President Trump lashed out on Tuesday at the World Health Organization, creating a new enemy to attack and threatening to withhold funding from the world’s premier health institution even as a deadly virus ravages nations around the globe.
“We’re going to put a hold on money spent to the W.H.O.; we’re going to put a very powerful hold on it and we’re going to see,” Mr. Trump said, accusing the organization of having not been aggressive enough in confronting the dangers from the virus.
For decades, people in the 11 states that seceded during the Civil War -- America’s poorest region -- have suffered from a scourge of obesity and hypertension, which intensify the danger of the coronavirus and the Covid-19 respiratory disease that it causes. Four of the five states with the highest diabetes rates are in the South. And eight didn’t expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, leaving thousands of families without access to routine care, even as financially troubled rural hospitals wither away.
Speaking in the White House Rose Garden, the US president claimed that, if his administration keeps the death toll to 100,000, it will have done “a very good job” – a startling shift from his optimistic predictions of a few days ago when he said he hoped to restart the economy by Easter.
Of course, if half a million die, he'll claims if you weren't one of them, you should show him some appreciation.
“Usually we’ll have 50 governors that will call it the same time. I think we are doing very well. But it’s a two-way street. They have to treat us well, also. They can’t say, “Oh, gee, we should get this, we should get that.” We’re doing a great job. Like in New York where we’re building, as I said, four hospitals, four medical centers. We’re literally building hospitals and medical centers. And then I hear that there’s a problem with ventilators. Well we sent them ventilators. And they could have had 15,000 or 16,000 – all they had to do was order them two years ago.
“I have patients in their early 40s and, yeah, I was kind of shocked. I’m seeing people who look relatively healthy with a minimal health history, and they are completely wiped out, like they’ve been hit by a truck. This is knocking out what should be perfectly fit, healthy people. Patients will be on minimal support, on a little bit of oxygen, and then all of a sudden, they go into complete respiratory arrest, shut down and can’t breathe at all.”
Warren in the last 48 hours, on stopping 'gaming of the debt and taxpayer bailout system' by the wealthy shareholders and executives of big corporations. Saw this on Twitter, cannot find it on major news site.
Seems to be ignored by major media. This from Reddit:
This current highly communicable coronavirus, COVID-19, like other coronaviruses (15% of 'common colds") does not create lifetime immunity like measles virus.
How long immunity lasts for this coronavirus is not known, but it is probably less than a year. See Fauci below, on the need for a seasonal vaccine for multiple coronaviruses. There is not now a vaccine for any of the many types of cornoaviruses. One additional problem for vaccines, is the immune response to the virus itself can be the major cause of damage to the lungs.
In fact, the bill guarantees sick leave only to about 20 percent of workers. Big employers like McDonald’s and Amazon are not required to provide any paid sick leave, while companies with fewer than 50 employees can seek hardship exemptions from the Trump administration.
“If you are sick, stay home,” Vice President Mike Pence said at a news conference on Saturday afternoon. “You’re not going to miss a pay check.”
On March 1, the day after the first coronavirus death in the United States, brothers Matt and Noah Colvin set out in a silver S.U.V. to pick up some hand sanitizer. Driving around Chattanooga, Tenn.... At each store, they cleaned out the shelves... Mr. Colvin said he was simply fixing “inefficiencies in the marketplace.” Some areas of the country need these products more than others, and he’s helping send the supply toward the demand. .. “Even at $125 a box, they were selling almost instantly,” he said.
Mr. Hanks is hospitalized, said there were 27 people confirmed to have the coronavirus there, and in every case, “we know the origin of where they have come from.” ....
Mr. Mackay, the virologist, noted that Ms. Wilson, an actress and singer, had recently performed a concert in Beverly Hills, on a date within the incubation period for the virus ... there were reports that at least one other person on the set had tested positive. ... In Australia testing is free and widely available, thanks to early and coordinated planning for a pandemic.
...Trump and advisers have been taking calls since Monday from concerned energy sector allies, who have voiced concern and at times exasperation not only about oil prices, but also privately warning against the administration supporting any sweeping paid sick leave policy...
Meanwhile Washington state is asking for an emergency designation to expand Medicaid to relieve hospitals and emergency rooms congested with sick patients.
Trump has ordered Pence to control, filter and spin all virus information and statements by government health officials, to protect Donald Trump's re-election. Keeping American citizens in the dark is the Soviet system, authoritarian solution.
This is not the Onion, but front page NYT:
Pence Will Control All Coronavirus Messaging From Health Officials
“We know many of the same people in NY,” he wrote. “Behind your back they laugh at you & call you a carnival barking clown. They know you inherited a fortune & squandered it with stupid deals and incompetence. I have the record & the resources to defeat you. And I will.”
Mike Bloomberg, in response to Trump's "day of paranoid raving".
“The Department of Homeland security is exploding a mountain on O’odham land and UNESCO biosphere reserve to build Trump’s wall. Draining precious groundwater, bulldozing ancient saguaros and plowing over burial grounds isn’t enough,” he wrote. “Now they’re literally dynamiting a mountain in protected wilderness lands.”
“Nothing is sacred to them, no amount of destruction too grand,” he went on to say. “We’re living a nightmare down here in the borderlands.”
"By promising transformative policy changes that have virtually no chance of passing, Sanders makes his opponents’ still ambitious but much more realistic proposals appear weak by comparison. By refusing to be specific about how much his plans will cost, he avoids criticism that burdens more forthright candidates.
