COVID-19 in America

[two sheds]

either him or bono I was thinking

 

[Yossarian]

And the two people everyone wants it to kill there are still alive

Henry Kissinger and Harvey Weinstein?

 

[Pickman's model]

Henry Kissinger and Harvey Weinstein?

Ok, five people

 

[Pickman's model]

Who is the third? Pence?

Yes

 

[cupid_stunt]

Worldometers is saying 199k dead in the USA

Over 200k today.

Although there's a hell of a lot more, estimated excess deaths had already hit 219k back on 25th July.

On that date the official covid death rate was 151k, with over 70k new covid deaths reported since that date, excess deaths must be around 300k now.

Across the United States, at least 200,000 more people have died than usual since March [& up to 25th July], according to a New York Times analysis of estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This is about 60,000 higher than the number of deaths that have been directly linked to the coronavirus.

The True Coronavirus Toll in the U.S. Has Already Surpassed 200,000 (Published 2020)

A New York Times analysis shows a high number of deaths above normal — with the most recent rise in excess deaths focused in the South and West.

www.nytimes.com

 

[frogwoman]

Apparently suicide and drug deaths are also going up

 

[existentialist]

Apparently suicide and drug deaths are also going up

UK suicide rates have been trending upward for a couple of years, too.

 

[spring-peeper]

Apparently suicide and drug deaths are also going up

Grim news for those suffering with dementia, too.

Devising strategies to protect older people with dementia amid the COVID-19 pandemic

The older population and those with dementia around the world are facing an unprecedented threat from COVID-19 which threatens them with a higher risk of death when infected. As of 23 August 2020, in Hong Kong, the mortality rate for people aged 60 or above was around 6.27%, which was almost 105...

medicalxpress.com

 

[elbows]

From a 18:17 entry on the BBC live updates page comes.......

The US Post Office (USPS) had planned to send 650 million reusable cotton face masks to Americans - roughly five per household - back in April, according to documents obtained by the Washington Post though a Freedom of Information Act request.

But the plan was axed by White House officials who felt it would create a panic among Americans, an unnamed White House official told the Post.

"There was concern from some in the White House Domestic Policy Council and the office of the vice president that households receiving masks might create concern or panic," the official said.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-54187391

 

[wemakeyousoundb]

I don't know about a panic but I can guess the conspiraloons reaction.

 

[elbows]

Panic prevention is the sort of excuse used when the authorities fail to tell their populations in a timely way that the nuclear power station melted.

I believe modern public health & disaster communication disciplines are supposed to deal with this tendency and encourage a more reasonable balance, but of course other interests have their power and influence over this.

 

[spring-peeper]

Trump Blames Biden For Not Making Masks Mandatory Across The U.S.

"To be clear: I am not currently president," the former VP responded.

www.huffingtonpost.ca

Trump Blames Biden For Not Instituting U.S. Mask Mandate

U.S. President Donald Trump moved to blame his Democratic competitor, former U.S. vice-president Joe Biden, for not instituting a national mask mandate during the coronavirus pandemic.

The claim, made at an ABC News town hall Tuesday with undecided voters in Pennsylvania, is misleading for two reasons: Biden has, in fact, urged all U.S. governors to mandate mask-wearing to slow the spread of COVID-19. The Democratic candidate is also not the president and has no authority to mandate anything. Trump does.

Julie Bart asked the president why he hadn’t instituted a national mask mandate during the height of the pandemic and why he had largely refused to wear facial coverings even as the nation’s top medical officials urged the public to do so.

 

[StoneRoad]

good grief, the buffoon is even more incoherent than I expected on that tw1tter clip.

and he (organge one) could mandate masks right now, but he won't.

 

[elbows]

I've mentioned this subject before because its always rather interesting that the BBC can report on this sort of thing without ever really commenting on the fact we've never been close to testing asymptomatic cases to get a test in the UK.

Coronavirus: US health chiefs reverse advice on Covid-19 testing

The CDC caused controversy in August by saying that anyone without symptoms should not be tested.

www.bbc.co.uk

US health officials have rowed back on controversial advice issued last month that said people without Covid-19 symptoms should not get tested.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) now says anyone in close contact with a known infected person should take a test.

Friday's "clarification" returns the CDC's stance on testing to its previous guidance, before the August alteration.

Reports said the controversial advice had not been given by scientists.

Sources quoted by the New York Times said it had been posted on the CDC website despite experts' objections.

Most US states had then rejected the guidance, Reuters reported, in a stinging rebuke to the nation's top disease prevention agency.

 

[Sunray]

I did say a while ago, Trump has gone totally crazy. He has thrown the American people under the covid bus and now expects heard mentality??? Really, I can accept, nay expect this from some nutjob on youtube. But such is the river of total bullshit, the whole world is desensitised. He the most powerful man on earth. I'm calm, I'm fairly confident a US general would shoot him before pressing the button.

Still, the whole world needs the American people to get a moment of clarity and vote for anyone else.

 

[two sheds]

I think you'll find it was turd mentality

 

[SlideshowBob]

Trump Blames Biden For Not Making Masks Mandatory Across The U.S.

"To be clear: I am not currently president," the former VP responded.

www.huffingtonpost.ca

Trump Blames Biden For Not Instituting U.S. Mask Mandate

Reminds me of the other day when Iain Duncan-Smith told Joe Biden to bring rioting under control. Again ignoring the fact that Biden's not currently, you know, the President.

 

[two sheds]

Reminds me of the other day when Iain Duncan-Smith told Joe Biden to bring rioting under control. Again ignoring the fact that Biden's not currently, you know, the President.

The backlash was led by the former cabinet minister Iain Duncan Smith, who told the Times: “We don’t need lectures on the Northern Ireland peace deal from Mr Biden. If I were him I would worry more about the need for a peace deal in the US to stop the killing and rioting before lecturing other sovereign nations.”

I'd missed that

Angry Tory MPs reject Joe Biden's comments on UK-EU Brexit talks

Trade deal with US not possible if UK undermines Good Friday agreement, Democrats say

www.theguardian.com

 

[SlideshowBob]

I'd missed that

Angry Tory MPs reject Joe Biden's comments on UK-EU Brexit talks

Trade deal with US not possible if UK undermines Good Friday agreement, Democrats say

www.theguardian.com

It must be rather flattering for Biden that a government which doesn't seem to particularly like him is already treating him as the incumbent President on the presumption he'll win come November.

 

[two sheds]

As long as he doesn't go full Kinnock with "We're alllll riiiiiiiight"

 

[elbows]

As long as he doesn't go full Kinnock with "We're alllll riiiiiiiight"

I think they still remember the Howard Dean Scream of 2004 (AKA I Have A Scream) so that reduces the chances of a similar performance a mere 16 years later.

 

[two sheds]

an overrated scream I thought 0:34

 

[petee]

my father drove a city bus, i see here that 131 NYCT workers have died of the coronavirus. this guy got knocked out for insisting on protection:

When a Bus Driver Told a Rider to Wear a Mask, ‘He Knocked Me Out Cold’ (Published 2020)

More than 170 New York City transit workers have been harassed or assaulted for asking passengers to wear masks.

www.nytimes.com

 

[yield]

The pandemic paused the US school-to-prison pipeline: potential lessons learned
The Lancet. September 17, 2020

A global pandemic caused society to radically and quickly reconfigure. Schools, wary of the health risks of in-person instruction, shifted to virtual learning. Although not ideal in many respects, this shift placed adolescents in the USA out of the reach of harsh school disciplinary procedures (ie, zero tolerance policies, out-of-school suspensions, expulsions, and law enforcement referrals), contributing to a drastic reduction in juvenile court referrals nationally.

The school-to-prison pipeline paused. Characterised by school disciplinary approaches placing adolescents on a trajectory to juvenile and then adult criminal legal systems, this pipeline is most pronounced for Black and Latinx students, students with disabilities, and in schools serving impoverished communities. Although we have focused mainly on the USA, this topic has relevance in other societies with public education, substantial income inequality, and racial inequities in their justice systems.

Every cloud and that.

 

[spring-peeper]

People are dismissed if their health can not allow them to follow the conditions of their employment.
If the job needed them to do something that is beyond their capacities, they should not apply.
No sympathy for the dude.

Poll worker fired for not wearing a mask sues Wisconsin governor

A Wisconsin man is suing a La Crosse city clerk and Gov. Tony Evers (D) after he was dismissed from a paid poll worker position for refusing to wear a mask at a voting precinct, citi…

thehill.com

The LaCrosse Tribune reported Tuesday that Nicholas Newmann is suing Clerk Teri Lehrke as well as Evers over his Aug. 11 dismissal, which his lawyers wrote in court documents came as a result of Lehrke enforcing Ever's statewide mask mandate which his lawyers argue is unconstitutional.

“The American system of government contains three branches, not one. For those who might say the governor must do ‘something,’ the founders divided power for a reason: They had left behind a king’s rule. Power is divided on purpose so that it cannot be exercised so easily,” Newmann's lawyer told the Tribune in a statement regarding the lawsuit.

 

[NoXion]

It's always a good sign when the guy's lawyer talks about their client's refusal to follow basic safety procedures in the name of "muh FREEDUMBZ!!!". Fucking useless piece of Yankee dankee doodle shite.

 

[petee]

how solidarity works

7 Kenosha Schools Go Virtual After More Than 276 Teachers Call In Sick

All three of Kenosha’s traditional high schools, one middle school, and three charter and choice schools will be virtual-only all week because of more than 276 teacher absences, the district […]

www.wpr.org

i know it's fraught, now parents who are FWs themselves will have to choose between work and staying home. I'll hope that a sense of w/c control spreads.

 

[spring-peeper]

Trump has lost patience with CDC head after series of mixed messages

President Donald Trump has lost patience with the head of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Robert Redfield, as well as with the other public health experts on his coronavirus team because their sober messaging on the future of the pandemic clashes with his rosy assessments.

www.cnn.com

The ever-looming threat, Trump's public undermining of the CDC chief and Redfield's tendency to fold to the White House are taking a toll on CDC staff, from top to bottom, employees say. Some have questioned whether their work is making a difference and others have even considered resigning -- and whether the sagging spirits may be hampering pandemic response.

Eight current and former public health officials described for CNN a crushing environment at the agencies charged with the coronavirus response brought on by a President intent on contradicting critical public health messaging and downplaying the threat of the virus, politically motivated pressure from the White House and baseless allegations from political appointees that government scientists are part of a disloyal "deep state."

"The morale is as low as I've ever seen it and we have no confidence in our leadership," a CDC official said. "People are miserable and it's a shame because this pandemic is still flying away and we still need a robust public health response."

 

[petee]

she's exposed us

 

[elbows]

She is probably jealous that more voters didnt wear such things over their eyes when voting in March, figuring she may have performed better under such circumstances.