![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
solarbirdIt just kept getting worse throughout the day. At least, by my order of discovery. Holy fuck all of this. Holy fuck.
----- 1 -----
Berlin's interior senator speaks of "modern piracy"
Protective equipment for Berlin police officers ordered for the corona virus is said to have been diverted from China to the United States. The White House denies it.
by Alexander Fröhlich and Julius Betschka
3 April 2020
https://www.tagesspiegel.de/wissen/usa-haben-wohl-200-000-schutzmasken-abgefangen-berlins-innensenator-spricht-von-moderner-piraterie/25712976.html
[TRANSLATION BY EDITOR USING GOOGLE TRANSLATE] [(mostly google translate)]
Tagesspiegel has learned from Berlin security sources that a delivery of protective equipment for the corona virus ordered by the State of Berlin from China has been intercepted by and diverted to the United States.
Berlin had ordered breathing masks with the protection classes FFP2 and FFP3 from the manufacturer, which protect emergency services and nursing staff against infection with the corona virus. It is said to be a delivery of 200,000 protective masks.
Berlin's Senator for the Interior, Andreas Geisel (SPD), confirmed this afternoon that the masks in Bangkok had been "confiscated" and therefore had not actually reached their destination. "We consider this an act of modern piracy. This is not how you deal with transatlantic partners," said the interior senator.
Even in times of global crisis, "no wild west methods should prevail," said Geisel. "I urge the federal government to urge the United States to comply with international rules."
Berlin's Mayor Michael Müller (SPD) also said: "The actions of the US President are anything but solidaric and responsible," said Müller. "It is inhumane and unacceptable."
----- 2 -----
Ron Fournier
twitter.com/ron_fournier
6:56 PM · Apr 6, 2020
https://twitter.com/ron_fournier/status/1247342328374874112
As a former White House reporter, I don’t say this lightly: Media should ignore the Trump follies, abandon the WH briefing room, and interview governors, doctors, nurses, victims and anybody else approaching the truth.
Stop being props.
Just stop.
----- 3 -----
Jake Maccoby
twitter.com/jdmaccoby
7 April 2020
https://twitter.com/jdmaccoby/status/1247596070139564032
Welcome to the president’s new tone
[QUOTED TWEET]
Kayleigh McEnany [EDITOR: ACTUAL National Press Secretary for the Trump 2020 Campaign]
twitter.com/kayleighmcenany
Aug 29, 2012
How I Met Your Brother -- Never mind, forgot he's still in that hut in Kenya. #ObamaTVShows
----- 4 -----
‘Trump Has Never Lied’: New Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany’s Long History of Bullshit and Lies
In her rise to a White House gig, Trump’s newest press secretary perfected the art of MAGA nonsense with a veritable greatest hits of bonkers claims.
Justin Baragona
Contributing Editor
Updated Apr. 07, 2020
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-new-press-secretary-kayleigh-mcenanys-long-history-of-bullshit-and-lies
After just 10 months on the job, and without holding a single press briefing, White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham left her post to rejoin First Lady Melania Trump’s staff, opening up the position to former cable-news pundit and current Trump campaign flack Kayleigh McEnany.
The 31-year-old has experienced something of a meteoric rise within MAGA ranks over the past four years. After interning for Republican politicians and working on Mike Huckabee’s Fox News show, McEnany burst onto the public scene as a pro-Trump CNN commentator during the 2016 election. Her unwavering support for Trump and commitment to defending any and every position he took resulted in her gig as the Republican National Committee’s national spokesperson in August 2017 (following a one-day turn as a Trump TV host). And in February 2019, she moved up to the Trump campaign, serving as its national press secretary.
...
Behold, some of McEnany’s greatest hits:
‘We Will Not See Diseases Like Coronavirus Come Here’
...
The Time She Attacked Biden for Suspending Rallies Amid Coronavirus Outbreak
...
When She Declared That ‘Trump Has Never Lied to the American People’
...
Trump Has ‘Categorically Denounced’ Racism
...
Her Incoherent Defense of Trump’s Golfing Habits
...
Of Course, She Was Also a Birther
...
BONUS: She Once Thought Trump Could Be ‘The Next Todd Akin’
----- 5 -----
A ‘liberty’ rebellion in Idaho threatens to undermine coronavirus orders
April 7, 2020
By Mike Baker
The New York Times
https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation/a-liberty-rebellion-in-idaho-threatens-to-undermine-coronavirus-orders/
SANDPOINT, Idaho — Inside an old factory building north of Boise, a few dozen people gathered last week to hear from Ammon Bundy, the man who once led an armed takeover of an Oregon wildlife refuge.
The meeting, which appeared to violate orders by Gov. Brad Little of Idaho to avoid group gatherings, was an assertion of what Bundy said was a constitutional right to peacefully assemble. But Bundy said he also hoped to create a network of people ready to come to the aid of those facing closure of their businesses or other interference from the government as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.
“If it gets bad enough, and our rights are infringed upon enough, we can physically stand in defense in whatever way we need to,” Bundy told the meeting. “But we hope we don’t have to get there.”
In a state with pockets of deep wariness about both big government and mainstream medicine, the sweeping restrictions aimed at containing the spread of the virus have run into outright rebellion in some parts of Idaho, which is facing its own worrying spike in coronavirus cases.
----- 6 -----
Mr. President: What's the plan? Oh, right — he doesn't have one
Reporters are still letting Trump duck and weave — and avoid the biggest question of all: What's the path forward?
Dan Froomkin
April 7, 2020 8:00PM (UTC)
https://www.salon.com/2020/04/07/mr-president-whats-the-plan-oh-right--he-doesnt-have-one/
This article was co-produced with Press Watch, a new website that monitors and critiques American political coverage. Please consider supporting Press Watch by making a donation.
"Mr. President," he said. "I know you, like millions of Americans, are eager to have the nation go back to some semblance of normal. One of the questions the American people need answered for that to happen responsibly: What's the plan?"
It's a simple question. It's an obvious question. It's an essential question. Yet most political reporters have been so caught up in the day-to-day drama that they haven't asked it enough, if at all.
And in all the countless hours of bluster and spin, Trump has never once articulated anything remotely like a plausible plan for how we get to the point where it's safe for people to go back to work again — beyond some sort of unspecified miracle.
"Things are happening. We're starting to see light at the end of the tunnel. And hopefully, in the not-too-distant future, we'll be very proud of the job we all did," he said Sunday.
"As a nation, we face a difficult few weeks as we approach that really important day when we're going to see things get better all of a sudden," he said Tuesday. "And it's going to be like a burst of light — I really think and I hope." (Reporters, amazingly, lauded him for his new realism.)
Tapper is not alone in realizing that there needs to be a plan — and that Trump doesn't have one.
"What, exactly, is the endgame here?" asked David Wallace-Wells, writing for New York magazine on Monday:
That there is no coherent federal plan to deal with the outbreak as it currently stands is horrifying enough — an absolute evacuation of presidential leadership that has already cost thousands of lives and will likely cost tens of thousands more. But the fact that there is also no planning to speak of for how we might leave behind the present crisis means all we can see looking forward from the darkness — is more darkness.
----- 7 -----
Wisconsin proves GOP's war on voting is about ending democracy, not just winning
Republicans exploit pandemic to stop people from voting — and expose their ideological opposition to democracy
Amanda Marcotte
April 7, 2020
https://www.salon.com/2020/04/07/wisconsin-proves-gops-war-on-voting-is-about-ending-democracy-not-just-winning/
The Wisconsin Republican Party has been at the cutting edge of the efforts to make sure few, if any, Democratic voters ever make it to the polls again. Under the guidance of former Republican governor Scott Walker, a stalwart opponent of food having flavor, the state enacted a dizzying program of voter suppression, requiring people to have updated government-issued IDs while simultaneously making those IDs much harder to get, especially for people of color. They also suppressed the college student vote by banning most student IDs as a legitimate form of identification.
From the beginning of this war on voters, which has been spread out across the country, it's been understood primarily as a partisan power grab, an attempt to keep certain constituencies from voting because they tend to vote for Democrats. Even Donald Trump, always saying the quiet parts out loud, said recently that if voting by mail becomes widespread, "You'd never have a Republican elected in this country again."
This partisan understanding has, unfortunately, effectively muted both press coverage of this widespread voter suppression and public outrage. Covering this story necessarily requires portraying Republicans as villains and Democrats as victims, since that's the truth. Unfortunately, mainstream journalists, always wary of being seen as "biased," have almost universally reacted by underplaying this story, leaving it instead to left-leaning outlets like Mother Jones. Many Americans, drunk on the myth that all politicians are corrupt and always looking for an angle, tune out Democratic complaints about voter suppression as more partisan sniping.
But what's happening in Wisconsin this week defies the usual partisan understanding of voter suppression. Wisconsin Republicans are exploiting the coronavirus to keep everyone from voting. It's a preview not just of the way Republicans will use this crisis to shut down voting in particular instances, but an expansion of their anti-voting views in general. It's starting to look like the Republican war on voting isn't just about partisan gain, but even more about a deep hostility to democracy itself, and an objection to very idea of letting the people choose their leaders.
On Monday, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, signed an executive order delaying the election scheduled for April 7 until June. His reason was simple enough: People can't maintain state-mandated social distancing and also vote. In addition, the majority of poll volunteers are over 60 and in a high-risk group and can't come out at all. Many polling locations had already been closed due to staffing shortages, which ensures that crowds will be even thicker at the ones that remain open, leading to more danger of spreading the coronavirus.
Republicans in the state sued to end Evers' order, and the conservative-controlled state Supreme Court sided with them, so now the election will go forward as originally scheduled. In addition, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that absentee ballots have to be postmarked today — even though many voters haven't even gotten their ballots yet.
This decision will "disenfranchise untold thousands of Wisconsin voters and consign an unknown number of Wisconsinites to their deaths," Ben Wikler, the chair of the Wisconsin Democratic Party, said in a statement.
But what's particularly strange about the Republican insistence on holding election today, in a naked bid to reduce the Badger State turnout to practically nothing, is that it's not at all clear this will benefit Republicans in the short term.
----- 8 -----
Trump Declares War on Watchdogs
Amid a pandemic, the president is undermining oversight.
7 April 2020
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/04/trump-declares-war-on-watchdogs/
In the midst of a pandemic, Donald Trump is working hard to avoid facing independent oversight.
On Tuesday, the president ousted Glenn Fine, a respected former Justice Department inspector general, from his role as chair of the new Pandemic Response Accountability Committee that Congress created to oversee $2 trillion in emergency funding aimed at propping up the economy during the coronavirus pandemic. The White House used a bureaucratic maneuver to remove Fine, who was serving as acting Defense Department inspector general. By replacing Fine in his Pentagon job, and demoting him to be the department’s principal deputy inspector general, Trump removed him from eligibility to chair the new panel. (Fine’s replacement as acting Defense Department watchdog is EPA Inspector General Sean O’Donnell, who is now tasked with overseeing both high profile agencies, a Pentagon spokesperson said.)
This was just the latest in a series of recent steps by Trump aimed at restricting the power of nonpartisan officials to oversee his administration.
“President Trump is abusing the coronavirus pandemic to eliminate honest and independent public servants because they are willing to speak truth to power and because he is so clearly afraid of strong oversight,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Tuesday.
House Armed Services Chairman Adam Smith (D-Wash.) told reporters Tuesday that he is “very concerned” about the state of independent oversight under Trump. “What he cares about is people kissing his ass,” Smith said. “Whether the job gets done is secondary.
----- 9 -----
Republican Wisconsin assembly speaker wears protective gear while telling voters they are 'incredibly safe to go out'
By Kate Sullivan, CNN
Updated 7:58 PM ET, Tue April 7, 2020
https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/07/politics/wisconsin-robin-vos-protective-gear/index.html
Washington (CNN)Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, a Republican, wore a mask, gloves and other protective gear as he sought to assure voters it was "incredibly safe" to vote in person for Tuesday's election amid the coronavirus pandemic.
"You are incredibly safe to go out," Vos told The Journal Times in a Facebook livestream. Vos said he was serving as an election inspector and that wearing the personal protective equipment, or PPE, was mandatory.
Standing in front of cars lined up for curbside voting, Vos said people working at polling locations and those voting in person face "very minimal exposure."
"Actually, there's less exposure here than you would get if you went to the grocery store, or you went to Walmart, or you did any of the many things we have to do to live in the state of Wisconsin," Vos said.
Vos' message was strikingly disconnected from his PPE-heavy outfit, in which the speaker looked more like a surgeon than one of the state's most powerful politicians. Vos did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
----- 10 -----
Susan Crabtree
twitter.com/susancrabtree
3:49 PM · Apr 7, 2020
https://twitter.com/susancrabtree/status/1247657858033844224
Breaking: Trump is firing 7 IGs in one fail swoop, sources confirm to RealClearNews. Most likely will be the IGs that were appointed by Pres. Obama or beforehand. He wants his own people in those positions now. Trump during his briefing said he has "put in 7 names" for IGs.
----- 11 -----
Trump in 2nd Day of Meltdown Over Government Report on Hospital Shortages
By Jonathan Chait
7 April 2020
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/04/trump-coronavirus-hhs-inspector-general-tests-hospitals-ppe.html
Yesterday, the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services published a study summarizing interviews with 323 hospitals. The study confirmed that hospitals are desperately short of personal protective equipment, and have been unable get coronavirus test results for patients. The details in the 40-page report are horrifying, though hardly unfamiliar to anybody who has followed news reports or the pleas of doctors and nurses on social media. Medical staff are unprotected and exposed to infected patients, shipments of gear from Washington have been haphazard, test results take seven days or more, and so on.
The purpose of such reports is to identify problems so that policy-makers can take corrective action. It is fair to say that President Trump did not take the report in the earnest problem-solving spirit in which it was intended. Several journalists asked Trump about the report at his briefing yesterday. His responses grew increasingly hostile and disconnected from reality.
After the first question, even before the reporter could finish summarizing the report, Trump interjected, “Did I hear the word inspector general? Really? It’s wrong.” When told the source came from his own government, Trump began fishing around for evidence the report’s author was biased: “Well, where did he come from, the inspector general. What’s his name?”
Fifteen minutes later, another reporter followed up with the answer. “Her name was Christi Grimm and it wasn’t so much her opinion, but they interviewed 323 different hospitals — ” began a second reporter. Trump interjected, “It still could be her opinion. When was she appointed? When was she appointed?” ABC’s Jon Karl replied, “She was appointed in January of this year to her current position as the principal deputy inspector.”
...
The entire concept of having an inspector general is to provide a resource to the government. The president can’t correct problems without finding out what the problems are. Trump’s method is deny problems or, when they can no longer be denied, shirk all blame. The existence of independent sources of information is abhorrent to Trump. Dictators don’t have inspector generals in their government. Their response to problems is to overpower them with propaganda.
...
----- 12 -----
"We have already had to stop treatment" with hydroxychloroquine-azithromycin at the CHU in Nice
Professor Émile Ferrari heads the cardiology department at Pasteur Hospital in Nice. He returned to the use of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin in association for treatment of severe forms of Covid-19.
7 april 2020
https://www.nicematin.com/sante/coronavirus-nous-avons-deja-du-interrompre-le-traitement-de-hydroxychloroquine-azithromycine-au-chu-de-nice-489118
[TRANSLATION BY EDITOR USING GOOGLE TRANSLATE]
Q: CHU de Nice, like other establishments, has been testing a hydroxychloroquine-azithromycin combination treatment in patients hospitalized with severe forms of Covid-19. How are these patients followed from a cardiological point of view?
A: We set up seven-day-a-week/24-hour monitoring, with all the Covid sectors of the Nice University Hospital sending us patient ECG [electrocardiogram] recordings. We interpret them live and report anomalies which predispose the patient to toxicity, which then requires a cessation of treatment.
Q: Has this happened?
A: Yes, from the start of the trial. Thanks to this ECG follow-up, we highlighted the major risks of a very serious issue in a patient, and the treatment was immediately stopped.
Q: What causes the heart risks discovered?
A: The cells of the heart generate electrical activity, which causes the cardiac contraction. It's a little like alternating current, with a phase of contraction and a phase of recovery. These phases are ordered, and successive. However, certain conditions can desynchronize these phases. If that happens, it can cause chaos, a disorder in the electric current of the heart muscle tissue, with a risk of "short circuit" - the heart rate is disordered, racing, which does not allows the heart muscle to be work effectively. The subsequent drop in blood flow causes dizziness, fatigue, loss of consciousness - all the way up to cardiac arrest due to serious arrhythmias.
...
Q: Your personal opinion on this cocktail?
A: Certainly Covid-19 kills, but it should not kill patients who develop only minor symptoms. Particularly in patients who are ambulatory [EDITOR: who are well enough to move around without significant difficulty], I feel that the remedy here is more harmful than the disease itself.
----- 12 -----
Some Swedish Hospitals Have Stopped Using Chloroquine to Treat COVID-19 After Reports of Severe Side Effects
By Rosie McCall On 4/6/20
Newsweek
https://www.newsweek.com/swedish-hospitals-chloroquine-covid-19-side-effects-1496368
Several hospitals in Sweden have reportedly stopped administering chloroquine to coronavirus patients following reports the drug was causing adverse side effects.
According to the national paper Expressen, hospitals in the Västra Götaland region are no longer offering the antimalarial medication, with side effects reported to include cramps and the loss of peripheral vision.
One of the patients affected was Carl Sydenhag, a 40-year-old Stockholm resident. According to Expressen, Sydenhag was prescribed two tablets of chloroquine to take daily after he was diagnosed with COVID-19 on March 23.
...
"There were reports of suspected more serious side effects than we first thought," he told the Gothenburg Post on April 1, 2020. "We cannot rule out serious side effects, especially from the heart, and it is a hard-dosed drug. In addition, we have no strong evidence that chloroquine has an effect on COVID-19."
There are no specific drugs used to treat the novel coronavirus but many have pointed to the anti-malarial drugs chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine as contenders.
President Donald Trump has touted the use of hydroxychloroquine in particular, claiming "very very encouraging early results" and announcing on Sunday the federal government had stockpiled 29 million pills of hydroxychloroquine for the treatment of COVID-19. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the use of the antimalarial medication last month.
----- 13 -----
Texas City COVID-19 patients receive hydroxychloroquine
By KATHRYN EASTBURN
The Daily News
6 April 2020
https://www.galvnews.com/news/free/article_b59bab46-543a-5116-8e37-2f330a8fc008.html
A group of COVID-19 positive residents at a Texas City nursing home are being treated with the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Monday.
The drug has been the subject of controversy in recent weeks because of its debated effectiveness in combating COVID-19.
Twenty-seven of the residents infected with COVID-19 at The Resort at Texas City nursing home, 1720 N. Logan St., are being treated with hydroxychloroquine, said Dr. Robin Armstrong, the medical director at the Resort at Texas City.
The Galveston County Health District confirmed last week that 83 people at the residence, including residents and employees, had been diagnosed with COVID-19.
One of those residents had died as of Monday, officials said.
Hydroxychloroquine is an anti-malarial drug, often prescribed for the autoimmune disease lupus, that has shown in limited research some potential to speed recovery in coronavirus patients.
Abbott announced the nursing home’s use of the drug during a televised update about the state’s reaction to the coronavirus on Monday afternoon. The drug was being used to “determine whether or not it will be a successful treatment for those patients,” Abbott said.
The nursing home began using the treatment Saturday, Armstrong said.
Families of residents were not notified before the drugs were administered, but nursing home operators were in the process of notifying them Monday, Armstrong said.
----- 14 -----
Another Break From The Past: Government Will Help Churches Pay Pastor Salaries
April 6, 2020
Tom Gjelten
All Things Considered
In a development that could challenge the Constitution's prohibition of any law "respecting an establishment of religion," the federal government will soon provide money directly to U.S. churches to help them pay pastor salaries and utility bills.
A key part of the $2 trillion economic relief legislation enacted last month includes about $350 billion for the Small Business Administration to extend loans to small businesses facing financial difficulties as a result of the coronavirus shutdown orders. Churches and other faith-based organizations, classified as "businesses," qualify for aid under the program, even if they have an exclusively religious orientation.
"Faith-based organizations are eligible to receive SBA loans regardless of whether they provide secular social services," the SBA said in a statement. "No otherwise eligible organization will be disqualified from receiving a loan because of the religious nature, religious identity, or religious speech of the organization."
...
"There is a portion of that revenue that just by virtue of people's habits and practices doesn't come back," Vice President Pence reportedly said in a recent conference call with U.S. pastors. In introducing the new SBA program, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Pence and President Trump "made sure" that churches would be included in the program.
Under the Trump administration, the federal government has already been providing funds directly to churches, synagogues, mosques and other religious organizations. In 2018, the Federal Emergency Management Agency changed its rules to make houses of worship eligible for disaster aid.
The new SBA program, however, takes federal funding of religious institutions significantly further. Under the new Paycheck Protection Program, businesses with fewer than 500 employees, including faith-based organizations, are eligible to receive loans of up to $10 million, with at least 75% of the money going to cover payroll costs. The loans are in large part forgivable, so churches and other houses of worship won't have to worry about paying all the money back.
----- 15 -----
Trump Criticizes WHO And Threatens To Pull U.S. Funding
April 7, 2020
https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/04/07/829244345/trump-criticizes-who-and-threatens-to-pull-u-s-funding
President Trump assailed the World Health Organization on Tuesday, and indicated that he will consider putting a hold on funding it.
In a media briefing at the White House, Trump twice stated that the United States funds the majority of the organization's budget. According to the WHO, the United States provided 14.67% of its funding in 2018-2019.
The WHO has been the most prominent global organization leading the strategy to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus.
But on Tuesday, Trump criticized the WHO as slow to respond to the crisis, and repeatedly said the organization has been "China-centric." He complained that the WHO "receives vast amounts of money from the United States" and that the organization "called it wrong."
----- 16 -----
Hospitals say feds are seizing masks and other coronavirus supplies without a word
By Noam N. Levey
April 7, 2020
https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2020-04-07/hospitals-washington-seize-coronavirus-supplies
WASHINGTON —
Although President Trump has directed states and hospitals to secure what supplies they can, the federal government is quietly seizing orders, leaving medical providers across the country in the dark about where the material is going and how they can get what they need to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.
Hospital and clinic officials in seven states described the seizures in interviews over the past week. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is not publicly reporting the acquisitions, despite the outlay of millions of dollars of taxpayer money, nor has the administration detailed how it decides which supplies to seize and where to reroute them.
Officials who’ve had materials seized also say they’ve received no guidance from the government about how or if they will get access to the supplies they ordered. That has stoked concerns about how public funds are being spent and whether the Trump administration is fairly distributing scarce medical supplies.
“In order to have confidence in the distribution system, to know that it is being done in an equitable manner, you have to have transparency,” said Dr. John Hick, an emergency physician at Hennepin Healthcare in Minnesota who has helped develop national emergency preparedness standards through the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.
The medical leaders on the front lines of the fight to control the coronavirus and keep patients alive say they are grasping for explanations. “We can’t get any answers,” said a California hospital official who asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation from the White House.
In Florida, a large medical system saw an order for thermometers taken away. And officials at a system in Massachusetts were unable to determine where its order of masks went.
“Are they stockpiling this stuff? Are they distributing it? We don’t know,” one official said. “And are we going to ever get any of it back if we need supplies? It would be nice to know these things.”
PeaceHealth, a 10-hospital system in Washington, Oregon and Alaska, had a shipment of testing supplies seized recently. “It’s incredibly frustrating,” said Richard DeCarlo, the system’s chief operating officer.
“We had put wheels in motion with testing and protective equipment to allow us to secure and protect our staff and our patients,” he said. “When testing went off the table, we had to come up with a whole new plan.”
...
Hospital and health officials describe an opaque process in which federal officials sweep in without warning to expropriate supplies.
Jose Camacho, who heads the Texas Assn. of Community Health Centers, said his group was trying to purchase a small order of just 20,000 masks when his supplier reported that the order had been taken.
Camacho was flabbergasted. Several of his member clinics — which as primary care centers are supposed to alleviate pressure on overburdened hospitals — are struggling to stay open amid woeful shortages of protective equipment
“Everyone says you are supposed to be on your own,” Camacho said, noting Trump’s repeated admonition that states and local health systems cannot rely on Washington for supplies. “Then to have this happen, you just sit there wondering what else you can do. You can’t fight the federal government.”
- Berlin's interior senator speaks of "modern piracy"
- Stop being props.
- Welcome to the president’s new tone
- ‘Trump Has Never Lied’: New Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany’s Long History of Bullshit and Lies
- A ‘liberty’ rebellion in Idaho threatens to undermine coronavirus orders
- Mr. President: What's the plan? Oh, right — he doesn't have one
- Wisconsin proves GOP's war on voting is about ending democracy, not just winning
- Trump Declares War on Watchdogs
- Republican Wisconsin assembly speaker wears protective gear while telling voters they are 'incredibly safe to go out'
- Trump in 2nd Day of Meltdown Over Government Report on Hospital Shortages
- "We have already had to stop treatment" with hydroxychloroquine-azithromycin
- Some Swedish Hospitals Have Stopped Using Chloroquine to Treat COVID-19 After Reports of Severe Side Effects
- Texas City COVID-19 patients receive hydroxychloroquine
- Another Break From The Past: Government Will Help Churches Pay Pastor Salaries
- Trump Criticizes WHO And Threatens To Pull U.S. Funding
- Hospitals say feds are seizing masks and other coronavirus supplies without a word
----- 1 -----
Berlin's interior senator speaks of "modern piracy"
Protective equipment for Berlin police officers ordered for the corona virus is said to have been diverted from China to the United States. The White House denies it.
by Alexander Fröhlich and Julius Betschka
3 April 2020
https://www.tagesspiegel.de/wissen/usa-haben-wohl-200-000-schutzmasken-abgefangen-berlins-innensenator-spricht-von-moderner-piraterie/25712976.html
[TRANSLATION BY EDITOR USING GOOGLE TRANSLATE] [(mostly google translate)]
Tagesspiegel has learned from Berlin security sources that a delivery of protective equipment for the corona virus ordered by the State of Berlin from China has been intercepted by and diverted to the United States.
Berlin had ordered breathing masks with the protection classes FFP2 and FFP3 from the manufacturer, which protect emergency services and nursing staff against infection with the corona virus. It is said to be a delivery of 200,000 protective masks.
Berlin's Senator for the Interior, Andreas Geisel (SPD), confirmed this afternoon that the masks in Bangkok had been "confiscated" and therefore had not actually reached their destination. "We consider this an act of modern piracy. This is not how you deal with transatlantic partners," said the interior senator.
Even in times of global crisis, "no wild west methods should prevail," said Geisel. "I urge the federal government to urge the United States to comply with international rules."
Berlin's Mayor Michael Müller (SPD) also said: "The actions of the US President are anything but solidaric and responsible," said Müller. "It is inhumane and unacceptable."
----- 2 -----
Ron Fournier
twitter.com/ron_fournier
6:56 PM · Apr 6, 2020
https://twitter.com/ron_fournier/status/1247342328374874112
As a former White House reporter, I don’t say this lightly: Media should ignore the Trump follies, abandon the WH briefing room, and interview governors, doctors, nurses, victims and anybody else approaching the truth.
Stop being props.
Just stop.
----- 3 -----
Jake Maccoby
twitter.com/jdmaccoby
7 April 2020
https://twitter.com/jdmaccoby/status/1247596070139564032
Welcome to the president’s new tone
[QUOTED TWEET]
Kayleigh McEnany [EDITOR: ACTUAL National Press Secretary for the Trump 2020 Campaign]
twitter.com/kayleighmcenany
Aug 29, 2012
How I Met Your Brother -- Never mind, forgot he's still in that hut in Kenya. #ObamaTVShows
----- 4 -----
‘Trump Has Never Lied’: New Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany’s Long History of Bullshit and Lies
In her rise to a White House gig, Trump’s newest press secretary perfected the art of MAGA nonsense with a veritable greatest hits of bonkers claims.
Justin Baragona
Contributing Editor
Updated Apr. 07, 2020
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-new-press-secretary-kayleigh-mcenanys-long-history-of-bullshit-and-lies
After just 10 months on the job, and without holding a single press briefing, White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham left her post to rejoin First Lady Melania Trump’s staff, opening up the position to former cable-news pundit and current Trump campaign flack Kayleigh McEnany.
The 31-year-old has experienced something of a meteoric rise within MAGA ranks over the past four years. After interning for Republican politicians and working on Mike Huckabee’s Fox News show, McEnany burst onto the public scene as a pro-Trump CNN commentator during the 2016 election. Her unwavering support for Trump and commitment to defending any and every position he took resulted in her gig as the Republican National Committee’s national spokesperson in August 2017 (following a one-day turn as a Trump TV host). And in February 2019, she moved up to the Trump campaign, serving as its national press secretary.
...
Behold, some of McEnany’s greatest hits:
‘We Will Not See Diseases Like Coronavirus Come Here’
...
The Time She Attacked Biden for Suspending Rallies Amid Coronavirus Outbreak
...
When She Declared That ‘Trump Has Never Lied to the American People’
...
Trump Has ‘Categorically Denounced’ Racism
...
Her Incoherent Defense of Trump’s Golfing Habits
...
Of Course, She Was Also a Birther
...
BONUS: She Once Thought Trump Could Be ‘The Next Todd Akin’
----- 5 -----
A ‘liberty’ rebellion in Idaho threatens to undermine coronavirus orders
April 7, 2020
By Mike Baker
The New York Times
https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation/a-liberty-rebellion-in-idaho-threatens-to-undermine-coronavirus-orders/
SANDPOINT, Idaho — Inside an old factory building north of Boise, a few dozen people gathered last week to hear from Ammon Bundy, the man who once led an armed takeover of an Oregon wildlife refuge.
The meeting, which appeared to violate orders by Gov. Brad Little of Idaho to avoid group gatherings, was an assertion of what Bundy said was a constitutional right to peacefully assemble. But Bundy said he also hoped to create a network of people ready to come to the aid of those facing closure of their businesses or other interference from the government as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.
“If it gets bad enough, and our rights are infringed upon enough, we can physically stand in defense in whatever way we need to,” Bundy told the meeting. “But we hope we don’t have to get there.”
In a state with pockets of deep wariness about both big government and mainstream medicine, the sweeping restrictions aimed at containing the spread of the virus have run into outright rebellion in some parts of Idaho, which is facing its own worrying spike in coronavirus cases.
----- 6 -----
Mr. President: What's the plan? Oh, right — he doesn't have one
Reporters are still letting Trump duck and weave — and avoid the biggest question of all: What's the path forward?
Dan Froomkin
April 7, 2020 8:00PM (UTC)
https://www.salon.com/2020/04/07/mr-president-whats-the-plan-oh-right--he-doesnt-have-one/
This article was co-produced with Press Watch, a new website that monitors and critiques American political coverage. Please consider supporting Press Watch by making a donation.
"Mr. President," he said. "I know you, like millions of Americans, are eager to have the nation go back to some semblance of normal. One of the questions the American people need answered for that to happen responsibly: What's the plan?"
It's a simple question. It's an obvious question. It's an essential question. Yet most political reporters have been so caught up in the day-to-day drama that they haven't asked it enough, if at all.
And in all the countless hours of bluster and spin, Trump has never once articulated anything remotely like a plausible plan for how we get to the point where it's safe for people to go back to work again — beyond some sort of unspecified miracle.
"Things are happening. We're starting to see light at the end of the tunnel. And hopefully, in the not-too-distant future, we'll be very proud of the job we all did," he said Sunday.
"As a nation, we face a difficult few weeks as we approach that really important day when we're going to see things get better all of a sudden," he said Tuesday. "And it's going to be like a burst of light — I really think and I hope." (Reporters, amazingly, lauded him for his new realism.)
Tapper is not alone in realizing that there needs to be a plan — and that Trump doesn't have one.
"What, exactly, is the endgame here?" asked David Wallace-Wells, writing for New York magazine on Monday:
That there is no coherent federal plan to deal with the outbreak as it currently stands is horrifying enough — an absolute evacuation of presidential leadership that has already cost thousands of lives and will likely cost tens of thousands more. But the fact that there is also no planning to speak of for how we might leave behind the present crisis means all we can see looking forward from the darkness — is more darkness.
----- 7 -----
Wisconsin proves GOP's war on voting is about ending democracy, not just winning
Republicans exploit pandemic to stop people from voting — and expose their ideological opposition to democracy
Amanda Marcotte
April 7, 2020
https://www.salon.com/2020/04/07/wisconsin-proves-gops-war-on-voting-is-about-ending-democracy-not-just-winning/
The Wisconsin Republican Party has been at the cutting edge of the efforts to make sure few, if any, Democratic voters ever make it to the polls again. Under the guidance of former Republican governor Scott Walker, a stalwart opponent of food having flavor, the state enacted a dizzying program of voter suppression, requiring people to have updated government-issued IDs while simultaneously making those IDs much harder to get, especially for people of color. They also suppressed the college student vote by banning most student IDs as a legitimate form of identification.
From the beginning of this war on voters, which has been spread out across the country, it's been understood primarily as a partisan power grab, an attempt to keep certain constituencies from voting because they tend to vote for Democrats. Even Donald Trump, always saying the quiet parts out loud, said recently that if voting by mail becomes widespread, "You'd never have a Republican elected in this country again."
This partisan understanding has, unfortunately, effectively muted both press coverage of this widespread voter suppression and public outrage. Covering this story necessarily requires portraying Republicans as villains and Democrats as victims, since that's the truth. Unfortunately, mainstream journalists, always wary of being seen as "biased," have almost universally reacted by underplaying this story, leaving it instead to left-leaning outlets like Mother Jones. Many Americans, drunk on the myth that all politicians are corrupt and always looking for an angle, tune out Democratic complaints about voter suppression as more partisan sniping.
But what's happening in Wisconsin this week defies the usual partisan understanding of voter suppression. Wisconsin Republicans are exploiting the coronavirus to keep everyone from voting. It's a preview not just of the way Republicans will use this crisis to shut down voting in particular instances, but an expansion of their anti-voting views in general. It's starting to look like the Republican war on voting isn't just about partisan gain, but even more about a deep hostility to democracy itself, and an objection to very idea of letting the people choose their leaders.
On Monday, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, signed an executive order delaying the election scheduled for April 7 until June. His reason was simple enough: People can't maintain state-mandated social distancing and also vote. In addition, the majority of poll volunteers are over 60 and in a high-risk group and can't come out at all. Many polling locations had already been closed due to staffing shortages, which ensures that crowds will be even thicker at the ones that remain open, leading to more danger of spreading the coronavirus.
Republicans in the state sued to end Evers' order, and the conservative-controlled state Supreme Court sided with them, so now the election will go forward as originally scheduled. In addition, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that absentee ballots have to be postmarked today — even though many voters haven't even gotten their ballots yet.
This decision will "disenfranchise untold thousands of Wisconsin voters and consign an unknown number of Wisconsinites to their deaths," Ben Wikler, the chair of the Wisconsin Democratic Party, said in a statement.
But what's particularly strange about the Republican insistence on holding election today, in a naked bid to reduce the Badger State turnout to practically nothing, is that it's not at all clear this will benefit Republicans in the short term.
----- 8 -----
Trump Declares War on Watchdogs
Amid a pandemic, the president is undermining oversight.
7 April 2020
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/04/trump-declares-war-on-watchdogs/
In the midst of a pandemic, Donald Trump is working hard to avoid facing independent oversight.
On Tuesday, the president ousted Glenn Fine, a respected former Justice Department inspector general, from his role as chair of the new Pandemic Response Accountability Committee that Congress created to oversee $2 trillion in emergency funding aimed at propping up the economy during the coronavirus pandemic. The White House used a bureaucratic maneuver to remove Fine, who was serving as acting Defense Department inspector general. By replacing Fine in his Pentagon job, and demoting him to be the department’s principal deputy inspector general, Trump removed him from eligibility to chair the new panel. (Fine’s replacement as acting Defense Department watchdog is EPA Inspector General Sean O’Donnell, who is now tasked with overseeing both high profile agencies, a Pentagon spokesperson said.)
This was just the latest in a series of recent steps by Trump aimed at restricting the power of nonpartisan officials to oversee his administration.
“President Trump is abusing the coronavirus pandemic to eliminate honest and independent public servants because they are willing to speak truth to power and because he is so clearly afraid of strong oversight,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Tuesday.
House Armed Services Chairman Adam Smith (D-Wash.) told reporters Tuesday that he is “very concerned” about the state of independent oversight under Trump. “What he cares about is people kissing his ass,” Smith said. “Whether the job gets done is secondary.
----- 9 -----
Republican Wisconsin assembly speaker wears protective gear while telling voters they are 'incredibly safe to go out'
By Kate Sullivan, CNN
Updated 7:58 PM ET, Tue April 7, 2020
https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/07/politics/wisconsin-robin-vos-protective-gear/index.html
Washington (CNN)Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, a Republican, wore a mask, gloves and other protective gear as he sought to assure voters it was "incredibly safe" to vote in person for Tuesday's election amid the coronavirus pandemic.
"You are incredibly safe to go out," Vos told The Journal Times in a Facebook livestream. Vos said he was serving as an election inspector and that wearing the personal protective equipment, or PPE, was mandatory.
Standing in front of cars lined up for curbside voting, Vos said people working at polling locations and those voting in person face "very minimal exposure."
"Actually, there's less exposure here than you would get if you went to the grocery store, or you went to Walmart, or you did any of the many things we have to do to live in the state of Wisconsin," Vos said.
Vos' message was strikingly disconnected from his PPE-heavy outfit, in which the speaker looked more like a surgeon than one of the state's most powerful politicians. Vos did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
----- 10 -----
Susan Crabtree
twitter.com/susancrabtree
3:49 PM · Apr 7, 2020
https://twitter.com/susancrabtree/status/1247657858033844224
Breaking: Trump is firing 7 IGs in one fail swoop, sources confirm to RealClearNews. Most likely will be the IGs that were appointed by Pres. Obama or beforehand. He wants his own people in those positions now. Trump during his briefing said he has "put in 7 names" for IGs.
----- 11 -----
Trump in 2nd Day of Meltdown Over Government Report on Hospital Shortages
By Jonathan Chait
7 April 2020
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/04/trump-coronavirus-hhs-inspector-general-tests-hospitals-ppe.html
Yesterday, the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services published a study summarizing interviews with 323 hospitals. The study confirmed that hospitals are desperately short of personal protective equipment, and have been unable get coronavirus test results for patients. The details in the 40-page report are horrifying, though hardly unfamiliar to anybody who has followed news reports or the pleas of doctors and nurses on social media. Medical staff are unprotected and exposed to infected patients, shipments of gear from Washington have been haphazard, test results take seven days or more, and so on.
The purpose of such reports is to identify problems so that policy-makers can take corrective action. It is fair to say that President Trump did not take the report in the earnest problem-solving spirit in which it was intended. Several journalists asked Trump about the report at his briefing yesterday. His responses grew increasingly hostile and disconnected from reality.
After the first question, even before the reporter could finish summarizing the report, Trump interjected, “Did I hear the word inspector general? Really? It’s wrong.” When told the source came from his own government, Trump began fishing around for evidence the report’s author was biased: “Well, where did he come from, the inspector general. What’s his name?”
Fifteen minutes later, another reporter followed up with the answer. “Her name was Christi Grimm and it wasn’t so much her opinion, but they interviewed 323 different hospitals — ” began a second reporter. Trump interjected, “It still could be her opinion. When was she appointed? When was she appointed?” ABC’s Jon Karl replied, “She was appointed in January of this year to her current position as the principal deputy inspector.”
...
The entire concept of having an inspector general is to provide a resource to the government. The president can’t correct problems without finding out what the problems are. Trump’s method is deny problems or, when they can no longer be denied, shirk all blame. The existence of independent sources of information is abhorrent to Trump. Dictators don’t have inspector generals in their government. Their response to problems is to overpower them with propaganda.
...
----- 12 -----
"We have already had to stop treatment" with hydroxychloroquine-azithromycin at the CHU in Nice
Professor Émile Ferrari heads the cardiology department at Pasteur Hospital in Nice. He returned to the use of hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin in association for treatment of severe forms of Covid-19.
7 april 2020
https://www.nicematin.com/sante/coronavirus-nous-avons-deja-du-interrompre-le-traitement-de-hydroxychloroquine-azithromycine-au-chu-de-nice-489118
[TRANSLATION BY EDITOR USING GOOGLE TRANSLATE]
Q: CHU de Nice, like other establishments, has been testing a hydroxychloroquine-azithromycin combination treatment in patients hospitalized with severe forms of Covid-19. How are these patients followed from a cardiological point of view?
A: We set up seven-day-a-week/24-hour monitoring, with all the Covid sectors of the Nice University Hospital sending us patient ECG [electrocardiogram] recordings. We interpret them live and report anomalies which predispose the patient to toxicity, which then requires a cessation of treatment.
Q: Has this happened?
A: Yes, from the start of the trial. Thanks to this ECG follow-up, we highlighted the major risks of a very serious issue in a patient, and the treatment was immediately stopped.
Q: What causes the heart risks discovered?
A: The cells of the heart generate electrical activity, which causes the cardiac contraction. It's a little like alternating current, with a phase of contraction and a phase of recovery. These phases are ordered, and successive. However, certain conditions can desynchronize these phases. If that happens, it can cause chaos, a disorder in the electric current of the heart muscle tissue, with a risk of "short circuit" - the heart rate is disordered, racing, which does not allows the heart muscle to be work effectively. The subsequent drop in blood flow causes dizziness, fatigue, loss of consciousness - all the way up to cardiac arrest due to serious arrhythmias.
...
Q: Your personal opinion on this cocktail?
A: Certainly Covid-19 kills, but it should not kill patients who develop only minor symptoms. Particularly in patients who are ambulatory [EDITOR: who are well enough to move around without significant difficulty], I feel that the remedy here is more harmful than the disease itself.
----- 12 -----
Some Swedish Hospitals Have Stopped Using Chloroquine to Treat COVID-19 After Reports of Severe Side Effects
By Rosie McCall On 4/6/20
Newsweek
https://www.newsweek.com/swedish-hospitals-chloroquine-covid-19-side-effects-1496368
Several hospitals in Sweden have reportedly stopped administering chloroquine to coronavirus patients following reports the drug was causing adverse side effects.
According to the national paper Expressen, hospitals in the Västra Götaland region are no longer offering the antimalarial medication, with side effects reported to include cramps and the loss of peripheral vision.
One of the patients affected was Carl Sydenhag, a 40-year-old Stockholm resident. According to Expressen, Sydenhag was prescribed two tablets of chloroquine to take daily after he was diagnosed with COVID-19 on March 23.
...
"There were reports of suspected more serious side effects than we first thought," he told the Gothenburg Post on April 1, 2020. "We cannot rule out serious side effects, especially from the heart, and it is a hard-dosed drug. In addition, we have no strong evidence that chloroquine has an effect on COVID-19."
There are no specific drugs used to treat the novel coronavirus but many have pointed to the anti-malarial drugs chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine as contenders.
President Donald Trump has touted the use of hydroxychloroquine in particular, claiming "very very encouraging early results" and announcing on Sunday the federal government had stockpiled 29 million pills of hydroxychloroquine for the treatment of COVID-19. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the use of the antimalarial medication last month.
----- 13 -----
Texas City COVID-19 patients receive hydroxychloroquine
By KATHRYN EASTBURN
The Daily News
6 April 2020
https://www.galvnews.com/news/free/article_b59bab46-543a-5116-8e37-2f330a8fc008.html
A group of COVID-19 positive residents at a Texas City nursing home are being treated with the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Monday.
The drug has been the subject of controversy in recent weeks because of its debated effectiveness in combating COVID-19.
Twenty-seven of the residents infected with COVID-19 at The Resort at Texas City nursing home, 1720 N. Logan St., are being treated with hydroxychloroquine, said Dr. Robin Armstrong, the medical director at the Resort at Texas City.
The Galveston County Health District confirmed last week that 83 people at the residence, including residents and employees, had been diagnosed with COVID-19.
One of those residents had died as of Monday, officials said.
Hydroxychloroquine is an anti-malarial drug, often prescribed for the autoimmune disease lupus, that has shown in limited research some potential to speed recovery in coronavirus patients.
Abbott announced the nursing home’s use of the drug during a televised update about the state’s reaction to the coronavirus on Monday afternoon. The drug was being used to “determine whether or not it will be a successful treatment for those patients,” Abbott said.
The nursing home began using the treatment Saturday, Armstrong said.
Families of residents were not notified before the drugs were administered, but nursing home operators were in the process of notifying them Monday, Armstrong said.
----- 14 -----
Another Break From The Past: Government Will Help Churches Pay Pastor Salaries
April 6, 2020
Tom Gjelten
All Things Considered
In a development that could challenge the Constitution's prohibition of any law "respecting an establishment of religion," the federal government will soon provide money directly to U.S. churches to help them pay pastor salaries and utility bills.
A key part of the $2 trillion economic relief legislation enacted last month includes about $350 billion for the Small Business Administration to extend loans to small businesses facing financial difficulties as a result of the coronavirus shutdown orders. Churches and other faith-based organizations, classified as "businesses," qualify for aid under the program, even if they have an exclusively religious orientation.
"Faith-based organizations are eligible to receive SBA loans regardless of whether they provide secular social services," the SBA said in a statement. "No otherwise eligible organization will be disqualified from receiving a loan because of the religious nature, religious identity, or religious speech of the organization."
...
"There is a portion of that revenue that just by virtue of people's habits and practices doesn't come back," Vice President Pence reportedly said in a recent conference call with U.S. pastors. In introducing the new SBA program, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Pence and President Trump "made sure" that churches would be included in the program.
Under the Trump administration, the federal government has already been providing funds directly to churches, synagogues, mosques and other religious organizations. In 2018, the Federal Emergency Management Agency changed its rules to make houses of worship eligible for disaster aid.
The new SBA program, however, takes federal funding of religious institutions significantly further. Under the new Paycheck Protection Program, businesses with fewer than 500 employees, including faith-based organizations, are eligible to receive loans of up to $10 million, with at least 75% of the money going to cover payroll costs. The loans are in large part forgivable, so churches and other houses of worship won't have to worry about paying all the money back.
----- 15 -----
Trump Criticizes WHO And Threatens To Pull U.S. Funding
April 7, 2020
https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/04/07/829244345/trump-criticizes-who-and-threatens-to-pull-u-s-funding
President Trump assailed the World Health Organization on Tuesday, and indicated that he will consider putting a hold on funding it.
In a media briefing at the White House, Trump twice stated that the United States funds the majority of the organization's budget. According to the WHO, the United States provided 14.67% of its funding in 2018-2019.
The WHO has been the most prominent global organization leading the strategy to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus.
But on Tuesday, Trump criticized the WHO as slow to respond to the crisis, and repeatedly said the organization has been "China-centric." He complained that the WHO "receives vast amounts of money from the United States" and that the organization "called it wrong."
----- 16 -----
Hospitals say feds are seizing masks and other coronavirus supplies without a word
By Noam N. Levey
April 7, 2020
https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2020-04-07/hospitals-washington-seize-coronavirus-supplies
WASHINGTON —
Although President Trump has directed states and hospitals to secure what supplies they can, the federal government is quietly seizing orders, leaving medical providers across the country in the dark about where the material is going and how they can get what they need to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.
Hospital and clinic officials in seven states described the seizures in interviews over the past week. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is not publicly reporting the acquisitions, despite the outlay of millions of dollars of taxpayer money, nor has the administration detailed how it decides which supplies to seize and where to reroute them.
Officials who’ve had materials seized also say they’ve received no guidance from the government about how or if they will get access to the supplies they ordered. That has stoked concerns about how public funds are being spent and whether the Trump administration is fairly distributing scarce medical supplies.
“In order to have confidence in the distribution system, to know that it is being done in an equitable manner, you have to have transparency,” said Dr. John Hick, an emergency physician at Hennepin Healthcare in Minnesota who has helped develop national emergency preparedness standards through the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.
The medical leaders on the front lines of the fight to control the coronavirus and keep patients alive say they are grasping for explanations. “We can’t get any answers,” said a California hospital official who asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation from the White House.
In Florida, a large medical system saw an order for thermometers taken away. And officials at a system in Massachusetts were unable to determine where its order of masks went.
“Are they stockpiling this stuff? Are they distributing it? We don’t know,” one official said. “And are we going to ever get any of it back if we need supplies? It would be nice to know these things.”
PeaceHealth, a 10-hospital system in Washington, Oregon and Alaska, had a shipment of testing supplies seized recently. “It’s incredibly frustrating,” said Richard DeCarlo, the system’s chief operating officer.
“We had put wheels in motion with testing and protective equipment to allow us to secure and protect our staff and our patients,” he said. “When testing went off the table, we had to come up with a whole new plan.”
...
Hospital and health officials describe an opaque process in which federal officials sweep in without warning to expropriate supplies.
Jose Camacho, who heads the Texas Assn. of Community Health Centers, said his group was trying to purchase a small order of just 20,000 masks when his supplier reported that the order had been taken.
Camacho was flabbergasted. Several of his member clinics — which as primary care centers are supposed to alleviate pressure on overburdened hospitals — are struggling to stay open amid woeful shortages of protective equipment
“Everyone says you are supposed to be on your own,” Camacho said, noting Trump’s repeated admonition that states and local health systems cannot rely on Washington for supplies. “Then to have this happen, you just sit there wondering what else you can do. You can’t fight the federal government.”
no subject
Date: 2020-04-08 11:18 am (UTC)https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/w/us-accused-modern-piracy-after-seizing-ventilators-bound-barbados
no subject
Date: 2020-04-08 12:50 pm (UTC)Re: the World Health Organization
Date: 2020-04-08 12:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-04-08 07:44 pm (UTC)And now I'm seeing news reports that Republican politicians and operatives used the time between March 13th and when the CDC grudgingly admitted that protective gear is protective and it might be a good idea to wear some ... to buy shares in PPE retailer/distributors, or start new PPE retailer/distributors.
So I'm seeing a straight line where he overrules our orders, and steals our paid-for shipments, so his criminal-fence friends can re-sell them at a markup.
no subject
Date: 2020-04-08 08:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-04-08 08:06 pm (UTC)50% of items seized are being handed to private companies for resale, it looks like. (As in, there's an on-record source for that now.) The other 50% is being distributed to "hot spots," which, given that a lot of the "hot spots" are seeing materials seized, almost certainly means red states and border states in play in 2020.
Florida, for example, has been getting far more than its share, and more than it asked for.
So it's not 'America' first.
Except in their minds, to some degree, it probably is. "L'État, c'est moi" and all that.
no subject
Date: 2020-04-08 08:08 pm (UTC)https://twitter.com/weijia/status/1247925757193658375