COVID-19 Update

The US has about 5% of the world's population, and about 20% of the COVID-19 cases.

Seems like we do that with everything - energy consumption, pollution, war spending - all kinds of shit.

Growth Factors:

Cases:
1.15 - USA
1.09 - World

Deaths:
1.26 - USA
1.12 - World

 

And There It Is Again

Raising your core temperature improves your immune response in both bacterial and viral exposures.

Get your ass up. Move. Sweat.

And Now This

John Oliver

Taking a chance on COVID-19 in order to get back to work and "save the economy" doesn't trade one bad outcome for the other - it gets you both bad outcomes.

Saying It Out Loud

Brian Tyler Cohen

When everybody votes, Republicans lose.

Today's Tweet

No - I don't take responsibility at all

A huge thanks to whoever made this.😂😂😂 Enjoy everyone & pass it on!pic.twitter.com/gFu6SiDn1v

— 👀 (@Anxious_Matt) March 30, 2020

Today's Tweet

Yeehaw and away we go.

Hungarian Parliament passes bill that gives PM Orbán unlimited power & proclaims:

- State of emergency w/o time limit
- Rule by decree
- Parliament suspended
- No elections
- Spreading fake news + rumors: up to 5 yrs in prison
- Leaving quarantine: up to 8 yrs in prison#COVID19 pic.twitter.com/5ScZCbF4yv

— Balazs Csekö (@balazscseko) March 30, 2020

Here At Home

 

Governor Northam issued a Stay At Home order today.

Executive Order #55

NBC29 - Charlottesville

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — With the number of deaths and illnesses from the new coronavirus swelling in Virginia, Gov. Ralph Northam on Monday issued a statewide stay-at-home order.

Northam’s executive order tells the state’s approximately 8.5 million people they must stay home except for limited circumstances, such as traveling to or from work, seeking medical attention, obtaining goods and services, including food, or engaging in outdoor activity. The order also adds restrictions to the state’s public beaches, closing them to sunbathing but permitting exercising and fishing.

“Do not go out unless you need to go out. This is very different from wanting to go out,” he said.

Northam’s move is in line with steps taken by governors in neighboring Maryland and North Carolina.

When asked Friday about whether he would implement a stay-at-home order, Northam, who is a physician, responded: “We’re talking semantics here.”

He emphasized that he has repeatedly been calling on Virginians to stay home to the maximum extent possible.

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Virginia was 1,020 on Monday, with 25 deaths from the illness, according to the state health department.

Among the confirmed cases, over 130 required hospitalization, according to the latest Virginia Department of Health figures.

For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.

The U.S. had more than 144,000 COVID-19 cases reported by Monday afternoon, with more than 2,500 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, said over the weekend that the U.S. could experience between 100,000-200,000 deaths and millions of infections from the pandemic.

President Donald Trump over the weekend extended restrictive federal social distancing guidelines through April 30. At the state level, Northam had already closed schools for the remainder of the academic year, banned large gatherings and ordered the closure of certain businesses.

So the numbers:
1020 total confirmed cases
130 (12.8%) require hospitalization
25 (19.2%) dead

The sample size, obviously, is way too tiny, so we have no real idea yet what the thing really looks like here in Virginia.

Meanwhile, Jerry The Dickhead Falwell's little stunt has resulted in a dozen or more showing symptoms, with at least one testing positive, and something like half of the kids who were back on campus (Falwell admits to about 800) have turned around and gone home in spite of him.

Ralph Northam is a physician (Pediatric Neurology).

Podcast

I'm late with this, but holy crap - it's all there.

"...this is not the 4th year of the Trump presidency - this is the 40th year of Reagan, and the 60th year of Nixon's Southern Strategy."

Hillary had pages in her Campaign Book dealing with what we needed to know

 just in case there was a fucking pandemic!!!

And check out their new one: Science Fiction University

https://www.sciencefictionuniversity.com/

Today In Leadership

From a few days ago, this is NY Governor Andrew Cuomo, thanking the Army Corps of Engineers for building their work in getting some new facilities up and running, and then delivering what's been sorely lacking from a "president" who worries only about his TV ratings and the money he can put in his own fucking pockets.

But I digress -

COVID-19 Udate

Growth Factors:

World
1.08 - cases
1.10 - deaths

USA
1.15 - cases
1.15 deaths

The rate of growth has slowed over the last coupla days, but the projections are still really scary.

IHME:

Meanwhile, President Stoopid is setting it up so he can boast of his amazingly tremendous prowess in responding to COVID-19.

He said the death toll here in the US could've been 2 million if he'd done nothing, but since it'll be maybe only around 1 or 2 hundred thousand, it's obvious he's doing a great job, and so he gets all the credit.

And then he bragged about how the TV ratings have shot up because of his "briefings".

First, what the fuck is he even talking about - "doing nothing"? That's not a fucking option. But of course, for him, it is. "It could've been so much worse - I didn't have to do anything - the law doesn't say I have to help you people - but I did, and not that many of you died, so you need to get down on your knees and thank me."

Second, as phony and empty as his threats always are, make no mistake - that was a threat.

And we've seen it firsthand. He's said straight out that if Governors want federal help, they have to be nice to him. 

Some blue states have reported that minuscule amounts of aid have trickled in, while Florida (surprise surprise) has gotten everything they've asked for, and is expecting more soon.

So when this subsides, he'll stand up there like a rooster who's absolutely sure that the sun comes up only because he crows every morning.