Could there be worldwide drug shortages due to the virus? One example is the popular antidepressant, Prozac, which has some ingredients that come from China that are supplied to other countries to manufacture this medication. They are called active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and China is the lead supplier of these around the world. With the coronavirus outbreak just beginning to slow down there, it is not yet known if there will be shortages...READ MORE...
The White House is in chaos over coronavirus and the staff blames Mike Pence. It seems that Trump's number two cannot "get a handle" on priorities in order to get the process rolling. The reason for that is that he hasn't clue to what he's doing, as was evidenced by his incompetent response to an HIV outbreak in Indian when he was governor. It's like a three-ring circus since there is no one in the Trump administration capable of making competent decisions... READ MORE...
And if you can believe this, Jared Kushner and Stephen Miller wrote Trump’s coronavirus speech given last Wednesday evening that been deemed a complete wrecking ball to the U.S. response to the disease. To begin with, it "tanked" markets that were already in a nosedive and second, he portrayed the virus as a "foreign" attack, rather than rightfully taking the blame himself. The administration's credibility now looks damaged beyond control...READ MORE...
Old crazy Lamar Alexander
"Unconscionable" is what Moscow Mitch's Senate is being called for allowing Tennessee's Lamar Alexander to block the vote on an emergency paid sick leave bill because "the bill would be an “expensive” and burdensome mandate for employers." The Republican Congress continues to stoop to equal depths as the White House manic that is supposed to be running the show. And this plan even falls "far short of sick leave policies in many other industrialized nations."... READ MORE...
"Computer scientists predict that America will be in lockdown in less than two weeks as the country scrambles to contain COVID-19." The prediction is partially based on the lockdown in Italy last Tuesday, and should prompt the question of whether or not some of the computer's computation might have had something to do with the incompetence of the Trump administration in handling the U.S. coronavirus outbreak. This from Mark Handley, Professor of Networked Systems at UCL in London...READ MORE...
"President Donald Trump’s new European travel restrictions have a convenient side effect: They exempt nations where three Trump-owned golf resorts are located."
This is way beyond, 'can you believe this?' Protecting his profits in lieu of protecting the American public. Just ludicrous!
Donald Trump tries to paint a rosy picture of the coronavirus pandemic rather than addressing its real status and working towards a solution...
The White House dufus might as well have stayed in the residence and tweeted out more malarky rather than get before a television audience of millions and make a fool of himself. That, plus complete confusion on his plans, which seem to just flee off the top of his head while he's talking. Here is what he said...
The chance coronavirus doesn't have against us is already past the point of threatening the United States with over 1,000 cases and 33 deaths from the virus. And the fact that this is increasing regularly. T-rump thinks a travel ban will be his liberator, but as he implements band-aids like this, American citizens go untested. 1,900 in U.S. compared to 140,000 in South Korea. Democratic Rep. Mike Quigley of Illinois commented...
"I don't think anyone is going to leave that briefing [Thurs. for both chambers of Congress] satisfied with what's going on with testing right now ... bottom line, you leave that briefing and we are not where we need to be and not sure when we are going to get there. We are flying blind."
With coronavirus now deemed a pandemic by WHO, Donald Trump is hiding certain pertinent info on the disease from staff, Americans and the world...
Just when transparency is the most needed, the Oval Office lunatic has decided to classify "top-level coronavirus meetings," where decisions are made and judgments decided that should be known throughout the government structure. It is also information that should be shared with the American public and made available to other world leaders to help contain the virus. Here's the scenario...
"officials said that dozens of classified discussions about such topics as the scope of infections, quarantines and travel restrictions have been held since mid-January in a high-security meeting room at the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), a key player in the fight against the coronavirus."
Reuter's reported, "Staffers without security clearances, including government experts, were excluded from the interagency meetings." An official commented...
“We had some very critical people who did not have security clearances who could not go. These should not be classified meetings. It was unnecessary.”
Hiding "the scope of infections" from those charged with maintaining control of coronavirus seems unconscionable in light of Donald Trump's completely inept response to the situation from the beginning, just adding more roadblocks to bringing it under control in the United States. According to CNBC it was...
"the National Security Council (NSC), which advises the president on security issues, ordered the classification. “This came directly from the White House.”
Only the "proles" can defeat Donald Trump in November...
By putting a lid on specific information, it could delay response to the crisis. It also illustrates to what lengths Donald Trump will go to protect his favorability rating leading into November. And then an NSC spokesman confused the issue by defending the administration's move but with a mixed reply on...
"transparency across federal agencies and noted that meetings of the administration’s task force on the coronavirus all are unclassified. It was not immediately clear which meetings he was referring to."
Here's CNBC's opinion of the Trump administration on coronavirus transparency...
"Critics have hammered the Trump administration for what they see as a delayed response to coronavirus outbreaks and a lack of transparency, including sidelining experts and providing misleading or incomplete information to the public. State and local officials also have complained of being kept in the dark about essential federal response information."
Gregg Gonsalves, a Yale epidemiologist who has been publicly critical of Trump's response to the coronavirus outbreak, tweeted Wednesday that Trump's order to classify coronavirus meetings shows the president is "trying to cover his tracks" as he continues to face backlash over his handling of the outbreak.
"Yes, Donald Trump has botched the response to coronavirus pandemic," said Gonsalves. "But classifying deliberations makes it harder for health experts in government without security clearances to be in key meetings."
"This is unprecedented, unnecessary, and damages our ability to respond to the pandemic," Gonsalves added.
In George Orwell's 1984, in the beginning, the government would pick and choose what information it wanted the Proles to know. Then it swooped down and they were surrounded by a world of complete disinformation, controlling everything they were to know.
World Health Organization declares the coronavirus outbreak a global pandemic
According to WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, it is not only the spread of the disease that prompts this move, but the inaction of some countries to take action to stop it. There are more throughout the world, but WHO must have the dominance of the United States in mind and the fact that, so far, the Donald Trump administration has been completely incompetent in the handling of the virus here.
Dr. Ghebreyesus comments...
“We’re deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity, and by the alarming levels of inaction,” he said, just before declaring the pandemic. “We have rung the alarm bell loud and clear.”
Donald Trump's bell has been rung repeatedly but he is never there... READ MORE...
Good for Progressives, good for the country, Senate challenger Mark Kelly over Martha McSally by twelve points...
Senate candidate Mark Kelly
As a zoni, I welcome astronaut and husband of former representative Gabby Giffords to a Republican controlled state (so far) and hopefully a Senate seat that will help the chamber go Democratic in November. Give what's his name? Moscow Mitch McConnell the boot...READ MORE...
Those figures mean that at this time there are a minimum of 143 people in the U.S. with severe cases of the coronavirus...
My calculations are based on at least 950 known U.S. cases today, which could be higher tomorrow. Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, wants everyone over 60 or with underlying health conditions to stock up on what you need and stay home until there is some sense of control. Unfortunately, control may never be realized, considering who is in charge of the U.S. coronavirus epidemic.
The head guy, Donald Trump hasn't a clue of what is going on so he put his second in command, Mike Pence, in charge, who royally screwed up an HIV uprising in Indiana when he was governor. And to top it all off, Alex Azar, Health and Human Services Secretary just said he has no idea how many people in the U.S. have been tested for coronavirus. So, in light of this familiar blend of incompetence, the Trump administration just decides to keep the misinformation coming.
Here is Dr. Messonnier's take...
“This virus is capable of spreading easily and sustainably from person to person ... and there’s essentially no immunity against this virus in the population.”
“It’s fair to say that, as the trajectory of the outbreak continues, many people in the United States will at some point in time, either this year or next, be exposed to this virus and there’s a good chance many will become sick.”
Here's the update for coronavirus from Dr. Messonnier...
And here is a frightening fact from CNBC...
"Of the 70,000 cases WHO scientists looked at, only about 2% were in people younger than 19. The odds of developing COVID-19 increase with age, starting at age 60. It’s especially lethal for people over 80."
There are approximately 69 million folks today age 60 and over, and if you remove even a portion of that number from the day-to-day activities they are capable of and used to performing, the economy could take a dive. The eighty-plus crowd is much smaller, but more likely to heed the advice to stay at home in larger numbers due to the potential dire consequences. Think about it, some 80+ have no one to shop for them, and they have to go to the doctor.
Rachel Maddow prompts us on Donald Trump's pathetic incoherence on the coronavirus epidemic...
I don't honestly believe the Trump administration could have prevented the coronavirus from entering the United States, nor probably anyone else for that matter. But what has been clear from the beginning is the incompetence of Donald Trump and his minions. Here's the scenario from The Washington Post...
The coronavirus had already begun to spiral out of control around the world when Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, during routine Senate testimony, made a surprising claim.
“As of today, I can announce that the CDC has begun working with health departments in five cities to use its flu surveillance network to begin testing individuals with flu-like symptoms for the Chinese coronavirus,” Azar said. “This effort will help see whether there is broader spread than we have been able to detect so far.”
Chuck Schumer discusses Donald Trump's coronavirus incompetence...
The Post adds: "But there were two major problems: The cities weren’t ready, and the tests didn’t work." And so the comical parade of Trump administration bunglers has marched forward since then and here is a key fact to confirm its ineptness: there have been only 1,900 tests for coronavirus in the United States compared to 140,000 in So. Korea. And now how the United States did it...
"Azar’s bungled announcement before the Senate Finance Committee on Feb. 13 was just one of many preventable missteps and blunders in the federal government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis — the embodiment of an administration that, for weeks, repeatedly squandered opportunities to manage and prepare for a global epidemic that has killed thousands worldwide and at least 19 (31 as of March 10) so far in the United States."
And there's more according to Dr. Messonnier...
"People with diabetes, heart disease, lung disease and other serious underlying conditions are more likely to develop 'serious outcomes, including death.'”
So, not only do we have a healthcare dilemma caused by the White House maniac, but we also have to worry about an economy that could spiral down soon, thanks to the incompetence of this same idiot. Never, in my lifetime, have we been between these most extreme rocks and hard places. Hello November.
