COVID-19 & US healthcare system

[Dartz]

290. 380. 490. 636. 827. 1076. 1400. 1819. 2364. 3074. 3996. 5195. 6754. 8780. 11414. 14838

15000 By April.

Actual so far:

278, 354, 434, 634, 769. 893, 1034, 1273

Increase of 24% daily, rather than 30%.

Means 7200 cases by the end of the month, rather than 15,000.

That said, there is a bit of a backlog in testing - about 40,000. While the government is converting one of the largest football stadiums into a drive-through test centre, has berthed half the navy to use the ships as test centres and otherwise pulling capacity out of its arse from anywhere it can. They expect to be able to do fifteen thousand tests a day very quickly.

Distilleries are converting over to sanitiser production. Sportswear manufacturers are making medical scrubs, and the pharma industry's going full belt. A lot of the shops are closed, the roads are empty, and there're queues to the supermarkets to keep the people density low.

The government - and the opposition it must be said which actually won the recent election and never got around to forming a government - are doing a bangup job getting things done and getting the State through the crisis.

Unlike the pissing contest at the Special Olympics that is Washington at the moment.

[Norgarth]

Unlike the pissing contest at the Special Olympics that is Washington at the moment.

hey, don't go insulting the Special Olympics that way.

[SilverFang01]

So, I hear on the radio that the US Senate is deadlocked on a relief bill - with a vote of 47-47.

That means (almost) all the senators showed up to vote.

WHAT THE FUCK, US SEANTE???

EVERY OTHER LEGISLATIVE CHAMBER IN THE WORLD IS PRACTICING PHYSICAL DISTANCING AND SENDING ONLY A BARE QUORUM INTO THE CHAMBER TO PASS NECESSARY LEGISLATION!!!

I hope every single person who was in the chamber is now in two-week quarantine.

Speaking of which, Rand Paul got tested, on doctor's advice, on the 16th.  It turns out, he was  infected ... and for a week after the test he'd gone about his Senatorial bullsh— errrr, I mean "business," as usual.  How much of the Senate needs to be locked down now? 

I don't wish death on anybody. But I've read a few positive test results lately with great relish.

[classicdrogn]

Who knows, maybe a few of them will get scared straight about guaranteeing effective health care for everyone.

I mean, it's not likely, but stranger things have probably happened.

[SilverFang01]

So, some on the right are floating the idea of letting people die to save the economy:
https://twitter.com/ndrew_lawrence/statu...46050?s=21

[SilverFang01]

Woman in ICU: "Trump kept saying it was basically pretty much a cure."
NBC: "What would be your message to the American public?"
Woman: "Oh my God. Don't take anything. Don't believe anything. Don’t believe anything that the President says & his people...call your doctor."
Arizona man dies after ingesting chloroquine in an attempt to prevent coronavirus.

[Labster]

Hey, let’s have a quick story from Fox News: Trump worries US will see 'suicides by the thousands' if coronavirus devastates economy

I know Trump missed that turn back at Albuquerque, but I wasn’t expecting to end up in Jonestown.

[Inquisitive Raven]

I know Trump missed that turn back at Albuquerque, but I wasn’t expecting to end up in Jonestown.

Of course, he did; it was a left turn.

[Black Aeronaut]

So. Who wants to bet? Either Trump finally hangs himself with all the rope he's been given? Or will the Trumpeters double-down on the cray-cray and we see more deaths from people either self-medicating or following the advice of their leadership? (EDIT: And the survivors then all blame either China, some other Asian country, or even the Democrats because it's all a conspiracy to destroy the nation.)

Seriously, it's fucking idiotic that someone takes whatever the fuck Trump says so seriously that they wind up getting themselves killed. Now I'm curious if they had any offspring. Because if not, then I think we got a contender for 2020's Darwin Awards.

Sorry for the callous tone, but few things irk me more than stupidity. Especially when it's willful stupidity in its most blatant forms. I do feel bad for the woman in that she will now have to bear through the heartache and guilt. But at the same time, they don't call this The Information Age for nothing, folks.

[hazard]

I'm betting on Trumpeters doubling down on the crazy. It's been a rather safe bet so far whenever the other choice is wisdom or decency.

[DHBirr]

So, some on the right are floating the idea of letting people die to save the economy:
https://twitter.com/ndrew_lawrence/statu...46050?s=21

Jonathan Swift came back as a woman.  Her name is Alexandra Petri, she writes satire for the Washington Post, and she should be categorized as a National Treasure.  Her take on the Texan nutcase:  
I regret that I have but one grandparent to give for my country

We cannot put a price on what will be lost — so how much could it possibly be worth? 
... What makes life worth living? I am pretty sure it is not “possessing any connection whatsoever to other human beings”; or else the president has been doing it very wrong.
Here is your chance to serve! And there is still a place in the line for the people who did not ask to be volunteered — but you must help them! You can sacrifice them, too, by your decision, because this disease conveniently does not understand who is stepping up and who is not.

[SilverFang01]

GOP Senators threaten to block stimulus bill because unemployment benefits too generous

The bill increases the maximum unemployment insurance payment by $600 per week and extends the period for which workers are eligible to four months. Four Republican senators — Senators Tim Scott, Rick Scott, Ben Sasse and Lindsey Graham — raised concerns about what they called a "drafting error" in the bill, arguing that the expansion could incentivize workers to lose their jobs if the totality of state and federal unemployment benefits exceeds their current income.

I believe author N K Jemisin has the right of it:
https://twitter.com/nkjemisin/status/124...20358?s=21

[LynnInDenver]

WTF. Most unemployment services pretty much will deny you if you've been let go "for cause", and will cease paying if you turn down any legitimate job offer. How does that incentivize you to "lose your job" and "find something better"?

[hazard]

For that matter, to what extent is 'I'm not taking this shitty job for that shitty pay and will hold out for something better' not a beneficial outcome? The USA desperately needs to move money into the economy, and the best way to make that happen is by raising the income floor.

[classicdrogn]

To steal BlackAeronaut's sarcastic line, "Because that sounds like SOCIALISM!" I'm leaving my usual "and how ya gonna pay for that?" objections aside because just like a shooting war, this is the time when you do what it takes to survive so you can complain about the empty coffers later, but of course it's a lot more complicated than that in practise even if we weren't hobbled by an antagonistic political divide. We'll probably just end up borrowing it all from China anyway

[Mamorien]

For that matter, to what extent is 'I'm not taking this shitty job for that shitty pay and will hold out for something better' not a beneficial outcome? The USA desperately needs to move money into the economy, and the best way to make that happen is by raising the income floor.

But raising the income floor is SOCIALISM, and SOCIALISM always and only leads, and furthermore is always and only consciously intended to lead, to bread lines, death panels, the thousand-year reign of the Antichrist, and fluoride in ice cream, Mandrake, children's ice cream! (/sarcasm)

[Bob Schroeck]

And of course, whatever body Texas sets up to escort their excess senior citizenry to their proper sacrifice on the altar of the economy won't be a death panel, even if they are sorting them by net worth and level of public assistance... (Compassionate Conservatism? What Commie came up with that? Compassion is a left-wing Socialist value!) </sarcasm>

[Matrix Dragon]

Ah yes, the ancient 'one person out of millions might scam the system, so we shouldn't give it to anyone' argument against unemployment support. Always a sure fire way of finding an entitled asshole.

[robkelk]

Meanwhile, Canada just increased its unemployment payments by $2000 a month, starting the middle of next month.

Right now, we need to listed to Friedman, not Keynes.

EDIT: Oh, look - scammers are already trying to get that money. If you get a text message regarding Canadian government money, ignore it. The Canadian government does not have the time or bandwidth to send texts to individuals during this pandemic.

[Black Aeronaut]

Yeah, you can usually tell who the scammers are. That's pretty blatant.

True Welfare Cadillacs aren't as common as the "Conservatives" would have others believe. I mean, I have heard people about having more kids in order to qualify for more assistance, sure.

But when you really look at these people... all they're doing is getting by, and not much more. They're not driving Cadillacs or Fiats. They're driving the lower end Fords and Kias. They're not living in the West Hills. They're living in the Projects. And while some of them might have the most recent iPhone or Samsung phone, it's only because they've made on-time payments frequently enough to qualify for those phones under the provider's payment plans. Other stuff like smart watches and tablets are usually gimmes the providers throw in to attract more customers. And more often than not, the tablets are given to the kids so they have something to play with.

I'm sure that a lot of us would love to be able to just "get by". God knows I would.

[SilverFang01]

This guy is a ghoul and a profiteer:
Philadelphia Stymied in Attempts to Use Hahnemann for Coronavirus Patients

Some jackass bought a hospital, closed it down, and now wants the city to pay him 31k/day to use it to treat COVID-19 patients in critical condition.

At this pace, greed will kill as many people as the virus itself.

[hazard]

So, how fast do eminent domain cases move in Philadelphia?

And what are the specific terms?

[Black Aeronaut]

Says right at the end of the article:

Abernathy noted that the city could not afford to take ownership of the property through eminent domain because it would require the purchase to be fair market value.

So yeah.  Unless the $2 Trillion Corona Virus Bill has provisions to cover for this kind of thing?  Eminent domain won't work in this case.

(And really, it's a good thing, too.  Can you imagine all the bloody murder outfits like Haliburton would get away with just because they whispered in the right Senator's ear?  And all for the low low price of just a few hundred thousand dropped into their superpack of choice?)

[Dartz]

People like Mr. Freedman are why this video is a thing. And Why I'm going to hell.



Also, The State here nationalised the fuck out of every private hospital this week. Like, Free Covid treatment for everyone, unlocked a quantity of ICU beds and just sort of made it happen.

[Norgarth]

People like Mr. Freedman are why this video is a thing. And Why I'm going to hell.



Also, The State here nationalised the fuck out of every private hospital this week. Like, Free Covid treatment for everyone, unlocked a quantity of ICU beds and just sort of made it happen.

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