Coronavirus in the United States - news and thoughts

Donald Trump is the President.

 

Absolutely!

I was the incorrigible dennis the menace growing up

 

Yes. Just go here.

There are other sites and new ones popping up that are providing even more detailed data such as by county and/or city.

 

i follow that site, just to lazy to subtract the ny/nj numbers from the rest, still it appears that states with big cities michigan,california,illinois,massachuesetts are getting larger numbers than rural areas,

 

Gee, I wonder why that might be? Let's see if we can figure this one out. Cities: densely populated, lots of people. Rural areas: sparsely populated, much fewer people. Covid-19: highly contagious disease passed from person to person. My Spidey Senses suggest these factors just might very well be related somehow.

 

The worldinfo site has a breakdown by state.

 

There is a person dying in New York City about every two and a half minutes. I hope they get more PPE to the medical personnel soon.

 

They are now saying that a loss of smell may be the best indicator that you have coronavirus and need to isolate.

Loss of Smell Isn't Just a Coronavirus Symptom. It Could Be Key to Slowing the Spread.

 

Well shoot, I've had it for years then!

 

I don't understand why people still feel the need to say "well it looks like the disease is spreading mostly in large cities and not rural areas..."

 

A friend of mine who normally runs stats for NASCAR has some time on his hands so he made these graphs from publicly available info. Shows date of expected hospital usage peak, and the amount by which each state will overrun its available ICU beds. Not new info, just easier to digest in this format.

 

Another perspective I read:

 

Hey guys remember when the us was the good guy and we would send doctors and supplies all over the world to help people? I’ve read so many articles about China sending doctors and supplies all over the world and what is the us going? Sending the military on a drug mission. Stealing masks legally purchased by other countries and barely taking care of it’s own people let alone sending help elsewhere. How have we fallen so far so fast?

 

China has been doing stuff like this for years. It’s part of their policy to expand their global influence. Throughout the Caribbean they are the only sovereign country making infrastructure loans and providing things like medical technology and engineering assistance.

The USA used to do things like this, but of course it was ruined by capitalism combined with a complete lack of morals. The US would go in but they would basically insist on forcing the country accepting the services into above-market debt and then would send all the money out to US contractors to complete the infrastructure. There is a book, “diary of an economic hitman” that spells it out better than I ever could. Basically the US system (loan a country money, make that country pay the money to US firms, and then charge the country a bunch of interest for money it never actually saw in it’s local economy) bred a lot of resentment, but for a long time the USA was the only game in town.

The Chinese are smarter. They give the money for the infrastructure project and then allow the countries to choose their own contractors while making Chinese contracting firms available in the bidding process. Of course, the Chinese firms are usually the low bid but it creates the illusion of choice. Because they make everything they can also supply materials, though most small countries require some local sourcing just to protect suppliers. They also work hard to figure out who they need to hire in a given country to keep people happy, and they are much more flexible at allowing local subcontractors to work on projects. They also charge lower interest rates on money lent, or sometimes just offer it as a grant. Of course, this has its own problems - the Chinese are not as concerned about quality as the US contractors were, so they run a much crappier operation, and allowing local contractors with little oversight just compounds that problem. Also they aren’t shy about exerting their influence if they have to – there was a recent problem on some Caribbean island where most of the police force was temporarily replaced with nationalized Chinese - They reversed it after there was a bunch of outrage. Also China can do this because they are cheating – nothing about their lending system, contract and costs, labor costs, or any of that has anything to do with the actual market prices.

Nevertheless, they have basically taken over the entire Caribbean. I’m waiting for someone to sound the alarm, but I’ve been waiting a decade now and all I hear is crickets

 

It isn't what is said. It's how it's said and what the person who says it looks like.

 

I'll edit this with relevant additions or corrections. Any errors are based on my competence, or lack thereof, and not intent. I tried to get everything from reliable sources. It is pretty clear what my point of view is based on some things (golf) I've included in the timeline. If I've got something wrong, let me know and I'll fix it. (I had created a thread for this but I think this thread gets the most traffic)

11/17 South China Morning Post says that the first cases of CV can be traced back to November 17th. China was not transparent at that time or for sometime thereafter.

12/31 They start treating cases in China

1/11 1st reported death in China

1/16 Impeachment trial starts (listing because of McConnell distraction comments)

1/17 W.H.O. publishes a protocol for with instructions needed for any country to manufacture CV tests. The same day the CDC said they had developed their own test not relying on any of those protocols.

1/20 Japan, South Korea & Thailand are first additional countries to report CV cases

1/21 1st case reported in US

1/22 Trump “Its one person coming from China. We have it under control. Its going to be fine.”

1/24 Trump tweets his appreciation of China’s effort and transparency.

1/24 Alex Azar appointed head of a CV task force.

1/28 W.H.O. has CV tests available

1/29 Republican Senator Tom Cotton steps out of impeachment trial to spend 4 hours with the administration talking about the CV. He tells them “It’s the most important story in the world.”

1/30 W.H.O. declares a global health emergency

1/31 Trump issues travel restrictions on China

1/31 HHS Secretary Alex Azar declares a public health emergency.

2/1 Trump at Mar-a-Lago – golf at Trump International

2/2 1st death outside of China

2/2 Trump at Mar-a-Lago

2/5 Impeachment trial ends

2/5 Senator Chris Murphy tweeted: “Just left the Administration briefing on Coronavirus. Bottom line: they aren't taking this seriously enough. Notably, no request for ANY emergency funding, which is a big mistake. Local health systems need supplies, training, screening staff etc. And they need it now.”

2/5 Diamond Princess quarantine begins

2/5 CDC announces it will start shipping test kits to public health labs around the US

2/6 W.H.O. announces they have already shipped 250,000 kits to over 70 countries

2/7 Chinese doctor that raised alarm about CV dies from CV19

2/7 Trump says “as weather warms… the virus hopefully becomes weaker and then gone”

2/10 Trump has a rally in Manchester

2/10 Trump says “I think the virus is going to be – its going to be fine”

2/12 We learn that the tests the CDC is developing for CV are flawed

2/14 France has the first CV19 death in Europe

2/15 Trump at Mar-a-Lago – golf at Trump International

2/19 Trump has a rally in Phoenix

2/20 Trump has a rally in Colorado Springs

2/21 Trump has a rally in Las Vegas

2/23 Italy sees a surge in cases and locks downs 10 towns

2/24 Trump tweets “Coronavirus is very much under control in the US”

2/24 Market drops about 1,000 points

2/24 Administration asks congress for $1.25 billion for CV response

2/25 Trump Tweets “Cryin’ Chuck Schumer is complaining, for publicity purposes only, that I should be asking for more money than $2.5 Billion to prepare for Coronavirus. If I asked for more he would say it is too much. He didn’t like my early travel closings. I was right. He is incompetent!” (My comment – 17 days later Trump administration declares a national emergency and provides 20 times that amount, $50 billion in federal funds to the state)

2/26 Pence put in charge of CV task force

2/26 Trump says “When you have 15 people and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down close to zero”

2/27 Federal health officials announce they have resolved the problems with the CV tests

2/28 Trump has a rally in North Charleston

2/28 Starting to see spread across Europe

2/28 Trump says “Its going to disappear. One day, its like a miracle it will disappear”

2/28 Trump says (I included the relevant part for context. “The Democrats are politicizing the coronavirus. This is their new hoax” (My comment – No, he didn’t call the virus a hoax. But, he did characterize Democrats ringing an alarm as propagating a hoax rather than acknowledging they were rightly worried about the looming threat that he later said we were at war with…)

2/29 1st US death and we issue a travel warning for Italy, South Korea and Iran.

2/29 FDA eases guidelines to speed testing development

3/1 US Health and Human Services says they are launching an investigation into the manufacturing defects in the CDC’s CV tests

3/2 Trump has a rally in Charlotte

3/3 CDC lifts restrictions on testing to fast track development after their initial efforts at producing a test failed.

3/6. Trump makes a visit to CDC wearing a red Keep America Great hat

3/6 Trump says “Anybody that wants a test can get a test” (To this day there are healthcare workers on the front line still not able to get a test.)

3/6 The New York Post publishes an article about a nurse that can’t get tested. She was put in a 14-day self-quarantine and, based on the nurse’s symptoms, a doctor and county officials agreed that the nurse should be tested. “But the National CDC [Centers for Disease Control] would not initiate testing,” the nurse said. (There are similar stories out there today. Anyone paying any attention knows that testing is still much more limited than is needed and that anybody that needs a test cannot get a test. Some can. Not enough can.)

3/6 Trump says “My experts would like to have the people come off. I’d rather have the people stay, but I’d go with them. I told them to make the final decision.¹ I would rather—because I like the numbers being where they are. I don’t need to have the numbers double because of one ship that wasn’t our fault”

3/7 Trump at Mar-a-Lago – golf at Trump International

3/8 Trump at Mar-a-Lago – golf at Trump International

3/9 Trump says “So last year 37K Americans died from the common flu. It averages 27,000 and 70,000 per year. At this moment there are 546 cases and 22 deaths. Think about that”

3/11 Trump bans continental Europe travel, except for the UK.

3/13 US declares a national emergency and provides $50 billion in federal funds to the states.

3/15 CDC recommends gatherings be limited to no more than 50 people

3/15 Trump says “This is a very contagious virus. Its incredible. But it is something we have tremendous control over.” (My comment – 3 days later he says he is a wartime president. About two weeks later the tremendous control becomes something that will kill 100,000 or more if we act perfectly)

3/16 Administration announces 15 Days to Slow the Spread

3/18 Trump says he is a wartime President

3/19 California issues statewide stay at home order.

3/24 Trump says “Look: Easter's a very special day for me. And I see it sort of in that timeline that I'm thinking about. And I say, 'Wouldn't it be great to have all the churches full?'" Trump said. "The churches aren't allowed, essentially, to have much of a congregation there," he continued, later noting that Christians have been unable to worship in person.

"You'll have packed churches all over our country. I think it would be a beautiful time, and it's just about the timeline that I think is right,"

(My comment – 6 days earlier Trump says he is a wartime President. 7 days later the administration says that if they do everything perfectly we can expect between 100,000 and 200,000 deaths. For the life of me I don’t know how telling Americans Easter is a beautiful timeline to have packed churches fits between wartime President and 100K+ dead.)

3/27 $2.2 trillion stimulus signed

3/27 Trump says “If they don’t treat you right, I don’t call,” Trump said of those state leaders. “I think they should be appreciative. Because you know what? When they’re not appreciative to me, they’re not appreciative to the Army Corps [of Engineers], they’re not appreciative to FEMA. It’s not right,”

Trump said that Pence “calls all the governors. And I tell him, I’m a different type of person, and I say, ’Mike, don’t call the governor of Washington. You’re wasting your time with him.”

“Don’t call the woman in Michigan. It doesn’t make any difference what happens,” Trump also said he told Pence, who leads the U.S. response to the coronavirus.

"All I want them to do, very simple, I want them to be appreciative. I don't want them to say things that aren't true. I want them to be appreciative. We've done a great job.”

3/28 3.3 million jobs lost this week

3/29 Trump tweets - “President Trump is a ratings hit. Since reviving the daily White House briefing Mr. Trump and his coronavirus updates have attracted an average audience of 8.5 million on cable news, roughly the viewership of the season finale of ‘The Bachelor.’ Numbers are continuing to rise...“ (Millions out of work and two days away from telling the nation 100,000+ plus will die and he’s using the bully pulpit to talk about ratings.)

3/31 The administration tells the American public that if we do things perfectly we can expect between 100,000 and 200,00 deaths.

4/2 6.6 million jobs lost this week. (My comment - I'm sure everyone posting on this forum knows somebody that has been impacted. We are all hoping we get through this quickly and your friends and family return to work sooner rather than later.)

4/2 The acting Secretary of the Navy relieves the captain of the carrier of his command for not following the chain of command with his letter about his ship with 100+ positive Covid 19 sailors needing help. (My comment - we have an acting Secretary because the Defense Secretary forced out the previous Secretary of the Navy during fallout from Trump reinstating the Seal accused of war crimes.)

4/2 The government changed the wording on the website that references the purpose of our strategic stockpile. The edits came shortly after the President’s son in law came under fire for his description of the stockpiles intended use.

4/3 The administration recommends we wear non medical cloth face masks when we go out.

 

I guess your point is how lucky we are to have our very own Churchill to lead us through this crises? Great work. You obviously spent a lot of time on this

 

What’s the social acceptability of hiking on trails that are deserted in the wilderness? NC is on a lockdown but it’s a giant state where you can find your own enclave of wilderness.

The answer is important. Turns out there is a limit to togetherness and it’s 22 days. Lol. Jk. Kinda.