“With a startling 6.6 million people seeking unemployment benefits last week, the United States has reached a grim landmark: More than one in 10 workers have lost their jobs in just the past three weeks to the coronavirus outbreak.”
“The figures collectively constitute the largest and fastest string of job losses in records dating to 1948. By contrast, during the Great Recession it took 44 weeks — roughly 10 months — for unemployment claims to go as high as they now have in less than a month.”
“New research indicates that the coronavirus began to circulate in the New York area by mid-February, weeks before the first confirmed case, and that travelers brought in the virus mainly from Europe, not Asia.”
“The research revealed a previously hidden spread of the virus that might have been detected if aggressive testing programs had been put in place.”
“In January, as the scope of the catastrophe in China became clear, a few countries started an aggressive testing program. They were able to track the arrival of the virus on their territory and track its spread through their populations.”
“But the United States fumbled in making its first diagnostic kits and initially limited testing only to people who had come from China and displayed symptoms of Covid-19.”
“It was a disaster that we didn’t do testing,” Dr. Heguy said.”
(https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/08/science/new-york-coronavirus-cases-europe-genomes.html)
“Speaking to reporters, Fauci said that he was “cautiously optimistic” that his inspector-general analogy would finally spur Trump to action, but added, “Jared could still screw this up.”
#satire
“First, it was the media that was at fault. Then, Democratic governors came under fire. China, President Barack Obama, and federal watchdogs have all had a turn in the crosshairs. And now it’s the World Health Organization that’s to blame.”
“Last month, as the nation began to lock down, Trump declared “I don’t take responsibility at all” for a lack of testing.”
“…when asked this week if he would have responded to the crisis differently had he seen a January memo from a senior adviser warning about the potential severity of the virus outbreak in the U.S., the president was blunt. “I couldn’t have done it any better.”
“Trump has transformed the daily White House coronavirus task force briefing into a substitute for his canceled rallies.”
“There is no “The buck stops here,” like the sign once found on President Harry S. Truman’s desk.”
“Since ancient times, leadership has been about wearing a mask of command. Trump is the opposite — a bundle of insecurities, neediness and wants.”
“…about 90% of the personal protective equipment in the stockpile has been distributed to state and local governments.
“…the remaining 10% will be kept in reserve to support federal response efforts.”
“Concerns about what is now known to be the novel coronavirus pandemic were detailed in a November intelligence report by the military’s National Center for Medical Intelligence (NCMI).”
“It was then briefed multiple times to” the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon’s Joint Staff and the White House.”
“From that warning in November, the sources described repeated briefings through December for policy-makers and decision-makers across the federal government as well as the National Security Council at the White House. All of that culminated with a detailed explanation of the problem that appeared in the President’s Daily Brief of intelligence matters in early January.”
“Trump also played down the release of January memos from a senior adviser that represented an early warning of a possible coronavirus pandemic, saying he had not seen them at the time.”
“Trump continued on Tuesday to defend his actions in the early days of the crisis. He played down memos written by Peter Navarro, a senior White House adviser, that were made public this week. In the late January memos, the most direct warning as yet uncovered in the upper levels of the Trump administration, Navarro warned that the coronavirus crisis could cost the United States trillions of dollars and put millions of Americans at risk of illness or death.”
“More people have died from the coronavirus in New York City than perished in the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center.
“At least 4,000 people have been killed in the city by the virus, according to a new count released by state health officials.
“The deadliest terror attack on U.S. soil killed 2,753 people in the city. Another 224 died when hijacked planes slammed into the Pentagon and a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, on Sept. 11, 2001.”
“A Post analysis of what data is available and census demographics shows that counties that are majority-black have three times the rate of infections and almost six times the rate of deaths as counties where white residents are in the majority.”
The AP found similar results.
“Of the victims whose demographic data was publicly shared by officials — nearly 3,300 of the nation’s 13,000 deaths thus far — about 42% were black, according to an Associated Press analysis. African Americans account for roughly 21% of the total population in the areas covered by the analysis.”
danelabonte 