New York leaders are hopeful coronavirus crisis is peaking, flattening
“The coronavirus body count in New York state held steady Monday for the second consecutive day at about 600 deaths — a once-unthinkable statistic that now gives officials some cautious reason to hope that the pandemic may be cresting there.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) said that regardless of whether his state was seeing the worst of the covid-19 crisis, it was vital for people to stay home to keep downward pressure on the disease’s spread and announced he was doubling the fine for anyone found breaking the rules.
“While none of this is good news, the possible flattening of the curve is better than the increases we have seen,” Cuomo said during a news conference. Two days of data is not nearly enough to identify a trend, but officials said there were other glimmers of hope, including significant declines in the past two days in the number of new people hospitalized, admitted to intensive care units and intubated.” via The Washington Post
Angry’s Thoughts: I hope like hell this is true. New York has been absolutely decimated over the last couple weeks. If they can lower the curve this quickly, nobody should argue the effectiveness of social distancing ever again.
Coronavirus: Boris Johnson moved to intensive care as symptoms ‘worsen’
“Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been moved to intensive care in hospital after his coronavirus symptoms “worsened”, Downing Street has said.
A spokesman said he was moved on the advice of his medical team and is receiving “excellent care”.
Mr Johnson has asked Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab to deputise “where necessary”, the spokesman added.
The prime minister, 55, was admitted to hospital in London with “persistent symptoms” on Sunday evening.
The Queen has been kept informed about Mr Johnson’s health by No 10, according to Buckingham Palace.
BBC political correspondent Chris Mason said the prime minister was given oxygen late on Monday afternoon, before being taken to intensive care.
However, he has not been put on a ventilator.
A No 10 statement read: “The prime minister has been under the care of doctors at St Thomas’ Hospital, in London, after being admitted with persistent symptoms of coronavirus.
“Over the course of [Monday] afternoon, the condition of the prime minister has worsened and, on the advice of his medical team, he has been moved to the intensive care unit at the hospital.” via BBC
Angry’s Thoughts: I wouldn’t be at all surprised to find out that Johnson is on a ventilator soon – almost all of the clinical observations I’ve seen on social media and elsewhere have noted that if a patient requires oxygen, the chances of them requiring a ventilator within a 72 hour period is almost 100%.
Caveat: most of these were early observations, so I don’t know if that’s still the case, but in my non-expert opinion, him being moved to ICU doesn’t bode well for keeping him off of a vent.
White House reaches deal with 3M over mask production
“President Donald Trump on Monday said that 3M would produce 166.5 million masks over the next three months, cementing a commitment from a company the administration had blamed for exacerbating a shortage for health workers responding to the coronavirus pandemic.
“We have reached an agreement, a very amicable agreement, with 3M,” Trump announced. “The 3M saga ends very happily.”
“This will go a long way toward solving the mask issue if not solve it completely,” said one official involved in the negotiations. The new 3M masks are overwhelmingly N95 and KN95 masks and will go toward frontline workers, the official said.
The White House and 3M had sparred in recent days over accusations the mask-maker was prioritizing sales to other countries. Trump invoked the Defense Production Act on Thursday in an effort to ramp 3M’s production.” via Politico
Angry’s Thoughts: This is three months t0o late. The new virus peak is projected to be over the next two weeks. If he had acted when he should have, our front-line wouldn’t be at war with no equipment.
France records highest virus daily death toll
“France has reported 833 new coronavirus deaths in the past day, the highest daily toll since its outbreak began.
The total number of people who have died after testing positive for Covid-19 now stands at 8,911, while the number of infections is 98,010.
“We have not reached the end of the end of the ascent of this epidemic,” warned Health Minister Olivier Véran.
Italy’s daily death toll also rose on Monday after several days of slowing, but Spain’s fell for a fourth day.” via BBC
Angry’s Thoughts: It’s important to remember that the deaths will always lag behind the cases. Dr. Fauci has pointed out on several occasions that there will be a period in the United States where we will be seeing relatively few new cases, but will still be seeing a high amount of death. This is due to the length of the illness: the average COVID-19 patient is sick for well over 10 days, and most who die will do so around day 20. It’s a brutal virus.
Inspector general who handled Ukraine whistleblower complaint says ‘it is hard not to think’ he was fired by Trump for doing his job
“Michael Atkinson, the inspector general removed by President Trump late Friday, said he believes he was fired for having properly handled a whistleblower complaint that became a centerpiece of the case for the president’s impeachment.
“I am disappointed and saddened that President Trump has decided to remove me as the inspector general of the intelligence community because I did not have his ‘fullest confidence,’ ” Atkinson said in a seven-paragraph statement issued Sunday. “It is hard not to think that the president’s loss of confidence in me derives from my having faithfully discharged my legal obligations as an independent and impartial inspector general.”
That Atkinson issued a statement at all is unusual — inspectors general usually stay silent when removed, but the circumstances leading to his firing are also highly unusual.
Inspectors general are traditionally removed for “cause” — usually involving misconduct. In Atkinson’s case, there was no apparent misconduct. Rather, Trump said in a letter to Congress on Friday night that it was “no longer the case” that Atkinson had his “fullest confidence.” via The Washington Post
Angry’s Thoughts: Trump made it obvious at one of his coronavirus clown shows that Atkinson was fired for no reason but the fact that he did his job, but it also shouldn’t be lost on anyone that he only did it now to distract from how terribly he’s handled the coronavirus response.
Trump approves New York request to treat coronavirus patients on Navy hospital ship
“President Donald Trump said Monday that he granted New York Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s request to treat novel coronavirus patients on a hospital ship docked off of Manhattan.
Cuomo had told reporters earlier Monday that he was “going to call the President this afternoon and ask him to shift the (USNS) Comfort from non-Covid to Covid.”
Trump, speaking at a White House news briefing Monday afternoon, said he “was informed that Gov. Cuomo has already told you and announced he called me up a little while ago and asked whether or not it would be possible to use the ship with respect to fighting the virus.”
“We hadn’t had that in mind at all, but we’re going to let him do it,” Trump remarked.
“It’s set for Covid,” Trump said of the Comfort. The President also confirmed that the ship has been approved to treat New Jersey patients.” via CNN
Angry’s Thoughts: I worry about this decision. It was probably inevitable that it was going to happen eventually, but I hope they’ve designated it for COVID-only if they’re going to do this – the ship doesn’t have adequate processes in place to prevent it from spreading. Needless to say, it would suck to go for basic trauma and end up with COVID-19.
Wisconsin Supreme Court overturns governor, orders Tuesday elections to proceed
“Wisconsin’s state Supreme Court blocked Gov. Tony Evers’ late executive order postponing in-person voting in Tuesday’s elections, meaning the state’s presidential primary and hundreds of local elections will proceed hours after the governor announced he was postponing them due to coronavirus.
The ruling came after the GOP-controlled state legislature challenged Evers’ order. The state Supreme Court split 4-2 along ideological lines, with Justice Daniel Kelly, who is up for reelection in Tuesday’s balloting, abstaining.
An hour later, the U.S. Supreme Court also ruled in favor of Republicans, partially blocking a lower court’s extension of the absentee ballot deadline in the state in a decision that also divided the justices ideologically.
Evers — who had previously maintained that he alone did not have the authority to postpone an election — issued his order seeking to push back the elections on Monday, saying that he was acting to reduce exposure to the virus and ease concerns among his constituents about the spread of the pandemic. Evers issued a stay-at-home order last month as part of his administration’s efforts to fight coronavirus.
At a press conference before the state Supreme Court’s order, Evers indicated this would be his last move to try to postpone the election. “This will be the last avenue that we’re taking,” Evers said at the press conference. ”There’s not a Plan B. There’s not a Plan C.” via Politico
Angry’s Thoughts: These are two of the most disgusting rulings of recent memory. Refusing to postpone tomorrow’s election is a clear threat to public safety, and refusing to extend absentee voting is unnecessarily cruel.
It’s a blatant attempt at voter suppression, and it’s gross.
Trump baselessly disputes HHS IG report, repeats several other false claims at Monday’s coronavirus briefing
“President Donald Trump made yet another series of false and misleading claims at his Monday coronavirus briefing, during which he repeatedly criticized reporters and frequently departed from his prepared text.
Trump repeated false claims about coronavirus testing and about the Obama administration’s response to the H1N1 pandemic, baselessly dismissed a new report about hospital shortages of critical supplies, and played down early problems with a new small business lending program. He also repeated some of his old false claims about trade with China.
At Monday’s briefing, Fox News correspondent Kristin Fisher asked the President about a recently released report from the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General which details challenges facing hospitals in responding to the coronavirus pandemic, including shortages of supplies and equipment, as well as prolonged wait times to get testing results.
In response, Trump said, “It’s just wrong. Did I hear the word ‘inspector general,’ really? It’s wrong.”When pushed on the fact that the report was released by his own administration, Trump suggested the findings were politically motivated, asking, “Well where did he come from, the inspector general? What’s his name?” Trump later added, “So give me the name of the inspector general. Could politics be entered into that?” via CNN
Angry’s Thoughts: Firstly, nothing in the IG report was false. Second, there is something seriously, seriously wrong with this man. This entire briefing was a dumpster fire.
Obama touts Elizabeth Warren’s coronavirus recovery proposals
Former President Barack Obama on Monday offered high praise for Sen. Elizabeth Warren, endorsing the former presidential candidate’s extensive framework for how to jump-start the economy once the coronavirus pandemic recedes.
“As she often does, @SenWarren provides a cogent summary of how federal policymakers should be thinking about the pandemic in the coming months,” Obama wrote in a tweet, linking to a Vox interview where the Massachusetts Democrat discussed her multiple plans to address the global pandemic and its economic fallout.
Warren, who became known for her ubiquitous policy plans throughout her presidential bid, was the first presidential candidate to put forth a proposal for combating the coronavirus in January, when it was still mostly relegated to China. Last month, she released two more plans before ending her campaign, but she has remained vocal about the U.S. response to the outbreak.” via Politico
Angry’s Thoughts: I can’t wait to see what position Warren gets in Biden’s administration.
Trade Adviser Warned White House in January of Risks of a Pandemic
A top White House adviser starkly warned Trump administration officials in late January that the coronavirus crisis could cost the United States trillions of dollars and put millions of Americans at risk of illness or death.
The warning, written in a memo by Peter Navarro, President Trump’s trade adviser, is the highest-level alert known to have circulated inside the West Wing as the administration was taking its first substantive steps to confront a crisis that had already consumed China’s leaders and would go on to upend life in Europe and the United States.
“The lack of immune protection or an existing cure or vaccine would leave Americans defenseless in the case of a full-blown coronavirus outbreak on U.S. soil,” Mr. Navarro’s memo said. “This lack of protection elevates the risk of the coronavirus evolving into a full-blown pandemic, imperiling the lives of millions of Americans.” via ABC News
Angry’s Thoughts: The ironic thing about this is that it’s Navarro who is now feuding with Dr. Fauci over the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine as a treatment and/or prophylaxes.
This ABC scoop is correct though, but Navarro was far from the only one discussing the possibility of widespread pandemic in the United States. Trump just calculated that it was better to gamble with a pandemic than upset the stock market.
