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Some Ask a Taboo Question: Is America Overreacting to Coronavirus?

Developing news from the U.K. Huge if it continues:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/05/14/london-has-just-24-new-coronavirus-cases-day/
 
I'm getting old and lazy. It is irksome to continually read the same articles from one end of the country to the other for news. The Congressional Record is getting as bad as the journal editors...
https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/three-american-cities-foster-crusades-for-local-control-of-their-newspapers/

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/from-the-editor-why-it-takes-local-journalism-to-uncover-national-scandals-like-the-boeing-737-max-disaster/
 
1. "Hospitals Knew How to Make Money. Then Coronavirus Happened.

Surgeries are canceled. Business models are shifting. Some of the hardest-hit hospitals may close, leaving patients with fewer options for care."

"When the top-ranked Mayo Clinic stopped all nonemergency medical care in late March, it began to lose millions of dollars a day.

The clinic, a Minnesota-based hospital system accustomed to treating American presidents and foreign dignitaries, saw revenue plummet as it postponed lucrative surgeries to make way for coronavirus victims. The hospital network produced $1 billion in net operating revenue last year, but now expects to lose $900 million in 2020 even after furloughing workers, cutting doctors’ pay and halting new construction projects.

The disruption to hospital operations may ultimately leave Americans with less access to medical care, according to financial analysts, health economists and policy experts. Struggling hospitals may close or shut down unprofitable departments. Some may decide to merge with nearby competitors or sell to larger hospital chains. “There is a huge threat to our capability to provide basic services,” Dr. Blumenthal said.

Hospitals are losing an estimated $50 billion a month now, according to the American Hospital Association. And 134,000 hospital employees were among the estimated 1.4 million health care workers who lost their jobs last month, data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows. Across the country, hospitals reported seeing between 40 and 70 percent fewer patients from late March through early May, many of them scheduled for profitable services like orthopedic surgery and radiological scans.

Nationally, the nonprofit Urban Institute projects between eight million and 15 million new Medicaid enrollments among those losing the private insurance they had through employers. An additional five million to 10 million Americans who lose such plans are expected to become uninsured, and four million to eight million will transition to the Affordable Care Act’s individual market plans or other sources of private insurance.

Kalispell Regional Medical Center in northwest Montana has already seen a 1 percent increase in Medicaid enrollees as patients begin to trickle back into the hospital last month. That shift from private insurance to public insurance represents a loss of $600,000 because of lower reimbursements, said Craig Boyer, the hospital’s chief financial officer.

The hospital has experienced steep revenue declines after canceling most surgeries and seeing a 34 percent drop in emergency room visits. Kalispell treated a small number of coronavirus patients, including 37 who tested positive and four admitted to the hospital.

He also worries that a lull in summer travel will depress revenue. His hospital typically sees more patients then as visitors flock to Glacier National Park, 30 miles away. The hospital has received $10.3 million in federal stimulus plans but does not expect that to cover its losses.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/15/us/hospitals-revenue-coronavirus.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage

2. [Yipes, hope this isn't saying that there's no antibody immunity, and there's some other explanation.]

"5 sailors aboard Roosevelt carrier retest positive for coronavirus a 2nd time"

"In an alarming development, five sailors aboard the Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier in Guam have retested positive for COVID-19 after quarantining for the disease, and have been removed from the embattled warship a second time, the Navy announced Friday.

The news raises questions about whether the massive vessel with nearly 5,000 sailors can safely return to sea. It also adds uncertainty to the broader understanding of the virus’ ability to reinfect individuals, effective quarantine requirements and the accuracy of testing.

“This is not behaving like any infectious disease I have heard of if these tests are accurate,” said John Swartzberg, a UC Berkeley infectious disease expert. “None of this makes sense.”

All five sailors had previously tested positive and were evacuated off the ship, which has been stuck in Guam since late March after the virus swept through the close quarters of the nuclear-powered carrier. They spent at least 14 days in quarantine on the island; the healthy sailors isolated in individual hotel rooms and the infected sailors together in group quarantine on the naval base. The sailors were allowed back on the Roosevelt only after testing negative twice, the tests administered at least 48 hours apart.

“While onboard, these five TR sailors self-monitored and adhered to the strict social distancing protocols established by the Navy,” the Navy said. “These five sailors developed influenza-like illness symptoms and did the right thing reporting to medical for evaluation.

A defense official said this new issue arose when one sailor, who had been asymptomatic even after testing positive and in group quarantine on the base, began to show flu-like symptoms. Contact tracing led to about 20 other sailors, and four of those tested positive.

Swartzberg said the development was baffling. It meant these sailors had the virus smoldering for a longer time than expected, meaning incubation periods could be longer than two weeks. Or more likely, he said, there were false test results among the several tests given the five sailors.

“It’s very possible COVID has some more surprises for us,” he said.

Even before the Navy began cycling hundreds of sailors at a time in late April back onto the ship, some previously healthy sailors in hotel rooms began testing positive at the end of their quarantine period. The Navy started a medical study last month in conjunction with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, knowing they had a unique population to learn about how the virus works. About 300 samples were collected and results are expected next month, the Navy said."

San Francisco Chronicle: https://apple.news/AoC0awHb7RtSwrWJnVtbV0w

3. "Washington colleges brace for potential 15% cut in state funding

Washington’s public colleges and universities, already taking financial hits from the COVID-19 pandemic, may have to contend with a 15% reduction in state funding in the next fiscal year – a move that could cost jobs and academic programs. With the state facing a projected $7 billion hole in revenue through the 2023 fiscal year, Gov. Jay Inslee on Wednesday ordered state agencies to plan for some $1.9 billion in budget cuts. Agencies also were told to freeze hiring, halt equipment purchases and consider ways to shrink, postpone or eliminate programs.

Those agencies include public colleges and universities, which are being asked to find a total of $310 million in savings. Next to tuition, state funding is one of the primary sources of revenue for public higher education institutions.

Washington State University’s target is $37.2 million, while Eastern Washington University’s is about $10 million, according to spokespeople for those institutions.

For the Community Colleges of Spokane – the district that includes Spokane Community College and Spokane Falls Community College – a 15% cut would mean a loss of about $11 million.

In a statement Friday, CCS Chancellor Christine Johnson said a cut of that magnitude “would have a devastating impact on the most vulnerable students and families we serve – 360,000 community college students across Washington – and the equity damage to all these students would take decades to repair.”

Higher education institutions across the country are receiving billions of dollars from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security, or CARES, Act that Congress passed in late March. But many school officials say that assistance won’t make up for all the money they’ve lost due to the pandemic.

Some schools have given refunds for tuition, room and board, and other fees. Officials also worry about potential declines in enrollment due to the pandemic.

EWU has said it will take an “online first, maximum flexibility” approach, maintaining the ability to switch between online and in-person formats."

The Spokesman-Review: https://apple.news/ANo0Mze6yMxyZG0Xz4NZmSA

4. "Apple and Google are building a virus-tracking system. Health officials say it will be practically useless.

As states and national governments make efforts to use technology to augment their contact tracing efforts, Apple and Google's monopoly in the smartphone market has proved an obstacle."

[This is very interesting article if you're interesting in stuff like this. Privacy issues.]

"Apple and Google’s announcement last month of a joint effort to track the coronavirus by smartphone sparked a wave of excitement among public health officials hoping the technology would help alert them to potential new infections and map the pandemic’s spread.

But as the tech giants have revealed more details, officials now say the software will be of little use. Due to strict rules imposed by the companies, the system will notify smartphone users if they’ve potentially come into contact with an infected person, but it won’t share any data with health officials or reveal where those meetings took place.

Local health authorities in states like North Dakota, as well as in countries such as Canada and the United Kingdom, say they’ve pleaded with the companies to give them more control over the kinds of information their apps can collect. Without the companies’ help, some worry their contact tracing systems will remain dangerously strained.

But Apple and Google have refused, arguing that letting the apps collect location data or loosening other smartphone rules would undermine people’s privacy. The companies are also concerned that easing the restrictions around apps’ Bluetooth use would drain phone battery life, which could irritate customers. That unbending stance has led some health authorities to abandon hopes of building a fully functioning contact-tracing app.

The struggle for effective digital contact tracing is reshaping the debate over the trade-offs between privacy and public health when lives are immediately at stake. Public officials say the need to understand how the virus is spreading is urgent, informing decisions about whether communities can reopen and detecting future outbreaks.

But the tech giants’ resistance to letting public health officials access people’s data has a long precedent of keeping personal information out of the hands of governments. Apple and Google said they reached out to hundreds of public health officials for input on the software before it was announced.

“If it’s between Google and Apple having the data, I would far prefer my physician and the public health authorities to have the data about my health status,” she said. “At least they’re constrained by laws.”

The Apple-Google system uses the short-range Bluetooth antennas in smartphones to log when two people come into contact for a short period of time, but not where that contact took place. An alert is sent if one of the people tests positive for a coronavirus infection, but that information is not shared with public health officials or contact-tracing teams.

That limitation has led some health authorities to attempt to build their own apps outside of the Apple-Google design. But developers around the world who have tried to build their own systems have run into functionality issues. For example, Apple restricts all apps not made by Apple from tracking Bluetooth in the “background” to avoid battery drain and privacy issues.

The Washington Post: https://apple.news/ no paywall.

5. "China Admits it Destroyed Early Coronavirus, Confirming U.S. Accusation"

"China has acknowledged it destroyed some samples of the novel coronavirus in the early stages of the outbreak, but challenged U.S. allegations that this was conducted as part of a cover-up.

Liu Dengfeng, a supervisor at the science and education division of China's National Health Commission, said at a news conference Friday in Beijing that the Chinese government issued an order on January 3 to dispose of novel coronavirus samples at certain facilities not qualified to handle such highly infectious diseases as a measure to "prevent the risk to laboratory biological safety and prevent secondary disasters caused by unidentified pathogens."

The move came after the novel coronavirus, known now officially as SARS-CoV-2, was classified as Class II or "highly pathogenic" based on research and expert recommendations, Liu said. This decision necessitated "clear requirements on the collection, transportation, experimental use and destruction of the pathogen" in order to avoid a potential mishap or leakage, he said.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has argued since last month that the January 3 order was an attempt to cover up the extent of the outbreak. He has accused China of censoring research regarding the coronavirus and of attempting to influence international efforts to battle the illness.

"The Chinese Communist Party tried to suppress information about this virus, about where it began, about how it started, about how it was being transmitted from human to human, indeed employed the World Health Organization to further that storyline," Pompeo told Christian radio program Focus on the Family on Monday.

Defending Beijing's approach, Liu said Friday that Chinese public health laws clearly stipulate that institutions not meeting the requirements to handle such samples must either transfer them to a qualified depositary for safekeeping or destroy them."

Newsweek: https://apple.news/A1m2d78B8S3e_IY2_CeXtlQ

6. [I read that U.S. accounts for nearly a third of the world's 4.5 million confirmed Virus cases and over a quarter of the approximately 300,000 recorded deaths worldwide.]

7. "What We Know About Your Chances of Catching the Virus Outdoors

A stir-crazy nation wonders: Is it safe to stroll on the beach in a deadly pandemic? How about a picnic in the park? Or coffee with a friend at an outdoor table? The risk is in the details."

[This is a very good article.]

"As states move to relax restrictions intended to fight the coronavirus pandemic, even the simplest outdoor activities seem fraught with a thousand questions and calculations.
Is it safe to meet friends in the park, as long as they stay six feet away, on the other side of a blanket? What about a burger and beer at an outdoor restaurant? How risky is a trip to the beach or swimming pool with the kids?

The good news: Interviews show a growing consensus among experts that, if Americans are going to leave their homes, it’s safer to be outside than in the office or the mall. With fresh air and more space between people, the risk goes down.

But experts also expressed particular caution about outdoor dining, using locker rooms at pools and crowds in places like beaches. While going outside can help people cope with quarantine fatigue, there is a risk they will lower their guard or meet people who are not being safe.

“I think going outside is important for health,” said Julia L. Marcus, an epidemiologist and assistant professor at Harvard Medical School. “We know that being outdoors is lower risk for coronavirus transmission than being indoors. On a sunny, beautiful weekend, I think going outside is indicated, but I also think there are things to do to reduce our risk.”

Even in the hard-hit New York region, some restrictions will be eased. Connecticut plans to allow outdoor seating at restaurants and outdoor exhibits at zoos on May 20. New Jersey, New York, Delaware and Connecticut will open state beaches on Memorial Day weekend, restricting them to 50 percent capacity. But New York City’s beaches and pools will remain closed.

Ideally, people should socialize only with people who live in their homes, they say. If you decide to meet friends, you’re increasing your risk, but you can take precautions. It’s important to keep gatherings small. Don’t share food, utensils or beverages; keep your hands clean; and keep at least six feet from people who don’t live in your home.

“I think outdoors is so much better than indoors in almost all cases,” said Linsey Marr, an engineering professor and aerosol scientist at Virginia Tech. “There’s so much dilution that happens outdoors. As long as you’re staying at least six feet apart, I think the risk is very low.”

Pandemic life is safer outdoors, in part, because even a light wind will quickly dilute the virus. If a person nearby is sick, the wind will scatter the virus, potentially exposing nearby people but in far smaller quantities, which are less likely to be harmful.

“The virus load is important,” said Eugene Chudnovsky, a physicist at Lehman College and the City University of New York’s Graduate Center. “A single virus will not make anyone sick; it will be immediately destroyed by the immune system. The belief is that one needs a few hundred to a few thousand of SARS-CoV-2 viruses to overwhelm the immune response.”

While the risk of outdoor transmission is low, it can happen. In one study of more than 7,300 cases in China, just one was connected to outdoor transmission. In that case, a 27-year-old man had a conversation outdoors with a traveler who had just returned from Wuhan. Seven days later, he had his first symptoms of Covid-19.

“The risk is lower outdoors, but it’s not zero,” said Shan Soe-Lin, a lecturer at the Yale Jackson Institute for Global Affairs. “And I think the risk is higher if you have two people who are stationary next to each other for a long time, like on a beach blanket, rather than people who are walking and passing each other.”

One recent study found that just talking can launch thousands of droplets that can remain suspended in the air for eight to 14 minutes. But the risk of inhaling those droplets is lower outdoors.

Although scientists don’t have data on the novel coronavirus specifically, other coronaviruses are not stable in water and are very sensitive to chlorine, said Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.

“In my opinion, pool water, fresh water in a lake or river, or seawater exposure would be extremely low transmission risk even without dilution (which would reduce risk further),” Dr. Rasmussen said in an email. “Probably the biggest risk for summer water recreation is crowds — a crowded pool locker room, dock or beach, especially if coupled with limited physical distancing or prolonged proximity to others. The most concentrated sources of virus in such an environment will be the people hanging out at the pool, not the pool itself.”
Experts say that a person walking, jogging or cycling too close for a few seconds is not a big worry.

According to Dr. Chudnovsky, a sunny day is better than a cloudy day, because there’s more sunlight to kill the virus and more wind to dilute it. If you want to take extreme precautions, position yourself upwind from other people. “This may be especially important at the beach, where people tend to spend a long time at one localized place,” he said.

Another worry: Because it can take two weeks for symptoms to appear after a person is infected, there is no way to know if you’re going to the beach or the park in the midst of an invisible local outbreak, experts said. It’s yet another reason to take precautions.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/15/us/coronavirus-what-to-do-outside.html?algo=top_conversion&fellback=false&imp_id=92098885&imp_id=250380208&action=click&module=Most%20Popular&pgtype=Homepage

8. "Stuck at Home, Men in Japan Learn to Help. Will It Last?

The coronavirus pandemic is exposing like never before the severe disparities in how Japanese couples divide household work."

"Mr. Kataoka, a marketing web consultant, believed he was already doing his share. He gave his wife a list of tasks he regularly performs: bathing their two pre-school-age children, washing dishes, overseeing tooth brushing.

How little he knew. In a meticulous spreadsheet, Ms. Kataoka, a nursing student, enumerated her 210 tasks to his 21.

But men in Japan do fewer hours of household chores and child care than in any of the globe’s wealthiest nations. In a survey last year by Macromill, a market research firm, about half of Japanese working couples reported that men did 20 percent of the housework or less.

For working couples, Japan’s efforts to combat the spread of the virus — encouraging teleworking and asking residents to stay inside — have highlighted disparities in the division of domestic work that shape households across the globe but are especially pronounced in Japanese society.

Men who usually see their families only briefly in the morning and at night have been spending weekdays at home during Japan’s coronavirus state of emergency, allowing them to witness just how many chores must be done. Women who toil invisibly doing laundry, dealing with finances and cooking meals are now asking their husbands to pitch in.

The results can be combustible: Arguments sometimes erupt over whose turn it is to sweep up or help with math lessons for newly homebound students. Living quarters are cramped, and feel even smaller with everyone stuck inside. And there are doubts that this dose of domesticity, which may be over in weeks, will open men’s eyes enough to reverse entrenched patterns.

Still, some men say they now feel closer to their families, and hope Japan’s often inflexible work culture will change sufficiently to allow them to spend more time at home even when the pandemic passes.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/16/world/asia/coronavirus-japan-household-work.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

9. "Trump says he is considering restoring some funding to WHO, no decision made"

"U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday his administration was considering numerous proposals about the World Health Organization, including one in which Washington would pay about 10% of its former level.

In a posting on Twitter, Trump underscored that no final decision had been made and that U.S. funding for the global health agency remained frozen.

Trump suspended U.S. contributions to the WHO on April 14, accusing it of promoting China's "disinformation" about the coronavirus outbreak and saying his administration would launch a review of the organization. WHO officials denied the claims and China has insisted it was transparent and open.

Fox News, citing a draft letter, reported late on Friday that Trump was poised to restore partial funding to the WHO, matching China's assessed contribution."

https://news.yahoo.com/trump-says-considering-restoring-funding-132249479.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9zZWFyY2gueWFob28uY29tL3NlYXJjaD9laT11dGYtOCZmcj1hYXBsdyZwPXRydW1wK3dpc2xsK3Jlc3RvcmUrZnVuZHMrdG8rd2hv&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAM-ADwMRrnmgJtncCL4OHkLS31GVdXqeyDzwxVYmN7CXLs1vRsC-2CWV82mV3S_yehwjGD2ogJdosY5JQc1cfU6ZdcpDSuszF4vrJia7k9zn9Y3J6OWV3Jp5z31jQJzaeJKfplHn4URmg3l1FPTjAF5tMxRoswQVhyfOPfZZtEa3
 
Spanky2 said:
Player, tremendous summary of pertinent virus related activity!!
Click to expand...

Thx. And I forgot to post one of the best articles, which will take more time to read and figure out what is important. It looks like a good article on the Obama pandemic "playbook". I need to get back to several other articles on the topic, and I previously started to skim the 69-page playbook, which is actually only 40 pages with 29 pages of exhibits. There is so much partisan BS on this, that I need to actually study this one to figure what seems to be closer to reality and truth. Preview is: the playbook was more on how to make decisions and communicate, not on what to do; it became a bit dated; the Trumpees point to several more recent playbooks that they prepared. I don't yet know if the Trumpees' playbooks were real or smoke. So far, the Obama playbook is very boring. I want to see if it even mentions shutdowns or social distancing.
 
thought this was an interesting article. talks about how the ccp's aggressive and confrontational approach to dealing with other countries regarding the virus has backfired, and pretty badly. also mentions the billions of masks and other equipment that were donated to china in january and february, which the ccp seems to have conveniently forgot. hell, we sent masks to family there, and they were confiscated by the government, according to a message we received two months later (via tracking we know they arrived in the destination city in 5 days). i'm sure the comments section for this article will be full of the ccp's 50 cent warriors (the wumao), who get paid by the post to write pro-ccp missives. south china morning post, no paywall: https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3084537/chinas-aggressive-approach-coronavirus-criticism-not-working
 
argh! said:
thought this was an interesting article. talks about how the ccp's aggressive and confrontational approach to dealing with other countries regarding the virus has backfired, and pretty badly. also mentions the billions of masks and other equipment that were donated to china in january and february, which the ccp seems to have conveniently forgot. hell, we sent masks to family there, and they were confiscated by the government, according to a message we received two months later (via tracking we know they arrived in the destination city in 5 days). i'm sure the comments section for this article will be full of the ccp's 50 cent warriors (the wumao), who get paid by the post to write pre-ccp missives. south china morning post, no paywall: https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3084537/chinas-aggressive-approach-coronavirus-criticism-not-working
Click to expand...
Very interesting.

Reporter based in Beijing. Hmmm ... wonder if she will get "a visit"?
 
Crap. Was just finishing summarizing 19 articles and lost the post. A squirrel was making a bunch of noise in a tree right above me. I looked up, and I mishit something.
 
PlayerRep said:
Crap. Was just finishing summarizing 19 articles and lost the post. A squirrel was making a bunch of noise in a tree right above me. I looked up, and I mishit something.
Click to expand...
Easily distracted; take your Concerta.
 
why is this south korean soccer team apologizing for filling the stands with sex dolls? they should be applauded for creativity and humor: https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/18/football/fc-seoul-sex-dolls-apology-scli-intl-spt/index.html
 
PlayerRep said:
Crap. Was just finishing summarizing 19 articles and lost the post. A squirrel was making a bunch of noise in a tree right above me. I looked up, and I mishit something.
Click to expand...

Squirrel!
 
[This is yesterday's report, the one I did and then lost before I posted. I may combine today's with tomorrow's.]

1. "10-4: How to Reopen the Economy by Exploiting the Coronavirus’s Weak Spot

People can work in two-week cycles, on the job for four days then, by the time they might become infectious, 10 days at home in lockdown.

"We can find a way out of this dilemma by exploiting a key property of the virus: its latent period — the three-day delay on average between the time a person is infected and the time he or she can infect others. [I didn't know this. First time I've seen it.]

People can work in two-week cycles, on the job for four days then, by the time they might become infectious, 10 days at home in lockdown. The strategy works even better when the population is split into two groups of households working alternating weeks.

Austrian school officials will adopt a simple version — with two groups of students attending school for five days every two weeks — starting May 18.
. [I think the Missoula school system has this idea in its quiver too.]

Models we created at the Weizmann Institute in Israel predict that this two-week cycle can reduce the virus’s reproduction number — the average number of people infected by each infected person — below one. So a 10-4 cycle could suppress the epidemic while allowing sustainable economic activity.

Even if someone is infected, and without symptoms, he or she would be in contact with people outside their household for only four days every two weeks, not 10 days, as with a normal schedule. This strategy packs another punch: It reduces the density of people at work and school, thus curtailing the transmission of the virus.

Schools could have students attend for four consecutive days every two weeks, in two alternating groups, and use distance-learning methods on the other school days. Children would go to school on the same days as their parents go to work.

Businesses would work almost continuously, alternating between two groups of workers, for regular and predictable production. This would increase consumer confidence, shoring up supply and demand simultaneously.

During lockdown days, this approach requires adherence only to the level of distancing already being demonstrated in European countries and New York City. It prevents the economic and psychological costs of opening the economy and then having to reinstate complete lockdown when cases inevitably resurge. Giving hope and then taking it away can cause despair and resistance."

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/11/opinion/coronavirus-reopen.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage

2. "Tensions rise between the White House and CDC as Birx critiques virus tracking"

As the coronavirus pandemic stretches past its ninth week, tensions are rising between the White House and the nation's leading public health agency. In interviews with CNN, senior administration officials in Washington, as well as top officials at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta describe a growing sense of mistrust and animosity between the White House and CDC over how quickly the US should reopen and how the government tracks data on the virus.

In particular, Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator for the President's coronavirus task force, has become increasingly critical of the CDC, making clear in recent meetings that she is more than frustrated with the agency, according to two senior administration officials. Specifically, Birx believes the way the CDC gathers data on the coronavirus is antiquated, causing inaccurate and delayed numbers on both virus cases and deaths.

Birx has expressed her agitation during recent task force meetings, where at least one conversation between her and CDC Director Robert Redfield has grown heated, according to a source close to the task force. Birx and Redfield have known each other for decades, due to their work on HIV research together. And while Birx defended Redfield to their peers earlier this year over the CDC's faulty test kits, her tone toward him has shifted dramatically in recent weeks, according to multiple officials and a source close to the task force.

There has also been significant tension between the White House and CDC over guidelines on how to reopen the country.

Even as the President has publicly rebuked Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, he remains totally supportive of Birx, officials tell CNN. "She is charming and listens to him. She has found a way to shut down his bad ideas without making him feel diminished, unlike Fauci and some of the others," said one senior administration official. The President has expressed on multiple occasions how great he thinks Birx is, the official said, "It is clear that she has his ear."

Since Birx first joined the task force as its coordinator, there has been a healthy amount of skepticism toward her among senior CDC officials who spoke to CNN.

One senior official, who has known Birx since she served as the division director of Global HIV/AIDS at the CDC from 2005 to 2014, said Birx has always "enjoyed being front and center."

"From the beginning of her role at the White House, Debbie Birx is out for Debbie Birx," the official said."

Read in CNN Politics: https://apple.news/A9_7SSiZKTaGrJtLHz23cow

3. "As US coronavirus death toll mounts, so does the belief by some that it is exaggerated

There's a reason why some people believe government officials are exaggerating the number of COVID-19 fatalities."

"Some states count presumed coronavirus deaths along with confirmed cases under Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance issued last month. Other states don't count those deaths.

"I think a lot of clinicians are putting that condition (COVID-19) on death certificates when it might not be accurate because they died with coronavirus and not of coronavirus," Macomb County, Mich., Chief Medical Examiner Daniel Spitz in an interview with the Ann Arbor News last month.

"Are they entirely accurate? No," Spitz said. "Are people dying of it? Absolutely. Are people dying of other things and coronavirus is maybe getting credit? Yeah, probably."

The doctor also told Fox News that he believes there are people who died of COVID-19, but weren't counted. Determining a COVID-19 death is based on each doctor's best clinical impression and that varies, he said."

[My take is that virus deaths are either undercounted or over-counted.]

Read in Fox News: https://apple.news/AI_1ehKxkR0-eAQ8eL_Im9g

4. "Perspective | We could stop the pandemic by July 4 if the government took these steps

A $74 billion investment in testing, tracing and isolation could rescue the economy"

There is already a bipartisan plan to achieve this; we helped write it. The plan relies on frequent testing followed by tracing the contacts of people who test positive (and their contacts) until no new positive cases are found. It also encourages voluntary isolation, at home or in hotel rooms, to prevent further disease spread. Isolated patients would receive a federal stipend, like jurors, to discourage them from returning to workplaces too soon.

But our plan also recognizes that rural towns in Montana should not necessarily have to shut down the way New York City has. To pull off this balancing act, the country should be divided into red, yellow and green zones. The goal is to be a green zone, where fewer than one resident per 36,000 is infected. Here, large gatherings are allowed, and masks aren’t required for those who don’t interact with the elderly or other vulnerable populations. Green zones require a minimum of one test per day for every 10,000 people and a five-person contact tracing team for every 100,000 people. (These are the levels currently maintained in South Korea, which has suppressed covid-19.) Two weeks ago, a modest 1,900 tests a day could have kept 19 million Americans safely in green zones. Today, there are no green zones in the United States.

Most Americans — about 298 million — live in yellow zones, where disease prevalence is between .002 percent and 1 percent. But even in yellow zones, the economy could safely reopen with aggressive testing and tracing, coupled with safety measures including mandatory masks. In South Korea, during the peak of its outbreak, it took 25 tests to detect one positive case, and the case fatality rate was 1 percent. Following this model, yellow zones would require 2,500 tests for every daily death. To contain spread, yellow zones also would ramp up contact tracing until a team is available for every new daily coronavirus case. After one tracer conducts an interview, the team would spend 12 hours identifying all those at risk. Speed matters, because the virus spreads quickly; three days is useless for tracing. (Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., are all yellow zones.)

A disease prevalence greater than 1 percent defines red zones. Today, 30 million Americans live in such hot spots — which include Detroit, New Jersey, New Orleans and New York City. In addition to the yellow-zone interventions, these places require stay-at-home orders. But by strictly following guidelines for testing and tracing, red zones could turn yellow within four weeks, moving steadfastly from lockdown to liberty.

Getting to green nationwide is possible by the end of the summer, but it requires ramping up testing radically. The United States now administers more than 300,000 tests a day, but according to our guidelines, 5 million a day are needed (for two to three months). It’s an achievable goal. Researchers estimate that the current system has a latent capacity to produce 2 million tests a day, and a surge in federal funding would spur companies to increase capacity. The key is to do it now , before manageable yellow zones deteriorate to economically ruinous red zones.

States can administer these “test, trace and supported isolation” programs — but Congress would need to fund them."

Read in The Washington Post: https://apple.news/. no paywall

5. "Open the Bottle and Let’s Zoom: California Wineries Try Online Tastings During Coronavirus

As the shutdown halts tourism, vineyards that rely on visits to tasting rooms ship bottles and host virtual events"

[My wife has done a couple virtual wine tastings with a friend's winery in Paso Robles. They were fun.]

"The nation’s $30 billion wine industry stands to lose nearly $6 billion this year due to the coronavirus disruptions, according to wine consultant Jon Moramarco. Top producers with grocery shelf space will benefit from a projected $1.3 billion jump in non-winery retail sales, he estimated.

But he said the majority of the nation’s 10,000 wineries and grape growers are likely to see losses this year because so many are dependent on sales in tasting rooms and restaurants.

“I think some wineries, but a relatively small number, may throw in the towel because of the coronavirus—particularly smaller wineries that depend on tasting room sales for their livelihoods,” said Cyril Penn, editor of Wine Business Monthly.

The effects have been particularly painful for Sonoma and Napa counties, where wine-related business including tourism contributes more than $20 billion to the economies, according to local vintner groups.

Even with virtual tastings, sales at Honig and Vincent Arroyo are off about 50% and 40%, respectively, they said.

It is hard to recruit new customers online, said Mr. Ledson, who estimates his winery lost about a quarter of its $2 million in monthly sales in April compared with the same month a year ago. Mr. Ledson said his winery recently has been able to sign up only about one new customer to its membership club for every three who cancel.

“There is nothing that replaces personal contact,” Mr. Ledson said.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/open-the-bottle-and-lets-zoom-california-wineries-try-online-tastings-during-coronavirus-11589648400?mod=hp_lead_pos7

6. "New COVID-19 cases in New York coming from people leaving home, Cuomo says

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Saturday the state's new confirmed COVID-19 cases are predominantly coming from people who left their homes to shop, exercise or socialize, rather than from essential workers.

"New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Saturday the state’s new confirmed COVID-19 cases are predominantly coming from people who left their homes to shop, exercise or socialize, rather than from essential workers.

“That person got infected and went to the hospital or that person got infected and went home and infected the other people at home,” Cuomo said during his daily news conference on the coronavirus outbreak.

Driven by the impact in New York City, the state has accounted for more than one-third of the nearly 80,000 American who have died from COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, according to a Reuters tally.

Statewide, the outbreak is ebbing, with coronavirus hospitalizations falling to 6,220, more than a third of the level at the peak one month ago, state data showed."

Read in Reuters: https://apple.news/AWUbXDM7OSESBtA2UpsfhAw

7. "China locks down city of Jilin over 6 coronavirus cases

"City of Jilin in the northeastern part of China has partially shut its borders, cut off transport links and closed schools.

This followed the emergence of a local coronavirus cluster that has fuelled fears about a second wave of infections.

Jilin, with a population of more than four million, suspended bus services Wednesday.

It said it will only allow residents to leave the city if they have tested negative for COVID-19 in the past 48 hours and complete an unspecified period of “strict self-isolation”.

https://www.msn.com/en-za/news/other/china-locks-down-city-of-jilin-over-6-coronavirus-cases/ar-BB143huL

8. "Coronavirus could push Social Security to insolvency before 2030

“This is a train wreck that’s going to happen and you can see it coming."

The last official government projection had the program running out of money by 2035. But some outside economists are looking at the trends and moving up the date when the program starts paying out more than it takes in: Tens of millions of workers are suddenly unemployed and not paying into the government account that funds benefits for retired workers. At the same time, a flood of older Americans who’ve lost jobs are expected to start drawing benefits as soon as they’re eligible.

At least 36.5 million people aren’t paying payroll taxes into the program right now, and a second surge in early retirements is expected. Social Security benefits can be collected at the age of 62, though there is a penalty for not waiting until full retirement age.
Without accounting for the pandemic and the ensuing financial downturn, the federal government estimated last month that the program can fully issue benefits until 2035. At that point, only 76 percent of benefits can be paid out.

When accounting for the pandemic, the Bipartisan Policy Institute estimates that the depletion date will move up from 2035 to 2029.

Read in POLITICO: https://apple.news/AO7zTyvdQRGOu4U9fyotl8A

9. "Coronavirus could cost top-flight European clubs £3.5bn

Top-flight European clubs stand to lose more than £3.5bn because of Covid-19 even if all the major domestic leagues and competitions reach their conclusion."

Top-flight European clubs stand to lose more than £3.5bn because of Covid-19 even if the major domestic leagues and competitions reach their conclusion.

It is estimated if the competitions failed to reach their conclusions, the figure would rise to more than £6.2bn.

The German Bundesliga resumed on 16 May while the Premier League is aiming to restart on 12 June.

The eye-watering sums explain why so much work is going into plans to complete all the competitions - and start next season's, including the logistical difficulty of organising 203 two-legged qualifying ties involving all 55 Uefa nations, to be completed before the middle of October.

Despite speculation to the contrary, BBC Sport understands that for sporting, political and financial reasons, Uefa is committed to retaining the inclusivity of its competitions and would only cut access as a last resort.

However, adjustments may have to be made, including the potential for one-off ties and regional qualifying, if the process is to be completed in time.

Even if leagues restart, for the foreseeable future there will be no spectators in grounds, a situation Borussia Dortmund estimate will cost them £2.6m per game.

Business analysts Vysyble estimate Premier League clubs will lose £878m if matches have to be played behind closed doors until the end of the 2020-21 season. The bigger clubs suffer the heaviest losses, with Manchester United set to lose £140m and Arsenal £122m. Bournemouth's income would reduce by £6.7m.

This may be viewed by some as a positive in levelling a playing field tilted heavily towards the bigger clubs.

However, others see it as an inescapable fact that finance generated by the elite drives the game, through the transfer market and more valuable competitions.

"This is financially devastating for all clubs - particularly those who rely more proportionately on sheer numbers of fans."

Read in BBC News: https://apple.news/AJQblt6gDQ1mOUFOak-S-EA

10. "Restaurant and bar owners say social distancing could wipe out their industry

The US state of Georgia allowed restaurants to reopen on April 27. The three owned by Ryan Pernice are still shuttered."

""If you talk to restaurants across the globe, the language might change, but the math is the same," Pernice told CNN Business. "Restaurants and bars need volume and traffic to make them work."

Pernice has been forced to lay off or furlough 80 of his 120 staff. Around the world, millions more restaurant and bar workers have lost their jobs as countries impose strict lockdowns designed to contain the pandemic. Some of those restrictions are now being eased, but restaurants and bars are not being prioritized for reopening because they are viewed as venues where the virus might spread.

Restaurant owners and managers are grappling with the brutal math that underpins their industry. Margins are razor thin, forcing eateries and bars to pack in customers every night, and especially on the weekends, in order to stay afloat. In the toughest markets, that means multiple waves of guests, and tables that are pushed together as closely as possible.
It's a business model that is simply not compatible with social distancing.

"There will be no profits for us while we are social distancing," said Blaiss Nowak, another Georgia restaurateur who chose to reopen when restrictions were lifted last month. "There are a great amount of restaurants that I've heard will never open again."

Nowak has reduced the number of customers in his restaurant from 200 a night to just 50, with tables spread 12 feet apart. The main dining area, which used to accommodate 60 people at a time, is now limited to 24. He hopes that by opening now, his employees will be trained to deal with social distancing when customers feel more safe returning to eat.

Some restaurateurs say they will remain closed rather than open with reduced seating. New York restaurant operator Union Square Hospitality Group laid off around 2,000 people in March and its CEO, Danny Meyer, said last week that he doesn't expect customers to return until a vaccine is found.

In the United Kingdom, three quarters of bars and restaurant operators are not confident they will survive social distancing and many would prefer to stay closed, according to a survey of over 260 establishments conducted by bar and restaurant guide SquareMeal."

Read in CNN Business: https://apple.news/ATSlWixnHRpuVNUxDiFd50g

11. "13 USS Theodore Roosevelt sailors test positive after recovering from Covid-19"

[First it was 5; now it's 13.]

"Thirteen sailors aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt have tested positive again for Covid-19 after recovering from the disease and returning to the ship, which has been stranded in Guam since late March after an outbreak of the virus, according to two U.S. defense officials.

The Roosevelt's crew began returning to the ship in late April after spending a month either in quarantine or isolation in Guam. But sailors in early May began showing symptoms of the virus, such as a cough and fever, despite testing negative twice.

Some of the sailors who returned to the ship showed expanded symptoms, including body aches and headaches, according to one official. This has slowed the move back onto the ship, as all sailors who return must have been symptom-free for three days and have tested negative twice, as well as completed their isolation period.

CNN first reported on Thursday that five sailors had tested positive after reboarding the ship, so the new number means the positive cases have more than doubled."

Read in POLITICO: https://apple.news/AGI0dnC9eTfmrusNGvOGL5Q

12. "Coal industry will never recover after coronavirus pandemic, say experts

Crisis has proved renewable energy is now a safer investment, and accelerated the shift

"The global coal industry will “never recover” from the Covid-19 pandemic, industry observers predict, because the crisis has proved renewable energy is cheaper for consumers and a safer bet for investors."

[I didn't review carefully, or double-check, so I don't know if this is true, or partisan.]

Read in The Guardian: https://apple.news/AINEyQGthQhSuwxKyxBmjtg

13. "Did singing together spread coronavirus to four choirs?"

[A scientist quoted below doesn't think so.]

In Amsterdam, 102 members of one choir fell ill, and cases have been reported in Europe, America and the UK. But scientists cannot agree on the cause"

"On 8 March this year, the Amsterdam Mixed Choir gave a performance of Bach’s St John Passion in the city’s Concertgebouw auditorium. It was one of the last major classical concerts to be held in the Netherlands before the country went into Covid-19 lockdown.

The performance had unexpected consequences. Days later, singers began to sicken, one by one, until 102 of 130 choristers had fallen ill with Covid-19. One 78-year-old died, as did three partners of choir members; singers ended up in intensive care; and conductor Paul Valk displayed serious symptoms.

Nor was this the only major chorus to suffer from Covid-19. Members of the Skagit Valley Chorale, based in Washington State, met for a rehearsal in March and within three weeks, 45 of them had been diagnosed with the disease or had symptoms. Three were hospitalised and two died. Similarly 50 members of the Berlin Cathedral Choir contracted the coronavirus after a March rehearsal, and in England many members of the Voices of Yorkshire choir became infected with a Covid-like disease earlier this year.

But not all scientists agree with the idea that our musical appetites pose a health. In particular, fluid mechanics expert Professor Christian Kähler of the Military University, Munich was highly doubtful about the dangers posed by concerts and decided to conduct experiments in the wake of the Amsterdam outbreak to find out how far singers and musicians expel air and droplets.

“I have been studying how droplets and aerosols behave for decades and I was very doubtful that musicians and singers were spreading the virus. So I decided to measure just how strong was the airflow from them,” Kahler told the Observer last week. “We studied singing in low and high frequencies and all sorts of things like that. We also studied different instruments."

And yes, one or two instruments did pose threats in terms of their powerful air flow and might spread virus particles dangerously if some form of protection was not added. In particular the flute is especially strong while the oboe and clarinet also posed problems. “The large wind instruments like the horn were not dangerous but the flute could be, it turned out. Its air flow is considerable.

“However, we also found out that singing is quite safe. It was not the cause of the outbreaks of Covid-19 at these concerts ,” he said. “Air was only propelled about half a metre in front of a singer, and that is not far enough to cause the infection levels of these outbreaks.”

Kähler said the virus was probably spread among chorus members because of their close proximity to each other before and after rehearsals and performances. As he pointed out: “These outbreaks among choir members all occurred during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, before lockdowns were imposed and before our minds were concentrated on the importance of social distancing. Choir members probably greeted each other with hugs, and shared drinks during breaks and talked closely with each other. That social behaviour was the real cause of these outbreaks, I believe.”

Read in The Guardian: https://apple.news/AltDZdeDgTb-OCXZ0iyevxA

14. "Major nursing home chain violated federal standards meant to stop spread of disease even after start of covid-19, records show

As the coronavirus spread, inspectors found that staffers in some Life Care homes failed to wash hands, wear masks and isolate patients."

"Nursing homes operated by Life Care Centers of America, one of the largest chains in the industry, violated federal standards meant to stop the spread of infections and communicable diseases even after outbreaks and deaths from covid-19 began to sweep its facilities from the Pacific Northwest to New England, inspection reports show.

Over the past six weeks, as the nationwide death toll among the elderly soared, government inspectors discovered breakdowns in infection control and prevention at at least 10 Life Care nursing homes that underwent covid-19 inspections overseen by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. That does not include deficiencies found at the Life Care Center of Kirkland in Washington state, which suffered the country’s first reported outbreak of the novel coronavirus in February.

Since the outbreak in Kirkland, the privately owned company with more than 200 nursing homes has seen at least 2,000 cases and 250 deaths among residents and staff, according to a Post tally of state data and local media accounts. Five Life Care nursing homes have experienced outbreaks of 100 or more cases.

In the past three years, dozens of Life Care homes received below-average staffing ratings or were flagged during inspections for not having enough nurses to properly care for patients, according to CMS.

At Life Care Center of Kirkland, which has had at least 100 reported cases, residents last year recounted waiting extended periods of time for help bathing and using the bathroom. One resident said she developed sores from sitting for too long on a soiled bedpan, the inspection report showed.

The Justice Department in recent years accused the company’s billionaire owner of leaving Life Care “severely undercapitalized” while engaging in a “systematic scheme to maximize its Medicare billing.” Prosecutors say Life Care subjected patients to excessive, unnecessary and “sometimes even harmful” rounds of rehabilitation therapy to draw Medicare dollars and chastised or punished those who complained the practice undermined the judgment of therapists at the expense of patients."

[I assume the plaintiffs lawyers will clobber this company.]

Read in The Washington Post: https://apple.news/AP--74Cf0SN6-nCLR02VODg no paywall

15. "Where New Yorkers Moved to Escape Coronavirus"

[This has very interesting graphics. Where did NYers go in US.? Where in NY state? One graphic has dots showing where people went. Some in MT. One in northeastern MT. Sign up for the free NY Times virus coverage.]

"In March, the United States Post Office received 56,000 mail-forwarding requests from New York City, more than double the monthly average. In April, the number of requests went up to 81,000, twice the number from a year earlier. Sixty percent of those new requests were for destinations outside the city.}

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/05/16/nyregion/nyc-coronavirus-moving-leaving.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage
 
AZGrizFan said:
PlayerRep said:
Crap. Was just finishing summarizing 19 articles and lost the post. A squirrel was making a bunch of noise in a tree right above me. I looked up, and I mishit something.
Click to expand...

Squirrel!
Click to expand...

I was on my deck at lake, and on side by a tree. A squirrel was only about 5 feet above me, and making a lot of noise. We have lots of critters around now. Chipmunks, bears, fox, raccoons, eagles, osprey, bats, humming birds. No mountain lion sitings this year. Haven't seen any mink either. Except for eagles and osprey, all of these animals have been on our decks at times.
 
Today's MT report:

2 new cases, 4 hospitalizations, and 20 pending. No new cases yesterday. I think hospitalizations were down to 3 yesterday.
 
Using synthetic RNA to make vaccines. Would be a game changer beyond Covid. Keep fingers crossed:

https://reason.com/2020/05/18/irrational-exuberance-over-covid-19-coronavirus-vaccine-news/
 
PlayerRep said:
AZGrizFan said:
Squirrel!
Click to expand...

I was on my deck at lake, and on side by a tree. A squirrel was only about 5 feet above me, and making a lot of noise. We have lots of critters around now. Chipmunks, bears, fox, raccoons, eagles, osprey, bats, humming birds. No mountain lion sitings this year. Haven't seen any mink either. Except for eagles and osprey, all of these animals have been on our decks at times.
Click to expand...

Aww the legendary lake place where so many Griz FB bros have been wined & dined over the years. It wouldn't be a PR post if it didn't have subtle a humblebrag crowbarred in there somewhere.
 
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