coronavirus

[DonaldD]

You're right, it isn't the flu. But the progress being made on the treatment side of things is moving things towards it being more in line with the flu.

Technically true, in that any improvement whatsoever "[moves] things towards it being more in line with the flu", but there is still no proven treatment for COVID-19 (although there is a steroid being investigated that in a first widespread trial seems to provide a 30% reduction in mortality in those on ventilators.) Even with such a treatment, the COVID-19 mortality rate for those under 60 and above 15 will still be almost double that of the regular flu for those infected.  Plus, there is no population level immunity at this point, whereas nearly everybody has partial immunity to seasonal flu, and there are vaccines available for seasonal flu, so the number of people at risk of COVID-19 infections vastly dwarfs that of seasonal flu.

Not to mention the serious, chronic symptoms that seem to be much more common in COVID-19 infections.

[Kasandra]

According to the law of unintended consequences, but also the suspicion of the loss of workarounds,...

Drawing on data from the Great Recession and the 1918 flu pandemic, economists at the Brookings Institution estimate that the U.S. could see “on the order of 300,000 to 500,000 fewer births next year” as a result of the coronavirus. The analysis shows that the pandemic, even when it's over, will leave deep scars on society for years to come.

The six foot rule has consequences, too.

[DonaldD]

I'm not sure if they are properly factoring in the "stuck in the house, without escape, with an acceptable, available and fertile possible birth partner for months on end" variable

[Kasandra]

I'm not sure if they are properly factoring in the "stuck in the house, without escape, with an acceptable, available and fertile possible birth partner for months on end" variable

You don't remember college?

[DonaldD]

Half the country is limiting access to elective medical procedures nowadays, so...

[Kasandra]

Half the country is limiting access to elective medical procedures nowadays, so...

Oh, yeah, that was the fun part...

[DonaldD]

The US as a country has just experienced its highest 7-day, new-daily-cases value in a month.

[Kasandra]

Arizona is reporting its highest daily total of new cases every day this week.  The number has quadrupled since the stay-at-home order was lifted a month ago.  More importantly, the positive test rate is also climbing, indicating that the hospitalizations and deaths will continue to rise for several more weeks, at least.

Texas, Florida, Oklahoma and other states are also reporting their highest case totals.  Pence's and Trump's story that the higher case count is due to increased testing doesn't hold, most obviously in Oklahoma where the number of tests has dropped while the positive cases has gone up.

Trump seems to honestly believe that getting sick with COVID is directly tied to getting tested.  Fewer tests, fewer cases, fewer hospitalizations, fewer deaths.  Easy-peasy.

One day there will be a reckoning for all the lies that Trump has promulgated about how dangerous this disease is.  Pence is no better, having predicted in April that the disease would disappear by Memorial Day and a few days ago writing in an op-ed that thanks to Trump's hard work the disease is in decline, there will be no second wave, and a vaccine will be available in October.

[rightleft22]

Pence would pray it away and if that doesn't work stop testing and recording data. Ignorance is bliss nothing to see here move along - Gods will will be done

[TheDrake]

Arizona is reporting its highest daily total of new cases every day this week.  The number has quadrupled since the stay-at-home order was lifted a month ago.  More importantly, the positive test rate is also climbing, indicating that the hospitalizations and deaths will continue to rise for several more weeks, at least.

I think that is likely, but not a foregone conclusion. The theory amongst the openers is that hospitalizations and deaths will not follow, because at-risk people are still being protected. I don't buy that theory, but it is a possibility.

[DonaldD]

Arizona is reporting its highest daily total of new cases every day this week.  The number has quadrupled since the stay-at-home order was lifted a month ago.  More importantly, the positive test rate is also climbing, indicating that the hospitalizations and deaths will continue to rise for several more weeks, at least.

I think that is likely, but not a foregone conclusion. The theory amongst the openers is that hospitalizations and deaths will not follow, because at-risk people are still being protected. I don't buy that theory, but it is a possibility.

I think that's a real possibility - up to a point.  But if they allow the R₀ value to get much above 1.0 for any significant amount of time, the virus will end up spreading too widely such that isolating the more at-risk from the less at-risk will become very difficult without another widespread shut down.

[Kasandra]

Ducey is stutter-stepping on the issue now and is willing to consider mini-steps to retrench the restrictions. I hope he'll do that respecting the facts on the ground rather than the political implications.

[DonaldD]

Worldometer USA: Largest increase in active cases and largest number of daily new cases since May 1 (that's in more than 6 weeks).

There are now more active cases in the USA than at any other time during the pandemic.

The regional numbers are much more important, but these top line numbers do tell a story, too.

[DonaldD]

Well, it looks like the Trump campaign responsibly kept the attendance down at the BOC to about 1/3 capacity, but then they still allowed the attendees to cram themselves willy nilly in the bottom half of the arena...

[Kasandra]

Kudos for trying to keep their distance, but Trump's supporters were so spaced out hardly any of them managed to show up.

[yossarian22c]

Well, it looks like the Trump campaign responsibly kept the attendance down at the BOC to about 1/3 capacity, but then they still allowed the attendees to cram themselves willy nilly in the bottom half of the arena...

Responsibly? The campaign did nothing to limit attendance, people just didn’t show up.
Trump supporters just aren’t as fanatical or as uncaring about their own health as the man himself.

[DonaldD]

I used the word "responsibly" in connection with the Trump campaign, and then suggested the campaign was attempting to limit attendance to one of their rallies... I think you need to re-read my post, with a bit of colour...

[Kasandra]

Florida Governor Desantis is acknowledging the dramatic rise in COVID cases since the lockdown restrictions were lifted isn't due to increased testing:

Gov. Ron DeSantis acknowledged on Saturday that the rising number of new Covid-19 cases in Florida cannot be explained away by an increase in testing, and announced plans to step up enforcement of social distancing practices in bars and nightclubs.

“Even with the testing increasing or being flat, the number of people testing positive is accelerating faster than that,” DeSantis told reporters during a briefing at the state Capitol. “You know that's evidence that there's transmission within those communities.”

The Florida Department of Health reported more than 4,000 new Covid-19 diagnoses on Friday, the latest peak in positive Florida cases that began climbing about a month after the state began reopening its economy on May 4. The rate of new coronavirus cases has more than doubled over the past 10 days. On Friday, just over 12 percent of test results came back positive for Covid-19, which is an increase from 5.5 percent on June 10, according to a report by the Florida Department of Health.

He's not admitting that any mistakes were made by him or his Administration, it's the people who are following or not following the new relaxed guidelines who are to blame.  Masks are still optional:

Even with more evidence of community spread, DeSantis refrained from requiring that people to wear masks in public. The state has endorsed the mask-use guidelines set by the CDC in May but DeSantis argues a broad mandate would be impossible to enforce.

“If you say you're going to be prosecuted you know or wear a mask, they’ll say 'geez, they were telling me not to wear one in March now they're saying to do it,'” DeSantis said. "We're going to trust people to make good decisions.”

Apparently, it's still not yet time to take the disease seriously.  Death increases will likely follow the surge in new cases, so we'll have to wait to see if that influences his thinking.

[DonaldD]

Well, it looks like the Trump campaign responsibly kept the attendance down at the BOC to about 1/3 capacity, but then they still allowed the attendees to cram themselves willy nilly in the bottom half of the arena...

Responsibly? The campaign did nothing to limit attendance, people just didn’t show up.
Trump supporters just aren’t as fanatical or as uncaring about their own health as the man himself.

And maybe... it was TikTok users and K-pop fans scooping up hundreds of thousands of tickets, and giving the impression that the area would be overrun with more than a million Trump fans, that convinced others to stay home...

[Kasandra]

Severe mental illness is a bad thing in a President, but far worse for the rest of us:

“And what we have done with the ventilators, the medical equipment, with testing. Testing is a double-edged sword. We have tested no (sic) 25 million people. It is probably 20 million people more than anybody else. Germany has done a lot, South Korea has done a lot. Here’s the bad part. When you do testing to that extent, you will find more cases. So I said to my people, slow the testing down, please. They test and they test. People don’t know what['s] going on. The young man is 10 years old, he has the sniffles. He’ll recover in about 15 minutes. That’s a case.”

[Crowd cheers.]

[DonaldD]

So, 23 states are now seeing increasing rates of infection, and it is younger people driving the increases.

Given that it is improbable the virus spontaneously mutated across the country, it is more likely that this is related to behavioural changes. 

This is not necessarily bad - we expected some increases due to relaxing restrictions - but I would hope that professional epidemiologists are keeping a close eye on this (especially in the hardest hit areas) so that if restrictions need to be reinstated, they will be.  The question is - will there be the stomach for reinstating restrictions if and when it becomes obvious they are needed?

As well, we are likely to see further spread to older people as those younger people interact with family members and friends, who otherwise have not been taking advantage of the relaxed restrictions.  The current surge in cases is likely to lead to an additional surge in the coming weeks.

[rightleft22]

The question is - will there be the stomach for reinstating restrictions if and when it becomes obvious they are needed?

I don't think so. That might change if it were children and young people being the ones the virus affected the most.
At this point with lack of consistent leadership and direction the best we can hope for is herd immunity while protecting the most vulnerable the best we can.  Maybe that should have been the plan all along.

[DonaldD]

There is no such a thing as "protecting the most vulnerable" in the USA - and it is hardly possible in any liberal democracy.

People already do not respect regulations to maintain distances and wear protective clothing - they are hardly likely to consistently, on a broad societal level, isolate from all family member above 50 years of age.  And those above 50 are hardly likely to continue to self isolate without societal support and leadership.

[Kasandra]

The question is - will there be the stomach for reinstating restrictions if and when it becomes obvious they are needed?

I don't think so. That might change if it were children and young people being the ones the virus affected the most.
At this point with lack of consistent leadership and direction the best we can hope for is herd immunity while protecting the most vulnerable the best we can.  Maybe that should have been the plan all along.

Herd immunity may not even be possible.  There are hints in ongoing studies that the immunity from the illness might wear off in a matter of months, which would mean the disease would never leave the population without continual vaccinations and protracted imposition of measures like isolation and mask wearing.  The virus won't be defeated by argument, so the lesson is don't bring political weapons to a pandemic fight.

[DonaldD]

Herd immunity may not even be possible.  There are hints in ongoing studies that the immunity from the illness might wear off in a matter of months, which would mean the disease would never leave the population without continual vaccinations and protracted imposition of measures like isolation and mask wearing.  The virus won't be defeated by argument, so the lesson is don't bring political weapons to a pandemic fight.

I think it would be fair to plan on eventually having significant herd immunity against the virus, even if it becomes somewhat recurring via mutations. 

We do know a fair bit about virology - the fact that this particular virus has a sweet spot incubation/mortality ratio doesn't make it unpredictable in any particular way.  Sure, this might end up being a virus that behaves differently at a cellular level in ways that are unfamiliar to us, but that is still unlikely at this point.

[Fenring]

This is not necessarily bad - we expected some increases due to relaxing restrictions - but I would hope that professional epidemiologists are keeping a close eye on this (especially in the hardest hit areas) so that if restrictions need to be reinstated, they will be.  The question is - will there be the stomach for reinstating restrictions if and when it becomes obvious they are needed?

You may be seeing a correlation, not a causation, about the level of restrictions. Where I live, the restrictions are easing up but there remains a social distancing rule where stores and other areas have the same rules they've had for a while (disinfect when talking in, keep distance, lines to get in, one-way isles, etc). Businesses are re-opening, but the on-the-street social distancing should be the same now as at the height of the lockdown. The 'relaxing' is essentially relevant only in terms of which businesses can open, and also in terms of people having gatherings of a certain size and stuff like that. Nothing has changed regarding how to avoid people on the street, masks, and all that. Well as of the protests (could be coincidental, but I don't think so) people are 'done' with the whole social distancing thing. Some people still do it, but many not only don't do it but will look at you funny when you bring it up, like they're confused.

So the issue of should there or shouldn't there be another round of restrictions is beside the point, and likely has nothing to do with a new outbreak if my area is a good sample case. The issue is that many people have decided they don't care anymore at all and are not even obeying the current level of restriction. Tightening it up again will serve no purpose unless the law has teeth and the police are willing to round people up or ticket them en masse for breaking the protocols.

[Kasandra]

So the issue of should there or shouldn't there be another round of restrictions is beside the point, and likely has nothing to do with a new outbreak if my area is a good sample case. The issue is that many people have decided they don't care anymore at all and are not even obeying the current level of restriction. Tightening it up again will serve no purpose unless the law has teeth and the police are willing to round people up or ticket them en masse for breaking the protocols.

Personal responsibility and awareness have always been the key, but we didn't know enough at the start of the pandemic to act in the best possible ways.  We know more now, but still not enough, so I think people should over-compensate on the side of caution and resist the urge to get out and party like it was 2019.  My concern with the yahoos who aren't behaving "well" is not that they may get it and recover, but who they will pass it onto and whether they will.

[TheDeamon]

Herd immunity may not even be possible.  There are hints in ongoing studies that the immunity from the illness might wear off in a matter of months, which would mean the disease would never leave the population without continual vaccinations and protracted imposition of measures like isolation and mask wearing.  The virus won't be defeated by argument, so the lesson is don't bring political weapons to a pandemic fight.

I think it would be fair to plan on eventually having significant herd immunity against the virus, even if it becomes somewhat recurring via mutations. 

We do know a fair bit about virology - the fact that this particular virus has a sweet spot incubation/mortality ratio doesn't make it unpredictable in any particular way.  Sure, this might end up being a virus that behaves differently at a cellular level in ways that are unfamiliar to us, but that is still unlikely at this point.

That isn't even about mutations in this case. Covid19 has some "close cousins" where immunity only lasts a few months. (although constant re-exposure before the immunity period ends should logically prolong it, the immune system would only stop producing antibodies after it stops needing them, and if its constantly needing them, it won't stop) So it isn't about being infected with a mutated strain(which is possible), it's about being infected with the same strain 6 months to a year later.

In any case, Covid19 proving to behave in line with those other viral lines would be a case for opening most things sooner rather than later. Lockdown isn't going to be sustainable for years.

[TheDeamon]

So the issue of should there or shouldn't there be another round of restrictions is beside the point, and likely has nothing to do with a new outbreak if my area is a good sample case. The issue is that many people have decided they don't care anymore at all and are not even obeying the current level of restriction. Tightening it up again will serve no purpose unless the law has teeth and the police are willing to round people up or ticket them en masse for breaking the protocols.

Personal responsibility and awareness have always been the key, but we didn't know enough at the start of the pandemic to act in the best possible ways.  We know more now, but still not enough, so I think people should over-compensate on the side of caution and resist the urge to get out and party like it was 2019.  My concern with the yahoos who aren't behaving "well" is not that they may get it and recover, but who they will pass it onto and whether they will.

The 35 and younger crowd in my state is in party like it is 2019 mode now. Even a significant number of the 40 and older crowd "are done" with the Covid19 precautions. Anecdotal I know, but we have one neighbor that as of a couple months ago thought covid19 was a hoax, another one thinks it's been in the country since October/November and that he had it in December, so he's not concerned about it. (I personally find it unlikely that many people, if any, in the US encountered it in December based on the known phylogeny of the virus, there is no evidence to support it, but people don't understand phylo-genetics so that's a tough sell to make.)

[DonaldD]

White House trade adviser Peter Navarro:

China created this pandemic.  They hid the virus, they created that virus, and they sent over hundreds of thousands of Chinese citizens here to spread that around and around the world - whether they did that on purpose, that’s an open question.

The racism is strong in this one...

[Kasandra]

White House trade adviser Peter Navarro:

China created this pandemic.  They hid the virus, they created that virus, and they sent over hundreds of thousands of Chinese citizens here to spread that around and around the world - whether they did that on purpose, that’s an open question.

The racism is strong in this one...

He's already got the 10% of votes who will believe that. I wonder why they bother.

[TheDeamon]

White House trade adviser Peter Navarro:

China created this pandemic.  They hid the virus, they created that virus, and they sent over hundreds of thousands of Chinese citizens here to spread that around and around the world - whether they did that on purpose, that’s an open question.

The racism is strong in this one...

I'm confused. Exactly how is that racist?

"China created this pandemic." is presumably a reference to the Chinese Communist Party(CCP), not the Chinese people. The "they" in the following sentence logically would be the CCP, again, not "the Chinese People." So that just leaves "hundreds of thousands of Chinese citizens" (which is hyperbolic in the extreme) being used as "a delivery mechanism" for the virus.

I guess you could claim it is racist to claim a racial group was being used as a contagion vector for a virus. But the claim in and of itself isn't inherently racist, someone actually doing so would be, but in this case it would have been the CCP doing it, so "it gets weird" quick.

It could likewise be claimed that he is asserting the Chinese people were unwitting victims of their own government, and is instead a broader commentary on the low regard communist regimes tend to have with respect to "the lives of the masses."

What he proposes is paranoid in the extreme, unlikely to actually be true, although I will concede there actually is a probability that the CCP did intentionally release the virus, I think accidental release of the virus, possibly by way of the black market for animal remains in China, is the more likely scenario.

[rightleft22]

There is no such a thing as "protecting the most vulnerable" in the USA - and it is hardly possible in any liberal democracy.

People already do not respect regulations to maintain distances and wear protective clothing - they are hardly likely to consistently, on a broad societal level, isolate from all family member above 50 years of age.  And those above 50 are hardly likely to continue to self isolate without societal support and leadership.

I don't disagree but was willing to give society the benefit of the doubt. The reality is that we don't really care much about the elderly. At least no those that don't have a lot of money.  Its built into the system.

Now If Covid-19 impact to our children or middle age in the same way it does the elderly how we respond to the the pandemic would be very different.

[Fenring]

White House trade adviser Peter Navarro:

China created this pandemic.  They hid the virus, they created that virus, and they sent over hundreds of thousands of Chinese citizens here to spread that around and around the world - whether they did that on purpose, that’s an open question.

The racism is strong in this one...

Yeah, also not sure how this is racist, any more than a Chinese travel ban would be racist. Basically saying or doing anything negative about China is racist? I don't think you mean that, but it's hard to see what else you could mean.

[TheDeamon]

I don't disagree but was willing to give society the benefit of the doubt. The reality is that we don't really care much about the elderly. At least no those that don't have a lot of money.  Its built into the system.

I doubt anyone has done a breakdown of the elderly fatalities by income demographics, but I have a strong suspicion you're going to find a lot of retired upper middle class people in that death toll. Ironically, they probably were some of the hardest hit, as they're among the most like to have both moved into "a senior living community" and also have children sufficiently traveled to bring the virus to them in their care facility, where they'd then share it with the rest of their friends at that location.

The two elderly groups who dodged much of that bullet were likely to be the ones with enough money/resources to continue living at home and paying others to care for the house(and them), and the other extreme, those too poor to afford the better quality senior homes, but too well off to get meaningful government assistance, so they too remain in their original home as things slowly fall apart around them.

Now If Covid-19 impact to our children or middle age in the same way it does the elderly how we respond to the the pandemic would be very different.

Pretty much, if the 20 to 35 crowd knew death was a worse than 1 in 100 chance for them, they'd be approaching it much differently. But it isn't too much of a risk for them personally, so they're not going to worry about it.

[DonaldD]

I'm confused. Exactly how is that racist?

"China created this pandemic." is presumably a reference to the Chinese Communist Party(CCP), not the Chinese people. The "they" in the following sentence logically would be the CCP, again, not "the Chinese People." So that just leaves "hundreds of thousands of Chinese citizens" (which is hyperbolic in the extreme) being used as "a delivery mechanism" for the virus.

I guess you could claim it is racist to claim a racial group was being used as a contagion vector for a virus. But the claim in and of itself isn't inherently racist, someone actually doing so would be, but in this case it would have been the CCP doing it, so "it gets weird" quick.

It could likewise be claimed that he is asserting the Chinese people were unwitting victims of their own government, and is instead a broader commentary on the low regard communist regimes tend to have with respect to "the lives of the masses."

What he proposes is paranoid in the extreme, unlikely to actually be true, although I will concede there actually is a probability that the CCP did intentionally release the virus, I think accidental release of the virus, possibly by way of the black market for animal remains in China, is the more likely scenario.

There are a number of implications in there, but primarily, the implication that Chinese people do not have any sovereignty over their own travel decisions, and that the Chines are evil in such a way as to send disease vectors across the world  - "to spread [the virus] around and around the world".

Yes, racist in much the same way as "the Mexicans" sending over rapist, etc, etc.  But worse, because of the implication of the purposeful army of disease spreading hosts.

Sure he then goes on to "just kidding!" that portion, but still leaves open the possibility that the Chinese government would in fact use hundreds of thousands of their own people to sacrifice themselves to attack the world.  again - racist. And paranoid.  But still racist.

[yossarian22c]

Sure he then goes on to "just kidding!" that portion, but still leaves open the possibility that the Chinese government would in fact use hundreds of thousands of their own people to sacrifice themselves to attack the world.  again - racist. And paranoid.  But still racist.

Do you think the Chinese government would hesitate to use their Uyghurs this way*? Its paranoid and completely unsupported by evidence so it should never be believed and particularly never be said by a government official. But I still think "racist" isn't the word you're looking for here: idiotic, paranoid, propaganda, etc all fit better.

*Assuming they thought they would benefit from doing so.

[DonaldD]

Those are good words, too - in addition to racist.

[TheDeamon]

Sure he then goes on to "just kidding!" that portion, but still leaves open the possibility that the Chinese government would in fact use hundreds of thousands of their own people to sacrifice themselves to attack the world.  again - racist. And paranoid.  But still racist.

Do you think the Chinese government would hesitate to use their Uyghurs this way*? Its paranoid and completely unsupported by evidence so it should never be believed and particularly never be said by a government official. But I still think "racist" isn't the word you're looking for here: idiotic, paranoid, propaganda, etc all fit better.

IIRC, during the Korean War the largest  factor in the Chinese ability to push US forces back to what is now the DMZ for the NK/SK border was their use of the "human wave" tactic. They simply threw so many people against the opposing forces that they would either run out of ammo, or their weapons malfunctioned as a result of overheating due to overuse. (Iran did a comparable thing to Iraq during the Iran/Iraq war in the 1980's)

Sure, that was nearly 70 years ago, but that was the CCP calling the shots then, and the CCP is still calling the shots now within China. I have few doubts that the CCP wouldn't even blink at the idea of sending thousands of their own people to their death if they felt it would benefit their interests to do so.

Which is why there will always be "a probability" that the release was deliberate, they have a history of showing little to no regard for human life.

[rightleft22]

I don't disagree but was willing to give society the benefit of the doubt. The reality is that we don't really care much about the elderly. At least no those that don't have a lot of money.  Its built into the system.

I doubt anyone has done a breakdown of the elderly fatalities by income demographics, but I have a strong suspicion you're going to find a lot of retired upper middle class people in that death toll. Ironically, they probably were some of the hardest hit, as they're among the most like to have both moved into "a senior living community" and also have children sufficiently traveled to bring the virus to them in their care facility, where they'd then share it with the rest of their friends at that location.

The two elderly groups who dodged much of that bullet were likely to be the ones with enough money/resources to continue living at home and paying others to care for the house(and them), and the other extreme, those too poor to afford the better quality senior homes, but too well off to get meaningful government assistance, so they too remain in their original home as things slowly fall apart around them.

Now If Covid-19 impact to our children or middle age in the same way it does the elderly how we respond to the the pandemic would be very different.

Pretty much, if the 20 to 35 crowd knew death was a worse than 1 in 100 chance for them, they'd be approaching it much differently. But it isn't too much of a risk for them personally, so they're not going to worry about it.

Interesting point about a break down in demographics however my point was that in general as a society we don't care as much about the elderly dying. Unless its our parents and grand parents but even then we won't sacrifice as much to save them.  Maybe that's always been how its been.

[Kasandra]

"China created this pandemic." is presumably a reference to the Chinese Communist Party(CCP), not the Chinese people.

If you want to trace its roots, bats created the pandemic.  They happened to be in China, where there are a lot of bats and a lot of viruses and a lot of fresh food markets.  You want to blame the communist party for the bats?  Should we blame democracy for the swine flu?

[Kasandra]

Interesting point about a break down in demographics however my point was that in general as a society we don't care as much about the elderly dying. Unless its our parents and grand parents but even then we won't sacrifice as much to save them.  Maybe that's always been how its been.

When the movie is made about this pandemic it should be called "The Expendables".

[DonaldD]

I'm not sure why people can't get their heads around members of the administration spouting racist rhetoric, when from the mouth of the comedian in chief himself:

By the way, it’s a disease, without question… has more names than any disease in history. I can name - Kung Flu - I can name 19 different versions of names.

[Kasandra]

I'm not sure why people can't get their heads around members of the administration spouting racist rhetoric, when from the mouth of the comedian in chief himself:

By the way, it’s a disease, without question… has more names than any disease in history. I can name - Kung Flu - I can name 19 different versions of names.

Quite simply because it was a hysterically funny thing to say!  You could tell that everyone in the audience laughed at it, because none of them were wearing masks and we could see that their mouths were open and breathing hard.  Yesterday Kelly McNinny reminded the press that he loves the Asians and was just pointing out that the chinks infected us.  Tomorrow she'll tell us how great a job Trump has done fighting off the wahoo woohoo wuhan flu, even though the US with only 4% of the world's population has 25% of kung flu deaths.  We're going to need some Jew Jitsu here to buy the WooHoo lab to head off their next pandemic release, so somebody call George Soros! 

[DonaldD]

Ouch!

[Kasandra]

Ouch!

It's a regular hertz donut.

[yossarian22c]

I'm not sure why people can't get their heads around members of the administration spouting racist rhetoric, when from the mouth of the comedian in chief himself:

By the way, it’s a disease, without question… has more names than any disease in history. I can name - Kung Flu - I can name 19 different versions of names.

Kung Flu - that's racist. Associating a stereotype with an unrelated negative.

Now can you explain why associating China's authoritarian government with a crazy conspiracy theory is racist.

[DonaldD]

EU weighs denying entry to USA residents

European Union considering recommendation to block entry to Americans due to coronavirus surge

[DonaldD]

And speaking of Brazil... Here's Houston

Prof Peter Hotez MD PhD
@PeterHotez

Latest #COVID19 for Harris County, my observations if this trajectory persists:
1) Houston would become the worst affected city in the US, maybe rival what we're seeing now in Brazil
2) The masks = good 1st step but simply won't be enough
3) We would need to proceed to red alert

[TheDeamon]

Ada County(Boise), Idaho has reportedly been downgraded from Stage 4 of the reopening plan back to Stage 3. So Idaho's Republican government is starting to shut things down again. Except they're not doing it statewide.