Note that these numbers are not normalized per capita.
(https://www.newsweek.com/missouri-woman-family-coronavirus-1499987)
Categories
COVID cases by state
Category: Current Events
“The parent company of Lysol and another disinfectant warned Friday that its products should not be used as an internal treatment for the coronavirus after President Donald Trump wondered about the prospect during a White House briefing.”
Categories
In Pursuit of PPE
“Before we could send the funds by wire transfer, two Federal Bureau of Investigation agents arrived, showed their badges, and started questioning me. No, this shipment was not headed for resale or the black market. The agents checked my credentials, and I tried to convince them that the shipment of PPE was bound for hospitals. After receiving my assurances and hearing about our health system’s urgent needs, the agents let the boxes of equipment be released and loaded into the trucks. But I was soon shocked to learn that the Department of Homeland Security was still considering redirecting our PPE. Only some quick calls leading to intervention by our congressional representative prevented its seizure.”
“[The pandemic] turned a Massachusetts hospital executive into an under-the-radar road warrior, working up a deal through a friend of a friend of an employee who heard about a warehouse more than five hours away with masks. Two tractor-trailers disguised as grocery trucks picked them up, dodged interference from Homeland Security and took separate routes back in case one load got intercepted on highways through the northeast “pandemic alley.”
“A record-shattering number of Massachusetts residents obtained medical marijuana cards over the past month, a spike that followed Governor Charlie Baker’s decision to deem recreational cannabis stores “nonessential” and close them amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“From March 23 to April 21, 7,235 new patients obtained a doctor’s recommendation and registered with the state’s medical marijuana program, according to new data provided to the Globe Thursday by the Cannabis Control Commission.
“That is by far the most people to ever register within a single month. It represents a 245 percent increase over the 2,097 new patients who registered from February 23 to March 22.
“A total of 69,787 Massachusetts residents are now enrolled in the medical marijuana program as active patients, under which sales began in 2015, up from 63,720 at the end of March.”
“The Treasury Department is considering taking unprecedented control over key operations of the U.S. Postal Service by imposing tough terms on an emergency coronavirus loan from Congress, which would fulfill President Trump’s longtime goal of changing how the service does business, according to two people familiar with the matter.
“Officials working under Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who must approve the $10 billion loan, have told senior officials at the USPS in recent weeks that he could use the loan as leverage to give the administration influence over how much the agency charges for delivering packages and how it manages its finances, according to the two people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the talks are preliminary.
“Under the $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus relief passed last month, the Treasury was authorized to loan $10 billion to the USPS, which says it may not be able to make payroll and continue mail service uninterrupted past September. Mnuchin rejected a bipartisan Senate proposal to give the Postal Service a bailout amid the negotiations over that legislation, a senior Trump administration official and a congressional official previously told The Post.”
“In discussions with senior USPS personnel, Treasury officials have said they are interested in raising rates on the Postal Service’s lucrative package business, its sole area of profitability in recent years. Treasury also could review all large postal contracts with package companies to push for greater margins on deliveries.
“Treasury officials have said they may press the agency to demand tougher concessions from its powerful postal unions — among the public-sector unions that still retain significant leverage in negotiations with the government.
“The officials have also said Mnuchin wants the authority to review hiring decisions at the agency’s senior levels, including the selection of the next postmaster general, a decision that until now has been left to the Postal Service’s five-member board of governors.”
(https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/04/23/10-billion-treasury-loan-usps/)
“I certainly wouldn’t recommend the internal ingestion of a disinfectant,” said US Food and Drug Administration commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn, who is also a member of the White House coronavirus task force.”
(https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/coronavirus-pandemic-04-23-20-intl/index.html)
“Weeks before the coronavirus spread through much of the world, parts of Africa were already threatened by another kind of plague, the biggest locust outbreak some countries had seen in 70 years.
“Now the second wave of the voracious insects, some 20 times the size of the first, is arriving. Billions of the young desert locusts are winging in from breeding grounds in Somalia in search of fresh vegetation springing up with seasonal rains.”
“As his administration grapples with reopening the economy and responding to the coronavirus crisis, Trump worries about his re-election and how the news media is portraying him.”
“Trump arrives in the Oval Office these days as late as noon, when he is usually in a sour mood after his morning marathon of television.”
“Trump sees few allies no matter which channel he clicks. He is angry even with Fox, an old security blanket, for not portraying him as he would like to be seen…”
“Confined to the White House, the president is isolated from the supporters, visitors, travel and golf that once entertained him…”
“The economy — Trump’s main case for re-election — has imploded. News coverage of his handling of the coronavirus has been overwhelmingly negative as Democrats have condemned him for a lack of empathy, honesty and competence in the face of a pandemic. Even Republicans have criticized Trump’s briefings as long-winded and his rough handling of critics as unproductive.”
“His own internal polling shows him sliding in some swing states, a major reason he declared a temporary halt to the issuance of green cards to those outside the United States. The executive order — watered down with loopholes after an uproar from business groups — was aimed at pleasing his political base, people close to him said, and was the kind of move Mr. Trump makes when things feel out of control. Friends who have spoken to him said he seemed unsettled and worried about losing the election.”
“But the president’s primary focus, advisers said, is assessing how his performance on the virus is measured in the news media, and the extent to which history will blame him.”
(https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/23/us/politics/coronavirus-trump.html)
danelabonte 