The good news is that the WV governor recognizes his state’s issues in being prepared and funded to fight COvid-19 and has publicly stated it plus has had the wisdom to shut down his state with a “stay at home” order. Good for him for having sense and taking the proactive step early days after Trump was singing the praises of WV for not having any confirmed cases last week (they were barely testing. More governor’s need to do that.
I offered to cut my son’s hair but he exited the room rather fast…
Know the states publish the number of positive tests they have.
Is there a chart that shows how many are hospitalized? That might be a better apples to apples for the NY vs FL arguments.
for example:
If NY has 4 times as many hospitalized with the virus, then the focus needs to be there.
I’m not going to advocate Florida fight for anything other than a national strategy that directs the scarce resources where they will most reduce ongoing infections. That may be NY, it may be FL or it may be WV - I would support any of that if it means the most targeted approach to reducing national infections.
To me that makes sense rationally and ethically. Apparently YMMV.
Thank goodness - Dr. Fauci is back!
From the Atlanta Business Chronicle today:
Atlanta-based Invesco Mortgage Capital Inc., which is focused on investing in, financing, and managing residential and commercial mortgage-backed securities, has been rocked by the coronavirus pandemic, with its shares (NYSE: IVR) losing half their value today.
“In recent weeks, due to the turmoil in the financial markets resulting from the global pandemic of the COVID-19 virus, the company and its subsidiaries have received an unusually high number of margin calls from financing counterparties,” the company said today. “Through Friday, March 20, 2020, the company had timely met all margin calls received. However, on Monday afternoon, March 23, 2020, the company notified its financing counterparties that it was not in a position to fund the margin calls that it received on March 23, 2020, and that the company did not expect to be in a position to fund the anticipated volume of future margin calls under its financing arrangements in the near term as a result of market disruptions created by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
[This is likely to be a repeat of the 2007-12 experience as regards cascading defaults and falling house prices. None of the structural issues was fixed back then. Homeowners should be prepared to make substantial financial sacrifices]
this keeps track of the amount of testing done by state:
Exactly. And if anybody is under the impression, that NY is doing as well or badly as any other state, I suggest comparing the number of those who have died. Unlike current cases, dead people are hard to miss.
Just reposting these quotes I posted earlier today to remind people of Trump’s comments today re: states and supplies. This isn’t a governor issue. It’s a lack of coordination, leadership, and caring and frankly just giving a crap at the top of the power structure.
Many of us in higher-tax / higher-service states have long advocated for the same kinds of investments in education, infrastructure, and healthcare for all states and at the federal level.
It’s not fair for the grasshopper to get mad at the ant for being (more) ready for winter. Maybe you can vote for less short-sighted policies next time.
I take the point that no state is an island. I’m in MA and it took too long for some of our neighboring states to shut things down.
Birx is keeping her distance from people. Rightly so.
Margin calls. You take the risk you accept the consequences.
We would need a coordinated and accurate testing strategy in order to do this, sadly.
Locally Executed, State Managed, Federally Supported. Everybody knew those rules going in, and it looks like that is how the situation is in fact being handled.
The first two parts of that strategy have to do their jobs assertively for the third to be most effective.
Same issue with dead as the living. Unless every state is testing the dead, using test data to classify and using a standard classifcation system, the results are skewed to who has access to tests. Can’t classify someone as a Covid 19 related death if you don’t have access to testing materials to test them…
BTW, I’ve seen theories that this may be part of what is causing some of the differences between mortality rates different countries are reporting. Italy’s Covid 19 deaths have shown many more underlying conditions that may have been listed as the cause of death had the person died in another country. For example, if a 94 year old experiences heart failure but is also Covid 19 positive, one country may be counting that as a heart failure death and another (like Italy) is classifying it as a Covid 19 related death.
I hope the states that do not have enough tests for living people are not using those few precious tests on the dead. The data from the dead is important, but can be gathered at a later date.
Don’t you wish! There was an article earlier today that showed how much testing is done in each state. WA tops with about 4,000 tests per million vs NY about 3,000 per million and WA has less than 5,000 cases. Stop making excuses. NY has more cases because they waited too long to shut down. By the time they were shutting down their numbers were approach many thousands. They took forever to close schools and again they didn’t close hair salons and tattoo parlors until they were thousands of cases. Everyone else acted sooner much sooner.
Congress unlikely to give stimulus deal final approval tonight
From CNN’s Manu Raju
With the time slipping as senators and the White House continue to negotiate the final bill language of the $2 trillion stimulus, it’s growing increasingly unlikely that both chambers of Congress can give final approval to the plan tonight.
A senior Democratic aide said that it’s unlikely the House can approve the Senate deal tonight. That’s because lawmakers will need time to review the details of the bill and may need to hold another conference call to discuss the elements of the Senate plan.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi needs to ensure that her caucus is in line because they need full cooperation to bring the bill to the floor so it can be approved by either voice vote or unanimous consent — so members don’t have to return to Washington and vote in person.
Similarly, a GOP Senate aide that with the time slipping and bill text still being drafted, it’s unlikely the Senate will vote tonight.
A person in Kentucky tested positive for Covid-19 after attending a coronavirus party, governor said
From CNN’s Sheena Jones
A person attended a coronavirus party in Kentucky and then tested positive for the virus, Gov. Andy Beshear said at a news conference Tuesday.
The governor said he hopes he doesn’t have to speak about this incident again and reminded himself to forgive the person who attended the party.
At least 163 cases of coronavirus have been reported in Kentucky, the governor said.
How Illinois is preparing for possible surge of coronavirus cases
From CNN’s Raja Razek
Illinois’ Governor J.B. Pritzker, speaking at a news conference Tuesday, said the state is looking into whether closed hospitals could reopen to help with coronavirus response efforts.
“In a worst-case scenario surge, the state would turn existing hospitals into almost entirely Covid-19 response hospitals, moving non-Covid patients to other hospitals,” the governor said.
Pritzker went on to explain the distinction between a standard hospital bed and a bed for patient with Covid-19. He said the number one difference is a ventilator.
Agreed. We need a national strategy. The government knew this was coming in January if not earlier. They saw the deaths in February. It’s now second half of March and we’ve got bupkis.
Trump: Goal is to open up the country “as we near the end of our historic battle with the invisible enemy”
From CNN’s Betsy Klein
President Trump began Tuesday’s coronavirus task force briefing reiterating his goal to ease social distancing guidelines around Easter.
“Ultimately, the goal is to ease the guidelines and open things up to very large sections of our country as we near the end of our historic battle with the invisible enemy. Been going for a while, but we’ll win, we’ll win,” Trump said.
His remarks on nearing the end come as health officials, including Surgeon General Jerome Adams, sound the alarm that the virus is going to get much worse in the US before it gets better.
Trump said his team is “working very hard” to make an Easter timeline a reality, saying he “will be meeting with a lot of people to see if that can be done.”
“What a great timeline that would be. My first priority is always the health and safety of the American people. I want everyone to understand that we are continuing to evaluate the data. We’re working with the task force and making decisions based on what is best for the interest of our fantastic country,” he said.
[ Easter is 19 days away. ]
It is beyond ridiculous to quibble about state resources like it is 1860, for heaven’s sake. We are all dependent on one another for the supply chains, medical knowledge, equipment, energy resources. Please stop bickering whether Mass or West Va invested sufficiently in preparation for this. We are all in this together.