COVID-19 Megathread 3: Third time's a charm

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Why don’t we have a national lockdown yet?

Because we live in a federal constitutional republic of 4 million square miles and 330 million people. 

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Here is the map that Rachel Maddow showed on her show from the Kinsa Thermometer

What is this supposed to show?

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Here is the map that Rachel Maddow showed on her show from the Kinsa Thermometer

What is this supposed to show?

Spikes in the reporting of flu-like symptoms, which could, according to epidemiologists like the UK’s Prof Chris Whitty, be considered to likely be mild case of COVID-19.

It’s less about these infected people, and more about how widely the virus has likely disseminated in the US.

It would be surprising if it maps that, since per capita confirmed cases has been relatively low in Florida, and much higher in Washington state.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Why did the Senate move first on this and not the House?  Usually the House is much more efficient, and their bill seems much better.  So what caused them to give up the momentum?

The House passes bills all the time that go nowhere afterwards, but whatever passes the Senate has bipartisan support.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Here's some good maps and charts - focused on Virginia but some of them comparing different states.
https://app.flourish.studio/@peterscoutu

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

I don't understand the conflict exactly.  Four GOP Senators object to language in the bill.  Are they going to actually hold up a vote on it?  If not, then hold the vote, and presumably it'll pass even without their votes.  If yes, then what is the nature of Sanders's counter-threat?  If the bill is already being blocked anyway, then Sanders saying that he will also hold it up for different reasons doesn't seem like it means anything?  Or is he saying that he will hold it up *if* the bill is amended in order to mollify those 4 GOP Senators?

I take it that McConnell and Schumer want unanimous consent so they can get out of dodge ASAP

Right, but if Sanders is suggesting that he'll block unanimous consent if and only if the 4 GOP Senators are also blocking unanimous consent, then aren't Sanders's actions superfluous?  What's his role in this?

I guess he's just trying to make a point.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

PSA --- the virus can stay on surfaces for a pretty long time (it is not known exactly how long, but seems t be at a minimum 3 days or so, and possibly more depending on the surface etc). This includes groceries that you buy from the store. Food packaging etc may end up being a fairly common transmission vector, since store employees as well as other customers often touch food packaging before you buy things, and large #s of people go to grocery stores every day. To avoid/reduce the chance of being infected via groceries, here is a pretty good youtube from a doctor showing you how to do so. You can follow similar procedures for other non-food goods.

https://youtu.be/sjDuwc9KBps

I can't go down this road or I will exhaust myself with my OCD going crazy to make sure I do it correctly. I just ask for a paper bag at the store and anything that doesn't need to stay cold I leave in the bag when I get home until I use it.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

For once I actually agree with trump on something

Kentucky congressman Thomas Massie is a fool for doing this stunt to block stimulus bill and forcing House members to head back to DC in middle of a pandemic just for this foolishness

He is putting people lives at risk just for a stunt that he knows full well will not stop the bill from passing. its pointless move that does nothing but put many lives in great danger


look Im have made it clear that Im also not the biggest fan of the stimulus bill but even I think this stunt is both dangerous and reckless. if he goes through with this there will be will be blood on his hands.....

The stimulus bill does nothing to get more supplies out there. Passing this while saying $1bn is too much for ventilators and such is outright murder.

I agree that this bill does not do nearly enough but that does not change the fact that Massie is putting people lives at risk for a bill that he knows will pass anyway

Lives are being put at risk by not bailing out corporations so they can keep their bonuses and their pay raises? When that's being prioritized over doing something about hospital overfill and supply shortages because the system is overwhelmed you can't make the argument this bill is saving any lives--it's saving profit margins and optics and nothing more.

Hospitals are getting $100 billion to help them deal with the crisis
I already posted this in response to you

What's this actually do to rescue people from the coronavirus? Are they going to send more funding to hospitals? Demand more masks and supplies be sent out? More stringent measures to prevent the spread? CDC funding?

Or is this just an attempt at buying votes with as little money as possible while making sure the rich get their bonuses so the stock charts looks good?

Hospitals gets their wish: $100 billion

What they got: Health care providers would secure $100 billion in grants to help fight the coronavirus and make up for dollars they have lost by delaying elective surgeries and other procedures to focus on the outbreak. They would also get a 20 percent bump in Medicare payments for treating patients with the virus.

Why it matters: This figure is exactly what three powerful groups representing physicians, hospitals and nurses had demanded, though for-profit hospitals were lobbying for much more. But there are still questions about whether there will be significant guardrails on how the money will be split up. The coronavirus will hit rural hospitals especially hard, since they already operate on thin margins and have limited staffing capacity. So some lawmakers have been working to ensure enough money goes to those sites.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/25/whats-in-stimulus-package-coronavirus-149282

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

https://twitter.com/jaketapper/status/1245491971105447937

 

ouch.    He was brilliant.  Fountains of Wayne could be so poignant.  Ever seen That Thing You Do?  He wrote The Wonders' music.  

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

I'm so f__king disgusted. Local gas station worker that I briefly chat with sometimes told me that today was one of the steadiest days they've had in months (always one customer or more, rarely zero at all). These apathetic dumbasses are going to get my parents killed.

People are taking advantage of the fact that gas prices are at a low point to fill up their tanks now.  Hard to blame them, given the challenging economic times ahead.