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Home » The number of news stories is overwhelming

The number of news stories is overwhelming

The New Neo Posted on by

Not only is the situation overwhelming – health, economics, politics – but the number of breaking stories is overwhelming. Since this is a one-person-blog, I can’t cover even all the most interesting ones unless I were to work round the clock. I’ve been immersing myself in this, but there’s a limit.

And so here’s an open thread to discuss stories such as these:

(1) Senators selling stock after briefings on coronavirus. I have no trouble believing politicians are corrupt. But if it’s true (and it may indeed be) that, as these senators have alleged, they’re not even involved in each of their stock decisions because their portfolio buy-sell decisions are managed by others without their input, it may be an invalid accusation. Oh, and most news stories highlight the Republicans, and only mention Feinstein the Democrat as an afterthought, although her stock trade was enormous.

(2) Want some humor? Turn to Ammo Grrrll. Sample:

I ventured into my local Bashas grocery store which resembled either Venezuela or a 7-11 Store in Florida when a hurricane is already at Cat 5. The shoppers looked like they were on a festive field trip from an insane asylum – many wearing colorful long-sleeved rubber gloves, dousing themselves in sanitizer after putting each item in their baskets.

(3) Needed; a reopening plan. You said it. Cost-benefit analyses are definitely needed as well. I’m planning (not today though, folks) a discussion of that, perhaps a multi-parter.

Or – just talk about anything you want.

Comments

The number of news stories is overwhelming — 52 Comments

  1. The Republicans implicated in this scandal strike me as very typical swamp-creatures of the establishment and deserve both criticism and some kind of punishment. Naturally, the media will cover for the egregious Feinstein (does anyone remember the Chinese spy she employed for years?), whose fabulously wealthy husband was involved in the corruption surrounding the billions wasted in California on the high-speed-rail-line to-nowhere.

  2. The stock story is one of those “gotcha” stories. If you were in politics and had a stock portfolio, it is very easy to put everything into a blind trust or under management of a financial group. You would be stupid not to set up this arrangement. I know Inhofe and Loeffler are up for reelection this year, so is this to try to make some mud stick to them?

  3. Its not illegal for senators or house to trade stock on the information they know which is inside… been going on for ages… nothing new… its just peoples assumptions might have been otherwise… and dems assumptions are often that way, to the point you cant even show them otherwise…

  4. I would encourage everyone to read the piece by Shadi Hamid, not a supporter of the president, posted at The Atlantic (very hostile to Trump) entitled “China is Avoiding Blame by Trolling the World.” No-one should have any doubts about the moral blindness (some might call it evil intent) of the American media, who are so heavily invested in hatred of Trump that they happily spread Chinese lies and misinformation.

  5. Taiwan is blaming the World Health Organization’s relationship with China for its failure to act on early warnings of human-to-human transmission of coronavirus.

    Taiwanese health officials alerted WHO of the infectivity of coronavirus in late December 2019, but the organization failed to report the claims to other countries, according to a Financial Times report.

    Weeks after receiving Taiwan’s warning, on Jan. 14, WHO repeated China’s claim that coronavirus was not contagious among humans. (RELATED: FLASHBACK Jan. 14: WHO Tells Everyone Don’t Worry Because China Says Coronavirus Isn’t Contagious)

  6. This is way cool…

    Coronavirus: Dame Vera Lynn uses 103rd birthday to buoy Britain
    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-sussex-51981339

    mentioned by pink floyd..
    “what has become of you… does anybody else in here, feel the way i do?”

    most of the young would not remember who she was or is..

    but i am sure
    we will meet again
    some sunny day

  7. Dr Anthony Fauci has rebuked Donald Trump’s claim that anti-malaria drug chloroquine could be a game-changer in the fight against COVID-19. Dr Facui, who is a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, made the claim during an interview with Anderson Cooper on CNN Thursday evening. ‘There’s no magic drug for coronavirus right now,’ the top doctor told Cooper. Earlier in the day, Trump told media that there had been positive results after doctors trialled chloroquine on COVID-19 patients, and suggested the drug could be a game-changer. ‘It’s shown very, very encouraging early results.

  8. “… they’re [senators] not even involved in each of their stock decisions because their portfolio buy-sell decisions are managed by others without their input, …”

    I’ve learned from the flippin Clintons that one has to parse every phrase carefully. Decisions are managed by others without their control. I believe the word control was stated or implied. That doesn’t mean the senator’s input wasn’t given.

    Everything gets laundered by these characters. Lois Lerner got her orders from some unknown high-powered DC lawyer. But who was he, and where did he get his orders from?
    _____

    From John Cochrane:
    “Find out who has it and who doesn’t. Test test test. Isolate, put out the embers. And reopen. Slowly, cautiously, partly. But reopen.”

    Amen. But don’t worry. We’re getting more tests out there every day. No word as to whether they even have any rapid, real-time, tests available yet. But don’t worry.
    ______

    Anthony Fauci had some words that irritated me this morning about the chloroquines treatment. We can’t just go by anecdotal evidence that this treatment works, he said, even if we have dozens or hundreds of anecdotes. We must have clinical double blind tests with control groups, and sufficient numbers, and follow ups. We demand proof!

    Do I even need to dissect this? Sure Dr. Fauci. Do that. Take a few months. No hurry. Because hydroxychloroquine is so extraordinarily dangerous and toxic. Oh wait, it’s not. My mistake.

  9. In Fauci’s defense I thought I heard him say (to the effect) that his view and DJT’s view can run in parallel, i.e. that nothing prohibits controlled testing while widespread administration of the drugs to non-testing patients goes on simultaneously. Least, that’s what I took him to indicate. He wants his proof, yes, but that doesn’t stop other practices.

  11. Yes sdferr I believe you’re right. I think in a crisis the doctors, or at least the good ones, will cut through the nonsense where they can. Still, Fauci’s words bugged me. He seems to be oblivious to the environment he is operating in.

    What if even a modest number of doctors felt that they should err on the side of caution and not consider treatments that don’t have the FDA/Fauci gold seal of approval?

  12. The economy has been slowed (only about 30% of the economy has ground to a halt), but according to Dr. Fauci, it is a temporary situation. At most, it may last two months before things can begin to start back to normal. IMO, this is somewhat lime a strike. A temporary work stoppage in certain sectors of the economy. What needs to be done is to allow affected employees and businesses a 90 day moratorium on debt payments and push money through the unemployment benefits to those who qualify. It is important to realize that not everyone is affected and it is important to get the help primarily to that sector of the economy that is.

    In my area the groceries, pharmacies, and other retailers are open and doing business. Construction work is proceeding. All government agencies are open and working. The healthcare industry is running full speed. Amazon, UPS, and the U.S. Mail are delivering. Many in my neighborhood are able to work from home. The schools are out, but the teachers are still being paid. That’s a lot of economic activity. The country is not at a complete stand still as many seem to be claiming.

    If the government stays out of the way when this contagion dies down (And the contagion will die down), I believe that the country could, through hard work and good policies, be back to low unemployment by Christmas. On the other hand, if the government doesn’t get out of the way (Think Joe Biden gets elected) , we will be looking at another period of economic malaise that was the norm during the Obama years.

    Yeah, I know I’m a cockeyed optimist. So sue me.

  13. I have a weird suggestion:

    This coronavirus disease was named COVID-19 by the WHO, I think, and some have suggested that they intentionally removed any reference to China or Wuhan. Some are using Wuhan Flu, but shouldn’t we actually be calling it the Wuhan SARS?

    West Nile and Ebola capture the place of origin. And this is a SARS not a flu.
    I like Wuhan SARS. Language matters.

  14. Ah, heh, well there stands the other element in the story to disabuse them of their mistaken presumption, name of Donald. He’ll shout it out, repeatedly if necessary. The patients, hearing that (and their advocates, family, etc) will demand a change.

  15. Artfldgr, re Vera Lynn. “We’ll meet again” Listening to it now on YouTube. Wasn’t that tune in Kubrick’s movie “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb”?

  16. Nearly half the cases in America come from NY State. Can’t we just lop off NYC? Seems like we’d all be better off in more ways than one. They do seem to have a high opinion of themselves, don’t they?

  17. The Senators claim separation from the stock trades which occurred two weeks after incoming flights from China were cancelled by President Trump. They should congratulate their advisors for their perception. A lot of other advisors did the exact same thing shortly after, and buyers could only be found at increasingly lower prices. It is a market.

  18. Brian Morgan on March 20, 2020 at 7:46 pm said:
    Nearly half the cases in America come from NY State. Can’t we just lop off NYC? Seems like we’d all be better off in more ways than one. They do seem to have a high opinion of themselves, don’t they?
    * * *
    Very high. Watch the embedded video (I turned the sound off, though).

    https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2020/03/19/former-obamacare-official-spreads-panic-on-msnbc-demands-all-masks-sent-to-new-york-city/

    NYC to Texas: “All your masks are belong to us.”

  19. We are supposed to be overerwhelimed to keep the majority of stupid people in a state of fear. Sheeple are stupid. Keep them in a state of fear and contral them.

  20. Some “new” information on the insider trading of congress-critters – known but kind of unknown at the time.
    https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/03/20/richard-burr-voted-against-bipartisan-2012-bill-barring-congressional-insider-trading/

    Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) was one of only three members of the United States Senate to oppose bipartisan legislation in 2012 barring lawmakers from using non-public information to reap profits on the stock market.

    Burr, who at the time had just been reelected to his second term representing North Carolina in Congress, opposed the STOCK Act on the basis that there were already existing laws in place to address insider trading. The fact that existing laws were rarely used to punish members of Congress for insider trading, despite their being plenty of evidence such dealings took place, seemed not to the bother the senator.

  22. There are far too many news stories on everything, so here’s a combination: disease and deficient border control.

    https://www.breitbart.com/border/2020/03/20/kobach-chinese-nationals-are-evading-the-travel-ban/

    As I wrote in January, last year there was a massive increase in the number of Chinese nationals sneaking across the Mexican border. In FY 2019, the number of Chinese migrants caught at the southern border in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) Sector increased 85%, from approximately 700 to over 1,300.

    Thousands of Chinese nationals successfully entered the country illegally across the southern border in FY 2019. And none of them were screened for the coronavirus. Not tests, no quarantines, nothing.

    Unfortunately, that huge flow of Chinese illegal aliens has created travel networks that other Chinese nationals have been able to use to evade the travel ban from China that President Trump prudently announced on January 31.

    And it’s happening. As of this writing, according to Border Patrol figures, more than 350 Chinese nationals have been apprehended at the southern border since January 1.

    And for every illegal alien who’s caught, one can assume that three made it in without getting caught. That means that more than 1,000 Chinese nationals have entered illegally this year already—most of them after the Chinese travel ban was put in place.

    As long as our border remains wide open, no travel ban will be completely effective. That is a powerful lesson of this crisis. Let’s hope that Congress learns it and completes the funding for the entire southern border wall as soon as possible.

    Why are Chinese people coming here illegally in the first place?
    We kind of sort of knew why Mexicans and South Americans did (jobs), but then we found out that drug and gangs use the same pathways.
    Are these Chinese “maids and gardeners” – or are they drug and gang thugs?

  23. Democrats keeping their focus on the really important things about a pandemic and national crisis:
    https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/03/20/coronavirus-massachusetts-exempts-abortion-from-nonessential-elective-surgery-ban/

    Massachusetts Citizens for Life provided a written statement to the Post:

    We were disheartened to learn that, upon Governor Baker’s approval, elective abortion will still be permitted in the coming weeks, even while other elective surgeries have been prohibited due to the coronavirus pandemic. Women’s health and safety should be our top priority now, as always. Risking exposure to the highly contagious disease during visits to abortion clinics not only puts our women at risk but their families and those of clinic workers as well. This is yet another indication that the once-popular abortion-rights mantra ‘safe, legal, and rare’ is a complete farce. In the face of a global pandemic, the abortion industry once again demonstrates that protecting women’s health has never been its priority. Instead, the abortion lobby’s singular goal is to increase the bottom line, even at the expense of risking the health and wellbeing of those who enter their clinics and those who work at them during these unprecedented times.

  24. William Jacobson channels Neo.
    https://legalinsurrection.com/2020/03/ghost-towns-usa/

    You can’t just stop an economy, and expect it not to tear at the seams that hold society together.

    I don’t know when the end comes. I think we’re okay for the current 15-day “social distancing” period. Maybe another 15 days after that. But not for several months.

    The approaching cash stimulus to people and business assistance will buy a little time. But not indefinite. The government cannot bail out an entire economy.

    At some point, we’re going to have to weigh the risk of a virus against the risk of ripping our societal bonds. I think the economic shutdown inflection point comes sometime in May, June at the latest. Beyond that, the center will not hold.

    I’m reminded of one of my favorite poems.

    THE SECOND COMING

    William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)

    Turning and turning in the widening gyre
    The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
    Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
    Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
    The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
    The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
    The best lack all conviction, while the worst
    Are full of passionate intensity.

    However, contra the good Prof & Poet, we DO have a center in America that can hold for a long time, if convinced that it is necessary.
    The last two lines sound like the NeverTrumpers and the Democrats, whose media voices are certainly full of passionate intensity, especially if they think they can trip the President with their “gotcha” questions and whining.

    As for the politicians, if “the best” are lacking in conviction, then maybe they weren’t the best after all.

  26. What has to happen, what is the list of things we need to see that will indicate that we can begin to return to our lives as they were before the lock down? If the list is not identified or not made public then I expect people to come out of hiding sooner rather than later.

    From Powerline:

    “I agree with the Wall Street Journal editorial that Scott quoted from this morning, but I think it is too mild. Here is a prediction: the deaths of Americans caused by the Wuhan flu bug will be dwarfed by the suicides committed by people whose life’s savings have been wiped out, whose businesses have been bankrupted, whose jobs have been lost, and whose prospects have been blighted by the insane overreaction we now see from our governments. That overreaction must stop. Right now. Before it is too late, if it is not too late already.”

    Full post: https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2020/03/stop-the-insane-overreaction.php

    Some number of people will come to the same conclusion and return to their pre-virus routines and activities. Likely starting as a trickle.

  27. I really hope we’ll strike the right balance between widespread compassionate use of chloroquine/azithromycin and double-blind tests. I, too, would like to avoid giving false hope, or even worse creating a sense of complacency that would cause people to be less careful about spreading contagion. I badly want reliable scientific data, not just anecdotes. At the same time, confidence in a treatment would help enormously in reaching the point when we can be fairly sure our hospitals aren’t going to be overrun and shattered, so we can get the economy moving again. This isn’t something we should wait years for if there’s a good chance of rapid results, with a very limited downside: a cheap, relatively safe drug that’s already shown surprising anecdotal value. I agree that the President will keep talking about it, and patients will demand it irresistibly.

    The argument about preventing suicides is far less persuasive. If forced to choose between people who passionately want to live and people who don’t, I’m in no doubt about my path. But there’s a death toll of another kind in a shattered economy, as we see in places like Venezuela, and it doesn’t stem from people who give up. It stems from people who can’t get live-saving surgery or insulin or, in the long run, food.

    In the short term, I suspect we’ll be able to detect decreases in mortality rates from some things, like drunk driving and perhaps even complications from ordinary flu. Japan is said to have knocked flu and colds on their butts this winter. We’re setting a lot of things in motion that we won’t be able to predict or analyze right away.

  28. It’s official, to me at least, New York City is now forever New Wuhan City. I just refreshed the page over at worldometers.info. New York makes up 80% of America’s new cases today! It is only 12 noon and New York accounts for 1,958 out of America’s 2,459 new cases. Very sad, people. Get your act together down there. It’s time to build a wall.

  29. We now have several congress persons in quarantine. Cory Gardner is the latest that I’ve heard about. Will congress pass rules to allow remote voting? It is perhaps true that we’re have seen or are close to seeing congress persons coming out of quarantine. Anyone keeping count?

  30. It’s time to quarantine New York City. The rest of the country needs to get back to work. There’s no need to punish the rest of you for this. America’s bills need to be paid. For the record, I am a New Yorker, living an hour away from the city. Close it down, isolate it. After all it doesn’t produce much that is worthwhile anyway. Relax the crackdown on the rest of America.

  31. This is reminiscent of elementary school where the actions of one bad apple gets the entire class punished. Is it the good kids’ job to police the bad kid? No, it’s the teacher’s job. This leads to what we have today: a Twitter full of so-called good kids punishing so-called bad kids for the temerity of expressing opinions that don’t align with theirs. Way to go America’s adults!

  32. Brian Morgan its just testing…
    so its not really new cases…
    its cases which we now know…

    this is a big problem… the whole of the US has 275 deaths
    this is insane… given flu is over 20,000

  33. Artfldgr, yes I know but it is clear where the hotspot is. Why punish the rest of the country? It’s elementary school all over again. Half of America’s cases are in New York City. It’s half right now. It’s likely to be two-thirds in a few days. Isolate it, quarantine it.

  34. Suicide is definitely an issue that’s crossed my mind over the past several days, especially since some people are really pressuring others to stay indoors and isolate themselves. This can lead to a lot of people not keeping up with their mental health treatment, not getting help in a mental health crisis, and becoming depressed from not getting outdoors and from not socializing. (Of course, not exercising, not getting proper stress relief, and not eating well will be awful for people’s immune systems, too, which is why I think people should be careful not to take distancing too far.)

    At the same time, I wonder if any suicides due to will be balanced out by the number of minors not committing suicide because they are not physically attending school – students’ mental health and inclination towards suicide is statistically much worse during the periods of the year when school is in session.

  35. I was curious about Wendy L.’s comment about the flu in Japan.
    From the Japan Times (Feb. 21):

    In the week ended Feb. 9, reported influenza cases plunged by over 60 percent to 44,737, compared with 129,989 the same week a year ago, according data from the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry.

    That means flu cases have fallen for six consecutive weeks since the new year began, the data show.

    The ministry also said only 1,760 schools were forced to close by flu outbreaks in the seven-day period starting Feb. 3, down sharply from 3,204 the same week last year.

    “Many Japanese people have become serious about taking measures to prevent infection with the new coronavirus. This might be one of the reasons why influenza cases dropped this year,” said Yoko Muramatsu, a researcher at NLI Research Institute.

    In Japan, daily media reports have focused on the surge in infections aboard the quarantined cruise ship Diamond Princess in Yokohama, prompting more people to wash their hands, gargle, wear pollen masks and avoid crowds.

    There is a bright side after all!
    Apparently, Japan had an especially nasty flu season last year. So year over year comps are bound to look good this year.

  36. Artfldgr, if testing were concentrated in NYC then that would explain the large number of cases but I doubt that the mayors of Los Angeles and Chicago, nor their state’s governors would be happy with their test kits going to New York. The populations of Los Angeles and Chicago are nearly equal to New York City yet New York has five times the number of cases of California plus Illinois. I think there is good reason to believe that New York is a Coronavirus hotspot. I’d like us to stop being politically correct about this and do what needs to be done. Isolate it, quarantine it.

  37. Brian Morgan:

    We don’t know how tests are being distributed, but there’s no reason to assume that if NY does more testing it is necessarily taking away tests from California or Illinois. However, NY does seem to be something of a hotspot, but I don’t conclude that because of the number of diagnoses.I look at the number of deaths. NY state has half the population of California but twice the deaths reported. Also, the vast majority of NY’s deaths (as well as its confirmed cases, although that could be an artifact of testing) are recent (last 7 days). California’s are recent as well.

    The worst state in the US by far has been Washington. It has about a third the population of NY and yet twice the number of deaths, and although over a third of Washington state’s deaths were in a single nursing home near Seattle, that still gives it a worse profile by far than any state in the US. And 1/2 of Washington’s deaths are recent (last 7 days).

    This is the site I’m referring to for the numbers.

  38. We will see how it plays out. My wife says that our governor Cuomo has been quite critical of the city’s youth who are apparently not taking this seriously at all. No school so summer break came early. No concern about giving it to grandma. DeBlasio is not the man for the job, too PC, in over his head, can only blame Trump unlike Cuomo who praises Trump. President DeBlasio, sheesh. Rudy Giuliani is the man for the job. He’d crack down on the miscreants.

  39. Actual concrete data from today’s Whitehouse briefing: There are 10 million tests out in the communities now. By the end of March they are predicting 28 million tests will have been put into communities.

    Then they said something odd. Some labs are doing certain parts of the tests, with others doing different parts. I hope that isn’t as bad as it sounds.

  40. I know anecdote is not a synonym for data, but…

    I wonder how many folks in this country have already had the virus and either had no symptoms or have gotten over it?

    Way back, the first weekend in December, my wife and I caught what we assumed was the flu. I had been getting the flu shot for a long time and had not had the flu for over 10 years. This time, it knocked me on my a$$ for a couple of days. My wife was stricken for over two weeks. The thing is, the symptoms were a little different. Oh they were mostly the same as any run-of-the-mill flu bug except for two things – Neither of us had stuffy noses nor runny noses, and breathing got very difficult at the height of it.

    I got over mine fairly quickly. I was in bed for an entire day with aches and fever and then felt a diminishing funkiness for a couple of days afterwords. I had a cough for about another week. I did not go to the doctor at all. I self medicated. No big deal.

    My wife, on the other hand, was down for a solid two weeks. On day 6, I took her to the nearby doc-in-the-box. They said she had the flu, **as did thousands of others**, and there was nothing to do except treat the symptoms and tough it out. They gave her a couple of prescriptions – one of which was an inhaler – that seemed to help and she got noticeably better in about a week.

    I could be wrong, obviously, – it indeed could have been a run-of-the-mill flu. But, because of the differing symptoms, and the fact that none of us had even heard of the coronavirus back then, I wonder if what we contracted was not the COVID-19 virus. A test for the teters would tell me, but how do you go about getting that?

    My own personal opinion is that once testing becomes more universal, we are going to see these numbers change drastically for the better.

    One last thing… My wife is 66 with no particular health issues, and I am 65 with type II diabetes.

  41. Roy:

    Such a test should be available pretty soon. At some point they’ll sample the population and see. But it won’t tell you when you got it. It might have been the flu you already had, or a lot of us may have it right now and be symptomless.

    Also, I think they’ll just be taking a sample of the population rather than giving the test to anyone who wants it just out of curiosity. I think we all would like to know whether we have immunity or not.

  42. Roy, good to hear that you and your wife are better. I am deathly afraid of bringing it home to my wife. She’s a severe asthmatic. There is a distinct possibility that it could kill her. Hospitals are not the most germ-free places either. (This explains why I freak out here from time to time. I’m afraid that our PC culture will kill more people than the actual infection, that and the crippled economy. I wish our leaders could be smarter about this even if it means hurting someone’s feelings.)

  43. Dr. Fauci addressed the chloroquines + azithromycin treatment again today. He affirmed that doctors are free to make the (dubious?) choice of treating patients this way, as compassionate care. (Near end of life.) But other (sensible?) doctors will make different choices.

    Lot’s of innuendo and blather. He still irritates me. I’d estimate that he is euphemistically urinating all over the treatment idea, but others will no doubt see it differently. He made the comparison to the AIDS epidemic and the development of retro-viral drugs. Because those two epidemics are so similar.

    The Whitehouse is publishing transcripts of their briefings, though only yesterday’s transcript is up now.
    _____

    Gov. Cuomo just predicted an eventual 40% to 80% infection of all of NY state. Gosh these people have such brilliant predictive modelers.

  45. I was reading the comments section of a piece over at PJMedia today. Some are saying that as this drags on people will just start going back to their normal lives in defiance of the authorities. First a trickle then a deluge. A thousand dollar check from the government doesn’t put a dent into what people actually need. Just the other night a young lady commented that her employer had to let everyone off due to the State’s demands. When asked if she still gets paid. Nope, nothing. Unemployment benefits don’t come close to paying your mortgage in this part of New York. In other words, tough luck, plebe.

  46. Brian Morgan:
    “Roy, good to hear that you and your wife are better.”
    Thank you.

    “I am deathly afraid of bringing it home to my wife. She’s a severe asthmatic. There is a distinct possibility that it could kill her.”
    Yes. I used to have asthma back in my youth. I haven’t had an attack in 40 years, but I will tell you that the shortness of breath symptom that we had was similar to a mild asthma attack. Mine was not so bad, but hers was severe enough that we were both worried. The inhaler the Doc gave her was similar to what they give asthma patients.

    “Hospitals are not the most germ-free places either.”
    Indeed! I’m retired now, but until last summer, I serviced medical equipment – mostly MRI machines and CT scanners – in hospitals and clinics. Hospitals are the *worst* places to catch a bug. If you’re not careful, you could catch any number of exotic infections there. When working on machinery it’s inevitable that you are going to occasionally get a small cut. The first thing I always did when I had an injury that broke the skin, no matter how slight, I would raid the supply cabinet for a handful of alcohol swabs and a bandaid and I would thoroughly clean it. I have been saying for years that the best infection control measure in hospitals is improved housekeeping.

    (This explains why I freak out here from time to time. I’m afraid that our PC culture will kill more people than the actual infection, that and the crippled economy. I wish our leaders could be smarter about this even if it means hurting someone’s feelings.)

    I tend to agree. In my opinion, the reaction to the virus will turn out to be worse than the virus itself. However, I am not an epidemiologist, and I don’t play one on TV, so what do I know. However, there are too many unknowns at this point and our leaders are reacting to a hyper-critical, hair-on-fire press, and a theoretical worst-case scenario. I am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt – for now.

  47. Brian Morgan said: “In other words, tough luck, plebe”

    Most people’s investments were wiped out in the 2008 financial crisis and the period from 2008 to 2016 was a tepid economy at best. Most people couldn’t get back to where they were. From 2016 through 2019 the economy improved enormously and people began feeling positive again. Unfortunately it takes a lot more than 3 years of a growing economy to recover from prior years devastation. And now COVID-19. In a matter of three weeks people have lost everything they gained in the previous three years. Not only their investments but jobs as well. I am just saying this to remind everyone not to be critical if you want to say “you should have saved more.”

    Another thing I want to address is the pitifully poor job we Americans do at educating ourselves and our children on proper money management. When I was growing up the only advice I got was “get a credit card.” It wasn’t until I was 50 years old did I learn of the secrets for a successful retirement: (1) save 10 cents on every pre-tax dollar you earn from your first job to your last, (2) keep that money in safe investment vehicles like CDs or Treasure Bills, (3) never, ever touch that money until the day you retire; no excuses for a lost job or Wuhan virus, (4) save money above that 10% minimum; half that additional savings can go into buying a new car, sending a kid to college, or a down payment on a mortgage; the other half can go into more risky investments like stocks, mutual funds, or starting your own business. For example, let’s say you can save 20% of your pre-tax income. 10% of that must be saved for retirement. 5% is for buying a new car, and 5% is for investing in stocks. I learned this from an older lady who called into a New York talk radio show. Her deceased Jewish grandmother taught her. You will not live high-on-the-hog in retirement but between the $400,000 you saved and the pension or Social Security check you receive, you are in good shape. Too bad I learned that in my 50s. What prompted me to write this? My otherwise responsible nephew who has managed to save 150,000 CAD wants to put 100,000 of it in the stock market. My reply: “Are you nuts?”

  48. Here is an example of how bad its gotten around us:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUkeZ2yN4co

    My wife tried calling “Wild Fusion” Asian restaurant around the corner as we do sometimes for take-out. No one answered their phone. I did a quick internet search and found that YouTube video. Unfortunately the food giveaway ended yesterday.

  49. Wendy K Laubach on March 21, 2020 at 8:53 am said:
    I really hope we’ll strike the right balance between widespread compassionate use of chloroquine/azithromycin and double-blind tests.
    * * *
    You can go to this link and find out about tests done in 2005. (h/t Snow on Pine)
    Caveat is the comment at the bottom of the article.

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/03/stunning-development-2005-us-nih-study-found-chloroquine-was-effective-in-treating-coronavirus-infection-so-why-is-dr-fauci-questioning-its-use-now/

    GPMod Moderator • 7 hours ago
    This story is the perfect illustration of the huge danger of reporters with little to no knowledge of medical science writing articles about it. First, this study was done in PRIMATE CELLS. It was a laboratory study, one of thousands performed and published every single year. Even a promising study like this one has many pitfalls and a great deal of time between a study in primate cells and bringing the drug to market. This is the very beginning stage of drug research. It by NO MEANS proves any kind of cure or that a treatment has been available since 2005!

    Second, those three studies from the front lines are “anecdotal”. They are not detailed, in-depth scientific studies, rather quick and dirty studies done by observation. Interesting, but not scientifically definitive.

    Dr. Fauci is a virologist. He is a hard scientist, not a medical doctor. His focus is proving things scientifically with large double blind studies and control groups. He isn’t “ignoring” anything. He simply has a different point of view than the man on the street that wants a cure yesterday and those writing about things they have zero knowledge of. His focus is getting drugs through the FDA approval process.

  50. Good news stories are also coming out.
    Sometimes it does pay to be prepared.

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/03/missouri-woman-gives-birth-to-baby-girl-in-walmarts-toilet-paper-aisle-during-coronavirus-pandemic/

    “We were like, what do we do now?” [store manager] Hinkle said. “Another lady comes around the corner and she says ‘I’m a labor nurse. Can I help?’ and we said, ‘Yes, yes please.’ She had gloves in her pocket, [and] she was ready.”

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