COVID-19

[Bball]

It's maddening watching a video like that. Pure ignorance. Edited to add: Dangerously ignorant. He's making decisions based on that ignorance, and spreading it.
He's know just enough about mask wearing to be dangerous. Not the entire picture or reasoning behind it.

This is what you get when you have an incompetent, incoherent, ignorant president presenting misinformation, encouraging misinformation, and sending (at best) mixed messaging. It filters down to people like this. It makes it easy for them to believe what they want to believe. Or get lost in the weeds. The facts and understanding gets lost. Nuance gets lost.

Trump has proven America has a lot of anti-science, ignorant people (willfully ignorant), he's also managed to dumb down society by his own Dunning-Kruger, left-side chart, ignorance. He's encouraging this type of ignorance.

[vnzla81]

[Peck]

FYI the governor is activating the National Guard to assist with the sudden surge of Covid 19 Nursing home patient's. As I said yesterday I got a briefing and it wasn't 6 hours later it started to hit.

I am saying this for everyone's benefit here. Limit your contact socially as much as you can for the next couple of weeks. Wash your hands and wear your masks. This never went away but we were able to keep it mitigated to lower acuity here.

That time is changing. We are rapidly seeing more acute patients.

Could be the weather, could be people not taking it seriously, could be other events altogether. We just don't know for sure so take whatever precaution you can and please think of all of the front line workers who have to deal with this.

[BlueNGold]

Could be the weather, could be people not taking it seriously, could be other events altogether. We just don't know for sure so take whatever precaution you can and please think of all of the front line workers who have to deal with this.

People haven't changed what they are doing. The weather is the reason the seasonal flu gets bad and the same is true with this virus.

Just look at the stats in Europe. This is just STARTING to explode. The little spike in July was a joke.

I have been warning about this. I don't think people really understand what my fears were and it was this coming freight train.

People who have had it say in June are going to be very happy they did.

[Bball]

FYI the governor is activating the National Guard to assist with the sudden surge of Covid 19 Nursing home patient's. As I said yesterday I got a briefing and it wasn't 6 hours later it started to hit.

I am saying this for everyone's benefit here. Limit your contact socially as much as you can for the next couple of weeks. Wash your hands and wear your masks. This never went away but we were able to keep it mitigated to lower acuity here.

That time is changing. We are rapidly seeing more acute patients.

Could be the weather, could be people not taking it seriously, could be other events altogether. We just don't know for sure so take whatever precaution you can and please think of all of the front line workers who have to deal with this.

Yet, we remain in Stage 5.
What are the headlines? Governor Continues Mask Mandate or Indiana Remains In Phase 5.

I have to say what I said before, there's no way we shouldn't, for optics (and headlines) alone, being going back a notch IMO.

I'm seeing more and more bars OPENING when they should be going the other direction.

Holcomb is putting re-election ahead of health and not doing the right thing(s). He's scared of the votes Rainwater is going to siphon away. But inaction, or hidden action, carries a price tag too.

I couldn't live with myself knowing what the governor has to know, yet not opting to properly warn Hoosiers of the potential that could be coming our way. I'd even get it out of the way right at the start of the briefing "This might not be the thing to do to preserve votes, but I believe it's the thing to do to preserve health, and that is what matters. Not my re-election...."

[Peck]

Yet, we remain in Stage 5.
What are the headlines? Governor Continues Mask Mandate or Indiana Remains In Phase 5.

I have to say what I said before, there's no way we shouldn't, for optics (and headlines) alone, being going back a notch IMO.

I'm seeing more and more bars OPENING when they should be going the other direction.

Holcomb is putting re-election ahead of health and not doing the right thing(s). He's scared of the votes Rainwater is going to siphon away. But inaction, or hidden action, carries a price tag too.

I couldn't live with myself knowing what the governor has to know, yet not opting to properly warn Hoosiers of the potential that could be coming our way. I'd even get it out of the way right at the start of the briefing "This might not be the thing to do to preserve votes, but I believe it's the thing to do to preserve health, and that is what matters. Not my re-election...."

I don't feel like I'm betraying any secret here so I'll go ahead and say it.

Nationally whenever there is an issue between branches of the Government it is called a constitutional crisis. I have no idea what to call it at a state level but we had it back over the summer.

When the Governor issued his state mandate for masks the several major County Sheriff's issued press releases stating that they would not enforce the mandate and not to call their departments with complaints. If had been one or two then he easily could have imposed his will. However it literally was the majority of Sheriff's that stated this, thus rendering his mask mandate useless. City Police departments might have done so but even mid major city's like Lafayette, Muncie and South Bend all said they would also not enforce the mandate. The Republicans in the statehouse also bulked at this. His mandate became a suggestion within a matter of days.

I am not sure that right now that all of the county health departments or Sheriff's would even enforce forced closings.

While what your saying is good political theater Holcomb went from being an absolute lock for re-election to the point that the vast majority of Hoosiers did not even know who was running against him as a Democrat to this Rainwater guy bleeding off so many voters that there is a very serious threat that they will split the ticket and the Democrat will win. Rainwater is picking up steam in my area like a freight train.

[Bball]

At least one person from the state legislature polled the Attorney General on the legality of the Governor's mask mandate (and ability to make it a misdemeanor). At that point, the AG was compelled to weigh in. He rendered his opinion that the mask mandate couldn't be enforced. He wasted no time saying it publicly, and it doesn't seem like he gave the governor any warning that was coming from him. OTOH, it doesn't seem the governor consulted him before the mask mandate either.

So a lot of those local law enforcement releases came after that. Any that might came before, were let off the hook due to the AG's statement. So at that point, state constitutional crisis averted.

I'm told there's no love lost between the AG and Holcomb (even before this).

Essentially, state law gives (tries to give) Holcomb the right to make a mask mandate (or whatever as part of an emergency order) and it be a class B misdemeanor. That much is clear. BUT the AG has ruled that the law is flawed and not constitutional as written. Strangely, I believe had the law allowed for it to be an infraction rather than a misdemeanor, that would've been fine.
It's essentially a "The Governor can't make law" argument.
The governor would argue, the law is already made, it's just a matter of him making the announcement.

The simple solution was a special session of the legislature to fix the current law (saying it was an infraction rather than a misdemeanor) or to make their own mask mandate with whatever penalty they wanted to attach to it. Well.... that simply wasn't going to happen. There was no political will beyond the governor for a mask mandate with teeth.

The other 'fix' (or attempt) would've been to take it to court and let a judge decide whether the law was properly written/constitutional and the governor could make the mandate a misdemeanor, or whether the AG's opinion was correct and would stand.

Now... this is where it really would've gotten bizarre... Had the governor opted to do that, and taken it to court, the Attorney General would've been the one whose role it would be to argue FOR the governor. So he would be arguing FOR the law that he'd already rendered his own opinion on that it was unconstitutional and unenforceable.

--


I'm glad I'm not the only one getting really curious about the numbers of people switching over the Rainwater. My FB feed is full of them. The dem candidate is going to get who he gets. Maybe a few coattail votes from new dem presidential voters. But, Holcomb's definitely had his GOP vote total hurt. Whether these people are putting their money where their mouth is, I don't know. I suspect they are really 'pulling' that Rainwater 'lever'. Whether their numbers are equal to the noise they make... I don't know. I do believe, it's substantial. Substantial enough to tighten a race between Myers and Holcomb that wasn't going to be tight.

[BlueNGold]

While I have expected a nightmare scenario I truly hoped I was wrong. Really saddened by it.

Worried About COVID-19 in the Winter? Alaska Provides a Cautionary Tale

“We’ve been markedly concerned about what the fall and winter will look like, and I think it’s playing out that it’s highly concerning,” said Dr. Anne Zink, Alaska’s chief medical officer.

https://news.yahoo.com/worried-covid-19-winter-alaska-190426192.html

[BlueNGold]

Another thing from that article. I have been preaching this for months. Summer is when you wanted to confront this virus.

The lab coats and so-called experts know (or should known) about the lab tests earlier this year that gave us a warning on this point but they never did look at the big picture. That’s typical of techies. It is really too late now.

Along with cold-season gatherings moving into more confined spaces, there is evidence that the coronavirus is more virulent in colder weather and lower relative humidities. Dr. Mohammad Sajadi, who studies infectious diseases at the University of Maryland, was among the researchers who examined global trends in the early part of the pandemic and saw a weather correlation.

Sajadi said there could be a range of factors: Researchers have found that some viruses persist longer in colder and drier conditions; that aerosolized viruses can remain more stable in cooler air; that viruses can replicate more swiftly in such conditions; and that human immune systems may respond differently depending on seasons.

[vnzla81]

This s*** is depressing, it sucks that elected officials at this moment are the most incompetent group ever, this is the damage fox news, msnbc, CNN, Facebook have done to this country.


Ignorant people elect ignorant and incompetent politicians and that's happening right now on both sides.

[Gamble1]

So Professors from the University of Colombia estimate that the US could of avoided a 130,000 to 210,000 covid 19 deaths.

https://bit.ly/3jiFDuB

[BlueNGold]

So Professors from the University of Colombia estimate that the US could of avoided a 130,000 to 210,000 covid 19 deaths.

https://bit.ly/3jiFDuB

That was a political message wrapped up in a biased scientific analysis. I disagree that demographics are not the primary reason it has been particularly bad here. We are also a particularly independent people and Trump isn’t to blame for that fact that precede his presidency.

He is president because of certain views in America. He isn’t the cause of them. Sorry if that doesn’t fit your narrative.

[Gamble1]

That was a political message wrapped up in a biased scientific analysis. I disagree that demographics are not the primary reason it has been particularly bad here. We are also a particularly independent people and Trump isn’t to blame for that fact that precede his presidency.

He is president because of certain views in America. He isn’t the cause of them. Sorry if that doesn’t fit your narrative.

Well I can agree with you people who voted for Trump are in part blame for the excess death. I mean at this point you have ample evidence of white house interference in cdc and fda pandemic response and message. Of course all of this is fake news to those who really do not care to look into it.

[Bball]

So Professors from the University of Colombia estimate that the US could of avoided a 130,000 to 210,000 covid 19 deaths.

https://bit.ly/3jiFDuB

I think the US death and illness numbers are easier to understand (not accept... understand) once you look at this thru the prism of a president that decided on a herd immunity strategy. Not that he would say it directly. Even though he abdicated any real role in state coordination and mitigation, he then actively promoted veiled prompts with "liberate..." to promote what is essentially a herd immunity strategy to those states (and by extension, the rest of us).

We're "Riding that sucker like a cowboy. Just riding it. Riding it right on out".

Right wing propaganda has been heavily leaning toward that herd immunity strategy. States like Michigan have been in the crosshairs of that propaganda from almost day 1.

We saw it promoted head on earlier and that fell on its face as far as PR and optics go. The Texas Lt Gov took the bullet on floating that trial balloon on Fox early on.

Trump knows the medical field as a whole, and in majority, will not go along with a herd immunity strategy. But he also knows, GOP governors will follow his lead not wanting to alienate voters, and followers in democratic states will certainly stand up to their elected officials who listen to science instead of Trump.

Trump knows the power in "Open your state up!" or "Liberate...!!!". He knows the power in conspiracy theories downplaying the virus. The optics of appearing to ignore it. And he knows the regular propaganda generators will run with it and his social media minions will help. He doesn't have to say it, he just has to work it.

He knows he's countering the message of the majority public health officials from the bottom to the top with mixed messaging and counter messaging. But that's OK by him, because he's backdooring a herd immunity policy and has been for some time. He's just gotten bolder with it as we've went along.

The man who thought injecting disinfectant was something that needed to be looked at as part of a Covid-19 cure has decided that natural herd immunity is the best strategy.

[BlueNGold]

Well I can agree with you people who voted for Trump are in part blame for the excess death. I mean at this point you have ample evidence of white house interference in cdc and fda pandemic response and message. Of course all of this is fake news to those who really do not care to look into it.

I wouldn't disagree with the fact Trump supporters are in part to blame for the excess death. But IMO I think their behaviour will save people this winter who got exposed. I've been trying to warn you and others that this winter is going to get very, very bad and it's just gotten started.

So really, you basement dwellers are going to kill us all.