Pandemic 2020

[schuylaar]

Republicans treated Covid like a bioweapon. Then it turned against them

Trump’s team reportedly believed that coronavirus would hurt Democratic states – and Democratic governors – worse. But the virus does not discriminate A rightwing protester during a Proud Boys rally in Portland, Oregon, 26 Sept 2020. Photograph: Amy Harris/REX/Shutterstock Some of the most...

news.yahoo.com

Republicans treated Covid like a bioweapon. Then it turned against them

View attachment 4961203

Some of the most powerful conservatives in the United States have, since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, chosen to sow disinformation along with mockery and distrust of proven methods of combating the disease, from masks to vaccines to social distancing. Their actions have afflicted the nation as a whole with more disease and death and economic crisis than good leadership aligned with science might have, and, in spite of hundreds of thousands of well-documented deaths and a new surge, they continue. Their malice has become so normal that its real nature is rarely addressed. Call it biological warfare by propaganda.

Call Jared Kushner the spiritual heir of the army besieging the city of Caffa on the Black Sea in 1346, which, according to a contemporaneous account, catapulted plague-infected corpses over the city walls. This is sometimes said to be how the Black Death came to Europe, where it would kill tens of millions of people – a third of the European population – over the next 15 years. A Business Insider article from a year ago noted: “Kushner’s coronavirus team shied away from a national strategy, believing that the virus was hitting Democratic states hardest and that they could blame governors.” An administration more committed to saving lives than scoring points could have contained the pandemic rather than made the US the worst-hit nation in the world. Illnesses and casualties could have been far lower, and we could have been better protected against the Delta variant.

At the outset of the pandemic, as Seattle and New York City became hard hit, Republicans apparently imagined that the pandemic would strike Democratic states and cities first, and certainly in 2020 Black, Latinx and indigenous people were disproportionately affected. To put it clearly, Republicans enabled a campaign of mass death and disablement, thinking it would be primarily mean death and illness for those they regarded as opponents.

Nevertheless, Democratic governors, Native nations and people with moderate-to-leftwing views have done a better job of protecting against this scourge. The worst-hit areas in the country are now Republican-led states and regions. At one point recently, Florida under raging science denier Governor Ron DeSantis, with about 7.5% of the US population, accounted for 20% of all new Covid cases. The governors of Florida and Texas have banned mask mandates, making attempts to protect public health, including that of children, acts of defiance by cities and school districts. DeSantis’s supporters are peddling “Don’t Fauci My Florida” T-shirts and drink coolers with the text “How the hell am I going to drink a beer with a mask on?” On 27 July, as Delta infections proliferated, House minority leader Kevin McCarthy tweeted, “Make no mistake – The threat of bringing masks back is not a decision based on science, but a decision conjured up by liberal government officials who want to continue to live in a perpetual pandemic state.”

Call Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham the spiritual heirs of Lord Jeffery Amherst, the British military commander who in 1763 wrote to an underling, “Could it not be contrived to send the Small Pox among those disaffected tribes of Indians?” As the New York Times put it with characteristic mildness, “Mr Carlson, Ms Ingraham and guests on their programs have said on the air that the vaccines could be dangerous; that people are justified in refusing them; and that public authorities have overstepped in their attempts to deliver them.” Newsweek was more blunt, quoting Ingraham herself saying that the vaccine was an attempt to push an “experimental drug on Americans against their will – threatening them, threatening to deprive them of basic liberties, if they don’t comply.” The goal was to rile up the audience – and prevent them from getting vaccinated, while the evidence was clear that the vaccines prevent both disease in the vaccinated and the spread of disease. Vaccines are, incidentally, how smallpox was eliminated worldwide.

There is of course another angle to the conservative response to the pandemic. In far-right ideology, freedom – for white men especially – is an absolute goal. Even recognizing the systems in which we are all enmeshed might burden the free person with obligations to others and to the whole. Science itself is a series of descriptions of our enmeshedness: of how pesticides travel beyond the crops they’re sprayed on, of the way that fossil fuel emissions contribute to health problems and climate change, of how the spread of disease can be prevented by collective action. Rightwing ideology, after all, has emphasised the right to own and carry a gun over the right to be free of being menaced or murdered by guns, as thousands are in the US every year.

But just as the right to brandish guns is defended in the face of those gun deaths, so the right to contract and spread a sometimes lethal and often debilitating disease is defended as the antithesis of the responsibility not to do so. It’s safe to assume that the Republican leadership knows better, and that some of their followers do and some don’t. Some have chosen to engage in biological warfare; some are merely tools being used in that warfare. That is, some of them are unwitting corpses being catapulted over the walls, unconscious smallpox blankets; some of them are Amherst in spirit. Those using fake vaccine cards – as college students, and two recent travelers from the US to Canada have – are definitely Amhersts.

Covid-19 is far from the first time people have decided to profit from promoting the death of others: the fossil fuel industry plunging ahead while fully aware that climate catastrophe was the consequence of its product is the most extreme example. Manufacturers of guns and prescription opiates have done so as well. But it might be the first time that a new threat has been so dramatically increased not by direct profiteers but by those selling ideology and sowing division.

Measuring the impact of the pandemic by its death toll leaves out other impacts that matter: millions of schoolchildren isolated and undereducated, millions of parents exhausted by double duty, millions of small businesses shuttered, millions unemployed and impoverished, their dreams crushed, millions isolated and anxious, millions grieving the dead. Medical workers who were selflessly heroic the first time around are demoralized now that the hospitalized are so often people who could have been vaccinated, could have been careful, but chose not to. The poison runs through everything. Some of it was spread on purpose.

finally, message delivered- my job done..i'm free to go now.

 

[injinji]

Ya I try not to use that term ...... unfortunately I’ve used it on RIU a few times .

I most likely meet the clinical meaning of retarded. It's anyone who is slower developing mentally, physically, socially or emotionally. I've always figured I was running at 127/128th the speed of a normal human in social situations.

 

[injinji]

Another local update. My buddy's girlfriend's sister in law died last night. She was the one they had moved to Tennessee since they were out of beds near New Orleans. They are cleaning the graveyard today.

Congrats to the anti vaxers. You got another one. That makes two in this family. Mother and sister in law.

 

[DIY-HP-LED]

Another local update. My buddy's girlfriend's sister in law died last night. She was the one they had moved to Tennessee since they were out of beds near New Orleans. They are cleaning the graveyard today.

Congrats to the anti vaxers. You got another one. That makes two in this family. Mother and sister in law.

And they wonder why people hate their guts.

 

[DIY-HP-LED]

Natural infection isn't enough to protect against COVID-19, experts say. You still need a vaccine.

Although antibodies from having COVID-19 may provide some protection, health experts say nothing protects better than the vaccines.

www.usatoday.com

 

[injinji]

My work opened back up last week and we had our first couple of events. One had 150 folks. They were mostly masked when they came in, but not after they were seated. Most years this would have drawn near 300, but I worry that it will still be a spreader even at the reduced numbers. We will know in a couple three weeks.

 

[Tangoroo]

How many thousands of covid cases has this administration released into the US so far? 7000 “migrants” were released into a single town last week and more than 1500 tested positive for Covid. They were told to quarantine for two days. But hey let’s worry about a bike rally… SMH

 

[Budley Doright]

I most likely meet the clinical meaning of retarded. It's anyone who is slower developing mentally, physically, socially or emotionally. I've always figured I was running at 127/128th the speed of a normal human in social situations.

I hate social situations lol

 

[Budley Doright]

How many thousands of covid cases has this administration released into the US so far? 7000 “migrants” were released into a single town last week and more than 1500 tested positive for Covid. They were told to quarantine for two days. But hey let’s worry about a bike rally… SMH

Do you have any sources that documented this?

 

[rkymtnman]

How many thousands of covid cases has this administration released into the US so far? 7000 “migrants” were released into a single town last week and more than 1500 tested positive for Covid. They were told to quarantine for two days. But hey let’s worry about a bike rally… SMH

no worse than the common cold. should be gone by Easter is what i'm hearing on the streets

 

[UncleBuck]

How many thousands of covid cases has this administration released into the US so far? 7000 “migrants” were released into a single town last week and more than 1500 tested positive for Covid. They were told to quarantine for two days. But hey let’s worry about a bike rally… SMH

how do you release a democratic hoax? if we just stopped testing them wed have less cases

 

[rkymtnman]

how do you release a democratic hoax? if we just stopped testing them wed have less cases

i'd like to thank president xi on how china has handled the corona virus. i'm gonna send him 17 tons of ppe to say thanks.

 

[printer]

Analysis: 15 percent of US coronavirus cases are now children
According to new data collected by the American Academy of Pediatrics, almost 94,000 COVID-19 cases in children were reported over a two-week period from July 29 to Aug. 5, which the academy dubbed "a continuing substantial increase." The outbreak increased the total number of child cases by 4 percent.

"After declining in early summer, child cases have steadily increased since the beginning of July," the report added.

Since the pandemic began, nearly 4.3 million children have tested positive for the virus — 14.3 percent of total cumulative cases.

The new figures come as children's hospitals in COVID-19 hot spots have reported an increase in young patients battling the virus.

Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock reported that of 23 patients admitted for COVID-19 under the age 18, 10 were in the ICU and five were placed on ventilators.

Analysis: 15 percent of US coronavirus cases are now children

Recent reports show that children are accounting for 15 percent of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. as the delta variant causes an uptick in cases around the country.According to new data collected by th…

thehill.com

 

[printer]

Abbott announces COVID-19 mitigation measures, asks hospitals to postpone elective procedures
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) announced new COVID-19 mitigation measures on Monday, including asking hospitals to delay elective medical procedures and bringing in medical personnel from out-of-state.

In a press release, Abbott's office said the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) will be bringing in out-of-state personnel to assist in operations as coronavirus cases surge across the nation, driven by the highly contagious delta variant.

Abbott also sent a letter to the Texas Hospital Association, asking that they voluntarily delay elective medical procedures that can be put off without detriment to patients in order to conserve hospital space.

According to the statement, Abbott has also asked DSHS and the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) to open more COVID-19 antibody infusion centers that can treat COVID-19 patients who don't need hospitalization.

"The Governor is also directing TDEM and DSHS to increase vaccination availability across the state and encourages all Texans to get the COVID-19 vaccine," the statement read.

"The State of Texas is taking action to combat the recent rise in COVID-19 cases and ensure that our hospitals and communities have the resources and support they need to mitigate the virus," Abbott said. "Texans can help bolster our efforts by getting vaccinated against COVID-19. The COVID-19 vaccine is safe and effective, and it is our best defense against this virus."

Abbott announces COVID-19 mitigation measures, asks hospitals to postpone elective procedures

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) announced new COVID-19 mitigation measures on Monday, including asking hospitals to delay elective medical procedures and bringing in medical personnel from out-of-state.…

thehill.com

 

[injinji]

 

[printer]

Texas Gov. Abbott Appeals for Out-of-State Help Against COVID
Abbott has directed the Texas Department of State Health Services to use staffing agencies to find additional medical staff from beyond the state's borders as the Delta wave began to overwhelm its present staffing resources. He also has sent a letter to the Texas Hospital Association to request that hospitals postpone all elective medical procedures voluntarily.

Abbott has directed the Texas Department of State Health Services to use staffing agencies to find additional medical staff from beyond the state's borders as the Delta wave began to overwhelm its present staffing resources. He also has sent a letter to the Texas Hospital Association to request that hospitals postpone all elective medical procedures voluntarily.

Hospital officials in Houston said last week that area hospitals with beds had insufficient numbers of nurses to serve them.

Abbott also directed the state health department and the Texas Division of Emergency Management to open additional COVID-19 antibody infusion centers to treat patients not needing hospital care and expand COVID-19 vaccine availability to the state's underserved communities. He also announced that about $267 million in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program food benefits. That was on top of the $3.9 billion in benefits previously allocated since April 2020.

The governor is taking action short of lifting his emergency order banning county and local government entities from requiring the wearing of masks and social distancing to lower the COVID-19 risk. The Republican has said repeatedly that Texans have the information and intelligence to make their own decisions on what steps to take to protect their health and the health of those around them.

Meantime, one of Houston's two county-owned hospitals was pitching tents to accommodate its COVID-19 overflow. Harris Health System and Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital in northeastern Houston added nearly 2,000 square feet of medical tents in the hope of taking control of the anticipated increase in patient volume and keep staff and non-COVID-19 patients safe.

Texas Gov. Abbott Appeals for Out-of-State Help Against COVID

Gov. Greg Abbott appealed for out-of-state help Monday to fight the third wave of COVID-19 in Texas. The request came as a county-owned hospital in Houston raised tents to accommodate...

www.newsmax.com

 

[captainmorgan]

West Africa's first-ever case of Marburg virus disease confirmed in Guinea

West Africa's first-ever case of Marburg virus disease confirmed in Guinea

www.zawya.com

 

[DIY-HP-LED]

West Africa's first-ever case of Marburg virus disease confirmed in Guinea

West Africa's first-ever case of Marburg virus disease confirmed in Guinea

www.zawya.com

I dunno how far Joe got with rebuilding the international surveillance system that Trump dismantled along with the pandemic response team in 2018. America is back in the WHO, or are until the republicans regain power and the WH, I figure the WHO is in need of reform too, it's pandemic performance was poor, but then again so was the response of many countries.

 

[printer]

West Africa's first-ever case of Marburg virus disease confirmed in Guinea

West Africa's first-ever case of Marburg virus disease confirmed in Guinea

www.zawya.com

That is all we need. Mind you, at least it is not airborne.

 

[CunningCanuk]

How many thousands of covid cases has this administration released into the US so far? 7000 “migrants” were released into a single town last week and more than 1500 tested positive for Covid. They were told to quarantine for two days. But hey let’s worry about a bike rally… SMH

Joined July 21, 2021.