Why?
āFree handout to insurance industryā: Trump administration tells insurers they donāt have to cover COVID-19 tests for workers
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This
āHeās like a child who canāt believe this has happened to him,ā Biden said. āAll his whining and self-pity. Well, this pandemic didnāt happen to him; it happened to all of us. And his job isnāt to whine about it. His job is to do something about it.ā
Biden criticized Trump for continuing to attack the Affordable Care Act as the country grapples with this crisis. The administration, for example, is still part of a lawsuit aimed at overturning the ACA.
āIf Donald Trump refuses to end his senseless crusade against health coverage, I look forward to ending it for him,ā the former vice president said.
āThe presidency is a duty to care,ā Biden added. āA duty to care for everyone, not just who voted for you, but to care for everyone, all of us.ā
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This story is wild, a must read.
He Removed Labels That Said āMedical Use Prohibited,ā Then Tried to Sell Thousands of Masks to Officials Who Distribute to Hospitals
Using TaskRabbit and Venmo, a Silicon Valley investor and his business partner had workers repackage non-medical KN95 masks so he could sell them to Texas emergency workers.
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TSA whistleblower says agency isnāt doing enough to keep officers, passengers safe
While many worry about coronavirus risks that may come with flying on an airplane, there could be another health concern before passengers even get to their gate. Jay Brainard, the TSA Federal Security Director for the state of Kansas, filed a whistleblower complaint over the lack of national safety guidelines at TSA checkpoints, and tells Lawrence OāDonnell the agency still is not doing enough to keep officers ā and passengers ā safe.
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Exposure to Sean Hannity may be lethal, studies on COVID-19 suggest
New studies suggest a correlation between Hannityās stubborn denial of the coronavirus and a higher rate of cases in areas where he has the most viewers.
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Florida reports massive single-day increase of 9,000 coronavirus cases
Itās the largest single-day increase from any state.
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No one wants thisā¦but encouraging more opening is a quicker way of getting it.
The co-founder of the ReOpen Maryland movement says he has tested posted for the coronavirus.
Tim Walters posted a series of Facebook videos about his illness, but said he would not cooperate with contact-tracing efforts by public health officials, reported The Baltimore Sun .
āI was diagnosed yesterday at the ER with COVID-19,ā Walters said, āand here I am months after not wearing a mask at rallies, churches and so on, and so itās funny how capricious this thing is.ā
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WH Briefing now at 9:30PST/12:30EST
June 26, 2020
White House Coronavirus Task Force Holds Briefing
Vice President Pence and members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force hold a briefing on the rise in cases across several states.
https://www.c-span.org/video/?473443-1/white-house-coronavirus-task-force-holds-briefing
Commentary
adding
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Headlines say it allā¦and photo - T in the dark.
And this from the right-wing Drudge Report - news aggregator for Breitbart
Are they pushing Pence to take the helm now???
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more context and detail on this briefing
White House Coronavirus Task Force Holds Briefing
Members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force held a briefing on the rise in cases across several states.
April was that last month we had a coronavirus briefing from this administration.
As cases in the US continue to rise
Florida reported fewer tests per week but some manage to end up with more cases. Huh 
maybe they need more testing not less to isolate the infected.
We have not flatten the curve but the EU has, compare the metrics
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When you compare how Europe was able to contain Coronavirus far better than the US was to declare victory a lot quicker than was mandated. We knew that this would not be good at the time. Interesting article.
A growing gap in case growth between Europe and the U.S. tells the tale: Declaring victory too soon is an excellent way to return to new heights.
The alarming chart below has been making the rounds. It illustrates the poor job the U.S. has done in containing Covid-19 compared to the European Union, a bigger region of independent countries that suffered an earlier outbreak. Why the big difference? What is America doing wrong?
There are a lot of possible answers to those questions. A sluggish initial response and failure to ramp up testing let the virus spread far and wide in the U.S. And instead of coordinating a coherent and aggressive national response, President Donald Trump has consistently downplayed the threat of the infection and left decisions to insufficiently supported states. As a result, decisions over lockdowns and reopenings have been chaotic and have ignored the guidelines put forth by federal public health officials.
Amid all of this, one particular difference stands out between the American and European approaches. Many states were happy to reopen after simply ābending the curveā ā that is, slowing upward growth and ensuring spare hospital capacity. These states went on to expand economic activity at an elevated plateau with lots of ongoing transmissions. In contrast, European countries mostly waited to reopen until they crushed the curve or reached its far slope, with substantially lower incidence or dramatic reductions in the viral spread. Itās not the only explanation for a growing gap, but itās a compelling one.
Curve Breakers vs Curve Benders
European countries have done a better job bringing Covid-19 under control
ā¦
Persistently high case levels amid a substantial reopening also make it far more challenging to identify and isolate a high percentage of infected individuals ā again, a numbers problem. At a certain point, there are too many cases and contacts to have a hope of tracing them.
The gap with Europe argues for more restraint from fast-opening states going forward, and in fact, some governors are taking the cue. In Texas, where cases are rising at a dangerous rate, Republican Governor Greg Abbott has called a halt to business reopenings and ordered taverns closed. North Carolina has also frozen it reopening efforts, as have Utah and Nevada. And of course there is the example of New York and New Jersey, both of which waited until their steep curves were tamed before starting reopening efforts; now, even as activities resume in both states, new cases have slowed to a trickle.
The chart tells the tale: Declaring victory too close to the top of the curve appears to be an excellent way to return to new heights.
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Texas is closing itās bars and restaurants again.
Florida bars will stop serving alcohol
We are not in a better place than in April
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That could be the explanationā¦because whatever is happening, it is not working.
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Nancy Pelosi Calls Trump āCowardlyā For Not Wearing Mask, Supports Federal Mandate
Liz Cheney posts photo of former VP in face mask and says āreal men wear masksā
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This move from American Airlines is deadly and reckless.
American Airlines Ditches Social Distancing, Will Book Planes At Full Capacity
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These Are The Only Four States On Track To Contain Coronavirus: New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Connecticut
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60 Minutes story coming about the fact FDA allowed āunverifiedā tests into the marketplaceā¦which stayed for 50 days.
Federal officials allowed distribution of COVID-19 antibody tests after they knew many were flawed - 60 Minutes - CBS News
Laredo, Texas, wound up getting thousands of antibody test kits from a Chinese company. The untested kits were then tested by the cityās health director, Dr. Hector Gonzalez, who found the tests accuracy to differ wildly depending on when it was given and how long after a person was exposed to the virus. The small sample he tested was only about 20% accurate. āWe had such high hopes to testā¦ we were ready to do public drive-through testingā¦ Now we couldnāt. We were on hold,ā recalls Gonzalez.
Laredo officials reported the faulty tests to federal agents at Homeland Security and officials came to town to seize the tests and start an investigation, but the federal government did little to halt the spread of other un-proven antibody testing kits.
Dr. Alex Marson, an immunology researcher from UCSF and Gladstone Institutes, decided to test a sample of the kits when he learned a friend had tested herself with one. He was concerned there were too many tests on the market and too little information. He and Dr. Patrick Hsu, an assistant professor of bioengineering at U.C. Berkeley, conducted their own analysis with the help of 50 researchers on tests from across the globe. āWe saw a range, saw that some were closer to what we hoped for and others were farther off,ā Marson tells Alfonsi. And he cautions even the most reliable antibody tests arenāt fool-proof, because antibody levels sufficient to give immunity still arenāt known.
It took 50 days for the FDA to reverse its course on antibody tests. In May, it began requiring test developers to apply for emergency authorization and submit data to show their tests worked. It was too late, says Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi. He is investigating the FDA for not regulating the antibody tests. āFraudulent tests flooded the market. Hundreds and hundreds of tests taken by hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people,ā says the Illinois Democrat. All companies had to do to get their tests to the U.S. market was state they were self-validated. āWhen you open the floodgates to virtually any product being sold by anybody, well, guess what? Shysters, scam artists, and people who are preying on unsuspecting consumers enter the fray,ā says Krishnamoorthi.
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The inaccuracy of antibody tests is a result of the way they work. While they are easier to carry out, and a result can be obtained quickly, the problem is that they only will show up an infection after the person is contagious. Here is a nice graphic produce by Dr Siouxsie Wiles of Auckland University who has been a leading advisor to our govt here.
We have been using the test that looks for the genetic material of the virus rather than the antibody test. As you can see the benefit of that test s that it can detect the presence of the virus before the person become symptomatic and highly infectious.
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Latest ad from the Lincoln Project about āthe greatest generationā (& how trump apparently regards them).
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