OT: COVID-19 thread #2

[Red8911]

This is great news:

WASHINGTON — Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Tuesday that lawmakers had reached a deal with the White House on a nearly $500 billion interim coronavirus bill that includes additional funds for the small business loan program as well as more money for hospitals and testing.

“There is still a few more I's to dot and T’s to cross, but we have a deal, and I believe we’ll pass it today,” Schumer said on CNN.

First time the Democrats did the right thing for the people instead of the usual attack trump over anything and not agreeing on deals. Good for them.

you obviously weren't paying attention to what was going on with the initial stimulus bill (which was held up by democrats because trump wanted to give half a trillion dollars to whoever he wanted without oversight and didn't do ENOUGH for the people). or hell, the entire health care debate we've been having for generations now, as tens of millions have not been able to get adequate health care or have gone broke paying for it. with the rest of us having our salaries reduced because of the absolutely ridiculous concept of employers purchasing health insurance for their employees. these are all far right wing ideas. if this nation was interested in "doing the right thing for the people", everybody would have access to decent health care...at much lower cost to society in the process

top 3 nations in per capita health care spending as of 2018 (public + private):

$10,586 USA
$7,317 switzerland
$6,187 norway

but we get great health care, right? well, despite our spending, as of 2017 there are FIFTY-FIVE nations with better infant mortality rates than we have, for example. including places most of us have never even heard of. including socialist cuba. we are 38th in life expectancy and for the first time in american history our life expectancy is FALLING. which is a great indicator of something being fundamentally wrong with a society

"the bill should include much more money for hospitals and community health centers, nursing homes, enough money to address the coming shortages in masks, ICU beds, ventilators, testing and personal equipment" - chuck schumer, march 21

what are we having major issues with a month later? PPE and testing capabilities. because the republicans want private industry to sort that out...which is most certainly NOT "the right thing for the people"

the suggestion that donald trump has any interest at all in doing what is right for the people as opposed to his self-interest is laughable. because it's contradicted by...well, pretty much everything he's done in his entire life. and that's a loooooong time. cheating on wives, including one at home w/ a newborn child, fraudulent charities, a fraudulent "university", refusing to pay contractors, building a political base by being the leading proponent of a racist conspiracy theory, giving people false hope and telling them to take untested medications in a pandemic, telling people that it's OK to go to work if they feel at risk DURING a pandemic, attempting to extort a US ally at war with russia in exchange for "dirt" on a political rival, acting in russia's best interest in countless ways as president, refusing to divest from his financial interests when taking office, countless attempts to profit off his presidency WHILE in office, etc. ad nauseum

Your Democrat’s are any better, now they agreed on a deal but originally your girl Pelosi wanted to load up the bill with gifts that had nothing to do with helping people or businesses. Look it up. It was all a political agenda, they held up the deal from all Americans for their own self interests.

The rest of your comments are just Trump hate, you just hate the guy so much and will bash him over anything he does, like the mainstream media.. Just know that many people do like the work he has done as president and he will be your president for another 4 years.

[rtblues]

Has anyone here received their Stimulis money yet?

[johnnyvann840]

Has anyone here received their Stimulis money yet?

My sister got $1700 for her and my 16 year old niece. I have a friend who is a vet and on disability who got his $1200. My aunt, who is 84 and on social security got her $1200. Friends of mine with a kid got $2900 for them as a married couple and their 3 year old. I think everyone who made under $75,000 last year and either got a tax refund direct deposited (meaning the IRS had their banking info), or paid their taxes with their banking info, all received it last week. I don't think they've sent out any paper checks, but the money has gotten to several people I know already. As long as you filed a return for 2018 or 2019 and met the income requirements and the IRS had your banking info have already received it.

They all got it on the same night which I believe was midnight last Wednesday.

[MrSparkle]

Has anyone here received their Stimulis money yet?

Yes I did my taxes last month and got the direct deposit (x2, for my wife and I) last week.

[Dresden]

This is good to see. You have to confirm that your business has fewer than 500 employees when you apply. But apparently there was a loophole that allowed applications to go through as long as businesses had fewer than 500 employees per site. I'd like to know how that loop hole got in there.

Treasury Secretary warns there will be 'severe consequences' for large companies that took bailout loans intended for small businesses

https://www.yahoo.com/news/treasury-secretary-warns-severe-consequences-152500040.html

[Dresden]

Not sure if you guys are following what's happening outside the US with Covid 19, but here in Australia, we only had 5 new cases today, and specifically here in the city of Adelaide and the state of South Australia, we had 1 case today ending 3 days of no new cases. Have to say here in Adelaide we've done extremely well and that's because people have followed the guidelines put in place by our government, state and federal

That's great. Worth noting though that Australia has one of the lowest population densities on earth, approximately 1/10th the density of the US, so it should be somewhat expected.

That's probably a bit misleading, since so much of the country is almost unihabited.

[League Circles]

Not sure if you guys are following what's happening outside the US with Covid 19, but here in Australia, we only had 5 new cases today, and specifically here in the city of Adelaide and the state of South Australia, we had 1 case today ending 3 days of no new cases. Have to say here in Adelaide we've done extremely well and that's because people have followed the guidelines put in place by our government, state and federal

That's great. Worth noting though that Australia has one of the lowest population densities on earth, approximately 1/10th the density of the US, so it should be somewhat expected.

That's probably a bit misleading, since so much of the country is almost unihabited.

True, though same with the US (Alaska and most of the area between the Mississippi river and California is sparsely populated).

[Dresden]

Sorry, double post

[Dresden]

That's probably a bit misleading, since so much of the country is almost unihabited.

True, though same with the US (Alaska and most of the area between the Mississippi river and California is sparsely populated).

Not nearly to the same extent though. If you look at a population density map of Australia, something like 80-90% of the country has less than 1 persons per square kilometer, and maybe 50% fewer than .1 per km. You won't find nearly that much empty space in the US.

[bulls_troy]

Granted our country population is like 24 million which you will find in New York alone (exaggerating I know) but it's more on how quickly we acted and the measures we took, and people for the best part actually following them, that has flattened the curve

[TheStig]

Has anyone here received their Stimulis money yet?

I got my $1200 a week ago.

[samwana]

A new study on chloroquine out:

"A malaria drug widely touted by President Donald Trump for treating the new coronavirus showed no benefit in a large analysis of its use in U.S. veterans hospitals. There were more deaths among those given hydroxychloroquine versus standard care, researchers reported.

The nationwide study was not a rigorous experiment. But with 368 patients, it’s the largest look so far of hydroxychloroquine with or without the antibiotic azithromycin for COVID-19, which has killed more than 171,000 people as of Tuesday."

Read on Twitter

Another data point to go along with studies in other countries showing that the risks of treatment is more dangerous.

This is making it seem like the drug killed them but the truth is they were badly sick and the drug just didn’t help these people. They were going to die anyway whether they took this drug or not. It has also saved a lot of people though, for some it works for others not. This tweet and article of course doesn’t say that because they obviously have an agenda.

Thank you!

Also you don't take the chloroquine, but the pure cds or mms, but only if you know what you are doing or you have someone who knows the stuff and or how to prepare it and can help you through the process. It's been partly sold out here in Germany.



Sent from my POT-LX1 using RealGM mobile app

[dice]

I understand the science as well but if you own a closed retail outlet and start dropping dimes every day then voicing your opinion in the strongest way you know how is most certainly your right, risks and all. When you are going broke fast who cares who anyone voted for 3 years ago?

All they want to do is stop bleeding money, and soon. IMO that's worth some horn honking so let them honk, were overdue for some decent protests and the media needs some new crap to talk about anyway before this all gets more repetitive and stale.

i have no problem with people who are hurting making their voices heard. i have a problem with right wing groups promoting rallies with the intent of promoting partisan propaganda and conspiracy theories, thus DROWNING OUT legitimate concerns. i have a problem with the supposed leader of the country encouraging protests of his own guidelines and introducing gun rights into the equation. it's disturbing

So basically, you got a lotta problems?

Noted.

what a weird response

first of all, i only noted two problems. and they're both quite legit

secondly, you DON'T have a problem with political propaganda rallies funded by right-wing donors masquerading as public health protests during a pandemic? no problem w/ deranged conspiracy theories being pushed? no problem with people bringing guns to rallies while not practicing social distancing? this is what madness looks like:



there are very likely scattered sane individuals who are protesting for legitimate reasons, but they are being drowned out. you can probably spot them...they're wearing masks. maybe they just don't realize that it's not nearly enough in that environment. then there are the bozos w/ ****-eating grins on their faces who clearly are just thrilled to be engaging in group activities on a nice day again. and the pseudo-legitimacy of a protest like this allows them to tell themselves that indulging their base desires isn't completely selfish

[Dresden]

One of the govt's leading pandemic preparedness researchers says he was forced out of his position because he resisted the administration's pressure to promote chloroquine:

“Specifically, and contrary to misguided directives, I limited the broad use of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, promoted by the administration as a panacea, but which clearly lack scientific merit,” he said.

“While I am prepared to look at all options and to think ‘outside the box’ for effective treatments, I rightly resisted efforts to provide an unproven drug on demand to the American public,” Dr. Bright said, describing what ultimately happened. “I insisted that these drugs be provided only to hospitalized patients with confirmed Covid-19 while under the supervision of a physician.

“These drugs have potentially serious risks associated with them, including increased mortality observed in some recent studies in patients with Covid-19.

“Sidelining me in the middle of this pandemic and placing politics and cronyism ahead of science puts lives at risk and stunts national efforts to safely and effectively address this urgent public health crisis,” Dr. Bright said.

“I will request that the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services investigate the manner in which this administration has politicized the work of BARDA and has pressured me and other conscientious scientists to fund companies with political connections and efforts that lack scientific merit,” he said. “Rushing blindly towards unproven drugs can be disastrous and result in countless more deaths. Science, in service to the health and safety of the American people, must always trump politics.”

story in today's NYT.

[Dresden]

Pretty damning stuff. I don't recall anyone during the Ebola crisis claiming they were ousted because they put science ahead of political concerns. This kind of thing should be an outrage to every American.

[dice]

First time the Democrats did the right thing for the people instead of the usual attack trump over anything and not agreeing on deals. Good for them.

you obviously weren't paying attention to what was going on with the initial stimulus bill (which was held up by democrats because trump wanted to give half a trillion dollars to whoever he wanted without oversight and didn't do ENOUGH for the people). or hell, the entire health care debate we've been having for generations now, as tens of millions have not been able to get adequate health care or have gone broke paying for it. with the rest of us having our salaries reduced because of the absolutely ridiculous concept of employers purchasing health insurance for their employees. these are all far right wing ideas. if this nation was interested in "doing the right thing for the people", everybody would have access to decent health care...at much lower cost to society in the process

top 3 nations in per capita health care spending as of 2018 (public + private):

$10,586 USA
$7,317 switzerland
$6,187 norway

but we get great health care, right? well, despite our spending, as of 2017 there are FIFTY-FIVE nations with better infant mortality rates than we have, for example. including places most of us have never even heard of. including socialist cuba. we are 38th in life expectancy and for the first time in american history our life expectancy is FALLING. which is a great indicator of something being fundamentally wrong with a society

"the bill should include much more money for hospitals and community health centers, nursing homes, enough money to address the coming shortages in masks, ICU beds, ventilators, testing and personal equipment" - chuck schumer, march 21

what are we having major issues with a month later? PPE and testing capabilities. because the republicans want private industry to sort that out...which is most certainly NOT "the right thing for the people"

the suggestion that donald trump has any interest at all in doing what is right for the people as opposed to his self-interest is laughable. because it's contradicted by...well, pretty much everything he's done in his entire life. and that's a loooooong time. cheating on wives, including one at home w/ a newborn child, fraudulent charities, a fraudulent "university", refusing to pay contractors, building a political base by being the leading proponent of a racist conspiracy theory, giving people false hope and telling them to take untested medications in a pandemic, telling people that it's OK to go to work if they feel at risk DURING a pandemic, attempting to extort a US ally at war with russia in exchange for "dirt" on a political rival, acting in russia's best interest in countless ways as president, refusing to divest from his financial interests when taking office, countless attempts to profit off his presidency WHILE in office, etc. ad nauseum

Your Democrat’s are any better

huh?

Pelosi wanted to load up the bill with gifts that had nothing to do with helping people or businesses. Look it up. It was all a political agenda, they held up the deal from all Americans for their own self interests.

you are incorrect. i already explained this to you, but you ignored it. in short, the senate never voted on that pelosi bill. it was a political strategy to get the republicans to freak out and make adjustments to the SENATE bill, which they did. it was the SENATE bill that was voted on

HALF A TRILLION DOLLARS FOR TRUMP TO GIVE TO WHOEVER HE WANTS IS NOT IN THE INTERESTS OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. stop putting your fingers in your ears and pretending that it is. it was a slush fund until democrats insisted on oversight on behalf of the american taxpayer, and when the bill passed trump said he would IGNORE the oversight and do whatever the hell he wanted. they won't bother to tell you this on whatever right wing "news" you're following:

https://www.acslaw.org/expertforum/a-signing-statement-from-the-unaccountable-president/

completely lawless. trying to turn a pandemic bill into a slush fund? outrageous

and it was democrats who incredibly had to insist on funding boosts for hospitals and testing in the bill that will be voted on tomorrow

it's beyond obvious that the democrats have been fighting on behalf of the american people since this started. the birther party has, as usual, been catering to corporate interests, including a constant push to abdicate federal responsibility and hand things over to private industry. it has sabotaged testing efforts during a pandemic and REDUCED our ability to return to normalcy. utterly incompetent and unforgivable. trump disbanded the pandemic response team early in his administration to save a few bucks. now the right wing is funding protests of trump's own guidelines and he is encouraging it. it's all sheer lunacy

The rest of your comments are just Trump hate, you just hate the guy so much and will bash him over anything he does, like the mainstream media.. Just know that many people do like the work he has done as president and he will be your president for another 4 years.

resorting to trolling again, eh? i expect nothing less from you. you are a man after trump's...heart(?). but for the rational among us, it should be noted that despite trump's obvious incompetence over his first term, most of all now, he is still considered a coin toss to be re-elected:

https://electionbettingodds.com/

just goes to show that his base cares way more about the culture war than either his ability to lead or their own economic self interest

and what work has donald trump done as president, exactly? the vast majority of his campaign promises were total lies, including his biggest one - remember that whopper about mexico paying for some wall? and his official schedule shows him spending most of his day in "executive time" in his residence, apparently watching fox news and tweeting from the toilet

as for what people like about him, many, many degenerates love his juvenile trolling of liberals (which he never did until he decided that entry into politics was in his self-interest and so dove headlong into birtherism to create a base of racist support), donors like his tax cuts, and putin likes the favorable treatment he gets

calling someone a "hater" is the absolute laziest form of argument. i personally don't hate anybody on the planet, fortunately. but donald trump is completely worthy of any hate that comes his way. a truly repugnant human being

donald trump as president does things EVERY DAMN DAY that deserve to be bashed. just today he again bizarrely compared the TV ratings of his coronavirus briefings to 'the bachelor' (as if people are making appointments to watch him spin nonsense every day). he's treating them as campaign rallies. he also irresponsibly suggested that COVID-19 may not return in the fall, which contradicts what scientists are saying and is completely and blatantly un-presidential. he is a deranged, megalomaniacal, unpatriotic, unprincipled sociopath. a compulsive liar. a twitter troll. he built his political base on a racist lie. FACT. he has placed "white nationalists" in prominent posts within his administration. he represents the worst of what america has to offer. even putting aside his personal characteristics, hating his performance as president would be completely rational. what's neither rational nor acceptable is defending/ignoring donald trump's behavior

you are an apparent supporter of an individual who caters to american enemies for personal interest and pushes bad science on the american people in a freaking pandemic. defending him is wholly irresponsible. he is bad for what's left of the traditional republican party, bad for america and bad for the world. and his cult-like base is the only notable group of individuals in the entire world that supports him

[Dresden]

There is also a good article in the NYT today about modeling deaths from the outbreak, and how difficult it is to make accurate models when there are so many unknowns. One researcher said it is "like trying to repair a car when it is still running".

"Most of the models shown above predict that the country is currently past or near the peak number of deaths for this wave of the epidemic, assuming current restrictions aren’t relaxed. But they estimate a range of total deaths — 60,000 to 100,000 — through May 23.

These models use different techniques to project the future. But most of them share an important basic assumption: They are built around the notion that the current regimen of stay-at-home orders and social distancing will continue. And almost all of them cut off their predictions after two months or less, even though epidemiologists believe that the coronavirus pandemic will be with us for far longer."

[dice]

Not sure if you guys are following what's happening outside the US with Covid 19, but here in Australia, we only had 5 new cases today, and specifically here in the city of Adelaide and the state of South Australia, we had 1 case today ending 3 days of no new cases. Have to say here in Adelaide we've done extremely well and that's because people have followed the guidelines put in place by our government, state and federal

That's great. Worth noting though that Australia has one of the lowest population densities on earth, approximately 1/10th the density of the US, so it should be somewhat expected.

That's probably a bit misleading, since so much of the country is almost unihabited.

city of chicago:

11,887 residents per square mile, 0.53% infection rate

city of sydney:

24,766 residents per square mile, 0.07% infection rate

[bulls_troy]

That's great. Worth noting though that Australia has one of the lowest population densities on earth, approximately 1/10th the density of the US, so it should be somewhat expected.

That's probably a bit misleading, since so much of the country is almost unihabited.

city of chicago:

11,887 residents per square mile, 0.53% infection rate

city of sydney:

24,766 residents per square mile, 0.07% infection rate

Love to know that stat with Adelaide

[dice]

That's probably a bit misleading, since so much of the country is almost unihabited.

city of chicago:

11,887 residents per square mile, 0.53% infection rate

city of sydney:

24,766 residents per square mile, 0.07% infection rate

Love to know that stat with Adelaide

i used the NSW region government health data for sydney:

https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/Infectious/diseases/Pages/covid-19-lga.aspx

can't find individual government area totals for south australia, but here are the population densities per square mile and infection rates by region:

486.3......0.02% capital territory
75.5......0.02% victoria
26.3......0.04% new south wales
20.7......0.04% tasmania
7.7......0.02% queensland
4.6......0.02% south
2.7......0.02% western
0.5......0.01% northern

not particularly interesting on a regional level because even the capital territory isn't densely populated