unfolded Saturday afternoon, Mayor Bill di Blasio's tweeted pictures from Harlem and praised the faith community Hope of Harlem's work at COVID-19 community outreach
People against the vaccine have argued that they're concerned with long-term effects from the vaccine and alluded to breakthrough cases as to why the vaccine isn't working
On the other side of the argument, health professionals and NYC decision makers who put the mandate in place have said most of the COVID-19 cases today are because of the highly contagious 'Delta' variant
Christopher Eberhart | 28 August 2021
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9936429/Its-war-call-Thousands-flood-Ne...
Unhelpfully, Eric Clapton wrote anti anthem "This has gotta stop". "Clapton is scheduled to play dates next month in Louisiana, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, and Texas..." https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2021/08/eric-clapton-guitarist-for-baby-boomers...
-----------------------------------------------------------
More than a thousand anti-vaxxers march on New York City streets to protest de Blasio's vaccine mandate which forces everyone 12 and older to show proof of vaccine to get into restaurants, bars, entertainment and gyms
Over 1,000 people protested against the vaccine mandate on Saturday in New York City
After marching and chanting, they gathered in Columbus Circle
One speaker said, 'This is a war call. This is a fight. Leave here and do something ... Fight for your rights'
While the demonstration unfolded Saturday afternoon, Mayor Bill di Blasio's tweeted pictures from Harlem and praised the faith community Hope of Harlem's work at COVID-19 community outreach
People against the vaccine have argued that they're concerned with long-term effects from the vaccine and alluded to breakthrough cases as to why the vaccine isn't working
On the other side of the argument, health professionals and NYC decision makers who put the mandate in place have said most of the COVID-19 cases today are because of the highly contagious 'Delta' variant
Christopher Eberhart | 28 August 2021
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9936429/Its-war-call-Thousands-flood-Ne...
87lriley
#86–Clapton has always been an asshole. A supporter of the British fascist/racist Enoch Powell. Yeah I know friend of George Harrison and did that benefit for Bangladesh all those years ago. He’s still a piece of shit.
88margd
Darn. I'm afraid vet Rx will eventually be required for ivermectin, as it is now in Canada. I've used it to treat neighborhood fox with sarcoptic (mite) mange, poor fella. Miserable way to go...
Ivermectin misinformation has poisoned Amazon’s platform, with few fixes planned
Amazon claims it will fix autocomplete search suggestions
Dieter Bohn@backlon | Sep 1, 2021
...Amazon is not unique in using an algorithm to drive its autocomplete results. But as companies like Google have learned, there are “data voids” for previously unpopular search terms that can suddenly skew the algorithm when those terms get swept up in a new misinformation campaign...
...When you click through to one of those suggested search terms, Amazon simply lists many options for purchasing the drug meant to treat animals — without any further context about its dangers when ingested by humans. Although there are legitimate uses for ivermectin in humans, treating COVID-19 isn’t one of them. And though it should go without saying that taking the veterinary version is a very bad idea, that’s exactly what’s happening...
https://www.theverge.com/2021/9/1/22651653/amazon-ivermectin-misinformation-auto...
Ivermectin misinformation has poisoned Amazon’s platform, with few fixes planned
Amazon claims it will fix autocomplete search suggestions
Dieter Bohn@backlon | Sep 1, 2021
...Amazon is not unique in using an algorithm to drive its autocomplete results. But as companies like Google have learned, there are “data voids” for previously unpopular search terms that can suddenly skew the algorithm when those terms get swept up in a new misinformation campaign...
...When you click through to one of those suggested search terms, Amazon simply lists many options for purchasing the drug meant to treat animals — without any further context about its dangers when ingested by humans. Although there are legitimate uses for ivermectin in humans, treating COVID-19 isn’t one of them. And though it should go without saying that taking the veterinary version is a very bad idea, that’s exactly what’s happening...
https://www.theverge.com/2021/9/1/22651653/amazon-ivermectin-misinformation-auto...
89margd
A New Report Says The COVID Recession Has Pushed Social Security Insolvency Up A Year
The Associated Press | September 1, 2021
https://www.npr.org/2021/09/01/1033151631/a-new-report-says-the-covid-recession-...
The Associated Press | September 1, 2021
https://www.npr.org/2021/09/01/1033151631/a-new-report-says-the-covid-recession-...
90margd
Canada:
Kamil Karamali @KamilKaramali | 11:44 AM · Sep 10, 2021:
Here’s the video party leaders shot together before last night’s debate —
asking the public to get vaccinated.
1:03 ( https://twitter.com/KamilKaramali/status/1436354810383536130 )
Kamil Karamali @KamilKaramali | 11:44 AM · Sep 10, 2021:
Here’s the video party leaders shot together before last night’s debate —
asking the public to get vaccinated.
1:03 ( https://twitter.com/KamilKaramali/status/1436354810383536130 )
92John5918
Just a reminder that not everybody in the world can make routine use of tools like Zoom and Skype for virtual meetings.
Poor Internet Connection during COVID-19 Stalls Catholic Charity’s Initiatives in Africa (ACI Africa)
Poor Internet Connection during COVID-19 Stalls Catholic Charity’s Initiatives in Africa (ACI Africa)
As the Catholic charity foundation, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) International, switched to blended communication, including online engagements with its partners following the COVID-19 outbreak, many of the foundation’s collaborators in Africa lagged behind in communication with the aid agency... African countries that suffered the most are those that do not have stable Internet connection. The ACN official pointed out that moving forward, communication alternatives like online conferences might not work in every country...
93Limelite
This Is What COVID-19 Does To Its Dead
Read this first-person account from a Texas embalmer. " ‘Unlike Anything I’ve Seen Before’
Read this first-person account from a Texas embalmer. " ‘Unlike Anything I’ve Seen Before’
We get bodies out of ICU regularly, but not in the condition that these COVID bodies are in. They’re tremendously swollen. If they’ve been on a ventilator, that often completely runs down their immune system. It also opens them up to a lot of sepsis and secondary infections that tend to hang around hospitals, like penicillin-resistant staph infections.
These folks were so swollen they were completely unrecognizable.
(SNIP)
The longer a body sits, the more blood clots that they develop. I was having people that had only been dead for a few hours and there were major clotting issues. The clots were the size of pancakes ― you never, never see those with someone who didn’t die of COVID.
94Limelite
Doctor Fears Measles Outbreak, Avoidable Cancer
Dr. Peter Hotez from Baylor University warns America.
Dr. Peter Hotez from Baylor University warns America.
"The problem is that, with covid-19, with the social disruptions, there was a steep decline in childhood vaccinations, including things like measles-mumps-rubella vaccines and especially teenagers getting the HPV vaccine for cervical cancer and other cancers.
It's starting to rebound, but my worry is that there will be a spillover effect from all of this anti-vaccine aggression that we're seeing and that we're not going to get back to baseline.
(SNIP)
Where I'm holding my breath is next winter-spring, which historically is when we saw measles epidemics in the pre-vaccine era. I'm worried about the potential of seeing a measles outbreak in the U.S."
95John5918
With many African climate activists unable to access vaccines, should Cop26 go ahead? (Guardian)
Because of hoarding by rich countries, those in the global south on the frontline of the crisis will be excluded from the talks...
96Limelite
598 Unvaccinated NC Government Workers Suspended w/o Pay
North Carolina puts some teeth into vaccine mandates. Unvaccinated county employees are required to present a negative COVID-19 test result to Human Resources on a weekly basis.
North Carolina puts some teeth into vaccine mandates. Unvaccinated county employees are required to present a negative COVID-19 test result to Human Resources on a weekly basis.
Mecklenburg County has suspended 598 employees without pay for failing to upload results of their weekly COVID-19 test, according to a statement given to Channel 9.
These county employees will remain under suspension until they show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test.
97John5918
Poorest countries will be $12tn worse off by 2025 due to Covid – UN (Guardian)
The world’s poorest countries will be left $12tn (£8.7tn) worse off by 2025 amid a weaker economic recovery from Covid-19 as wealthy nations limit their access to vaccines, the United Nations has warned. In its annual trade and development report, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) said low-income countries had been hit much harder by the pandemic than during the 2008 financial crisis, adding to their debts and piling pressure on their public finances. The UN’s economic arm said there were growing risks that low-income developing countries would fall further behind due to limited progress in deploying coronavirus vaccines, despite western leaders promising to “build back better” from the crisis...
98margd
War criminal!
Don Winslow donwinslow | 5:07 PM · Sep 16, 2021:
NEW VIDEO: #FloridaIsVietnam
Under @GovRonDeSantis Covid Deaths in Florida
will surpass American deaths during *ENTIRE* Vietnam war.
Video (2:18) https://twitter.com/donwinslow/status/1438610600033062921
Don Winslow donwinslow | 5:07 PM · Sep 16, 2021:
NEW VIDEO: #FloridaIsVietnam
Under @GovRonDeSantis Covid Deaths in Florida
will surpass American deaths during *ENTIRE* Vietnam war.
Video (2:18) https://twitter.com/donwinslow/status/1438610600033062921
99margd
Michael Knigge (German journalist) @kniggem | 4:24 PM · Sep 15, 2021:
A sea of 650,000 white flags - one for every person who died from coronavirus in the US -
is taking shape in front of the Washington Monument at the National Mall.
“In America: Remember” by @sbfirstenberg will be on display from Sept. 17 to Oct. 3.
video (0:12) https://twitter.com/kniggem/status/1438237391056166918
A sea of 650,000 white flags - one for every person who died from coronavirus in the US -
is taking shape in front of the Washington Monument at the National Mall.
“In America: Remember” by @sbfirstenberg will be on display from Sept. 17 to Oct. 3.
video (0:12) https://twitter.com/kniggem/status/1438237391056166918
100margd
Idled Thai Taxis Go Green With Mini-Gardens On Car Roofs
AP / NPR |
Taxi fleets in Thailand are giving new meaning to the term "rooftop garden," as they utilize the roofs of cabs idled by the coronavirus crisis to serve as small vegetable plots.
Workers from two taxi cooperatives assembled the miniature gardens this week using black plastic garbage bags stretched across bamboo frames. On top, they added soil in which a variety of crops, including tomatoes, cucumbers and string beans, were planted.
...With the capital's streets deathly quiet until recently, there's been too much competition for too few fares, resulting in a fall in drivers' incomes. Many now can't afford the daily payments on the vehicles, even after the charge was halved to $9.09, Thapakorn said. So they have walked away, leaving the cars in long, silent rows.
Some drivers surrendered their cars and returned to their homes in rural areas when the pandemic first hit last year because they were so scared, he said. More gave up and returned their cars during the second wave.
...The taxi-top gardens don't offer an alternative revenue stream. The cooperatives staff, who were asked to take salary cuts, are now taking turns tending the newly made gardens...
https://www.npr.org/2021/09/17/1038156462/idled-thai-taxis-go-green-with-mini-ga...
AP / NPR |
Taxi fleets in Thailand are giving new meaning to the term "rooftop garden," as they utilize the roofs of cabs idled by the coronavirus crisis to serve as small vegetable plots.
Workers from two taxi cooperatives assembled the miniature gardens this week using black plastic garbage bags stretched across bamboo frames. On top, they added soil in which a variety of crops, including tomatoes, cucumbers and string beans, were planted.
...With the capital's streets deathly quiet until recently, there's been too much competition for too few fares, resulting in a fall in drivers' incomes. Many now can't afford the daily payments on the vehicles, even after the charge was halved to $9.09, Thapakorn said. So they have walked away, leaving the cars in long, silent rows.
Some drivers surrendered their cars and returned to their homes in rural areas when the pandemic first hit last year because they were so scared, he said. More gave up and returned their cars during the second wave.
...The taxi-top gardens don't offer an alternative revenue stream. The cooperatives staff, who were asked to take salary cuts, are now taking turns tending the newly made gardens...
https://www.npr.org/2021/09/17/1038156462/idled-thai-taxis-go-green-with-mini-ga...
101margd
Eric Feigl-Ding @DrEricDing | 3:46 AM · Sep 19, 2021
Stunning—670,000 white flags 🏳 flying in Washington DC.
You can guess what they stand for during this pandemic -
that is 1 flag (person dead) for every 500 people (American residents).
Let that sink in. Let that motivate us all to end this. #COVID19
From Alejandro Alvarez (0:35)
https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1439496168950616065
___________________________________________________
ETA: NJ Congressman Andy Kim tweeted photos of families' notes on back of flags...
https://twitter.com/AndyKimNJ/status/1440374742976917504
Stunning—670,000 white flags 🏳 flying in Washington DC.
You can guess what they stand for during this pandemic -
that is 1 flag (person dead) for every 500 people (American residents).
Let that sink in. Let that motivate us all to end this. #COVID19
From Alejandro Alvarez (0:35)
https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1439496168950616065
___________________________________________________
ETA: NJ Congressman Andy Kim tweeted photos of families' notes on back of flags...
https://twitter.com/AndyKimNJ/status/1440374742976917504
102prosfilaes
I keep narrating the US states and the COVID deaths like a race:
Mississippi has taken the lead, but they're starting to slow down a bit; New Jersey and New York have rolled to an almost complete stop, letting newcomers pass them, but Alabama and Louisiana are coming fast. Florida may be in 11th place, but it's burning rubber; unlike many other states, who hit their top speeds and then slowed down a bit, Florida has taken every effort to keep their deaths per day up, up, up!
Dark, yes. It's solely targetted about the people who say "don't Fauci my Florida" and "but my freedom" as people in their state struggle for every breath.
Numbers from https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/national/coronavirus-us-cases-death...
Mississippi has taken the lead, but they're starting to slow down a bit; New Jersey and New York have rolled to an almost complete stop, letting newcomers pass them, but Alabama and Louisiana are coming fast. Florida may be in 11th place, but it's burning rubber; unlike many other states, who hit their top speeds and then slowed down a bit, Florida has taken every effort to keep their deaths per day up, up, up!
Dark, yes. It's solely targetted about the people who say "don't Fauci my Florida" and "but my freedom" as people in their state struggle for every breath.
Numbers from https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/national/coronavirus-us-cases-death...
103lriley
>102 prosfilaes:--New York and New Jersey got hit out of the gate pretty much before anyone knew what was happening.......and got very little help from Trump's white house. There was no vaccine then either. So much of what is going on right now is absolutely preventable. Another thing that Mr. Trump fucked up is he abdicated his responsibilities by turning everything over to the governors. Because of all that we have 50 different governors and all kinds of differences in how they've handled this catastrophe. So many different pages we are on. So this place has mitigation and that place doesn't. Assholes like DeSantis bullshit about 'freedom' to not be vaccinated but hypocritically push Regeneron's monoclonal antibody treatment (one of Regeneron's largest investors is also one of DeSantis's biggest political contributors) for those who end up getting covid. Where's the talk about freedom to not take that? These unvaccinated when they get sick want to get saved then. For some reason the monoclonal antibody treatment is okay the vaccine isn't? Regeneron has about a 70% success rate to save your life 'after' you get covid---the vaccines are well over 90% in preventing someone from getting it at all. It's just senseless shit. And to use the 70% number again that's been about the amount of Regeneron treatments available to the entire country that these 7 hardest hit southern states have been getting gratis from the federal govt. like they were heroin addicts and the federal govt. were their supplier.
1042wonderY
This one has me scratching my head. Really?!
Telling People To Get Vaccinated Is Leftist Plot Against Trump Voters, Breitbart Claims
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/telling-people-vaccinated-leftist-plot-21242...
Middle Age Riot
@middleageriot
Breitbart News is claiming that Democrats are using reverse psychology when they tell Republicans to get vaccinated so they will refuse and die of COVID-19.
The only response I have to that is this:
Republicans, get vaccinated.
The Breitbart column by John Nolte
https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2021/09/10/nolte-howard-stern-proves-dem...
The last sentence rings true: “Who’s owning who?”
Telling People To Get Vaccinated Is Leftist Plot Against Trump Voters, Breitbart Claims
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/telling-people-vaccinated-leftist-plot-21242...
Middle Age Riot
@middleageriot
Breitbart News is claiming that Democrats are using reverse psychology when they tell Republicans to get vaccinated so they will refuse and die of COVID-19.
The only response I have to that is this:
Republicans, get vaccinated.
The Breitbart column by John Nolte
https://www.breitbart.com/entertainment/2021/09/10/nolte-howard-stern-proves-dem...
The last sentence rings true: “Who’s owning who?”
105margd
Hanging out in the ICU
0:56 ( https://twitter.com/DGlaucomflecken/status/1440443128603762696 )
- Dr. Glaucomflecken @DGlaucomflecken | 6:29 PM · Sep 21, 2021
0:56 ( https://twitter.com/DGlaucomflecken/status/1440443128603762696 )
- Dr. Glaucomflecken @DGlaucomflecken | 6:29 PM · Sep 21, 2021
106margd
Remember this press conference on the steps of the Supreme Court - doctors touting hydroxychloroquine, prompting praise from then-President Trump, and Google, Twitter, and Facebook to take the video down?
Florida’s new Surgeon General, Dr. Joseph Ladapo, was a speaker.
0:45 ( https://twitter.com/jayobtv/status/1440428431523545091 )
- Jay O'Brien (CBS) @jayobtv | 5:31 PM · Sep 21, 2021
____________________________________________
Florida's new Surgeon General is against mask, vaccine requirements
Jay O’Brien | September 22nd 2021
https://cbs12.com/news/local/floridas-new-surgeon-general-is-against-mask-vaccin...
Florida’s new Surgeon General, Dr. Joseph Ladapo, was a speaker.
0:45 ( https://twitter.com/jayobtv/status/1440428431523545091 )
- Jay O'Brien (CBS) @jayobtv | 5:31 PM · Sep 21, 2021
____________________________________________
Florida's new Surgeon General is against mask, vaccine requirements
Jay O’Brien | September 22nd 2021
https://cbs12.com/news/local/floridas-new-surgeon-general-is-against-mask-vaccin...
107Limelite
No License for Disinformation
Grassroots Project: Website for people to report physicians who are spreading lies about vaccination and treatments for COVID-19, about the severity of the disease itself, about public health efforts, about mask usage and mandates, etc.
Grassroots Project: Website for people to report physicians who are spreading lies about vaccination and treatments for COVID-19, about the severity of the disease itself, about public health efforts, about mask usage and mandates, etc.
Doctors who have engaged in spreading deadly Covid-19 related disinformation have faced virtually no consequences so far. We’re aiming to change that. No License For Disinformation is a grassroots campaign that aims to ensure that physicians who spread Covid-19 disinformation are held accountable.
108margd
Meanwhile in Canada's "Florida of the North" (COVID mgt), the Alberta premier's approval rating dropped to 9%: https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1951728707671
Alberta to launch proof-of-vaccination program, declares health emergency amid surge in COVID-19 cases
CBC News · Posted: Sep 15, 2021 2:48 PM MT | Last Updated: September 16
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/kenney-shandro-hinshaw-update-covid-19-1...
"It is now clear that we were wrong, and for that I apologize," Kenney said.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Tyler Shandro out, Jason Copping in as Alberta's health minister
CBC News · Posted: Sep 21, 2021
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/tyler-shandro-jason-kenney-health-minist...
--------------------------------------------------------------
Jason Kenney survives caucus meeting with leadership review to come
Alberta premier is facing down caucus revolt as fourth wave of COVID-19 pandemic batters province
Drew Anderson, Elise von Scheel | Sep 22, 2021
...Some in the caucus are angry that Kenney introduced vaccine passports in an effort to stem the tide of the crushing fourth wave of COVID-19, while others say the government waited too long to take action...
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/jason-kenney-premier-alberta-leadership-r...
Alberta to launch proof-of-vaccination program, declares health emergency amid surge in COVID-19 cases
CBC News · Posted: Sep 15, 2021 2:48 PM MT | Last Updated: September 16
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/kenney-shandro-hinshaw-update-covid-19-1...
"It is now clear that we were wrong, and for that I apologize," Kenney said.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Tyler Shandro out, Jason Copping in as Alberta's health minister
CBC News · Posted: Sep 21, 2021
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/tyler-shandro-jason-kenney-health-minist...
--------------------------------------------------------------
Jason Kenney survives caucus meeting with leadership review to come
Alberta premier is facing down caucus revolt as fourth wave of COVID-19 pandemic batters province
Drew Anderson, Elise von Scheel | Sep 22, 2021
...Some in the caucus are angry that Kenney introduced vaccine passports in an effort to stem the tide of the crushing fourth wave of COVID-19, while others say the government waited too long to take action...
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/jason-kenney-premier-alberta-leadership-r...
109margd
This Lab Charges $380 for a Covid Test. Is That What Congress Had in Mind?
Insurers say it’s price-gouging, but a law left an opening for some labs to charge any price they wished.
Sarah Kliff | Sept. 26, 2021
At the drugstore, a rapid Covid test usually costs less than $20.
Across the country, over a dozen testing sites owned by the start-up company GS Labs regularly bill $380.
There’s a reason they can. When Congress tried to ensure that Americans wouldn’t have to pay for coronavirus testing, it required insurers to pay certain laboratories whatever “cash price” they listed online for the tests, with no limit on what that might be.
GS Labs’s high prices and growing presence — it has performed a half-million rapid tests since the pandemic’s start, and still runs thousands daily — show how the government’s longstanding reluctance to play a role in health prices has hampered its attempt to protect consumers. As a result, Americans could ultimately pay some of the cost of expensive coronavirus tests in the form of higher insurance premiums...
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/26/upshot/cost-of-covid-rapid-test-prices.html
Insurers say it’s price-gouging, but a law left an opening for some labs to charge any price they wished.
Sarah Kliff | Sept. 26, 2021
At the drugstore, a rapid Covid test usually costs less than $20.
Across the country, over a dozen testing sites owned by the start-up company GS Labs regularly bill $380.
There’s a reason they can. When Congress tried to ensure that Americans wouldn’t have to pay for coronavirus testing, it required insurers to pay certain laboratories whatever “cash price” they listed online for the tests, with no limit on what that might be.
GS Labs’s high prices and growing presence — it has performed a half-million rapid tests since the pandemic’s start, and still runs thousands daily — show how the government’s longstanding reluctance to play a role in health prices has hampered its attempt to protect consumers. As a result, Americans could ultimately pay some of the cost of expensive coronavirus tests in the form of higher insurance premiums...
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/26/upshot/cost-of-covid-rapid-test-prices.html
110John5918
>109 margd:
In Kenya I pay USD57 and in South Sudan USD70, with both results available later the same day.
In Kenya I pay USD57 and in South Sudan USD70, with both results available later the same day.
111margd
>110 John5918: That's great for PCR test! In US, no cost for son when he was ill, but PCR test cost us $165 each before we left for Canada. There was no charge once in Canada for the second test they required of us. Just noticed costco.com sells travel test kit for $119. Like that Canada gave us once we crossed border in July 2021, one self-tests under online supervision of nurse then mail/courier the sample in for processing.
Our US county gave 25 antigen diy tests free to residents upon request. After we've used them, cheapest I see is $14 for two at Walmart.com. Other pharmacies at least $25. With our Pfizer vaxx waning, we use antigen tests before seeing potentially vulnerable folk--new baby, etc..
Our US county gave 25 antigen diy tests free to residents upon request. After we've used them, cheapest I see is $14 for two at Walmart.com. Other pharmacies at least $25. With our Pfizer vaxx waning, we use antigen tests before seeing potentially vulnerable folk--new baby, etc..
112margd
Eric Feigl-Ding @DrEricDing | 7:31 AM · Sep 26, 2021
MISCALCULATION BY GOP—As an epidemiologist, I think Republicans might be killing off their voter base faster than they think. The #COVID19 death rate since June 30 in counties where Trump got more than 90% of the vote are 9.5x higher than where he got less than 10%—pretty strong.
Graph--# cases per 100,000 v counties where Trump got X% of vote
https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1442089484011687937/photo/1
MISCALCULATION BY GOP—As an epidemiologist, I think Republicans might be killing off their voter base faster than they think. The #COVID19 death rate since June 30 in counties where Trump got more than 90% of the vote are 9.5x higher than where he got less than 10%—pretty strong.
Graph--# cases per 100,000 v counties where Trump got X% of vote
https://twitter.com/DrEricDing/status/1442089484011687937/photo/1
113Limelite
Covid Killing Rural Americans at Twice the Rate of People in Urban Areas
Lower vaccination rates and absence of medical facilities are decimating rural Americans. One out of every 434 residents in rural areas has died from COVID-19. One out of how many Republican voters might that be? Well, we know that blue America centers around large cities and college towns while the rest of the map is primarily red and represents 15% of the American population. So, it's safe to extrapolate that many more Republicans than Democrats are dead from COVID-19.
Republican Party a death cult or a death panel? Take your pick. But if these statistics don't make you think of the phrase, "culling the heard," I'd like to know what phrase is a better fit to them. Perhaps someone has.
Lower vaccination rates and absence of medical facilities are decimating rural Americans. One out of every 434 residents in rural areas has died from COVID-19. One out of how many Republican voters might that be? Well, we know that blue America centers around large cities and college towns while the rest of the map is primarily red and represents 15% of the American population. So, it's safe to extrapolate that many more Republicans than Democrats are dead from COVID-19.
Since the pandemic began, about 1 in 434 rural Americans have died from Covid, compared with roughly 1 in 513 urban Americans, the institute’s data shows. And though vaccines have reduced overall Covid death rates since the winter peak, rural mortality rates are now more than double that of urban ones — and accelerating quickly.
Republican Party a death cult or a death panel? Take your pick. But if these statistics don't make you think of the phrase, "culling the heard," I'd like to know what phrase is a better fit to them. Perhaps someone has.
“There is a national disconnect between perception and reality when it comes to Covid in rural America,” said Alan Morgan, head of the National Rural Health Association. “We’ve turned many rural communities into kill boxes. And there's no movement towards addressing what we're seeing in many of these communities, either among the public, or among governing officials.”
114margd
Justice Kavanaugh tests positive for the virus.
Adam Liptak | Oct. 1, 2021
...fully vaccinated since January and that he was not showing symptoms of the virus...(family vaxxed and negative) ...It was not immediately clear how the development would affect in-person arguments at the court, which were to resume on Monday after a hiatus of more than 18 months...
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/01/us/politics/brett-kavanaugh-covid.html
Adam Liptak | Oct. 1, 2021
...fully vaccinated since January and that he was not showing symptoms of the virus...(family vaxxed and negative) ...It was not immediately clear how the development would affect in-person arguments at the court, which were to resume on Monday after a hiatus of more than 18 months...
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/01/us/politics/brett-kavanaugh-covid.html
1152wonderY
>114 margd: Mean thoughts that should shame me.
116cindydavid4
Diese Nachricht wurde vom Autor gelöscht.
117margd
SD friend must have been blaming poor folk in meat-packing plants? Blaming the victim...
(Lots more outbreaks than that, unfortunately.)
Tracking Coronavirus in South Dakota: Latest Map and Case Count
Updated Oct. 4, 2021
New reported cases
Daily new hospital admissions by age in South Dakota
Hot Spots
Reported cases, deaths and other trends by county
How trends have changed in South Dakota
New reported cases by day
Hospitalizations
Tests by day
New reported deaths by day
Outbreak clusters
Good Samaritan Society Sioux Falls Village Sioux Falls, S.D. 122
Mike Durfee State Prison Springfield, S.D. 865
South Dakota State Penitentiary Sioux Falls, S.D. 615
Rapid City Community Work Center Rapid City, S.D. 240
Jameson Annex Sioux Falls, S.D. 235
Yankton Community Work Center Yankton, S.D. 196
Yankton federal prison camp Yankton, S.D. 181
Pennington County jail Rapid City, S.D. 127
Sioux Falls Community Work Center prison Sioux Falls, S.D. 123
Pierre Community Work Release Center Pierre, S.D. 121
South Dakota Women's Prison Pierre, S.D. 95
South Dakota State University Brookings, S.D. 1,005
University of South Dakota Vermillion, S.D. 813
Augustana University Sioux Falls, S.D. 375
South Dakota School of Mines and Technology Rapid City , S.D. 306
Black Hills State University Spearfish, S.D. 249
Northern State University Aberdeen, S.D. 175
University of Sioux Falls Sioux Falls, S.D. 147
Dakota State University Madison, S.D. 120
Mount Marty College Yankton, S.D. 96
Smithfield Foods pork processing facility Sioux Falls, S.D. 1,098
DemKota Ranch Beef processing facility Aberdeen, S.D. 170
Jack Link's beef jerky plant Alpena, S.D. 129
Dakota Provisions meat processing facility Huron, S.D. 104
Camp Judson summer camp Keystone, S.D. 61
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/south-dakota-covid-cases.html
(Lots more outbreaks than that, unfortunately.)
Tracking Coronavirus in South Dakota: Latest Map and Case Count
Updated Oct. 4, 2021
New reported cases
Daily new hospital admissions by age in South Dakota
Hot Spots
Reported cases, deaths and other trends by county
How trends have changed in South Dakota
New reported cases by day
Hospitalizations
Tests by day
New reported deaths by day
Outbreak clusters
Good Samaritan Society Sioux Falls Village Sioux Falls, S.D. 122
Mike Durfee State Prison Springfield, S.D. 865
South Dakota State Penitentiary Sioux Falls, S.D. 615
Rapid City Community Work Center Rapid City, S.D. 240
Jameson Annex Sioux Falls, S.D. 235
Yankton Community Work Center Yankton, S.D. 196
Yankton federal prison camp Yankton, S.D. 181
Pennington County jail Rapid City, S.D. 127
Sioux Falls Community Work Center prison Sioux Falls, S.D. 123
Pierre Community Work Release Center Pierre, S.D. 121
South Dakota Women's Prison Pierre, S.D. 95
South Dakota State University Brookings, S.D. 1,005
University of South Dakota Vermillion, S.D. 813
Augustana University Sioux Falls, S.D. 375
South Dakota School of Mines and Technology Rapid City , S.D. 306
Black Hills State University Spearfish, S.D. 249
Northern State University Aberdeen, S.D. 175
University of Sioux Falls Sioux Falls, S.D. 147
Dakota State University Madison, S.D. 120
Mount Marty College Yankton, S.D. 96
Smithfield Foods pork processing facility Sioux Falls, S.D. 1,098
DemKota Ranch Beef processing facility Aberdeen, S.D. 170
Jack Link's beef jerky plant Alpena, S.D. 129
Dakota Provisions meat processing facility Huron, S.D. 104
Camp Judson summer camp Keystone, S.D. 61
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/south-dakota-covid-cases.html
118cindydavid4
thanks for that (i deleted my post above because I was trying to do my own fact checking and wasnt sucessful) this friend is actually a close frined of mine since HS, and the last 10 years or so has been increasingly off the wall. She actually claims that the rise in SD is from the illegal immigrants....She also claims that SD never closed down, and I see thats what the governor says as well. Is that true?
119cindydavid4
thanks for that (i deleted my post above because I was trying to do my own fact checking and wasnt sucessful) this friend is actually a close frined of mine since HS, and the last 10 years or so has been increasingly off the wall. I usually suspect she is wrong, but wanted to be sure. She actually claims that the rise in SD is from the illegal immigrants....She also claims that SD never closed down, and I see thats what the governor says as well. Is that true?
120kiparsky
>119 cindydavid4: The idea of ascribing a surge to a particular population group ("illegal immigrants", "Chinese people", "conservatives", whichever) is always going to be bogus. A virus doesn't care who carries it.
It's possible to ascribe a surge to a behavior, for example gathering in large groups unmasked and unvaccinated, but the behavior is the issue, not any biographical facts about the people who engage in it.
She also claims that SD never closed down, and I see thats what the governor says as well. Is that true?
I don't know what it means to say that a state "closed down". As far as I know, no states "closed down", although many states did adopt various restrictions on business activity and so forth in order to restrict transmission, particularly in the period before vaccines came on line.
I don't believe that South Dakota took the pandemic very seriously and as far as I know the governor took no particular action to protect the citizens of that state, but I wasn't following events in that part of the world that closely, so I may have missed something.
It's possible to ascribe a surge to a behavior, for example gathering in large groups unmasked and unvaccinated, but the behavior is the issue, not any biographical facts about the people who engage in it.
She also claims that SD never closed down, and I see thats what the governor says as well. Is that true?
I don't know what it means to say that a state "closed down". As far as I know, no states "closed down", although many states did adopt various restrictions on business activity and so forth in order to restrict transmission, particularly in the period before vaccines came on line.
I don't believe that South Dakota took the pandemic very seriously and as far as I know the governor took no particular action to protect the citizens of that state, but I wasn't following events in that part of the world that closely, so I may have missed something.
121lriley
When they say a vaccine is 95 or even 98% it means it is going to break through some defenses of those who are vaccinated. Much more often when it does it doesn't break through as hard. The nature of the virus that it can be transmitted asymptomatically is just another reason why we, the entire globe needs to stop the spread. The fewer that have the virus the so much easier it is for hospitals to treat the more serious cases. So getting the vaccine is just about the most important thing that a person can do for themselves but just as important other people.
It's been clear for a long while now that those who are not vaccinated are getting sick from covid a lot lot more often than those who are vaccinated and the unvaccinated cases tend to get sicker. Delta is a nastier version of what first came over in March 2020. It's killing people in their 20's, 30's and 40's. It's even killing a lot more children.
Also dying from covid is no joke. A lot of people see someone huffing and puffing on an oxygen mask and think they've been intubated. No those who are intubated are put into a coma and medically paralyzed so they won't thrash about when the tube goes down their throat. They have a device to keep the tongue in place while the tube goes down the patient's throat and then that'll be the way with them in a coma and paralyzed until they either make enough progress to come off the ventilator or they die. They'll also be put on dialysis and if necessary they'll get a tracheotomy or have hoses surgically cut into their lungs to keep those lungs revived. If they survive they're going to feel like they've gone 15 rounds with the heavyweight champ and not as his sparring partner--more as his punching bag. If they survive it's going to take them months and months if not years if not forever to get back to a norm and maybe even never. Some serious serious rehabilitation. Another procedure that happens with this is the double lung transplant. The reason that happens as one 20 some year old patient with no prior health conditions who got that procedure tells it---his (old) lungs looked like chewed up pieces of bubble gum.
Everyone who can should get vaccinated. It's the best way to make sure really bad shit doesn't happen to you. People also need to see this as a fucking war against this virus that they're involved in whether they like it or not. Some want their 'choice' and their 'freedom' but if they get the virus they get to spread it to those around them and if they get really sick their choice and freedom are going to evaporate very rapidly when they move through a hospital's doors. The virus has the potential to kill anyone--not only you but your family, friends and neighbors. Also mitigation efforts such as distancing and masks do save lives.
It's been clear for a long while now that those who are not vaccinated are getting sick from covid a lot lot more often than those who are vaccinated and the unvaccinated cases tend to get sicker. Delta is a nastier version of what first came over in March 2020. It's killing people in their 20's, 30's and 40's. It's even killing a lot more children.
Also dying from covid is no joke. A lot of people see someone huffing and puffing on an oxygen mask and think they've been intubated. No those who are intubated are put into a coma and medically paralyzed so they won't thrash about when the tube goes down their throat. They have a device to keep the tongue in place while the tube goes down the patient's throat and then that'll be the way with them in a coma and paralyzed until they either make enough progress to come off the ventilator or they die. They'll also be put on dialysis and if necessary they'll get a tracheotomy or have hoses surgically cut into their lungs to keep those lungs revived. If they survive they're going to feel like they've gone 15 rounds with the heavyweight champ and not as his sparring partner--more as his punching bag. If they survive it's going to take them months and months if not years if not forever to get back to a norm and maybe even never. Some serious serious rehabilitation. Another procedure that happens with this is the double lung transplant. The reason that happens as one 20 some year old patient with no prior health conditions who got that procedure tells it---his (old) lungs looked like chewed up pieces of bubble gum.
Everyone who can should get vaccinated. It's the best way to make sure really bad shit doesn't happen to you. People also need to see this as a fucking war against this virus that they're involved in whether they like it or not. Some want their 'choice' and their 'freedom' but if they get the virus they get to spread it to those around them and if they get really sick their choice and freedom are going to evaporate very rapidly when they move through a hospital's doors. The virus has the potential to kill anyone--not only you but your family, friends and neighbors. Also mitigation efforts such as distancing and masks do save lives.
122margd
>119 cindydavid4: Poor benighted South Dakotans if they vote again for that Trump-wannabe, criminal governor...
COVID-19 pandemic in South Dakota
...During the first week of December 2020, South Dakota had the highest mortality rate per-capita among all U.S. states...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic_in_South_Dakota
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States that did not issue stay-at-home orders in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, 2020
Seven states—Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming—did not issue orders directing residents to stay at home from nonessential activities in March and April 2020 in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The 43 other states all issued orders at the state level directing residents to stay at home except for essential activities and closing businesses that each state deemed nonessential. Read more about those stay-at-home orders here.
Only one of the seven states that did not issue a stay-at-home order did not require any businesses to close: South Dakota. All seven states also closed schools to in-person instruction...
https://ballotpedia.org/States_that_did_not_issue_stay-at-home_orders_in_respons...
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Tourism Event Cancellations and Tourism Business Disruptions in South Dakota
https://www.travelsouthdakota.com/closures
COVID-19 pandemic in South Dakota
...During the first week of December 2020, South Dakota had the highest mortality rate per-capita among all U.S. states...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic_in_South_Dakota
---------------------------------------------------------------------
States that did not issue stay-at-home orders in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, 2020
Seven states—Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming—did not issue orders directing residents to stay at home from nonessential activities in March and April 2020 in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The 43 other states all issued orders at the state level directing residents to stay at home except for essential activities and closing businesses that each state deemed nonessential. Read more about those stay-at-home orders here.
Only one of the seven states that did not issue a stay-at-home order did not require any businesses to close: South Dakota. All seven states also closed schools to in-person instruction...
https://ballotpedia.org/States_that_did_not_issue_stay-at-home_orders_in_respons...
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Tourism Event Cancellations and Tourism Business Disruptions in South Dakota
https://www.travelsouthdakota.com/closures
123lriley
>122 margd: Many Covid sick Idahoans have ended up in eastern Washington state hospitals because there’s no room left for them in Idaho’s own hospitals meanwhile in stark contrast to Washington’s mitigation efforts most Idahoans are moving around and mixing like this is 2019 and not 2021 or as if there were no pandemic at all. This is why in Idaho the hospital systems have resorted to crisis levels of care. People in Idaho who need non-Covid related medical procedures are pretty much shit out of luck. The unvaccinated have pushed them out. The shortages of staff and supplies as well means that if you are over 18 years old and in need of being resuscitated there is a good chance it won’t happen and that’s not just Covid patients.
124margd
Virus Message from John Cleese
The English are feeling the pinch due to recent virus threat and have therefore raised their threat level from “Miffed” to “Peeved.”
Soon, though, level may be raised yet again to “Irritated” or even to “A Bit Cross.”
The English have not been “A Bit Cross” since the blitz in 1940, when tea supplies nearly ran out.
The virus has been re-categorized from “Tiresome” to “A Bloody Nuisance.” The last time the British issued a “Bloody Nuisance” warning level was in 1588, when threatened by the Spanish Armada.
The Scots have raised their threat level from “Pissed Off”, to “Let’s Get the Bastard.” They don’t have any other levels. This is the reason they have been used on the front line of the British army for the last 300 years.
The English are feeling the pinch due to recent virus threat and have therefore raised their threat level from “Miffed” to “Peeved.”
Soon, though, level may be raised yet again to “Irritated” or even to “A Bit Cross.”
The English have not been “A Bit Cross” since the blitz in 1940, when tea supplies nearly ran out.
The virus has been re-categorized from “Tiresome” to “A Bloody Nuisance.” The last time the British issued a “Bloody Nuisance” warning level was in 1588, when threatened by the Spanish Armada.
The Scots have raised their threat level from “Pissed Off”, to “Let’s Get the Bastard.” They don’t have any other levels. This is the reason they have been used on the front line of the British army for the last 300 years.
125cindydavid4
>124 margd: Hahahaha! oh its good to laugh even about this. Thank you Cleese
126John5918
>125 cindydavid4:
I think this is a reprise of a very old one about the level of the terrorism threat. It's truncated, as I believe the old one went on to include Australia and one or two other countries. Whether either the old or new versions actually came from John Cleese I'm not sure.
I think this is a reprise of a very old one about the level of the terrorism threat. It's truncated, as I believe the old one went on to include Australia and one or two other countries. Whether either the old or new versions actually came from John Cleese I'm not sure.
127margd
>126 John5918: A post in a FB group for Isle of Skye, so apparently making rounds in Scotland.
129cindydavid4
>126 John5918: ok, thanks for the clarification. Still laughed, tho
130cindydavid4
>122 margd: thanks all for your responses. I suspected my friend was wrong on many levels, glad I got that clarified. Now if I can just get the backbone to tell her so. Whats funny is that I can push back on things she posts. But when we are out for lunch and we can laugh and talk like we used to, its hard for me to do that. We usually avoid politics/ I admit she intimidates me. But I am glad for the information the next time this comes up.
131margd
>130 cindydavid4: You're welcome! A couple of my loved ones are anti-vaxxers of varying degree. One is an "influencer", and the other was newly ensnared. What seems to work for me is to avoid direct challenges for passing references to my own vaxx journey, supportive family talk, and our common goal for this to be OVER. Meanwhile, I post actionable items (with sci references, so credible) to MY FB page--rarely direct challenges, just info--and to newly-ensnared's email. Though influencer's probably too heavily invested to disentangle, I THINK I may have broken chain of misinformation, in that a couple of hesitant people in our circle have asked me vaxx questions, and I think a few others peek. I give them the best unbiased, actionable info to keep them safe that I can, and tell them that it's their choice, no judging on my part, hopefully keeping door open. Always keeping the door open! My newly-ensnared loved one may be considering vaxx--I sure hope so! But I don't probe too deeply.
132Limelite
Working Conditions in Meat Packing Plants Likely Led to COVID-19 Spread
Meat packing plants are the culprit, workers in them are the victims due to standing close together on production lines according to last month's USDA report. That people who want to blame the employees jump to conclusions that align with their prejudices can be explained by the words "meat packing plants." Prejudices inhibit bigots from admitting the qualifiers -- it's the way packers designed the work spaces and forced workers to come in even when they felt symptomatic, or lose their jobs.
So far, no evidence has found correlations between COVID-19 and poverty, other than the living conditions of the poor force them to live in higher numbers and tighter spaces than the rest of us. Combine the two conditions of work and home, both due to not being paid a living wage for the work they do, and you've created an ICU where the "C" stands for COVID.
Meat packing plants are the culprit, workers in them are the victims due to standing close together on production lines according to last month's USDA report. That people who want to blame the employees jump to conclusions that align with their prejudices can be explained by the words "meat packing plants." Prejudices inhibit bigots from admitting the qualifiers -- it's the way packers designed the work spaces and forced workers to come in even when they felt symptomatic, or lose their jobs.
"It is a strong possibility that specifically the physical proximity of the workers in meatpacking plants is directly linked to the outbreaks (of COVID-19) that we saw in the spring and summer of 2020," said Thomas Krumel, one of the paper's authors and now an assistant professor at North Dakota State University.At the beginning of the outbreak, there were frequent reports that the workers themselves recognized that their work requirements were responsible for their increased danger of catching the disease. But the North American Meat Institute "lobbyists argued rates of infection among meatpacking plant workers were below rates of infection for the general population."
So far, no evidence has found correlations between COVID-19 and poverty, other than the living conditions of the poor force them to live in higher numbers and tighter spaces than the rest of us. Combine the two conditions of work and home, both due to not being paid a living wage for the work they do, and you've created an ICU where the "C" stands for COVID.
133John5918
Covid response ‘one of UK’s worst ever public health failures’ (Guardian)
Britain’s early handling of the coronavirus pandemic was one of the worst public health failures in UK history, with ministers and scientists taking a “fatalistic” approach that exacerbated the death toll, a landmark inquiry has found.
“Groupthink”, evidence of British exceptionalism and a deliberately “slow and gradualist” approach meant the UK fared “significantly worse” than other countries, according to the 151-page “Coronavirus: lessons learned to date” report led by two former Conservative ministers.
The crisis exposed “major deficiencies in the machinery of government”, with public bodies unable to share vital information and scientific advice impaired by a lack of transparency, input from international experts and meaningful challenge...
134margd
The world's five safest cities post-pandemic
Lindsey Galloway | 7th October 2021
Cities across the world have had to rethink security in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic – here are the ones doing it well.
...Copenhagen, Toronto, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo – all had factors that illustrate how overall safety correlates to a strong sense of social cohesion, total population inclusion and societal trust...
https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20211006-the-worlds-five-safest-cities-post-p...
Lindsey Galloway | 7th October 2021
Cities across the world have had to rethink security in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic – here are the ones doing it well.
...Copenhagen, Toronto, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo – all had factors that illustrate how overall safety correlates to a strong sense of social cohesion, total population inclusion and societal trust...
https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20211006-the-worlds-five-safest-cities-post-p...
135margd
Back in my day, there was so much toilet paper
that people used to literally string it up in the trees of their enemies.
-FB
that people used to literally string it up in the trees of their enemies.
-FB
136cindydavid4
>135 margd: hahahahaha!!! oh, I need to borrow that...
137margd
These Republicans torpedoed vaccine edicts — then slipped in the polls
LISA KASHINSKY | 10/17/2021
...new research shows governors in states without vaccine mandates — or where they’ve outright prohibited such a requirement — have “significantly lower” approval ratings for their handling of Covid-19. While many of these governors remain popular, some have seen dips in their overall approval ratings in recent months as their states faced the latest wave of coronavirus.
...In states with vaccine mandates, 52 percent of people approve or strongly approve of their governors’ handling of the pandemic, according to the latest survey from the Covid States Project, which has been tracking gubernatorial approval ratings for the past year and a half. That coronavirus approval rating drops to 42 percent for governors in states with no vaccine requirements. And it takes yet another hit — dropping to just 36 percent — in states where governors have barred vaccine mandates.
The findings could be temporary, and influenced by summer outbreaks that are now subsiding, but the study’s authors believe the public’s support for vaccine requirements is real, as is its distaste for those opposing the measures...
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/10/17/governors-covid-vaccine-mandates-approv...
LISA KASHINSKY | 10/17/2021
...new research shows governors in states without vaccine mandates — or where they’ve outright prohibited such a requirement — have “significantly lower” approval ratings for their handling of Covid-19. While many of these governors remain popular, some have seen dips in their overall approval ratings in recent months as their states faced the latest wave of coronavirus.
...In states with vaccine mandates, 52 percent of people approve or strongly approve of their governors’ handling of the pandemic, according to the latest survey from the Covid States Project, which has been tracking gubernatorial approval ratings for the past year and a half. That coronavirus approval rating drops to 42 percent for governors in states with no vaccine requirements. And it takes yet another hit — dropping to just 36 percent — in states where governors have barred vaccine mandates.
The findings could be temporary, and influenced by summer outbreaks that are now subsiding, but the study’s authors believe the public’s support for vaccine requirements is real, as is its distaste for those opposing the measures...
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/10/17/governors-covid-vaccine-mandates-approv...
138margd
America Stopped Treating Health-Care Workers Like Heroes
Kaiser Health News, Bram Sable-Smith, and Andy Miller
October 17, 2021
...In the earliest days of the pandemic, nightly celebrations lauded the bravery of frontline health-care workers. Eighteen months later, those same workers say they are experiencing an alarming rise in violence in their workplace...
...Federal data show that health-care workers faced 73 percent of all nonfatal injuries from workplace violence in the U.S. in 2018. It’s too early to have comprehensive stats from the pandemic.
...In September, 31 percent of hospital nurses surveyed by National Nurses United said that they had faced workplace violence, up from 22 percent in March...
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2021/10/pandemic-might-be-making-hosp...
Kaiser Health News, Bram Sable-Smith, and Andy Miller
October 17, 2021
...In the earliest days of the pandemic, nightly celebrations lauded the bravery of frontline health-care workers. Eighteen months later, those same workers say they are experiencing an alarming rise in violence in their workplace...
...Federal data show that health-care workers faced 73 percent of all nonfatal injuries from workplace violence in the U.S. in 2018. It’s too early to have comprehensive stats from the pandemic.
...In September, 31 percent of hospital nurses surveyed by National Nurses United said that they had faced workplace violence, up from 22 percent in March...
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2021/10/pandemic-might-be-making-hosp...
139margd
Trump’s Pentagon Chief Quashed Idea to Send 250,000 Troops to the Border
Top national security aides to former President Trump also talked him out of launching military raids against drug cartels inside Mexico.
David E. Sanger, Michael D. Shear and Eric Schmitt | Oct. 19, 2021
...In the spring of 2020, Mark T. Esper, the defense secretary, was alarmed to learn of an idea under discussion at a top military command and at the Department of Homeland Security to send as many as 250,000 troops — more than half the active U.S. Army, and a sixth of all American forces — to the southern border in what would have been the largest use of the military inside the United States since the Civil War.
With the coronavirus pandemic raging, Stephen Miller, the architect of Mr. Trump’s immigration agenda, had urged the Homeland Security Department to develop a plan for the number of troops that would be needed to seal the entire 2,000-mile border with Mexico. It is not clear whether it was officials in homeland security or the Pentagon who concluded that a quarter of a million troops would be required.
The concept was relayed to officials at the Defense Department’s Northern Command, which is responsible for all military operations in the United States and on its borders, according to several former senior administration officials. Officials said the idea was never presented formally to Mr. Trump for approval, but it was discussed in meetings at the White House as they debated other options for closing the border to illegal immigration...
Mr. Trump’s obsession with the southern border was already well known by that time. He had demanded a wall with flesh-piercing spikes, repeatedly mused about a moat filled with alligators, and asked about shooting migrants in the leg as they crossed the border. His aides considered a heat-ray that would make migrants’ skin feel hot...
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/19/us/politics/trump-border.html
Top national security aides to former President Trump also talked him out of launching military raids against drug cartels inside Mexico.
David E. Sanger, Michael D. Shear and Eric Schmitt | Oct. 19, 2021
...In the spring of 2020, Mark T. Esper, the defense secretary, was alarmed to learn of an idea under discussion at a top military command and at the Department of Homeland Security to send as many as 250,000 troops — more than half the active U.S. Army, and a sixth of all American forces — to the southern border in what would have been the largest use of the military inside the United States since the Civil War.
With the coronavirus pandemic raging, Stephen Miller, the architect of Mr. Trump’s immigration agenda, had urged the Homeland Security Department to develop a plan for the number of troops that would be needed to seal the entire 2,000-mile border with Mexico. It is not clear whether it was officials in homeland security or the Pentagon who concluded that a quarter of a million troops would be required.
The concept was relayed to officials at the Defense Department’s Northern Command, which is responsible for all military operations in the United States and on its borders, according to several former senior administration officials. Officials said the idea was never presented formally to Mr. Trump for approval, but it was discussed in meetings at the White House as they debated other options for closing the border to illegal immigration...
Mr. Trump’s obsession with the southern border was already well known by that time. He had demanded a wall with flesh-piercing spikes, repeatedly mused about a moat filled with alligators, and asked about shooting migrants in the leg as they crossed the border. His aides considered a heat-ray that would make migrants’ skin feel hot...
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/19/us/politics/trump-border.html
140margd
Brazilian Leader Accused of Crimes Against Humanity in Pandemic Response
Jack Nicas | Oct. 19, 2021. Updated Oct. 20, 2021
...A Brazilian congressional panel is set to recommend that President Jair Bolsonaro be charged with “crimes against humanity,” asserting that he intentionally let the coronavirus rip through the country and kill hundreds of thousands in a failed bid to achieve herd immunity and revive Latin America’s largest economy.
A report from the panel’s investigation...also recommends criminal charges against 69 other people, including three of Mr. Bolsonaro’s sons and numerous current and former government officials.
The panel initially recommended in the report that Mr. Bolsonaro be charged with mass homicide and genocide against Indigenous groups in the Amazon, where the virus decimated populations for months after hospitals there ran out of oxygen...
...It is at best uncertain whether the report from the 11-member panel — seven of them opponents of Mr. Bolsonaro — will lead to any actual criminal charges, given the political realities of the country.
But in deeply polarized Brazil, it reflects the depths of anger against a leader who refused to take the pandemic seriously. The report may prove a major escalation in the challenges confronting Mr. Bolsonaro, who took office in 2019, faces re-election next year and is suffering falling popularity.
The extraordinary accusations appear in a nearly 1,200-page report that effectively blames Mr. Bolsonaro’s policies for the deaths of more than 300,000 Brazilians, half of the nation’s coronavirus death toll, and urges the Brazilian authorities to imprison the president...
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/19/world/americas/bolsonaro-covid-19-brazil.html
Jack Nicas | Oct. 19, 2021. Updated Oct. 20, 2021
...A Brazilian congressional panel is set to recommend that President Jair Bolsonaro be charged with “crimes against humanity,” asserting that he intentionally let the coronavirus rip through the country and kill hundreds of thousands in a failed bid to achieve herd immunity and revive Latin America’s largest economy.
A report from the panel’s investigation...also recommends criminal charges against 69 other people, including three of Mr. Bolsonaro’s sons and numerous current and former government officials.
The panel initially recommended in the report that Mr. Bolsonaro be charged with mass homicide and genocide against Indigenous groups in the Amazon, where the virus decimated populations for months after hospitals there ran out of oxygen...
...It is at best uncertain whether the report from the 11-member panel — seven of them opponents of Mr. Bolsonaro — will lead to any actual criminal charges, given the political realities of the country.
But in deeply polarized Brazil, it reflects the depths of anger against a leader who refused to take the pandemic seriously. The report may prove a major escalation in the challenges confronting Mr. Bolsonaro, who took office in 2019, faces re-election next year and is suffering falling popularity.
The extraordinary accusations appear in a nearly 1,200-page report that effectively blames Mr. Bolsonaro’s policies for the deaths of more than 300,000 Brazilians, half of the nation’s coronavirus death toll, and urges the Brazilian authorities to imprison the president...
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/19/world/americas/bolsonaro-covid-19-brazil.html
141cindydavid4
>139 margd: nothing surprises me any more. but i am shocked how much power and influence Miller has. Only explanation I can think of is that he actually is the devil who trump sold his soul, and whatever heart he had, to. I suspect his influence hadn't stopped when the pres became former. I am terrified that this man will gain more power.
142margd
Marshall H. Chin, 2021. Uncomfortable Truths — What Covid-19 Has Revealed about Chronic-Disease Care in America (Perspective). NEJM October 23, 2021. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMp2112063 https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2112063
...COVID...revealing uncomfortable truths about the U.S. health care system — including our approach to managing chronic diseases. Policy discussions surrounding telehealth coverage and scope of practice for nonphysician health professionals have narrowly focused on fee-for-service reimbursement and haven’t addressed the fundamental problem with chronic-disease care: the system doesn’t support optimal patient health and experience, especially for marginalized populations.
...The U.S. health care system undervalues human relationships, connections, and longitudinal primary care, so it’s unsurprising that it falls short in this area. Technology and human capital will need to be integrated if we are going to deliver high-quality, patient-centered care.
Covid-19 has taught us important lessons that apply to chronic-disease care. First, our health care system excels at perpetuating its basic structure and supporting the powerful stakeholders who profit from this structure. We should, therefore, design chronic-disease systems to better support the health and experience of patients and the well-being of health professionals trying to meet patient needs (see box). Payment for telehealth should support and provide incentives for integrated, holistic in-person and virtual care, and it should be administered using value-based models, rather than fee-for-service structures. We could create teams that assess, treat, and monitor patients, relying on the principles of effective, longitudinal primary care. We should also coach patients in self-management and behavior change and partner with communities to address social and structural factors impeding good health. Determining the ideal ratio of in-person visits to virtual visits, use of remote-device monitoring, and mix of health professionals will be important.
...COVID...revealing uncomfortable truths about the U.S. health care system — including our approach to managing chronic diseases. Policy discussions surrounding telehealth coverage and scope of practice for nonphysician health professionals have narrowly focused on fee-for-service reimbursement and haven’t addressed the fundamental problem with chronic-disease care: the system doesn’t support optimal patient health and experience, especially for marginalized populations.
...The U.S. health care system undervalues human relationships, connections, and longitudinal primary care, so it’s unsurprising that it falls short in this area. Technology and human capital will need to be integrated if we are going to deliver high-quality, patient-centered care.
Covid-19 has taught us important lessons that apply to chronic-disease care. First, our health care system excels at perpetuating its basic structure and supporting the powerful stakeholders who profit from this structure. We should, therefore, design chronic-disease systems to better support the health and experience of patients and the well-being of health professionals trying to meet patient needs (see box). Payment for telehealth should support and provide incentives for integrated, holistic in-person and virtual care, and it should be administered using value-based models, rather than fee-for-service structures. We could create teams that assess, treat, and monitor patients, relying on the principles of effective, longitudinal primary care. We should also coach patients in self-management and behavior change and partner with communities to address social and structural factors impeding good health. Determining the ideal ratio of in-person visits to virtual visits, use of remote-device monitoring, and mix of health professionals will be important.
143margd
Moderna @moderna_tx | 1:27 AM · Oct 26, 2021:
ANNOUNCEMENT: We will be supplying up to 110 million doses of our #COVID19 Vaccine to the @_AfricanUnion at our lowest tiered price.
Read more here:
https://investors.modernatx.com/news-releases/news-release-details/moderna-annou....
---------------------------------------------------
Florian Krammer (virologist Icahn) @florian_krammer | 7:00 AM · Oct 26, 2021:
Too little too late.
After lots of criticism.
And probably still pretty expensive.
ANNOUNCEMENT: We will be supplying up to 110 million doses of our #COVID19 Vaccine to the @_AfricanUnion at our lowest tiered price.
Read more here:
https://investors.modernatx.com/news-releases/news-release-details/moderna-annou....
---------------------------------------------------
Florian Krammer (virologist Icahn) @florian_krammer | 7:00 AM · Oct 26, 2021:
Too little too late.
After lots of criticism.
And probably still pretty expensive.
144Limelite
Birx Testifies 'Up To 40% of Americans Would Not Have Died of COVID-19 Had Trump Supported Basic Public Health Protocols'
Sunding a little revisionist, aren't we, doctor? In a closed door hearing before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, Dr. Deborah Birx, former member of Trump's so-called pandemic response team, said that "tens of thousands of deaths could have been prevented after the initial phase of the pandemic if Mr. Trump had pushed mask-wearing, social distancing and other efforts to slow the spread of the virus."
Sunding a little revisionist, aren't we, doctor? In a closed door hearing before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, Dr. Deborah Birx, former member of Trump's so-called pandemic response team, said that "tens of thousands of deaths could have been prevented after the initial phase of the pandemic if Mr. Trump had pushed mask-wearing, social distancing and other efforts to slow the spread of the virus."
“I believe if we had fully implemented the mask mandates, the reduction in indoor dining, the getting friends and family to understand the risk of gathering in private homes, and we had increased testing, that we probably could have decreased fatalities into the 30 percent less to 40 percent less range,” Dr. Birx testified.She also expressed strong condemnation of Dr. Scott Atlas, a former Stanford neuroradiologist who became an adviser to Trump because of his advocacy of 'herd immunity' and his opposition to. lockdowns His opinions arose from ignorance and a fondness for making conclusions from incomplete information.
“I was constantly raising the alert in the doctors’ meetings of the depth of my concern about Dr. Atlas’ position, Dr. Atlas’ access, Dr. Atlas’ theories and hypothesis, and the depths and breadths of my concern,” she said, referring to a group of doctors involved in the White House response who gathered regularly.Isn't it a shame that Birx's current feelings and opinions were not on full public display when she held her post on Trump's WH team? Apparently, they're still not.
145cindydavid4
>144 Limelite: yeah right. I remember looking at her shocked face when trump decided to try ultraviolet light and bleach or some such. But she somehow managed to keep her opinions quiet to keep her job. He is not the only one with blood on his hands
146lriley
Birx is going to have to live with the fact that her silence makes her complicit in thousands and thousands of unnecessary covid deaths but had she spoken up forcefully she would have been out and Trump would have continued along the same path. We're finding out that people like Trump and Noem and DeSantis and Abbott can always find some medical stooge to give a patina of authority to whatever covid bullshit they want to peddle. This Dr. Lapado in Florida with all his fancy degrees for instance is a real piece of shit. Birx served her purpose more or less before the vaccines and was kicked to the curb as soon as it was convenient. Personally no one should take her medical opinions seriously from now on.
147margd
Grant Stern is fully vaccinated @grantstern | 10:34 PM · Oct 26, 2021:
Miami's City Commission just fired Police Chief @ArtAcevedo for wanting to mandate life-saving vaccines for cops.
Now, police officers who don't mind dying from Covid19 are being invited to Miami,
to possibly die from the preventable disease they refuse to prevent.
Image ( https://twitter.com/grantstern/status/1453188233148473352/photo/1 )
Miami's City Commission just fired Police Chief @ArtAcevedo for wanting to mandate life-saving vaccines for cops.
Now, police officers who don't mind dying from Covid19 are being invited to Miami,
to possibly die from the preventable disease they refuse to prevent.
Image ( https://twitter.com/grantstern/status/1453188233148473352/photo/1 )
148cindydavid4
>147 margd: just when you think its gotten as bad as it can be, here comes Florida Do these politicians not realize they are killing off their own base?
151margd
FL Governor once referred to his state as "God's waiting room".
The SOB did his level best to clear the waiting room... :(
The SOB did his level best to clear the waiting room... :(
152lriley
>149 margd: and about 35,000 of them after the vaccines became available. Florida has blown past NYS in Covid deaths now—the majority of New York’s deaths in the first months of the pandemic before the vaccines became available. DeSantis was the guy back then who wanted to block New Yorker’s from entering his state. Now it’s open arms ($5000 bonuses to unvaccinated terminated policemen) to anyone who will bring more virus.
153John5918
Covid measures give us choice. They are not restrictions on British life (Guardian)
The government, ignoring the science, talks of freedom. But true liberty comes from cutting infections so people feel safe...
Dieses Thema wurde unter COVID-19 - social and political fallout (8) weitergeführt.
