Covid-19 Good And Bad

Florida sets a record for
number of coronavirus deaths
for 4th straight day !

Fri July 31, 2020

(CNN) A South Florida newspaper is pleading with Gov. Ron DeSantis
to do more amid the surge in coronavirus cases and deaths spreading
across Florida. The Sun Sentinel editorial board asked him to issue a
statewide face mask mandate in an editorial titled,
"Help us out, Gov. DeSantis. We're dying here."

"Help us all out. Far better that you require people to
wear masks in public than to continue fostering conditions
that will force another shutdown," the editorial said.
"Your refusal to impose a mask order -- a requirement now
in effect in 32 other states -- is out-of-touch with the mainstream.
A new Quinnipiac poll found 79 percent of Floridians support
a mask requirement, including 60 percent of Republicans.
If that's not a mandate, what is?"

The 257 deaths reported Friday was the highest one-day tally Florida
has reported during the pandemic - and 4 more deaths than Thursday,
according to data from the Florida Department of Health.
Records for the state were also set Wednesday (216) and Tuesday (186).

Source: https://tinyurl.com/yxtcn673

I can't stand the governors of either of my home states but Ron DeSantis is a freakin' idiot. Looka like a caveman. Thinks like a caveman. And we're not talking the caveman that always has to make the fire. The caveman that always pees on the fire because he is amused by the steam. Midnight, we don't always agree, but keep your ass in the Keys. It's insanity in your home state. Same for Brother Slim, Key, Wally or anyone in AZ, and for any body in Texas. Be safe. Protect yourselves.

27 year old Red Sox pitcher Eduardo Rodriquez has been ruled out for the rest of the season after developing a heart condition following a bout with covid.

He's a 27 year old athlete for cripes sake.

Heart issues, lung issues, stroke issues, neurological issues are all long term issues from covid.

This is insane & these players are still playing.

Polls show most Americans trust doctor Fauci far more than politicians.  But Trump falsely accuses Fauci of misleading the public.  In testimony at House subcommittee on coronavirus crisis, Fauci says europe is more successful in response to pandemic.  However Trump blames US rise in virus cases on more tests.  Yet public health experts say the increase is not due to more testing.  Since virus positivity rate is higher in the US, the number of new cases is increasing faster than testing.  Besides, US testing and contact tracing are still insufficient to reduce virus spread.

The difference is that in europe, earlier extensive testing and restrictions  successfully slow virus spread.  Other countries shutdown their economy by 95% while the US only shutdown by 50%.   Also refusal by Trump to accept responsibility worsens a national crisis that needs federal leadership.  Diversity of response among different states is a recipe for disaster.  Ignoring USCDC guidelines, states lifted restrictions prematurely while virus transmission rates are still high.  As a result, pandemic has wiped out 5 years of economic growth in the US.

People pushed into poverty by the coronavirus pandemic could face years of increased dependence on government help and greater housing insecurity and homelessness.

And Congress can't get their shit together.

Women, minorities disproportionately reliant
on jobless aid, data shows

Women and racial minorities are disproportionately reliant on unemployment insurance,
economic data shows, leaving them most vulnerable if Congress decides not to renew
the expanded benefits that are set to expire at the end of the month.

Both groups are not only more likely to be out of work and eligible to receive
state-administered benefits, but are also to receive less because of historically
low wages, research shows. That creates outsize dependence on the federally
supplied additional $600 a week enacted via coronavirus aid legislation and
slated to end at the end of this month.

Forty-seven percent of recipients of state unemployment benefits in July are
projected to be nonwhite, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Women make up two-thirds of the lowest-paid workers in the U.S.
And nonwhite workers are far more likely to be paid poverty-level wages than their white peers.

“Cutting off that $600 will exacerbate racial and ethnic inequality,
it will exacerbate gender inequality,” said the Economic Policy Institute’s
Heidi Shierholz, former DOL chief economist. She called the money
"a lifeline for many women, many minorities — Black and Hispanic workers in particular.”

The unemployment rate for women and minorities has remained consistently
higher over the course of the pandemic. In June, the rate for women was
11.2 percent, according to Labor Department data, compared to 10.2 percent
for men. In the same month, the jobless rate for Black and Hispanic workers
was 15.4 and 14.5 percent, respectively; the rate for white workers was 10.1%.

Part of this is because female and minority workers hold a majority of jobs
in sectors that saw the greatest percent of job loss due to the pandemic.

Source: https://tinyurl.com/yb6dajt8

So....since women and minorities are and will continue to suffer disproportionately

more than others, who are they likely to vote for?  The guy whose total indifference

and ineptitude largely caused their plight OR the guy who served 8 years as

vice-president for a Black president who showed he can turn around an economy?

Earlier today, I watched on NASA TV showing the recovering of the SpaceX Crew Dragon Capsule. Glad to see all of those crews on board of the Capsule hoisting ship wear a face mask helping unlocking the Capsule hatch.

Science over asinine politics! 

According to Baylor college of medicine, the push to open schools is guaranteed to fail while virus spread is out of control.  Social distancing expectations and mask requirements for lower grades are unrealistic.  In countries with high transmission, it is inevitable coronavirus enter schools.  At summer camp in Georgia, hundreds of kids and adults became infected after only a few days together.  In March, schools were deemed unsafe and closed.  Now virus spread is worse in the US.  Even epidemiologists don't want to risk sending children to schools.  Reckless of Trump administration to sacrifice people for political gain.

Threatening states with a funding stoppage if they don't open schools is extortion.

Trump and his administration are a complete disaster.

Wasn't this virus supposed to "go away with the heat?"

Awful Covid-19 super spreader, 260 children and staffers contracted the virus less than a week after spending time together in close quarters.

Trump deliberately pushes to "open schools" without safety measure and guidance could flare up mega Covid-19 spreaders all over this country. 

Well that's what trump said....so it has to be absolutely true, according to trump-enablers. Maybe he meant summer of 2022

Correct.

A lot of trump-enablers just don't get it.  It's not just that these kids -- MANY of whom do have pre-existing conditions -- like asthma, diabetes, and obesity-- and as a result get horribly ill for 2-3 weeks (maybe even die)....but rather two things:

1/  doctors are concerned about lasting negative effects from having gotten ill with covid -- even if they survive, and

2/  as Europa points out, millions of kids become carriers of the infection and spreaders to teachers, school staff, after-school care providers, bus drivers, playmates, parents, babysitters, grandparents, all other adults.  This is the biggest problem, even if the child survives fine!

Look at those Covid-19 super spreaders, such as bars, restaurant dine-ins, gyms and theaters, etc. People inside these super spreaders spent approximately one hour to a couple of hours may be once or twice a week. While kids in school will take 6-8 fours inside the classrooms for 5 days/week, also I'm not sure if teachers can control those 7 or 8 years old kids on social distancing or don't touch their faces in school for 6+ hours.

These open school without proper safety guidance scenarios potentially flare up mega spreaders all over this country. It could be worst than bars, gyms or restaurant dine-ins, that's why i call it a mega spreader on school reopen without safety guidace. It appears that we are going to have some tough days ahead, i'm afraid, unfortunately.   

The coronavirus testing system in the United States has been a disastrous hodgepodge. There is no uniform standard, it is difficult for parts of the system to coordinate or communicate with each other, and even people who do get tests have to wait so long for the response that the result is useless.  

Trump presented this state of affairs as if it was good. “We’ve come up with so many different kind of tests,” he boasted. “The only thing we have now is some people have to wait longer than we’d like them to.”

He's absolutely clueless.

Trump has repeatedly said he doesn’t like coronavirus testing because it shows how many cases you have, which makes him look bad. This time he attributed this position to undefined manuals and books.

Trump changed the topic rather than explain. WTF?????

Books? Manuals? Like he would have read them if they even existed?

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves issues statewide mask mandate. "I want to see college football. The best way for that to occur is for us all to realize is that wearing a mask, as irritating as that can be & I promise I hate it more than anyone watching, is critical."

You're a little late to the game Good Ole Boy Tate! The bus has already left the campus.

Today Trump said cases in Florida were going down.

Someone has to tell this fucktard that we closed testing sites the last 5 days because of a storm. We stopped testing!

Mississippi is fast approaching the record pace of new infections set now by FLORIDA - another REPUBLICAN-run state

State of Mississippi, one of the ruby red states, its voters have approved Medicaid Expansion yesterday. Medicaid Expansion is part of Affordable Care Act (ACA), a.k.a. Obama Care, ironically Trump and his administration have tried hard to push ACA to the trash can at the court as of now amid Covid-19 pandemic. 

That's right Europa & so did ruby red Oklahoma a couple of months ago.

Republicans are so out of touch with their own constituents.

Another 50,000 cases today as well as over 1,000 deaths for the 10th straight day.

Trump keeps lying that the virus will just go away.