Melbourne, Australia has issued new lockdown restrictions for the next six weeks, including: a curfew between 8pm-5am, residents cannot travel further than 5km from their own home, are only permitted to be outside for one hour a day, cannot go to the supermarket in twos, cannot invite visitors to their home, and cannot go to someone else’s home unless they are giving or receiving care.

Are Australia and Europe experiencing a second wave of the virus? And how should we respond here in the U.S.? Avik Roy of FREOPP and Scott Immergut of Ricochet join today’s episode of COVID in 19 to discuss.

Join Jim and Greg as they react to the breaking news of a massive explosion in Beirut, Lebanon. They also discuss President Trump’s comments on COVID, John Lewis and more in his Axios interview. And they hammer the federal judge who just ignored election law by ordering officials to count ballots that were not received by election day.

The latest COVID-19 data out of Sweden suggests that not only is the country approaching zero deaths on a daily basis, they are also approaching zero new cases. Has Sweden reached herd immunity, and if so, how long until we do so here in the U.S.?

Avik Roy of the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity and Scott Immergut of Ricochet discuss this topic and more—including new orders on school reopenings in Texas and whether we should delay the presidential election due to COVID—on today’s episode of COVID in 19.

Join Jim and Greg as they offer a rare compliment to the European Union for sanctioning China in response to Beijing’s crackdown in Hong Kong. They also discuss why voting by mail this year could be a gigantic mess and why President Trump musing about delaying the election is also a big mistake. They roll their eyes as Dr. Fauci suggests covering them with goggles or face shields to protect from COVID. And they remember successful businessman and 2012 presidential candidate Herman Cain, who passed away after a battle with COVID.

Member Post

 

This video has already been deleted by YouTube and is no longer available on Toby Young’s (of the London Calling Podcast) LockDown Sceptics website. I added this as a comment to an old post on the subject of HCQ, but American Thinker has it so I’m adding it here too Preview Open

Join Ricochet!

This is a members-only post on Ricochet's Member Feed. Want to read it? Join Ricochet’s community of conservatives and be part of the conversation. Get your first month free.

On today’s episode of COVID in 19, Avik Roy and Scott Immergut discuss the “Sweden theory,” which is that one-size-fits-all lockdowns are futile because the moment they are lifted, cases start to come back. But how long will it take for Sweden to reach herd immunity with this strategy?

This past week, baseball made its debut in the U.S., as more than a dozen Miami Marlins players tested positive for the virus. What are best practices the MLB should be taking to keep baseball going and prevent further spread?

Join Jim and Greg as they welcome the sanity of Attorney General Bill Barr in the face of congressional Democrats who refuse to acknowledge the violence and destruction in the streets, much less do anything about it. They also enjoy hearing how Sen. Kamala Harris may have damaged her chance of being Joe Biden’s running mate. And they get a kick out of the tone-deaf rich people complaining to the New York Times about having to ride out the pandemic at their summer homes in the Hamptons.

Join host Joe Selvaggi and co-host Rebekah Paxton of Pioneer Institute as they talk with Harvard Medical School Professor Benjamin Sommers on the most current scientific observations regarding the health and safety of reopening schools. The episode looks at the risks to students, teachers, administrators, and the public at large from the novel coronavirus, and offers ideas for optimizing outcomes in the fall.

Dr. Benjamin Sommers is a practicing primary care internist, and he is also Professor of Medicine at Brigham & Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. From 2011-2012, he served as a Senior Advisor in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and he served part-time in an advisory role from 2013-2015. His current research projects focus on barriers to health care access among low-income adults, insurance markets, and the health and economic effects of state Medicaid policies. He received a PhD in Health Policy from Harvard and an MD from Harvard Medical School.

Member Post

 

An email has been circulating which criticizes casual attitudes toward COVID-19. The author was wrongly attributed, it seems. But the content is worth consideration. The salient points are these: Chicken pox is a virus called the varicella-zoster virus. It’s a common infection in youth and the symptoms aren’t that bad. But it remains in your […]

Join Ricochet!

This is a members-only post on Ricochet's Member Feed. Want to read it? Join Ricochet’s community of conservatives and be part of the conversation. Get your first month free.

Member Post

 

There is a plethora of data published daily relating to Covid19 throughout the world. Numbers are reported, compared and generally interpreted—and misinterpreted. The problem is that there is no attempt to look at the data in an organized manner. The public-health condition of different parts of the world is condemned or lauded, for example, based […]

Join Ricochet!

This is a members-only post on Ricochet's Member Feed. Want to read it? Join Ricochet’s community of conservatives and be part of the conversation. Get your first month free.

Jim is back! Join Jim and Greg as they cheer on former Covington Catholic High School student Nick Sandmann as the Washington Post settles the $250 million lawsuit he filed against it. They also cheer on the advancement of a possible coronavirus vaccine with tens of thousands of patients set to be part of a clinical trial. And they cringe as COVID-19 suddenly threatens Major League Baseball.

Contributor Post Created with Sketch. Recommended by Ricochet Members Created with Sketch. President Trump Uses His Pen for the People

 

Trump Drug Price AnnouncementPresident Trump signed a stunning set of executive orders on Friday. He fundamentally restructured drug pricing and availability. He used his pen, apparently after years of legal and administrative review, to do what the congressional Republican’ts and Democrats have only postured about for decades. The president spoke with commonsense and indignity on behalf of ordinary Americans against Washington and global elites. At the same time, he characterized the big drug companies as great innovators, key to beating the Chinese virus, who are just stuck in the system. This is a negotiating posture, as those CEOs have been part of the rigged game.

President Trump is massively driving down the outrageously inflated prices of insulin and EpiPens. He is ending the crooked practice of middlemen pocketing large manufacturer discounts, leaving the retail pharmacy and the consumer with much higher prices. Note the manufacturers had already given the discounts; the discounts just were not getting to the pharmacy counter.

Not only did the president speak, he had others drive home the points. An insulin-dependent senior citizen spoke powerfully. A dental hygienist, widowed years ago with twin 4-year olds, spoke of the “unaffordable care act.” She spoke of a 15-year-old EpiPen, which had gone from perhaps $20 copay to $750 per EpiPen. She spoke of $75,000 in medical debt and praised President Trump for saving a single mother hundreds of dollars a month.

Member Post

 

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), a mass murder occurs when at least four people are murdered, not including the shooter, over a relatively short period of time during a single incident. Over the last 30 years, the United States has seen a significant increase in mass shootings, which are becoming more frequent and more deadly. Seemingly […]

Join Ricochet!

This is a members-only post on Ricochet's Member Feed. Want to read it? Join Ricochet’s community of conservatives and be part of the conversation. Get your first month free.

Today, Scott Gottlieb, former FDA Commissioner under the Trump administration, tweeted that “to safely return kids to in-class learning, schools will need detailed guidance on reducing COVID risk. They may have to look elsewhere, to state documents as well as foreign public health authorities that issued detailed, science driven guidance.”

Yet, this morning, the CDC put out new guidance emphasizing that there are significant harms to keeping schools closed, that young children aren’t vehicles of disease, and that there is evidence from Europe showing the way forward on how to reopen schools.

Chad Benson is in for Jim Geraghty. Today, Chad and Greg discuss the political insanity playing out in Portland, as the media and the mayor paint the violent mob as the victims now that federal forces are there to protect government property. However, Chad wonders whether Portland should be left to suffer the results of its own radicalism. They also dig into the congressional fight over unemployment benefits and wonder if another widespread COVID shutdown is on the way. And they have fun with the news that the “Washington Football Team” will not have a mascot for the 2020 NFL season.

Rob Long is in for Jim again today. Today, Rob and Greg kick off the 2020 Major League Baseball season by enjoying a parody of how the Washington Nationals are failing to keep up with today’s woke cultural standards. Then they cheer the U.S. for closing down the Chinese consulate in Houston. They also chronicle a massive failure in Minneapolis as the effort to replace police there proves rather challenging. And they roll their eyes as Joe Biden claims President Trump is America’s first racist president for calling the coronavirus the Chinese virus. They also use the opportunity to bash the most racist president of in American history.

Today, pharmaceutical company Pfizer and biotech firm BioNTech announced that the U.S. government will award the companies nearly $2 billion to produce their COVID-19 vaccine if it proves to be safe and effective. The contract will account for 600 million doses of the vaccine, with the first 100 million promised by the end of 2020.

But how confident should we be that we’ll get a safe and effective vaccine this year? Avik Roy joins Scott Immergut to discuss this and more on the latest episode of COVID in 19 for American Wonk.

Rob Long is in for Jim today. He and Greg appreciate the climate change crowd joining other far left activists in admitting what we’ve known for decades – that their real goal is to kill capitalism. Rob also tears into New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo for his ongoing celebration of himself and for claiming people from other states are now flocking to New York to be safe from the virus. Rob also explains why countless New York businesses are on the brink of collapse because of Cuomo’s callousness. And they have fun with Berkeley, California’s decision to have unarmed civilian city workers make traffic stops instead of police.