Tag: coronavirus

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Trump Ignored Warnings Of Rising Infections While Urging States To Reopen

Donald Trump
Yahoo News reports Donald Trump ignored warnings from the White House coronavirus task force about rising infection rates for months.

Even as President Trump spurred states to lift lockdown measures and resume normal economic activity in the early summer, reports from his own White House coronavirus task force were presenting regular evidence that infections were rising in many parts of the country.

Critics have maintained that by not acting on evidence that the virus was not in remission, Trump and his advisers only prolonged the nation’s battle with the pandemic, which has killed more than 180,000 Americans to date.

The task force reports are customarily not made public, but eight of them from June and July had been requested late last month by the coronavirus subcommittee of the House Oversight Committee.

The subcommittee is headed by Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., a leading House Democrat who is also a close ally of Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee for president. Biden has made the absence of a national plan to deal with the coronavirus a centerpiece of his campaign.

“Rather than being straight with the American people and creating a national plan to fix the problem,” Clyburn said in a statement on Monday morning, “the President and his enablers kept these alarming reports private while publicly downplaying the threat to millions of Americans.”

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European Leaders Consider New Lockdowns As Cases Of COVID-19 Surge

New York state is about to drop its face mask mandate as COVID-19 cases continue to drop in the Empire State.

Leaders in Europe are facing the possibility of new lockdowns as cases of COVID-19 have begun to surge again. The New York Times reports:

In France, President Emmanuel Macron warned on Friday that the authorities were doing “everything to avoid a new lockdown.” A day later, the country reported over 7,300 new virus cases, its highest daily tally since March 31 and a number that sent its seven-day average to a new record of 4,668.

As Germany faces its own more modest resurgence, Chancellor Angela Merkel said this week that managing the pandemic would become more challenging in the fall and winter, as the colder weather drives people back indoors. “We will have to live with this virus for a long time to come,” she said.

The sobering comments from Ms. Merkel and Mr. Macron come as European countries brace for — or even appear to be entering — a second wave of infections. Nowhere on the continent is the threat more alarming than in Spain, where the Times database shows that the seven-day average has passed 7,600.

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CDC Updates Guidance On Retesting & Immunity

New York state is about to drop its face mask mandate as COVID-19 cases continue to drop in the Empire State.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have updated guidance regarding those who have recovered from COVID-19 saying they do not need to be re-tested for the virus for three months after their infection barring they’re asymptomatic. From KTNV:

The refreshed guidance suggests that the CDC expects those with previous coronavirus infections are unable to spread the virus for three months.

“People who have tested positive for COVID-19 do not need to quarantine or get tested again for up to 3 months as long as they do not develop symptoms again,” the guidance says. “People who develop symptoms again within 3 months of their first bout of COVID-19 may need to be tested again if there is no other cause identified for their symptoms.”

In a statement to CNN, the CDC clarified that does not automatically mean someone is immune for three months.

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Russia Approves COVID-19 Vaccine Without Phase 3 Trials

(image via Unsplash)
Well, this would make me uncomfortable… From ABC News:

Russia on Tuesday became the first country to clear a coronavirus vaccine and declare it ready for use, despite international skepticism. President Vladimir Putin said that one of his daughters has already been inoculated.

Putin emphasized that the vaccine underwent the necessary tests and has proven efficient, offering lasting immunity from the coronavirus.

However, scientists at home and abroad have been sounding the alarm that the rush to start using the vaccine before Phase 3 trials — which normally last for months and involve thousands of people — could backfire.

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New Zealand: Zero New Cases Of COVID-19 In Over 100 Days

New Zealand (image via Google Maps)
Axios reports New Zealand has gone more than 100 days with zero new cases of COVID-19 coming from a local source. With an election coming up in September, the current prime minister sees her government’s response as a selling point for reelection.

New Zealanders are going to the polls on Sept. 19. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has been widely praised for her leadership that saw NZ lock down hard for several weeks before all domestic restrictions were lifted in June. She sees her government’s response to and recovery from the coronavirus outbreak as key to her Labour Party being re-elected.

By the numbers: New Zealand has 23 active coronavirus cases. All are NZ residents newly returned from abroad, who are staying in managed isolation facilities.

The border remains closed to non-residents and all newly returned Kiwis must undergo a two-week isolation program managed by the country’s defense force. All travelers tested three times before they leave.

Police are stationed outside hotels where travelers are in quarantine.

At this writing, New Zealand (population just over 5 million) has had 1,569 confirmed cases and only 22 deaths from COVID-19. New Zealand’s number of confirmed cases translates to 315 per million people versus 15,366 cases in the U.S. per million citizens.

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Florida Hits New Record For Weekly COVID-19 Hospitalizations

Florida ends the week hitting a new record for weekly reported hospitalizations due to COVID-19. From the Orlando Sentinel:

From Sunday to Sunday, the state saw 3,355 hospitalizations, a new record for COVID-19 admissions in one week. In the span of five days alone — Tuesday to Saturday — the state reported more than 500 new hospitalizations per day, including a high of 621 on Wednesday.

To date, 30,505 people have been hospitalized in Florida, the state’s COVID-19 dashboard shows, up 254 more than a day earlier.

From June through mid-July in Florida, there were 207 new hospitalizations a day on average. That has spiked to a daily average of 447 since mid-July.

To date, 8,186 people have died in the Sunshine State from COVID-19.

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Trump Says Vaccine Could Be Ready By Election Day, Experts Disagree

Donald Trump (screen capture)
Donald Trump said Thursday that he believes a vaccine for COVID-19 could be ready before Election Day. The medical experts disagree. From NBC News:

When asked on Geraldo Rivera’s radio show if a vaccine could be ready by Nov. 3, Trump said, “I think in some cases, yes, possible before, but right around that time.”

“We have great companies, great. These are the greatest companies of the world,” Trump said. “And the rest of the world is also doing vaccines, so let’s see how they do. I’m all for them, whoever comes up with them.”

Experts say the development, testing and production of a vaccine for the public is still months away, and it would take a medical miracle for one to be available this year, much less before Election Day.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious diseases official, said in an interview with Reuters on Wednesday that vaccine doses could be available in 2021, a more sober timeline than Trump offered.

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Interview: Trump On COVID-19 Deaths ‘It Is What It Is’

Donald Trump

Donald Trump speaking to Axios (screen capture)
Other than Fox News’ Chris Wallace, I think this is the first extended example of a journalist going back and forth with Donald Trump on actual COVID-19 facts and data. Axios’ Jonathan Swan got a 38 minute sit down with Trump. In this clip, Trump argues about his ‘great success’ in addressing the coronavirus pandemic. Trump, it seems is comfortable with the ratio of death to diagnosed cases, while Swan is talking about the proportion of deaths to population in countries. Swan: “Oh, you’re doing death as a proportion of cases. I’m talking about death as a proportion of population. That’s where the U.S. is really bad. Much worse than South Korea, Germany, etc.” Trump: “You can’t do that.” Swan: “Why can’t I do that?” As Swan points out, for example, South Korea has a population of 51 million but has experienced only 300 deaths from COVID-19 which factors out to 0.0005 percentage of the population has died from the virus. The U.S. has a population of 328,000,000+ but has suffered over 155,000+ deaths from coronavirus which means our percentage of the population that has died is much higher at .047. You’ll note in the clip, Trump hands Swan a graph with only four countries listed showing the U.S. being ‘the best.’ Talk about pick and choose. In the second clip below, as Trump argues the virus is ‘under control,’ Swan points out 1,000 Americans are dying on average each day. “It is what it is,” says Trump. Trump also admits he didn’t attend the funeral of civil rights leader Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) because “he didn’t come to my inauguration.” However, Trump does wish accused sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell “well.” Full interview at the end of this post.

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Gays Are Hooking Up 84% Less Due To COVID-19

Congress is considering legislation that would require internet platforms to allow an algorithm-free version of the platform.

Who’s been on Grindr lately? (stock image via Depositphotos)
A new study of gay and bisexual Australian men found the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a dramatic reduction in casual sexual behavior. How dramatic? Researchers at the Kirby Institute surveyed 940 gay and bi men about casual sex practices and found the number of sexual contacts dropped 84 percent in the month of April. Other than monogamous relationships, all types of sexual intimacy saw a steep decline in the number of hookups. Additionally, 95 percent acknowledged they understood the risk of hooking up and/or having group sex represented an increased risk of contracting the coronavirus. Dr. Mohamed A. Hammoud, the lead author of the study, told QNews decades of coping with the HIV epidemic has taught gay and bisexual men how to be adaptive in the face of health threats. “Our community has a long history of creating innovative strategies to reduce risk,” explained Hammoud. “[We’re] seeing this continue with this new health challenge.” Hammoud added, “The results from our study show that an overwhelming majority of gay and bisexual men have adapted their behavior and are adhering to physical distancing guidelines.” There is an upside to the drop in hooking up. The decline in casual sex will likely result in “a reduction in new HIV and STI diagnoses in the short term,” according to Associate Professor Garrett Prestage, one of the co-authors of the study. “Trends in these diagnoses are likely to fluctuate significantly in response to changes in physical distancing restrictions,” said Prestage. The new study was published in the medical journal JAIDS on Friday. (Source: QNews)