Today's News (2020/3/8)

Honestly, this should've gone up last night, but I was just busy. Some of that is tax season, though there's more to it than that - but anyway, here you go.

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Coronavirus School Closings: Don’t Wait Until It’s Too Late
History teaches us that keeping children at home early in an outbreak can save lives.
By Howard Markel
Dr. Markel studies the history of pandemics.
March 6, 2020

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/06/opinion/coronavirus-schools-closed.html

My research on the long history of epidemics has taught me that when it comes to outbreaks of contagious respiratory infections, closing schools can help prevent many thousands of illnesses and deaths.

Schools are community gathering places where large numbers of people are in proximity to one another and respiratory infections can easily spread among young people and adults alike. Shutting them down can be a key part of slowing the spread of easily transmissible viruses so that hospitals are not overrun with sick people, and it can help to buy time to allow for the development of antiviral medications, medical treatments or a vaccine.

But policymakers working to stop the spread of the coronavirus that causes Covid-19 should remember a key part of this historically informed equation: We can’t wait until it’s too late.

...

In 2007, my colleagues and I at the University of Michigan Center for the History of Medicine and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention studied the 1918-19 influenza pandemic, which killed up to 750,000 Americans.

We looked at 43 large cities that carried out some combination of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs): isolating the ill or those suspected of being ill in hospitals or at home; banning public gatherings; in some cases, shutting down roads and railways; and closing schools.

School closing turned out to be one of the most effective firewalls against the spread of the pandemic; cities that acted fast, for lengthy periods, and included school closing and at least one other NPI in their responses saw the lowest death rates.

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Official: White House didn’t want to tell seniors not to fly
By MIKE STOBBE
7 March 2020

https://apnews.com/921ad7f1f08d7634bf681ba785faf269

NEW YORK (AP) — The White House overruled health officials who wanted to recommend that elderly and physically fragile Americans be advised not to fly on commercial airlines because of the new coronavirus, a federal official told The Associated Press.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention submitted the plan this week as a way of trying to control the virus, but White House officials ordered the air travel recommendation be removed, said the official who had direct knowledge of the plan. Trump administration officials have since suggested certain people should consider not traveling, but they have stopped short of the stronger guidance sought by the CDC.

The person who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity did not have authorization to talk about the matter. The person did not have direct knowledge about why the decision to kill the language was made.

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Alex Leary
twitter.com/learyreports
7 March 2020

https://twitter.com/learyreports/status/1236451644612714496

realDonaldTrump at Mar-a-Lago tonight:

“I’m not concerned at all,” the president said when asked about Coronavirus getting closer to White House.

“We’ll hold tremendous rallies,” he said — rallies will continue.

Via pooler twitter.com/Emilylgoodin

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Colby Itkowitz
twitter.com/ColbyItkowitz
7 March 2020

https://twitter.com/ColbyItkowitz/status/1236446922250096646

CPAC chairman Matt Schlapp tells me he interacted with attendee who has tested positive for coronavirus. While the timeline is unknown, Schlapp shook Trump's hand on stage the last day of the conference.

[LINKS TO next story]

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Coronavirus continues its rapid spread, confounding efforts by global leaders
Washington, D.C., confirms its first case while U.S., global death toll rises
By
Colby Itkowitz,
Ashley Parker and
Seung Min Kim
March 7, 2020

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/03/07/coronavirus-continues-its-rapid-spread-confounding-efforts-by-global-leaders/

Efforts to contain the coronavirus outbreak showed signs of faltering Saturday as Florida reported the United States’ first deaths outside the West Coast, Washington, D.C., confirmed its first case, and Italian leaders were scrambling on a plan that could lock down an entire region including Venice and Milan after reporting 1,000 new cases in 24 hours.

The virus’s exact reach remains unknown. Late Saturday, the American Conservative Union announced that an individual who attended the Conservative Political Action Conference less than two weeks ago had tested positive for the virus. President Trump, Vice President Pence and a number of other top White House officials had appeared at the four-day event in Maryland.

White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said neither Trump nor Pence was in “close proximity to the attendee,” but ACU chairman Matt Schlapp told The Washington Post on Saturday that he himself interacted with the infected person at the event. The precise chronology could not be learned, but Schlapp did shake Trump’s hand on the stage on the last day of the conference.

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Coronavirus: Northern Italy to quarantine 16 million people
8 March 2020

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-51787238

Italy's prime minister has said at least 16 million people are now in mandatory quarantine in Lombardy region and also in 14 provinces.

The lock-down will last until early April.

The dramatic escalation in the country's efforts to contain the new coronavirus will close gyms, pools, museums and ski resorts.

Italy is Europe's worst-hit country and reported a steep rise in virus infections on Saturday.

The new measures, which also apply to financial centre Milan and tourist hotspot Venice will last until 3 April.

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'Volatile and unpredictable': Life Care Center speaks publicly for the first time since COVID-19 outbreak
By Dyer Oxley and John Ryan
Mar 07, 2020 at 1:50 pm

https://discordapp.com/channels/651753719016325131/651757995688067072

The Life Care Center in Kirkland provided insight into the location where most of Washington's COVID-19 deaths have come from.

It's the first time the company has communicated publicly about the coronavirus outbreak.

“Our experience with this so far is that this virus has been shown to be volatile and unpredictable,” said Tim Killian, a public liaison for Life Care Center.

“Everything we’ve learned so far is that we know very little about how this virus will act,” he said, noting that the virus has acted swiftly in many cases with patients going from showing no symptoms to being rushed to a hospital in an hour.

“We need more test kits, we still don’t have enough test kits for all the residents here,” he added. “…we need more employees, they tell us more are coming so we are grateful for that as well.”

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Aaron Rupar
twitter.com/atrupar
2020/3/8

https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1236674396867170305

STEPHANOPOULOS: The Grand Princess is docking tomorrow. What's the plan for the 3,500 people on board?

BEN CARSON: They're coming up with one

S: It docks tomorrow

C: The plan will be in place

S: Shouldn't you be able to say what it is?

C: It hasn't been fully formulated

Today's News (2020/3/8): Trump activates QAnon

Okay, so, item 1 gets complicated right out the gate, so let's just call this item one and an explanation.

Dumpster RTed this image today. It was originally posted by his current social media manager.


original tweet

Most people are taking it as not understanding who Nero was and what "fiddling while Rome burned" meant. Fair enough. I don't understand that part; it may be a bit of ratfucking sent to the social media manager who reposted it, I don't know. [ETA: Oh, I'm an idiot. The intent was "playing you libt*rds like a fiddle." C'mon, me, keep up.] But the text is important.

They're otherwise confused. But the lower line in that image is a QAnon tagline. And the QAnon cultists all got it. Instantly.

I think that was the intent.

If you don't remember who QAnon is, it's an alt-right/neofascist conspiracy cult centred around the idea that the world is secretly run by an international cabal of paedophiles including Hillary Clinton and essentially every important Democrat, along with many other people. They are absolutely the most rabid of Trump cultists, and are, really, a subset of the Trump cult.

Remember the guy who charged into a DC pizzeria with a semiautomatic weapon a couple of years ago, demanding to be shown the basement they'd decided was one of the secret pedo headquarters? That was QAnon in action.

They're the people who recognised this, instantly. And it's a threat. Coded, but a threat. Coded, so that only they'll know he's making it, which really, makes it more of a promise? But the result is the same.

He's telling his most rabid cultists that QAnon is real and the mass arrest apocalypse they so desperately want is coming. But he's saying it in such a way that nobody will know it's even being said - except the QAnon cultists.

This doesn't mean the threat is real, or that arrests are actually coming. But it has activated this part of his cult, and I'm quite convinced it was done on purpose. I just don't know to what purpose. But it was on purpose.

Now we just have to wonder why.

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Trump’s Coronavirus Press Event Was Even Worse Than It Looked
His remarks at the CDC on Friday were misguided, misleading, and show how misinformation could hamper Covid-19 containment efforts.
Adam Rogers
Science
03.07.2020

https://www.wired.com/story/trumps-coronavirus-press-event-was-even-worse-than-it-looked/

During a visit to the Atlanta headquarters of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday, President Donald Trump spoke with the press. Alongside CDC director Robert Redfield and Health and Human Services secretary Alex Azar, Trump fielded questions about the federal response to Covid-19, the disease that has so far infected more than 100,000 people around the world and killed more than 3,500—including at least 19 in the United States.

As a reporter, in general I’m not supposed to say something like this, but: The president’s statements to the press were terrifying. That press availability was a repudiation of good science and good crisis management from inside one of the world’s most respected scientific institutions. It was full of Dear Leader-ish compliments, non-sequitorial defenses of unrelated matters, attacks on an American governor, and—most importantly—misinformation about the virus and the US response. That’s particularly painful coming from inside the CDC, a longtime powerhouse in global public health now reduced to being a backdrop for grubby politics. During a public health crisis, clear and true information from leaders is the only way to avoid dangerous panic. Yet here we are.

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Gov. Inslee says ‘mandatory measures’ under consideration to combat coronavirus in Washington
March 8, 2020
By Daniel Beekman
Seattle Times staff reporter

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/health/gov-inslee-says-mandatory-measures-under-consideration-to-combat-coronavirus-in-washington/

Since the novel coronavirus emerged as a threat in Washington, officials have sought to keep people here from infecting each other by offering advice, health care and other assistance. What they haven’t yet done to slow the spread of the virus is tell residents what they can and can’t do.

That could change at some point, however.

Officials are considering mandatory measures for social distancing as part of the state’s effort to combat the outbreak, Gov. Jay Inslee said Sunday.

Inslee didn’t disclose many details about the actions being contemplated but did say “social activities” could be curtailed.

“I’m going to a meeting in about an hour about this subject right now,” he said in an interview on the CBS show “Face the Nation.”

The governor joined state Department of Health officials, local health officials, mayors and others Sunday to discuss possibilities, spokeswoman Tara Lee said. Officials aren’t yet ready to share information on options, she said.

“These are multi-jurisdictional decisions and they are complicated,” Lee said in an email, adding, “We do not have decisions yet and nothing will be finalized today.”