Coronavirus in the US

Parent Cafe
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Our pastor (100% livestreaming - no audience) mentioned that some congregants wanted to still meet, telling him that God would protect His people. I love his (Pastor’s response). He went to the Bible where Jesus was tempted by Satan to throw himself off the pinnacle of the temple because it was written that God would save him. However, Jesus didn’t do it and answered by saying “You shall not put your God to the test.” Our dude said we’re going to follow Jesus’ example.

I wonder if the churches that met read that part of the Bible… I could easily see their actions angering God, though I’m not pretending to be God. I just definitely align with our Pastor and love how he answered those who wanted to do otherwise.

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Our synagogue has been live streaming daily. It’s a very large and active one. Lots of programming almost daily.

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For some insight into the GM ventilator story. This was shared on Facebook, written by Guy Gordon, previously a news anchor in Detroit.
My DH works for a global auto supplier & has been working on helping to source some of the parts.

Here’s the story:
On Friday, the President insinuated General Motors was acting un-patriotically, and was attempting to profiteer from the shortage of life-sustaining ventilators. He invoked the Defense Production Act, ordering them to produce the ventilators. But GM was already far ahead of any other company in moving forward and had in fact made the commitment to produce the ventilators “at cost” with Ventec, a leading ventilator provider.

Here are the facts:
Wednesday 3/18: GM Chairperson Mary Barra reaches out to White House Chief Economic Advisor Larry Kudlow and offers GM’s manufacturing and engineering capacity to fulfill the need for medical supplies. (Source: Axios, GM and White House)
Friday 3/20 GM and Ventec, a ventilator manufacturer from the Seattle area, announce they are undertaking a feasibility project to determine whether they can jointly initiate rapidly expanded production. (GM and Ventec joint release)
By Monday 3/23 GM and Ventec not only prove feasibility, but designate GM’s former electronics facility in Kokomo, Ind. as the “clean” facility for production. The UAW is asked to begin recruiting volunteers. It’s a labor intensive project and may need as many as 1,000 workers. GM’s purchasing chief informs Barra he has commitments from nearly all the suppliers needed for 700 components. He is confident the remaining 37 components can be sourced. (GM, Axios and Reuters)
Tuesday 3/24 Axios and Reuters report GM’s incredible progress. Ventec is told to anticipate an announcement from the White House about the impending contract. Ventec is ready to go but has still not received direction from the feds on how many ventilators it is ordering, making cost quotes per unit more difficult to estimate.
Wednesday 3/25 Without explanation the White House cancels the announcement and Ventec is told there will be no contract. Late that evening Ventec and GM agree to move forward anyway. GM agrees to help clear Ventec’s 20,000 unit back-order at cost. Essentially they agree to build a decade’s worth of ventilators in less than 2 months.
Thursday 3/26. NYT reports White House balks because they are trying to decide between different vendors who they believe can offer lower cost options. Ventec and GM prepare to announce their formal production agreement on Friday.
Friday 3/27 President threatens in 2 tweets to invoke “P” (Defense Production Act) against GM. Suggests they should build ventilators at Lordstown, a plant the White House knows GM no longer owns. They are also aware a much more practical electronics plant was chosen for production. He also insults Mary Barra who made the initial offer with prompting from no one.
Within 90 minutes, Ventec and GM announce their plans for production. They have hired 1,000 workers, a full shift, and have the sourcing to make 200,000 ventilators. They have printed training manuals and intend to start training in the new work week. All of these plans and progress occur well before any implied or actual threat from President Trump.
Friday Evening: The President announces he is invoking the Defense Production Act. It will not get things built any faster, but does eliminate the red tape normally associated with government contracting.

His new procurement czar Peter Navarro suggests many “patriotic” companies had come forward, but they hit a roadblock with GM. The President says, “we won’t pay double or triple for ventilators.” Yet GM and Ventec were producing them at cost. Throughout the briefing it’s implied they had difficult discussions with GM. In fact, Ventec is the primary contractor and handled all interaction beyond Barra’s original offer. When asked in opening Q and A whether cost and profit were a factor, the President was very candid. He doesn’t like GM.
President: “It got to be a debate over cost. We don’t want to think too much about cost when we’re talking about this. This is not about cost. I WASN’T HAPPY WHERE GENERAL MOTORS BUILT PLANTS IN OTHER LOCATIONS (MEXICO) OVER THE YEARS. …… AND SO I DIDN’T GO INTO IT WITH A VERY FAVORABLE VIEW. I WAS EXTREMELY UNHAPPY WITH LORDSTOWN OHIO. THEY LEFT LORDSTOWN IN THE MIDDLE OF AN AUTO BOOM (in fact, sales of sedans produced at Lordstown were crashing). BECAUSE WE HAD 17 CAR COMPANIES COMING IN (?) AND THEN THEY WERE LEAVING ONE PLANT IN OHIO. I LOVE OHIO AND WHAT HAPPENS, THAT BECAME THE STORY.

AND FRANKLY I THINK THAT WOULD BE A GOOD PLACE TO BUILD THE VENTILATORS. AND WE’LL SEE, WE’LL SEE WHAT HAPPENS.
SO I WASN’T TOO THRILLED.
“And then we thought we had a deal for 40,000 ventilators and then it became 6 and price became a big object. But Peter is getting involved… maybe they’ll change their tune.”
Sadly, the tune has always been the same. GM offered to help and in less than 10 days moved heaven and earth to find a location, hire a workforce, source a 700-part piece of technology, spec it out for suppliers and set employee training in motion. All of this to be delivered at cost, a cost that could have been pinned down better had the Government instructed how many they needed.

Maximum production for Ventec is 200 ventilators per month. GM was offering to build 100 times that many in a matter of a few months… needing less than a month for re-tooling and training. That is nothing short of incredible. Their thanks was a politically motivated shaming in a nationally televised White House briefing. GM was patriotic. GM was All-American. They will not profit. In fact, they may lose business because of the President’s diatribe. I wonder how many other companies are re-thinking their willingness to step up as a result.
But on Monday, GM will start making masks in Warren and begin training in Kokomo.

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https://www.fox17online.com/news/local-news/michigan/it-is-truly-a-miracle-38-year-old-mi-man-shares-story-of-surviving-covid-19?fbclid=IwAR0k-MViUrWriDwMgDi35kmhARBzk1VFwlFDOyL4uKvbhi6JGjy0sy2cro0 have you all seen this. This guy is one that says that the combination of those meds helped him

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I had heard something like that about GM and the ventilators. Honestly, I didn’t want to know all the details because it’s just too painful to consider that gross incompetence isn’t the main problem; it seems that some entity wants many more people to die.

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The president will take credit for any ventilators that GM produces - he was ‘tough’. And the true believers will believe. And even the uninformed will believe. This is how the polls get moved in the positive direction. Anyone who doesn’t kiss the ring will get ripped in the media with the president leading the charge. Trump is an amazing - truly amazing - media manipulator. especially with the help of the right wing press to fall in line.

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@michiganbuckeye thanks for that. Once again my blood runs cold. Is GM still able to produce the originally intended number, and are they being purchased ultimately by the feds?

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Gives new meaning to the phrase, “No good deed goes unpunished.”

I had read somewhere else that GM was offering the ventilators for around 16k each when retail is 30k.

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Creekland, I love your pastor. Where in the gospel is this and can people spread the word? I feel there are some clergy who urgently need to read up on their gospel.

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I know that there have been a lot of negative posts about hydoxychloroquine on this thread, but there is an interesting op ed in the WSJ today (behind a paywall) written by Jeff Colyer (former Governor of Kansas and a practicing physician) regarding reasons to be cautiously optimistic about the treatment. One thing I didn’t know, from the article:

“During the initial Chinese outbreak, Wuhan doctors observed that patients with lupus-a disease for which HC is a common treatment- did not seem to develop Covid-19. Of 178 hospital patients who tested positive, none had lupus and none were on HC. None of this Wuhan hospital’s dermatology department’s 80 lupus patients were infected with Covid 19.”

This is one of the reasons Chinese doctors began to suspect that there might be some benefit to HC. One other thing to consider, some anti viral treatments only work if administered early on, like Tamiflu. This might be the case with HC as well.

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This is wonderful - from the Guardian livestream:

“The Belgian luxury chocolatier Pierre Marcolini is donating chocolates, pastries, macarons and even Easter eggs to public health workers on the front-line in London.

The treats destined for its now closed boutiques are being offered free to hospital staff, while its production line is still manufacturing chocolate for sale online.

The company said in a statement: “Offering chocolates does not seem essential, but it’s an undeniable comfort. This is all the more important in this difficult period for everyone, but especially for the extraordinary hospital staff who are experiencing probably one of the most difficult times of our lives. The Pierre Marcolini House wishes to support the national effort, the caregivers who are mobilised everyday to fight against the COVID-19 epidemic during the coming weeks.”

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@michiganbuckeye - thanks for the Guy Gordon article. For those outside of Michigan, Gordon also has a hugely popular AM radio show, where he is usually very supportive of the current administration.

Interesting.

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It’s Luke 4:

9 The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. 10 For it is written:

“‘He will command his angels concerning you
to guard you carefully;
11 they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.”
12 Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

Spread the word. It is in the book!

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Cuomo mentioned 45K, and that was a few days ago. This is simply awful. All they had to do was write a contract :frowning:

“Like”, “Helpful”, and “Agree” buttons are nice, but I could so use “Makes my blood boil” or “Hitting my head against the wall”

And add “Sad” to the button list too

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The passage is also written in Matthew 4: 5-7. It’s in the Bible twice - quite possibly for a reason when one assumes God directed the writing.

FWIW, we love our pastor too. He’s very knowledgeable and very sensible as well as being a nice all around guy. But yeah, if anyone knows those using the guise of “God will protect us,” these are good passages to have them consider reading/pondering.

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A fellow was stuck on his rooftop in a flood. He was praying to God for help.

Soon a man in a rowboat came by and the fellow shouted to the man on the roof, “Jump in, I can save you.”

The stranded fellow shouted back, “No, it’s OK, I’m praying to God and he is going to save me.”

So the rowboat went on.

Then a motorboat came by. "The fellow in the motorboat shouted, “Jump in, I can save you.”

To this the stranded man said, “No thanks, I’m praying to God and he is going to save me. I have faith.”

So the motorboat went on.

Then a helicopter came by and the pilot shouted down, “Grab this rope and I will lift you to safety.”

To this the stranded man again replied, “No thanks, I’m praying to God and he is going to save me. I have faith.”

So the helicopter reluctantly flew away.

Soon the water rose above the rooftop and the man drowned. He went to Heaven. He finally got his chance to discuss this whole situation with God, at which point he exclaimed, “I had faith in you but you didn’t save me, you let me drown. I don’t understand why!”

To this God replied, “I sent you a rowboat and a motorboat and a helicopter, what more did you expect?”

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’

The (Democratic) Governor of Michigan appears to support the President’s DPA action:

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/whitmer-glad-trump-invoked-dpa-over-ventilators-says-gm-ready-to-start

Democratic Candidate Joe Biden has been calling for the President to use DPA (but not necessarily on GM).

[Yet, a local tv/radio guy’s FB post is to be believed as 100% all fact?]

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When an unerring instinct (honed over a lifetime) for media manipulation is wielded from the most high profile bully pulpit on the planet, you get a masterclass in how to assassinate the truth in the service of narcissistic self-aggrandizement. GM’s CEO should hold a press conference in which she lays out a timeline, with precise documentation, of the unprecedented actions GM and Ventec have taken to rapidly tool up and produce ventilators at cost. Making clear the exact manner in which actual facts contradict the “alternative” ones presented during press room bloviation fests, could help safeguard her company’s financial Health, and the many thousands of jobs that depend on it. Clovid-19 will not ravage the planet indefinitely. GM’s employees will need to return to those high paying auto manufacturing jobs to aid in the nation’s economic recovery. A forward thinking leader tries to anticipate the potential dire impact of their words, and speaking as prudently as possible, divorce personal animus from consideration of the greater good. Oh, that such leadership were in greater supply.

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How c Ould they leave out such a crucial information? It drives the panic level. “You do everything right and you still get it”.

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300 ventilators from national stockpile are on the way to New Jersey, governor says
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said that hundreds of ventilators will be provided to the state from the federal government’s stockpile.

Murphy tweeted Monday:

“After multiple conversations with the White House, we just received word that 300 ventilators are on their way to New Jersey from the national stockpile. Ventilators are our number one need right now. I won’t stop fighting for the equipment we need to save every life we can."

New York mayor: We need to triple the amount of hospital beds by May

New York City needs to triple its hospital bed capacity by May, Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a press conference today, as the US Navy Hospital Ship Comfort arrived in New York City.

“Our nation has heard our plea for help in New York City,” he said, referring to the ship’s arrival.

The ship is expected to be operational soon.

The US Navy Hospital Ship Comfort has docked in New York City.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said they expected it would take two full weeks to get the ship — which has 12 fully-equipped operating rooms and 1,000 hospital beds on board — to the city. It ended up only taking eight days.

“That means help has arrived quicker and we’ll be able to do the lifesaving work right now.,” de Blasio said.

“This is like adding a whole other hospital to New York City,” he added.

Remember: The ship is not expected to treat coronavirus patients. Rather it will be used to relocate shore-based patients undergoing treatments that are not coronavirus-related.

Maryland governor tells residents to stay at home
From CNN’s Sarah Jorgensen

Maryland Governor Larry Hogan has instituted a stay-at-home directive that will go into effect at 8 p.m. ET today.

By executive order, Maryland residents should not leave their homes unless…

They’re traveling for an essential job
They’re traveling for an essential need, such as food or medicine
“We are no longer asking or suggesting that Marylanders stay home. We are directing them to do so,” he said.

Any person who knowingly and willfully violates the order is guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction is subject to prison no more than one year or a fine not to exceed $5,000, or both.

As of Monday morning, there have been 15 coronavirus-related deaths and 1,413 positive cases across the state.

Macy’s is furloughing a majority of its 125,000 employees
From CNN’s Jordan Valinsky

With its stores closed and sales slowing as the coronavirus pandemic continues, Macy’s said it will keep the “absolute minimum workforce needed to maintain basic operations.”

That means a “majority” of its 125,000-strong workforce will go on furlough beginning this week, it said in a press release. Affected employees will still receive health care.

Macy’s said there will be “fewer furloughs in our digital business, supporting distribution centers and call centers so we can continue to serve our customers online.”

Macy’s, which also owns Bloomingdales and Bluemercury, stock fell 3%. It’s down 70% for the year.

CNN