The SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 coronavirus

[ray245]

A UK Minister is down with the virus as well.

[mr friendly guy]

Despite all their efforts, it's still getting worse in Italy. China, by contrast, is claiming they're already over the worst of it, though their doctors aren't as confident about this as their leader.

Most predictions I hear from Chinese experts predict end of April, not middle of march to get over it. However the numbers wise it does look to have peaked in terms of existing covid patients (ie those that haven't died or have recovered) and that's been dropping for the last few days by 1000 -2000 patients a day, and before that was 2000-3000 a day.

[mr friendly guy]

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/0 ... ure-123166

How testing failures allowed coronavirus to sweep the U.S.
The Trump administration’s decision to forgo a World Health Organization test and create its own had fateful consequences, experts say.

On Saturday Jan. 11 — a month and a half before the first Covid-19 case not linked to travel was diagnosed in the United States — Chinese scientists posted the genome of the mysterious new virus, and within a week virologists in Berlin had produced the first diagnostic test for the disease.

Soon after, researchers in other nations rolled out their own tests, too, sometimes with different genetic targets. By the end of February, the World Health Organization had shipped tests to nearly 60 countries.

The United States was not among them.

Why the United States declined to use the WHO test, even temporarily as a bridge until the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention could produce its own test, remains a perplexing question and the key to the Trump administration’s failure to provide enough tests to identify the coronavirus infections before they could be passed on, according to POLITICO interviews with dozens of viral-disease experts, former officials and some officials within the administration’s health agencies.

The slowness of the testing regimen — which, administration officials acknowledged this week, is still not producing enough tests to meet the national demand — was the first, and most sweeping, of many failures. So far there have been confirmed cases in at least 23 states, and at least 15 deaths, while the stock market plunged and an otherwise healthy economy braced for a major disruption.

But neither the CDC nor the coronavirus task force chaired by Vice President Mike Pence would say who made the decision to forgo the WHO test and instead begin a protracted process of producing an American test, one that got delayed by manufacturing problems, possible lab contamination and logistical delays.

“Please provide an explanation for why the Covid-19 diagnostic test approved by the World Health Organization was not used,” Sen. Patty Murray, the ranking Democrat on the Senate health committee, who represents the hard-hit state of Washington, asked in a 3½-page letter on the testing fiasco to Pence, Health Secretary Alex Azar, CDC director Robert Redfield, and Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn.

So far, none has been provided.

“We developed a test very rapidly after China produced the [genetic] sequence. We are in the process of validating that and that’s the test we’re going to be using,” said the CDC’s Stephen Redd, a 30-year veteran of the agency, at a recent briefing, even as members of the presidential task force acknowledged that the pace of testing had lagged.

Azar, who initially led the White House response and has now been sidelined by Pence, also has kept defending the testing regime.

“We’ve actually been progressing with this on par with our peer countries,” he told reporters recently.

* * *

The government’s incapacity to conduct widespread testing slowed diagnoses, creating chains of infection. It also deprived epidemiologists of a map that could have told them how far and how fast the virus was traveling and where they should concentrate efforts to slow it down.

But there were additional problems with the administration’s approach to testing, according to experts and former officials. From the start, the White House focused on containment, trusting that a limited ban on travel to and from China could somehow force a fast-moving virus to stop cold when it hit the Chinese border. But, while containment might have helped buy the U.S. some time, without aggressive domestic surveillance through testing, it was an incomplete strategy.

“They needed and still need to be searching for where the cases are, instead of trusting that limited travel bans were keeping out a virus that was probably already on the march,” said former FDA Commissioner David Kessler.

That wasn’t how the president viewed it.

“China has been working very hard to contain the Coronavirus,” Trump tweeted on Jan. 24. “The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency. It will all work out well. In particular, on behalf of the American People, I want to thank President Xi!”

But once the CDC finally began its national testing regime, it faltered in almost every way imaginable.

The initial tests didn’t work, and officials are probing whether there was possible contamination. The protocol for who could be tested was restricted to people already known to have been exposed to the virus or who had been in China, even as the epidemic raced to multiple countries like Japan, South Korea, Italy and Iran.

Decisions about testing are usually made by scientists, but Democrats have accused the White House of putting politics above expertise — and lacking a coherent response.

“We are staring down a potential pandemic,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said recently. “We have a crisis of coronavirus, and President Trump has no plan, no urgency, no understanding of the facts or how to coordinate a response.”


The failures weren’t by any means the CDC’s alone. The FDA did not immediately trigger a regulatory workaround enabling qualified medical centers to roll out tests that they had designed themselves — tests that are now starting to become more widely available.

And the mistakes were not just in testing.

Its a long article so I just posted the parts about testing. I am hearing claims made that the CDC wanted a super test which can not just checked for covid 19, but other things like flu as well, so an all in one test. Obviously making a test which can do multiple things is harder than a test that just wanted to do one thing. And they failed to manufacture this test. Now take this claim with a pinch of salt, its from Vladimir Putin's mouthpiece, but if it turns out to be correct, its pretty damning.

[The Romulan Republic]

Am I missing something here? I would hardly have called Politico "Vladimir Putin's mouthpiece".

In other news, both Biden and Bernie have cancelled rallies in Ohio at the advice of local authorities:

https://cnn.com/2020/03/10/politics/bid ... index.html

Romulus, Michigan (CNN)Former Vice President Joe Biden and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders canceled separate campaign rallies scheduled for Tuesday night in Cleveland, Ohio, as state officials expressed concern over large indoor gatherings being held during the coronavirus pandemic.

The cancelations in Ohio are the first major political rallies to be called off because of concerns about coronavirus, as presidential campaigns face questions about whether they can keep their candidates on the road and continue to hold indoor events amid warnings from officials about large public gatherings.

"In accordance with guidance from public officials and out of an abundance of caution, our rally in Cleveland, Ohio tonight is canceled. We will continue to consult with public health officials and public health guidance and make announcements about future events," Biden deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield said in a statement.

Sanders communications director Mike Casca similarly said in a statement, "Out of concern for public health and safety, we are canceling tonight's rally in Cleveland. We are heeding the public warnings from Ohio state officials, who have communicated concern about holding large, indoor events during the coronavirus outbreak."

"Sen. Sanders would like to express his regret to the thousands of Ohioans who had planned to attend the event tonight," Casca added.

The decisions to cancel comes as campaigns have come under increased pressure to respond to growing concerns about the spread of coronavirus.

A senior aide to Sanders' campaign told CNN once the Sanders team was made aware of that guidance from state officials, they informed the candidate and he was the one that made the decision to cancel the event. According to the aide, the Sanders campaign had received 5,000 RSVPs to the event.

Earlier in the day when visiting a polling location in Dearborn Heights, Michigan, Sanders told reporters, "We take the coronavirus very seriously."

"What we are doing, wherever we go, whenever we do rallies, we consult with public health officials because the last thing in the world we will ever want to do is put anybody in danger," Sanders added.

Sanders said he still is shaking hands, but admitted to reporters on Tuesday that "not as much I think as we used to."

Asked, during an interview with Chris Cuomo on CNN Monday, what other precautions he is personally taking, Sanders said, "I have used more hand sanitizer in the last two weeks than I have in my entire life."

On Monday night in Detroit, Biden's campaign had volunteers squirting hand sanitizer into the hands of every person who entered a rally in a high school gymnasium. Biden has also cut down his time shaking hands on rope lines after events, and told NBC on Monday he is now doing more fist bumps.

"I'm looking to the CDC for advice on that," he said when asked whether his campaign was reconsidering rallies going forward. "We're going to follow the recommendations of the experts ... and if they conclude that there shouldn't be big indoor rallies, then we'll stop big indoor rallies. We're going to do whatever they say."

On Monday, Sanders held a panel discussion on the spread of coronavirus in Detroit, accompanied by doctors and professionals focused on the issue.

Sanders has repeatedly emphasized that his campaign is in contact with local officials wherever he travels, and his campaign has taken some precautionary steps by creating Purell stations at rallies.

When asked if he plans to listen to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who says that people over the age of 60 with an underlying health condition should take particular precautions, Sanders said on Monday, "I'm running for President of the United States and that requires a whole lot of work."

Sanders' decision to cancel tonight's rally comes as six states are voting on the second Super Tuesday.
CNN's Ryan Nobles contributed to this report.

[mr friendly guy]

Am I missing something here? I would hardly have called Politico "Vladimir Putin's mouthpiece".

Yes you are. Politico reported that the US stuffed up on test kits, didn't use WHO kit etc. RT not Politico gave the reason they failed was they tried to make a kit that test for several virii rather than just covid 19. They then expounded that it was to help American corporations make money by developing this kit instead of using the WHO one. Those are serious allegations although they sound plausible to me. However I haven't seen anyone else report it, so that's why I say take it with a pinch of salt.

[The Romulan Republic]

Am I missing something here? I would hardly have called Politico "Vladimir Putin's mouthpiece".

Yes you are. Politico reported that the US stuffed up on test kits, didn't use WHO kit etc. RT not Politico gave the reason they failed was they tried to make a kit that test for several virii rather than just covid 19. They then expounded that it was to help American corporations make money by developing this kit instead of using the WHO one. Those are serious allegations although they sound plausible to me. However I haven't seen anyone else report it, so that's why I say take it with a pinch of salt.

Ah.

Meanwhile, the mayor of San Jose is calling for a moratorium on evictions, due to people being out of work/unable to pay rent due to coronavirus:

https://mercurynews.com/2020/03/06/san- ... -outbreak/

Concerned about how coronavirus could worsen the city’s affordable housing and homeless crisis, San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo has proposed a moratorium on the evictions of residents facing significant financial burdens due to the global pandemic.

If approved by a majority of council members on Tuesday, the temporary moratorium would be in effect for at least 30 days and would protect residents who can document that they cannot pay rent due to a substantial loss of income related to the virus. If enacted, the city will evaluate extending the eviction moratorium each month.

“Anyone who has lost income and is no longer able to pay rent, we want to do everything we can to keep them housed,” Liccardo said during a press conference Friday. “We know it’s a public health and public safety issue if thousands of residents are being pushed out onto the street.”

Under the proposed moratorium, affected residents would be required to notify their landlords on or before their rent is due of their inability to pay their bill in time. The residents would also be required to show documents such as paystubs and notes from employers in order to be covered.

The mayor submitted his memo just hours after the city announced it had progressed to stage 4 — or “high response level” — of its Pandemic response plan. Under the plan, the city will begin sending out reports on its website and through social media with updates on the state of the pandemic, new precautionary measures, and event cancellations at 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. every day moving forward.

“These are tough times that we know we are going to have to endure in the weeks ahead, and we’re going to get through it but we’re going to get through it together,” Liccardo said.

In a statement Friday, the California Apartment Association said it supported the effort and would try to encourage its membership of landlords to be “mindful of their tenants who are suffering as a result of the virus.”

“This is a difficult period and everyone has a responsibility to do their part as we work towards halting the spread of the virus,” Anil Babbar, vice president of public affairs for the Association, said in a statement. “We call upon our financial institutions, utilities and other organizations to take similar efforts to ease the economic impact that this virus has caused.”

Councilmember Johnny Khamis said he plans to support the moratorium for now but he wants to see the city develop a better plan for the long-term.

“I understand the mayor’s concerns, but we also don’t want people to lose their businesses, especially those mom and pop landlords, because their obligations to the banks aren’t going away,” Khamis said.

The number of known cases in Santa Clara County grew to 24 this week — the highest of any other Bay Area county.

Of the 24 total cases, five cases are travel-related, ten cases involve contact with a person who had the virus, seven cases where the patient had no known travel history or close contact with a patient and two are still under investigation.

At a press conference on Thursday, Santa Clara County officials called for a new measure to prevent the spread of the virus from further spreading throughout the community, including canceling large events and gatherings such as concerts, sports games and conferences.

They also urged employers to suspend non-essential employee travel, minimize employees working within arm’s length of one another and allow employees to work from home whenever possible. Other recommendations included avoiding visiting hospitals, long term care facilities or nursing homes as much as possible.

These measures were added on top of a warning earlier this week by county public health officials for those over the age of 50 or with poor health conditions to avoid large public gatherings.

During a press conference Friday, Liccardo urged residents, employers and event organizers to follow the county’s advice.

“We do not as a city have control over tenants of city facilities, so we do not have the authority to shut down public events,” Liccardo said. “… But my view is that all public events should be shut down.”

San Jose city officials also announced on Friday that it was canceling a youth career fair planned at the Fairmont in Downtown San Jose on Saturday and that its Senior Nutrition Program will transition to a to-go delivery format until further notice. The city is also restricting all non-essential travel for employees until the end of April.

This is not the first time the city has explored placing a temporary moratorium on evictions during a time of crisis. During the federal shutdown in January 2019, the city attempted to enact similar protections for affected residents but the shutdown ended the following day.

[mr friendly guy]

In the social paradise of the EU...

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-heal ... SKBN20T166

EU fails to persuade France, Germany to lift coronavirus health gear controls
Francesco Guarascio, Philip Blenkinsop
4 MIN READ

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - EU officials sought in vain on Friday to persuade France, Germany and other European countries to lift controls on the export of protective medical gear, which officials said could hurt the bloc’s collective effort to fight the coronavirus.

Countries including Germany, France and the Czech Republic have announced bans on exports of protective gear to avoid shortages at home, measures that go against the spirit of free movement of goods within the EU.

Such bans “risk undermining our collective approach to handle this crisis” EU crisis management commissioner Janez Lenarcic said at an emergency meeting in Brussels, where officials urged solidarity in the bloc to fight the outbreak.

While the meeting was underway, EU officials working in the building hosting the ministers were sent home and a separate meeting of diplomats was cancelled, after a new case of coronavirus emerged among EU staff. That followed a first case earlier this week.

Many EU countries rely on China, the source of the outbreak, for drug ingredients, and they are now struggling to avoid shortages after the epidemic disrupted supplies and delayed shipments.

Protective gear, such as face masks, is already in short supply in most EU countries, officials said, which puts doctors and nurses at risk.

Europe needs to bring medical production back to Europe, because it relies too much on imports from non-EU countries, officials in France and Germany, the EU’s largest countries, have said.

France imports about 40% of drug ingredients from China, a situation that the French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire called over-reliance on Beijing.

“This is not something that will be solved tomorrow, but we must start this discussion today so that we have a solution after tomorrow,” Austrian Health Minister Rudolf Anschober told reporters at the meeting in Brussels.

No immediate shortages of medicines have so far been experienced in the EU because of the epidemic, officials said, but concerns were mounting after India, the world’s top producer of generic medicines, restrained some exports.

The bloc already faced shortages of several drugs, including for respiratory diseases, before the outbreak.

EXPORT BANS
Health commissioner Stella Kyriakides called for “solidarity” among EU states to avert shortages in protective gear.

French Health Minister Olivier Veran said France had requisitioned protective equipment to have a better understanding of the available stock. He declined answering questions on the export ban.

Germany’s Health Minister Jens Spahn said German restrictions on the export of masks, gloves and suits could be revised if an overall EU ban was introduced on sales to non-EU states.

Belgium’s health minister, Maggie De Block, called the bans “paradoxical” and urged that they be lifted, as did ministers of other countries that have not imposed them.

Italy, the EU country hardest hit by the outbreak so far, has formally requested help from other EU states to meet its needs for protective gear.

Italian health minister Roberto Speranza said more needed to be done at EU level to meet existing needs, and warned that lack of coordination could lead to higher prices for protective gear.

The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, last week began joint procurement of face masks and other protective gear on behalf of 20 EU states, but the effort probably won’t secure enough supplies before April, officials said.

EU industry commissioner Thierry Breton said he was confident that EU-based manufacturers could meet the growing demand for protective gear in the coming weeks, provided that production was coordinated.

Ministers also discussed measures to prevent the spread of the virus. They agreed not to introduce checks at their mutual frontiers, confirming earlier decisions to maintain free movement of citizens within the EU’s open-border Schengen area.

Meanwhile one of Italy's major newspapers the Corriere della Sera is reporting Italy is getting help from a commie dictatorship.
https://www.corriere.it/politica/20_mar ... b498.shtml

Its via google translate so the grammar may not be great

Coronavirus, a thousand respirators from China. Phone call Di Maio - Wang Yi
Aid from China for coronavirus. Masks, protective suits and swabs are coming. Contracts signed in the next few hours. Di Maio: "Friendship and solidarity pay"

China is ready to send massive aid to Italy to deal with the coronavirus emergency. Beijing said it was willing to donate one hundred thousand high-tech masks to our country, twenty thousand protective suits, as well as fifty thousand swabs to carry out diagnostic tests. But not only. The Italian government is preparing to purchase a thousand lung ventilators needed for the intensive care units. These are ready-to-use machines, produced by Chinese companies and of which the Beijing executive - given the drop in infections due to a tight containment policy - no longer needs. A useful surplus, however, for our hospitals.

The operation took place under the direction of Luigi Di Maio, who has a consolidated relationship with China: the Foreign Minister heard his Chinese counterpart and Beijing State Councilor Wang Yi on Tuesday morning. A thirty minute phone call to define the details and give the ok to the operation. On the Chinese side, the guarantee arrived to Di Maio that Italian orders will be prioritized in order to make up for an urgency that now affects several countries in the shortest possible time. The Chinese government has also invited companies to export two million ordinary medical masks to Italy. Contract signatures are expected to arrive in the next few hours. Di Maio, who also spoke of aid with Minister Roberto Speranza, comments to Corriere: "Friendship and reciprocal pagan solidarity".

Let me guess. The New Antisemitic Times, Crappy News Network, The Gaslighter and Broadcasting Bullshit Corporation will spin this as Chinese companies make money off Italian tragedy or some shit.

[The Romulan Republic]

This is supposed to be a thread about the coronavirus, not how evil the West/the Media are. You do know that, right?

Right? Because at this point you're literally posting stuff just so you can whine about how unfair and bad and hypocritical the West/Western media is. Even if its speculating about the response of said media before they've actually said anything. Its like this is the only lense you're capable of viewing this story through. Or any story.

Yeah, comment on the political implications of the story, by all means. Comment on biased reporting, if you have actual evidence of it. But its starting to seem like to you, the real story here is "how evil the West is/how great China is", not the actual pandemic or its effects.

And before you say it, no, not all of my posts are attacking the Chinese government response. Heck, I've probably spent more time on Trump, who has unambiguously earned the title of Worst Responder here.

[Grand Moff Yenchin]

Coronavirus Conference Gets Canceled Because of Coronavirus

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... oronavirus

So much for keeping business rolling during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Council on Foreign Relations has canceled a roundtable called “Doing Business Under Coronavirus” scheduled for Friday in New York due to the spread of the infection itself. CFR has also canceled other in-person conferences that were scheduled from March 11 to April 3, including roundtables in New York and Washington and national events around the U.S.


The CFR’s confabs are joining a long list of canceled or postponed gatherings, including the annual New York auto show. The Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association said Tuesday that the car show will be rescheduled to late August.

Events in metro New York are coming under close scrutiny due to an increase in cases in the city and, in particular, an outbreak in the suburb of New Rochelle. The National Guard will be sent to the town to help close public gathering spaces in an effort to slow the spread of the outbreak, Governor Andrew Cuomo said at a press conference.

Across the U.S., the spread of the novel virus has so far scuttled more than 50 major corporate events with an estimated attendance of almost 1 million people, according to data collected by Bloomberg News.

[The Romulan Republic]

US cases have jumped from around 700 to around 1,000 in the last day or two. Its fully out of control in the US now, and I expect Canada is next.

[The Romulan Republic]

https://businessinsider.com/presentatio ... 020-3?r=rr

The spread of the coronavirus outbreak in the US could push the healthcare system to its limits.

Hospitals are bracing for what could be millions of admissions nationwide as the virus spreads.

The American Hospital Association, which represents thousands of hospitals and health systems, hosted a webinar in February with its member hospitals and health systems. Business Insider obtained a copy of the slides.

The presentation, titled "What healthcare leaders need to know: Preparing for the COVID-19," happened on February 26 with representatives from the National Ebola Training and Education Center.

The presentation contained an overview of the virus, projections and estimates of how much the virus might spread in the US, and proper ways to identify coronavirus patients, isolate them, and keep caregivers at the hospitals informed.

In particular, one slide presented by an expert included "best guess" estimates that there could be as many as:

4.8 million hospitalizations associated with the novel coronavirus.
96 million cases overall in the US.
480,000 deaths.
Overall, the slide says hospitals should prepare for an impact to the system that's 10 times greater than a severe flu season.
Those estimates come from Dr. James Lawler, a professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. They "represent his interpretation of the data available. It's possible that forecast will change as more information becomes available," a spokesman for Nebraska Medicine told Business Insider in an email.

The American Hospital Association said the webinar reflected the views of the experts who spoke during it, not its own.

"The AHA regularly hosts webinars and conference calls that include a variety of voices and opinions that seek to provide relevant information to professionals at hospitals and health systems that are on the front lines of preparing for and protecting their patients and communities," a spokeswoman for the AHA told Business Insider in an emailed statement. "The slides you shared reflect the various perspectives of field experts and should not be attributed to the AHA."

[Broomstick]

US cases have jumped from around 700 to around 1,000 in the last day or two. Its fully out of control in the US now, and I expect Canada is next.

It's BEEN out of control, they're just now finally testing for it.

As tests (finally!) roll out the numbers are going to spike in a big way.

[Broomstick]

Soon after, researchers in other nations rolled out their own tests, too, sometimes with different genetic targets. By the end of February, the World Health Organization had shipped tests to nearly 60 countries.

The United States was not among them.

Why the United States declined to use the WHO test, even temporarily as a bridge until the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention could produce its own test, remains a perplexing question and the key to the Trump administration’s failure to provide enough tests to identify the coronavirus infections before they could be passed on, according to POLITICO interviews with dozens of viral-disease experts, former officials and some officials within the administration’s health agencies.

It’s not complex.

Trump is unable to conceive that other nations are full of intelligent, competent people. He can’t admit someone else can do as well or better than either himself or “his” nation.

On top of that, Trump doesn’t want his “numbers” to “look bad”.

The slowness of the testing regimen — which, administration officials acknowledged this week, is still not producing enough tests to meet the national demand — was the first, and most sweeping, of many failures.

And yet every time they speak they promise more and more tests – they were supposed to distribute a million by yesterday. They’re promising 4 million by the end of the week. WTF?

“Please provide an explanation for why the Covid-19 diagnostic test approved by the World Health Organization was not used,” Sen. Patty Murray, the ranking Democrat on the Senate health committee, who represents the hard-hit state of Washington, asked in a 3½-page letter on the testing fiasco to Pence, Health Secretary Alex Azar, CDC director Robert Redfield, and Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn.

So far, none has been provided.

I doubt an answer will ever be provided by this administration. I’m pretty certain a LOT of foot-dragging of the CDC is a result of being hamstrung and muzzled by the executive branch.

Azar, who initially led the White House response and has now been sidelined by Pence, also has kept defending the testing regime.

“We’ve actually been progressing with this on par with our peer countries,” he told reporters recently.

Azar only keeps his job if he toes the line. And no, we’re not keeping up with our peers. But we’re all used to this administration lying.

The government’s incapacity to conduct widespread testing slowed diagnoses, creating chains of infection. It also deprived epidemiologists of a map that could have told them how far and how fast the virus was traveling and where they should concentrate efforts to slow it down.

I would not be surprised to learn that is deliberate on the part of the administration. What does Trump care if the “enemy” territory of California or the west coast dies off due to this new virus? They aren’t MAGA REAL AMURIKANS! Trump cares about himself and money. He does not give a shit about human beings.

But there were additional problems with the administration’s approach to testing, according to experts and former officials. From the start, the White House focused on containment, trusting that a limited ban on travel to and from China could somehow force a fast-moving virus to stop cold when it hit the Chinese border. But, while containment might have helped buy the U.S. some time, without aggressive domestic surveillance through testing, it was an incomplete strategy.

But it was in line with Trump’s obsession with keeping out foreigners and framing all problems as someone else’s problems.

Decisions about testing are usually made by scientists, but Democrats have accused the White House of putting politics above expertise — and lacking a coherent response.

“We are staring down a potential pandemic,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said recently. “We have a crisis of coronavirus, and President Trump has no plan, no urgency, no understanding of the facts or how to coordinate a response.”

^ and this is why we’re fucked….

Concerned about how coronavirus could worsen the city’s affordable housing and homeless crisis, San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo has proposed a moratorium on the evictions of residents facing significant financial burdens due to the global pandemic.

If approved by a majority of council members on Tuesday, the temporary moratorium would be in effect for at least 30 days and would protect residents who can document that they cannot pay rent due to a substantial loss of income related to the virus.

THAT’s going to be fun giving the lack of available testing...

Under the proposed moratorium, affected residents would be required to notify their landlords on or before their rent is due of their inability to pay their bill in time. The residents would also be required to show documents such as paystubs and notes from employers in order to be covered.

But sucks to be you if you’re in the gig economy or self-employed, because you won’t have any of that.

The spread of the coronavirus outbreak in the US could push the healthcare system to its limits.

Nope, it’s going to push it way beyond it’s limits.

I wonder if this is what will finally break the system completely.

Overall, the slide says hospitals should prepare for an impact to the system that's 10 times greater than a severe flu season.

The US health/hospital system simply does not have that capacity.

Given this administration, I don’t expect them to ask for help from outside.

Given this is a global pandemic that might not even matter – there may not be any help to give from anywhere else.

[mr friendly guy]

This is supposed to be a thread about the coronavirus, not how evil the West/the Media are. You do know that, right?

So speaks the man who posts two articles from the Gaslighter which boils down to "China bad." I am tired of commenting on your lack of self awareness.

Right? Because at this point you're literally posting stuff just so you can whine about how unfair and bad and hypocritical the West/Western media is. Even if its speculating about the response of said media before they've actually said anything. Its like this is the only lense you're capable of viewing this story through. Or any story.

Its almost like its ok for you to make predictions (and you have in this thread buddy), but not ok for me. But you know what? I could have replied to you earlier in the morning, but I decided to wait for "western media" to comment on this and as it turns out, I didn't have to wait long. From WaPo.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/20 ... victories/

On Tuesday, officials in Italy, the second-worst-hit country, confirmed agreeing to a Chinese aid package including 1,000 ventilators, 100,000 respirators and 2 million face masks.

“Now things are getting better and he wants to show that his leadership has been successful,” Minxin Pei, a professor specializing in Chinese politics at Claremont McKenna College in California, told Fifield. “The messaging is that we should see the West’s response as bumbling and incompetent.”

You see, when China does a good thing, its purely for an ulterior motive, to make the West look bad. So mate, how does it feel to make a self righteous spiel and turn out to be so wrong so quickly?

Yeah, comment on the political implications of the story, by all means. Comment on biased reporting, if you have actual evidence of it. But its starting to seem like to you, the real story here is "how evil the West is/how great China is", not the actual pandemic or its effects.

Asking me to provide evidence of biased reporting when I literally posted an example from the NYT on the previous page which garnered responses from two posters who agreed it was bias reporting and another who thought the NYT was being its usual shitty self, just shows me you are too goddamn lazy to actually read my posts.

BTW, you do realise that by taunting me, you just encourage me to post more stuff right.

[aerius]

BTW, you do realise that by taunting me, you just encourage me to post more stuff right.

Clearly, the beatings will have to continue until morale improves.

Also, the WHO has just declared covid-19 as a pandemic.

[LadyTevar]

I have had Enough of the Reports on various people.
THREAD CLOSED.