Coronavirus in the United States - news and thoughts

Yes, and you should too. First read: Analysis: Yes, people did foresee this pandemic happening. "“We assess that the United States and the world will remain vulnerable to the next flu pandemic or large-scale outbreak of a contagious disease that could lead to massive rates of death ...". Jeremy Konyndyk, who served as director of the US Agency for International Development’s Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance, wrote on Twitter and in a Politico article during the first two months of Trump’s presidency in 2017 about what he argued was Trump’s unpreparedness for the pandemic he warned could be coming. “A major new global health crisis is a question of when, not if,” he wrote in Politico...” And from the National Security Council pandemic team that Trump disbanded: Dr. Luciana Borio, then the council’s director of medical and biodefense preparedness, said in 2018: “The threat of pandemic flu is the number one health security concern. Are we ready to respond? I fear the answer is no.”

Next Read: Before Trump’s inauguration, a warning: ‘The worst influenza pandemic since 1918’.
Seven days before the inauguration, the Trump administration went thru a pandemic training exercise. Due to his high turnover, 2/3 of the people in that training are gone, much of that training was lost to his administration. Excerpts:

Susan Rice, Obama’s national security adviser, blasted Trump for comments such as “you can never really think” that a pandemic like the coronavirus “is going to happen.” She mentioned the 2017 session as one of many instances of the Obama administration’s efforts to help its successor be ready for such a challenge. She also slammed the Trump team for dismantling the National Security Council section that would play a lead role in organizing the U.S. response to a global pandemic.

“Rather than heed the warnings, embrace the planning and preserve the structures and budgets that had been bequeathed to him, the president ignored the risk of a pandemic,” Rice wrote. (Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton, who oversaw the dissolution of the NSC’s global health security and biodefense section, has defended it as necessary streamlining, countering that global health “remained a top NSC priority.” Trump, when recently asked about the reshuffling, called the question “nasty” and said, “I don’t know anything about it.”)

It is fair to criticize the last article (Rice) as a "hit piece", but you cannot controvert the FACT that:
- He was warned of exactly this crisis occurring,
- His administration has admitted it FAILED miserably compared to many countries (S. Korea, Germany) on testing and it appears containment (Inside the White House's bungled effort to combat the coronavirus). We are doing the containment better now but testing is still a bad joke in the US.
- This administration downplayed and under estimated the risk of this virus causing further spreading, likely b/c they had fired all the experts.

Anybody who says we have done a great job when we tested at a lower rate than Turkey just a few days ago is a sychophant.

 

Add this, from Dan Coats, the guy Trump fired.
Director of National Intelligence warned Congress last year about danger of large-scale outbreak


In the Worldwide Threat Assessment released Jan. 29, 2019, intelligence leaders identified pandemic flu as the greatest threat to global health.

Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats presented the report to the Senate Intelligence subcommittee last January.

Chaired by Richard Burr

 

Trump says it isn't the feds job to get this stuff and the states should do it themselves. Also, the feds are outbidding the states on supplies so the states can't do it themselves. Not the Onion.

Mass. governor tells President Trump that state was outbid for supplies

 

The administration knew:

"Crimson Contagion," a planning exercise ran last year by the Department of Health and Human Services.

Coronavirus Outbreak: A Cascade of Warnings, Heard but Unheeded

 

What? Where the hell are you getting this "65% mortality rate" from????

 

All politics to you, ain't it?

#$!#$ pathetic.

 

More politics. Groovy.

#TDS

 

Damning!!!
Head of HHS:
Alex Azar - Wikipedia

Coronavirus[edit]
Outbreak[edit]
On January 28, 2020, Azar stated that the Trump administration had no plan to declare a public health emergency as the COVID-19 virus spread in China. He asserted that the risk to Americans was minimal, but admitted that authorities in 30 states were monitoring potential cases and added that he would not "hesitate at all to invoke any authorities I need to, to ensure we’re taking all steps to protect the American people, but I’ll do it when it’s appropriate." U.S. Senator Rick Scott and U.S. Representative Vern Buchanan, as well as other Republicans, demanded the declaration of a public health emergency as a means of budgeting necessary federal funding to deal with the potential pandemic. At the time, Azar said, there were just five confirmed cases in the U.S., there was no known person-to-person transmission, and every confirmed U.S. victim had traveled to Wuhan, China (the outbreak's place of origin). "This is potentially a very serious public health threat, but at this time Americans should not worry about their own safety," Azar said. At that point, the disease had killed at least 106 people in China, with more than 4,500 cases confirmed.[36]

On February 27, U.S. Representative Jimmy Gomez of California revealed that he had been contacted by a whistleblower from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) who had been dispatched to deal with the arrivals of travelers exposed to the coronavirus. There were allegations made that those sent from the HHS to California quarantine sites lacked both sufficient protective clothing and the training necessary to prepare them to deal with the contagion, though they were working alongside CDC personnel who had adequate protective gear.[37] The whistleblower also said that professionals raising concerns about the unsafe practices were subjected to retaliation.[37] Azar responded to the issues raised by Gomez by saying, "Urgency does not compensate for violating isolation and quarantine protocols" and adding, "I'd want to know the full facts and would take appropriate remedial measures."[37][38] Azar insisted that careful protocols were being observed by all CDC employees.[37]

On February 28, 2020, United States Senate Finance Committee ranking member Ron Wyden wrote Azar to ask why HHS Administration for Children and Families employees were involuntarily dispatched to California to meet with quarantined travelers despite lacking expertise in the field and lacking proper information, equipment and training. Wyden also asked why said employees were not cleared to ensure that they had not become carriers of the disease before they were returned to their home stations.[39]

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention[edit]
As Secretary of Health and Human Services, Azar is responsible for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a key institution in charge of containing contagious diseases. On January 28, 2020, Azar requested that the Chinese government allow a CDC expert team into their country to help them learn more about the virus. Referring to the SARS epidemic 17 years earlier, Azar said, "I can say that the posture of the Chinese government levels of cooperation and interaction with us is completely different from what we experienced in 2003 and I want to commend them for such assistance". The World Health Organization had already agreed to supply international experts to visit China "as soon as possible." Seventy-three possible cases were being monitored in the U.S. Simultaneously, the CDC had ramped up coronavirus screenings of travelers coming into the U.S. at 20 airports. Azar said it might be possible to ban any travelers arriving from China, and all options had to be considered. "Diseases are not terribly good at respecting borders," he added.[40]

Congressional testimony and requests for funding[edit]
On February 25, 2020, Azar appeared before the Senate Appropriations Committee to testify on the danger of and responses to the 2019–20 coronavirus outbreak. Louisiana Republican Senator John Kennedy asked both Azar and Chad Wolf about the fatality rate in victims. Azar said that the fatality rate of seasonal influenza was about 0.1%, and that the fatality rate of COVID-19 was estimated at between 1% and 2%; however, Azar added that the latter figure was uncertain because there might be many mild coronavirus cases yet unreported.[41] Chad Wolf said that the fatality rate for COVID-19 was between 1.5% and 2%, and that the fatality rate for influenza over the last 10 years in America was similar (about 2%).[42][43] Kennedy was unhappy with the briefing, saying afterwards, "I thought a lot of the briefing was bullshit... They would answer the question but dodge, bob and weave. I understand there’s a lot they don’t know. I get that. But they need to answer the questions straight up. They all talk about a task force, a committee — a committee's not going to solve this problem".[44]

Trump's officials tried to allay concerns that their request for $2.5 billion was insufficient to address the epidemic. Some Republicans joined Democrats in criticizing the funds requested and found transparency lacking with regard to a coherent strategy to contain the virus. Another Republican, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby of Alabama, told Azar: "If you lowball something like this, you'll pay for it later."[45][46][47] Pennsylvania Democratic Congressman Brendan Boyle asked Azar how he could defend "draconian cuts" in the CDC budget “at the same time we are facing a unique worldwide health crisis".[47] Two years earlier, a coalition of global health organizations opposed Trump's plans to reduce the CDC's operations in 39 of 49 countries in which it had been helping to rapidly identify and suppress outbreaks of diseases. The coalition wrote to Azar, contending, "These programs are essential to our national defense".[47] [48] In 2018, National Security Adviser John Bolton dismantled the task force charged with responsibility for planning and response to epidemics. The team's leader, Rear Admiral Timothy Ziemer, was the leader of the anti-malarial efforts under presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush.[47] White House Homeland Security adviser Tom Bossert, who had advocated a comprehensive biodefense strategy against both pandemics and potential biological attacks, departed from the White House on the same day Bolton arrived.[47]

Testing[edit]
Further information: COVID-19 testing
The coronavirus outbreak began in December 2019, with the U.S. government having two months of lead time before the virus reached the continental United States.[49] America's ability to test for the virus was hampered by both contamination and delays. On March 2, 2020, Azar was criticized for unpreparedness that may have accelerated the spread of the virus. Some critics focused on the lack of definitive testing of those who might be spreading the virus. China had tested over 1,000,000 people, while the CDC had tested less than 500 and its results had been undermined by problems with accuracy and potential contamination. There was substantial internal feuding with regard to formulation of policy at HHS and the CDC.[50]

Vaccine[edit]
Azar argued that the pharmaceutical industry was best poised to discover, manufacture, and market a vaccine for coronavirus. When asked about the cost of vaccines, Azar responded that the price might be high, but that an important vaccine would be created even if many Americans could not afford it.[51]

Demotion[edit]
On February 26, 2020, Trump announced that Vice President Mike Pence would be coordinating the administration's efforts to combat the coronavirus. Azar was not aware of the decision until moments before the announcement.[47] The next day Pence said Deborah L. Birx, the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator responsible for dealing with HIV/AIDS around the world, was becoming the “White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator,” the third person in short order to be put in charge of the response to the pandemic.[48] Trump also kept Azar from attending a press briefing by the White House Coronavirus Task Force, though he had led the effort a week earlier; this decision reflected a loss of standing.[48][additional citation(s) needed]

 

I think he's saying of the "resolved" cases, 65% died. Death being the resolution.

That isn't necessarily meaningful data. It's like the guy that was hanging his hat on there only being "10 in serious condition", even as the deaths zoomed past 10. Who is updating those numbers? Its' not like they are closing out IT help desk tickets. It's supposed to be private health info. But I guess death = resolved is a pretty easy one to figure.

 

160 dead
100 recovered
Thousands yet to be classified as they still have it. Are they gonna recover? Probably but my post was just noting the deaths to recovered.

 

United States Coronavirus: 13,795 Cases and 207 Deaths - Worldometer

Closed cases

 

Maybe it is safe and effective drug to treat COVID-19; none of us know. They’re saying a highly useful and safe drug, ibuprofen, is not recommended to be used with Coronavirus.

 

The question was asked "how could we have known." I answered it. Or perhaps you would refute the fact that Trump knew a virus was a, if not the number 1 health threat to America, disbanded our pandemic team, and failed to take this seriously? No, what is pathetic is when people avoid taking responsibility for screwing up.

Maybe next time experts tell us something more people will turn off the boob tube and actually read the studies. But probably not... They will say "its politics" and "pathetic".

And you do know that the first people to politicize the corona virus were Republicans boob tube hacks, right ("Democratic hoax", "attempt to impeach the President", etc). Anyway, defend the indefensible (and it is rich to see you, especially you, complain that "politics" is on too hot).

 

Maybe with the US but more likely the main reason is to stop these populist movements in the West.

 

They called it a hoax while some were dumping stock. when they know it wasn't a hoax and was a serious problem.

Pump and Dump.

 

Upthread discussions about the malaria drug. Promising results in France.

https://nypost.com/2020/03/19/old-malaria-drug-hydroxychloroquine-may-help-cure-coronavirus-study/

 

Kinda smells like that doesn't it?

 

CA Gov says he expects 25 million infections over next 8 weeks. Even if this is only the common flu if we had the real numbers estimate that would make one hell of a curve even if only the clearly sick people are tested.

 

The risk of exponential growth in the number of sick is real and occurring right now, which is why those numbers are frighteningly large.
Let's hope that we come nowhere close to worst case scenarios because the measures we are taking to suppress the spread are working.

 

Has someone hijacked GatorFever's account?