Coronavirus Information...who do you trust?

[masonbengals fan]

(01-22-2021, 12:01 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: What do you mean by "weaponized the virus?" Do you mean pointing out how terrible the administration was at handling the pandemic?

 There is literally hundreds of articles on the subject. But I don't need or bother to post someone's written words to describe what my own eye's have witnessed. There is nothing at all wrong with pointing out where Trump's team fell short or Biden's. We should all want & demand that. But the election went well beyond that. IMO 


 Don't get me wrong I want the new administration to succeed in suppressing/ending this plague. I wanted the same for the last administration. My family & I will do our part, wear our mask, social distance and get a vaccine as soon as possible. 

[Belsnickel]

[BmorePat87]

http://thebengalsboard.com/Thread-Coronavirus?pid=876204#pid876204

That Ohio state senator who asked during a racism hearing if "the colored population" contracts Covid at a higher rate because they "do not wash their hands as well as other groups" was named the chair of the state senate's health committee by the senate president, his cousin.

[BmorePat87]

(01-26-2021, 09:16 PM)Belsnickel Wrote:

Maryland has been doing a pretty bad job at distribution. We're something like 40th out of 51 (states + DC). Hogan has demanded schools return in person on March 1st or else he will not "waste" vaccines on teachers. 

We're now set to return on March 1st and there's no timeline on how to get us vaccinated. Maryland officially moved to 1C despite not being done with 1B. 1B was 75+, educators, and essential government workers, but 75+ had priority. Now that we're 1C (essential workers and 65+), we have to compete with more people and 65+ gets priority. 

They very well may move us to phase 2 before we even get vaccinated. 

[*michaelsean*]

(01-27-2021, 01:08 AM)BmorePat87 Wrote: Maryland has been doing a pretty bad job at distribution. We're something like 40th out of 51 (states + DC). Hogan has demanded schools return in person on March 1st or else he will not "waste" vaccines on teachers. 

We're now set to return on March 1st and there's no timeline on how to get us vaccinated. Maryland officially moved to 1C despite not being done with 1B. 1B was 75+, educators, and essential government workers, but 75+ had priority. Now that we're 1C (essential workers and 65+), we have to compete with more people and 65+ gets priority. 

They very well may move us to phase 2 before we even get vaccinated. 

I don’t mean this as a slight against teachers, but what puts them ahead of say grocery store workers?

[Belsnickel]

(01-27-2021, 11:43 AM)michaelsean Wrote: I don’t mean this as a slight against teachers, but what puts them ahead of say grocery store workers?

The reason there is a push for schools to reopen isn't because we want our children to be educated. When kids are at home, it prevents mom and/or dad from going to their job(s). Because of this, it (in theory) slows down the economy or shrinks it because economic activity is hampered. So in the eyes of a conservative or neo-liberal government, vaccinating teachers to get schools open is a top priority. Vaccinating a grocery store worker puts that worker back on the floor. Vaccinating a teacher could put 30 or more workers back to their jobs.

[Au165]

(01-27-2021, 12:15 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: The reason there is a push for schools to reopen isn't because we want our children to be educated. When kids are at home, it prevents mom and/or dad from going to their job(s). Because of this, it (in theory) slows down the economy or shrinks it because economic activity is hampered. So in the eyes of a conservative or neo-liberal government, vaccinating teachers to get schools open is a top priority. Vaccinating a grocery store worker puts that worker back on the floor. Vaccinating a teacher could put 30 or more workers back to their jobs.

This. It's economics disguised as nobility.

[BmorePat87]

(01-27-2021, 11:43 AM)michaelsean Wrote: I don’t mean this as a slight against teachers, but what puts them ahead of say grocery store workers?

sitting with multiple groups of 30 people in a small space with poor ventilation for an hour while talking the entire time. After each hour, 1600 people then occupy the same space as they all travel to different rooms. There's more inherent risk with schools than grocery stores, and reducing that risk allows schools to actually open up, which then allows parents more flexibility to return to work as well. 

[*jason*]

(01-27-2021, 01:02 AM)BmorePat87 Wrote: http://thebengalsboard.com/Thread-Coronavirus?pid=876204#pid876204

That Ohio state senator who asked during a racism hearing if "the colored population" contracts Covid at a higher rate because they "do not wash their hands as well as other groups" was named the chair of the state senate's health committee by the senate president, his cousin.

He's the rep. in the county north of me... I think it's Jim Jordan's too.

[*Nately120*]

(01-27-2021, 12:58 PM)Au165 Wrote: This. It's economics disguised as nobility.

That pretty much sums up %99.9 of political stuff...maybebye 100%.

[BmorePat87]

(01-27-2021, 01:45 PM)jason Wrote: He's the rep. in the county north of me... I think it's Jim Jordan's too.

sounds about right 

[Belsnickel]

(01-27-2021, 01:48 PM)Nately120 Wrote: That pretty much sums up %99.9 of political stuff...maybebye 100%.

Yup.

[Au165]

Turns out the correct answer was, "Sure as shit, not the Trump Administration".

https://coronavirus.house.gov/news/press-releases/select-subcommittee-releases-new-evidence-trump-administration-s-political

Quote:Trump Administration’s Political Meddling In Coronavirus Guidance, Testing And Treatments
Feb 8, 2021 Press Release
Clyburn Renews Inquiry into Previous Administration’s Disastrous Pandemic Response, Seeks to Identify and Address Failures
Washington, D.C. (February 8, 2021) — Today, Rep. James E. Clyburn, Chairman of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, sent letters to White House Chief of Staff Ronald Klain and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Acting Secretary Norris Cochran, renewing the Select Subcommittee’s investigation into political interference that crippled the previous Administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.



“Since its establishment by the House of Representatives in April 2020, the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis has been investigating the federal government’s response to the pandemic.  These investigations have shown that the previous Administration engaged in a persistent pattern of political interference in the nation’s public health response—interfering with the work of scientists and making decisions that allowed the virus to spread more rapidly in order to advance President Trump’s partisan agenda,” wrote Chairman Clyburn.  “The Select Subcommittee is continuing these critical investigations in the 117th Congress in order to understand what went wrong over the last year and determine what corrective steps are necessary to control the virus and save American lives.”



Today’s letters highlight evidence recently obtained by the Select Subcommittee that raise further questions about political interference with the coronavirus response during the previous Administration:



Trump Administration Weakened CDC Guidance to Hide Positive Tests While Promoting Reopening



Documents show that the Trump Administration weakened CDC testing guidance in August 2020 for the express purpose of hiding evidence of the rapidly spreading virus, in order to quickly reopen businesses while allowing the virus to spread undetected.  In an August 27, 2020, email, HHS Senior Advisor Paul Alexander wrote that the change to the guidance followed “extensive debate amongst the White House Task Force members.”  He wrote that the Trump Administration changed the guidance to avoid identifying “asymptomatic infections in low risk people,” because these tests were causing infected people to quarantine, which he complained was “preventing the workforce from working” and would not allow schools to “optimally re-open.”


Trump Officials Manipulated Public Health Information



Emails show that appointees at HHS, possibly at President Trump’s direction, worked to devise a model that would justify rapidly reopening businesses in May 2020.  On May 16, 2020, HHS Assistant Secretary Michael Caputo wrote:  “I know the President wants us to enumerate the economic cost of not reopening.  We need solid estimates to be able to say something like:  50,000 more cancer deaths!  40,000 more heart attacks!  25,000 more suicides!  155,000 more trauma deaths!  240,000 hospitals will close!  400,000 heath [sic] care workers jobless!  170,000 more high school dropouts!  Etc”


In response, Dr. Alexander came up with a model that projected two to four times the number of deaths forecasted by CDC and others.  Dr. Alexander later admitted that he believed models of viral outbreaks could be manipulated to serve political goals, writing:  “Ah models, I can manipulate models to make it what I want...we all do.”


Documents show that Dr. Alexander consulted with White House officials, including Dr. Deborah Birx and Dr. Scott Atlas, during his campaign to pressure career CDC officials to change scientific reports he felt were politically damaging to President Trump.  For example, on September 11, 2020, Dr. Alexander emailed Dr. Atlas about a forthcoming CDC report on coronavirus deaths in young people, which he claimed was “very duplicitous to damage the administration.”  He asked Dr. Atlas to help “craft an op-ed … disputing the reporting for on face value, it is meant to mislead.”


Trump Appointees Pressed FDA Director to Approve Treatments Over Objections of Scientists



Documents reveal that HHS political appointees pushed FDA to approve coronavirus treatments including hydroxychloroquine.  For example, on July 19, 2020, Dr. Alexander wrote to then-FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn about a study purporting to show benefits of hydroxychloroquine, explaining “I want to help the administration,” and complaining, “we are being fought by the other side and media which is horrendous.”


On August 19, 2020, Dr. Alexander urged Commissioner Hahn to quickly issue an emergency use authorization (EUA) for convalescent plasma.  He forwarded a summary of studies on the subject, writing, “I share this to help give us cover in our decisions.”  He also advised Commissioner Hahn to disregard objections from National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Francis Collins and Dr. Anthony Fauci, writing, “NIH has stepped out of their lane.”  Three days later, on August 23, 2020, FDA granted the EUA.  Commissioner Hahn later apologized for citing misleading statistics on the treatment’s effectiveness.


Today’s letters seek additional documents and information on the Trump Administration’s political interference with the nation’s public health response.  These document requests are necessary because the Trump Administration repeatedly obstructed the Select Subcommittee’s investigations, even after Chairman Clyburn issued subpoenas to then-HHS Secretary Alex Azar and then-CDC Director Robert Redfield in December 2020.



Chairman Clyburn wrote:  “The previous Administration also refused to cooperate with the Select Subcommittee’s inquiries, with the White House and other agencies blocking documents and witnesses related to the politicization of public health information, testing and supply shortages, vaccine development and distribution, and other critical aspects of the nation’s virus response.”

[BigPapaKain]

(02-09-2021, 10:10 AM)Au165 Wrote: Turns out the correct answer was, "Sure as shit, not the Trump Administration".

https://coronavirus.house.gov/news/press-releases/select-subcommittee-releases-new-evidence-trump-administration-s-political

Holy shit.

Also breaking news - snow is cold.

[GMDino]

https://news.trust.org/item/20210211225326-a1lgq

Quote:(Adds comment by former White House official)


By Alexandra Alper
BETHESDA, Md., Feb 11 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday said the coronavirus vaccination program he inherited from Donald Trump was in "much worse shape" than he had expected, while urging patience and also announcing the government has bought 200 million more doses.


"We're not going to have everything fixed for a while, but we're going to fix it," Biden said in remarks at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.


With demand for the vaccine far outstripping supply, Americans are struggling to get appointments for their inoculations, leaving Biden with an acute problem less than a month after taking over from Trump.


Biden said Trump, who spent his last two months in office in a futile effort to overturn the results of the Nov. 3 presidential election that he lost, did not order enough vaccine and did not do enough to get people lined up to get vaccinated.


He said the vaccine program he inherited was in "much worse shape" than he had anticipated and that his transition team had been misled about the vaccine supply.


"While scientists did their job in discovering vaccines in record time, my predecessor - I'll be very blunt about it - did not do his job in getting ready for the massive challenge of vaccinating hundreds of millions," Biden said.


Brian Morgenstern, a former White House official involved with the coronavirus effort, said the Trump administration's Operation Warp Speed program had prepared plans well in advance, aided by many career officials still serving in government.


"That is why the new Administration's goals were being surpassed before they even came into office. Enough with the lies, excuses & political pot shots. Time to lead," he said.


Trump had expressed pride in the speed of the vaccine development on his watch.


Biden said the U.S. coronavirus death toll is likely to reach 500,000 next month. He urged Americans to wear masks to prevent the spread.


"We've now purchased enough vaccine to vaccinate all Americans," Biden said.


He said the U.S. government has signed contracts for 100 million doses of the Moderna vaccine and 100 million more from Pfizer to help reach the target.


"We appreciate the confidence that the U.S. government has demonstrated in our COVID-19 Vaccine," Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel said in a press release.


Pfizer spokeswoman Sharon Castillo confirmed that it and BioNTech had reached a deal with the U.S. government.
"We will deliver 100 million doses by the end of March, a total of 200 million doses by the end of May, and the full 300 million doses by the end of July," she said.


The new vaccine orders, in addition to 400 million doses previously contracted, would allow the United States to vaccinate a total of 300 million people by July 31 using doses from the two vaccines authorized.


That would be enough to vaccinate most people in the 330 million population who want it, given that the two vaccines are not authorized for children and that many people have said they don't want shots.


In addition, Johnson & Johnson's vaccine candidate is likely to be authorized later this month, and the company expects to supply 100 million doses of its single-shot vaccine to the United States by the middle of the year.


(Reporting by Alexandra Alper, additional reporting by Steve Holland, Andrea Shalal, Michael Erman and Peter Henderson; Editing by Leslie Adler and Grant McCool)


Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[GMDino]

The gqp is very upset about the wasteful spending in the bill.  

We’ve run the numbers and here’s your receipt, @SpeakerPelosi @SenSchumer. pic.twitter.com/e2cAG8st8W

— Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) February 24, 2021

 


I too do not like wasteful spending.


I think the amount for museums and libraries is too low.


And I don't think I want to know what "Pelosi's subway" is.  

[GMDino]

[GMDino]

Americans trust Biden.

https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-ap-top-news-coronavirus-pandemic-only-on-ap-honeymoons-d365bff571c24f9d3575bcbd051780aa

Quote:WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden is enjoying an early presidential honeymoon, with 60% of Americans approving of his job performance thus far and even more backing his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.


At a moment of deep political polarization in America, support for Biden’s pandemic response extends across party lines. Overall, 70% of Americans back the Democratic president’s handling of the virus response, including 44% of Republicans.



Still, Biden faces more skepticism from Americans on the economy, which has been battered by the pandemic. Fifty-five percent of Americans approve of Biden’s approach to the economy thus far, and 63% say the U.S. economy is in poor shape, the AP-NORC survey shows. Republicans are also less likely to back Biden on the economy than they are on the pandemic, with just 17% supporting his fiscal stewardship.

Less than two months into his presidency, Biden has made the pandemic his central focus, urging Americans to follow stringent social distancing and mask guidelines and vowing to speed up distribution of critical vaccines. He’s also argued that until the spread of the virus is under control, the economy won’t fully recover.


To address financial shortfalls in the meantime, he’s asking Congress to pass a $1.9 trillion pandemic rescue plan that would provide direct payments to millions of Americans and surge funds into state and local governments.


The measure has already passed the House. But Biden is having to make compromises to keep all Democratic senators in support of the measure, including agreeing this week to narrow eligibility for $1,400 stimulus checks. In a concession to moderate Democratic senators, Biden agreed that individuals making more than $80,000 annually and couples making more than $160,000 won’t receive any benefits. Biden’s original proposal extended the stimulus funds to Americans with higher annual wages.


The administration estimates that 158.5 million households will still receive checks under the Senate compromise.


The prospect of a pandemic relief bill is welcome news to John Villegas, 58, an Illinois Democrat who supports Biden’s handling of both the virus response and the economy.


“With the closure of so many businesses, there are a lot of people suffering,” said Villegas, who called Biden’s approach a “180 degree shift” from his predecessor, Donald Trump.


Trump argued that the U.S. economy couldn’t afford the hit that came from enacting restrictions on business and travel. The worst fears of economists were averted as Republican-led states followed Trump’s lead and resisted restrictions, but COVID-19 cases skyrocketed. More than 520,000 people have died in the United States from the virus over the past year.


Despite their differing approaches to managing the economy during the pandemic, Biden’s approval ratings on the economy are similar to Trump’s, whose handling of the economy since the virus took hold was consistently backed by about half of Americans. The key difference: That level of support made the economy Trump’s strongest issue, while it’s a relative weakness for Biden compared with Americans’ views of his handling of the pandemic and other issues.


In a reflection of the partisanship that continues to rage in the U.S., many Americans’ views of the economy have flipped since the new president was inaugurated. In December, 67% of Republicans and just 15% of Democrats described the economy as good. Now, 35% of Republicans and 41% of Democrats describe the economy positively. There’s been little change in overall growth or unemployment over that time.


Biden’s handling of the pandemic may well determine the course of his presidency and the political capital he has to pursue significant legislation on other matters. Democrats are working urgently to tee up bills addressing infrastructure investment, policing reforms and voting rights. Biden has also vowed to tackle climate change and build on the sprawling health insurance measure signed into law when he served as Barack Obama’s vice president.


His promises of action have garnered him solid approval ratings on some of those fronts. For example, about 6 in 10 Americans say they approve of Biden’s handling of health care and race relations.


Overall, 48% of Americans say the country is headed in the right direction, compared with 37% who said that in December. The poll also shows that 43% of Americans expect things in the country overall to get better in the next year, while 34% think things will get worse and 23% think they will remain about the same.


Biden himself has been purposefully cautious in predicting when life in the U.S. will return to a pre-pandemic normal. Even as he promises that the U.S. will have enough vaccine supply for all Americans by the end of May, he’s said it could be the end of the year or early 2022 before Americans can stop wearing masks or fully return to normal activities.
His team’s goal in setting expectations? Underpromise, then overdeliver.
___
The AP-NORC poll of 1,434 adults was conducted Feb. 23-March 1 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.
___
Online:
AP-NORC Center: [/url][url=http://www.apnorc.org/]http://www.apnorc.org/.

It's almost like if you do the work and have a plan, and the plan works, people respond better.

Crazy.

But after four years of a lazy old man who just wanted the perks and not the work it is reredreshing.

[BmorePat87]

(02-24-2021, 10:45 PM)GMDino Wrote: The gqp is very upset about the wasteful spending in the bill.  

We’ve run the numbers and here’s your receipt, @SpeakerPelosi @SenSchumer. pic.twitter.com/e2cAG8st8W

— Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) February 24, 2021

 


I too do not like wasteful spending.


I think the amount for museums and libraries is too low.


And I don't think I want to know what "Pelosi's subway" is.  

What's that, like 0.028% of the total bill?

[GMDino]

(03-05-2021, 12:47 PM)BmorePat87 Wrote: What's that, like 0.028% of the total bill?

Without looking I'd guess Trump spent more just golfing.