Tag: Trump putting his re-election over American lives

Despite widespread economic toll, most Americans still favor controlling outbreak over restarting economy, Post-ABC poll finds

Washington Post logoNearly 6 in 10 Americans say the coronavirus outbreak has exacted a severe economic toll on their communities, but a majority of a divided country still says controlling the virus’s spread is more important than trying to restart the economy, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll.

The nationwide survey finds that despite the shared disruption of their daily lives since stay-at-home orders began, partisans differ sharply on how the country should move forward.

In the starkest split, 57 percent of Americans overall and 81 percent of Democrats say trying to control the spread of the coronavirus is most important right now, even if it hurts the economy. A far smaller 27 percent of Republicans agree, while 66 percent of them say restarting the economy is more important, even if it hurts efforts to control the virus. Nearly 6 in 10 independents say their priority is trying to control the virus’s spread. Continue reading.

Paul Krugman: A stronger GDP won’t help Americans if they’re dead

AlterNet logoLiberal economist Paul Krugman, in his New York Times column, has been stressing that the better a job the United States does with social distancing policies now, the better off the U.S. economy will be in the long run. In his Thursday column, Krugman warns that a premature reopening could hurt the U.S. both economically and from a health standpoint.

“America is now engaged in a vast, dangerous experiment,” Krugman writes. “Although social distancing has limited the spread of the coronavirus, it is far from contained. Yet despite warnings from epidemiologists, much of the country is moving to open up for business as usual.”

President Donald Trump and his allies, Krugman notes, have been asserting that a speedy reopening is necessary in order to “save the economy.” But Krugman emphasizes that a strong GDP isn’t going to help Americans who die needlessly. Continue reading.

Rising ICU bed use ‘a big red flag’

States proceed with reopening plans despite warnings local hospitals may struggle to handle a new coronavirus outbreak.

Intensive care units in Montgomery, Ala., are overflowing with Covid-19 patients, pushing them into emergency departments that are not primed to care for them. And Alabama’s capital city could be a harbinger for other parts of the country.

ICU beds are also starting to fill up in places like Minnesota’s Twin Cities; Omaha, Neb.; and the entire state of Rhode Island, according to local health officials and epidemiologists tracking such data, a warning sign of possible health care problems down the road. The availability of ICU beds is one measure of a hospital’s ability to care for its most vulnerable patients — people with severe illness who require more staff to treat them and may need life-support equipment such as a ventilator to breathe. And it’s served as a metric for whether the local health care system is able to handle a coronavirus outbreak, albeit a constantly shifting one.

Some state leaders deny there are problems, saying they are prepared to convert regular hospital beds to ICU beds, if necessary. In the meantime, they are pressing ahead with reopening plans. Continue reading.

Trump calls mask wearing ‘politically correct,’ Biden calls him a ‘fool’

Washington Post logoPresident Trump dismissed a mask-wearing reporter as being “politically correct” on Tuesday, while the presumptive Democratic candidate, Joe Biden, called him a “fool” for mocking their use.

The president’s refusal to wear a face mask in public, defying recommendations from public health experts, has become a symbol for his supporters resisting stay-at-home orders amid the coronavirus crisis. To wear one then is seen by some as being anti-Trump.

In early April, Trump announced new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that Americans wear face coverings in public to slow the spread of the coronavirus, reversing the administration’s earlier recommendations that masks weren’t necessary. The president was clear, however, that he would not be wearing a mask — even though “it may be good” advice. Continue reading.

‘How the Trump White House sees you’: President’s economic adviser slammed for calling workers ‘human capital stock’

AlterNet logoIn a remark critics characterized as further evidence that the Trump administration views workers as nothing more than disposable tools of economic growth and corporate profit, White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett on Sunday nonchalantly referred to laid-off employees as “human capital stock” as he pushed people to return to their jobs amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Voicing optimism about the potential for a speedy economic recovery even as U.S. unemployment surges to levels not seen since the Great Depression, Hassett told CNN Sunday that “our capital stock hasn’t been destroyed, our human capital stock is ready to get back to work, and so that there are lots of reasons to believe that we can get going way faster than we have in previous crises.”

Rolling Stone‘s Peter Wade wrote Monday that “the way Hassett used the term so casually lines up with the lack of empathy shown to the victims of the coronavirus by Trump’s administration and Republicans since the crisis began months ago.” Continue reading.

The meat industry is trying to get back to normal. But workers are still getting sick — and shortages may get worse.

Washington Post logoThere are now more than 11,000 coronavirus cases tied to Tyson Foods, Smithfield Foods and JBS

Tyson Foods, the largest meat processor in the United States, has transformed its facilities across the country since legions of its workers started getting sick from the novel coronavirus. It has set up on-site medical clinics, screened employees for fevers at the beginning of their shifts, required the use of face coverings, installed plastic dividers between stations and taken a host of other steps to slow the spread.

Despite those efforts, the number of Tyson employees with the coronavirus has exploded from less than 1,600 a month ago to more than 7,000 today, according to a Washington Post analysis of news reports and public records.

What has happened at Tyson — and in the meat industry overall — shows how difficult it is to get the nation back to normal, even in essential fields such as food processing. Meat companies have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on measures such as protective gear, paid leave and ventilation systems since they were forced to shut dozens of plants that were among the top coronavirus hot spots outside urban areas. Continue reading.

The Memo: Trump agenda rolls on amid pandemic

The Hill logoPresident Trump is pushing on with his agenda even as the coronavirus crisis dominates the political scene.

To critics, he is using the distraction of the COVID-19 pandemic as cover while making policy and personnel moves that would otherwise draw heated controversy.

The president’s defenders counter that he is simply doing what he has always done, pursuing the issues he has advocated since first running for the presidency. Continue reading.

Trump sides with religious leaders in fight against governors

The Hill logoTensions between religious leaders and governors over coronavirus restrictions surged to a new level this week when President Trump unexpectedly demanded immediate action from state leaders.

Many states have started allowing various businesses to open their doors to customers, but they’re requiring churches and other places of worship to keep theirs closed.

That’s led to mounting frustrations within religious communities and within the White House. Continue reading.

CDC Issues Alarming Triple-Fatality Report On COVID-19 Cases At Arkansas Church

The contagion study is released just as Trump is demanding that churches reopen.

COVID-19 cases first contracted by a pastor and his wife ended up spreading to 35 others who attended events at their rural Arkansas church that resulted in three deaths, a troubling report revealed Friday.

An additional 26 cases in the community occurred among people who had contact with those who participated in the church events, according to the study by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. One of them also died.

The study was released the same day President Donald Trump demanded churches and other houses of worship reopen for services amid the coronavirus crisis. He deemed religious services “essential” and threatened to override governors who ignored his orders for health and safety reasons. Legal experts don’t believe he has the authority to do so. Continue reading.

Video of Trumpian anti-mask jerks goes viral

AlterNet logoAuthor Anand Giridharadas on Friday shared on social media what he called an “end-of-empire” video featuring a compilation of Americans refusing to wear face masks in public places, purposefully coughing on others, and claiming their “freedom” is being trampled by public health guidance urging social distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“A misbegotten, warped freedom obsession is killing us,” Giridharadas tweeted.

In the video, one woman curses at and tries to hit a store employee after being refused entry for not wearing a face mask; another screams at workers and reaches over a plastic barricade to assault them; a man tells a Costco employee he doesn’t have to wear a mask because he “woke up in a free country,” and one woman tells a grocery store manager that she can’t wear a mask due to a medical condition and that she can’t use a delivery service because she wants to buy “private” items. Continue reading.