Tag: pandemic

Joe Manchin nails Mitch McConnell: You’re “more concerned about the health of Wall Street”

Sen. Joe Manchin erupts into shouting match with McConnell over Senate Republicans’ coronavirus bailouts

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) called out Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on Monday for being more concerned with propping up the economy than providing supplies to hospitals fighting the novel coronavirus.

“You can throw all the money at Wall Street you want to,” Manchin said after McConnell blamed Democrats for a stalled stimulus bill. “People are afraid to leave their homes. They’re afraid of the health care. I’ve got workers who don’t have masks. I’ve got health care workers who don’t have gowns.”

“And it looks like we’re worried more about the economy than we are the health care and the wellbeing of the people of America,” the West Virginia senator complained. Continue reading.

GOP governor breaks with Trump: ‘We’re not going to be up and running by Easter’

Trump has floated Easter as a target date to relax social distancing guidelines.

BOSTON — Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker said Friday his state will not be back to normal by Easter, bucking President Donald Trump’s suggestion that the country could loosen social distancing guidelines by the April 12 holiday amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“The information we’re getting from public health experts and from health care providers here in Massachusetts — yeah, no,” Baker, a Republican, said during a Friday morning press conference in Boston. “We’re not going to be up and running by Easter, no.”

Citing the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, Trump has floated Easter as a target date to relax social distancing guidelines. Some medical experts fear that date is too early and could exacerbate the spread of the virus. Continue reading.

Struggling states warn coronavirus stimulus falls short

The Hill logoThe aid to states and cities in the $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus package is receiving backlash from the communities and officials hit hardest by the outbreak, who say it is not enough for the challenges they are facing.

Overall, the package includes $150 billion in aid to states and localities to help those governments handle increased spending on coronavirus matters. Each state is set to receive at least $1.25 billion, with more populous states receiving more funding.

But experts and officials argue that the amount falls short and that states will need much more help to make it out of the financial crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Continue reading.

Three months into the pandemic, here is what we know about the coronavirus

Washington Post logoThree months into this pandemic, scientists are coming to understand the novel coronavirus. They know, for example, that as horrible as this virus is, it is not the worst, most apocalyptic virus imaginable. Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus, is not as contagious as measles, and although it is very dangerous, it is not as likely to kill an infected person as, say, Ebola.

But there is one critically important, calamitous feature of SARS-CoV-2: the novelty. When it jumped from an animal host into the human population sometime late last year, no one had immunity to it. That is one reason the new coronavirus is not comparable to a harsh strain of the flu going around.

>The first cluster of mysterious, pneumonia-like respiratory illnesses was reported in Wuhan, China, at the end of December, and in the days that followed, it spread explosively. With astonishing speed, this submicroscopic pathogen has contaminated the planet, infecting more than 600,000 as of Saturday and killing at least 28,000, grinding global commerce to a near standstill and rattling the nerves of everyone brave enough to be following the news. Continue reading. Free article.

U.S. hotspots grow as virus cases surpass 640,000 globally

DETROIT (AP) — As the United States led the world with confirmed coronavirus cases, cities such as Detroit, Chicago and New Orleans grew as hotspots Saturday, while the virus continued to pummel New York City and made its way into rural America.

Elsewhere, Russia said its borders would be fully closed as of Monday, while in parts of Africa, pandemic prevention measures took a violent turn, with Kenyan police firing tear gas and officers elsewhere seen on video hitting people with batons.

Worldwide infections surpassed 640,000 with nearly 30,000 deaths as new cases also stacked up quickly in Europe, according to a tally by John Hopkins University. The U.S. leads the world in reported cases with more than 112,000, but five countries exceed its roughly 1,700 deaths: Italy, Spain, China, Iran and France. Italy alone now has 10,023 deaths, the most of any country. Continue reading.

A lottery for ventilators? Hospitals prepare for ethical conundrums

While some states have ethics guidelines in place, there is no national standard for who gets access to scarce life-saving machinery.

When a group of doctors, ethicists and religious leaders got together to write New York’s 2015 ethical guidelines for allocating ventilators in a pandemic, they coalesced around a clear principle: Scarce resources should go to the person most likely to be saved. But they had to contemplate another, tougher, situation: What if a number of patients were equally likely to benefit?

In that case, they decided, a lottery might be the fairest option.

The specter of such extreme rationing – a large number of critically ill patients confronting a finite supply of life-saving machinery – was grim but theoretical when debated by the philosophically minded panel. Now, as New York and other states gird for the possibility of a shortage of ventilators, that ethics roadmap could come actually into practice. Continue reading.

Revealed: Trump Administration is leaving the nation’s emergency backup hospital system on the sidelines

AlterNet logoThe Trump administration is leaving untapped reinforcements and supplies from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, even as many hospitals are struggling with a crush of coronavirus patients.

The VA serves 9 million veterans through 170 hospitals and more than 1,000 clinics, but it’s also legally designated as the country’s backup health system in an emergency. As part of the National Disaster Medical System, the VA has deployed doctors and equipment to disasters and emergencies in recent instances such as Hurricane Maria and the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida. The VA system has 13,000 acute care beds, including 1,800 intensive care unit beds.

But for the coronavirus pandemic, VA Secretary Robert Wilkie told lawmakersthis week that the agency won’t spring into action on its own. Instead of responding to pleas for help from states and cities, Wilkie said he’s waiting for direction from the Department of Health and Human Services or the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Continue reading.

‘Don’t be a cutie pie!’: Trump gives a bizarrely tone-deaf answer when pressed on need for ventilators

AlterNet logoDuring the White House coronavirus briefing on Friday, President Donald Trump gave a bizarre and uninspiring response when a reporter pressed him on the supply of ventilators in the United States.

“Are you able to guarantee, to assure, these states, these hospitals, that everyone who needs a ventilator will get a ventilator?” asked ABC News’ Jonathan Karl.

“I think we’re in really good shape,” Trump replied. “This is a pandemic the likes of which nobody’s seen before. I think we’re in great shape.” Continue reading.

Trump names new Defense Production Act coordinator for coronavirus fight

The Hill logoPresident Trump said Friday that White House trade adviser Peter Navarro would become the national Defense Production Act policy coordinator for the federal government as the administration seeks to combat the coronavirus pandemic.

Trump made the announcement at an afternoon press conference at the White House, saying he gave Navarro the new authorities when he signed an executive order earlier that day.

“My order establishes that Peter will serve as national Defense Production Act policy coordinator for the federal government,” Trump told reporters. Continue reading.

The Most Powerful People in American Politics Are Over 65

New York Times logoPresident Trump is 73. His leading rival is 77. And many of their strongest supporters — vulnerable to the coronavirus but enormously influential politically — are eligible for Social Security.

LAS VEGAS — Joseph R. Biden Jr. wasn’t accustomed to overflow audiences.

It was a Tuesday evening in February and Mr. Biden had limped into Las Vegas, bruised from his disappointing showings in the Iowa and New Hampshire nominating contests. But at Harbor Palace Seafood Restaurant, a dim sum spot here, a crowd of retirees had packed in to see the 77-year-old former vice president, forming a line that snaked out the door.

“I don’t like Warren and I don’t like Bernie because they want ‘Medicare for all,’” said Alan Davis, 80, dismissing the single-payer health care system promoted by Senator Bernie Sanders, 78. “I’m totally against it. I have a good health plan.” Continue reading.