President Trump: Making America Great Again...

[myboynoah]

Just anecdotal, but our relations in the South are still not taking this that seriously. Out and about, driving to visit people hours away. Most of them in the super threatened categories. A freaking disaster waiting to happen.

[Northwestcoug]

Just anecdotal, but our relations in the South are still not taking this that seriously. Out and about, driving to visit people hours away. Most of them in the super threatened categories. A freaking disaster waiting to happen.

I think it’s pretty clear that the south is going to be explode pretty soon.

[originalsocal]

Certain regions have lost the Korea model. I think other regions could get to a place where the Korea model will work. Only 61 new cases in Utah today. San Francisco seems to be several days past peak. It's time for these regions to create a model for opening business back up in a measured way. We should learn from South Korea and China on how to do that.

We don't have the testing capability. President Dumbass followed the advise of the medal of freedom honoree Rush Pigbaugh and treated this whole thing as a hoax and didn't prepare by acquiring sufficient numbers of test kits. Chance to avoid a disaster GONE!

People still defending Trump are using shit as shinola.

Meanwhile...the slow motion car crash continues while the Dumbass attacks reporters and tells everyone that we're going to win.

[chrisrenrut]

We could do something similar but less autocratic. Every business should be inspected for basic social distancing practices. They should be required to clean and disinfect regularly and keep those logged. They should clean door handles frequently or simply prop doors open where practical. Rate the building for a maximum number of occupants and don't allow more than that at a given time. If a business isn't following the guidelines, shut it down.

This is what is currently happening in my building, and many others across the country for businesses considered essential services. We have had visits from OSHA and local authorities to make sure proper precautions are in place.

[wapiti]

This is what is currently happening in my building, and many others across the country for businesses considered essential services. We have had visits from OSHA and local authorities to make sure proper precautions are in place.

Great to hear. Now OSHA needs to expand its reach to non-essential businesses that are at low risk of spreading. Let them get back to business too.

[UVACoug]

If people are claiming that human-human transmission wasn't suspected very early on, that is very disingenuous.

How do you test for a "pneumonia of unknown cause"?

[myboynoah]

I thought that 240,000 deaths estimate was too high (given efforts on social distancing). My guess is that the Trump team is throwing that out there so that when there are much fewer fatalities they can claim an amazing victory for the election. The economy is done, so pivot to "COVID Warrior" mode.

Experts and Trump’s advisers doubt White House’s 240,000 coronavirus deaths estimate

Leading disease forecasters, whose research the White House used to conclude 100,000 to 240,000 people will die nationwide from the coronavirus, were mystified when they saw the administration’s projection this week.

The experts said they don’t challenge the numbers’ validity but that they don’t know how the White House arrived at them.

White House officials have refused to explain how they generated the figure — a death toll bigger than the United States suffered in the Vietnam War or the 9/11 terrorist attacks. They have not provided the underlying data so others can assess its reliability or provided long-term strategies to lower that death count.

Some of President Trump’s top advisers have expressed doubts about the estimate, according to three White House officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. There have been fierce debates inside the White House about its accuracy.

[Uncle Ted]

In response to Dumbass Schumer's letter blaming Drumpf for all of NY's problems Drumpf writes an open letter of his own:

Embedded Tweet

If you spent less time on your ridiculous impeachment hoax, which went haplessly on forever and ended up going nowhere (except increasing my poll numbers) and instead focused on helping the people of New York, then New York would not have been so completely unprepared for the “invisible enemy.” No wonder AOC and others are thinking about running against you in the primary. If they did, they would likely win.

Fortunately, we have been working with your state and city governments, Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio to get the job done. You have been missing in action except when it comes to the “press.” While you have stated that you don’t like Andrew Cuomo, you ought to start working alongside him for the good of all New Yorkers.

I’ve known you for many years, but I never knew how bad a Senator you are for the state of New York until I became President.

Maybe Schumer and Pelosi just had the wrong priorities. The impeachment sh*tshow that went no where is going to come back and haunt these two.

[tooblue]

Jared Kushner makes coronavirus briefing appearance, draws backlash for 'our stockpile' comment

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...nt/2938648001/

So wait, does that mean Ted (despite the fact he asserts he is a Libertarian) is actually a Federal American ... Don't ya'll live in the "United States" of America?

[Northwestcoug]

How do you test for a "pneumonia of unknown cause"?

You culture a specimen and test it for a lot of known pathogens. If nothing comes back positive, then you’re either dealing with an unknown infectious pathogen or it’s a non-infectious cause.

But my point was that after SARS and MERS and everything else, most observers assumed this was infectious, despite what WHO initially said.

[Northwestcoug]

In response to Dumbass Schumer's letter blaming Drumpf for all of NY's problems Drumpf writes an open letter of his own:

Embedded Tweet

Maybe Schumer and Pelosi just had the wrong priorities. The impeachment sh*tshow that went no where is going to come back and haunt these two.

You included the link to Schumer’s letter, so I’ll give you that. But a true libertarian would have compared the text of both articles and would have easily made a judgement call. One is serious and one is a joke.

[Uncle Ted]

You included the link to Schumer’s letter, so I’ll give you that. But a true libertarian would have compared the text of both articles and would have easily made a judgement call. One is serious and one is a joke.

OK, here is my comparison of the two letters... sorry that I assumed that you could read and think for yourself.

Schumer says that Drumpf should invoke the DPA to make ventilators and stuff. Note that Drumpf invoked the DPA like a week ago: https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/27/polit...act/index.html (As Drumpf claimed in his letter.) Just the other day he used it on 3M and a bunch of other companies. Maybe if Schumer would pull his head out and came up for air he would notice. What Schumer done for his state? Well he spent a lot of time trying to remove Drumpf from office (in a doomed attempt). NY, in general, is a whinny little b*tch state. They have received a lot of federal assistance, more than other states, but still whine more than others.

NY needs to look to CA:

Maybe Drumpf likes CA more than NY... but it is hard to like a whinny little b*tch state.

[Northwestcoug]

OK, here is my comparison of the two letters... sorry that I assumed that you could read and think for yourself.

Schumer says that Drumpf should invoke the DPA to make ventilators and stuff. Note that Drumpf invoked the DPA like a week ago: https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/27/polit...act/index.html (As Drumpf claimed in his letter.) Just the other day he used it on 3M and a bunch of other companies. Maybe if Schumer would pull his head out and came up for air he would notice. What Schumer done for his state? Well he spent a lot of time trying to remove Drumpf from office (in a doomed attempt). NY, in general, is a whinny little b*tch state. They have received a lot of federal assistance, more than other states, but still whine more than others.

NY needs to look to CA:

Maybe Drumpf likes CA more than NY... but it is hard to like a whinny little b*tch state.

Ted, read your links!

Nowhere in Schumer's letter does it say Trump needs to invoke the DPA, as if it already hadn't happened. He just wants Trump to take it more seriously:

That officer should be given full authority under the Defense Production Act (DPA) to complete and rapidly implement a plan for the increased production, procurement and distribution of critically-needed medical devices and equipment...

It must also be pointed out that while you continue to dismiss the Defense Production Act as not being needed, it is clear that the capacity of American industry has not yet been fully harnessed, either in prioritizing and allocating urgently needed medical supplies and equipment, in rapidly expanding domestic manufacturing efforts to produce them, or in providing certainty to manufacturers – through purchase orders, purchase guaranties, or other mechanisms – that the US will use and distribute all of the medical equipment and supplies they can produce. This is a failure that must be addressed quickly for the sake of our health care professionals and the people that are vulnerable to and already sick with this deadly disease.

So Trump has 'invoked' the DPA, but he is still using it as a bargaining tool; he threatens companies that he'll use it if they don't show move the way he wants to.

Your own CNN link makes this abundantly clear:

But people familiar with the discussions between General Motors, Ventec Life Systems and the federal government say they were not told about Trump invoking the Defense Production Act.
"We announced our partnership ahead of the DPA announcement. We still have not received anything official from the (White House about the order)," the sources tell CNN.
A separate source at General Motors told CNN's Erin Burnett that invoking the Defense Production Act does not change plans that were already in the works to produce ventilators. The source insisted that GM was offering to produce the ventilators at cost.

[UVACoug]

President Trump: Making America Great Again...

You culture a specimen and test it for a lot of known pathogens. If nothing comes back positive, then you’re either dealing with an unknown infectious pathogen or it’s a non-infectious cause.

But my point was that after SARS and MERS and everything else, most observers assumed this was infectious, despite what WHO initially said.

Thanks for responding. You obviously know more about the testing issue than me (and probably everyone else on this board). Another question, is the method you suggested--testing for known pathogens--something that could have been deployed on a wide scale basis? Or was it necessary to isolate the virus before a useful test could have been developed to detect the disease on a mass scale?

I understand your earlier message was about transmission and not necessarily testing.

Trump and the CDC certainly deserve a lot of blame for slow response and delayed development of a reliable test that could be widely deployed, and for not having been better prepared with more ventilators, masks, and other equipment and PPE. And it's certainly important to scrutinize the administration's failures, especially with an election coming up.

I agree with those that say the doctor on Fox News was engaging in some political hyperbole though. In hindsight, it's clear that we all would have been better off if the government would have started preparing for this as soon as it was discovered (at least by the non-Chinese) in December. Looking back at the timeline though, it seems like we didn't have a good sense of how serious this outbreak would be until late January or early February. The first US death did not occur until February 29th and, at that time, there were only 24 confirmed cases. Given our experience with previously outbreaks (SARS, Swine Flu, etc.), I'm not sure it's fair to say that the current level of response should have been initiated "months ago" as the doctor says. Should we have acted sooner? Obviously, yes. But, from what I can tell, it was probably a matter of weeks rather than months. I just don't think it's reasonable to expect the government to deploy billions of dollars, and activate the Defense Production Act, every time a novel pathogen is discovered (and the instant it is discovered). It's reasonable to gather some facts before making that kind of investment.

I'm open to the possibility that I may be wrong about this. Maybe there was enough information available in early January to know that we would be in our current situation if we didn't take immediate measures. It doesn't seem that that was the case to me though. Doctors certainly have the right to have political opinions, and to make political statements, but I think it is dangerous when they, using their badge of credibility, make hyperbolic statements about what should have happened and when in order to advance a political agenda. We should at least be willing to scrutinize what they are saying and what their motives are.

[Northwestcoug]

Thanks for responding. You obviously no more about the testing issue than me (and probably everyone else on this board). Another question, is the method you suggested--testing for known pathogens--something that could have been deployed on a wide scale basis? Or was it necessary to isolate the virus before a useful test could have been developed to detect the disease on a mass scale?

I understand your earlier message was about transmission and not necessarily testing.

Trump and the CDC certainly deserve a lot of blame for slow response and delayed development of a reliable test that could be widely deployed, and for not having been better prepared with more ventilators, masks, and other equipment and PPE. And it's certainly important to scrutinize the administration's failures, especially with an election coming up.

I agree with those that say the doctor on Fox News was engaging in some political hyperbole though. In hindsight, it's clear that we all would have been better off if the government would have started preparing for this as soon as it was discovered (at least by the non-Chinese) in December. Looking back at the timeline though, it seems like we didn't have a good sense of how serious this outbreak would be until late January or early February. The first US death did not occur until February 29th and, at that time, there were only 24 confirmed cases. Given our experience with previously outbreaks (SARS, Swine Flu, etc.), I'm not sure it's fair to say that the current level of response should have been initiated "months ago" as the doctor says. Should we have acted sooner? Obviously, yes. But, from what I can tell, it was probably a matter of weeks rather than months. I just don't think it's reasonable to expect the government to deploy billions of dollars, and activate the Defense Production Act, every time a novel pathogen is discovered (and the instant it is discovered). It's reasonable to gather some facts before making that kind of investment.

I'm open to the possibility that I may be wrong about this. Maybe there was enough information available in early January to know that we would be in our current situation if we didn't take immediate measures. It doesn't seem that that was the case to me though. Doctors certainly have the right to have political opinions, and to make political statements, but I think it is dangerous when they, using their badge of credibility, make hyperbolic statements about what should have happened and when in order to advance a political agenda. We should at least be willing to scrutinize what they are saying and what their motives are.

Yeah, there's a lot of work that goes into isolating the virus and developing a test for it. Since COVID is in a larger family of a virus species, you need to find a novel DNA sequence that it doesn't share with other coronaviruses. And hope that it doesn't mutate too quickly so that it loses that novel sequence you're testing for.

I don't have a great handle on the missteps of the US government. But it is true we should have had a good test a couple of months before we started using them here. I can't remember where I saw it, but the CDC and FDA blocked the US using the South Korean technology to use here (or at least discouraged it while thinking they could get their own test up and running). They had already isolated the virus and developed the platform for widespread testing. Since we didn't initially adopt their 'technology', I think we lost at least weeks when we could have started focused testing in outbreak areas. With better information at that time, we potentially could have made better restriction decisions and possibly have contained it better. But this also would have required a serious federal response, which again we didn't start seeing until a few weeks ago.

It was inevitable that COVID-19 was going to reach our shores, and it was going to be a difficult fight even in the best scenarios. It's much worse now because of the ineptitude in all levels of government.