-CW

https://www.elyrics.net/read/p/prism-lyrics/the-visitor-lyrics.html

Hehehehehehehehehehehe

You have been fairly warned by the owner of this blog - a blog in which you participate at the pleasure of the owner of this blog - to refrain from using bad language in the comments sections of this blog because you don't seem to understand what and where and when and in what context colourful language should be used in the comments sections of this blog.

I am done with you on this issue.

Now, that, is the height of irony.

"Trentin Quarantino"

Heh.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dvmj8tMUEzo

The WHO really is a good site. It is infinitely reassuring to know that they are working hard to coordinate the worldwide COVID-19 response.

During the Q&A portion of the WHO daily press briefing today, Dr. Michael Ryan gave an excellent overview of what needs to be put in place BEFORE there is any thought put into relaxing social distancing and other mitigation measures.

Before mitigation measures can be relaxed and lifted, he warned, we need to develop transition strategies that will put us ahead of and in control of the virus. Only when we are in control can we protect lives and livelihoods.

Ryan said further, "In order to reach such a point of disease control there needs to be put in place a comprehensive public health architecture along with a massive investment into the capacity to do surveillance, contact tracing, isolation and quarantine, good information systems and highly educated, engaged and empowered communities across the world who understand what to do and where to go when they get sick and who have access to medical professionals and to testing, isolation, and quarantine...healthcare systems need to be strengthened in order to take care of the very sick while developing new therapies and a vaccine."

Doctor Ryan's bottom line:"We need to work hard to put in place the comprehensive architecture of public health and healthcare systems if we're going to unlock safely from the societal and population measures that are affecting and impacting peoples social and economic futures."

I hope all governments are listening.

The WHO webpage is in my bookmarks. It's a good site, and I check it out regularly. Frankly, every reputable COVID tracking site I've encountered is giving out pretty much the same information from the same sources. I happen to prefer the Johns Hopkins webpage because presents log graphs of mortality and recovery- which is what you want if you are interested in exponential growth rates. I like double checking what the prognosis is: and I have the tools to do it. It's not rocket science. Just population biology. A staff and supercomputer would be nice, but I work with what I've got. It helps me pass the time.

OK, characterize your political ideology as you wish, but you keep getting ensnared in the old "Walks like . . ., swims like a . . ., quacks like a . . ., etc. Ergo, no apology for you!

My response to [13] was appropriate to her to whom it was addressed.

Her to whom it was addressed disagrees with you, but then "you righties" equate Donald Trump with "benevolent generosity." Just kidding.

If I offended you by pluralizing the term "Lefty", causing you to conclude that I was thereby including you in a collective in which you do not actually belong, you have my apology.

Now do me. :)

My first response to you above is a prime example of why I need to stop replying until I read the whole thing. Why do I do that? Don't answer that!

Anyway, I thought your country WAS doing all of that, including wage subsidies.

Here in Canada, starting April 6, all Canadians, can apply for the CERB, a Canadian coronavirus emergency benefit. It will be $500/week for 16 weeks. Anyone who has filed for employment insurance benefits after March 15, will automatically be enrolled in this benefit - I'm guessing right now that we will receive EI or the CERB, whichever is more.

And, Canada is providing a 75% wage subsidy to Canadian business - small to large- to keep their employees on the payroll through this crisis. It's still unclear how that will work.

But, again, I wish reporters would stop fretting about the high unemployment rate because this is a good sign that non-essential business has shut down as part of the effort the stop this virus.

It doesn't make any sense to me that people are talking about this crisis in terms of an economic downturn and being shocked by what are really inevitable numbers when what is really happening is not an "economic downturn" in the classic sense but a serious health crisis.

Re your "Protect the general welfare" (thira para)

Without bothering to check, I seem to recall the constitutional phrase you refer to is actually '"Promote" the general welfare',

Without bothering to check, of course you are 100% correct. It's "insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare..." etc.

Good catch, Stucki.

and the founder's definition of "welfare" did NOT align with the modern usage of the term which actually you lefties equate to 'charity', or perhaps something akin to'benevolent generosity'.

Well, I'm still not a lefty, and I can assure you for a fact that there is no magic number of times that all manner of people claiming I'm a lefty is going to magically turn me into one. I also don't believe the vast majority of lefties equate the term "welfare" in the preamble to "charity" or "generosity" either.

I think those phrases "establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare..." etc. contained in the preamble explaining why "the People" were establishing the Constitution for themselves and future generations have the fairly self-explanatory meaning of their concern for the law and order, peace, health, and safety of the citizenry of the United States and their descendants ("our posterity").

It's pretty basic stuff akin to the "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" the people believed government was instituted in order to protect... paraphrasing from the Declaration of Independence, of course.

So, you are a Trump supporter...

Just can't help yourself can you?

My response to [13] was appropriate to her to whom it was addressed. If I offended you by pluralizing the term "Lefty", causing you to conclude that I was thereby including you in a collective in which you do not actually belong, you have my apology.

poet [19]

You nailed it kid. I wish the lefties (NOT including Bashi) were smart enough to grasp that verity.

you lefties

I had not realized you were such a strong Trump supporter. I mean, if you keep lumping the entire left in to one convenient group to make assumptions about, the flip side would mean the right is a single congruous group and that would make you a Trump supporter. Or a hypocrite, take your pick...

Unless you are sick, in which case you should be at home, or you are caring for someone who is sick, then frequent hand washing and respiratory etiquette and keeping your 2m distance and staying at home as much as possible is far more effective in the battle against the virus than wearing a mask and that these behaviors are what will get us through this health crisis.

By the way, has anyone heard about president Trump asking 3M NOT to send US-made respirators to Canada or Latin America? Thankfully, 3M is mounting a very strong pushback on that.

Thank-you 3M!

I would suggest that the best resource you should focus on, these days, would be the daily briefings of the World Health Organization.

I would like to know why the USA is allowing unemployment to rise so high so fast when this doesn't have to be the case. Other nations like Denmark are taking a different tack.

Of course, unemployment is going to rise - everything is shut down, except for essential services!

In Canada, as in your country and other countries, millions of people, myself included, have applied for (un)employment insurance benefits. Of course, that is the case.

I don't understand why people, especially in the media, are falling off their chairs reporting this unprecedented rise in filings.

Yes, our economies are shut down. But, we are not in an economic crisis. We are in a health crisis, for God's sake!

Re your "Protect the general welfare" (thira para)

Without bothering to check, I seem to recall the constitutional phrase you refer to is actually '"Promote" the general welfare', and the founder's definition of "welfare" did NOT align with the modern usage of the term which actually you lefties equate to 'charity', or perhaps something akin to'benevolent generosity'.

Excellent column, CW. Here you have touched on what I personally find to be the most frustrating part of this entire ordeal: The "not knowing" regarding all manner of things. Being ill and not knowing whether you have the disease because testing is denied. Getting over an unbelievably fatiguing illness that knocks you flat and wondering if you've had it but not knowing. Distancing yourself while not knowing whether you have antibodies to (somewhat) protect you from reinfection wherein you could be on the front lines versus sitting on the sidelines.

But perhaps this is being too pessimistic.

There is no such thing as too much pessimism when a pandemic is sweeping across our planet at the exact same time China and America are both being lead by pathological lying narcissists who believed they could ignore a deadly virus and/or con it out of existence, emotionally needy leaders -- who don't believe in science -- making decisions at the highest levels of government that affect not just their two countries but people in a multitude of countries all over the world.

The American people do have a reserve of shared sacrifice we haven't dipped into in a long time, which could see us through this.

Amen to that brother, and it's "We the People" who are going to have to get America through this because the so-called "pro-life" Party and their ilk have proven time and time again that their interest in "life" basically ends at birth; after that, you're pretty much on your own and left to your own devices. Their oaths to "protect the general welfare" don't seem to interest them, and science is something they're generally busy knee-jerk denying.

At a time when facts are under assault at the highest levels of government on multiple continents, science is indeed our way out of this. Yesterday the FDA approved a new test for coronavirus antibodies, the first of its kind that's been approved for use in the United States. The test can be completed in about 15 minutes and identifies protective antibodies in a finger prick of blood and whether or not a person has ever been exposed to the virus and may have built some immunity.

Also, five critically ill patients with COVID-19 disease who were relying on ventilators were given antibody-rich plasma from five other patients who had already recovered from COVID-19 disease. Three of them were discharged from the hospital, and two of them were in stable condition at the time of the report:

Treatment of 5 Critically Ill Patients With COVID-19 With Convalescent Plasma

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2763983?resultClick=1

There's the beginning of a way out, and science has delivered it. Wonder how many hoops we'll have to jump through to obtain this test? We'll see.

Thanks for that excellent link. We in the US can learn a lot from the Chinese. I think the "IKEA style" isolation hospitals were brilliant. That said, the biggest thing going for the Chinese people seems to be the much lower death rate associated with their epidemic - 2% of infected patients versus about 35% for US patients. I don't believe their medical system explains this. Previous exposure to COVART viruses does. See the Seafood and "bushmeat" sections of the article. This an old story in the field of epidemiology... smallpox, measles, polio etc. "Natural Immunization."

Thanks for the excellent link. We in the US can learn a lot from the Chinese. I think the "IKEA style" isolation hospitals were brilliant. That said, the biggest thing going for the Chinese people seems to be the much lower death rate associated with their epidemic - 2% of infected patients versus about 35% for US patients. I don't believe their medical system explains this. Previous exposure to COVART viruses does. See the Seafood and "bushmeat" sections of the article. This an old story in the field of epidemiology... smallpox, measles, polio etc. "Natural Immunization."

Other nations like Denmark are taking a different tack.

The government there has basically taken over the job of paying employers to keep employees on the payroll for as long as possible.

Why can't the USA do the same thing?

You have industry X. The government gives industry X 50 billion dollars to pay employee payroll. That money can't be used for anything else, not stock buybacks, not CEO salary, etc. but ONLY for employee paychecks.

Instead of being laid off, the employee keeps getting their regular paycheck from the company, through a government loan or grant, whether they are at work or at home simply doing nothing, for the duration of the crisis.

When the crisis is over, the employee goes right back to doing the same job they were doing before, instead of going through the process of having to find a new job all over again. In the meantime, they have had money for food, rent, etc.

Is America not doing this simply because of some short-sighted aversion to supposedly having the government pay someone to sit home and do nothing? Do we really think most people would be comfortable just staying home forever not doing anything? Sure some percentage might, but MOST people want or need to work, if for nothing else than to feel productive, useful, have a sense of self worth, or not go stir crazy.

Perhaps Andrew Yang's idea of a universal basic income isn't looking like such a bad idea after all, rather than "traditional welfare?"

Maybe it's time to try thinking outside the box?

https://multimedia.scmp.com/infographics/news/china/article/3047038/wuhan-virus/index.html