Sunday, April 19, 2020

Rainbow after the storms


by Daughter's best friend, Bess

28 comments:

  1. Ending coronavirus lockdowns will be a dangerous process of trial and error. Rather long but very detailed and enlightening in regard to the different possible strategies.

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  2. I wanted to mention that I learned yesterday that one of my friends is sick with what is probably Covid-19. It's not certain, though, because she is not sick enough to be eligible for testing.

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    1. Sad she has it. Let’s hope she doesn’t get sick enough to require testing. And let’s hope she gets tested anyway.

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  3. Scientists: US Could've Prevented 90% of Deaths by Shutting Down Two Weeks Earlier
    https://futurism.com/scientists-prevented-deaths-shutting-down-earlier

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    1. I wish the article had reminded us what the situation actually was on 1 March. I don't recall anyone actually being worried even a week later -- although I suppose we should have been.

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    2. I think that on March 1st the only widely publicized outbreak was the one at the nursing home in Kirkland, Washington. Per Wikipedia [Click] the first confirmation of community transmission in the US was announced Feb. 26th. So it was early days in the US, but probably the pandemic response plan left by the Obama administration (and of course ignored by Trump's gut) would have called for immediate action by that time.

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    3. I don’t agree. I bought face masks on February 26th and began stocking up the first week in March. So there must have been enough info making the rounds.

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    4. Unfortunately, DT was too busy golfing to care.

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    5. Looking back, I think I took my cues from Liane Allen, who was a Vermont Deaniac and currently works as a program director in MA at a place related to research. She’s good at paying attention and is well connected.

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    6. I don't think he was too busy golfing to care; I think he was too busy hallucinating to care.

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  4. Technology story of the day: Difference in speed of time between ground level and observatory level of Tokyo Skytree measured [Click]

    Virus outbreak threatens Germany's tradition-laden breweries [Click]

    Cardboard boxes replace hotel rooms at Narita as Japan struggles with returnees [Click] “The airport saw 3,661 international flights in the week from Jan. 19 to Jan. 25. But the tally sank to 582 by the week from March 29 to April 4,…”

    Junior coalition partner ordering the prime minister and his party around over stimulus payments. [Click] 100,000 yen at current exchange rate is about US$1,000; in terms of purchasing power, less—maybe closer to US$500.

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  5. Boris Johnson Skipped Emergency Meetings on Virus [Click]

    Millions Lose Health Insurance During Pandemic [Click] Only millions? I doubt that.

    More Americans Concerned About Health Than Economy [Click]

    Virginia Governor Says Trump ‘Delusional’ on Testing [Click]

    “Frankly, I don’t pay that much attention to the president’s tweets against me. As I’ve said, he’s a poor leader. He’s always trying to avoid responsibility and assign blame.”
    — Speaker Nancy Pelosi, on ABC News.


    Trump Now Claims He Saved ‘Billions of People” [Click] That would be rather hard to do in the United States… One must admit that Obama never did that.

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  6. Every Covid-19 commercial is the same [Click] The companies paying for the commercials ought to call in their ad agencies to explain why they haven’t done something original…

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  7. OHIO: COVID 11,602 and 471 deaths. They must be doing more testing because the numbers are rising faster than they were a few weeks ago.

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  8. Trump’s Two Horrifying Plans for Dealing With the Coronavirus [Click] “If he can’t confine the suffering to his opponents [and the dispensable—or are those one and the same?], he is prepared to incite a culture war to distract his supporters.”

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    1. I thnk the word "plans" gives him too much credit.

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    2. Point well taken; it might be projection of the writer's nature onto Trump.

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  9. Bluster, distraction, denial: Trump follows Chavez's successful template [Click] “Coronavirus could be Trump’s downfall – but another bullying leader reminiscent of Trump won election after election.” And the Dems seem dead set on nominating someone who has a history of not campaigning? Who can’t attract large crowds or large numbers of small donations? [N.B.: Chavez’ political opponents were a rum lot indeed.]

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  10. Replies
    1. I noticed one sentence in that article: "“We don’t have hand sanitiser, just soap. That’s it." But soap is, of course, better than hand sanitiser. The only point to hand sanitiser is that sometimes it's available when soap and water isn't.

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    2. When I trained as a medical technologist we also drew most of the blood in hospitals; there were few phlebotomists then. There were generally washbasins near the doors of the rooms, or otherwise within sight of the patients. We were trained to make sure the patients were aware we washed our hands before we touched them. (It was more complicated when patients were in isolation, of which there are different kinds.) That was when latex (later nitrile) gloves were reserved for unusual situations; now they are used (IMO) thoughtlessly. When alcohol-based disinfectants like Purell became available dispensers were placed near the door of each patient room for use when entering or exiting--very fast and easy (as well as easier on the skin) compared to soap and water. If it is easier it is more likely to be done.

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  11. Fast decisions in Bay Area helped slow virus spread [Click] (1) The SF Bay Area has roughly the same population as NYC. (2) This gives more background on the early stages of the response. I haven't seen any comparable reports from the Los Angeles or San Diego areas.

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