So probably at least 7.3% less?
Every time Trump suggests something remarkably stupid, then walks it back a day or two later, I have family members who have been quick to praise him for ācalming down and doing the right thingā. Maybe itās just me, but I donāt think people should be praised for making the blatantly obvious decision to not do something objectively dumb. āI didnāt rob a bank today. Validate me!!ā
The disinfectant episode was finally the last straw for them, though.
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No one was prepared to shut down all international travel and quarantine NYC metro in late February when you needed to do it. After that, itās hard to believe it wasnāt out of the bag and no way the sort of testing capability you needed to do test and trace would be available fast enough to stop it.
The thing is that this isnāt over. He has apparently walked away for the time being from the not doing shit and getting in the way but this isnāt going to be over for a long time. Weāre likely to see repeated outbreaks and repeated distancing decrees and repeated business die-outs for some time, and thatās because the federal government wasnāt prepared to begin with and then didnāt have the stomach to do what was necessary and still doesnāt.
I keep thinking about the scene in Broadcast News when the Albert Brooks character imagines an Antichrist who is a likable person who just lowers our standards bit by bit. We see Waldoās family (for instance) being grateful when the president walks back something inaneābecause our standards for politicians (particularly those of the GOP) are about on par with our standards for kindergarteners.
Like climate change, the ramifications of this failure of leadership is not going to be confined to our shores. I keep wondering when the rest of the world is going to start taking seriously the threat posed by the incompetent governance of the worldās biggest economy.
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We just passed 1,000,000 cases. About 1/3 of all the cases in the world with a horrifying 5.7% case mortality rate.
I expect the death toll to continue for months to come , perhaps slowing from time to time only to increase again. Without a national plan and international coordination thereās no way to predict how long the nightmare will go on. I know there is 0% chance of a national plan and even less of international coordination for at least eight months.
The irony of the mortality rate is that, if we had our testing shit together, that rate would be much lower because weād diagnose a lot of the non-fatal, non-emergency cases that would increase the number of survivors.
Of course, here we are, two months and 57,000 deaths later, still wondering where are the fucking tests?!!!
And now we find out that Trumpās daily briefing was chock full oā virus warnings going back to November. He ignored them in November, he ignored them in December, he ignored them in January, he ignore them in February and he ignored them in March right up until the death and suffering was too much even for him to ignore.
Reported US COVID19 deaths:
Feb 27: 0 deaths
Mar 27: 1,588 deaths
Apr 27: 56,797 deaths
And still, about to roll into May. Fucking May! And we still donāt have any coordinated, functioning testing capability of any meaningful scale. At this point, heās a mass murderer via negligent homicide.
The Lunatic pushed Governors to reopen schools today. Letās kill a few kids along with the old people.
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Heās also apparently considering invoking the DPA to force meat plants to reopen.
Thereās a word for a government takeover of critical private sector companies, but I canāt quite put my finger on it.
I was thinking last night they should call for volunteers and put them in hazmat suits.
Maybe theyāll go the other way and use Death Row inmates to keep the pork chops coming.
Wait I thought ātyrannyā was limited to requiring people to cover their mouths and nose in public.
Any government that can force me to wear a mask can force me to wear pants, and Iāll be cold in the ground before Iām forced to do that.
Is he forcing them just to open, or is he requiring, say, testing and infection mitigation as part of the re-opening? The reason the plants closed in the first place was because they were an accelerant to the spread of the virus because the working conditions made it so.
These workers are not COVID-fodder, to be sent into harmās way just so that he can get his hamburders.
Itās hambergers.
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Order to stay open on its way.
Originally it was āhamberdersā.
Soon it will be Soylent Green.
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Heās probably removing Tyson and coās legal responsibility to keep their workers safe (since it wasnāt flimsy enough already).
Itās Too Big To Fail all over again. Since Reagan allowed the meat packing industry to consolidate in the 80ās, thereās no one left but a few monoliths like Tyson. And it sounds like they are asking for exemptions to the most basic worker safety laws in return for reopening. I donāt think the president has the power to exempt companies from laws, but Iām no legal expert.
You may be thinking that was tongue-in-cheek, exceptā¦
McConnell Wants Broad Liability Shield In Next COVID-19 Bill
Law360 (April 27, 2020, 8:59 PM EDT) ā Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Monday that a broad liability shield will be a top Republican priority for the next COVID-19 relief bill, arguing that companies need protection from lawsuits as they reopen and try to revive the moribund economy.
If only he couldāve used the same authority to get manufacturers to make PPE and testing supplies.
Eh? Oh.