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Day 56: COVID-19 Pandemic
Countries and territories reporting COVID-19: 162.
Worldometers news update here.
Today’s post is a bit of a stream of consciousness.
California has closed all the bars, winery tasting rooms, brew pubs, etc. (Reminds one of an Airplane movie refrain “I picked a bad day to give up _________.”) Methinks grocery stores and liquor stores will see an uptick in alcohol sales.
California is also asking everyone over 65 to stay home. Let’s see: the largest medical services consuming group is to stay home. Checking with doc office this week about scheduled appointments. Phone discussion will probably be OK — this time. Will still need to go to pharmacy and grocery store. Maybe now is the time to learn about their delivery options.
Has cyberwar come to the pandemic? Somebody was messing with the Worldometer table last night. A Vatican City entry was included with absurd numbers. That has now been corrected and the website posted an apology that sounded like a malicious actor was involved. There was a report out of Israel correcting their numbers after an inaccurate count was posted. The thought (which I wish I could dismiss out of hand) occurs that when you see the world scrambling and scuttling their economies why not just give it a little “push” if you think your own agenda will be promoted? Did the Vatican City ploy (an obvious fake) mask a more clever manipulation? Free societies require “high trust” in its systems. Destroy trust and you destroy the blessings of liberty.
Respirators vs ventilators. Respirators are air filtration devices worn to protect the individual from inhaling the virus. Ventilators are devices to push air into individuals suffering from respiratory failure. CDC has guidance for medical personnel needing to prioritize who gets respirators vs. simply wearing N95 masks, as well as other recommendations where there is a shortage of personal protection equipment (PPE).
If you haven’t bookmarked the CDC website, here is the link. There was a tweet supposedly sent out by CDC that when you clicked on the embedded link you got a warning message. (The tweet about a virus has a “virus”?)
[Note: Links to all my COVID-19 posts can be found here.]
Published in General
It’s great fun, though, to give orders and make people obey. Stimulating, even.
The problem is being used by the left to concentrate power. I don’t know what’s the correct reading of the threat from this disease but in a country as large as the US, it is simply unwise to manage it from bureaucratic Washington. . The Feds should gather information and disseminate it along with their views of best practices, incidence, threats, etc. They can’t manage developments in thousands of cities and towns. It’s crazy. So even if well intentioned, their concerns will lead to unwise wild gestures but I doubt the intentions.
That’s why Trump suggested governors act directly, instead of asking the feds for everything. Of course the NY Times lied about it.