The limerick at the very end is worth waiting for.
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Sep 26, 2020
Imagine Them Gone
From Don Winslow - #StopTheMadnessStopTrump:
US Cities of about 200,000 population:
- Rochester NY 205,695
- Port St Lucie FL 201,846
- Grand Rapids MI 201,013
- Huntsville AL 200,574
- Salt Lake City UT 200,567
- Frisco TX 200,490
- Yonkers NY 200,370
COVID-19 Update
Clinicians are getting pretty good at dealing with the monster, as indicated by the death rate having fallen to 4% - down from close to 6% a few months ago.
WHO warns 2 million deaths ‘not impossible’ as global fatalities approach 1 million
With the world fast approaching 1 million deaths officially related to covid-19, a doubling of that number is “certainly unimaginable, but it’s not impossible,” World Health Organization expert Mike Ryan said Friday at a news briefing.
“If we look at losing 1 million people in nine months and then we just look at the realities of getting vaccines out there in the next nine months, it’s a big task for everyone involved,” Ryan, the executive director of WHO’s health emergencies program, said.
Other Stuff
And if you get infected, and the disease takes hold, the odds are still pretty big in your favor, with only about 1% of patients being reported in Serious or Critical condition, which is huge improvement over what they were predicting 6 months ago (upwards of 15-20%).
I haven't been able to get a good lock on where we are in terms of Infection Rate. ie: as we test people, the percentage of those testing positive gives us a fair idea of whether or not the disease is spreading, and how fast. Since we don't have a national strategy in place - and because we aren't doing all that much testing of the general population - it's hard to pin it down.
My "Growth Rate" is a simplistic thing, and while it's OK for a kind of broad strokes picture, it isn't meant to be anything particularly precise.
Suffice to say the thing is still spreading - I just don't know how to gauge it properly.
USA
- New Cases: 53,629
- New Deaths: 895
WHO warns 2 million deaths ‘not impossible’ as global fatalities approach 1 million
With the world fast approaching 1 million deaths officially related to covid-19, a doubling of that number is “certainly unimaginable, but it’s not impossible,” World Health Organization expert Mike Ryan said Friday at a news briefing.
“If we look at losing 1 million people in nine months and then we just look at the realities of getting vaccines out there in the next nine months, it’s a big task for everyone involved,” Ryan, the executive director of WHO’s health emergencies program, said.
Other Stuff
- Trump has repeatedly said a vaccine would be available by Election Day, or possibly sooner, worrying scientists that he might attempt to intervene in the review process.
- Fewer than 1 in 10 Americans showed signs of past infection with the novel coronavirus as of late July, suggesting that most of the country may still be vulnerable to infection, according to one of the largest studies of its kind published Friday in the journal The Lancet.
- A “large proportion” of the U.S. population will not be vaccinated against the novel coronavirus this year, Anthony S. Fauci, the country’s top infectious-disease expert, said during a Facebook Live event Thursday.
- Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam and his wife, Pamela, tested positive for the coronavirus, the governor’s office announced Friday.
- Sudan has been hit by record-breaking rains and floods that have displaced hundreds of thousands of people and complicated efforts to contain the novel coronavirus, alongside preexisting crises such as a polio outbreak and armed conflicts.
- Data shows that only about 100 children and teenagers have died of covid-19 in the United States, a fatality rate that is drawing wonder from clinicians and increasing interest among researchers hoping to understand why.
Sep 25, 2020
It's A Living Thing
Fire can create its own weather and weather gets pretty freaky sometimes - like when it tries to steal your fire hose.
The Death Of Irony, Part ∞
The guy who told us he'd definitely run into a school to confront an active shooter felt compelled to leave a memorial service early because the crowd booed him - from 100 feet away.
COVID-19 Update
USA
'Close to 100% accuracy': Helsinki airport uses sniffer dogs to detect Covid
Researchers running Helsinki pilot scheme say dogs can identify virus in seconds
Four Covid-19 sniffer dogs have begun work at Helsinki airport in a state-funded pilot scheme that Finnish researchers hope will provide a cheap, fast and effective alternative method of testing people for the virus.
A dog is capable of detecting the presence of the coronavirus within 10 seconds and the entire process takes less than a minute to complete, according to Anna Hielm-Björkman of the University of Helsinki, who is overseeing the trial.
“It’s very promising,” said Hielm-Björkman. “If it works, it could prove a good screening method in other places” such as hospitals, care homes and at sporting and cultural events.
Virus’s unseen hot zone: The American farm
Across the country, fruit growers blocked testing of seasonal farmworkers and told those who caught the coronavirus to keep it quiet. County and state officials were largely unable to stop them
In Yakima County, Wash., some fruit orchard owners declined on-site testing of workers by health departments at the height of harvest season even as coronavirus infections spiked. In Monterey, Calif., workers at some farms claimed foremen asked them to hide positive diagnoses from other crew members. And in Collier County, Fla., health officials did not begin widespread testing of farmworkers until the end of harvest, at which point the workers had already migrated northward.
At the height of harvest season, growers supplying some of America’s biggest agricultural companies and grocery store chains flouted public health guidelines to limit testing and obscure coronavirus outbreaks, according to thousands of pages of state and local records reviewed by The Washington Post.
At the same time, state agencies and growers were slow to determine how and when to test workers, what protocols to adopt when workers tested positive, and how to institute contact tracing, advocates say. They say that there should have been mandatory personal protective equipment and clear guidance on worker safety at the federal and state levels.
Worker advocates say the failures put millions of workers at greater risk of contracting and spreading the virus among themselves and to other Americans as they crossed state lines to move with the harvest season.
Migrant farmworkers die in Canada, and Mexico wants answers
The struggles to contain the virus among migrant farmworkers are documented in internal state and county agriculture and health department records, as well as email exchanges with farm bureaus, grower associations, and public health and worker advocacy groups that were obtained by the Documenting COVID-19 project at Columbia University’s Brown Institute for Media Innovation through public records requests and shared with The Post. These documents and additional interviews by The Post show a pattern that extended across more than a dozen agricultural counties in 10 states — and that largely withstood officials’ attempts to stop the spread of the virus among agricultural workers.
“If this is an essential industry, why is it we can’t at least take the kind of steps needed to figure out where we need to do interventions?” asked Don Villarejo, a former researcher at the California Institute for Rural Studies who has been analyzing coronavirus data on farmworkers. “My mantra is that all pandemics are local; if you don’t track every aspect of people’s lives including where they work and where they live, then you can never do a proper intervention."
- New Cases: 43,355
- New Deaths: 943
'Close to 100% accuracy': Helsinki airport uses sniffer dogs to detect Covid
Researchers running Helsinki pilot scheme say dogs can identify virus in seconds
Four Covid-19 sniffer dogs have begun work at Helsinki airport in a state-funded pilot scheme that Finnish researchers hope will provide a cheap, fast and effective alternative method of testing people for the virus.
A dog is capable of detecting the presence of the coronavirus within 10 seconds and the entire process takes less than a minute to complete, according to Anna Hielm-Björkman of the University of Helsinki, who is overseeing the trial.
“It’s very promising,” said Hielm-Björkman. “If it works, it could prove a good screening method in other places” such as hospitals, care homes and at sporting and cultural events.
Whatever works is fine by me - and the emotional support we get from randomly anthropomorphizing critters can be of some value - but it seems there were very similar claims made about Cancer-Sniffing Dogs once upon a time, so I think I'll stick with something a bit more traditional until it can be proven. (yes - I'm a little cranky this morning)
Wanna know why you don't run government like a business? WaPo:
Virus’s unseen hot zone: The American farm
Across the country, fruit growers blocked testing of seasonal farmworkers and told those who caught the coronavirus to keep it quiet. County and state officials were largely unable to stop them
In Yakima County, Wash., some fruit orchard owners declined on-site testing of workers by health departments at the height of harvest season even as coronavirus infections spiked. In Monterey, Calif., workers at some farms claimed foremen asked them to hide positive diagnoses from other crew members. And in Collier County, Fla., health officials did not begin widespread testing of farmworkers until the end of harvest, at which point the workers had already migrated northward.
At the height of harvest season, growers supplying some of America’s biggest agricultural companies and grocery store chains flouted public health guidelines to limit testing and obscure coronavirus outbreaks, according to thousands of pages of state and local records reviewed by The Washington Post.
At the same time, state agencies and growers were slow to determine how and when to test workers, what protocols to adopt when workers tested positive, and how to institute contact tracing, advocates say. They say that there should have been mandatory personal protective equipment and clear guidance on worker safety at the federal and state levels.
Worker advocates say the failures put millions of workers at greater risk of contracting and spreading the virus among themselves and to other Americans as they crossed state lines to move with the harvest season.
Migrant farmworkers die in Canada, and Mexico wants answers
The struggles to contain the virus among migrant farmworkers are documented in internal state and county agriculture and health department records, as well as email exchanges with farm bureaus, grower associations, and public health and worker advocacy groups that were obtained by the Documenting COVID-19 project at Columbia University’s Brown Institute for Media Innovation through public records requests and shared with The Post. These documents and additional interviews by The Post show a pattern that extended across more than a dozen agricultural counties in 10 states — and that largely withstood officials’ attempts to stop the spread of the virus among agricultural workers.
“If this is an essential industry, why is it we can’t at least take the kind of steps needed to figure out where we need to do interventions?” asked Don Villarejo, a former researcher at the California Institute for Rural Studies who has been analyzing coronavirus data on farmworkers. “My mantra is that all pandemics are local; if you don’t track every aspect of people’s lives including where they work and where they live, then you can never do a proper intervention."
And there's that weird dichotomy that's inherent in the "American way" of doing things. You have to have the tactical flexibility of an autonomous local authority because orders coming down from some Central Command won't fit every situation out there in the field. But at the same time, you have to have an overall strategic plan so there's some consistency in the approach - some guidance that the big brains at the home office can bring to bear.
Our scattershot response to COVID-19 has been a dismal fucking failure, and I think it's consistent with how the Radical Libertarians(*) want things to play out.
* Nancy MacLean - Democracy In Chains
Sep 24, 2020
Rule 1
Daddy State Awareness, rule 1
NEW YORK — A state judge on Wednesday ordered Eric Trump to be deposed no later than Oct. 7 in the New York attorney general's examination of the Trump Organization's financial practices, rejecting a protest by President Trump's son, who has said he is too busy to meet with investigators until after November's election.
The ruling was handed down by New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron after nearly two hours of arguments in a lawsuit brought by state investigators conducting the civil investigation.
The president’s company is managed now by his two sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., both of whom have taken active roles in their father’s reelection efforts. An attorney for Eric Trump said during Wednesday’s hearing that the president’s son travels nearly seven days a week to make campaign-related appearances.
“This court finds that application unpersuasive,” Engoron said, referring to Eric Trump’s stated need to put off an interview until mid-November. He added that he felt Eric Trump’s attorney had cited no legal authority to support a bid to delay the deposition.
“Neither petitioner nor this court is bound by timeliness of the national election,” the judge said.
The judge also ordered that the Trump Organization and related business entities that were withholding documents and claiming attorney-client privilege proceed with producing records to the attorney general.
The lawsuit was filed in August by New York Attorney General Letitia James (D), after lawyers in her office said they had hit a roadblock with attorneys for the Trump Organization and other potential witnesses in their pursuit of testimony and documents.
Every accusation is a confession.
The Trump Crime Family spends inordinate amounts of time and energy trying to smear everybody else as dopes and criminals - while being deeply involved in dopily criminal behavior themselves.
That's why they've been working to hard to get Ukraine (eg) to phony up some shit on Hunter Biden - which efforts have so far gotten President Stoopid impeached, and which, if Republicans had half the integrity of Snidely Whiplash, would have resulted in the removal from office of the sorriest excuse for a chief magistrate ever.
NEW YORK — A state judge on Wednesday ordered Eric Trump to be deposed no later than Oct. 7 in the New York attorney general's examination of the Trump Organization's financial practices, rejecting a protest by President Trump's son, who has said he is too busy to meet with investigators until after November's election.
The ruling was handed down by New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron after nearly two hours of arguments in a lawsuit brought by state investigators conducting the civil investigation.
The president’s company is managed now by his two sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., both of whom have taken active roles in their father’s reelection efforts. An attorney for Eric Trump said during Wednesday’s hearing that the president’s son travels nearly seven days a week to make campaign-related appearances.
Gotta love it when these privileged assholes argue they can't bother with obeying the law cuz they're just so darned busy all the time.
“Neither petitioner nor this court is bound by timeliness of the national election,” the judge said.
The judge also ordered that the Trump Organization and related business entities that were withholding documents and claiming attorney-client privilege proceed with producing records to the attorney general.
The lawsuit was filed in August by New York Attorney General Letitia James (D), after lawyers in her office said they had hit a roadblock with attorneys for the Trump Organization and other potential witnesses in their pursuit of testimony and documents.
Where Did We Go?
No music.
No Kennedy Center award celebrations.
There are no pets in this White House.
No loyal man’s best friend. No Socks the family cat.
No kids’ science fairs.
No times when this president takes off his blue suit-red tie uniform and becomes human, except when he puts on his white shirt-khaki pants uniform and hides from Americans to play golf.
There are no images of the first family enjoying themselves together in a moment of relaxation.
No Obamas on the beach in Hawaii moments, or Bushes fishing in Kennebunkport, no Reagans on horseback, no Kennedys playing touch football on the Cape.
I was thinking the other day of the summer when George H couldn’t catch a fish and all the grandkids made signs and counted the fish-less days.
And somehow, even if you didn’t even like Poppy Bush, you got caught up in the joy of a family that loved each other and had fun.
Where did that country go?
Where did all of the fun and joy and expressions of love and happiness go?
We used to be a country that did the ice bucket challenge and raised millions for charity.
We used to have a president that calmed and soothed the nation instead of dividing it.
And a First Lady that planted a garden instead of ripping one out.
We are rudderless and joyless.
We have lost the cultural aspects of society that make America great.
We have lost our mojo, our fun, our happiness.
The cheering on of others. Gone.
The shared experiences of humanity that make it all worth it. Gone.
The challenges AND the triumphs that we shared and celebrated.
The unique can-do spirit Americans have always been known for. Gone.
We have lost so much in so short a time.
~Elayne Griffin Baker on Facebook
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