We’re used to hearing about the reasoning of climate deniers. Essentially: there is uncertainty in the science. Neela Bannergee and David Hasemyer of Inside Climate News say that line of argument was perfected back in the 1950s during the fight over smog in Los Angeles. And it is the same type of argument that the nasty guy is using to avoid having to do something about the coronavirus. What a surprise.
91-divoc, a website I’ve been checking each evening shows the rate of increase of coronavirus cases in the US is slowing. Three weeks ago, when the number of cases nationally was 10,000 the rate of increase was above 1.35 a day. So if there are 10,000 cases one day there would be 13,500 the next or doubling in three days and tripling in five. The chart now shows that the US for the last week has held the rate at 1.09, or doubling every ten days. Yes, this is a big improvement, but it isn’t safe to meet in groups yet.
If you don’t understand logarithmic scales on that page, you can click to a linear scale. Which is pretty scary.
How is this news being received? Philip Bump of the Washington Post looks at the models, which now indicate perhaps 60,000 deaths where they used to project 93,000 deaths. He says we should look at that and say the thing experts said would drive down deaths is working. But it is being spun as “experts were wrong!!”
If California was a country it would be the fifth largest economy in the world. It is also aggressively progressive with about ¾ of the state Democratic and has a racially diverse population. Which makes California the opposite of what the GOP is doing. Kos of Kos says that Gov. Gavin Newsom is fed up with the nasty guy’s incompetence (and malice), so has declared independence of sorts. He will do his own pandemic response, getting what protective equipment his state needs on the international market. He’ll even export what he can to the other states. In a way Newsom put himself in charge of the federal response. The nasty guy has long hated what California is doing. Here’s one more reason.
Want to see a competent response to the coronavirus? Mark Sumner of Kos says look to New Zealand. Three weeks after the US hit 100 cases there were 34,000 cases and 400 deaths (both much higher now). Three weeks after New Zealand hit 100 cases there are only 1,200 cases and 1 death. That’s because Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is a real leader.
Melissa Block of NPR tweeted a photo of a huge lot full of cars of the thousands of people at the San Antonio Food Bank.
Senator Elizabeth Warren tweeted:
Ronald Reagan famously said that the most terrifying words in the English language are “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”
In this crisis, we’ve seen that the most terrifying words are actually “We’re in a crisis and the government doesn’t have a plan to get us out.”
I had written before the US Postal Service is in deep financial distress and that the GOP in Congress would rather let the USPS die so corporations can make a profit in its place. Now it seems the GOP in Congress is willing to give them at least part of what they need. The holdup is the nasty guy. He’s angry at the USPS. I’ll let you try to figure out why.
My sister Laney was diabetic. She had been since she was a child. She took insulin several times a day for over 50 years. In the last couple years she complained about the huge increases in the cost of insulin and the problems in getting health insurance to cover all of it. This wasn’t an optional expense.
An apology to Laney’s widow – this is going to be hard to take: *The Hill* reports that the drugmaker is capping insulin costs at $35 to help diabetes patients during the pandemic. That prompted Brittany Cunningham to tweet:
Meaning they could have done this at any time.
Instead they let people die.
A few days ago my other sister complained my posts were too gloomy. Perhaps I could add a bit of mirth from late night comics?
No, I didn’t start watching. I can share an excerpt because Bill in Portland, Maine gathers some excerpts for the top of this Friday Cheers and Jeers posts on Kos. Here’s one from John Oliver:
I know Jared Kushner must have a stockpile of empathy in there somewhere. But it appears that that's his empathy, and he's not allowed to extend it to anyone else.
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