Tag: pandemic
USPS had plan to send 5 face masks to every home as coronavirus exploded. The White House killed it
Back in April as coronavirus was exploding across the country, the U.S. Postal Service had a plan to send five reusable facemasks to every home across the country.
The White House killed the plan.
“USPS leaders drafted a news release announcing plans to distribute 650 million masks nationwide, enough to offer five face coverings to every American household,” The Washington Post reports. Continue reading.
Ten days: After an early coronavirus warning, Trump is distracted as he downplays threat
In explaining why he repeatedly misled the American public about the early dangers posed by the novel coronavirus, President Trump has argued that he did not want to engender panic — and suggested that his actions showed he took the looming pandemic seriously.
But a detailed review of the 10-day period from late January, when Trump was first warned about the scale of the threat, and early February — when he acknowledged to author Bob Woodward the extent of the danger the virus posed — reveals a president who took relatively few serious measures to ready the nation for its arrival.
Instead, enabled by top administration officials, Trump largely attempted to pretend the virus did not exist — spending much of his time distracted by impeachment and exacting vengeance on his political enemies. He also carried on as usual with showy political gatherings and crowded White House events. Continue reading.
Ex-RNC chair Steele ‘exasperated’ by ‘dumba–‘ Trump supporters who refuse to wear masks
Former Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Michael Steele said Wednesday he’s “exhausted” and “exasperated” by what he described as “dumbass” Trump supporters who refuse to wear masks.
“I’ve talked to enough of them over the last few days,” Steele said on MSNBC. “I’m exhausted, I’m exasperated. You know, at this point it’s like, save who you can save because there’s only so much you can do.”
“The fact that we have to literally beg people to wear a mask to save their own dumb ass from getting sick — I’m sorry, to me, it is beyond the imagination,” added Steele, who was RNC chairman from 2009-2011. Continue reading.
Gov. Walz and Lt. Gov. Flanagan Weekly Update
Friday, September 18, 2020
This week …
Governor Tim Walz and Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan continued their Statewide Safe Learning Tour, visiting schools in Albert Lea, Byron, and St. Louis Park. The Governor and Lieutenant Governor are kicking off the start of the 2020-21 school year by visiting students and educators both in-person and virtually across the state.
Governor Walz Authorizes Minnesota Support for Oregon Fire Response
Monday, Governor Walz announced 29 Minnesota firefighters and nine fire trucks will travel to Salem, Oregon on Tuesday morning to help protect structures threatened by wildfires across the state. The authorization follows a request from Oregon officials through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC). “The Minnesota fire service is known for stepping up in critical situations, putting their lives on the line to save others. I am proud of the way they’ve answered this call to serve. My thoughts are with the residents of Oregon, California, and Washington during this harrowing time,’ said Governor Walz.
Continue reading “Gov. Walz and Lt. Gov. Flanagan Weekly Update”
Math on Trump Covid strategy has millions dying before it works
Trump touts herd immunity approach to COVID-19 that experts warn would kill millions: ‘He’s describing a massacre’
Insisting during a town hall Tuesday night that Covid-19 will simply disappear on its own—echoing a baseless claim he also made in February, March, April, May, June, July, and August—President Donald Trump touted a so-called “herd immunity” approach to the pandemic that public health experts warn would lead to hundreds of millions of new coronavirus infections and millions of additional deaths.
“We’re gonna be OK. And it is going away,” Trump told ABC‘s George Stephanopoulos. “And it’s probably gonna go away now a lot faster with the vaccine. It would go away without the vaccine, George.”
When Stephanopoulos replied that “many deaths” would result such a scenario, Trump said: “You’ll develop like a herd mentality. It’s gonna be herd developed, and that’s gonna happen. That will all happen. But with a vaccine, I think it will go away very quickly. But I really believe we’re rounding the corner, and I believe that strongly.” Continue reading.
Trump, in town hall, says he wouldn’t have done anything differently on pandemic
President Trump faced tough questions from undecided voters during a wide-ranging town hall Tuesday night on ABC in which he was pressed to defend his responses to the coronavirus pandemic, racial justice protests and health care.
Trump often praised his own performance and said problems were the fault of others.
He said he would not do anything differently with regard to his response to the pandemic, despite nearly 200,000 Americans having died from the outbreak. He blamed China for the pandemic and said he saved many lives by “closing up the country.” His claim he could not have done more to slow the deadly virus has been rebutted by a number of epidemiologists. Continue reading.
Pelosi seeks to put pressure on GOP in COVID-19 relief battle
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Tuesday sought to heighten the pressure on Republicans to move a new round of coronavirus relief, announcing that the House will return to the Capitol next month to vote on another aid package if a bipartisan agreement is struck before the elections.
Pelosi stopped short of promising a House vote on a new emergency stimulus proposal before the chamber recesses at the end of September — a tactic endorsed by a growing number of moderate Democrats concerned about the political optics of leaving Washington without acting to address the health and economic fallout of the deadly pandemic.
Although the House passed the $3.4 trillion HEROES Act in May — a bill ignored by Senate Republicans — conditions on the ground have changed significantly in the four months since then, as the coronavirus death toll approaches 200,000, schools struggle to reopen, and tens of millions of workers remain unemployed. A growing chorus of centrist lawmakers are wary of returning to their districts just weeks before the elections with nothing new to show. Continue reading.