A week ago there were 105. A week before that, 53.
It's increasing so fast it's difficult to imagine (as Ned shows). I also thought we wouldn't get to 1,000 until around Friday.
The Swiss government has said they will only test people with strong symptoms. They're giving up on containment.
I just read somewhere that the governor of Washington state is banning gatherings of more than 250 people.
It seems unlikely the US can enact containment levels on the scale and order of China in Wuhan province. (Or South Korea, which seems to now have a case load that's leveling off.) Or even Italy. Now is the time for Trump to make some very serious decisions about immediate actions here to see some containment. It's impossible for me to believe he's up to that task. In fact, he may be the worst person to be in charge right now.
In fact, not one of his tweets in the last five hours is about the virus.
In fact, this is the kind of twaddle we get from him:
— Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla) March 10, 2020
I notice that the Governer of New York state has quarantined New Rochelle.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the effective response will come at state level, rather than from the Federal government.
Any sign of the opposite reaction, small towns setting up road blocks to isolate themselves from outsiders?
Frightened armed men at road blocks? Perhaps the Covid-19 death toll will include the odd gun death.
Thanks for the update, DA. Yes, we reached 1000 quite a bit faster than predicted.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, this is #%@& ridiculous:
White House likely to pursue federal aid for shale companies hit by oil shock, coronavirus downturn
The White House is strongly considering pushing federal assistance for oil and natural gas producers hit by plummeting oil prices amid the coronavirus outbreak, as industry officials close to the administration clamor for help, according to four people familiar with internal deliberations. [...]
One of the companies hardest hit was Continental Resources, founded by Harold Hamm, a Trump supporter and an adviser to the president on energy issues. It lost more than half of its market value Monday, though it recovered about 8 percent by midday Tuesday. Hamm’s 77 percent personal stake in the company lost $2 billion of its value Monday.
Hamm said in an interview Tuesday he had reached out to the administration
As usual, when it comes to big business we privatize profits and socialize losses. That's bad enough when it's in an industry that's more or less innocuous, but bailouts for the fossil fuel industry are exponentially worse for policy.
And in this case it's not only bad economic policy and bad climate policy, it's also nakedly corrupt (Trump ally & donor named as "energy advisor", uses position to lobby for bailing out his own company).
Maybe this is the right moment to get Mexico to pay for the wall. /s
ReplyDelete