Regions in the country forming alliances in order to pool coordinate PPE purchases:
- Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont
- DC, Maryland, and Virginia
- Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin
- California, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington
- Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island
Astroturf
“Protestors” began rallying to open up cities and states. They’ve been reported as indistinguishable from Trump rallies. Or white supremacist rallies.
If protesters were crowded and manic close up, they diminished with perspective:
Nurses and doctors counter-protested and we can only imagine how they feel after what they’re going through.
Politicians
Republican politicians across the country followed Trumps command and worked to open businesses.
What reopening will look like in Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee from Vox, Tue 21 Apr 2020
The Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick of Texas (after having said that older people should go out and buy things to restart the economy and “sacrifice themselves” for the younger generation) said that we should open up businesses because “There are more important things than living.”
We were horrified until:
Our own Gov. Kemp declared that the following extremely high contact businesses can open in two days on Friday: gyms, fitness centers, bowling alleys, body art studios (?!?), barber shops, cosmetologists, hair designers, nail salons, and massage therapists (?!?!?). Restaurants to open on Monday. Many businesses responded that they either could not open or would not open until the medical professionals give the OK. Trump turned on him almost immediately.
He was a laughingstock until:
The Las Vegas mayor went on a drunken rant during her Anderson Cooper interview offering to use her city as a “control group” to prove that social distancing is not needed. He was… stupefied, but not so much that he didn’t call her “ignorant” at one point. She barely noticed and drunkenly moved on. Video of the mayoral shit-show via @JoeMyGod.
Resurgence
Obama was being blamed but that’s been abandoned because he acted quickly and didn’t let up.
“From April 12, 2009 to April 10, 2010, CDC estimated that there were 60.8 million cases (range: 43.3-89.3 million), 274,304 hospitalizations (195,086-402,719), and 12,469 deaths (8,868-18,306) in the United States” The burden of the influenza A H1N1pdm09 virus since the 2009 pandemic. Obama declared it a public health emergency 6 weeks before it was a pandemic and before there were any deaths. President Obama declared H1N1 a public health emergency before anyone in the United States died. (from @QasimRashid)
Drs. Oz and Phil bloviated on how only a few would die if we re-open immediately.
Singapore had beaten the virus, to the praise of other countries, and opened back up only to succumb. Singapore had the coronavirus under control. Now it’s locking down the country (from CNET, 16 Apr 2020).
Misc
HCQ is nowhere to be found in the President’s press briefings or Fox News (but that’s redundant).
The Trump administration promised 27M tested by the end of Mar and only got to 4M by the middle of Apr.
The federal govt has been intercepting and stealing PPE shipments from states. In Pursuit of PPE (this story added to my list of federal govt. profiteering).
Oil dropped to -$37 a barrel.
Updated 30 Apr 2020
Michigan, Gov. Whitmer (D)
When you need guns to make your “point” it’s usually a clue that you can’t rely on the strength of your ideas
Asha Rangappa
