Wednesday, April 29, 2020

Yeah, we're screwed


"I always find that we see the leading indicators, and often the media sees the lagging indicators," Kushner said. "But ... I'm very confident that we have all the testing we need to start opening the country [under the administration's guidelines]."
Yeah, right:

Admiral Brett Giroir, the assistant secretary of health who is in charge of the government’s testing response, said during an interview on Tuesday morning that “there is absolutely no way on Earth, on this planet or any other planet, that we can do 20 million tests a day, or even five million tests a day.”

Since the beginning of the year, the Administration has conducted 5.7 million tests in total, he said. And while the government has made strides in increasing the number of tests being performed in recent months, the White House’s new “blueprint” for testing, rolled out on Monday, currently plans to double current COVID-19 testing. Giroir plans to hit 8 million per month by next month.

The tally would still fall short of what a Harvard University study said is necessary to safely restart public life. The 56-page “roadmap” published last week by a group of experts said the U.S. needed to be capable of carrying out at least 5 million tests a day by early June, and 20 million per day by late July, in order to reopen the economy. Giroir called the assessment “an Ivory Tower, unreasonable benchmark,” that wasn’t needed, based upon current modeling projections, and that couldn’t be supported by current technology. 
Giroir can argue with Harvard all he wants.  Considering what this virus does to people (now with blood clots!  New and improved!), I favor the "ivory tower" benchmark.  Too many people in my family are prone to blood clots now, they don't need the added risk of a virus.  But neither of those people is on the same planet as Jared Kushner.

He also decried "the eternal lockdown crowd" making "jokes on late night television" about the administration, reiterating that his focus is getting Americans back to work. 
How's that workin' out for ya?

“We are acting in conjunction with workers at Amazon, Target, Instacart and other companies for International Worker’s Day to show solidarity with other essential workers in our struggle for better protections and benefits in the pandemic,” said Daniel Steinbrook, a Whole Foods employee and strike organizer.

“These workers have been exploited so shamelessly for so long by these companies while performing incredibly important, but largely invisible labor.”
The labor action comes as workers and organizers say Amazon, in particular, has not been forthcoming about the number of Covid-19 cases at its more than 175 fulfillment centers globally.

Jana Jumpp, an Indiana Amazon employee, along with her small team of fellow Amazon workers, has over the last month tallied Covid-19 cases at Amazon warehouses in the U.S. According to Jumpp, there have been at least 500 coronavirus cases in at least 125 Amazon facilities.

Jumpp suspects that the number is much higher, but says this is what she and her team have been able to directly confirm through their sourcing, which includes screenshots of internal company texts and voicemails to employees when cases have arisen, in addition to messages received from Amazon workers on private Facebook groups. The numbers, which have not been previously reported, are the most comprehensive to this point. 
Doesn't sound like the people who are already working are that anxious to restart your economy, Jared.

Meat processing plant workers are concerned about President Donald Trump's executive order that compels plants to remain open during the coronavirus pandemic. Some say they expect staff will refuse to come to work.

"All I know is, this is crazy to me, because I can't see all these people going back into work," said Donald, who works at Tyson's Waterloo, Iowa, facility. "I don't think people are going to go back in there."

Donald asked to be referred to by his first name only. He is currently recovering after testing positive for the virus.

"I'm still trying to figure out: What is he going to do, force them to stay open? Force people to go to work?" he asked. 

Sorry to be the one to tell you, but that pesky 13th Amendment says you can't force people to work.  And on the subject of testing, we're still way behind the power curve no matter what lies your father-in-law spews:

I want the economy to recover.  I want my daughter and her boyfriend/future husband, to be able to earn a living.  I want the restaurants and stores around me to reopen, for their sake.

What I don't want is round 2 of the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918; because it was worse than round one.  And this virus is worse than the Spanish Flu, in so many ways.  And the economic impact of so many poeple getting sick is going to be far worse than anything the "eternal lockdown crowd" could ever do to you.

Putz.
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)