They sent the fire trucks home while the buildings were still on fire

Mark Sumner of Daily Kos discussed the current state of hospitals. Before getting to the COVID situation Sumner reminded us that health care conglomerates, which own hospitals, have been working to make sure there are just enough hospital beds for the patient load. Empty beds can’t be billed. That means 60-75% of hospital beds were full before COVID arrived. The goal is to maximize profit, which is distinct from taking care of people.

It is not a system designed to deal with a crisis in which tens of thousands of people need hospital care for a single disease every day. It’s especially not a system designed to deal with such a crisis for months on end. It’s not built for it. It’s not staffed for it. It’s not supplied for it.

Alabama doesn’t have any open ICU beds. Hospitals in Houston set up overflow tents, which is not good with Hurricane Nicholas bringing heavy rains. And Idaho has such a rise in cases that it is a problem ... for Washington state, Spokane in particular. That is a big problem for Washington residents who have a non COVID need for a hospital. Also annoying because Washington’s vaccination rate is one of the highest while Idaho’s rate is close to the bottom. In a second post Sumner reported that in places such as Texas and Florida, well, in half the nation, have permanently weakened the powers of public health officials to control any pandemic. These laws or executive orders block mask and vaccine (not just COVID) mandates, bock imposing quarantines, or block the close of businesses and schools. Sumner wrote:

Republicans didn’t just limit the powers of officials to deal with the raging pandemic. They did it while the disease was still spreading, hospitals overflowing, and thousands still dying. They didn’t just close down the fire department; they sent the trucks home while the buildings were still on fire.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott tweeted that Biden’s vaccine mandate was an assault on private businesses and a power grab. That prompted Bill Scher to riff on the state’s new abortion ban.

Under Texas rules, your right to choose the vaccine exists for six weeks after which if you remain unvaccinated any vaccinated American can sue you.

I like that idea. Larry Elder was the lead Republican candidate in the bid to remove California Gov. Gavin Newsom. Before the recall election Elder started saying that if Newsom kept his seat it was because of election fraud. Then Newsom kept his job, winning 67% of the vote. SemDem, of the Kos community reported that Elder is singing a different tune.

Elder lost by so much, however, that he realized he didn’t want to look like the sore loser Trump is. Elder rejected Trump’s statement that the election was rigged and asked his supporters to be “gracious in defeat.” This is something Trump is literally incapable of doing.