COVID-19

[motorman7]

Looks like trajectory is starting flatten here.  Will be good when the red line starts moving down.

 

 

[Zed Head]

I'm still waiting for gas prices to drop here in Washington, even though they should be paying me to fill up.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/20/oil-prices-sink-to-20-year-low-as-un-sounds-alarm-on-to-covid-19-relief-fund

[Zed Head]

The latest on hydroxychloroquine.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/20/trump-hydroxychloroquine-coronavirus-196191

[siteunseen]

33 minutes ago, Zed Head said:

The latest on hydroxychloroquine.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/20/trump-hydroxychloroquine-coronavirus-196191

Shocking unless there's a malaria outbreak. 

I read that newest one, rem?????, was created in good ole Alabama. Well actually Alabama, Tennessee and North Carolina all had a part but the main guy works at UAB.

 

[Pilgrim]

I heard the CO governor's press conference today. He's an excellent speaker who covers the issues pointedly and in detail. His risk assessment specialist covered 7 different scenario options in how they could approach the next step, and the governor explained each. It was absolutely great to hear a coherent, scientific, strategic and well-explained approach to next steps in this pandemic.

There are now more than 420 deaths, but the curve has been dropping for the last few days. It's encouraging and they are going to loosen the lockdown just a bit within some fairly strict parameters starting at the end of this week. The governor wants people who are low risk to increase their direct contacts with others by no more than 1/3 of normal - so if in an average day you contact 30 people, he wants you to try and keep it to no more than 10 per day. They are also cautioning seniors and high risk people not to change anything about their behavior for another month. His metaphor was that we've all been running a sprint for the past month, and now we have to settle into a marathon so work our way through the rest of the process.

In contrast, I was watching tonight when CNN spoke with the mayor of Atlanta. For some unknown reason, the governor of Georgia is basically opening the doors at the end of the week, even though their death count is still climbing! If you're in Atlanta, this would be a good time to get the hell out of there for a couple of months. I suspect they're about to have overloaded hospitals and unnecessary deaths. 

[240260280]

Yes it is just the flu and a natural virus,,,, you'll be sick for just a few days:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8237475/Chinese-doctors-critically-ill-COVID-19-wake-darkened-skin.html

[duffymahoney]

Pretty good news from a stanford study on antibody tests.

 

https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/04/20/feud-over-stanford-coronavirus-study-the-authors-owe-us-all-an-apology/

 

Infection rate is way higher then expected, but death rate is close to .12-.2%.  So much much lower.  So covid moves faster through the population, but is less lethal than thought. Amount of deaths are still so high because of it's infection rate.  Still puts total deaths at 400k for the US alone.  

[motorman7]

Winning the Battle but losing the War?

 

What concerns me most about the quarantine and lockdown is the impact that it has on our daily lives and ultimately those that will die as a result of it.  While we may be sparing a good number of people from Covid-19 fatality, it will be coming at the cost of increased, suicides, domestic abuse, drug overdoses, etc.

 

https://komonews.com/news/coronavirus/suicide-overdose-deaths-coronavirus-will-have-indirect-fatalities

 

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/apr/15/domestic-abuse-killings-more-than-double-amid-covid-19-lockdown

 

I bring this up because personally, in my circle of friends sadly, there have been 2 suicides in the last two weeks, yet I am not aware of any covid infections. Unfortunately, this does not seem to be nationally  important at this time, especially since the media is getting a lot of play out of the coronavirus pandemic.  It made me think, if the number of suicides, overdoses, and domestic abuse killings were to outnumber the Covid deaths, would we still quarantine and lockdown?  Sadly, I think the answer is yes because I think this whole issue is not about savings people’s lives anymore, but who is right and who is wrong.  Unfortunately, I think we may be reaching a point where the cure is worse than the poison.  Just my thoughts.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_in_the_United_States

[Zed Head]

It's a mulitlayer moral dilemma isn't it?  Do you sacrifice people to save people who are too weak to handle the change in their lifestyle?  How do you determine value?  (Edit - sorry motorman, I didn't mean to imply that your friends were weak.  The reasons for suicide are complex.)

These discussions are similar to the environmental discussions, just more extreme.  Loggers who "need" trees to cut down, and will cut down everything they can find.   Fishermen who need to fish until all of the fish are gone.  People need to drive their cars or fly to the global warming conferences.

Human beings supposedly are "superior" to other animals because we are adaptable.  We change as conditions change and control our environment.  That's why we are spread around the world.  

If you dig down in to the rationale of the cure being worse than the disease, it mostly comes down to comfort.  People miss their routine and society is designed to reward only people who do "work".   The methods and means exist to learn to live with the virus.  But, ironically, many people don't want to put in the real "work" to do it.

We're almost back to the "death panels" from early Affordable Care Act discussions.

Finally, a cartoon - 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2020/apr/16/david-squires-on-the-coronavirus-hot-take-factory

Edited April 21, 2020 by Zed Head

[Zed Head]

Barr: Justice department may join lawsuits against lockdowns

Attorney general William Barr raised the possibility that the justice department may eventually join lawsuits against stay-at-home orders if states repeatedly extend them.

“We have to give businesses more freedom to operate in a way that’s reasonably safe,” Barr said on The Hugh Hewitt Show today. “To the extent that governors don’t and impinge on either civil rights or on the national commerce – our common market that we have here – then we’ll have to address that.”

Barr went on to add, “We’re looking carefully at a number of these rules that are being put into place ... And if we think one goes too far, we initially try to jawbone the governors into rolling them back or adjusting them. And if they’re not and people bring lawsuits, we file statement of interest and side with the plaintiffs.”

Barr’s comments come days after Trump called on states under stay-at home orders – specifically Michigan, Minnesota and Virginia – to be liberated, echoing messaging from right-wing protesters.

[Zed Head]

Rand Paul has already had the virus.  So, maybe, no worries for him.  

Paul calls for reopening the economy, opposes relief bill

Republican senator Rand Paul has taken the Senate floor to argue that “no amount of money” can save the country from the coronavirus crisis.

“Our only hope of rescuing this country is re-opening the economy,” Paul said.

The Kentucky Republican acknowledged the virus still poses many risks, but he said lawmakers needed to “put those risks in perspective” when it came to considering whether to reopen the economy.

“Today I rise in opposition to spending $500 billion more,” Paul said.

[motorman7]

Latest chart update.  New Yorks numbers are still toggling up and down for some reason.  Curve looks to finally be leveling off a bit.  Will see if things stay that way.