#covid emergency

[tomorrowusa]

Four years ago today (March 13th), then President Donald Trump got around to declaring a national state of emergency for the COVID-19 pandemic. The administration had been downplaying the danger to the United States for 51 days since the first US infection was confirmed on January 22nd.

From an ABC News article dated 25 February 2020...

CDC warns Americans of 'significant disruption' from coronavirus

Until now, health officials said they'd hoped to prevent community spread in the United States. But following community transmissions in Italy, Iran and South Korea, health officials believe the virus may not be able to be contained at the border and that Americans should prepare for a "significant disruption." This comes in contrast to statements from the Trump administration. Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf said Tuesday the threat to the United States from coronavirus "remains low," despite the White House seeking $1.25 billion in emergency funding to combat the virus. Larry Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council, told CNBC’s Kelly Evans on “The Exchange” Tuesday evening, "We have contained the virus very well here in the U.S." [ ... ] House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the request "long overdue and completely inadequate to the scale of this emergency." She also accused President Trump of leaving "critical positions in charge of managing pandemics at the National Security Council and the Department of Homeland Security vacant." "The president's most recent budget called for slashing funding for the Centers for Disease Control, which is on the front lines of this emergency. And now, he is compounding our vulnerabilities by seeking to ransack funds still needed to keep Ebola in check," Pelosi said in a statement Tuesday morning. "Our state and local governments need serious funding to be ready to respond effectively to any outbreak in the United States. The president should not be raiding money that Congress has appropriated for other life-or-death public health priorities." She added that lawmakers in the House of Representatives "will swiftly advance a strong, strategic funding package that fully addresses the scale and seriousness of this public health crisis." Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer also called the Trump administration's request "too little too late." "That President Trump is trying to steal funds dedicated to fight Ebola -- which is still considered an epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo -- is indicative of his towering incompetence and further proof that he and his administration aren't taking the coronavirus crisis as seriously as they need to be," Schumer said in a statement.

A reminder that Trump had been leaving many positions vacant – part of a Republican strategy to undermine the federal government.

Here's a picture from that ABC piece from a nearly empty restaurant in San Francisco's Chinatown. The screen displays a Trump tweet still downplaying COVID-19 with him seeming more concerned about the effect of the Dow Jones on his re-election bid.

People were not buying Trump's claims but they were buying PPE.

I took this picture at CVS on February 26th that year.

The stock market which Trump in his February tweet claimed looked "very good" was tanking on March 12th – the day before his state of emergency declaration.

Trump succeeded in sending the US economy into recession much faster than George W. Bush did at the end of his term – quite a feat!. (As an aside, every recession in the US since 1981 has been triggered by Republican presidents.)

Of course Trump never stopped trying to downplay the pandemic nor did he ever take responsibility for it. The US ended up with the highest per capita death rate of any technologically advanced country.

Precious time was lost while Trump dawdled. Orange on this map indicates COVID infections while red indicates COVID deaths. At the time Trump declared a state of emergency, the virus had already spread to 49 states.

The United States could have done far better and it certainly had the tools to do so.

The Obama administration had limited the number of US cases of Ebola to under one dozen during that pandemic in the 2010s. Based on their success, they compiled a guide on how the federal government could limit future pandemics.

Obama team left pandemic playbook for Trump administration, officials confirm

Of course Trump ignored it.

Unlike those boxes of nuclear secrets in Trump's bathroom, the Obama pandemic limitation document is not classified. Anybody can read it – even if Trump didn't. This copy comes from the Stanford University Libraries.

TOWARDS EPIDEMIC PREDICTION: FEDERAL EFFORTS AND OPPORTUNITIES IN OUTBREAK MODELING

Feel free to share this post with anybody who still feels nostalgic about the Trump White House years!

[starshineyellow]

Hey Americans, it’s fall 2023 and the adult Covid vaccines are STILL FREE at certain pharmacies. Even if you have no health insurance. Even if you have health insurance but the insurance company likes to whine about CVS being “out of network” for vaccinations.

Find out more FAQ stuff from the CDC here:

And find your local locations with free vaccines below. Once you’ve put in your zip code and hit “go”, on the next page, make sure to click the checkbox that says “BRIDGE Access Participant” so you know these locations have the free shots.

[cyancherub]

tourists coming to maui when people are still finding bodies and trying to grieve their loved ones. shame on you. go back to where you came from. the community doesn't need your tourism right now. the place and people you treat as a novelty have just lost everything. they need time to recover and heal.

[eightyonekilograms]

In the same way that the 80s didn't actually end until the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991 and the 90s didn't actually end until 9/11, I would argue the 2010s didn't really end until BuzzFeed News shut down last week and Ben Smith published his retrospective obituary of the BuzzFeed/Gawker/Jezebel/etc. machine.

[mylittleredgirl]

as someone with lifelong chronic illnesses that have bailed me out of some awkward situations in my time, sometimes i feel the need to be like hey universe!!!! listen up!!!! i do NOT want to be rescued from this scenario by getting sick!!!! i mean you know i'll always be grateful for that one time with the midterms, i understand you're trying to be on my side here when you hit the eject button using a whole stick of dynamite, BUT NOT THIS TIME!! I APPRECIATE THE THOUGHT BUT I'M GOOD!!

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Quebec's emergency rooms are once again surging over capacity. As the province gets ready to usher in the new year, many Quebecers are coming down with respiratory viruses and heading to the hospital. The numbers have been steadily climbing above 100 per cent every day since Dec. 27, following a four-day period when average occupancy rates dropped below 100 per cent for the first time since Nov. 12. As of Sunday morning, the average stretcher occupancy rate in Montreal was 125 per cent, according to Index Santé. The Royal Victoria Hospital was at 221 per cent, the Montreal General Hospital at 184 per cent and Lasalle Hospital at 180 per cent.

Continue Reading

Tagging @politicsofcanada

[whatareyoureallyafraidof]

If your vaccine chip activated following the FEMA test, raise your hand!

[lestatslestits]

Btw a question that has been haunting me for DAYS:

If Tale of the Body Thief is adapted in modern (2022 or onward) time, do you think Lestat will just like. Get COVID?

[morfosi]

🚨 WE ARE ONE TENTH OF THE WAY TO THE GOAL. PLEASE DONATE OR REBLOG 🚨

please share or donate. you could save a trans, disabled lebanese jew from homelessness or death.

thank you everyone who has donated and shared already, i am endlessly grateful and i hope that one day when i'm in better standing i can help all of you in return.

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[chicago-geniza]

On the one hand missing work for a plumbing emergency and we have no running water. On the other hand I am a crazy person with doomsday prepper brainworms who keeps wet wipes, dry shampoo, single-use travel toothbrushes, and a 20-pack of bottled water stashed "just in case." Всегда готов [salute emoji]

[cryoriku]

[thoughtportal]

undefined

Public Health Emergency ends.

Ventilation in Buildings

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/ventilation.html

[tomorrowusa]

^^^ Exactly!

Republicans are the party of weakness and kowtowing to dictators.

Trump's idea of strength involves holding a pitiful military parade in Washington while decorating the Oval Office with military decorations earned by troops who he considers to be "losers" and "suckers".

Trump performs fellatio on Putin and Kim while stabbing NATO and other allied democracies in the back.

Right now, House Republicans are trying to undermine military aid to Ukraine on orders from Trump who is in thrall to the Evil Empire.

As for soft power, American prestige hit rock bottom during the Trump administration. Internationally, we were America Worst rather than America First under Trump.

The horribly botched early response of the Trump administration to the COVID-19 pandemic made the US look worse than the "shit-hole countries" Trump always rants about. Hundreds of thousands of Americans needlessly died while the death rates in more competently run allies were notably lower.

America's enemies are rooting for Trump and will assist him in every way they can in 2024.

[pennielane]

me: the evil has been defeated and i finally have free time to start posting on tumblr again!

also me: *immediately gets grossly ill*

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Thousands of people in British Columbia saw their $1,000 tax-free COVID-19 benefit unfairly clawed back by the provincial government, says an ombudsperson report.

So far, 12,000 people have been told to repay their B.C. Emergency Benefit that the government said was for workers who had been affected by the pandemic, Ombudsperson Jay Chalke said Tuesday.

He said his report, “No Notice, No Benefit,” examined how retroactive changes by the provincial government, requiring applicants to meet a deadline for filing their 2019 taxes to be eligible, saw people having to pay back the benefit.

The claw back resulted because the government didn’t properly communicate the deadline and by the time it was announced retroactively, 90 per cent of applicants had applied for the cash, Chalke said at a news conference.

Full article

Tagging: @politicsofcanada

[tittyinfinity]

call me crazy, but I don't think you should have to call your kid's school and beg them to not punish them or call CPS on you over their attendance when they've been consistently sick all school year, during a PANDEMIC, and they're all there unmasked around hundreds of people all day