Starker on 25/4/2020 at 02:35
If people in the US were so cavalier about other things...
So what if the Japanese bombed us? Let them. More people die in car accidents every month. Got to think about the economy first.
<img src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EV-r3EtXsAQk2nD?format=jpg&name=900x900" width="600">
Starker on 25/4/2020 at 04:05
Some people are more luckier with the pandemic than others:
Quote:
A top Republican fundraiser who has helped raise hundreds of millions of dollars for political candidates over the last decade says he's ditching the world of political giving in order to focus on a new business providing medical supplies to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
Mike Gula sent an email to clients of his fundraising firm, Gula Graham, on Thursday informing them that he would be leaving effective immediately. The firm, he added, will be “phas[ing] toward closure,” apparently ending an 11-year run for the fundraising company that netted it nearly $40 million in revenue from federal political committees alone.
“Over the last 14 days I have built another business outside politics and will be focusing my full attention there,” Gula wrote. “I am sorry you are receiving this news via email, but I know better than anyone how word travels faster than light in Washington and I did not want you to hear this second hand.”
“After this e-mail, I will be unreachable,” Graham signed off. “I wish you the best of luck in politics and life.”
The business that Gula had been building over the prior two weeks is called Blue Flame Medical, which he founded with John Thomas, a California public affairs executive. According to the company's website, it will work to provide medical supplies and personal protective equipment to combat the coronavirus outbreak.
“We are the largest global network of COVID-19 medical suppliers providing healthcare logistics and hard to find medical supplies to beat the outbreak,” Blue Flame boasts. “We work with hundreds of well-known global suppliers bringing customers a wider range of products...We have the industry's broadest product selection including 3M™ N95 health care respirator & surgical masks, COVID-19 test kits, travel kits and a wide selection of PPE inventory.”
[...]
I mean, what are the odds that a Republican insider happened to stumble upon a source for hard to find medical supplies and PPE at a time of crisis and built a business around it. In just 14 days, no less!
Quote:
(
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/27/republican-fundraiser-company-coronavirus-152184)
Thomas declined to specify how he and Gula had managed to obtain masks that have become so rare that some hospitals have resorted to reusing them or having health care workers tie bandannas or scarfs around their faces. “It's just relationship-based,” he said. “I can't say anything else.”
[...]
In an interview, Thomas said Blue Flame had already sold medical supplies to authorities in Georgia and other states. Police departments are “almost begging for supplies,” he said.
“I don't want to overstate, but we probably represent the largest global supply chain for Covid-19 supplies right now,” he said. “We are getting ready to fill 100 million-unit mask orders.”
[...]
[Gula] said he decided to trade in fundraising to sell medical supplies “because nobody was doing it. Because the president and the vice president were asking people to help.”
[...]
Jason Moyer on 25/4/2020 at 04:20
Quote Posted by jkcerda
I am good, you guys take care.
This was the best post in the entire thread.
Starker on 25/4/2020 at 05:04
Seems like the protests failed to budge public opinion in the US:
Quote:
(
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/large-majorities-americans-back-coronavirus-restrictions-slower-return/story?id=70291873)
[...]
In this week's poll, 72% believe moving too quickly to loosen the stay-at-home orders is a greater threat to the country than moving too slowly, and 86% think social distancing and stay-at-home orders are responsible policies. And if restrictions were lifted tomorrow, some 80% say they are unlikely to go out to public places that are likely to draw crowds.
[...]
Even majorities of those identifying with President Donald Trump's own party favorably view the current status quo and are more resistant to sudden changes. About three-quarters of Republicans are concerned about becoming infected, 53% support a slower return to normal, and 72% said they were unlikely to return to public places if restrictions were relaxed immediately.
More surprising, perhaps, is the 82% of Republicans who align with the view that social distancing and stay-at-home orders are responsible, life-saving actions, while only 17% believe the restrictive measures are a government overreaction that infringes on an individual's freedom.
That number comes against the backdrop of scattered demonstrations across the country, organized by protesters angry by the rigid stay-at-home orders in place as a response to the coronavirus, which has forced millions to claim unemployment benefits and ground most economic activity to a halt.
[...]
zombe on 25/4/2020 at 05:52
A few days ago testing in US roughly doubled - giving us a new record peak of 38K new cases per day (+- reporting delay anomalies). Most notable slopes using last 7 days (ie. what is the per day trend including the before and after testing intensified): 423 Massachusetts (5.0% death/case ratio and 0.24 case/test ratio), 230 New York (7.7% and 0.38), 199 Illinois (4.5% and 0.21), 127 Michigan (8.4% and 0.26), 93 Pennsylvania (4.3% and 0.22). Do note that the totals for the ratios is 5.7% and 0.18 - sort of baseline to keep in mind.
Jump in daily numbers coincides very well with the doubling of testing for all the mentioned - except Pennsylvania that has a gigantic reporting snafu that makes it hard to see.
New York makes sense - their testing coverage has been a big pain for eons.
Michigan has the highest death ratio of every state while testing coverage has been just averagely bad - somehow the virus keeps finding the risk group i guess.
Massachusetts - what is happening there? Thous numbers look unusually weird to me. Why the big burst of new cases (last seven days: 1970 1705 1566 1556 1745 3079 4946) - doubling testing should not double nor triple the case. Don't have daily testing data - so, went to check out what mass.gov has to say about all of this ...
Quote:
PLEASE NOTE:
Today's data reflects a correction of a reporting error made by Quest, a national commercial laboratory, which affected case counts in multiple states including Massachusetts. The Massachusetts Department of Public Health received a backlog this week of almost 10,000 patient results (both positive and negative) from Quest dating back to April 13. These cases are included for the first time in today's data.
To most accurately reflect real-time trends, DPH sorted the Quest backlog and incorporated confirmed cases into state data based on when those test results should have been reported. In today's dashboard, daily case counts from April 13 through today now reflect the corrected data.
Ok, that helps (not with the doubling, but tripling is explained). Also, 13th April backlog - are you shitting me? Anyway, there seems to be reasons to hope that todays record peak was, to some extent, a counting anomaly.
Thought i share the results of my morning puzzle.
Gryzemuis on 25/4/2020 at 11:07
Quote Posted by Pyrian
High explosives will destroy the virus, too.
Damn, I wanted to make a funny post.
"Inject the patients with nitroglycerine, then blow up the virus !".
But you beat me to it. :)
demagogue on 25/4/2020 at 11:36
Although given that this thing causes heart attacks, nitroglycerine isn't such a bad idea to have around.
Dia on 25/4/2020 at 12:05
Quote Posted by Starker
Stop the train, reverse course, he was only pretending to be an idiot "sarcastically":
Yeah, I saw that and I call bullshit. Trump was doing what Trump does best; acting like he's an expert on a subject about which he actually knows very little, if anything
(anyone remember his suggestion to our military to nuke hurricanes to stop them before they hit our country, or when he claimed windmills cause cancer?). And if he really
was being sarcastic, well, then it was done is very bad taste considering he's talking about a virus that's already killed over 50,000 of his fellow citizens, has overwhelmed our hospitals and has brought this country to a standstill. I mean,
why would he even
want to be sarcastic in the first place while giving a briefing about this epidemic? People don't need sarcasm from our so-called leader; we need facts (not the 'alternate' kind), statistics and reassurances, as well as firm, doable plans of action to fight this damned epidemic and help the American people. No, I don't believe that ignoramus was being sarcastic; he was just being himself, which is just as deplorable.
The good news is that after his '
“And then I see the disinfectant where it knocks it out in a minute, one minute. And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning?' comment, it looks like the White House is going to be reining him in for upcoming briefings (I get the feeling they hate it when he goes 'off-script', lol). Yeah, that won't last; the man just
has to be in the spotlight, singing his own praises and telling everyone what a very stable genius he is on all subjects. You have to admit though, he never fails to entertain, whether your reaction is abject horror, outright amusement or downright frustration and dismay, Trump is doing what he does best; playing the role of a lifetime as the host of the biggliest, best TV reality show ever. He's certainly not playing the role of responsible leader of our country, that's for damned sure. *smh*
(
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/white-house-limit-trump-role-briefings-coronavirus_n_5ea3b2e5c5b6f963981529d4)
PigLick on 25/4/2020 at 13:53
There is also the theory that the virus was released by a cabal of global elite who were on Jeffrey Epsteins blackmail files, just to draw attention away from incoming legal proceedings. Sounds pretty legit tbh.
