Wednesday, June 03, 2020

Coronavirus News (129)

Protests continue for eighth night





The C.D.C., long considered the world’s premier health agency, made early testing mistakes that contributed to a cascade of problems that persist today as the country tries to reopen. It failed to provide timely counts of infections and deaths, hindered by aging technology and a fractured public health reporting system. And it hesitated in absorbing the lessons of other countries, including the perils of silent carriers spreading the infection. ...........  In communicating to the public, its leadership was barely visible, its stream of guidance was often slow and its messages were sometimes confusing, sowing mistrust. ...............  “The C.D.C. is no longer the reliable go-to place,” said Dr. Ashish Jha, the director of the Harvard Global Health Institute. ......... Even as the virus tested the C.D.C.’s capacity to respond, the agency and its director, Dr. Robert R. Redfield, faced unprecedented challenges from President Trump, who repeatedly wished away the pandemic. His efforts to seize the spotlight from the public health agency reflected the broader patterns of his erratic presidency: public condemnations on Twitter, a tendency to dismiss findings from scientists, inconsistent policy or decision-making and a suspicion that the “deep state” inside the government is working to force him out of office. .............  Given its record and resources, the agency might have become the undisputed leader in the global fight against the virus. Instead, the C.D.C. made missteps that undermined America’s response. .........  “Here is an agency that has been waiting its entire existence for this moment,” said Dr. Peter Lurie, a former associate commissioner at the Food and Drug Administration who for years worked closely with the C.D.C. “And then they flub it. It is very sad. That is what they were set up to do.” ............  The agency’s allies say it is just one part of a vast network of state and local health departments, hospitals, government agencies and suppliers that were collectively unprepared for the speed, scope and ferocity of the pandemic. They also point out that lawmakers have long failed to adequately prioritize funding for the kind of crisis the country now faces. ..........  “They are learning at the same time the world is learning, by watching how this disease manifests.” ..........  “It’s important to remember that this is a global emergency — and it’s impacting the entire U.S.,” the agency said. “That means it requires an all-of-government response.”  ...........   Wearing a red “Keep America Great” cap, Mr. Trump falsely asserted that “anybody that wants a test can get a test,” claimed he had a “natural ability” for science and noted that he might hold campaign rallies even as the virus spread. ............   At one point that month, administration officials asked the agency to provide feedback on possible logos — including “Make America Healthy Again” — for cloth face masks they hoped to distribute to millions of Americans. The plan fell through, but not before C.D.C. leaders agreed to the request ...............  The C.D.C., established in the 1940s to control malaria in the South, has the feel of an academic institution. There, experts work “at the speed of science — you take time doing it” ..........   The C.D.C.’s most fabled experts are the disease detectives of its Epidemic Intelligence Service, rapid responders who investigate outbreaks. ............  the C.D.C. is risk-averse, perfectionist and ill-suited to improvising in a quickly evolving crisis — particularly one that shuts down the country and paralyzes the economy. .......... increasingly bureaucratic, weighed down by “indescribable, burdensome hierarchy.” ............ the C.D.C.’s most consequential failure in the crisis: its inability early on to provide state laboratories around the country with an effective diagnostic test. ..........  European travelers had brought the virus into New York as early as mid-February; it multiplied there and elsewhere in the country. In Seattle, a strain from China had struck nursing homes in late February. ...........  The C.D.C. could not produce accurate counts of how many people were being tested, compile complete demographic information on confirmed cases or even keep timely tallies of deaths. ..........   “We got crappy data,” said Fran Phillips, Maryland’s deputy health secretary. “We would call them up and people would say, ‘Well, I was in China, but that was three years ago.’” ............    Some staff members were mortified when a Seattle teenager managed to compile coronavirus data faster than the agency itself, creating a website that attracted millions of daily visitors. “If a high schooler can do it, someone at C.D.C. should be able to do it,” said one longtime employee. ...............  Data is one of the essential tools of public health; Mr. Trump, though, often appears to see it as a weapon against him. He has suggested that testing is “overrated” and that it makes the United States look bad by increasing the number of confirmed cases. He has seized on lower-end projections of the virus’s toll, only to see them eclipsed as the cases and deaths rose. ..........  “The scientists at the C.D.C. are still great,” Dr. Jha said. “It’s very puzzling to all of us why C.D.C. performance has been so poor.” ............   Veteran officials at the C.D.C. were not unfamiliar with the ways of Washington. But they had never dealt with a president like Mr. Trump or a White House like his. ..........  a second wave of the virus could be “even more difficult” than the first .........   In private, some senior administration officials began referring to agency scientists as members of the “deep state” ...........   In late February, Dr. Nancy Messonnier, who oversees the C.D.C.’s respiratory diseases center and had been leading the agency’s emergency response, was sidelined after she issued a stark public warning that the virus would disrupt American lives. The comments sent stocks tumbling and infuriated Mr. Trump, who had not been told in advance. Public health officials, inside and outside the agency, saw her forced retreat as an effort to silence the truth. ..................   To the president’s aides, one of the most frustrating moments came on May 1, when Dr. Schuchat published one of the agency’s regular reports on morbidity and mortality without giving the White House any notice .........  Written in dry, scientific language, the report offered a blunt assessment of the virus’s spread, showing how travel from Europe and mass gatherings had accelerated it. Dr. Schuchat went further when interviewed for an Associated Press article — “Health Official Says U.S. Missed Some Chances to Slow Virus” — saying that “taking action earlier could have delayed further amplification.” .............   the president — who the next day would explain, “In America, we need more prayer, not less” — made it clear the C.D.C. no longer had any choice. ..........  Doctors and nurses remain desperate for updates on how to protect themselves. School superintendents and college presidents need to decide how to hold classes in the fall. And employers want advice about whether to test all of their workers before returning to business as usual. ............   In a crisis, one of the C.D.C.’s main roles is to explain its guidance and reasoning, provide a rationale for when its thinking changes and acknowledge what it does not know. The agency’s routine in past emergencies was to hold press briefings almost daily ..............   it took until April 27 for the agency to expand its list of possible symptoms to include more than a dozen signs of illness that some medical specialty societies had reported weeks earlier. .........  Initially, the C.D.C. recommended that all doctors and nurses coming in contact with coronavirus patients wear N95 respirators, which filter out 95 percent of all airborne particles. But on March 10, with supplies dwindling, the C.D.C. announced that less protective surgical masks were “an acceptable alternative” except during procedures that might aerosolize the virus. Days later, the agency said health workers could even wear “homemade masks (e.g., bandanna, scarf) for care of patients with COVID-19 as a last resort.” ...........   N95 and other respirator masks are superior to surgical or cloth masks in protecting medical workers against the virus.  







What Will College Be Like in the Fall? Administrators, professors, a union representative and students consider the new realities of life on campus in the midst of a pandemic. ..........   With the threat of the coronavirus continuing into the fall and next year, colleges and universities across the country are struggling with whether to reopen their campuses — and if so, how. ...........  two-thirds said at the end of May that they were planning for an in-person semester in the fall ............   If students return, what changes to college life will be needed to contain and suppress the virus? .........  ensuring that schools have the capacity to test students upon arrival and at other intervals, as well as faculty and staff members who come to work on campus, and to conduct contact tracing; and providing guidance about masks, physical distancing and density for dorms, dining halls and classrooms. ...........  recommends giving schools that comply with the applicable state regulations immunity from lawsuits for infections that occur on campus. ...........  hospitals and essential businesses that have figured out how to continue their work without seeding an outbreak in their communities    


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Tuesday, June 02, 2020

Coronavirus News (128)

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George W. Bush Virtually Endorses Joe Biden In Powerful Statement   America’s greatest challenge has long been to unite people of very different backgrounds into a single nation of justice and opportunity. The doctrine and habits of racial superiority, which once nearly split our country, still threaten our Union. The answers to American problems are found by living up to American ideals — to the fundamental truth that all human beings are created equal and endowed by God with certain rights. We have often underestimated how radical that quest really is, and how our cherished principles challenge systems of intended or assumed injustice. The heroes of America — from Frederick Douglass, to Harriet Tubman, to Abraham Lincoln, to Martin Luther King, Jr. — are heroes of unity. Their calling has never been for the fainthearted. They often revealed the nation’s disturbing bigotry and exploitation — stains on our character sometimes difficult for the American majority to examine. We can only see the reality of America’s need by seeing it through the eyes of the threatened, oppressed, and disenfranchised..........  Black people see the repeated violation of their rights without an urgent and adequate response from American institutions. We know that lasting justice will only come by peaceful means. Looting is not liberation, and destruction is not progress. But we also know that lasting peace in our communities requires truly equal justice. The rule of law ultimately depends on the fairness and legitimacy of the legal system. And achieving justice for all is the duty of all. .......... The statement by the Bushs was a firm rejection of Donald Trump’s declaration of war on the people of his own country. When George W. Bush urged people to choose the better way, he was not only talking about the current crisis, he was also referring to your vote in November. 

Biden Dominates Trump With Real Presidential Speech In Philly  “The President Of The United States must be part of the solution, not the problem. But this president today is part of the problem and accelerates it. When he tweeted the words, when the looting starts, the shooting starts, those weren’t the words of a president. Those were the racist words of a Miami police chief in the 1960s. When he tweeted that protestors, quote, would have been greeted with the most vicious dogs, when people would have been really hurt, end of quote. Those weren’t the words of a president. They were the kinds of word Bull Connor would have used unleashing his dogs on women and children.”  ........ Trump demanded that governors dominate the protesters, but 24 hours later, it was Joe Biden dominating Donald Trump.

One of America's most prominent conservative columnists wants Republicans to lose in 2020 For the better part of the last four decades, George F. Will has been at the intellectual center of American conservatism. Now he is calling for a full-blown rout of the Republican Party at the ballot box in November. .......... While Will has harsh words for Trump -- "this low-rent Lear raging on his Twitter-heath has proven that the phrase malignant buffoon is not an oxymoron" -- he saves his true condemnation for the members of Congress who have enabled the President. ........  "In life's unforgiving arithmetic, we are the sum of our choices. Congressional Republicans have made theirs for more than 1,200 days. We cannot know all the measures necessary to restore the nation's domestic health and international standing, but we know the first step: Senate Republicans must be routed, as condign punishment for their Vichyite collaboration, leaving the Republican remnant to wonder: Was it sensible to sacrifice dignity, such as it ever was, and to shed principles, if convictions so easily jettisoned could be dignified as principles, for ... what? Praying people should pray, and all others should hope: May I never crave anything as much as these people crave membership in the world's most risible deliberative body." ...........  (Will left the Republican Party officially in the summer of 2016, after it became clear Trump would be the nominee.) ..........  What Will is advocating is nothing short of an electoral destruction of the party that he called home for decades. ......... Will's view is, effectively, that the Trump version of the GOP is so corrupted, so broken, so beyond repair that the only solution is to raze it -- and start from the ground up again.  

Republicans chastise Trump for ousting protesters, church photo-op The gentle criticism highlights growing concern in the GOP about the president's inflammatory response to the unrest across the country............ “Every public servant in America should be lowering the temperature.” ......... The gentle criticism highlights growing concern among Republicans about the president’s inflammatory response to the nationwide protests over George Floyd’s killing by a Minnesota police officer — all with the backdrop of a global pandemic and the worst economy since the Great Depression. ........... GOP senators also largely stood by the president’s threat to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807 in order to deploy U.S. troops into American towns and cities 

'It just doesn't seem right': Pentagon officials on edge over military leaders' dealings with Trump For years, top military leadership has tried to minimize the perception that the armed forces are being used by the president for political purposes. .......... The optics of the past 72 hours are putting people inside the halls of the Pentagon on edge as images of U.S. troops on the streets of the nation’s capital dominate airwaves across the globe, and as the top brass is increasingly viewed as mixing politics and the military. ..........  “The decision to use active military forces in crowd control in the United States should only be made as a last resort” ..........   Defense Secretary Mark Esper referred to cities undergoing protests as a "battlespace" ........... Today, the nation is confronting the prospect of civil strife that rivals the racial unrest of the late 1960s in scale, even as civil-military tensions reach levels not seen since the use of National Guard units to respond to anti-Vietnam protests at Kent State university. .................  The Pentagon was “taken aback” by the president’s comments putting Milley in charge ............... “Now you’ve injected the military into a moment in a political way. It just doesn’t seem right.” ........... "I thought I was going to do two things: to see some damage and to talk to the troops," Esper said. "I didn't know where I was going." .......... “It serves no useful purpose, and perpetuates the message that the military is being put in charge of the overall response; that this is a military, rather than a social or political problem to solve” ..........  “The optics of him being in uniform out there might not have been so bad if we didn't have the president out there talking about going to war with the country and using the military and using overwhelming force and Secretary Esper talking about the need to occupy the battlespace” ..........  Officials and experts acknowledge that the president put Milley in a tough position with his remarks on Monday when he said the general was “in charge” of the protest response — despite the fact that the nation’s top military officer is not in the chain of command. But they criticized Milley for embracing his new role all too willingly. ........ One former defense official said former colleagues are concerned that Milley is “a perpetual hype man." ......... “Give him an idea and he will be the loudest, strongest, most extreme advocate of it with bells on,” the former official said. “This has advantages and disadvantages. You’re seeing the disadvantages today.” ............ Esper and Milley “have squandered the moral legitimacy of a nearly 245-year-old institution in a single farcical late spring promenade,” the staffer said. “They have no honor and to hell with them both."

Exclusive: Most Americans sympathize with protests, disapprove of Trump's response - Reuters/Ipsos  More than 55% of Americans said they disapproved of Trump’s handling of the protests, including 40% who “strongly” disapproved, while just one-third said they approved - lower than his overall job approval of 39%  ........ Even among Republicans, only 67% said they approved of the way he had responded, significantly lower than the 82% who liked his overall job performance. ........ Even in rural and suburban areas largely unaffected by the demonstrations, most people expressed support. A little more than half of rural residents said they were sympathetic to the protesters, while seven out of 10 suburbanites agreed. .......... Trump has derided governors who have not asked for military assistance. 

The Myth of Systemic Police Racism Hold officers accountable who use excessive force. But there’s no evidence of widespread racial bias.  .........    George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis has revived the Obama-era narrative that law enforcement is endemically racist. On Friday, Barack Obama tweeted that for millions of black Americans, being treated differently by the criminal justice system on account of race is “tragically, painfully, maddeningly ‘normal.’ ” Mr. Obama called on the police and the public to create a “new normal,” in which bigotry no longer “infects our institutions and our hearts.” .......... black children must be instructed to tolerate police abuse just so they can “make it home.” ........ the “stain . . . of fundamental, institutional racism” on law enforcement ......... However sickening the video of Floyd’s arrest, it isn’t representative of the 375 million annual contacts that police officers have with civilians. ............   A solid body of evidence finds no structural bias in the criminal-justice system with regard to arrests, prosecution or sentencing. Crime and suspect behavior, not race, determine most police actions. .........  In 2019 police officers fatally shot 1,004 people, most of whom were armed or otherwise dangerous. African-Americans were about a quarter of those killed by cops last year (235), a ratio that has remained stable since 2015. That share of black victims is less than what the black crime rate would predict, since police shootings are a function of how often officers encounter armed and violent suspects. In 2018, the latest year for which such data have been published, African-Americans made up 53% of known homicide offenders in the U.S. and commit about 60% of robberies, though they are 13% of the population. ............ The police fatally shot nine unarmed blacks and 19 unarmed whites in 2019, according to a Washington Post database, down from 38 and 32, respectively, in 2015. The Post defines “unarmed” broadly to include such cases as a suspect in Newark, N.J., who had a loaded handgun in his car during a police chase. In 2018 there were 7,407 black homicide victims. Assuming a comparable number of victims last year, those nine unarmed black victims of police shootings represent 0.1% of all African-Americans killed in 2019. By contrast, a police officer is 18½ times more likely to be killed by a black male than an unarmed black male is to be killed by a police officer. ....................  This past weekend, 80 Chicagoans were shot in drive-by shootings, 21 fatally, the victims overwhelmingly black. Police shootings are not the reason that blacks die of homicide at eight times the rate of whites and Hispanics combined; criminal violence is. ..........  A 2015 Justice Department analysis of the Philadelphia Police Department found that white police officers were less likely than black or Hispanic officers to shoot unarmed black suspects. Research by Harvard economist Roland G. Fryer Jr. also found no evidence of racial discrimination in shootings. Any evidence to the contrary fails to take into account crime rates and civilian behavior before and during interactions with police. ..........  Officers are being assaulted and shot at while they try to arrest gun suspects or respond to the growing riots. Police precincts and courthouses have been destroyed with impunity, which will encourage more civilization-destroying violence. ..........  If the Ferguson effect of officers backing off law enforcement in minority neighborhoods is reborn as the Minneapolis effect, the thousands of law-abiding African-Americans who depend on the police for basic safety will once again be the victims. .........  The Minneapolis officers who arrested George Floyd must be held accountable for their excessive use of force and callous indifference to his distress. Police training needs to double down on de-escalation tactics. But Floyd’s death should not undermine the legitimacy of American law enforcement, without which we will continue on a path toward chaos.

George W. Bush laments 'shocking failure' in treatment of black Americans The 43rd president expressed support for protests that have taken place around the world, while denouncing looting and violence. ............  “it remains a shocking failure that many African Americans, especially young African American men, are harassed and threatened in their own country,” Bush said, as he argued that “the doctrine and habits of racial superiority, which once nearly split our country, still threaten our Union” today. .........  His comments stand in stark contrast to those of the current occupant of the White House. .........  the root cause of the protests — disparities in law enforcement and inequities in the criminal justice system. ........  Unlike the current president, who has derided and dismissed protesters as “lowlifes,” “thugs” or anti-fascist operatives, Bush acknowledged the deeply rooted nature of protesters' concerns, an injustice that he said would require “a consistent, courageous and creative effort” to rectify. .........   “Black people see the repeated violation of their rights without an urgent and adequate response from American institutions.” ...........  While Trump on Monday heralded the rule of law during a Rose Garden address announcing his threat to unleash the military on protesters, and dubbed himself “your president of law and order,” Bush on Tuesday noted that such a concept “ultimately depends on the fairness and legitimacy of the legal system.” ...........  “There is a better way — the way of empathy, and shared commitment, and bold action, and a peace rooted in justice,” he said. “I am confident that together, Americans will choose the better way.”

Bush administration alums form pro-Biden super PAC   The super PAC, dubbed 43 Alumni For Biden ..........  Trump heads into the race with a massive cash advantage and has held the bully pulpit of the presidency for months while Biden is just starting to venture outside of Delaware following a quarantine during the coronavirus pandemic. However, Trump is facing widespread criticism over his handling of the coronavirus and his rhetoric surrounding protests over the killing of George Floyd, including his threats to activate the military to quell riots.

For Hongkongers fearing for their way of life, Britain will provide an alternative UK is prepared to change its immigration rules if Beijing imposes its national security law on Hong Kong ‘It is precisely because we welcome China as a leading member of the world community that we expect it to abide by international agreements’ ..........  Hong Kong succeeds because its people are free. They can pursue their dreams and scale as many heights as their talents allow. They can debate and share new ideas, expressing themselves as they wish. And they live under the rule of law, administered by independent courts. ..........  China has a greater interest than anyone else in preserving Hong Kong’s success. .........  If China proceeds, this would be in direct conflict with its obligations under the Joint Declaration, a legally binding treaty registered with the United Nations. ........ Today, about 350,000 of the territory’s people hold British National Overseas passports and another 2.5 million would be eligible to apply for them. .......... And it is precisely because we welcome China as a leading member of the world community that we expect it to abide by international agreements. ........ Britain wants nothing more than for Hong Kong to succeed under “one country, two systems”. I hope that China wants the same.



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