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SunSeeker's JournalL.A. orders essential workers to wear masks, allows businesses to deny service to customers without
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is ordering workers at essential businesses to cover their face starting Friday, when they’ll also be able to deny service to customers who don’t wear masks.
So far, the city has recommended — but not mandated — that people cover their face when venturing into public to prevent the virus’ spread.
Employers will be required to supply essential workers with a mask or reimburse workers for the cost, the mayor said.
The order applies to workers at grocery stores, pharmacies, hotels and restaurants, as well as taxi and ride-share drivers, among others. Those who fail to comply could face a fine or prison time.
https://ktla.com/news/local-news/l-a-mayor-garcetti-to-give-briefing-on-citys-coronavirus-response/
Amid ongoing stay-at-home orders, L.A. has some of cleanest air of any major city
Dr. Yifang Zhu, a professor of environmental health sciences at UCLA’s Fielding School of Public Health, said that she and her colleagues identified a similar trend.
Zhu’s team also found a 40% drop in levels of PM 2.5, a class of microscopic air pollutants that have been linked to serious cardiovascular and respiratory problems, especially in children and the elderly. A study released Monday, by Xiao Wu and Rachel C. Nethery of Harvard University, also linked exposure to PM 2.5 to an increased risk of death from Covid-19.
PM 2.5 ends up in our air from many sources, but Zhu said vehicle traffic is a big contributor in Southern California.
Since California’s stay-at-home order went into effect, Zhu’s team has found that traffic across the state has fallen by around 80%.
https://ktla.com/news/local-news/amid-ongoing-stay-at-home-orders-l-a-has-some-of-cleanest-air-of-any-major-city/
Detroit emergency doctor's ventilator idea is getting global attention
Dr. Charlene Irvin Babcock, an emergency physician at Ascension St. John Hospital in Detroit, wrote a research paper with Dr. Greg Neyman in 2006, explaining that adaptations including T- or Y-shaped splitters on air flow tubes could allow a single ventilator to serve two people, four or even more.
Ventilator-sharing was used by emergency physician Dr. Kevin Menes for the crush of injured in Las Vegas following the worst mass shooting in U.S. history, at a country music concert on Oct. 1, 2017. Menes had served his residency with Neyman, Babcock's co-author on the 2006 study, and was familiar with the concept.
Ventilator-splitting is controversial. A significant contingent of doctors say its potential for germ transfers between patients, and negative impacts on an individual patient's breathing caused by being connected to a machine with others, make it too much of a risk.
"It's something I put out there in the hopes it would help people," Babcock said. "To see it actually working, saving lives, it is unbelievable. But it's also unbelievable that things have gotten so bad that they actually have to use this."
https://twitter.com/drmarcogarrone/status/1241135134188937218
https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/coronavirus-puts-spotlight-on-detroit-doctors-idea-of-sharing-ventilators/ar-BB127lJ5?ocid=iehp&li=BBnbfcL
3 Pinocchios: Trump's claim that he imposed the first 'China ban'
The New York Times calculated that at least 430,000 people arrived in the United States on direct flights from China since Jan. 1, including nearly 40,000 in the two months after Trump imposed restrictions. Moreover, screening proceedings of travelers from China have been uneven and inconsistent, the Times said.
In any case, the United States certainly was not the first country — by a long shot. We reviewed a list of country actions maintained by the Council on Foreign Relations and cross-checked with official announcements. Six countries imposed travel restrictions even before the World Health Organization declared a global health emergency on Jan. 30. Another six announced travel restrictions that same day, followed by 11 countries (besides the United States) announcing restrictions Jan. 31.
But most countries imposed the restrictions immediately. By the time Trump’s restrictions took effect Feb. 2, an additional 15 countries had taken similar actions — and in some cases enacted even tougher bans. But in any case, that adds up to 38 countries taking action before or at the same time the U.S. restrictions were put in place:
Jan. 24
Marshall Islands (no cases reported)
Jan. 25
North Korea (no cases reported)
Jan. 27
Hong Kong (0.5 deaths per million)
Philippines (1 death per million)
Jan. 29
Singapore (1 death per million)
Papua New Guinea (0.2 deaths per million)
Jan. 30
Bahamas (13 deaths per million)
Maldives (no deaths reported)
Trinidad and Tobago (6 deaths per million)
Afghanistan (0.2 deaths per million)
Tajikistan (no cases reported)
Rwanda (no deaths reported)
Jan. 31 — date of U.S. announcement (which was effective Feb. 2)
El Salvador (0.6 deaths per million)
Guyana (5 deaths per million)
Iran (45 deaths per million)
Italy (G-20 country) (273 deaths per million)
Jamaica (1 death per million)
Antigua and Barbuda (no deaths reported)
Turkmenistan (no cases reported)
Morocco (2 deaths per million)
Solomon Islands (no cases reported)
Micronesia (no cases reported)
Kiribati (no cases reported)
Feb. 1
Australia (G-20 country) (2 deaths per million)
Egypt (0.8 deaths per million)
Kyrgyzstan (0.6 deaths per million)
Palau (no cases reported)
Uzbekistan (0.06 deaths per million)
St. Kitts and Nevis (no deaths reported)
Vietnam (no deaths reported)
Feb. 2
Fiji (no deaths reported)
New Zealand (0.2 deaths per million)
Grenada (no deaths reported)
India (G-20 country) (0.1 deaths per million)
Indonesia (G-20 country) (0.8 deaths per million)
Iraq (2 deaths per million)
Israel (7 deaths per million)
Mauritius (6 deaths per million)
United States (32 deaths per million
With more than 10,000 covid-19 deaths recorded in the United States, the third highest in the world, it’s unclear whether Trump’s travel restrictions were especially effective in the long run. The WHO says such bans, at the start of an outbreak, can briefly help buy some time — but that was lost when the United States failed to quickly set up an effective testing program. Tens of thousands of U.S. citizens, permanent residents and exempted foreigners — some carrying the virus — continued to travel from China.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/04/07/trumps-claim-that-he-imposed-first-china-ban/?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most
Acting Navy secretary apologizes for scathing rebuke of ousted captain
Source: NBC News
"Let me be clear, I do not think Captain Brett Crozier is naïve nor stupid," he said in a statement. "I think, and always believed him to be the opposite."
Modly went on to describe Crozier as "smart and passionate."
"I believe, precisely because he is not naive and stupid, that he sent his alarming email with the intention of getting it into the public domain in an effort to draw public attention to the situation on his ship," Modly said. "I apologize for any confusion this choice of words may have caused. I also want to apologize directly to Captain Crozier, his family, and the entire crew of the Theodore Roosevelt for any pain my remarks may have caused."
Modly's new statement came after President Donald Trump addressed the controversy at a news conference, saying he planned to intervene.
Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/military/acting-navy-secretary-rips-ousted-captain-who-sounded-alarm-over-n1177676
The blowback was massive, obviously. Looks like Trump may throw Modly under the bus.
The worst president. Ever.
By Washington Post historian Max Boot
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/04/05/worst-president-ever/?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most
His one major competitor for that dubious distinction remains Buchanan, whose dithering helped lead us into the Civil War — the deadliest conflict in U.S. history. Buchanan may still be the biggest loser. But there is good reason to think that the Civil War would have broken out no matter what. By contrast, there is nothing inevitable about the scale of the disaster we now confront.The situation is so dire, it is hard to wrap your mind around it. The Atlantic notes: “During the Great Recession of 2007–2009, the economy suffered a net loss of approximately 9 million jobs. The pandemic recession has seen nearly 10 million unemployment claims in just two weeks.” The New York Times estimates that the unemployment rate is now about 13 percent, the highest since the Great Depression ended 80 years ago.
...
Government officials were delivering similar warnings directly to Trump. A team of Post reporters wrote on Saturday: “The Trump administration received its first formal notification of the outbreak of the coronavirus in China on Jan. 3. Within days, U.S. spy agencies were signaling the seriousness of the threat to Trump by including a warning about the coronavirus —the first of many—in the President’s Daily Brief.” But Trump wasn’t listening.The Post article is the most thorough dissection of Trump’s failure to prepare for the gathering storm. Trump was first briefed on the coronavirus by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar on Jan. 18. But, The Post writes, “Azar told several associates that the president believed he was ‘alarmist’ and Azar struggled to get Trump’s attention to focus on the issue.” When Trump was first asked publicly about the virus, on Jan. 22, he said, “We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China.”
...
Trump’s failure to focus, The Post notes, “sowed significant public confusion and contradicted the urgent messages of public health experts.” It also allowed bureaucratic snafus to go unaddressed — including critical failures to roll out enough tests or to stockpile enough protective equipment and ventilators.
...
Countries as diverse as Taiwan, Singapore, Canada, South Korea, Georgia and Germany have done far better — and will suffer far less. South Korea and the United States discovered their first cases on the same day. South Korea now has 183 dead— or 4 deaths per 1 million people. The U.S. death ratio (25 per 1 million) is six times worse — and rising quickly.
Coronavirus at beaches? Surfers, swimmers should stay away, scientist says
Kim Prather, a leading atmospheric chemist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, wants to yell out her window at every surfer, runner, and biker she spots along the San Diego coast.
“I wouldn’t go in the water if you paid me $1 million right now,” she said.
The beach, in her estimation, is one of the most dangerous places to be these days, as the novel coronavirus marches silently across California.
In her research, Prather has found that the ocean churns up all kinds of particulate and microscopic pathogens, and every time the ocean sneezes with a big wave or two, it sprays these particles into the air. She believes that this new coronavirus is light enough to float through the air much farther than we think. The six-feet physical distancing rule, she said, doesn’t apply at the beach, where coastal winds can get quite strong and send viral particles soaring.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-04-02/coronavirus-ocean-swimming-surfing-safe-beaches-los-angeles?campaign_id=49&emc=edit_ca_20200403&instance_id=17316&nl=california-today®i_id=67615784&segment_id=23761&te=1&user_id=93b79612eb89ac18a1871fa77f9d0e9b&fbclid=IwAR0hZtVEq8FAE9j4nvcZcwqAOR18abpstcRfFcJQF6sVBTjmjypjfXezwHk
Bus driver outraged over uncovered coughing dies of Covid-19 days later
This Detroit bus driver posted a video about a woman coughing on his bus. Four days later, he began feeling symptoms. Now, he's dead.lOn March 21, Detroit bus driver Jason Hargrove went live on Facebook to vent about an incident that had just occurred on his bus. A woman, who he estimated to be in her "late 50s, early 60s," coughed four or five times on his crowded vehicle without covering her mouth — in the middle of the global coronavirus pandemic.
"This coronavirus sh** is for real and we out here as public workers, trying to make an honest living to take care of our families," he said. "But for you to get on the bus, and stand on the bus, and cough several times without covering up your mouth, and you know that we in the middle of a pandemic, that lets me know that some folks don't care, utterly don't give a f***."
Since the beginning of the outbreak, experts have cautioned that the virus is spread through respiratory droplets that are expelled when an infected person coughs, sneezes or even talks. And Hargrove estimated that there were about eight or nine other passengers in the woman's vicinity when she openly coughed, potentially exposing others to the virus.
On Thursday, Glenn Tolbert, the president of Hargrove's local transit union — Amalgamated Transit Union Local 26 — revealed to the The Detroit News that Hargrove began feeling symptoms four days after the incident. And in a tragic turn of events, he has now passed away.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/detroit-bus-driver-coronavirus-viral-video-woman-coughing/
'Smoke and mirrors': Critics lambast Navy hospital ship sent to New York for treating only 20 patien
Source: Washington Post
https://twitter.com/BillKristol/status/1245881271517093891
“Taunting cruelty.” “An abomination.” “Smoke and mirrors.”
Such were the choice words many on social media had Thursday for the U.S.N.S. Comfort, a much-hyped Navy ship sent to Manhattan to relieve the city’s overburdened hospitals as they grapple with the coronavirus.
Yet of 1,000 available beds aboard the vessel, the New York Times revealed, only three patients had actually been allowed onboard. Strict rules were meant to keep coronavirus patients — or people with one of 49 other medical conditions — from being treated onboard, where an outbreak could spread quickly.
Carmen Yulín Cruz, the mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico, pointed out that a nearly identical situation played out after Hurricane Maria. The Comfort, sent to relieve the U.S. territory’s hospitals, only treated a few patients daily.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2020/04/02/coronavirus-latest-news/#link-2KN5TV6M6BBMPH2FWFGAVUABEY
"Cold Comfort"
George Conway lays out why Trump is to blame for our botched Covid-19 response
From Kellyanne Conway’s husband, George Conway:
"For Trump supporters, let me make one thing VERY clear!
For the record NO ONE is blaming the President for the virus. Let me repeat. Coronavirus is not Trump’s fault.
Here’s a detailed list of what we are blaming him for:
* Trump declined to use the World Health Organization’s test like other nations. Back in January, over a month before the first Covid19 case, the Chinese posted a new mysterious virus and within a week, Berlin virologists had produced the first diagnostic test. By the end of February, the WHO had shipped out tests to 60 countries. Oh, but not our government. We declined the test even as a temporary bridge until the CDC could create its own test. The question is why? We don’t know but what to look for is which pharmaceutical company eventually manufactures the test and who owns the stock. Keep tuned.
* In 2018 Trump fired Homeland Security Advisor Tom Bossart, whose job was to coordinate a response to global pandemics. He was not replaced.
* In 2018 Dr. Luciana Borio, the NSC director for medical and bio-defense preparedness left the job. Trump did not replace Dr. Borio.
* In 2019 the NSC’s Senior Director for Global Health Security and bio-defense, Tim Ziemer, left the position and Trump did not replace the Rear Admiral.
* Trump shut down the entire Global Health Security and Bio-defense agency. Yes, he did.
* Amid the explosive worldwide outbreak of the virus Trump proposed a 19% cut to the budget of the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention plus a 10% cut to Public Health Services and a 7% cut to Global Health Services. Those happen to be the organizations that respond to public health threats.
* In 2018, at Trump’s direction, the CDC stopped funding epidemic prevention activities in 39 out of 49 countries including China.
* Trump didn’t appoint a doctor to oversee the US response to the pandemic. He appointed Mike Pence.
* Trump has on multiple occasions sowed doubt about the severity of the virus even using the word hoax at events and rallies. He even did it at an event where the virus was being spread. Trump has put out zero useful information concerning the health risks of the virus.
* Trump pretended the virus had been contained.
* Trump left a cruise ship at sea for days, denying them proper hospital care, rather than increase his numbers in America.
Repeat. We do not blame Trump for the virus. We blame him for gutting the nation’s preparations to deal with it. We blame him for bungling testing and allowing it to spread uninhibited. We blame him for wasting taxpayer money on applause lines at his rallies (like The Wall). We blame him for putting his own political life over American human life. I hope this clears things up."
The Lincoln Project, a group led by George Conway, released a new video criticizing the president's response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10221765671790654&id=1222099697
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