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April 15, 2020
Almost 600 Theodore Roosevelt sailors have COVID-19, 4 hospitalized, Navy says
Source: San Diego Union Tribune
By ANDREW DYER
APRIL 14, 202011:35 AM
Four sailors on the San-Diego based aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt are in the hospital with COVID-19, the Navy said Tuesday. One is in intensive care.
The hospital admissions come the day after a member of the crew died of complications of the virus after four days in the ICU. The Defense department has not released the name of the sailor.
The Navy also said Tuesday that 589 of the Roosevelt’s crew have tested positive for the novel coronavirus. More than 4,000 of the crew have moved moved off the ship into housing on Guam, either in private homes or hotels.
The San Diego-based carrier has a total crew of roughly 4,845 service members, including its embarked air wing and command staff.
Read more: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/military/story/2020-04-14/almost-600-theodore-roosevelt-sailors-in-hospital-with-covid-19
April 14, 2020
CR shows you how to use them and tells you which products to stay away from.
Yes to soap/water, isopropyl alcohol, bleach, hydrogen peroxide.
No to homemade hand sanitizer, vodka, distilled white vinegar, and tea tree oil.
Please read the full article here, no pay wall:
https://www.consumerreports.org/cleaning/common-household-products-that-can-destroy-novel-coronavirus/
Consumer Reports: Household Products that Can Destroy the Novel Coronavirus
These Common Household Products Can Destroy the Novel CoronavirusCR shows you how to use them and tells you which products to stay away from.
News of stores running out of hand-sanitizing gels and chlorine wipes may have you worried about how to protect your family at home as COVID-19 spreads. But plain old hand soap will go a long way.
“It isn’t possible to disinfect every surface you touch throughout your day,” says Stephen Thomas, M.D., chief of infectious diseases and director of global health at Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, N.Y. “The planet is covered with bacteria and viruses, and we’re constantly in contact with these surfaces, so hand-washing is still your best defense against COVID-19.”
You need to amp up your typical cleaning routine only if someone in the household exhibits signs and symptoms of a respiratory infection or if you live in an area with known cases of COVID-19. In that scenario, Thomas says, “Clean high-traffic areas that get touched frequently, such as kitchen counters and bathroom faucets, three times a day with a product that kills viruses.”
The good news is that coronaviruses are some of the easiest types of viruses to kill with the appropriate product, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. “It has an envelope around it that allows it to merge with other cells to infect them,” Thomas says. “If you disrupt that coating, the virus can’t do its job.”
“It isn’t possible to disinfect every surface you touch throughout your day,” says Stephen Thomas, M.D., chief of infectious diseases and director of global health at Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, N.Y. “The planet is covered with bacteria and viruses, and we’re constantly in contact with these surfaces, so hand-washing is still your best defense against COVID-19.”
You need to amp up your typical cleaning routine only if someone in the household exhibits signs and symptoms of a respiratory infection or if you live in an area with known cases of COVID-19. In that scenario, Thomas says, “Clean high-traffic areas that get touched frequently, such as kitchen counters and bathroom faucets, three times a day with a product that kills viruses.”
The good news is that coronaviruses are some of the easiest types of viruses to kill with the appropriate product, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. “It has an envelope around it that allows it to merge with other cells to infect them,” Thomas says. “If you disrupt that coating, the virus can’t do its job.”
Yes to soap/water, isopropyl alcohol, bleach, hydrogen peroxide.
No to homemade hand sanitizer, vodka, distilled white vinegar, and tea tree oil.
Please read the full article here, no pay wall:
https://www.consumerreports.org/cleaning/common-household-products-that-can-destroy-novel-coronavirus/
April 14, 2020
Given that they could make their first appearance in the coronavirus crisis, Congress should insist on having full access to them.
By Elizabeth Goitein and Andrew Boyle
Ms. Goitein and Mr. Boyle work at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law.
April 10, 2020
The past few weeks have given Americans a crash course in the powers that federal, state and local governments wield during emergencies. We’ve seen businesses closed down, citizens quarantined and travel restricted. When President Trump declared emergencies on March 13 under both the Stafford Act and the National Emergencies Act, he boasted, “I have the right to do a lot of things that people don’t even know about.”
The president is right. Some of the most potent emergency powers at his disposal are likely ones we can’t know about, because they are not contained in any publicly available laws. Instead, they are set forth in classified documents known as “presidential emergency action documents.”
These documents consist of draft proclamations, executive orders and proposals for legislation that can be quickly deployed to assert broad presidential authority in a range of worst-case scenarios. They are one of the government’s best-kept secrets. No presidential emergency action document has ever been released or even leaked. And it appears that none has ever been invoked.
Given the real possibility that these documents could make their first appearance in the coronavirus crisis, Congress should insist on having full access to them to ensure that they are consistent with the Constitution and basic principles of democracy.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/10/opinion/trump-coronavirus-emergency-powers.html
Trump Has Emergency Powers We Aren't Allowed to Know About.... Discuss
Trump Has Emergency Powers We Aren’t Allowed to Know AboutGiven that they could make their first appearance in the coronavirus crisis, Congress should insist on having full access to them.
By Elizabeth Goitein and Andrew Boyle
Ms. Goitein and Mr. Boyle work at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law.
April 10, 2020
The past few weeks have given Americans a crash course in the powers that federal, state and local governments wield during emergencies. We’ve seen businesses closed down, citizens quarantined and travel restricted. When President Trump declared emergencies on March 13 under both the Stafford Act and the National Emergencies Act, he boasted, “I have the right to do a lot of things that people don’t even know about.”
The president is right. Some of the most potent emergency powers at his disposal are likely ones we can’t know about, because they are not contained in any publicly available laws. Instead, they are set forth in classified documents known as “presidential emergency action documents.”
These documents consist of draft proclamations, executive orders and proposals for legislation that can be quickly deployed to assert broad presidential authority in a range of worst-case scenarios. They are one of the government’s best-kept secrets. No presidential emergency action document has ever been released or even leaked. And it appears that none has ever been invoked.
Given the real possibility that these documents could make their first appearance in the coronavirus crisis, Congress should insist on having full access to them to ensure that they are consistent with the Constitution and basic principles of democracy.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/10/opinion/trump-coronavirus-emergency-powers.html
April 13, 2020
Pop quiz time! An unprecedented pandemic has killed more than 118,000 people worldwide and infected more than 1.9 million. The U.S. just surpassed Italy as the country with the highest number of deaths. As a result of people necessarily being told to stay home, i.e. the only way at this point to slow the spread, the economy is in shambles. Almost 17 million Americans have filed for unemployment, with some predicting that 20 million will be out of work by the end of the month. Economists believe the chance of a recession within the next twelve months is 100%, with many saying the country is already in one. You, as president, are in charge of said country. What do you do? If you’re Donald J. Trump, you (1) resist mass testing or really any semblance of a plan for developing virus-tracking measures that could, in theory, help some parts of the population safely return to work, and (2) appoint your idiot daughter and son-in-law to your economic task force, because scarily, in a family of certifiable morons, they’re considered the smart ones.
Yes, the latest disturbing development in our national (and global) nightmare is the news that Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner will be on the White House’s council to reopen America. While the duo needs no introduction at this point, for those not entirely clear what their qualifications are to sit on this council, they include, in the case of Ivanka: a failed clothing line, a knack for not knowing how words work, the inability to obtain a top secret security clearance without President Daddy demanding it, and a grasp of the current situation so strong that she thinks quarantined parents have time to take up new instruments and brush up on Greek and Roman mythology. And what does the Boy Prince of New Jersey bring to the table? With a CV as long as his, it’s hard to hit on all of his accomplishments, but some of the highlights include: paying more than $1 billion for an aging skyscraper on the eve of the financial crisis, a career as a slumlord, convincing his father-in-law to keep the 2019 shutdown going based on a delusional bet that he could convince Nancy Pelosi to pay for the border wall, and, of course, telling the president the coronavirus was not a “health reality.”
NB, not a single health expert on this panel.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/04/ivanka-trump-jared-kushner-council-to-reopen-america
Oh Thank God: Trump Appoints Ivanka and Jared to Council to Reopen America
Oh Thank God: Trump Appoints Ivanka and Jared to Council to Reopen AmericaPop quiz time! An unprecedented pandemic has killed more than 118,000 people worldwide and infected more than 1.9 million. The U.S. just surpassed Italy as the country with the highest number of deaths. As a result of people necessarily being told to stay home, i.e. the only way at this point to slow the spread, the economy is in shambles. Almost 17 million Americans have filed for unemployment, with some predicting that 20 million will be out of work by the end of the month. Economists believe the chance of a recession within the next twelve months is 100%, with many saying the country is already in one. You, as president, are in charge of said country. What do you do? If you’re Donald J. Trump, you (1) resist mass testing or really any semblance of a plan for developing virus-tracking measures that could, in theory, help some parts of the population safely return to work, and (2) appoint your idiot daughter and son-in-law to your economic task force, because scarily, in a family of certifiable morons, they’re considered the smart ones.
Yes, the latest disturbing development in our national (and global) nightmare is the news that Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner will be on the White House’s council to reopen America. While the duo needs no introduction at this point, for those not entirely clear what their qualifications are to sit on this council, they include, in the case of Ivanka: a failed clothing line, a knack for not knowing how words work, the inability to obtain a top secret security clearance without President Daddy demanding it, and a grasp of the current situation so strong that she thinks quarantined parents have time to take up new instruments and brush up on Greek and Roman mythology. And what does the Boy Prince of New Jersey bring to the table? With a CV as long as his, it’s hard to hit on all of his accomplishments, but some of the highlights include: paying more than $1 billion for an aging skyscraper on the eve of the financial crisis, a career as a slumlord, convincing his father-in-law to keep the 2019 shutdown going based on a delusional bet that he could convince Nancy Pelosi to pay for the border wall, and, of course, telling the president the coronavirus was not a “health reality.”
NB, not a single health expert on this panel.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/04/ivanka-trump-jared-kushner-council-to-reopen-america
April 12, 2020
Should Covid testing be used with all fatalities, or reserved exclusively for the living?
Upon reading articles that suggest many potential Covid deaths are not being counted but that an increase in demand at funeral homes, etc., exceeds the reported numbers of Covid fatalities, I'm struck by the conundrum:
Unless the number of tests available is adequate to test both the living and the dead, should we focus these on the living and put questionable fatalities aside, or somehow split the number of test kits?
This dilemma is brought to you by Trump and the Republican Party.
NB: Inspired by this thread: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100213273046
And by this report: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/04/10/upshot/coronavirus-deaths-new-york-city.html
And by this video: https://vp.nyt.com/video/2020/04/10/85977_1_10vid-Hart-Island_wg_720p.mp4
April 10, 2020
Originally posting the image to Instagram, a woman known on Twitter as @allie211, an emergency room nurse in Morristown, shared a photograph of a man outside her hospital holding a sign that says, "Thank you all in emergency for saving my wife's life. I love you all." Writer Harlan Coben shared the image and it took off from there.
Well then.
This photo choked me up, a little..
Originally posting the image to Instagram, a woman known on Twitter as @allie211, an emergency room nurse in Morristown, shared a photograph of a man outside her hospital holding a sign that says, "Thank you all in emergency for saving my wife's life. I love you all." Writer Harlan Coben shared the image and it took off from there.
Well then.
April 9, 2020
We need to prosecute this evil man.
https://twitter.com/TeamPelosi/status/1247891764750348289
Thank you, Madam Speaker.
"Dereliction of Duty": Speaker Pelosi Tweets a video condemning Trump's Negligence and Deceit
"This is a dereliction of duty."We need to prosecute this evil man.
https://twitter.com/TeamPelosi/status/1247891764750348289
Thank you, Madam Speaker.
April 7, 2020
Barack Obama, my President, Tweets out earlier today...
Sharing Senator Warren's outline for how our federal government should be meeting this moment.
Thanks, Obama! 
https://twitter.com/BarackObama/status/1247233987304660993
April 6, 2020
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/hhs-inspector-general-report-federal-government-partially-responsible-medical-supply-shortage
Trump not happy with HHS Inspector Christi Grimm
Threatening words today during the presser when a journalist mentions her critical remarks.
"When was she appointed? No, tell me know, when was she appointed?" Trump to journalist.
Background:
HHS Watchdog Finds Federal Gov’t Partially Responsible For Medical Supply Crisis
By Cristina Cabrera
April 6, 2020 12:03 p.m.
Christi Grimm, the principal deputy inspector general at the Health and Human Services Department, released a report on Monday that found the “significant challenges” hospitals are grappling with in treating COVID-19 were partially due to the federal government’s flailing response to the outbreak.
In a survey held from March 23 to 27, hospital workers informed Grimm’s office that they had not been sufficiently informed of the process of obtaining crucial medical supplies from the federal government’s national stockpile.
One medical staffer told the inspector general that the means to receiving those supplies posed “a major challenge” and that the equipment that the hospital did get were inadequate.
“Some hospitals noted that at the time of our interview they had not received supplies from the Strategic National Stockpile, or that the supplies that they had received were not sufficient in quantity or quality,” Grimm wrote.
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/hhs-inspector-general-report-federal-government-partially-responsible-medical-supply-shortage
April 4, 2020
The New Yorker: "Reality Has Endorsed Bernie Sanders"
A good read:
https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/reality-has-endorsed-bernie-sanders
Credit to Hill TV on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/watch/HillTVLive/
Profile Information
Gender: MaleHome country: USA
Current location: Santa Cruz County
Member since: Fri May 13, 2016, 10:51 AM
Number of posts: 2,193
