Tag: pandemic

Trump orders aides to halt talks on COVID-19 relief

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President Trump said Tuesday that he has instructed his top aides to stop negotiating with Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on future coronavirus stimulus legislation until after the November election, a risky move just weeks before voters head to the polls.

Trump, who is himself currently being treated for COVID-19, accused Pelosi in a series of tweets Tuesday afternoon of “not negotiating in good faith” and seeking “bailouts” for states he says are poorly run by Democratic officials.

“I have instructed my representatives to stop negotiating until after the election when, immediately after I win, we will pass a major Stimulus Bill that focuses on hardworking Americans and Small Business,” Trump tweeted. Continue reading.

Military officers quarantined as top Coast Guard official tests positive for COVID-19

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Most of the top military officers in the United States are quarantining after the Coast Guard’s second-in-command tested positive for the coronavirus, officials said Tuesday.

Coast Guard vice commandant Adm. Charles Ray tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday after experiencing mild symptoms over the weekend, the Coast Guard announced Tuesday.

Ray was at the Pentagon on Friday, according to the Coast Guard. Some of his meetings included other service chiefs, top Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said in his own statement. Continue reading.

Pro-Trump Media Continue To Undermine Public Health — Using President’s Illness

Some of President Donald Trump’s most avid media supporters are counterintuitively claiming that his diagnosis and hospitalization for COVID-19 proves they were right to downplay the effectiveness of public health recommendations to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. It’s a recipe for more carnage from a pandemic that has already killed more than 213,000 Americans, so of course the president seems to be adopting their view.

Trump recklessly ignored the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations for reducing the risk of getting the virus, instead relying on a flawed rapid testing regime that did not prevent him from contracting it. Where the CDC calls for people to stay at least six feet apart from others, he has continued to hold rallies and other well-attended public events, as well as indoor receptions, where social distancing is scarce. The CDC urges people to wear a face mask in public settings and around people from outside your household, but the president both scorns donning one himself and discourages his staff and supporters from putting them on. While the CDC suggests quarantining if you learn you have been exposed to COVID-19, Trump instead held a fundraiser at his New Jersey golf club.

Trump’s diagnosis could have finally triggered some soul-searching among his media supporters. For months, they have sought to bolster the president’s political standing by minimizing the danger posed by the virus, denouncing public health recommendations, and calling for the swift return to economic normalcy. Their propaganda put their audiences at risk — including the president — whose worldview they shape. But rather than acknowledging this and behaving more responsibly in light of Trump’s hospitalization, several are using it as evidence they were right all along.  Continue reading.

Trump’s fearlessness of coronavirus is powered by the type of health care only he gets

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President Trump is sending some discordant messages as he projects that he has turned the corner on his own coronavirus infection. He’s said he “learned a lot” about the disease and also advised Americans to not “be afraid.” All the while, he’s expressed gratitude for the medical professionals attending to him.

“This is an incredible hospital — Walter Reed,” he said in a video tweeted Monday. “The work they do is just absolutely amazing. And I want to thank them all — the nurses, the doctors, everybody here.”

Reflecting on his stint in the hospital, he added: Continue reading.

Trump Returned To The White House And Took His Mask Off While Infected With COVID-19

The president’s doctors said he was well enough to leave the hospital on Monday evening, despite warning signs that suggest his COVID-19 case may be severe.

President Donald Trump returned to the White House on Monday, just hours after doctors admitted they are in “uncharted territory” because of the COVID-19 treatments he’s received.

Trump did not respond to questions from reporters as he exited the hospital and got into an SUV, saying only “thank you very much” while giving an occasional thumbs-up.

Marine One touched down on the White House’s South Lawn at around 6:54 p.m., after which Trump walked up the South Portico stairs, removed his face mask, and stood on the balcony overlooking the lawn for photos. Continue reading.

Trump health official meets with doctors pushing herd immunity

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A top Trump health official met Monday with a group of doctors who are proponents of the controversial “herd immunity” approach to COVID-19, even as other experts warn of its deadly and dangerous consequences.

Martin Kulldorff, a professor at Harvard; Sunetra Gupta, a professor at Oxford; and Jay Bhattacharya, a professor at Stanford, all of whom are epidemiologists studying infectious diseases, were invited to the meeting by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Scott Atlas, an adviser to Trump on whom other experts have cast doubt for his statements about COVID-19, including his endorsement of herd immunity. 

In the meeting, the three doctors told Azar that allowing the virus to spread uncontrolled among young, healthy people while protecting older adults and those at higher risk for serious illness would build up enough population immunity to stop it from spreading widely while avoiding lockdowns and other mitigation measures that have had a damaging impact on the economy.  Continue reading.

CDC says airborne transmission plays a role in coronavirus spread in a long-awaited update after a website error last month

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention acknowledged Monday that people can sometimes become infected with the novel coronavirus through airborne transmission, especially in enclosed spaces with inadequate ventilation.

The long-awaited update to the agency Web page explaining how the virus spreads represents an official acknowledgment of growing evidence that under certain conditions, people farther than six feet apart can become infected by tiny droplets and particles that float in the air for minutes and hours, and that they play a role in the pandemic.

The update follows an embarrassing incident last month when the agency removed a draft that had not gone through proper review and was posted in error. The draft’s wording included a reference to aerosols — tiny droplets that can stay in the air, potentially traveling a significant distance. Officials said the draft was removed because they feared the language could be misinterpreted as suggesting that airborne transmission is the main way the virus spreads. Continue reading.

‘Doomed to fail’: Why a $4 trillion bailout couldn’t revive the American economy

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An avalanche of U.S. grants and loans helped the wealthy and companies
that laid off workers. Individuals received about one-fifth of the aid.

The four spending bills that Congress passed earlier this year to address the coronavirus crisis amounted to one of the costliest relief efforts in U.S. history, and the undertaking soon won praise across the political spectrum for its size and speed.

The $4 trillion total of government grants and loans exceeded the cost of 18 years of war in Afghanistan.

“We’re going to win this battle in the very near future,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said after the Senate approved the Cares Act, the largest of the four measures. Continue reading.

The Pandemic Depression Is Over. The Pandemic Recession Has Just Begun.

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Signs of a slower, grinding recovery sure look familiar.

There is a straightforward narrative of the economy in 2020: The world shut down in the spring because of the coronavirus pandemic, causing an economic collapse without modern precedent. A sharp recovery began in May as businesses reopened.

That is accurate as far as it goes. But the snapback effect over the summer has masked something more worrying: We’ve entered a longer, slower grind that puts the economy at risk for the indefinite future.

In the details of government employment data — covering hundreds of industries — can be seen a jobs crisis that penetrates deeply into the economy. Sectors that in theory shouldn’t be much affected by the pandemic at all are showing patterns akin to a severe recession. Continue reading.

‘Privileged’ Republicans with COVID-19 are getting ‘top-tier’ health care while others die

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The case for Medicare for All was once again made by the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, Sen. Ed Markey tweeted on Sunday, after Republican politicians were able to check themselves into hospitals shortly after announcing they had tested positive for Covid-19.

Markey noted that throughout the coronavirus pandemic, in which more than 7.4 million cases have been detected and more than 209,000 people in the U.S. have died, people have attempted to get care at hospitals after testing positive and showing worsening symptoms, only to be turned away and “told only to come back when they could not breathe.”

“Now politicians are checking into hospitals as a ‘precaution.’ Healthcare should be a right, not a privilege,” Markey wrote. “We need Medicare for All.” Continue reading.