COVID-19 Megathread 5: The Trumps catch COVID-19

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https://twitter.com/jonmladd/status/1252620525647663104

It looks like there will be no vote-by-mail in the coming elections, meaning that the results will be illegitimate.

It's April. There's still a ton of time and a ton of bills left.

Setting up a national vote-by-mail system takes time, though. And the Democrats are showing no sign of realizing this.

Well we don’t have much of a choice in this matter, now do we?

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Amazon staff take off work to raise safety concerns in pandemic

A U.S. labor and activist coalition said employees of Amazon.com Inc would take off work starting on Tuesday to draw attention to what it says are unsafe conditions at warehouses during the coronavirus pandemic.

The action involves more than 350 of Amazon’s staff from 40 facilities, according to the coalition. The world’s largest online retailer has faced several worker protests and demands by unions for it to close warehouses down.

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Small business loan program discriminated against women, minorities: lawsuit

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The lawsuit was brought by Glitz and Glam Jewelry by LJ, solely owned and operated by LeTresa Williams, and by Alvin Vaughn, sole owner and operator of a financial services business.

They alleged that the loan program, which ran out of money last week, allowed businesses with employees to apply for loans before those without, which they said are disproportionately owned by women and minorities.

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White House mulls liability protection for reopening businesses: Trump adviser

I see this administration has its priorities in order.

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Small business loan program discriminated against women, minorities: lawsuit

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The lawsuit was brought by Glitz and Glam Jewelry by LJ, solely owned and operated by LeTresa Williams, and by Alvin Vaughn, sole owner and operator of a financial services business.

They alleged that the loan program, which ran out of money last week, allowed businesses with employees to apply for loans before those without, which they said are disproportionately owned by women and minorities.

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White House mulls liability protection for reopening businesses: Trump adviser

I see this administration has its priorities in order.

That's quite a stretch and you know it.

No, I meant it how I meant it.

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As if this couldn't get any weirder, a white hat hacker group has just posted the online login information for all employees of the WIV, CDC, NIH, WHO, and the Gates Foundation. They say they are going through the data now, but one authentic appearing screenshot from an employee of the Wuhan Institute of Virology appears to show a discussion of inserting an HIV single nucleotide protein into a coronavirus. If this is true, prepare for World War III.

Source?

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I’m really worried of what is to come.

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Joseph Stiglitz on the pandemic response

Donald Trump’s botched handling of the Covid-19 crisis has left the US looking like a “third world” country and on course for a second Great Depression, one of the world’s leading economists has warned.

In a withering attack on the president, Joseph Stiglitz said millions of people were turning to food banks, turning up for work due to a lack of sick pay and dying because of health inequalities.

The Nobel prize-winning economist said: “The numbers turning to food banks are just enormous and beyond the capacity of them to supply. It is like a third world country. The public social safety net is not working.”

Stiglitz, a long-term critic of Trump, said 14% of the population was dependent on food stamps and predicted the social infrastructure could not cope with an unemployment rate that could hit 30% in the coming months.

Well shoot, guess we have a lot more turbulence on the horizon.

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The Homeless in NYC are taking shelter in the Metro stations

If only they could get temporary housing where they could be accommodated and accountable for.

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You know a lot of these posts belong on the other international thread

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Taxpayers will pay restaurants to feed seniors in California

Taxpayers will pay restaurants to make meals for millions of California’s seniors during the coronavirus pandemic, an initiative that could pump billions of dollars into a devastated industry while generating sales tax collections for cash-strapped local governments, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Friday.

Newsom predicted millions of people 65 and over would be eligible for the free food, a figure that could push the cost of the program into the billions for just one month of deliveries. Newsom said the federal government will cover 75% of the cost while state and local governments will pay for the rest.

To be eligible, seniors must either live alone or live with one other person who is also eligible. They can’t earn more than $74,940 per year (or $101,460 for a household of two) and they must have documented exposure to the coronavirus. Anyone already getting money from other federal food programs would be ineligible.

What an ingenious solution. I do hope it gets implemented nationwide to feed at-risk seniors.

Probe: Breakdown in protecting feds during virus evacuation

A management breakdown led to some federal employees being sent to help American evacuees from the coronavirus epidemic in China without proper protective equipment, federal investigators have concluded.

Friday’s report from investigators at the Department of Health and Human Services confirmed central allegations from a government whistleblower who complained in February that some HHS employees were deployed without adequate protection while others arrived with full gear. It found that some federal employees had to beg the local county for gear such as masks.

The report was released Friday evening by congressional offices.

Looks here, yet another incompetent move made by this administration.

Unions denounce Las Vegas mayor's call to re-open casinos

UAW president Rory Gamble, whose union represents casino workers in Las Vegas along with automobile workers across the United States, called on Nevada politicians to denounce Goodman at a time when states are looking at how to re-open businesses in ways that keep workers safe.

“UAW Casino employees, their families and the community are not test subjects for her irresponsible theories on public health and the COVID-19 virus,” Gamble said in a statement.

FF move by unions just wanting to keep their members and the general public safe.

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Poll: Cost makes nearly 1 in 10 leery of seeking COVID care

As states gear up to reopen, a poll finds a potential obstacle to controlling the coronavirus: nearly 1 in 10 adults say cost would keep them from seeking help if they thought they were infected.

The Gallup-West Health Healthcare Costs Survey out Tuesday finds that 9% of those age 18 and over would avoid seeking treatment because of concerns about the cost of care, even if they thought they were infected with the coronavirus.

A significantly higher number, 14%, would avoid seeking treatment because of pocketbook worries if they had fever and a dry cough, two widely publicized symptoms of COVID-19.

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Another 3.8 million Americans lose jobs

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AP: Most states fall short of coronavirus testing thresholds

As more states begin to relax their coronavirus lockdowns, most are falling short of the minimum levels of testing suggested by the federal government and recommended by a variety of public health researchers, an Associated Press analysis has found.

Three months into an unprecedented public health emergency, the White House has largely resisted calls for a coordinated plan to conduct the millions of tests experts say are needed to contain the virus. What federal officials outlined recently isn’t even an official benchmark, and AP’s analysis found that a majority of states are not yet meeting it.

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Only about 40% of states currently meet even the 2% testing threshold, according to AP’s analysis. The percentage is expected to rise as states increase their testing capabilities. The AP based the monthly testing rate for each state on the average number of new daily tests over the most recent 7 days. The data is from the COVID Tracking Project and includes counts up to April 30th.

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Conservatives rejecting remdesivir, still promoting hydroxychloroquine
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/02/donald-trump-coronavirus-remdesivir-229765

What a shame.
I never understood why hydroxychloroquine was so hyped when Remdesivir was obviously more promising since early February. I guess Trump supporters sometimes can’t think for themselves.

Trump and his followers don't understand the concept of admitting they're wrong--once they decide to get behind something they dig in and no amount of facts will convince them otherwise.

That’s exactly why we should deny hospital beds and medical treatment to those who were in the reopening protests, at least for now. Even better, let’s just give them as much hydroxychloroquine as they want for free. They can even decide their dosage sizes without extra cost!

That's absolutely disgusting. We cannot deny medical care based on political beliefs, and doctors often have to offer treatments to patients that they don't necessarily believe in. It's not okay to joke about giving a potentially fatal medication to someone just because you disagree with their life choices. In what world would that be anywhere close to acceptable?

Look, I'm no believer in eugenics or social Darwinism, but after a certain point you just have to let certain cancers upon humanity sort themselves out for the safety and future prospects of Earth.

The problem is that there forcing their unwilling kids and relatives to die a horrible death.

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US blocks vote on UN's bid for global ceasefire over reference to WHO

The US has blocked a vote on a UN security council resolution calling for a global ceasefire during the Covid-19 pandemic, because the Trump administration objected to an indirect reference to the World Health Organization.

The security council has been wrangling for more than six weeks over the resolution, which was intended to demonstrate global support for the call for a ceasefire by the UN secretary general, António Guterres. The main source for the delay was the US refusal to endorse a resolution that urged support for the WHO’s operations during the coronavirus pandemic.

Unbelievable, the world is being mostly dictated by a madman ruining us all.

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Still, it would have been something, something that this Administration blocked.

Anyway, onto other news
Union opposes reopening U.S. meat plants as more workers die

The largest union representing U.S. meatpacking workers said on Friday it opposed the reopening of plants as the Trump administration had failed to guarantee workers’ safety.

At least 30 meatpacking workers have died of the novel coronavirus and more than 10,000 have contracted it, the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), which represents more than 250,000 meatpacking and food processing workers, said in a statement.

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https://twitter.com/MattGertz/status/1259184336995258372

Interesting that the OAN anchor has a Russian accent. Do we know if OAN has any Russian ties? Is OAN  another attempt at spreading Russian propaganda, after RT was pretty much a failure?

I wouldn’t doubt it if it has financial ties to the Kremlin.

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A true emergency:' Covid-19 pushes homeless crisis in San Francisco's Tenderloin to the brink

The Tenderloin has long been a refuge for some of San Francisco’s most vulnerable, displaying a vicious cycle of homelessness, addiction and mental illness in the heart of the city. But the pandemic – and the city’s homeless policies during the pandemic – helped create a perfect storm within the neighborhood’s 35 blocks. In order to be able to enforce social distancing guidelines, San Francisco’s overcrowded homeless shelters drastically reduced their capacity. The city made hotel rooms available to homeless people, but only those who had tested positive for the virus or ranked among the most vulnerable. Many unhoused people suddenly had no other choice but to take to the streets, some fortunate enough with tents and others making do with what they could find. Amid a lack of testing, it’s unclear how widespread the virus is in the neighborhood, among the housed and unhoused.

“I really don’t know what to do,” said Roger Moussa, 51, who has been sleeping on the streets since his shelter bed reservation ran out a month ago. “I feel completely helpless. I have nowhere to go, and every other night I get robbed.”

Tents have sprung up throughout San Francisco’s 49 sq miles since the start of the coronavirus outbreak, but in the Tenderloin, the number of tents had exploded by 285% – 268 tents total. Neighborhood residents believe this to be an undercount, with some tallying 432 tents as of last week.

How has no one coined Trumpvilles yet?

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Another look at the jobs currently lost

This is already shaping up to be worse than the Great Depression. If action isn’t taken soon, the strings connecting this country could snap.

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Fed frets about small business failures amid 'alarming' data

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Meanwhile job losses have been steeper at small businesses than large ones, with many small firms stopping paychecks entirely, the Fed said. Some 30% to 40% of small firms in sectors most affected by social distancing have gone inactive since February. Spending at small restaurants was down 80% by April during the height of the nation’s shutdowns and was still down by half in early June, the Fed said, citing data from credit card transaction processor Womply.

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This is the end of small businesses in the United States unless drastic change gets implemented in a timely manner, which it won’t.

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Rep. Ilhan Omar's father dies due to coronavirus