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Reports of protests are overblown. A few incidents around the country, but nothing major.

5 (45.5%)

A few major incidents in capitals, but nothing much in DC.

5 (45.5%)

A major incident in DC, but nothing much around the country.

0 (0%)

More than 10 capitals have major upheavals, but nothing much in DC.

0 (0%)

A major incident in DC plus more than 10 capitals with significant upheavals.

1 (9.1%)

More than half the capitals around the country have problems with protesters, but DC is quiet.

0 (0%)

DC has major problems, while more than half the capitals around the country also have considerable trouble with protesters.

0 (0%)

Huge disruption to the day.

0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 9

Voting closed: January 19, 2021, 10:49:21 PM

[bodiddley]

One more reason why China’s official COVID-19 mortality statistics are being treated with some skepticism by overseas observers:

Journalists from a Chinese language news service called Caixin have discovered that one mortuary in Wuhan had recently taken delivery of 5000 urns in the space of just two days. And this was at just one of seven known mortuaries located in Wuhan.

According to official Chinese government data, 50,006 were infected with COVID-19 virus in Wuhan with 2,535 dying from the disease

Well, that could sure use more reporting.

For instance, they just lifted Wuhan's 10 week complete lockdown.
I assume that delivery of 5,000 urns is part of a 2.5 month backlog of distributing remains.  As no one was supposed to be going out except to get food or medicine.  So activity is just resuming.  And now they want to get all ashes back to families ahead of the April 4 Qing Ming holiday, known as the Tomb Sweeping holiday where people pay respects to their dead ancestors, especially those who have died within the past year.   

I have no idea how many people die per month in a city of 11M such as Wuhan.  Especially during the cold winter months.  And this year probably worse with some Wuhanese likely unable to get surgery or other hospital care as facilities were filled with virus cases.

Otherwise, which deaths to attribute to the virus is somewhat fuzzy.  Someone with heart trouble gets the virus and dies of a heart attack when their immune system is weakened.  Should probably be considered virus related, though it might not be.  So there are opportunities to intentionally or unintentionally fudge the numbers.

Anyway, official numbers are just that.  Cases that have tested positive and been officially reported.  Whether in the US or China they provide some info and guidance.  But also are pretty incomplete.  And of course words by gov't leaders and even medical specialists are still mere words.  I've more been following actions.  About 3 weeks ago China started dismantling its last large temporary hospital in Wuhan (in a sports arena, I believe).  So I knew that things were genuinely improving.  Same with allowing people in Hubei to move around the country and lifting the mandatory lockdown of Wuhan, which occurred two days ago.  OTOH, the fact that almost all precautions remain in place in Shanghai, despite businesses being back open tells you that the all-clear hasn't sounded, that a second wave is possible, to remain careful, that the virus could still be around.

EDIT: Some quick googling reveals that circa 2010 an average of 146 people died in NYC per day.  Subtract out the 1.4 murders and you get 145 NYC deaths per day.  Wuhan a comparable population.  So lets say 145 x 70 day lockdown = circa 10,000 urns. 

The official numbers have roughly 35 viral deaths per day in Wuhan.  NYC has 4x (145) that amount in normal deaths per day in an average month.  I'd expect winter deaths to be higher.  But also the virus was killing some folks who normally might drop for other health reasons anyway and just got an assist from the virus.  So let's call that a wash.

So Wuhan could be expected to have a backlog of 12,500 urns, from 10K normal deaths and 2,500 viral deaths.  Suddenly things seem a lot less sinister.

[bodiddley]

For the record, I have no idea if the Wuhan death toll has been reported accurately or intentionally underreported.  They replaced the Hubei Province leadership and put Shanghai's mayor in charge there, so that's some incentive to be transparent.  Unless it's a higher level cover-up. 

The important thing is the status of the virus and whether transmission chains are still occurring.

Just checking official case numbers, and outside of Hubei, China only had 4 provinces with over 1000 cases.  Guangdong's 1,496 cases being the most.  Looks like the US has 17+ states over 1000 cases.   With 12 over 1500 cases.

Yeah, official numbers, etc.
But the US had 2 months to prepare for this.
The Kirkland, WA outbreak was circa Feb 29 and big news when I returned to China on March 3.

[kiidcarter8]

Come on, bro - American lifestyle is different,

[bodiddley]

In what way?
What are you immune to details?

Simply: the US Gov't failed to prepare and plan and protect.
And then when they took action it was mismanaged, slow, poorly executed.
Testing was bungled every which way.
Lockdowns were implemented way too late.

This was all largely preventable.
What don't you understand about 100K Americans being needlessly exposed to a virus and thousands, likely tens of thousands, dying?

You realize of course that now after the virus has spread and it's way late and much harder to contain, that most states are taking most of the actions they should have been taking at the very outset?

[kiidcarter8]

Simply: the US Gov't failed to prepare and plan and protect.


Nothing we were to do in late January was stopping this thing.

It's about how it's handled now.

People are fucking dying.  It's sad as hell.  And disrupting.  And scary - in whatever way you get scared (little, lot or batshit nuts).  Many of those who get through it will need to keep talking, rehashing, etc.     Some will be total dicks.  Others will just move on.  And LIVE.

Good night.

[Yankguy1]

Don't worry, Bo. Kid would agree with you 100% if Obama were still President.

[LarryBnDC]

Simply: the US Gov't failed to prepare and plan and protect.


Nothing we were to do in late January was stopping this thing.

It's about how it's handled now.

People are fucking dying.  It's sad as hell.  And disrupting.  And scary - in whatever way you get scared (little, lot or batshit nuts).  Many of those who get through it will need to keep talking, rehashing, etc.     Some will be total dicks.  Others will just move on.  And LIVE.

Good night.

Well, that’s that.

“We move on” is one way of saying “I’m out of bullshit.”

[LarryBnDC]

This came up on my FaceBook memory page today.

Donte Manning should be twenty four but instead he’ll be forever nine years old.

March 24, 2014:

Like many other sports fans both rabid and casual, I spend a good portion of March enthralled by the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. For the last nine years basking in the glow of glorious hoops isn't nearly as enjoyable because as we get into the last week of March I am reminded of one of the most terribly tragic events I've ever witnessed.

On March 24, 2005 at a little after 10 pm I was watching the tourney when I heard a series of rapid gun shots. By the time I got to the front window I had cell phone in hand and was connected to 911.

Looking directly across the street I could see a body on the sidewalk as people screamed and fled for cover. 

As I got down the front steps the first responding police car was pulling up to the scene while I was still on the phone with the 911 dispatcher. Moments later paramedics rushed to the scene and began to administer to the stricken person. What I saw peering across the way left me shaken to the core… the victim was a little boy.

Donte Manning, 9, lay bleeding after having been shot in the face by some bastard who was standing down by the corner of 13th and Euclid Streets, NW. For some reason the guy decide to cut loose and throw shots into a crowd of children playing in front of the Warner Apartments in the 2600 block of 13th, NW. Donte had been out a little later than usual that warm night in Spring because there was no school the next day.

While standing there numb, all I could think at the time was, "That coulda been my kid!" I believe I said just that when I was interviewed by WRC.

Donte lingered in the hospital for a month before his family let him go and removed him from life-support. Over the next few months Fran got to know Donte's mother and made a remembrance quilt for the family. In 2010 Rose Marie Rose Berger wrote a book, "Who killed Donte Manning?" about searching for the soul of our nation's capital.

To this day the case remains open and the murder unsolved.

Donte will forever remain 9 years old.

[bodiddley]

Simply: the US Gov't failed to prepare and plan and protect.

Nothing we were to do in late January was stopping this thing.

All of fucking February.
Wasted.
The test bungling, CDC disorganized, Trump downplaying the danger, etc.
It's well-documented how weeks and then a month plus of nearly nothing went by.

China largely stopped the virus from spreading out of Hubei.
Why couldn't the US stop the virus from spreading?
We had a lot more warning and information than China had.

It's all about how it's handled now.

Yes, because we fucked up the window to keep the virus limited and contained with only reasonable disruption.

Stop being such a Trump apologist and admit that Trump botched the hell out of this, and it's late in the day now.

[josh]

Simply: the US Gov't failed to prepare and plan and protect.


Nothing we were to do in late January was stopping this thing.

It's about how it's handled now.

People are fucking dying.  It's sad as hell.  And disrupting.  And scary - in whatever way you get scared (little, lot or batshit nuts).  Many of those who get through it will need to keep talking, rehashing, etc.     Some will be total dicks.  Others will just move on.  And LIVE.

Good night.

Well, that’s that.

“We move on” is one way of saying “I’m out of bullshit.”

I thought it was his way of saying that he's a total dick.

And also his way of lying to himself to comfort himself that he wasn't really that wrong and Trump didn't do anything wrong that would have made a difference.

Kid, you're wrong that nothing could have changed anything in late January, but it neededn't have waited until late January.

[bodiddley]

Everything's gone fine so far.  No need to worry.
It'll probably turn out that Trump has a natural flair for epidemiology and the whole thing was overblown to begin with anwyay.

[facilitatorn]

Simply: the US Gov't failed to prepare and plan and protect.


Nothing we were to do in late January was stopping this thing.

Translation: we did essentially nothing in late January to try to stop this thing.

It's about how it's handled now.

Like a trump kiss up contest with governors as contestants and thousands of Americans’ lives on the line driven by federally created scarcities and confusion.

People are fucking dying.  It's sad as hell.  And disrupting.  And scary - in whatever way you get scared (little, lot or batshit nuts).  Many of those who get through it will need to keep talking, rehashing, etc.     Some will be total dicks.  Others will just move on.  And LIVE.

I’ve got you down for the third and fourth items from the end of your list as past is prologue.

Good night.

Thanks. Think better in the morning.

[bodiddley]

Why Italy?
We keep hearing about the aging population (but Japan's is older).
Here's more. 
https://portside.org/2020-03-21/dispatch-italy-class-struggle-time-coronavirus
Seems the austerity Germany foisted on the EU is largely to blame, but the more polite generic explanation is budget cuts:

European and national "austerity" policies that produced cuts in public spending and to worker pensions, cuts which have strongly affected public health.

In the last ten years, public health spending has been cut by 37 billion euros overall, with a huge reduction in hospital beds and a continuous drop in medical, nursing, and ancillary medical personnel. Today, there are probably no less than 50,000 doctors and 50,000 nurses missing from public health. The pandemic has highlighted the great shortage of intensive care facilities: in Italy there are 5,000 beds in ICU units for 60 million inhabitants. In France, with a few million more inhabitants, there are 25,000; in Germany there are 30,000 serving 80 million inhabitants.

The regionalization and the continuous cuts to state resources earmarked for health services—which are divided among the regions on the basis of "historical expenditure"—have led to the collapse of the public health system, especially in the Southern regions which, fortunately, are still to date the least affected by the pandemic.

The writer also mentions: "the privatization of many health services" as a factor.

[bodiddley]

Btw, notice the spate of articles and medical professionals that are starting to grudgingly admit that Americans should wear face masks in public.  There's a lot of hemming and hawing and bs qualifications**, but it comes down to masks offer protection and people should be and should have been wearing them.

Face masks are better than the halfway measures my parents are telling me about in NJ.  In their Costco, they limit the number of people allowed at one time into the large warehouse store   And they've made aisles narrower and one-way.  But the cashiers have no protection.  What they should do is implement those helpful measures + face masks.  Costco is a big fucking enterprise.  They should pass out a face mask to every customer before allowing them in the store.  Hell, charge them an extra dollar per person on the way out.  And the cashiers who interact with many people all day should be wearing masks for the protection of themselves and the customers.

Typical BS qualification"
**  "While wearing a mask may not necessarily prevent healthy people from getting sick ... it may be better than nothing," Atmar said.  Which is like saying that while condoms may not necessarily prevent pregnancy, they may be better than nothing.

You have to go halfway down the main article to get to data that says face masks are effective, and even then they hem and haw first:

studies of influenza pandemics have shown that when high-grade N95 masks are not available, surgical masks do protect people a bit more than not wearing masks at all. And when masks are combined with hand hygiene, they help reduce the transmission of infections.

When researchers conducted systematic review of a variety of interventions used during the SARS outbreak in 2003, they found that washing hands more than 10 times daily was 55% effective in stopping virus transmission, while wearing a mask was actually more effective — at about 68%. Wearing gloves offered about the same amount of protection as frequent hand-washing, and combining all measures — hand-washing, masks, gloves and a protective gown — increased the intervention effectiveness to 91%.

I like how they seem surprised that face masks were more effective than frequent hand washing.  And of course combining precautions offers the most protection.

You have to struggle to the last 1/4 of the article to get the reasons why face masks work.  Most of the ish I've been saying for months.

If everyone wears a mask, individuals protect each other, reducing overall community transmission. The sick automatically have one on and are also more likely to adhere to keeping their mask on because the stigma of wearing one is removed.

Masks are also an important signal that it’s not business as usual during a pandemic. They serve as a visual reminder to improve hand hygiene and social distancing.

Basically, the US was unprepared, there was and somehow still is a face mask shortage and then the medical professionals lied to you to make you feel okay about that. 

[bodiddley]

Fox News Poll Shows Joe Biden CRUSHING Trump By 25 Points in Swing Counties

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/fox-news-poll-biden-leads-trump-wins-high-marks-for-female-vp-pledge

In a head-to-head presidential matchup, Biden is up by 49-40 percent over Trump, a lead that is outside the poll’s margin of sampling error. Another 11 percent would vote for someone else or are undecided.

Biden’s advantage grows to 25 points, 57-32 percent, in close counties (where Hillary Clinton and Trump were within 10 points in 2016).