‘This is no longer a debate’: Florida sheriff bans deputies, visitors from wearing masks
“On Tuesday, as Florida set a daily record for covid-19 deaths, Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods prohibited his deputies from wearing masks at work. His order, which also applies to visitors to the sheriff’s office, carves out an exception for officers in some locations, including hospitals, and when dealing with people who are high-risk or suspected of having the novel coronavirus.
In an email to the sheriff’s department obtained by the Ocala Star-Banner, Woods disputed the idea that masks are a consensus approach to battling the pandemic.
“We can debate and argue all day of why and why not. The fact is, the amount of professionals that give the reason why we should, I can find the exact same amount of professionals that say why we shouldn’t,” Woods wrote in the email.” via The Washington Post
Angry’s Thoughts: Why is it always Florida? This is absolute insanity. “I can find the exact same amount of professionals that say we shouldn’t” – yeah, maybe on Breitbart, OANN, and QAnon message boards.
Georgia School District Quarantines Over 900 Students and Teachers
“The first letter went out on Aug. 4, one day after students in the Cherokee County School District returned to their classrooms for the first time since the eruption of the coronavirus pandemic.
“Dear Parents,” wrote Dr. Ashley Kennerly, the principal of Sixes Elementary School. “I am writing this letter in order to communicate that a student in 2nd grade has tested positive for Covid-19.”
By the time the last bell rang on Friday afternoon, principals at 10 other schools had sent similar letters to families in Cherokee County, a bucolic and politically conservative stretch of suburbs north of Atlanta. This week, more letters went out.
Altogether, more than 900 students and staff members in the district have already been ordered to quarantine. On Tuesday, one high school closed its doors until at least Aug. 31.
While many of the nation’s largest school systems have opted in recent weeks to start the academic year online, other districts have forged ahead with reopening. In Georgia, Tennessee, Mississippi, Indiana and elsewhere, some schools, mainly in suburban and rural areas, have been open for almost two weeks.” via The New York Times
Angry’s Thoughts: Who could have seen this…. oh, never mind.
Nearly 1 million Americans plan to fly to Florida over Labor Day weekend. An epidemiologist warns they could undo efforts to contain COVID-19 just before schools reopen.
“Roughly 6 million Americans plan to fly during the upcoming Labor Day weekend, many of them to Florida and other “hotspot” areas struggling to contain the COVID-19 pandemic — despite CDC guidance saying the best way to protect oneself and others is to stay home.
Data collected by travel itinerary app TripIt show that while total flight bookings over the holiday weekend are down 66% compared to 2019, an unusually high proportion of those who have decided to fly over the holiday are headed to Florida, Arizona, Nevada, Mexico, and the Caribbean, all of which are struggling to rein in the COVID-19 pandemic.
Those beach retreats and weekends in the sun, however tempting after months of monotony, lockdowns, and quarantines, threaten to roll back progress at a critical moment in America’s fight against the pandemic.” via Business Insider
Angry’s Thoughts: On my “places you couldn’t pay me to be right now” list, a commercial airplane and Disney World are pretty close to the top.
Ex-Fed Chair Yellen advises Biden on virus economic fallout
Former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen was among a team of advisers who briefed Joe Biden on Thursday about the economic fallout from the coronavirus.
The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee and his newly chosen running mate, California Sen. Kamala Harris, participated in the briefing from separate, socially distanced tables at a hotel in Wilmington, Delaware. In a brief appearance with reporters, Biden didn’t offer details on the briefing.” via AP
Angry’s Thoughts: I really like this move. Yelen is brilliant. She was probably the most qualified Fed Chair in history, so naturally Trump replaced her because she was “too short.”
Either way, this is nothing but good news for the Biden camp – and for voters who are counting on Biden to listen to expert advice.
Record U.S. coronavirus fatalities and ‘startling surge’ of cases in children and teens
The U.S. logged the highest number of COVID-19 deaths in two weeks, a new NBC News tally showed Thursday, but widespread testing shortages raised concerns that the figures coming out of the hardest-hit states might not be presenting a true picture of this deadly pandemic.
The 1,424 fatalities reported Wednesday were the highest since July 28, when 2,218 deaths were reported, the figures showed. And it was the twelfth time in the last 16 days that the death toll exceeded 1,000.
Most of these deaths were in the Southern and Sun Belt states like Florida, Texas and Arizona that began reopening in May and June at the urging of President Donald Trump despite warnings from public health experts that the coronavirus was starting to crest.
“The deaths we see today are a result of infections from four to eight weeks ago,” Admiral Brett Giroir, the assistant secretary of health and the Trump administration’s testing coordinator, said Thursday on a call with reporters.
“Mortality is a lagging indicator,” Giroir added. “I don’t mean to minimize people who died, but mortality is a lagging indicator and it’s going to be a week or two before we see that go down in a meaningful way.” via NBC News
Angry’s Thoughts: Sure, deaths are a lagging indicator, but it’s asinine that we’re still seeing 1,000+ death days this far into our pandemic when other countries are already getting back to some semblance of normal.
The other obvious problem we’re facing right now is that testing numbers are decreasing in some major hotspots (looking at you Florida, and you, Texas), but the positivity rate is still climbing. That means that community spread is much higher than what is actually being reported, and it means that we’re nowhere near the end of this pandemic, because we’ll never be able to beat it without adequate testing and contact tracing.
Judge orders Trump campaign to produce evidence of voter fraud in Pennsylvania
“A federal judge in Pennsylvania told the Trump campaign and the Republican Party that they must produce evidence they have of vote-by-mail fraud in the state by Friday.
The judge’s order, in a high-profile case about vote-by-mail in the battleground state, essentially forces the Trump campaign to try to back up President Donald Trump’s false claims about massive voter fraud in postal voting.
“The Court finds that instances of voter fraud are relevant to the claims and defenses in this case,” District Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan wrote on Thursday, telling Republicans that they need to provide evidence of fraud to the Democratic Party and the Sierra Club, which are part of the lawsuit.
The Democrats had asked for information and documents that would show steps the Republicans took to study the possibility of fraud, especially related to the use of dropboxes, ballot collection and mailed-in ballots in the primary elections.
The Trump campaign and Republicans had refused to do so. But with Thursday’s court order, they must answer questions from the Democratic groups and turn over records of communications — or say they have none. The Trump campaign has until Friday to respond, the judge said.” via CNN
Angry’s Thoughts: They haven’t provided evidence yet because there is none. This is Hillary’s emails meets Hunter Biden meets Caravans from Mexico coming to invade America meets PizzaGate – there’s no basis in reality whatsoever. To be abundantly clear, this is just another blatant voter suppression tactic that is one of the GOP’s last-ditch efforts to stay in power.
Senate leaves until September without coronavirus relief deal
“The Senate left Washington, D.C., on Thursday until September – the latest sign that a deal on a fifth coronavirus relief package is, at least, weeks away.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) had kept the chamber in session this week, which was technically the first in its August recess, as a last-ditch attempt to create space for the administration and congressional Democrats to get an agreement.
But with talks stalemated, senators argue there is little reason for them to keep holding daily, roughly 1 1/2-hour sessions. The House already left town and isn’t expected to return until Sept. 14.
“We will have our regular pro forma meetings through the end of the state work period. If the Speaker of the House and the minority leader of the Senate decide to finally let another package move forward … it would take bipartisan consent to meet for legislative business sooner than scheduled,” McConnell said as he wrapped up the Senate until next month.” via The Hill
Angry’s Thoughts: Show of hands: anyone surprised Congress went on vacation without getting anything done?
No hands? Weird. Me neither.
I really hope the people of Kentucky don’t forget that Mitch has now gone on vacation at least 3 times instead of voting on vital aid bills that the House passed.
Biden, Seizing on Masks as a Campaign Issue, Calls for a Mandate
WILMINGTON, Del. — Joseph R. Biden Jr. and his newly selected running mate, Senator Kamala Harris of California, called on Thursday for Americans to be required to wear masks, offering one of the first glimpses at how the Democratic ticket plans to confront the coronavirus and draw a contrast with President Trump.
Mr. Biden, addressing reporters after receiving a briefing from public health experts, said every American should wear a mask while outside for at least the next three months and that all governors should mandate mask wearing.
“It’s not about your rights,” Mr. Biden said, standing in front of five American flags at the Hotel du Pont in Wilmington. “It’s about your responsibilities as an American.” via The New York Times
Angry’s Thoughts: Good move by Biden and Harris; they need to be constantly hammering Trump’s COVID-19 response – or rather, lack thereof – while offering reasonable solutions and drawing a direct contrast between themselves and the Trump administration.
CDC director says U.S. could have “worst fall” ever
“This fall could be the worst in the history of American public health if people do not heed guidance from health officials to stop the coronavirus, CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield warned Wednesday. Redfield said skyrocketing cases of COVID-19 combined with the annual flu season could create the “worst fall” that “we’ve ever had.”
“I’m asking you to do four simple things: wear a mask, social distance, wash your hands, and be smart about crowds. If you do those four things it will bring this outbreak down,” Redfield said in an interview with WebMD. “But, if we don’t do that… this could be the worst fall from a public health perspective we’ve ever had.”
“I keep telling people, I’m not asking some of America to do it — we all got to do it. This is one of those interventions that’s got to be 95, 96, 97, 98, 99 percent if it’s going to work,” he said.
Redfield stressed that more widespread use of face masks could make a big difference. “The mask really does work. It’s really important,” he said.” via CBS News
Angry’s Thoughts: Meanwhile, when Trump isn’t trying to destroy the post office to prevent people from voting by mail in the middle of what Redfield says will be the worst fall in American history, he’s got his head buried in the sand pretending like COVID-19 is just going to disappear.
Trump gives credence to false, racist Harris conspiracy
“President Donald Trump on Thursday gave credence to a false and racist conspiracy about Kamala Harris’ eligibility to be vice president, fueling an online misinformation campaign that parallels the one he used to power his rise into politics.
Asked about the matter at the White House, Trump told reporters he had “heard” rumors that Harris, a Black woman and U.S.-born citizen whose parents were immigrants, does not meet the requirement to serve in the White House. The president said he considered the rumors “very serious.”
The conspiracy is false. Harris, who was tapped this week by Joe Biden to serve as his running mate on the Democratic ticket, was born in Oakland, California, and is eligible for both the vice presidency and presidency under the constitutional requirements. The question is not even considered complex, according to constitution lawyers.” via AP
Angry’s Thoughts: Is anyone surprised that the most racist President in modern history and the leader of the birther movement latched on to another unfounded conspiracy theory?
It’s pretty clear at this point that Kamala Harris is running her VP campaign rent-free in Donald Trump’s head. Thankfully, social distancing in that desolate, demented wasteland shouldn’t be much of a problem.
