Liars and Narcissists In Charge

#trump #TrumpMeltdown pic.twitter.com/UEXDDOiIeJ

— Michael de Adder (@deAdder) March 21, 2020

Someone who works in one of the larger hospitals in New Hampshire told me today that last week they had a meeting in which they were told Governor Sununu had been lying about the known number of cases in New Hampshire, that they actual numbers were many times higher than those he was releasing. And that was a hospital with professionals informing their staff. Lies kill people.

Today, for example, @COVID19Tracking recorded 20,045 new tests, of which 1985 (9.9%) were positive. One week ago, by contrast (Wednesday 3/11) there were only 2446 tests, of which 275 (11.2%) were positive.

— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) March 18, 2020

This ALSO means that comparing the US's growth curve to other countries *isn't that helpful* even if makes for interesting-looking charts and graphs. Because our testing sucked, our curve is likely to be steeper than counties that had more adequate testing to begin with.

— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) March 18, 2020

Notable in Nate Silver's tweets is the number of positives (11.2%, at the highest) in those tested.  This is not a "disaster movie" where everyone drops in the streets like flies.  Over 10% is bad, especially for those infected, but it's not every person tested/exposed.  If we had the real numbers, the simple truth, we might be more confident that our response is helping slow the spread (a spread that probably happened long before we knew covid-19 was here).  We might also understand the importance of what we are being urged to do (shelter in place, hunker down, just fuckin' stay home!) But so long as GOP (why is it always the GOP?) officials are lying about this, what hope is there?

Now do trump..... https://t.co/xs7F3phEpF

— Molly Jong-Fast🏡 (@MollyJongFast) March 21, 2020

A reminder of why we all despised John Bolton before we thought he was going to save us by turning on Trump (quick question to Mr. Bolton:  how does "holding China accountable" help anyone in the world right now?  Italy and France and Great Britain and the U.S. would like to know.)