Saturday, March 28, 2020

Coronavirus News (19)

Rhode Island Police to Hunt Down New Yorkers Seeking Refuge Rhode Island police began stopping cars with New York plates Friday. On Saturday, the National Guard will help them conduct house-to-house searches to find people who traveled from New York .... New York is the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S., on Friday reporting a total of 44,000 cases. ..... Rhode Island has just over 200, and it has begun an aggressive campaign to keep the virus out and New Yorkers contained, over objections from civil liberties advocates........ Raimondo, a Democrat, said she had consulted lawyers and said while she couldn’t close the border, she felt confident she could enforce a quarantine. ....... The maximum penalty for not complying: a fine of $500 and 90 days in prison. ....... Just before 1 p.m. Friday, state police were set up on Interstate 95 northbound, at the rest stop closest to the Connecticut border. A mile or two before that, motorists could see signs ordering all New York passenger vehicles to pull over at the rest stop.

'You are not absolutely invulnerable': Fauci talks to Trevor Noah about coronavirus The Covid-19 virus is “insidious and treacherous”, he said, “in that you can spread it easily”, even if you’re asymptomatic or have mild symptoms such as a cough or low fever....... the mortality of seasonal flu – the thing that you and I go through every season – the mortality is about 0.1%,” Fauci explained. “That’s a lot, and we get used to that mortality. But the mortality of this is about 10 times that. It’s at least 1%.” And the mortality rate can be “devastating” for certain populations, such as the elderly and those with underlying conditions such as heart disease, lung disease and diabetes.......

“The virus is the clock”

....... if this virus acts like every other virus that we know, once you get infected, get better, clear the virus, then you’ll have immunity that will prevent you from reinfection,” said Fauci. ....... Biden replied. “The coronavirus is not his fault, but the lack of alacrity, the speed with which he responded to these things, I think could be improved considerably. ....... “I don’t quite understand the lack of willingness to move rapidly and to let science dictate,” Biden continued. .......... On Late Night, Seth Meyers ranted about Trump’s narcissism even in a pandemic. “The president is supposed to be a public trust – you’re supposed to be able to distinguish between your own personal interests and the duties of the office,” he explained. “Now, sure, every president gets something out of it. Maybe they use it to meet girls [John F Kennedy] or they get a nice Netflix deal [Barack Obama] or they might even use it to score a sweet deal in real estate [Jimmy Carter, who builds Habitat for Humanity houses]. ..... “Ninety-five years old and still building houses – Jimmy Carter is the yin to Trump’s yang,” Meyers continued. “It’s like he has to do a good thing for every bad thing Trump does, one house at a time.” ........ Case in point: CNN reported this week that Trump wants to prematurely open up the US by Easter because he’s bored of isolation. “Hey man, welcome to the club! We’re all stuck inside,” Meyers fumed. ...... Trump has reportedly demonstrated typical symptoms of cabin fever: crashing meetings, inserting himself into conversations and once-ignored briefs. Which means “the answer to the riddle ‘How do you get the president to go to a meeting?’” said Meyers, “is a fucking pandemic”.

Five superpowers ruling the world in 2050 In 30 years, most of the world’s largest economies will be those that are emerging today, surpassing current behemoths such as the US, Japan and Germany. ........ surpassing the US (dropping from 2nd to 3rd), Japan (dropping from 4th to 8th) and Germany (dropping from 5th to 9th). ....... Even relatively smaller economies like Vietnam, the Philippines and Nigeria will see huge leaps in their respective rankings over the next three decades ...... By 2050, India is projected to be the world’s second-largest economy (overtaking the United States) and will account for 15% of the world’s total GDP. ...... Brazil ...This South American powerhouse is set to be the world’s fifth-largest economy by 2050, overtaking Japan, Germany and Russia in the process. ....... “Brazil is one of the world’s giants of mining, agriculture and manufacturing, and it has a strong and rapidly growing service sector. I’m also seeing an increase in tourism investment.” .......... more than 30% of Nigerian residents are new entrepreneurs or the owner-manager of a new business, among the highest rate in the world.



Millions of workers in the US won't be getting stimulus checks Unauthorized workers make up about 5% of the US labor force -- around 7.6 million people...... the coronavirus crisis that's devastated global markets, overwhelmed hospitals and left millions without jobs is having an outsized impact on undocumented workers. Many had service-sector jobs that were decimated by the pandemic. Those who remain employed largely don't have the option of working from home, and are risking their safety to keep supply chains going. ...... because of the threat the novel coronavirus poses, advocates argue this shouldn't be treated as business as usual. In a public health crisis, they say, if someone feels like they can't miss work or can't afford medical care, that impacts the entire community. ....... "From a public health perspective, you cannot have an effective national response to a pandemic that excludes enormous segments of the population. That's both illogical and immoral" ........ more access to testing and emergency medical care for immigrants in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and Temporary Protected Status programs. ...... "Everyone's health literally depends on the health of your neighbor. And guess what? Everyone has an immigrant neighbor." ...... "The government is making us invisible. The fact that I'm a person without documents in this country does not mean that I'm not a human being, that I'm not hungry," she says. "The government uses us when it needs us. ... We keep their houses clean, we take care of their children and their elders. And we do it with a lot of love."

The next financial crisis: A collapse of the mortgage system
Coronavirus measures could cause global food shortage, UN warns
70 million people in the US are under a severe weather threat that includes tornadoes and hail
Coronavirus live news: confirmed cases around the world pass 600,000
Trump tweets blame in all directions over ventilators for coronavirus, except at himself
Coronavirus Is A Defining Test And American Government Is Failing It It’s not just Trump. Our politics are unfit for this calamity.
Teen who may have died of coronavirus was turned away from urgent care due to lack of insurance
Gavin Newsom takes new tone with Trump as he steers California during coronavirus crisis
Not wearing masks to protect against coronavirus is a ‘big mistake,’ top Chinese scientist says
New York may be weeks away from reaching a peak in coronavirus cases. Now other states are preparing for surges
Public health expert: ‘Coronavirus is going to hit every city in America’










Imagine FDR Delegating World War II To Governors

World War II did not go to every country on earth. This pandemic has. World War II did not freeze national economies and supply chains, although there were unmistakable disruptions. My point is, on scale, this is big. World War II seems to be the only available metaphor. But that is like using earth as a metaphor to talk about Jupiter. Jupiter is also a planet, alright.

And Trump has been botching it.
  • He spent precious weeks in denial. He was going to tweet the pandemic away. 
  • A nationwide lockdown lasting three weeks would have been the least disruptive economically and the most effective medically. When testing everyone is not an option, putting everyone in isolation for three weeks is enough time for the infected to start showing symptoms and qualify for further self-isolation. 
  • Just like FDR needed airplanes in huge numbers, this pandemic is asking for supplies: masks, gloves, ventilators, hospital beds. This pandemic would be a good reason to call a truce on the trade war with China. China seems to have an immediate capacity to produce those things plenty. If not, the wartime act for this needed to be put to practice. Domestic production needed to be ramped up. 
  • Trump is in a hurry to get America back to work. Because if the economy does not go back to pre-pandemic, he is toast in November. The fastest way to get America back to work is through widespread testing. Everyone who needs to or wants to get tested should be able to get tested with results showing up within the hour. Then you become much better at identifying and isolating people. And the rest can go to work. 
  • But is is already late. The sky has already fallen. The unemployment numbers already have passed Depression levels. Numerous businesses have already gone belly up. 
  • With Trump not only is the national dimension missing, but the global dimension is also missing. This pandemic is global. Only a coordinated global dimension will work. In the aftermath of 9/11 the FBI and the CIA learned to work together. Now national governments will have to learn that same lesson. Otherwise you are looking at massive deaths and massive economic disruption. 
  • Trump is unfit for the moment. He has failed to rise to the occasion. Trump has botched it bigly.


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