The Walls Come Down: No Travel Betwen US and Europe for 30 Days

[MKSheppard]

Senator Rand Paul has tested positive for COVID-19.

[The Romulan Republic]

Honestly, I'm surprised most of the House and Senate haven't tested positive, at this point.

[Broomstick]

The United States Government has a special fiduciary duty to Native American communities that requires it to act in their best interests and is actively failing to do so during this pandemic, above and beyond its general failures.

Yeah, I'm quoting you again because I finally, after working yet more overtime, have the time to give a reply to you.

What YOU fail to understand is that the United States Federal Government does NOT provide health insurance to people within its borders as a government. While it does provide such insurance for some of its employees (though not all - when I was a Federal employee for the Census in 2010 I did not get health insurance) in that regard it is acting as a typical large employer in the US, not as a provider of government healthcare.

But WAIT! you say - what about the armed forces? Yeah? Employee benefit, not by right as a person who lives within the borders of the US.

But WAIT! you say - what about Medicare? Well, there's a bunch of people who say the Federal government does not have legal authority for such a program and technically they are right - it's just so damn useful to a voting demographic that the illegality is ignored. But the critics are correct - such a change and program SHOULD have been done by constitutional amendment.

But WAIT! you say - what about prisoners? The SCotUS said that since those people are in the custody of the government the government must provide for their care... including medically necessary healthcare.

ONLY Native Americans are provided healthcare by the Federal government simply for being within the territory of the US. ONLY Native Americans. So, in fact, they are the start, middle, and end of any "line" for such care. In other words, there is no line.

Now, absolutely there's a lot of shittiness within the program for Natives, but promoting this notion that somehow they've been moved to the back of the bus is bullshit - they are in fact the only people on that bus in the first place. (Among other shittiness - the IHS even tells Natives that they should have health insurance over and above what services the IHS provides because Congress's authorization of funds continues to be inadequate) As an American citizen I have ZERO right to any form of healthcare, outside of ER's being obligated to treat me if my life is in imminent danger.

That is something many folks living under a system of government provide/administrated universal healthcare simply don't get: we don't have that. There are people in the US who have NO access to the healthcare system - again, with the exception of what is IMMEDIATELY life-threatening. That is how we get stupid shit like people who get penetrating wounds to the abdomen getting a life-saving colostomy but go years without being able to reverse it after they heal - not for a medical reason, but because they have no insurance and no money so they can not get such surgery because shitting into a bag glued onto your stomach is not life-threatening - oh, and extra suckage since they get no help with the supplies to continue shitting into a bag safely.

Now, whatever US state a person lives in does have authority to provide healthcare... if the state so chooses. The state can choose not to. That's why we have tens of millions of people in the US without health insurance. And tens millions more with shitty, inadequate insurance. And people who can't get a colostomy reversed so they can shit like normal people again.

But the fact remains that the Native Americans, however shitty, horrible, deplorable, and inadequate the Indian Health Service (or whatever they're calling it this week) might be, have MORE access to healthcare in the US than 40+ million of the "colonial oppressors" who have ZERO access.

Stop extrapolating your systems and its problems on the the systems and problems elsewhere. They are not the same.

[Broomstick]

I agree, but since the government is failing in that duty, its up to the American people to fulfill it themselves.

Strictly speaking, it is the STATES' responsibility to regulate public health and provide for such things under the US system. As it is not a power specifically given to the Feds it is indeed a power of the states. In part because the people who wrote the constitution lived before we had anything like modern healthcare and could never have foreseen such a thing.

Since FDR we've had a succession of presidents, both Democrat and Republican (Nixon, for example, tried to promote a universal healthcare program of sorts back in the early 1970's) who on a Federal level were either accepting of the Feds playing a role or actively promoted them playing a role in healthcare for the US as a whole. But now we have Strict Constructionists in charge, Trump is willing to be their mouthpiece/puppet, and they're going back to "it's the States' problem". During a global pandemic. Holy fuck, are we in trouble.

Here's the thing - would you expect the European Union to provide and administer healthcare within every nation that comprises that Union? Or do you expect Italy to take care of Italy, Germany to take care of Germany, etc.? The way the US was originally set up it was closer to the European Union than the set up of, say, France and its provinces. That's why the US states are called "states" and not "provinces".

The problem, of course, is that trying to coordinate 50+ health systems across a land mass isn't very efficient. Even when there isn't a global pandemic. As it happens, the governors of states like New York or California have stepped up to the plate, which is good. What Trump doesn't get - and likely never will - is that while the PotUS can't technically order the states to lockdown/quarantine/whatever (under most circumstances) if he, as the PotUS, strongly suggests that it can give governors who face opposition within their states a little extra oomph to get that done. The office of the President can unite the 50 states and various territories - but Trump seems unable to understand that or grasp that. No, the dumbfuck invokes a law that gives him the authority to order businesses to manufacture things desparately needed yesterday to save lives and doesn't fucking use it! Holy fuck, we are in so much trouble....

I hate to say it, given my loathing for Pence, but given the present circumstances the US really would be better if he was in charge. As it is, he's sort of in charge to the response but it's part of his character to ass-kiss authority figures over him to a disgusting degree, so he'll defer and defer and defer to the current jackas in the Oval Office.

If you have any information on non-profit organizations which are trying to help provide assistance to Native American communities in particular, or to pandemic victims generally, please post it, and I'll pass it on.

Yes, please do - because there's no way in hell I have time right now to research that myself.

[loomer]

The United States Government has a special fiduciary duty to Native American communities that requires it to act in their best interests and is actively failing to do so during this pandemic, above and beyond its general failures.

Yeah, I'm quoting you again because I finally, after working yet more overtime, have the time to give a reply to you.

What YOU fail to understand is that the United States Federal Government does NOT provide health insurance to people within its borders as a government. While it does provide such insurance for some of its employees (though not all - when I was a Federal employee for the Census in 2010 I did not get health insurance) in that regard it is acting as a typical large employer in the US, not as a provider of government healthcare.

But WAIT! you say - what about the armed forces? Yeah? Employee benefit, not by right as a person who lives within the borders of the US.

But WAIT! you say - what about Medicare? Well, there's a bunch of people who say the Federal government does not have legal authority for such a program and technically they are right - it's just so damn useful to a voting demographic that the illegality is ignored. But the critics are correct - such a change and program SHOULD have been done by constitutional amendment.

But WAIT! you say - what about prisoners? The SCotUS said that since those people are in the custody of the government the government must provide for their care... including medically necessary healthcare.

ONLY Native Americans are provided healthcare by the Federal government simply for being within the territory of the US. ONLY Native Americans. So, in fact, they are the start, middle, and end of any "line" for such care. In other words, there is no line.

Now, absolutely there's a lot of shittiness within the program for Natives, but promoting this notion that somehow they've been moved to the back of the bus is bullshit - they are in fact the only people on that bus in the first place. (Among other shittiness - the IHS even tells Natives that they should have health insurance over and above what services the IHS provides because Congress's authorization of funds continues to be inadequate) As an American citizen I have ZERO right to any form of healthcare, outside of ER's being obligated to treat me if my life is in imminent danger.

That is something many folks living under a system of government provide/administrated universal healthcare simply don't get: we don't have that. There are people in the US who have NO access to the healthcare system - again, with the exception of what is IMMEDIATELY life-threatening. That is how we get stupid shit like people who get penetrating wounds to the abdomen getting a life-saving colostomy but go years without being able to reverse it after they heal - not for a medical reason, but because they have no insurance and no money so they can not get such surgery because shitting into a bag glued onto your stomach is not life-threatening - oh, and extra suckage since they get no help with the supplies to continue shitting into a bag safely.

Now, whatever US state a person lives in does have authority to provide healthcare... if the state so chooses. The state can choose not to. That's why we have tens of millions of people in the US without health insurance. And tens millions more with shitty, inadequate insurance. And people who can't get a colostomy reversed so they can shit like normal people again.

But the fact remains that the Native Americans, however shitty, horrible, deplorable, and inadequate the Indian Health Service (or whatever they're calling it this week) might be, have MORE access to healthcare in the US than 40+ million of the "colonial oppressors" who have ZERO access.

Stop extrapolating your systems and its problems on the the systems and problems elsewhere. They are not the same.

Broomstick, you are truly a staggeringly stupid person. The fiduciary duty owed is not something from 'my system' I'm extrapolating outwards, but a well-settled principle of American law, and one with nothing at all to do with insurance - and nothing I've posted has had anything to do with universal healthcare or comes out of any kind of ignorance of your abysmal healthcare system. You are also confusing the line under dispute - you know, the one for supplies and funding, which the US federal government is in fact providing to hospitals - for general mismanagement and the general state of healthcare in your country, which is an entirely seperate issue from how the feds are handling the current pandemic. It's also cute that you're insinuating I said anything about 'colonial oppressors', but that'd just be the chip on your shoulder showing itself - presumably from the time you made yourself look like an utter fuckwit in the decolonization thread.

Basically, Broomie, what I'm saying is sit down and be quiet. If your time is limited, as I'm sure it is given you're working overtime stacking shelves, you might be better served by not writing long posts that don't actually address the issues. So stop trying to change the actual subject, accept you were mistaken - there is in fact a line for funds and supplies during this crisis and the US government is failing to act appropriately in prioritizing for it, both in terms of the special vulnerability of Native American communities and in terms of its special fiduciary duty owed to those communities - and try listening to the IHS and NIHB when they say they've got reason for particular concern. I won't be further engaging with your nonsense about your general healthcare system, since you're confusing the actual line so badly that it might as well be tied in a knot.

[Broomstick]

Boofuckinghoo, you work in a store - no one cares

Yeah, actually people DO care. And it DOES matter.

Consider what would happen if all the grocery stores shut down. You think people are freaking out now? I will note that neither in Japan nor in Italy did they or have they shut down the stores that provide food and other essential supplies - so fuck you. What I'm doing IS important.

and it doesn't give you license to get shirty or abusive with people with compromised immune systems who're locked down because they don't.

First, you have no problem being abusive towards others. You don't get to cry foul over that.

Second, I have asthma. And I'm middle aged. If I catch this I am at far higher risk than the average person of dying... yet I still go to work. Because I do something my community assures me is very much needed. Given that my job involves coming face to face with hundreds of people daily I am also at higher risk of catching it than average.

So again - fuck you. You have a problem immune system? Sorry about that - I have a fucked up immune system, too, hence the allergies and asthma. You don't have to make the same choice I do, to risk yourself in providing a needed service to those around you, but it's a choice I made and to hell with you and your attempt to belittle it.

Meanwhile - find something to do from home. Other than dumping on people on-line then say "oh, poor me! Woe is me!" when they return your abuse.

That's a little thing called equity - you give those who need more, more, and those who need less, less, so that everyone has an actual even chance.

That's what you don't get THAT DOES NOT EXIST IN THE UNITED STATES. Period. For anyone. You really can't grasp that your first assumptions are in error. The system in the US is alien to the one you live under and the one you idealize.

While I much rather would live under your idealized system it does not exist at all in the US. Wrap your head around that. It's reality.

[loomer]

Boofuckinghoo, you work in a store - no one cares

Yeah, actually people DO care. And it DOES matter.

Consider what would happen if all the grocery stores shut down. You think people are freaking out now? I will note that neither in Japan nor in Italy did they or have they shut down the stores that provide food and other essential supplies - so fuck you. What I'm doing IS important.

Congratulations. You stock shelves. This does not give you license to get shirty or abusive with people with compromised immune systems because they don't, nor to wave the fact you stock shelves as a badge of honour to try and belittle those who don't. But hey - I'm sure in the course of your irreplaceable work you've figured out the best aisle to find the cheese to go with your whine.

and it doesn't give you license to get shirty or abusive with people with compromised immune systems who're locked down because they don't.

First, you have no problem being abusive towards others. You don't get to cry foul over that.

You may have noticed a pattern (or maybe not - that'd require you to actually think). I respond to fire with fire. You decided to get shirty, and so have I in response - but I will happily call you out for being a fuckhead all the same. If you look back over our exchange, you're the one who escalated repeatedly - from angry big letters to this deranged rant about how vitally important your work is and what have I done in response to some imagined challenge to your job that no one made. I will happily match you tit for tat, of course - this is still SDN, even if the edges have been blunted over the years.

Second, I have asthma. And I'm middle aged. If I catch this I am at far higher risk than the average person of dying... yet I still go to work. Because I do something my community assures me is very much needed. Given that my job involves coming face to face with hundreds of people daily I am also at higher risk of catching it than average.

Congratulations. You stock shelves while being sick. We weep for your sacrifices on our behalf. Would Madame care for a Purple Heart, or perhaps a Presidential Bravery Award?

So again - fuck you. You have a problem immune system? Sorry about that - I have a fucked up immune system, too, hence the allergies and asthma. You don't have to make the same choice I do, to risk yourself in providing a needed service to those around you, but it's a choice I made and to hell with you and your attempt to belittle it.

You know, weirdly enough, there wasn't any attempt to belittle it until you decided to try and belittle me for not having the capacity to do what you do. Take a look - you began here by deciding to turn your job stocking shelves into a badge of honour and a means to attack, and I responded in kind. So, Broomstick, you can sit down and be quiet if you don't like your glorious work stocking shelves being belittled. Don't start shit if you don't want to be mocked.

To borrow your words, fuck you. For some words of my own, let's add on 'and the horse you rode in on and your pathetic need to valourize your work stocking shelves in the face of an imagined slight that no one made towards it, you utter pillock.'

Meanwhile - find something to do from home. Other than dumping on people on-line then say "oh, poor me! Woe is me!" when they return your abuse.

You began the abuse, you utter twit - have you lost the ability to keep track of the flow of conversation? Unless, that is, you consider my calling your Big Angry Underlines 'bullshit' abusive? As for finding something to do from home, I'm happily sitting here spending most of my days chewing into my work, which fortunately doesn't require me to go and get coughed on daily, and which - to answer your question of 'what did you do to help people today' - happens to be focused on making one of the most monstrously inhumane systems people are exposed to a little less awful. Perhaps you might like to take your own advice?

That's a little thing called equity - you give those who need more, more, and those who need less, less, so that everyone has an actual even chance.

That's what you don't get THAT DOES NOT EXIST IN THE UNITED STATES. Period. For anyone. You really can't grasp that your first assumptions are in error. The system in the US is alien to the one you live under and the one you idealize.

While I much rather would live under your idealized system it does not exist at all in the US. Wrap your head around that. It's reality.

Congratulations. Either your system is one in which basic principles of fucking equity are fundamentally foreign and thus, a monstrously and fundamentally immoral one, or you're mistaken. It's the latter, by the way - the existence of the IHS (see also various affirmative action schemes and so on) is actually part of an equity-focused approach. I get that to you, it may seem like it doesn't exist because it's flawed and constantly undermined, but you are fundamentally mistaken.

[loomer]

Fortunately the most important work is still ongoing. Wait, did I say most important? I said worst. Somehow they're still building the wall at full speed. In fact, they're speeding it up.

[The Romulan Republic]

loomer... I actually agree with you that the US has a particular responsibility to its indigenous nations- but your sneering dismissal of the work being done, and the personal risk being taken, by employees who go into work and thereby keep all of us fed (and our streets not burning from food riots) is petty and wrong.

Frankly, I think you're both being asses.

[loomer]

loomer... I actually agree with you that the US has a particular responsibility to its indigenous nations- but your sneering dismissal of the work being done, and the personal risk being taken, by employees who go into work and thereby keep all of us fed (and our streets not burning from food riots) is petty and wrong.

Frankly, I think you're both being asses.

I wouldn't dismiss it if she hadn't decided to use it as a bludgeon. If she'd asked for tea and sympathy she'd get it, but she decided to try and belittle and so she gets belittled. The work is in fact valuable and necessary and I have enormous respect and sympathy for those engaged in it at this time, but not those who decide to use that fact to evade criticism or launch attacks on others. Take a look at the progression of the dispute - no one brought up her work until she did, and the first time it came up was to launch an attack. That, as far as I'm concerned, robs her of the respect earned doing the work and belittles the work itself.

[Starglider]

Huh, really thought Loomer was already scraping the barrel of being a despicable parody of a human being, apparently he likes to bully, mock and terrorise people on a personal level as well as just generally trying to destroy everything good and worthwhile in society. I suppose not surprising as that concentrated level of self-hatred coupled with minimal impulse control is inevitably going to release sharpnel in every direction.

[TimothyC]

As of 2359 Local time Monday March 23rd, Ohio will be under a mandatory Shelter-in-Place / Stay-at-Home order.

https://twitter.com/GovMikeDeWine/statu ... 1313556486

[The Romulan Republic]

As of 2359 Local time Monday March 23rd, Ohio will be under a mandatory Shelter-in-Place / Stay-at-Home order.

https://twitter.com/GovMikeDeWine/statu ... 1313556486

Good. Everywhere in the world should have been a week or two ago at the latest.

[Enigma]

As of 2359 Local time Monday March 23rd, Ohio will be under a mandatory Shelter-in-Place / Stay-at-Home order.

https://twitter.com/GovMikeDeWine/statu ... 1313556486

Good. Everywhere in the world should have been a week or two ago at the latest.

This will mean I'll be staying home starting tomorrow night. Not looking forward to a temp layoff.

[The Romulan Republic]

As of 2359 Local time Monday March 23rd, Ohio will be under a mandatory Shelter-in-Place / Stay-at-Home order.

https://twitter.com/GovMikeDeWine/statu ... 1313556486

Good. Everywhere in the world should have been a week or two ago at the latest.

This will mean I'll be staying home starting tomorrow night. Not looking forward to a temp layoff.

I'm in the same boat- I got laid off a few days ago.

It sucks, but it beats letting the worst case estimates play out (the worst I've heard lately was 2.2 million dead in the US, which to put in context is just over five times all our dead in WWII, or about seventy 9/11s).

[Enigma]

I doubt it'll be that bad. China seems to be recovering and they've got few deaths compared to it's population. I doubt it'll reach seven figures, or even six figures. Still, if I get the corona virus, I'll basically be killing off my in-laws since they are in their early to late sixties with one having MS and the other has asthma, diabetes and diabetes related heart problems. My wife won't get off lightly either since she is also asthmatic.

[loomer]

We're launching our state's full lockdown today, but income supports are being beefed up. Whether they'll actually be accessible remains to be seen, especially since the government has systematically slashed Centrelink's staffing budget for the last few years, creating major logjams as it is.

Huh, really thought Loomer was already scraping the barrel of being a despicable parody of a human being, apparently he likes to bully, mock and terrorise people on a personal level as well as just generally trying to destroy everything good and worthwhile in society. I suppose not surprising as that concentrated level of self-hatred coupled with minimal impulse control is inevitably going to release sharpnel in every direction.

What's this? Another driveby from the site's resident cryptofascist? However will I cope.

[Mr Bean]

Update outside of the accusations of racism and fascism

Best buy sent a big long email to folks who buy from them saying lots of corporate speak but it boils down to "You can't come in our stores anymore but we do offer curbside pickup" so you can order off Best Buy.com pay online, drive to our store and we will drop it in your car for you. Seems to walk the line between needing to have a local provider of electronics and keeping their employees as safe as possible.

Email in question

To Our Customers,

Across the country these past several days, you have come to our stores to buy the technology and household necessities that are so valuable at a time like this. We remain determined to continue to serve you and are announcing today a new way of making our stores accessible while even further enhancing customer and employee safety.

In our stores

Beginning Sunday, March 22, we will offer contactless curbside service at all locations across the country where state or local laws allow. Rather than ask you to come into our stores, any items you order on BestBuy.com or the Best Buy app will be delivered to your car curbside. If, for any reason, you didn't order the product in advance and the product is in stock in the store, one of our employees will be more than happy to go get it in the store and sell it to you while you remain in your car. This service also extends to returns and exchanges, the period for which has been extended on most products so that you have more time. Only employees will be allowed in the store, but we are determined to serve you as fully as we can. Unfortunately, we are temporarily unable to continue our product trade-in and recycling services.

For those who want to continue shopping with us online or on the app, we will, of course, still get you what you want.

In your home

As you know, Best Buy works in millions of customer homes each year, and we have long been proud of the services we provide. Because of the increased concern for you, your families and our employees, we have made the decision to suspend currently scheduled installations, haul-aways or repairs for large items like refrigerators, freezers, washers, dryers and TVs.

Beginning Monday, March 23, we will no longer deliver these large products into your home and will, instead, offer free doorstep delivery. This means we will take the item as close as we possibly can to the front door of your home without bringing it inside. We know that this change will be inconvenient, and we are truly sorry. It was made with our employees' and your best interests at heart. If you have an order scheduled for installation in the next 30 days, please expect an email or text from Best Buy about your delivery options.

Employees

Speaking of our employees, everyone working right now is doing so on a voluntary basis, and all hourly employees who volunteer are receiving a temporary pay increase. Additionally, anyone feeling sick is told to stay home, and they will be paid for that time. Finally, anyone exposed to a confirmed case of COVID-19 is also told to stay home, with pay, and we are paying employees who may need to stay home to care for their children.

All of us at Best Buy are grateful that so many states and localities believe we are an essential business, allowing us to continue to serve you when you need it most. We thank you for your patience and loyalty and look forward to continuing to provide you with the technology and home essentials you require to stay connected and work and learn from home. Thank you.

[Enigma]

According to a co-worker who shared a company email with me, it appears we're considered essential. I don't know how since most of our clients have shut down.

[Tribble]

Forgive me for my confusion here, I would appreciate it if you can clarify your viewpoint.

To me what you said so far seems to mean that Indigenous nations should be the top priority in triage for healthcare access over non-indigenous people, particularly when it comes to the elderly.

Is that an accurate representation of your view?

If that is the case, to what degree?

For example, suppose there is a sick indigenous person, and a sick non-indigenous person. The sick non-indigenous person needs to go on ventilator now. The sick indigenous person does not need to go on a ventilator now, but will likely need to in the near future. You have access to one ventilator now, with no guarantee of one being available later due to the increasing caseload. Would you recommend giving it to the sick non-indigenous person who needs it now, or give it to / reserve it for the indigenous person who will likely need it later?

[mr friendly guy]

Australia is not quite in a lockdown but its close.
Some states have closed borders, some are planning school closures and all states should have bars/pubs no longer serving food with restaurants doing deliveries/takeaways only.

I am still working. I assume as a GP I would be considered essential, and I am awaiting word from the Federal government with calls for shutdown becoming louder.

[aerius]

According to a co-worker who shared a company email with me, it appears we're considered essential. I don't know how since most of our clients have shut down.

Your company is probably in the supply chain for some vital goods or services.

Also, we're coming on planting season for various crops in the US, if those crops don't go in on time we're gonna have serious problems since the US is the largest food exporter in the world.

[mr friendly guy]

https://www.timesunion.com/news/article ... 149079.php

NY nurse who spoke about shortage of PPE gets personnel warning
Photo of Brendan J. Lyons
Brendan J. Lyons
March 22, 2020
Updated: March 22, 2020 8:18 p.m.


NY nurse who spoke about shortage of PPE gets personnel warning

Stay positive: Here are 23 pieces of good news regarding coronavirus

Coronavirus live updates: Majority of New York deaths in elderly population

Cuomo says NY cases of coronavirus climbing but Westchester slows



ALBANY — A critical care nurse at the state's Stony Brook University Hospital on Long Island was handed a personnel notification this week that ordered her to document any unscheduled time off. The document was delivered to her a day after she and another hospital staffer were interviewed on national television by MSNBC about the shortage of protective equipment for workers in hospitals and health care facilities.

The nurse, Amy Lee Pacholk, and James Lewis, a respiratory therapist Stony Brook, were interviewed by Brian Williams during a segment on MSNBC about the shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) at hospitals and other health care facilities.

"Our institution and the government have not provided us with the appropriate equipment to properly protect ourselves to care for these patients," Pacholk told Williams on Wednesday night. "The healthcare professionals are getting sick and we haven't even seen the height of this pandemic."


Pacholk was served with the notice by hospital managers on Thursday, indicating she was being targeted for her use of sick time earlier this year. She could not immediately be reached for comment on Sunday.

"Please be advised that this letter is to inform you that your time and attendance record indicates an excessive amount of unscheduled absences," the notice states. "Failure to improve your time and attendance will result in a Document Restriction renewal and be referred to Labor Relations for appropriate administrative actions."

Sunday night, in a statement, the university said: "It is ... important to pay attention to the timing since all of the actions were taken prior to the nurse going on media. Everyone at Stony Brook Medicine is focused on COVID-19. Our nurses are incredibly dedicated to our patients, the community and to one another. They are pulling together, working extra hours and doing everything possible to help everyone safely through this unprecedented health crisis."

According to correspondence and a person familiar with the matter, Pacholk may have missed time in January when she was sick, her child was ill and a relative had died. In late February, she reported to work late while suffering from a severe headache that was caused by a condition that triggers the brain pressure to increase and mimics the symptoms of a brain tumor. She was treated in Stony Brook's emergency room for about 36 hours before the condition was diagnosed.

The action against Pacholk, who works in a critical care area, was handed down as employees in other state agencies have said they were cautioned not to speak to the press about increasing concerns in many workplaces, including inconsistent or absent safety and social distancing mandates.

Richard Azzopardi, a spokesman for Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, said the governor’s office, Stony Brook’s upper management and SUNY leadership were not made aware of the decision to serve Pacholk with a warning notice the morning after she appeared on MSNBC.

“Whatever action they were contemplating isn’t going to happen,” Azzopardi said. “Now is not the time.”

When contacted Sunday about Pacholk's disciplinary action, Wayne Spence, the president of her union, the Public Employees Federation, issued a statement: "We are concerned and actively looking into this issue of retaliation given SUNY Stony Brook's past history of going after whistleblowers."

There is a shortage of healthcare workers, especially nurses, as the coronavirus pandemic erupts. Cuomo last week said several times during press briefings that the state is hiring retired nurses and speeding up the certification process for medical schools to authorize healthcare professionals to join the workforce to help deal with the crisis.

Many nurses, including state health nurses, have volunteered to work paid shifts on the front lines of the coronavirus outbreak, including testing people in Westchester County, one of the state's hardest hit areas.

[chimericoncogene]

Hmm... why the slow school closures in Australia? Over here that's the first thing that was done, two weeks after hospitals and public buildings started mandating temperature checks (on Jan 12).

[FaxModem1]

Dallas now has a Shelter in Place starting tomorrow at midnight:

Fox 4 News

Shelter-at-home order issued for Dallas County
By Steven DialPublished 3 hours agoCoronavirusFOX 4
Facebook
Twitter
Print
Email
article
DALLAS - Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins has issued a shelter-at-home order for the county starting at 11:59 p.m. on Monday, March 23. It will last until at least April 3.

The order states, "all individuals currently living within Dallas County are ordered to shelter at their place of residence," unless doing an "essential activity" (going to the grocery story or getting other necessary supplies, exercising while complying with social distancing, going to work, or caring for another family member or pet).

Ad Content by Taboola |
Sponsored Stories
Texas: Say Bye To Expensive Solar Panels If You Own A Home In These Zip Codes
EnergyBillCruncher
|
Sponsored
This App Applies Every Coupon Code on the Internet to Your Cart - and It's Awesome
Honey
|
Sponsored
"All businesses operating within Dallas County, except Essential Businesses...are required to cease all activities at facilities located within the county," the order added. All essential businesses must also comply with social distancing "to the greatest extent possible."

The county defined essential businesses as: Essential Healthcare Operations (hospitals, dentists, pharmacies, etc.), Essential Government Functions (services provided by local governments), Essential Critical Infrastructure (operations from the 16 critical infrastructure sectors as identified by the National Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency), Essential Retail (grocery strores, warehouse stores, liquor stores, gas stations, businesses that supply products for people to work from home, etc.), businesses that provide food, shelter, and social services for the economically disadvantanged, Essential Services Necessary to Maintain Essential Operations (trash and recycling collection, processing, and disposal, funeral homes, plumbers, etc.), News Media, and Childcare Services.

"Public works construction, residential and commercial construction, airport operations, water, sewer, gas, electrical, oil refining, roads and highways, public transportation, solid waste collection and removal, internet, and telecommunications systems - including the provision of essential global, national, and local infrastructure for computing services, business infrastructure, communications, and web-based services - financial institutions, defense and national security-related operations, essential manufacturing operations provided that they carry out those services or that work in compliance with social distancing requirements," Jenkins explained.

Worship services have also been limited to video or teleconferencing. Churches must also limit their staff to 10 people or less on site when conducting their services.

DART will continue to run.

Read the full order below for a full list of essential businesses:


Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson released the following statement about the amended order from Dallas County:

"We are still working through the language of the county’s quickly evolving orders and discussing the best ways to enforce these orders citywide, but I support a stay-at-home approach to slow the spread of COVID-19. While this approach likely means our city will experience economic difficulties, our top priority is public health, and it’s vitally important that we take the steps necessary to save lives and prevent strain on our healthcare system.

"I am confident that regulations such as Dallas County’s most recent ones will help flatten the curve of COVID-19’s spread in Dallas, but this disease does not respect political boundaries. Therefore, I believe a statewide or regional approach, as opposed to a county by county or city by city approach, is the best way to defeat this pandemic and defeat it quickly."

Jenkins said this shelter-at-home order is necessary for the county to help flatten the curve.

"This order is our best chance to flatten the curve in Dallas County and save as many lives as possible," Jenkins said. "I know there will be economic hardship and business closures with this order, and it makes me sick we are at this point."

County officials also shared a table and graph that estimates the number of deaths and the date when hospitals become overloaded at certain instances.

It compares four scenarios: the estimated numbers if no action is taken, if there is a "Texas-style delay/social distancing" for three months, if there is a "California-style 'shelter-in-place'" for three months, and if there is a "Wuhan-style lockdown" for three months.

These examples show the flattening the curve model that health officials are trying to achieve with the COVID-19 pandemic.



This comes after Texas Governor Greg Abbott said he would not issue a statewide shelter-at-home order at this time, instead leaving it up to local governments to decide.

RELATED: Coronavirus coverage

Jenkins reported Dallas County's third coronavirus-related death on Sunday, bringing the total number of deaths in Texas to 7. Tarrant County and Collin Couny have both reported one COVID-19 death.

Coronavirus health tips
While COVID-19 is a new respiratory virus, daily precautions recommended to prevent respiratory illnesses are the same:

• Wash hands frequently with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. Use hand sanitizer when you can't wash your hands.

• Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth.

• Cover your coughs and sneezes with a tissue and throw the tissue away. If you don’t have a tissue, use the elbow of your sleeve. Don’t use your hands to cover coughs and sneezes.

RELATED: Coronavirus FAQ: Here’s what you need to know about the COVID-19 outbreak

• Avoid close contact with people who are sick.

• Stay home when you are sick and keep children home when they are sick.

• Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces.

• Get a flu shot. (Although the flu shot does not protect against COVID-19, it is flu season.)

I'm considered 'essential', so I will be working through this.