The Trump administration said on Monday that it could have the capacity for nearly a million tests for the coronavirus by the end of this week.
Pence: āAny American can be testedā for coronavirus
Matt Gaetz is sadly still at it.
Refusing to test somebody for a deadly, contagious virus while victim blaming them is the height of Trump regime tactics.
Please donāt let these idiots āsaveā us.
This one, one Rick Santelli, shown in the video in the tweet below, wants to just give the whole world the #coronavirus, killing off 2 to 3.4% of us, so we can stabilize the markets and go back to making money.
Has he considered that he, or members of his family, might be part of the 2 to 3.4%? And if so, does his family agree?
Where do these people come from???
Haphazard data gathering, holes in accumulated data, whether it is from the state or CDC makes for a very scattershot approach . Looks like coordination of efforts, and getting a grip on this virus numbers has been a huge challenge, as well as getting those testing kits outā¦
It is highlighting the WHās incompetenceā¦so that is good, despite the consequences.
The Atlantic ās numbers reflect the best available portrait of the countryās testing capacity as of early this morning. These numbers provide an accurate baseline, but they are incomplete. Scattered on state websites, the data available are not useful to citizens or political leaders. State-based tallies lack the reliability of the CDCās traditionalābut now abandonedāmethod of reporting. Several statesāincluding New Jersey, Texas, and Louisianaāhave not shared the number of coronavirus tests they have conducted overall, meaning their number of positive results lacks crucial context.
The net effect of these choices is that the countryās true capacity for testing has not been made clear to its residents. This level of obfuscation is unexpected in the United States, which has long been a global leader in public-health transparency.
The figures we gathered suggest that the American response to the coronavirus and the disease it causes, COVID-19, has been shockingly sluggish, especially compared with that of other developed countries. The CDC confirmed eight days ago that the virus was in community transmission in the United Statesāthat it was infecting Americans who had neither traveled abroad nor were in contact with others who had. In South Korea, more than 66,650 people were tested within a week of its first case of community transmission, and it quickly became able to test 10,000 people a day. The United Kingdom, which has only 115 positive cases, has so far tested 18,083 people for the virus.
Normally, the job of gathering these types of data in the U.S. would be left to epidemiologists at the CDC. The agency regularly collects and publishes positive and negative test results for several pathogens, including multiple types of the seasonal flu. But earlier this week, the agency announced that it would stop publishing negative results for the coronavirus, an extraordinary step that essentially keeps Americans from knowing how many people have been tested overall.
Read: What you can do right now about the coronavirus
āWith more and more testing done at states, these numbers would not be representative of the testing being done nationally,ā Nancy Messonnier, the chief CDC official for respiratory diseases, said at the time. āStates are reporting results quickly, and in the event of a discrepancy between CDC and state case counts, the state case counts should always be considered more up to date.ā
Then, last night, the CDC resumed reporting the number of tests that the agency itself has completed, but did not include testing by state public-health departments or other laboratories. Asked to respond to our own tally and reporting, the CDC directed us to Messonnierās statement from Tuesday.
Our reporting found that disorder has followed the CDCās decision not to publish state data. Messonnierās statement itself implies that, as highly populous states like California increase their own testing, the number of people the CDC reports as having been tested and the actual number of people tested will become ever more divergent. The federal tally of positive cases is now also badly out of date: While the CDC is reporting 99 positive cases of the coronavirus in the United States, our data, and separate data from Johns Hopkins University, show that the true number is well above 200, including those on the Diamond Princess cruise ship.
The White House declined to comment.
The haphazard debut of the testsāand the ensuing absence of widespread data about the epidemicāhas hamstrung doctors, politicians, and public-health officials as they try to act prudently during the most important week for the epidemic in the United States so far.
Susan Collins Unable to Decide Whether to Wash Hands
WTF? WTF? WTF? Yes, he really, actually, truly did say this.
During a visit to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta Friday, President Donald Trump stated his preference that passengers on a cruise ship in the waters off of California remain on the boat because their entry onto U.S. soil could make the countryās coronavirus statistics increase.
ā¦
āI have great people,ā Trump said, "experts including our vice president who is working 24 hours a day on this stuff. They would like to have the people come off. Iād rather have the people stay but Iāll go with them. I told them to make the final decision.""I would rather because I like the numbers being where they are. I donāt need to have the numbers double because of one ship that wasnāt our fault," Trump continued.
āAnd it wasnāt the fault of the people on the ship either,ā Trump added. āIt wasnāt their fault either and theyāre mostly Americans, so I can live either way with it. Iād rather have them stay on but I fully understand if theyād rather take them off. I gave them the authority to make the decision.ā ā¦
This was so astonishingly asinine and sociopathic, I really thought he might have been misquoted, but here he is saying it ā watch for yourself. (Go to 2nd video.)
Ohā¦yes. Heās off the charts today with his assertions.
If it wasnāt so sad, this could be an SNL sketch, straight up, as is.
Hereās the entire press conference, but if you want to jump to seven astonishingly cringeworthy moments, see the links below.
Trump again makes a totally illogical assertion that we shouldnāt be concerned about the coronavirus because another illness, the flu, kills lots of people. Then, instead of enlightening the nation, he suddenly starts promoting Fox News and bragging about his Town Hall ratings. Really.
Trump bluntly insults a CNN reporter and then calls CNN fake news (when itās actually doing far more to educate the public about coronavirus than Trump is).
Trump goes on a bizarre jag saying the coronavirus tests are nearly as perfect as āthe transcriptā (presumably he means the transcript of his call with the President of Ukraine which led to his impeachment). Wow. Weird. What is going on in his brain?
Trump says he feels the coronavirus victims on the Grand Princess should stay on the ship because āā¦ I like the numbers being where they are. I donāt need to have the numbers double because of one ship that wasnāt our fault.ā A statement that will live in infamy.
Trump defends the fact that he disbanded the team that was supposed to respond to pandemics. He says, āI just think this is something that you can never really think is going to happen.ā Yeah, after Ebola, SARS, and MERS, whoda thunk?
Trump veers into an extended brag about his uncle who was a doctor and a āsuper geniusā which Trump morphs into a brag about himself implying that his uncleās knowledge of medicine rubbed off on him. He claims, āeveryone of these doctors said, āHow do you know so much about this?āā
And thatās our President leading the charge against this deadly pandemic.
And, BTW, why the F is Trump wearing a campaign hat during an official U.S. government press conference? He is turning our very government into an advertisement for his re-election. If he wants to promote his campaign slogans during government events, he should pay us (taxpayers) for the air time. Besides that, he is debasing the office of President by commercializing it. And, last but not least, heās making a laughing stock of the office by wearing that big, stupid looking hat.
Heās branded the WH to work as a front for Trump 'n MAGA 
The crowd went wild with applause and broke into a chant: āFour more years! Four more years!ā
The event may have been standard fare for Trump, but it was anything but standard for the White House. As government property, the āpeopleās houseā is supposed to be just that: a place for the American people regardless of party or voting record. Itās most definitely not supposed to host campaign rallies, and officially it doesnāt. But since taking office, Trump has blithely turned the White House into just another venue for his constant reelection campaign.
āThis use of official positions to influence elections is permeating the entire government,ā says Richard Painter, who served as the chief White House ethics lawyer during the administration of President George W. Bush. Since Trump took office, he says, āThereās no separation of the official work of the government from politics.ā The White House did not respond to a request for comment, nor did the Trump reelection campaign.
Trump has used the White House to host receptions for campaign supporters; give Medals of Freedom to major donors or people whoāve endorsed him; and curry favor with pro-Trump media outlets. The black leadership summit was no exception. It was organized by Turning Point USA, a nonprofit pro-Trump student group with an annual budget of more than $10 million, funded by the oil and gas industry and big GOP donors, including conservative financier Foster Friess. Founder and director Charlie Kirk did youth outreach for the Trump campaign in 2016 and is tight with the presidentās son, Donald Trump Jr., whose book tour TPUSA is currently sponsoring. The black leadership summit reception is the second time Trump has hosted the group since being elected.
This is a breaking story; Gov. Cuomo has declared a state of emergency, though thereās no article up with it yet, but he did just give a speech about it.
UPDATE: State of emergency confirmed.
āThis could be āthe reason why SARS-CoV-2 is more infectious than other coronavirusesā, Li wrote in a paper released on Chinarxiv on Sunday.ā
This happened in Matt Gaetzās district, a day after his gas mask stunt.
Thread:
and this little wrinkle from WaPo writer 
This is the typical WH response to what CDC might recommendā¦streamline the message and alter the truth, so that you donāt panic people. Why wouldnāt the elderly want to be advised to not fly? It sounds practical to me.
#WagtheDogByReMessagingForElectibilityPurposes
NEW YORK (AP) ā The White House overruled health officials who wanted to recommend that elderly and physically fragile Americans be advised not to fly on commercial airlines because of the new coronavirus, a federal official told The Associated Press.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention submitted the plan this week as a way of trying to control the virus, but White House officials ordered the air travel recommendation be removed, said the official who had direct knowledge of the plan. Trump administration officials have since suggested certain people should consider not traveling, but they have stopped short of the stronger guidance sought by the CDC.
The person who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity did not have authorization to talk about the matter. The person did not have direct knowledge about why the decision to kill the language was made.
On Friday, the CDC quietly updated its website to tell older adults and people with severe medical conditions such as heart, lung or kidney disease to āstay home as much as possibleā and avoid crowds. It urges those people to ātake actions to reduce your risk of exposure,ā but it doesnāt specifically address flying.
Vice President Mike Pence, speaking Saturday after meeting with cruise ship industry leaders in Florida, targeted his travel advice to a narrower group: older people with serious health problems.
āIf youāre a senior citizen with a serious underlying health condition, this would be a good time to practice common sense and to avoid activities including traveling on a cruise line,ā Pence said, adding they were looking to cruise line officials for action, guidance and flexibility with those passengers.
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar suggested older Americans and those with health problems should avoid crowds āespecially in poorly ventilated spaces.ā
For most people, the flu-like viral illness causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. But ā like the flu ā it can cause pneumonia and be much more lethal to people made frail by old age and by conditions that make it harder for their bodies to fight infections.
Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of tropical medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, this week warned U.S. lawmakers against minimizing the viruses risk for vulnerable people. During a Congressional hearing, he said the coronavirus āis like the angel of death for older individuals.ā
Some experts this week said clearer and louder guidance should be made to vulnerable people, so they take every possible step to avoid settings where they might more easily become infected.
āThe clear message to people who fit into those categories is; āYou ought to become a semi-hermit. Youāve got to really get serious in your personal life about social distancing, and in particular avoiding crowds of any kind,āā said Dr. William Schaffner, a Vanderbilt University expert on infectious diseases.
That can include not only avoiding essential commercial travel but also large church services and crowded restaurants, he added.
Dr. Tom Frieden, a former CDC director, said whether to recommend the frail and elderly avoid air travel is āa difficult question,ā but clearly this is a time when such conversations should be taking place.
āAt this point the risk in the U.S. remains low, but we are seeing it spread rapidly. We are going from the calm before the storm to the beginning of the storm,ā said Frieden, who now heads Resolve to Save Lives, an organization promoting global public health.
The new virus is a member of the coronavirus family that can cause colds or more serious illnesses such as SARS and MERS. Health officials think it spreads mainly from droplets when an infected person coughs or sneezes, similar to how the flu spreads.
The virus first emerged late last year in mainland China, but this year has increasingly been spreading around the world. More than 100,000 illnesses have been reported globally, in more than 90 countries and territories. the count includes more than 3,500 deaths.
For weeks, cases in the U.S. remained very low, but the count has been accelerating in the last several days.
President Donald Trump visited the CDC in Atlanta on Friday, where he defended his administrationās handling of the outbreak and tried to reassure Americans that the government had the virus under control. But Trump also detoured from that message, calling Washington stateās governor a āsnakeā and saying heād prefer that people exposed to the virus on a cruise ship be left aboard so they wouldnāt be added to the nationās tally.
I am just gonna post this re-tweet from neo-Nero here:
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1236778368533700609
Trump and Dan Scavino once again prove that history isnāt a GOP strong point, as neo-Nero re-tweets a post from the latter of him playing a fiddle with the caption ānothing can stop whatās comingā while the #coronavirus epidemic is starting to burn its way across the U.S.
Looks like a good example of germ spread.
ANd this tweet from NBC reporter Richard Engel.
The age of #gaslight continues as Trump has decided he can lie his way out of an epidemic and ābad numbersā instead of combating it scientifically.
#FileUnderWhoAtCPACbroughtCovid-19?
https://twitter.com/robertcaruso/status/1237000602867171330?s=20
