🤮 Coronavirus (Community Thread)

Keaton_James · March 13, 2020, 9:46pm

Trump just keeps on shaking hands.

After declaring a national emergency to combat the coronavirus outbreak, President Donald Trump shook hands with a series of corporate executives after they each made remarks at the White House podium – despite repeated advice from his own public health experts against such contact.

Brian Cornell, Chairman and CEO of Target Corporation shakes hands with US President Donald Trump on Friday, March 13.

BTW, Trump knows he has previously shaken hands with someone who has tested positive for the coronavirus (see @Windthin’s post), yet he still persists in this behavior. If anyone with this kind of exposure to the virus shook my hand, I would be furious. It’s much like they are carelessly waving a gun in your face.

Also BTW, Rachel Maddow has stopped shaking hands with her guests, even making a jovial point about her new policy – setting a good example. Meanwhile, our dangerous clown of a President puts millions in jeopardy by the bad example he keeps setting.

Windthin · March 13, 2020, 9:45pm

I really, truly fear what will happen if the #coronavirus ever gets inside one of these ICE detention centers. We have ample past evidence from refugee and military camps how disease can tear through them.

ICE is ignoring a simple way to slow the spread of coronavirus: Let people out of detention.

Keaton_James · March 13, 2020, 10:02pm

Trump fundraiser attendees notified fellow attendee has tested positive for coronavirus

Trump Victory on Friday informed donors via email who attended a fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago on Sunday that a donor who also attended the event has tested positive for the coronavirus, according to an email obtained by ABC News.

“We unfortunately write today to notify you that an attendee at the Trump Victory-sponsored event you attended at Mar-a-Lago on Sunday, March 8,” the joint committee between the Trump campaign and Republican National Committee wrote in an email sent today.
…
ABC News has reached out regarding if Mar-A-Lago will undergo a deep cleaning but has yet to hear back. The Trump campaign’s massive offices in Arlington, Virginia are set to be deep cleaned as staff work from home though Monday, multiple sources tell ABC News.

Keaton_James · March 13, 2020, 11:22pm

Of course Trump is lying when he makes excuses for his administration’s utter failure to deploy desperately needed coronavirus tests by blaming Obama.

President Trump, widely criticized for his administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, tried to shift blame Friday to his predecessor’s handling of a health crisis 11 years ago.

In a series of tweets Friday morning, Trump accused former President Barack Obama of making unspecified changes that “complicated” the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention’s testing system.

Trump falsely charged the Obama administration’s response to the H1N1 swine flu outbreak as a "full scale disaster, with thousands dying, and nothing meaningful done to fix the testing problem, until now."

Trump has, on numerous occasions, accused the Obama administration of implementing a rule change that complicated testing. However, no such rule was ever put in place, according to FactCheck.org. …

So…

The “rule change” Trump is whining about is a complete fabrication.
The non-existent “rule change,” if it actually did exist, would now be 11 years old.
Obama left office in January, 2017. Trump has had over three years to change that rule that doesn’t even exist. Instead, he eliminated the Pandemic Response team. As @dragonfly9 commented back in May of 2018 when alerting us to this, “WTF!!!”

macro · March 13, 2020, 10:56pm

Oh How Sad! Never Mind.
In case you are not aware of how nasty a person Peter Dutton is here is what some Australians think of him.

Cogitationitis · March 13, 2020, 10:59pm

Here in Massachusetts, everything is shutting down. Public schools are closing for the next two weeks. Universities are closed and going online for at least a month. Many houses of worship have closed or are altering their services. Pretty much every event has been cancelled or delayed. The supermarkets are seeing panic buying, especially of cleaning supplies, sanitizer and toilet paper. I suspect it will get so bad that anyone with medical training will be called on to volunteer in hospitals. Theoretically, tests are available, but you have to get approval from the department of health, which is unreachable. Restaurants and retail businesses (especially small ones) are suffering. Many businesses that can do so have ordered their employees to work from home. It’s bad.

Windthin · March 13, 2020, 11:08pm

The governor just suspended schools here also, and the university is shut down. Even my landlords’ office is.

Windthin · March 13, 2020, 11:21pm

Pelosi, Trump strike deal on coronavirus response package

Windthin · March 13, 2020, 11:37pm

ARGH.

Contrary to Trump’s claim, Google is not building a nationwide coronavirus screening website

Instead, Verily is building a triage website just for the Bay Area

Huddy · March 14, 2020, 1:19am

Very few things scream, “Trump is such a fucking racist” like the way Trump responds to any question posed by Yamiche Alcindor. I’ve see him start responses to her with, “ You know, that’s a really stupid question” and other outrageousness. It fills me with a rage I cannot begin to describe.

dragonfly9 · March 14, 2020, 1:56am

I agree…Fauci’s body language throughout suggested he knew that T was spewing lies.

Here is something from Sen Sherrod Brown saying he definitely sent a letter to the WH when those offices closed.

Windthin · March 14, 2020, 3:40am

A) - Lies about his “leadership”.

B) - Attacks on the press.

C) - Most prominently, attacks on Biden…

…the most bizarre of which accuses him of lying when he states, factually, that we need millions of tests, not thousands, while ALSO boasting about millions of tests coming and lying about how many have been conducted.

Keaton_James · March 14, 2020, 5:56am

Another person who had dinner with Trump has COVID-19

Yet Trump is still not getting tested or isolating himself. That’s just plain selfish. Giving him a test would be easy – it would ensure he’s not spreading the disease himself and would allow him to get a jump on treatments if he is infected (he owes that to the nation – he’s working for us and we don’t want a sick President who will not be able to carry out his responsibilities).

Acting Brazilian ambassador Nestor Forster, who sat at President Trump’s table Saturday night during a dinner at Mar-a-Lago, has tested positive for the coronavirus, the embassy said Friday night. Forster is the third person who visited the president’s South Florida resort last weekend to test positive for the novel virus.

The White House acknowledged the additional diagnosis in a memo released Friday just before midnight. The president’s physician, Sean P. Conley, wrote that Trump did not need to be quarantined or get tested for covid-19.

“These interactions would be categorized as LOW risk for transmission per CDC guidelines, and as such, there is no indication for home quarantine at this time," Conley wrote. “Additionally, given the President himself remains without symptoms, testing for COVID-19 is not currently indicated.” …

macro · March 14, 2020, 8:43am

Now here is an advert one can truly relate to

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hks6Nq7g6P4

macro · March 14, 2020, 6:01am

Maybe Trump is a "Super Carrier "? aka asymptomatic carrier. He would like that!

Windthin · March 14, 2020, 6:53am

Trump once again shows what REALLY matters to him, as he sends a personally signed chart showing stock market gains to supporters after he declared coronavirus a national emergency.

I hope they wash their hands first.

Windthin · March 14, 2020, 9:36am

“Typhoid Donnie” has a nice ring to it.

The Trump Administration Will Move Ahead With Its Plan To Kick People Off Of Food Stamps Despite The Coronavirus Outbreak

https://www.wthr.com/article/roche-receives-emergency-fda-approval-coronavirus-test

dragonfly9 · March 14, 2020, 4:01pm

T’s speech was of course full of misinformation…and this Google website was not something that was developed (or even ready) to cover the Coronavirus situation.

#CartBeforeTheHorse #LetMeShineFactsLater

https://twitter.com/nxthompson/status/1238626322844434433?s=20

A source at Google tells WIRED that company leadership was surprised that Trump announced anything about the initiative at the press conference. What he did say was also almost entirely wrong. There will be a coronavirus testing site, not from Google but from Alphabet sister company Verily. “We are developing a tool to help triage individuals for Covid-19 testing,” Google tweeted in a statement. “Verily is in the early stages of development, and planning to roll testing out in the Bay Area, with the hope of expanding more broadly over time.”

Even that, though, was not the original plan. The Verge reported Friday afternoon that Verily had intended the site for health care workers only. After Trump unexpectedly publicized the effort, Verily decided it will let anyone visit it, but can still only provide people with testing site information in the San Francisco area.

Google did not respond to requests for comment. A Verily spokesperson characterized the intention of the site differently from the Verge report. "We were initially planning to focus on highest risk populations, which includes healthcare workers—but this was not solely intended for them," the company said. “We are collaborating with organizations like Quest Diagnostics and Labcorp as part of this initiative, and local organizations to determine what will work best. At Verily, we are focused on developing a tool to help triage individuals for testing.”

It’s unclear whether senior Google or Alphabet leadership was aware of Trump’s plans, but CEO Sundar Pichai apparently made no reference to it in a company-wide memo about its coronavirus efforts Thursday, which was first reported by CNBC. In the memo, Pichai told employees that “a planning effort is underway” for Verily to “aid in the COVID-19 testing effort in the US.”

The White House declined to comment on the record, but did not dispute that Google was unaware that Trump would announce the site Friday.

dragonfly9 · March 14, 2020, 4:29pm