Tag: Trump botched COVID-19 response

CDC director says no revised school guidelines despite Trump’s push

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will not revise its guidelines for reopening schools despite calls from President Donald Trumpand the White House to do so, agency Director Dr. Robert Redfield said Thursday.

Instead, additional reference documents will be provided, Redfield told ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

As anxious parents and educators across the country hand wring over how to safely bring children back to the classroom, the discord between Trump and his top health advisers over appropriate precautions has added another layer of uncertainty. Continue reading.

Around 1.3 million people filed for first-time unemployment benefits last week

Despite historic levels of joblessness, the labor market is slowly recovering from months of shutdowns.

Around 1.3 million people filed for first-time unemployment benefits last week, the 14th straight week of declines, according to new figures from the Department of Labor.

Thursday’s data is further indication that despite historic levels of joblessness, the labor market is slowly recovering from months of shutdowns put in place to halt the spread of the coronavirus. More than 48 million people have now filed for unemployment benefits for the first time in the past 16 weeks.

Continuing claims data, which captures the number of people collecting ongoing benefits, fell sharply to just over 18 million, down by almost 700,000. Continue reading.

Trump is ‘flipping out’ because his botched school opening plan will be ‘very, very damaging’: disaster relief expert

AlterNet logoDisaster relief expert Jeremy Konyndyk believes President Donald Trump is scrambling to push schools to reopen this fall because he knows failing to do so will all but doom his 2020 reelection.

Konyndyk, a former Director of USAID’s Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance, has written a Twitter thread dissecting the president’s threats to cut off funds to schools that don’t open on time — and he believes the president is rushing to make up for lost time caused by his own incompetence.

“The reason the White House is suddenly flipping out about this is that they’re realizing the die is already cast, and it will be very, very damaging politically,” he writes. Continue reading.

Trump is shouting for schools to reopen. He needs an actual strategy.

Washington Post logoPRESIDENT TRUMP has seized upon a new campaign battle cry to reopen the schools this fall, not with distance learning but in person. Mr. Trump’s call reflects a genuine need, felt by parents, teachers and students, to get back to the classroom. In any calculus of recovery, schools must be a priority. But it is important that reopening be done smartly, avoiding Mr. Trump’s previous bungling and leadership bankruptcy.

All over the country this week, teachers, parents, students and administrators are wrestling with the methods of how to accomplish this, knowing the stakes are high. Students have already lost months of work; many parents need to return to jobs; a host of knock-on effects flow from canceled classes, including mental health troubles.

“SCHOOLS MUST OPEN IN THE FALL!!!” Mr. Trump declared on Twitter. But simply shouting the slogan is not a strategy. Schools must avoid hasty miscalculations such as those evident in Mr. Trump’s thoughtless drive in May to reopen states, which badly backfired and led to the present pandemic surge. The current wildfire of infection must be extinguished as a prerequisite to going back to classrooms. If Americans can’t wear masks and stay out of bars and restaurants, they won’t get the school bells ringing soon. Continue reading.

Trump wants to reopen schools. Hint: It’s not just about education.

Trump has ramped up a push to return children to the classroom as he tries to restore the economy for his reelection campaign.

President Donald Trump’s push to reopen America’s schools is about more than children’s education. It’s about the economy. And it’s about his reelection.

Because for Trump and his team, the issues are interlinked.

With children out of the house, they argue, parents can more easily return to work and juice the economy — something even the president’s allies consider a necessity for Trump to win reelection. And with Trump’s sagging poll numbers against presumptive 2020 rival Joe Biden, aides also hope the campaign for in-person schooling will play well with the female and suburban voters the president needs to remain in office. Continue reading.

Trump Resumes Promotion Of Debunked ‘Miracle’ Drug For Covid-19

Donald Trump spent Monday on Twitter touting an outlier study published by the Henry Ford Health System in Michigan about an anti-malarial drug he has previously presented as a ‘miracle‘ cure for COVID-19.

“Treatment with hydroxychloroquine cut the death rate significantly in sick patients hospitalized with COVID-19 — and without heart-related side-effects, according to a new study published by Henry Ford Health System,” Trump tweeted. “In a large-scale retrospective analysis, of 2,541 patients hospitalized between March 10 and May 2, 2020 across the system’s six hospitals, the study found 13 percent of those treated with hydroxychloroquine alone died compared to 26.4 percent not treated with hydroxychloroquine.”

The findings of the study have been disputed by other researchers. Continue reading.

Rare neurological disorder, Guillain-Barre Syndrome, linked to COVID-19

The patient in the case report (let’s call him Tom) was 54 and in good health. For two days in May, he felt unwell and was too weak to get out of bed. When his family finally brought him to the hospital, doctors found that he had a fever and signs of a severe infection, or sepsis. He tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 infection. In addition to symptoms of COVID-19, he was also too weak to move his legs.

When a neurologist examined him, Tom was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre Syndrome, an autoimmune disease that causes abnormal sensation and weakness due to delays in sending signals through the nerves. Usually reversible, in severe cases it can cause prolonged paralysis involving breathing muscles, require ventilator support and sometimes leave permanent neurological deficits. Early recognition by expert neurologists is key to proper treatment.

We are neurologists specializing in intensive care and leading studies related to neurological complications from COVID-19. Given the occurrence of Guillain-Barre Syndrome in prior pandemics with other corona viruses like SARS and MERS, we are investigating a possible link between Guillain-Barre Syndrome and COVID-19 and tracking published reports to see if there is any link between Guillain-Barre Syndrome and COVID-19. Continue reading.

US surpasses 3 million coronavirus infections

The Hill logoThe United States surpassed 3 million coronavirus infections on Wednesday, a grim milestone as the virus surges in more than half of all states, and a predicted waning of infections this summer never occurred.

Data from the John Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center showed the U.S. had 3,009,611 cases at midday on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, the U.S. set a record with 60,000 new cases. California and Texas both had more than 10,000 new cases in a single day, shattering previous records. Continue reading.

Why the US is falling behind in COVID-19

The Hill logoThe United States is falling further behind the rest of the world in fighting the coronavirus as cases set new domestic records.

New daily cases in the U.S. have spiked to a high of around 50,000, a glaring contrast with the European Union, where new case growth has largely been flattened and suppressed. The EU is averaging around 4,000 new cases per day, according to Our World in Data, less than a tenth of the new cases in the U.S., despite having about 100 million more people.

Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, was the latest authority to point to the contrast on Monday. Continue reading.

Leaders like Trump fail if they cannot speak the truth and earn trust

During a recent Senate committee hearing on the COVID-19 crisis, Dr. Anthony Fauci told lawmakers he was concerned about “a lack of trust of authority, a lack of trust in government.”

He had reason to be worried. The Pew Center reported that July 7 only 17% of people in the U.S. have confidence in government to do the right thing. Never in the history of their surveys, which began in 1958, has that confidence been so low.

Why is trust so low and why does that matter, especially during a crisis – and especially during this crisis? Continue reading.