Today's News (2020/7/8): COVID-19 edition
As per the 21 April document, Trump et al are sabotaging COVID-19 control efforts in any way possible, and are now again pivoting to the "Democrats just hate me and America" line for their campaign.
----- 1 -----
Tucker Carlson says masks and social distancing “have no basis of any kind in science”
Written by Media Matters Staff
Published 07/07/20
https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/tucker-carlson-says-masks-and-social-distancing-have-no-basis-any-kind-science
[EMBEDDED VIDEO]
TUCKER CARLSON (HOST): Many schools that do plan to reopen will do so under a series of restrictions that have no basis of any kind in science. It's a kind of bizarre health theater. Students will be kept six feet apart, everyone will have to wear a mask, class size will be limited and in some there will be scheduled bathroom breaks, etcetera, etcetera. No sports...
In Washington State education officials are considering letting students go back to school on the basis of their race. Non-white kids would get to go back first, but white students would be ordered to stay home until the virus subsides. Now you may have thought that plans like that were eliminated with the Brown versus the Board of Education decision sixty-five years ago, but no, it's all coming back.
----- 2 -----
Protective gear for medical workers begins to run low again
By GEOFF MULVIHILL
and CAMILLE FASSETT
7 July 2020
https://www.seattletimes.com/business/protective-gear-for-medical-workers-begins-to-run-low-again/
The personal protective gear that was in dangerously short supply during the early weeks of the coronavirus crisis in the U.S. is running low again as the virus resumes its rapid spread and the number of hospitalized patients climbs.
A national nursing union is concerned that gear has to be reused. A doctors association warns that physicians’ offices are closed because they cannot get masks and other supplies. And Democratic members of Congress are pushing the Trump administration to devise a national strategy to acquire and distribute gear in anticipation of the crisis worsening into the fall.
“We’re five months into this and there are still shortages of gowns, hair covers, shoe covers, masks, N95 masks,” said Deborah Burger, president of National Nurses United, who cited results from a survey of the union’s members. “They’re being doled out, and we’re still being told to reuse them.”
When the crisis first exploded in March and April in hot spots such as New York City, the situation was so desperate that nurses turned plastic garbage bags into protective gowns. The lack of equipment forced states and hospitals to compete against each other, the federal government and other countries in desperate, expensive bidding wars.
In general, supplies of protective gear are more robust now, and many states and major hospital chains say they are in better shape. But medical professionals and some lawmakers have cast doubt on those improvements as shortages begin to reappear.
----- 3 -----
At least 8 Mississippi lawmakers test positive for COVID-19
By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS
and LEAH WILLINGHAM
7 July 2020
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/health/mississippi-governor-tests-negative-for-covid-19-after-scare/
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - At least eight Mississippi lawmakers have tested positive for the coronavirus after working several weeks in a Capitol where many people stood or sat close together and did not wear masks.
Among those who have publicly acknowledged having COVID-19 are Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, who presides over the 52-member Senate, and House Speaker Philip Gunn, who presides over that 122-member chamber.
The state health officer, Dr. Thomas Dobbs, said Tuesday that there are also at least 11 other suspected cases of the virus among legislators and Capitol employees. In addition, Dobbs said the virus is spreading in social gatherings across the state. Dobbs said, for example, he was told about teenagers having a party on a Pearl River sandbar in Jackson during the July 4 weekend and about people going without masks in restaurants and other public settings.
“You can’t put a lot of people together in the middle of the worst pandemic in a century and expect nothing bad to happen,” Dobbs said during a news conference. “It’s just absolutely an insane thought process.”
----- 4 -----
Donald J. Trump
twitter.com/realDonaldTrump
8 July 2020
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1280853299600789505
In Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and many other countries, SCHOOLS ARE OPEN WITH NO PROBLEMS. The Dems think it would be bad for them politically if U.S. schools open before the November Election, but is important for the children & families. May cut off funding if not open!
Donald J. Trump
twitter.com/realDonaldTrump
8 July 2020
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1280857657365200902
I disagree with twitter.com/CDCgov on their very tough & expensive guidelines for opening schools. While they want them open, they are asking schools to do very impractical things. I will be meeting with them!!!
----- 5 -----
Devos 'Seriously' Looking at Withholding Funds From Schools That Don't Open
By James Walker On 7/8/20
https://www.newsweek.com/devos-seriously-looking-withholding-funding-schools-refuse-reopen-1516195
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has said the Trump administration is looking at withholding federal funds from schools that refuse to reopen amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Speaking to Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Tuesday night, DeVos said there was "no reason to withhold full-time education" as she said withholding funding from closed schools was "definitely" something to be considered.
The education secretary also lashed out at "fearmongering" adults that were "making excuses" for not opening schools as the U.S. has witnessed growth in the number of new COVID-19 cases.
Asked if the Department of Education could withhold federal funding to schools that won't reopen, DeVos said: "Well, that's definitely something to be looked at. The reality is most of the education funding comes from the state and local level, so in excess of 90 percent of it does.
"But what the president and all those at a roundtable today made very clear is the expectation that kids have got to continue their learning. There is no reason to withhold full-time education."
----- 6 -----
ALT-immigration
twitter.com/ALT_uscis
8 July 2020
https://twitter.com/ALT_uscis/status/1280907767377780737
The twitter.com/VP just said the following:
“WE DONT WANT THAT GUIDANCE FROM twitter.com/CDCgov TO BE WHY SCHOOLS DONT OPEN”
This is INSANE!!
[EMBEDDED VIDEO of this]
----- 7 -----
Trump threatens to cut federal aid if schools don't reopen
Collin Binkley, Ap Education Writer
Updated 1:12 pm PDT, Wednesday, July 8, 2020
https://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Trump-pushes-state-local-leaders-to-reopen-15393080.php
Determined to reopen America's schools, President Donald Trump threatened on Wednesday to hold back federal money if school districts don't bring their students back in the fall despite coronavirus worries. He complained that his own public health officials' safety guideline are impractical and too expensive.
Shortly afterward, Vice President Mike Pence announced that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would be issuing new guidance next week “that will give all new tools to our schools.”
Despite Trump's increased his pressure on state and local officials, New York City announced that most of its students would return to classrooms only two or three days a week and would learn online in between. “Most schools will not be able to have all their kids in school at the same time,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio.
For a nation that prides itself on its public school system, it's a newly extraordinary situation in this pandemic-ridden year.
----- 8 -----
GOP State Lawmaker Demands Americans ‘STOP GETTING TESTED’ For Coronavirus
Lee Moran
July 8, 2020
https://www.yahoo.com/huffpost/ohio-nino-vitale-coronavirus-facebook-rant-085910141.html
A GOP state lawmaker in Ohio ― one of several states currently seeing a spike in new coronavirus infections ― urged constituents to “STOP GETTING TESTED” for COVID-19 in a Facebook post on Tuesday.
“Are you tired of living in a dictatorship yet?” asked Nino Vitale, who serves in the state’s House of Representatives. Testing for COVID-19 gave “the government an excuse to claim something is happening that is not happening at the magnitude they say it is happening,” he claimed.
“Have you noticed they never talk about deaths anymore, just cases?” Vitale added. “And they never talk about recoveries. They just keep adding to numbers they have been feeding us from over 3 months ago!”
The lawmaker shared a graphic detailing where in the state it will be mandatory from Wednesday to wear masks to mitigate the spread of the contagion:
Vitale in May said he would not wear a mask ― despite mask-wearing being endorsed and promoted by public health experts worldwide - because the face is the “image and likeness of God.”
Last week, he wrote on Facebook that “the only people I know” in history “that wear masks are those trying to get away with a crime. And this entire mask deal is simply that, a crime against freedom and a crime against humanity.”
----- 9 -----
Health official: Trump rally ‘likely’ source of virus surge
By Sean Murphy
7 July 2020
https://apnews.com/ad96548245e186382225818d8dc416eb
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - President Donald Trump’s campaign rally in Tulsa in late June that drew thousands of participants and large protests “likely contributed” to a dramatic surge in new coronavirus cases, Tulsa City-County Health Department Director Dr. Bruce Dart said Wednesday.
Tulsa County reported 261 confirmed new cases on Monday, a one-day record high, and another 206 cases on Tuesday. By comparison, during the week before the June 20 Trump rally, there were 76 cases on Monday and 96 on Tuesday.
Although the health department’s policy is to not publicly identify individual settings where people may have contracted the virus, Dart said those large gatherings “more than likely” contributed to the spike.
“In the past few days, we’ve seen almost 500 new cases, and we had several large events just over two weeks ago, so I guess we just connect the dots,” Dart said.
Also posted to ソ-ラ-バ-ド-のおん;
comments at Dreamwidth. Please comment there.
- Tucker Carlson says masks and social distancing “have no basis of any kind in science”
- Protective gear for medical workers begins to run low again
- At least 8 Mississippi lawmakers test positive for COVID-19
- April 21 document: Trump demands all schools reopen normally, attacks CDC
- Devos 'Seriously' Looking at Withholding Funds From Schools That Don't Open
- "We don't want guidance from the CDC to be why schools don't open."
- Trump threatens to cut federal aid if schools don't reopen
- GOP State Lawmaker Demands Americans ‘STOP GETTING TESTED’ For Coronavirus
- Health official: Trump rally ‘likely’ source of virus surge
----- 1 -----
Tucker Carlson says masks and social distancing “have no basis of any kind in science”
Written by Media Matters Staff
Published 07/07/20
https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/tucker-carlson-says-masks-and-social-distancing-have-no-basis-any-kind-science
[EMBEDDED VIDEO]
TUCKER CARLSON (HOST): Many schools that do plan to reopen will do so under a series of restrictions that have no basis of any kind in science. It's a kind of bizarre health theater. Students will be kept six feet apart, everyone will have to wear a mask, class size will be limited and in some there will be scheduled bathroom breaks, etcetera, etcetera. No sports...
In Washington State education officials are considering letting students go back to school on the basis of their race. Non-white kids would get to go back first, but white students would be ordered to stay home until the virus subsides. Now you may have thought that plans like that were eliminated with the Brown versus the Board of Education decision sixty-five years ago, but no, it's all coming back.
----- 2 -----
Protective gear for medical workers begins to run low again
By GEOFF MULVIHILL
and CAMILLE FASSETT
7 July 2020
https://www.seattletimes.com/business/protective-gear-for-medical-workers-begins-to-run-low-again/
The personal protective gear that was in dangerously short supply during the early weeks of the coronavirus crisis in the U.S. is running low again as the virus resumes its rapid spread and the number of hospitalized patients climbs.
A national nursing union is concerned that gear has to be reused. A doctors association warns that physicians’ offices are closed because they cannot get masks and other supplies. And Democratic members of Congress are pushing the Trump administration to devise a national strategy to acquire and distribute gear in anticipation of the crisis worsening into the fall.
“We’re five months into this and there are still shortages of gowns, hair covers, shoe covers, masks, N95 masks,” said Deborah Burger, president of National Nurses United, who cited results from a survey of the union’s members. “They’re being doled out, and we’re still being told to reuse them.”
When the crisis first exploded in March and April in hot spots such as New York City, the situation was so desperate that nurses turned plastic garbage bags into protective gowns. The lack of equipment forced states and hospitals to compete against each other, the federal government and other countries in desperate, expensive bidding wars.
In general, supplies of protective gear are more robust now, and many states and major hospital chains say they are in better shape. But medical professionals and some lawmakers have cast doubt on those improvements as shortages begin to reappear.
----- 3 -----
At least 8 Mississippi lawmakers test positive for COVID-19
By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS
and LEAH WILLINGHAM
7 July 2020
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/health/mississippi-governor-tests-negative-for-covid-19-after-scare/
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - At least eight Mississippi lawmakers have tested positive for the coronavirus after working several weeks in a Capitol where many people stood or sat close together and did not wear masks.
Among those who have publicly acknowledged having COVID-19 are Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, who presides over the 52-member Senate, and House Speaker Philip Gunn, who presides over that 122-member chamber.
The state health officer, Dr. Thomas Dobbs, said Tuesday that there are also at least 11 other suspected cases of the virus among legislators and Capitol employees. In addition, Dobbs said the virus is spreading in social gatherings across the state. Dobbs said, for example, he was told about teenagers having a party on a Pearl River sandbar in Jackson during the July 4 weekend and about people going without masks in restaurants and other public settings.
“You can’t put a lot of people together in the middle of the worst pandemic in a century and expect nothing bad to happen,” Dobbs said during a news conference. “It’s just absolutely an insane thought process.”
----- 4 -----
Donald J. Trump
twitter.com/realDonaldTrump
8 July 2020
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1280853299600789505
In Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and many other countries, SCHOOLS ARE OPEN WITH NO PROBLEMS. The Dems think it would be bad for them politically if U.S. schools open before the November Election, but is important for the children & families. May cut off funding if not open!
Donald J. Trump
twitter.com/realDonaldTrump
8 July 2020
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1280857657365200902
I disagree with twitter.com/CDCgov on their very tough & expensive guidelines for opening schools. While they want them open, they are asking schools to do very impractical things. I will be meeting with them!!!
----- 5 -----
Devos 'Seriously' Looking at Withholding Funds From Schools That Don't Open
By James Walker On 7/8/20
https://www.newsweek.com/devos-seriously-looking-withholding-funding-schools-refuse-reopen-1516195
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has said the Trump administration is looking at withholding federal funds from schools that refuse to reopen amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Speaking to Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Tuesday night, DeVos said there was "no reason to withhold full-time education" as she said withholding funding from closed schools was "definitely" something to be considered.
The education secretary also lashed out at "fearmongering" adults that were "making excuses" for not opening schools as the U.S. has witnessed growth in the number of new COVID-19 cases.
Asked if the Department of Education could withhold federal funding to schools that won't reopen, DeVos said: "Well, that's definitely something to be looked at. The reality is most of the education funding comes from the state and local level, so in excess of 90 percent of it does.
"But what the president and all those at a roundtable today made very clear is the expectation that kids have got to continue their learning. There is no reason to withhold full-time education."
----- 6 -----
ALT-immigration
twitter.com/ALT_uscis
8 July 2020
https://twitter.com/ALT_uscis/status/1280907767377780737
The twitter.com/VP just said the following:
“WE DONT WANT THAT GUIDANCE FROM twitter.com/CDCgov TO BE WHY SCHOOLS DONT OPEN”
This is INSANE!!
[EMBEDDED VIDEO of this]
----- 7 -----
Trump threatens to cut federal aid if schools don't reopen
Collin Binkley, Ap Education Writer
Updated 1:12 pm PDT, Wednesday, July 8, 2020
https://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Trump-pushes-state-local-leaders-to-reopen-15393080.php
Determined to reopen America's schools, President Donald Trump threatened on Wednesday to hold back federal money if school districts don't bring their students back in the fall despite coronavirus worries. He complained that his own public health officials' safety guideline are impractical and too expensive.
Shortly afterward, Vice President Mike Pence announced that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would be issuing new guidance next week “that will give all new tools to our schools.”
Despite Trump's increased his pressure on state and local officials, New York City announced that most of its students would return to classrooms only two or three days a week and would learn online in between. “Most schools will not be able to have all their kids in school at the same time,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio.
For a nation that prides itself on its public school system, it's a newly extraordinary situation in this pandemic-ridden year.
----- 8 -----
GOP State Lawmaker Demands Americans ‘STOP GETTING TESTED’ For Coronavirus
Lee Moran
July 8, 2020
https://www.yahoo.com/huffpost/ohio-nino-vitale-coronavirus-facebook-rant-085910141.html
A GOP state lawmaker in Ohio ― one of several states currently seeing a spike in new coronavirus infections ― urged constituents to “STOP GETTING TESTED” for COVID-19 in a Facebook post on Tuesday.
“Are you tired of living in a dictatorship yet?” asked Nino Vitale, who serves in the state’s House of Representatives. Testing for COVID-19 gave “the government an excuse to claim something is happening that is not happening at the magnitude they say it is happening,” he claimed.
“Have you noticed they never talk about deaths anymore, just cases?” Vitale added. “And they never talk about recoveries. They just keep adding to numbers they have been feeding us from over 3 months ago!”
The lawmaker shared a graphic detailing where in the state it will be mandatory from Wednesday to wear masks to mitigate the spread of the contagion:
Vitale in May said he would not wear a mask ― despite mask-wearing being endorsed and promoted by public health experts worldwide - because the face is the “image and likeness of God.”
Last week, he wrote on Facebook that “the only people I know” in history “that wear masks are those trying to get away with a crime. And this entire mask deal is simply that, a crime against freedom and a crime against humanity.”
----- 9 -----
Health official: Trump rally ‘likely’ source of virus surge
By Sean Murphy
7 July 2020
https://apnews.com/ad96548245e186382225818d8dc416eb
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - President Donald Trump’s campaign rally in Tulsa in late June that drew thousands of participants and large protests “likely contributed” to a dramatic surge in new coronavirus cases, Tulsa City-County Health Department Director Dr. Bruce Dart said Wednesday.
Tulsa County reported 261 confirmed new cases on Monday, a one-day record high, and another 206 cases on Tuesday. By comparison, during the week before the June 20 Trump rally, there were 76 cases on Monday and 96 on Tuesday.
Although the health department’s policy is to not publicly identify individual settings where people may have contracted the virus, Dart said those large gatherings “more than likely” contributed to the spike.
“In the past few days, we’ve seen almost 500 new cases, and we had several large events just over two weeks ago, so I guess we just connect the dots,” Dart said.
Also posted to ソ-ラ-バ-ド-のおん;
comments at Dreamwidth. Please comment there.