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Fauci: Social distancing guidelines likely to remain

Source: Politico

By KAMRAN RAHMAN
03/29/2020 11:03 AM EDT

The nation's top infectious disease expert expressed doubt on Sunday that the White House would lift its social distancing guidelines at the end of its 15-day time frame, projecting it “would be a matter of weeks” before the U.S. is ready to start pulling back restrictions.

“My own opinion, looking at the way things are, I doubt if that would be the case,” Anthony Fauci said Sunday morning on CNN's "State of the Union." “We'll look at it. And if we need to push the date forward, we will push the date forward.”

The Trump administration issued federal guidance that urged Americans to avoid gathering in large groups and stay at home for 15 days. That period, which began March 16, would end Monday. But Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and who sits on Trump’s coronavirus task force, said the social distancing measures are likely to remain.

“It's going to be a matter of weeks. It's not going to be tomorrow, and it's certainly not going to be next week," he said. "It's going to be a little bit more than that.”

Fauci’s assessment Sunday echoes comments from Surgeon General Jerome Adams, who acknowledged days after the administration’s announcement that the 15-day period would likely not be enough.



Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/29/fauci-social-distancing-coronavirus-153802

How The U.S. Fell Dangerously Behind In Coronavirus Testing

Longer answer?

CNBC
28 Mar 2020

Trump drops idea of New York lockdown as U.S. death count crosses 2,000

Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump said on Saturday that he would issue a travel warning for the hard-hit New York area to limit the spread of the coronavirus, backing off from an earlier suggestion that he might try to cut off the region entirely.

“A quarantine will not be necessary,” he said on Twitter.

Trump’s announcement came as the U.S. death count crossed 2,100, more than double the level from two days ago. The United States has now recorded more than 122,000 cases of the respiratory virus, the most of any country in the world.

Trump said on Saturday afternoon that he might impose a ban on travel in and out of New York and parts of New Jersey and Connecticut, the U.S. epicenter of the disease, to protect other states that have yet to bear the brunt. He offered few specifics.

Critics promptly called the idea unworkable, saying it would cause chaos in a region that serves as the economic engine of the eastern United States, accounting for 10 percent of the population and 12 percent of GDP.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa/trump-drops-idea-of-new-york-lockdown-as-u-s-death-count-crosses-2000-idUSKBN21E27W

The Difference 'tween a Real Man and a Mewling Little Boy

Trump Chooses Disaster as His Re-Election Strategy

By Charlie Warzel
March 27, 2020

Stupid American Learns Life Lesson in Canada

That stupid American is me. I'm coming to you tonight from Portage la Prairie in Manitoba, where I'm staying with my cousin Rick and his Canadian wife Renee. I got tested for COVID-19 yesterday (Thursday.) There are zero tests in my state thus far, so I came up here, arriving two days before Trudeau closed the border, and have been staying at Rick and Renee's since then. I don't know when I'll be getting my test results back. And I don't know when the border will be open again. But R&R have been great, and have assured me I can reside with them till I'm able to come home. But that's what this post is really about.

It's about what happened last night (again, Thursday). Rick drove me back from Winnipeg, Where my test was conducted, and the three of us were sitting in the den, watching a movie being broadcast by Global, one of Canada, major TV networks. I've watched numerous movies and shows on the tube since my arrival, and kept getting this feeling there was a difference in the way these Canadian networks (there are also the CBC and CTV, plus a couple of others whose names escape me at this moment) aired programs from the way it's done in the U.S. Last night, it finally crystallized in my 67-year-old brain (crack whatever jokes you want!) exactly what the difference was.

Up here, just like in America, dramatic presentations often come with viewer-discretion advisories. The movie we were watching was two hours long. Actually a bit less, but Canada has commercials too. At the beginning of the film, we were told it contained scenes of violence, as well as nudity, sexuality, and mature themes. These were all repeated one hour later, at the movie's halfway point. But after all the other commercial breaks, before going back to the show, only the violence advisory appeared. The sexual/mature advisories did not.

I pointed this out and wondered aloud why this was so, prompting Rick to laugh and Renee to chuckle. Before I could ask just what was going on, Rick, still chuckling, leaned toward me and said, "I was wondering that for over a month when I first got here. Then Renee explained it to me."

I have to say I was a little pissed off by this, feeling as though they were sharing a joke at my expense.

So, I turned to Renee and said, "Okay, then, I'm asking: why do movies and TV shows here have all kinds of warnings about violence but only a few about sex?"

Renee just looked at me and replied, "Because violence kills and injures a HELLUVA lot more people than sex does."

Ever have a moment where you suddenly realize you've been a total fucking idiot about something your whole damn life? Like there's been an elephant 10 feet in front of you all those years and you only noticed the blasted thing just now??? THAT'S how I felt!

Of course a society like Canada's. or Sweden's, or France's, where, if somebody slightly offends you, your first instinct actually ISN'T to grab a gun and blow his/her head off, would (properly) deem violence to be more destructive than natural, healthy human sexuality! Our country is the one so infected with Puritanical bullshit that that would even be a question!

Suffice it to say, Mind Thoroughly Blown. But by common fucking sense, NOT a lead projectile!!!

Don't worry about Bernie Bros

Here's why I say this: Just think of Super Tuesday: Sure,Joe had just squashed Bernie in SC, but that was just a hiccup, right? Sanders still had the unstoppable momentum, we were told by every news outlet I can think of (glaring especially hard at YOU, The Hill). But March 3 was gonna be the night that Biden was sent packing, when Bernie was going to become the inevitable nominee of a party he's never been a member of. The Progressives, The Truly Woke, the Revolutionaries, and Oh-My-God The Young People were gonna change the fundamental structure of of this country and its politics forever!

And they didn't show up.

With Joe Biden still on the ropes, with the death blow to his political career about to be delivered, with their Patron Saint Bernard poised to bring ideological purity to the messy old Democratic Party, they. Didn't. Show. Up!

And the same dame thing will pertain in November: They won't vote for Joe, but guess what? They wouldn't have voted for ANY Democratic nominee! Even if Senator Sanders Himself ended up with the nomination, they still wouldn't have shown up, because BERNIE BROS DON"T FUCKING VOTE!!!

I'm probably pissing off some people here. Maybe this will be my last post on DU. But tomorrow I'm getting tested, so I'm making sure I get this in before my 67-year-old ass possibly gets erased from existence.

Don't worry about the overhyped, ineffective Bros, Vote Blue in November, and hopefully I'll be back in a couple of days. In the meantime stay safe.

PS: Yes, I am very fond of employing boldface, italics, and occasionally underline.

Rucker: Trump Worried About Coronavirus Harming Economy Before 2020 Election

Moscow's coronavirus outbreak much worse than it looks, Putin ally says

Source: Reuters

Andrew Osborn, Tom Balmforth
MARCH 24, 2020 / 12:55 PM

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The mayor of Moscow told President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday that the number of coronavirus cases in the Russian capital far exceeded the official figures, as Putin donned a protective suit and respirator to visit a hospital.

The comments by Sergei Sobyanin, a close ally of Putin, were authorities’ strongest indcation yet that they do not have a full grasp of how widely the virus has spread throughout Russia’s vast expanse.

Russia has so far reported 495 cases of the virus and one death, far fewer than major western European countries.

Putin has previously said the situation is under control, but some doctors have questioned how far official data reflect reality, and the government on Tuesday closed nightclubs, cinemas and children’s entertainment centres to slow the spread of the virus.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-russia/moscows-coronavirus-outbreak-much-worse-than-it-looks-putin-ally-says-idUSKBN21B2F3?il=0