Donald Trump (image via public domain/White House)
Trump’s Favorite Poll Shows His Approval Rating At 6-Month Low
Fauci On Trump Delaying COVID-19 Guidelines: “It Is What It Is”
Dr. Anthony Fauci on CNN’s State of the Union
Fact-Check: Trump Says U.S. Has ‘Best’ COVID-19 Testing System (Nope)
L-R CNN’s Jim Acosta, Donald Trump
During a White House press briefing, Donald Trump said the U.S. doesn’t need nationwide testing before sending people back to work. Watch CNN’s Jim Acosta challenge President Trump on his COVID-19 testing claim.
The U.S. does not have the ‘best’ testing system. As of April 1, dozens of countries have far higher testing rates including Germany, Italy, Norway, S. Korea, Canada, Australia, & Estonia.
The White House had promised to conduct 27 million tests by the end of March. As of April 9, Trump himself told the press only 2 million tests had been administered. Based on those 2 million tests, the U.S. is testing approximately 6 people per thousand. Countries like South Korea and Germany are triple that rate. In the same exchange between Acosta and Trump, the Donald told the CNN journalist, “You shouldn’t be asking that kind of a question … it is very insulting to a lot of great people.” Journalists ask questions. It’s literally their job. People who are on point don’t get defensive when asked questions. They have answers.
Huge Surge In Performer Signups For Online Sex Sites During COVID-19
Adult performer Max Konnor at home (image via Instagram)
Campaign Ad: “Distracted”
A pretty devastating new ad from The Lincoln Project: “Trump says his own impeachment “distracted” him from the #Coronavirus response. Let’s be clear: He was never distracted. He just didn’t care.”
Poll: 57% Of Conservative News Viewers Believe COVID-19 “Less Deadly” Than Flu
Donald Trump
People who consume news sources like Fox News are more than twice as likely to be uninformed about the coronavirus as those who take in sources like CNN and MSNBC, according to a stunning new survey conducted by Gallup.
The Knight Foundation/Gallup poll published Thursday broke down results by “news diet,” which in the case of a “conservative news diet” meant “those who cite only conservative news sources (e.g., Fox News, Breitbart, One America News, the National Review) as top sources.”
But on a key matter of fact regarding the Covid-19 disease, the results were devastating. A full 57 percent of the conservative news consumers falsely believe that the coronavirus is “less deadly than or as deadly as flu,” versus only 28 percent of those with a “liberal news diet” believing the same statement.
Is anyone surprised? Show of hands, please. No one? I didn’t think so.
COVID-19 Now The Leading Cause Of Death In U.S.
Donald Trump during White House press conference (public domain)
According to a graph published Tuesday by Dr. Maria Danilychev, who practices in San Diego, COVID-19 is the cause of 1,970 deaths in the U.S. per day.
Just last week, COVID-19 was the third leading cause of death, averaging around 748 deaths per day, but as the virus has continued to spread, the increase in daily deaths have followed.
In comparison to COVID-19 fatalities, 1,774 deaths are attributed to heart disease and 1,641 to cancer.
Thanks to social distancing, projections regarding anticipated deaths in the U.S. have recently been adjusted downward to 60,415 in a model produced by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington in Seattle (IHME). Initial projections from the White House Coronavirus Task Force were between 100,000 and 240,000 U.S. deaths. But, it’s important to remember all of these projections – and the actual number of deaths – will remain fluid depending in great part on the behavior of the American people over the next few months.
6.6 Million New Applications For Unemployment This Week
From NBC News:
Another wave of 6.6 million American workers filed first-time unemployment claims for the week ending April 4, bringing the cumulative total to an astonishing 16 million over the past three weeks.
For the week ending March 21, 3.3 million people filed new unemployment claims, easily shattering the previous record set in 1982 of 695,000.
Last week, that astounding figure doubled, as 6.6 million people filed claims for the week ending March 28 — a figure that was revised upward to 6.9 million in the new release.
Mark Zandi, a chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, predicts unemployment could reach as high as 15 percent later this spring.
Australia: Head Lice Drug Shows Promise In Battling COVID-19
A veterinary drug in use since the 1970s might offer a glimmer of hope in treating the coronavirus. From The Weather Channel:
A head lice drug has successfully killed the novel coronavirus within 48 hours in a laboratory setting, as per researchers in Australia.
The study, conducted by researchers from the Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory, Royal Melbourne Hospital in Australia, has found the head lice drug Ivermectin could potentially be used—after further research and human trials — as a possible treatment for the COVID-19 disease.
To test how it performs against the novel coronavirus, the researchers infected some cells with the COVID-19-causing SARS-CoV-2 virus, and then exposed them to Ivermectin. Subsequently, they found that just a single dose of Ivermectin had successfully killed the virus in a petri dish.
There was a significant reduction in the virus in just 24 hours, and complete annihilation in less than 48 hours, which is indicative of the drug’s potent antiviral activity.
It goes without saying that, until human trials have been properly performed, it’s important not to consume, hoard, or prescribe this drug.
Broadway Theaters To Remain Dark Until June
(photo: Ludovic Bertron/Flickr)
The show will not go on for some time longer. Due to the spread of the coronavirus in New York City, Broadway shows have extended their shutdown.
While at first scheduled to resume the week of April 13, productions will now remain dark through June 7 (what was supposed to be the day of the 74th Annual Tony Awards).
The initial closure was mandated by Governor Andrew Cuomo March 12, banning all gatherings of 500 or more people and reducing the capacities of smaller events. The restrictions soon escalated, with the surge of confirmed COVID-19 leading to the state-wide “On PAUSE” executive order, effectively closing all in-person non-essential business.
On March 29, Cuomo said he would re-evaluate that stay-at-home order every two weeks; it is currently scheduled to last through April 29, though many industries—Broadway included—are bracing for longer hiatus periods.