Covid-19 News/Updates

That’s great but what I am going to do with all these hamsterproducts?

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Just hide the hamsterproducts somewhere as the hamsters do.

The etymology of the word says this: Hamsteren (hoarding): "stock up like a hamster (in case of imminent scarcity)

Do we have to store it all in our cheeks?
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Ist chuckle of the day.

First, foremost, and finally. We don’t have a health care industry, we have a medical services industry where any aspect of societal benefit is purely coincidental.

We have a system whereby a broken leg can lead to bankruptcy and loss of one’s home. We pay more individually and socially than we would with a “single payer” health care system but have millions of people (the ones most vulnerable to the impact of the industry) who will fight any and all attempts to institute a system that puts health care above profit for a few.

The American “health care” industry is a lot like congress, a good idea that has been so corrupted by mutual greed and profiteering that both are crumbling under the pressure they were intended to withstand.

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11 posts were merged into an existing topic: Information, Misinformation, Disinformation

A post was merged into an existing topic: Information, Misinformation, Disinformation

From NYT today (edited at…)

The White House will wind down the coronavirus task force in the weeks to come.

President Trump said on Tuesday that the White House’s coronavirus task force would be shut down and replaced with “something in a different form” as the country moved into what he called Phase 2 of a response to a pandemic that has killed nearly 70,000 Americans…“I think we are looking at Phase 2, and we’re looking at other phases,” Mr. Trump said after he was asked whether it was a good idea to shut down the task force while the virus was still spreading through the country. He said that Dr. Deborah L. Birx, the virus response coordinator for the task force, and other top public officials would still be involved in the efforts to address the pandemic after the task force disbanded.

“They will be, and so will other doctors, and so will other experts in the field,” he said, adding, “We are bringing our country back.”

Administration officials have been telling staff members of the task force that the White House plans to wind down the operation in the weeks to come, despite growing evidence that the crisis is still raging.

The news that the White House was planning to end the task force came as the rate of new infections and deaths was falling in New York but was continuing to rise in much of the rest of the country. A number of projections suggest that deaths will remain at elevated levels for months and are likely to increase as states ease their stay-at-home orders…

Alrighty then, all squared away and Bristol fashion.

Could a Llama named Winter hold the key to a vaccine against the Novel Corona virus, or a cure for Covid-19?:

PS> Watch if Trump starts to hold Llamas on the White House lawn-

Here’s a good story to illustrate why you can’t let ‘Open it up’ and let the ‘free markets’ ‘handle’ this problem.

“ Nearly half of the employees of a Utah County business tested positive for COVID-19 after the business instructed employees to not follow quarantine guidelines and required staff who had tested positive to report to work, according to a written statement from county executives.”

The free market open it up and let the consumers decide should of course recognize that this business should not get your patronage. We’ll ignore if it’s the only place you can get something within range of your lifestyle or where you are employed and focus on the bigger problem for consumers who would want to rightly avoid—-you have no idea what business it is!

“… the Health Department would not release the names of the businesses or information about the nature of the services they provide due to privacy concerns.”

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Now I see why Sen. McConnell wants to make all businesses immune from lawsuits during this Covid-19 pandemic.

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Government action to limit liability of owners.

That’s government intervention, so not ‘free market’. Yet the free marketers won’t likely mind a little compromise on their principles.

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Trump says popularity of coronavirus task force persuaded him to keep it

(WAPO 5/6/20. Edited at…)
President Trump said Wednesday that the White House coronavirus task force will continue “indefinitely,” reversing course from a day earlier when he and Vice President Pence signaled that the panel would wrap up its work this month.

“I thought we could wind it down sooner, but I had no idea how popular the task force is until actually yesterday when I started talking about winding down,” Trump told reporters at the White House after signing a proclamation in the Oval Office honoring nurses. “It is appreciated by the public.”…

(END)

Nice to know these vital decisions have been made on a scientific basis, and vetted by the best minds available…then reversed the next day.

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It’s not surprising, the Administration floats a balloon, gauges reaction and then chooses the popular or least hated option. That’s a condition unique to this situation and there are other examples.

But generally, the Administration has to deal with a public utterance coming out of an interview or other setting where, instead of having options, they have to defend and otherwise make real what the President said.

Overall, it’s a lesson for White House reporters. And how they can avoid being used.

They likely won’t let him in front of the cameras for another task force briefing. Keeping the task force going is different so they will try to thread that needle. They know his performance at the briefings hurts his numbers.

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The story below would be a scandal with any other POTUS, With this one, it’s just Wednesday. It’s a great example of why leaders shouldn’t go around promoting unproven cures in the middle of an pandemic. Not only do you give false hope to people, you invite corruption, stock market manipulation, and cronyism.

Chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine were suggested by POTUS45 early-on as “game changers”. These drugs may prove useful. Tests are still ongoing. But they aren’t game changers. Trials done in the U.S. have shown no startling beneficial results. More testing will be done, which is good. But they are not miracle cures

However, when POTUS45 and his cronies, such as Laura Ingraham and Rudy Giuliani, irresponsibly pushed these drugs in the media, they set up a situation ripe for corruption. A tenet of medical care is, First, don’t make the patient worse. One of the tenets for crisis control is, First, don’t make the situation worse.

Dr. Bright, a national leader in vaccine development, was pressured to buy drugs for the nation’s stockpile of emergency medical equipment from companies that were linked politically to the administration.This is the definition of corruption.

Because of POTUS45 parroting a news-bite he swallowed on Fox or elsewhere, and his cronies then backing him up and whipping up pubic sentiment based on false hopes, Dr. Rick Bright, a national leader in vaccines, was forced to make a whistleblower complaint. Yes, forced, because honesty and good governance are still standards by which many people choose to live.

Dr. Bright is now used less effectively than he could be, in the fight against the pandemic, and Congress now must take time to investigate corruption. A waste of talent and energy. That’s why POTUS’s shouldn’t be announcing “game changers”. When you’re in a crisis the first thing is, Don’t make things worse.

Ousted vaccine official alleges he was demoted for prioritizing ‘science and safety’

(WAPO 5/5/20. Edited at…)
A former top vaccine official [Dr. Rick Bright] removed from his post last month alleged in a whistleblower complaint on Tuesday that he was reassigned to a less prestigious role because he tried to “prioritize science and safety over political expediency” and raised health concerns over a drug repeatedly pushed by President Trump as a possible cure for coronavirus
…He also notes that he clashed with his boss, assistant secretary for preparedness and response at HHS Robert Kadlec, for at least two years. Bright alleges in the complaint that Kadlec and others pressured him to buy drugs and medical products for the nation’s stockpile of emergency medical equipment from companies that were linked politically to the administration and that he resisted such efforts…

… On a call with reporters earlier on Tuesday, Bright’s lawyers, Debra Katz and Lisa Banks, said Bright came under pressure from Kadlec to award contracts “based on political connections and cronyism.”…

“Dr. Bright’s removal from BARDA was retaliation, plain and simple,” Katz said. Bright’s lawyers are requesting that HHS reinstate him as BARDA director while his complaint is investigated.

…Bright asserts in the complaint that he resisted pressure from HHS political leadership to make “potentially harmful drugs widely available,” including chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, which Trump has repeatedly heralded, and urged people to take both from his Twitter account and the White House podium. The president’s associates, including Fox host Laura Ingraham and Trump’s personal attorney Rudolph W. Giuliani have also pushed the drug as a treatment for covid-19…

Nothing unusual. Sweetheart contract deals are payback to the supporters of political campaigns that get their candidate elected.

Here’s a late breaking story:

If this goes on until the “herd” is immune (60-80% of the pop. & will be higher in the young) GOOD LUCK on recruiting!!

“Covid-19 parties” organised so that people can deliberately mingle with an infected person in the hope of getting their own illness out of the way.