Liberty

This is how you crush the virus. Meanwhile, unhinged: https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1260177007490600960?s=21

Does it get any more shameless?

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/10/world/europe/coronavirus-italy-recovery.html

That is the life. Existence is suffering. You have to embrace the chaos and move forward. And we will. There’s degrees of flying blind. And there’s flying reckless. https://twitter.com/sam_baker/status/1259801828591534080?s=21 “ S. Korea had to re-clamp down because it got 34 new cases in one day. We have 25,000 per day and all we’re talking about is opening up. There’s even a risk of an outbreak inside the White House. We know what we’re on for.”

We're still learning so much about this. Another reason to try not to get sick in the early phase of this.. On blood oxygen levels and ventilators: https://www.wsj.com/articles/some-doctors-pull-back-on-using-ventilators-to-treat-covid-19-11589103001

Masks: Gary Kasparov:

she's hilarious. Which is really weird given all she does is lip sync word for word. I think it's because we've become desensitized to Trump over time and judge him to a totally different standard than a normal human. So when we hear his words said by someone different, we can judge them more on their own merit and realize how crazy and stupid he sounds. Someone should lip-synch Trump to video of other presidents (from both parties -- Bush or Reagan or Clinton or Obama -- saying some of these things).

She’s good:

So is his phones ringing? If so, why the production lines are dormant? I (and millions of others I think) would like to buy N95 masks regardless of government purchases. I'd think states and private businesses would like to buy them too - so it's not even b2consumer issue. So why are the lines dormant? I'm confused too. That part is strangely written, I get the feeling that the backstory on this was cut out of the story and the line is now lacking context.

That's why you need a crapload of testing, good contact tracing, people wearing masks, discourage large events, etc.. This is how you avoid huge outbreaks that lead to large shutdowns. Easier to keep it to a simmer and crush little embers when they show up if you have measures to keep R0 as low as possible (under 1 ideally) and good testing to immediately catch things when they begin. If you don't have that, outbreaks go undetected long enough that you can't contain them and you have to do larger shutdowns again and again. Doing it right is easier than doing it wrong, which is the huge problem with the incompetence at the federal level in the US. A lot of all this could've been avoided with a competent early response (and I don't even mean super early like in January, but even later it would've made a big different because of the inherent properties of exponential growth).

https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/in-the-early-days-of-the-pandemic-the-us-government-turned-down-an-offer-to-manufacture-millions-of-n95-masks-in-america/2020/05/09/f76a821e-908a-11ea-a9c0-73b93422d691_story.html In the early days of the pandemic, the U.S. government turned down an offer to manufacture millions of N95 masks in America

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3083627/coronavirus-hong-kong-records-no-new-cases-covid While these are success stories now, I'm afraid once they open up the borders/businesses again... Boom. Boom? They'll keep screening people at the border and international travel will be pretty low until there's a vaccine or at least better therapies. Any time they gain now by crushing the curve and containing it is fewer deaths before a vaccine.

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3083627/coronavirus-hong-kong-records-no-new-cases-covid

‘Finally, a virus got me.’ Scientist who fought Ebola and HIV reflects on facing death from COVID-19 https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/05/finally-virus-got-me-scientist-who-fought-ebola-and-hiv-reflects-facing-death-covid-19

https://apnews.com/9c4d5284ba4769d3b98aa05232201f88 “ AP Exclusive: Top White House officials buried CDC report”

“ Trump: Katie, she tested very good for a long period of time and then all of the sudden today she tested positive... This is why the whole concept of tests aren’t necessarily great” ???

We may very well find looking at the time line in NYC that staying at home and significantly increasing time in the household was the gas on the fire that put things out of control in NYC. Most peoples' guard is down at home, no mask, no washing hands, close contact. Not to mention huddling millions in a small square footage. Staying at home and not leaving the house in retrospect maybe found to be the worst thing to have done. What do NYC, Italy, Spain, and people of color have in common? Lots of multigenerational families. Bringing thousands/millions of asymptomatic or sick people in the house likely infected those most at risk in the household. If found to be the case hopefully its not employed as a measure this fall/winter https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/24/world/europe/italy-coronavirus-home-isolation.html It's worse vs quarantining in a hotel. But saying that things would've been better without a lockdown IMO doesn't make sense because of the other factor of much much higher R0 if everybody keeps going to public transit, offices, restaurants, events, etc.

Median age of population being higher is a big factor.

What a leader. "Sporadic for you, maybe, but I've heard otherwise.. they tell me..." Meanwhile, the blatant corruption continues:

Good thread by Andy Slavitt:

The great depression lead to communists and fascists and dictators taking over a large part of the world, leading to hundreds of millions of deaths and untold suffering. But yeah, it built character ???

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/06/ny-gov-cuomo-says-its-shocking-most-new-coronavirus-hospitalizations-are-people-staying-home.html Viral load seems to matter a lot for severity of symptoms. It's why places like Hong Kong quarantine infected people in hotels and away from family.

I love how some people have been convinced that "crashing the system" will be good for them, or will somehow lead to what they want to see happen, rather than just the opposite (a society with an even bigger, more corrupt, more incompetent government and fewer freedoms is the most likely outcome of a big crash, not a small, efficient, honest government and more liberty). They're the people who con artists and charlatans just love.

There should be so much more emphasis on learning and copying what successful places have done. Germany: https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-germany-kept-its-factories-open-during-the-pandemic-11588774844 Also: https://www.wsj.com/articles/coronavirus-casts-deep-chill-over-u-s-china-relations-11588781420

Always be selling: Trump on the Coronavirus task for: Wait, he's keeping it around because it's popular? Still thinking like a TV personality, all about ratings, which he mentions all the time...