Tag: pandemic

Statements from Speaker Hortman and Majority Leader Winkler on Republican Senate removing Commerce Commissioner Steve Kelley

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SAIN PAUL, MINNESOTA — Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler released the following statements on the Republican Senate removing Commerce Commissioner Steve Kelley.

“Governor Walz and his administration are trying to combat a global pandemic and instead of working with him, Senate Republicans are actively making it harder to fight this virus,” said Speaker Hortman. “It’s irresponsible for Republicans to continue to target individuals over a political disagreement with the Governor.”

“Sabotaging government agencies during a pandemic is as dangerous as it is shameless,” said House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler. “The GOP should be using this special session to work on bipartisan COVID relief for Minnesota families and businesses – not to brag about executing hostages and undermining public health. This reckless vote is proof that the Republican majority is unfit to lead the Senate during the greatest crisis of our lifetimes.”

Republican Lawmakers Admit to Playing Politics with a Pandemic

SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA– Today, during Minnesota’s 4th special legislative session, GOP Assistant Minority Leader Jon Koznick appeared to send an email intended for his GOP colleagues to House DFLers by mistake. In his email, Koznick said, in part:

a friendly, reminder (as discussed in caucus) to stay on message IF you speak today-
COVID issues are not our winning message. PUBLIC SAFETY is our ticket to the majority, let’s win with that.

Not only did Republicans admit they have nothing to say on the most important public safety issue of our time, COVID-19, they also appear to be using government resources to campaign.

Continue reading “Republican Lawmakers Admit to Playing Politics with a Pandemic”

Some assertions Donald ‘I don’t want to create panic’ Trump has made since February

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President Trump’s defense for having privately admitted in early February that the novel coronavirusposed a significant threat to the United States — a message that he repeatedly undermined in the following months — was a simple one. He repeatedly downplayed the threat the virus posed because he didn’t want Americans to live in fear.

“The fact is, I’m a cheerleader for this country. I love our country,” Trump said during an event at the White House on Tuesday. “And I don’t want people to be frightened. I don’t want to create panic, as you say. And certainly, I’m not going to drive this country or the world into a frenzy.”

One can certainly argue that there is a difference between being honest with the public and instilling panic. It’s the difference between the phlebotomist saying that you’ll feel a slight pinch and his trying to get you to look in the other direction while he without warning jams a needle into your arm. My 3-year-old doesn’t like medicine, but we’re past the point where we pretend he’s just getting a funny-colored glass of apple juice. Continue reading.

Experts: US is experiencing a ‘K-shaped’ recovery that has troubling implications for the future of America’s economy

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During a Sunday appearance on “Fox News Sunday,” Symone Sanders, a senior campaign adviser to Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, lamented how recent economic gains were distributed unequally. “It is going well for folks at the top, but for folks who are middle class or below, it’s going down,” Sanders told host Bret Baier. “The question really is, is this [economy] working for working families, and the answer is no.”

The economic pickle Sanders described is sometimes called a “K-shaped” recovery — meaning one in which the wealthy benefit from the recovery while everyone else continues to suffer. Regardless of one’s feelings about the Biden campaign, Sanders’ analysis is echoed by economists — who say that the nascent K-shaped recovery has troubling implications for the future of America’s economy.

“I do think the USA is seeing a K-shaped recovery,” Dr. Gabriel Mathy, a macroeconomist at American University, told Salon by email. “The working class has to continue working, and the government transfers and additional unemployment insurance payments are falling. They must work outside the home, exposing themselves to the virus, and with schools opening they must find childcare. Richer groups have seen their stock portfolios rise and they are working from home, doing okay.” Continue reading.

Emails show HHS official trying to muzzle Fauci

Emails obtained by POLITICO show a top aide at the department dictating what the nation’s top infections disease expert should say during media interviews.

A Trump administration appointee at the Department of Health and Human Services is trying to prevent Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, from speaking about the risks that coronavirus poses to children.

Emails obtained by POLITICO show Paul Alexander — a senior adviser to Michael Caputo, HHS’s assistant secretary for public affairs — instructing press officers and others at the National Institutes of Health about what Fauci should say during media interviews. The Trump adviser weighed in on Fauci’s planned responses to outlets including Bloomberg News, BuzzFeed, Huffington Post and the science journal Cell.

Alexander’s lengthy messages, some sent as recently as this week, are couched as scientific arguments. But they often contradict mainstream science while promoting political positions taken by the Trump administration on hot-button issues ranging from the use of convalescent plasma to school reopening. Continue reading.

Trump Said He Underestimated How Quickly The Coronavirus Would Spread Despite Reports Saying He Knew

“All of a sudden, the world was infected. The entire world was infected,” Trump said when asked about his comments to Bob Woodward.

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump insisted Wednesday that he didn’t expect the coronavirus outbreak would spread to the degree it ultimately did, even as a newly released interview showed he was privately worried about how deadly and contagious the virus was in early February.

“You didn’t really think it was going to be to the point where it was,” Trump told reporters during an unrelated press conference at the White House. “All of a sudden, the world was infected. The entire world was infected.”

His comments contradict reports in an upcoming book from journalist Bob Woodward that describe a president who was fully aware of the potential danger Americans faced with the coronavirus and regarded it as “deadlier than even your strenuous flu.” Woodward pinpoints the time frame in which the president’s aides advised Trump that the pandemic would be the “roughest thing” he’d face in his presidency. Ten days later, Woodward writes, Trump reiterated the same sentiment during an interview. Continue reading.

Trump’s lies cost tens of thousands of American lives–and Bob Woodward has the proof on tape

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It is not news that Donald Trump downplayed the severity of Covid-19 for an extended period of time, calling it a “hoax” and blaming Democrats and the media for exaggerating the seriousness of the pandemic to hurt him politically. But we live in a hyperpolarized country with a balkanized media environment, and that makes it incredibly significant that veteran journalist Bob Woodward captured Trump saying as much himself, explicitly, on tape.

In an interview Woodward recorded for his new book, Rage, on February 7, Trump said that the Coronavirus was “tricky,” that it spread via airborne transmission and was five times more lethal than seasonal influenza. “This is deadly stuff,” he added. That was three weeks before the United States would suffer the first of its almost 200,000 confirmed fatalities due to Covid-19.

Less than three weeks later, on February 26, Trump publicly compared Covid with the flu during a White House press conference. Continue reading.

Trump privately called coronavirus ‘deadly’ while comparing it to flu publicly: Woodward book

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President Trump acknowledged the danger of COVID-19 in recorded interviews even as he publicly downplayed the threat of the emerging coronavirus pandemic, according to a new book from Bob Woodward.

Trump told the Washington Post journalist in a March 19 interview that he “wanted to always play it down” to avoid creating a panic, according to audio published by CNN. But the president was privately aware of the threat of the virus.

“You just breathe the air and that’s how it’s passed,” Trump said in a Feb. 7 call with Woodward for his book, “Rage,” due out next week. “And so that’s a very tricky one. That’s a very delicate one. It’s also more deadly than even your strenuous flu.” Continue reading.

Ultraviolet light can make indoor spaces safer during the pandemic – if it’s used the right way

Ultraviolet light has a long history as a disinfectant and the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19, is readily rendered harmless by UV light. The question is how best to harness UV light to fight the spread of the virus and protect human health as people work, study, and shop indoors.

The virus spreads in several ways. The main route of transmission is through person-to-person contact via aerosols and droplets emitted when an infected person breathes, talks, sings or coughs. The virus can also be transmitted when people touch their faces shortly after touching surfaces that have been contaminated by infected individuals. This is of particular concern in health-care settings, retail spaces where people frequently touch counters and merchandise, and in buses, trains and planes.

As an environmental engineer who studies UV light, I’ve observed that UV can be used to reduce the risk of transmission through both routes. UV lights can be components of mobile machines, whether robotic or human-controlled, that disinfect surfaces. They can also be incorporated in heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning systems or otherwise positioned within airflows to disinfect indoor air. However, UV portals that are meant to disinfect people as they enter indoor spaces are likely ineffective and potentially hazardous. Continue reading.

California’s GOP Senate leader was under quarantine. She spoke with no mask at a huge prayer event anyway.

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In front of thousands of worshipers packed shoulder-to-shoulder outside the Capitol, California Senate Minority Leader Shannon Grove (R) grabbed the microphone on Sunday and promised the huge church event would have a real impact.

“I declare that after all of this is over tonight, the remnant, the residue of this worship will saturate this ground and seep into that building,” Grove told the crowd, the Sacramento Bee reported.

But state leaders are warning the event’s impact could actually be a mass coronavirus outbreak. Although Grove’s permit allowed 1,000 people and required social distancing, the California Highway Patrol said three times as many showed up; videos showed virtually no social distancing or masks in the crowd. Continue reading.